Okay, Here You GO

So, here we go. We have been busy over here for the month of September. In addition to our usual and customary playing in empty boxes, we had three visitors stop by (for sleepovers)--that's alotta sheets! Needless to point out, every linen that lives here needs washed. I decided to leave them for the regular laundry on Friday for a very good, rational reason (I didn't wanna do 'em right away...).

Aurelia had a great time getting to know her Aunt Jennie. This is the third time they have been together, but the baby is in a place right now where she is more open to new people. This is a great attitude when it's family who loves you and a little scary when it's complete strangers in a doctor's waiting area. Jennie was here for eight days, and I loved having the company (although I didn't love how it felt to have four people crowded in here). There isn't much to report about her vacation because we did exactly what she wanted to do: relax. We watched too much T.V., took several trips to browse at thrift and craft stores, and tried out new recipes.

Scored this T.V. stand at Idaho Youth Ranch for only $12.75--this is the "before" picture I forgot to take before we began working on it. As some of you may know, my kitchen is the smallest kitchen in the universe...Okay, so I'm prone to hyperbole, but it's pretty damn small. It's a galley kitchen, and I don't know who ever thought that galley kitchens belonged in house, but my house got one. (I suppose it leaves room for the half bath downstairs that is often our savior, but I digress.) Either way, it was a challenge to fit all of our appliances on the counter and dishes/whatnot in the cupboards, especially as Aurelia grows and needs more accoutrements. One extra shelf over the sink cut it for awhile, but now we need to expand. Since we're not going to be moving for another 6-8 months, I wanted a kitchen cart. But, when a person tries to buy something called a kitchen or microwave cart, she is often charged upwards of $50 (used!). So, off the the thrift stores we went, and this is what we found. A little rearranging in the dining area, and we now have enough of an extension to our kitchen storage that little plastic bowls don't fall on my head every time I open a cabinet. It lives here (this is not the "after" photo; it's the "in-between"--also, try to ignore the mess on the table):
So, that's my next mission--to finish the remodel of the kitchen. Today, however, we completed a much more important project: decorating the nursery! I use completed in very loose terms. As it is, I still have some work to do, but I would be fine with bringing a baby home to it. Our final visitor came this weekend, and as much as I adore my sister and mother-in-law, this visit was the best of all. I had to work all weekend, so I was a bit disappointed that I didn't get to spend more time with him, my brother-in-law, Thomas spent Saturday afternoon/Sunday morning hanging with Matthew and Aurelia. And he brought gifts!! Yes, Grandma Patty is now living on the boat in Seattle, so she was able to go to Ikea for me. I have been eyeballing matching furniture for T.J. for the last six months. Problem: all Ikea cribs were taken off the market for redesign with a release date of NEVER (aka December). But, something truly magical happened: when she went to get the dresser so I could at least get his clothes out of the totes, they had a crib in stock! Now, I don't know how well you know me, but I like to prepare. And I was willing to accept whatever crib they had, as long as it came in the correct color--AND IT DID!!! So, Thomas was able to get the furniture from Patty and drive it here for the sake of my sanity. (And they totally had both the crib and dresser put together by the time I got home from work Saturday afternoon--what great boys!!) So I've spent today tidying, decorating and making the nursery fit for a toddler and newborn duo. See for yourself (why is it that other blogs have way better photos than me?? Even when stuff is clean, it looks messy over here!):

So, Aurelia actually used the birch-colored furniture for the last year, and I originally wanted exact matching for T.J. But, with the idea of a new house (and separate bedrooms for the kids), I decided to go for something a bit different. White or dark wood was my option, so I chose white. And white seemed more "girly", so I gave Aurelia the new white stuff and T.J. will be using the birch. It's not exactly second-child syndrome; I don't think he (or she) will mind particularly.

I'm going to amend this to call it Part One of "How We Fit Four People and One Twitchy Dog Into 950sqft".

I'll leave with this: