April 29, 2016

Thank God we Gotcha Dog!

{  He's celebrating on the inside. He's just concerned about losing his street cred by showing how excited this hat makes him.  }


Dear Norbert,

Happy Birthday, doglette!!! Today is your Gotcha Day (your birthday was technically 3 or 4 months ago), but today is the day we celebrate! You are seriously the BEST dog. You are quirky and cute and you have the best staying capabilities I have EVER seen in a dog.

You are so well behaved, in fact, that it's pretty easy to forgive you for your random bouts of chewing things up... and that you've decided you're allowed on the couch any time you want...

Watching you and your dad snuggle is hilarious! I love it when you try to sneak into his lap ever so slowly, like maybe he won't notice you're there... Why don't you ever try to snuggle with me like that? I know I'm not your favorite but, I'm the tough one who does the training, but I still love you too.

It's fun to have you under my desk as I work. I don't think I've told you this, but you are the BEST co-worker I have. The aloe plant isn't very good company, but you sure are!

This year... You have taken to sitting on the window sills when you want to come inside. You've overcome your fear of tape measures. You got 15 seconds of fame when you were featured in BuzzFeed.

I know things have been tough to adjust to the past year and you don't feel like you get quite as much love as before, but you've been a really great sport about it and I can tell you love your sister a lot. Especially because you let her pull your eyebrows without much more than a groan and a shuffle to the other side of the room.  ...And you did teach her her very first word, "woof!" She even mimics your under-your-breath gruffness.

You love to lay under Hazel's highchair as she eats. But you are literally DIRECTLY under her, so most of her dropped food gets caught in your back hair!! You don't even realize it until you stand up and it falls off of you.

Oh, Norbs... you really improved our lives when we got you 3 years ago, and I don't think any other dog will ever compare to your regal excellence. You are a supreme fluff dragon and have the sleekest ear hairs of anyone anywhere. Thanks for being you and being the dog pookie in our family.

Enjoy your special day. A special walk and treat are in store for tonight!

Love you,
Momma





{  Outside Hazel's door in the morning, waiting for her to wake up.  }


{  On the window sill outside my office, ready to come back inside.  }
















And a throwback to his first day with us 3 years ago...





Also, I swear he lives a happy life despite the fact that he looks utterly depressed in practically every picture. He's not a fan of cameras. 

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April 24, 2016

Bathroom Inspiration

We are bathroom renovating over here this weekend... at least we are bathroom demolishing. I'm not sure how much we're going to get put back together since the onset of some possible food poisoning, which is a horrible time to have a shell of a room where your bathroom used to be, I might add.  Between Tyler not feeling well, and my pumping breaks (which is why I have the time to work on this post), it's pretty slow going today.

I want to share some inspiration for our chosen materials. Our  bathroom will never look this nice on our budget, with our space, and the functionality we want. But I can dream!

simple bathroom LOVE THE DARK GROUT WITH THE WHITE SUBWAY TILE.:
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ceramic tile wood lookalike flooring - great bathroom ideas, love the shower too.:
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black-and-white bathroom with tiled walls and black grout makes for easy maintenance and lends further high-contrast to the design.:
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Basically, we are doing dark on the floor, with a wood-look plank tile and white subway tile for the tub surround up to the ceiling, all with a grey grout. The rest of the walls will be a super pale grey (the color they already are). We are replacing our toilet and adding a small shaker style, espresso colored vanity instead of the previous pedestal sink, and we'll hang a new shower curtain. I would have loved a modern glass shower door, but that was definitely not in the budget and not super functional for bathing little ones.

I LOVE these shower curtains, but again a $68 shower curtain is not what we are going for, so I'll have to see what I can find for less.
Octopus Shower Curtain:
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"Get Naked" Shower Curtain by Tori Wise Watercolors | Society6:
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This Target treed option is a possibility...
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There's still a long way to go before I can show you the "Before & After" but I can't wait to get to that point!!

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April 22, 2016

A Naptime Snapshot

I lay Hazel down for her nap.

I haven’t showered in a while, so I jump in and enjoy the warm water and the feeling of being clean. Sometimes I take longer showers now, because they feel like a luxury. Since I take fewer of them in general, I don’t feel as guilty wasting water.

Next, I get dressed, trim the chipped nail that’s been bothering me,  and maybe do my makeup if I’m planning to leave the house.

It’s been 45 minutes or so since she fell asleep… she could wake up at any moment.

There are creative projects and house chores to do. The house is a mess, I need to empty the dishwasher, do the laundry…

But I hate starting a task and not being able to finish it, so instead I decide to relax and catch up on new posts from my favorite blogs… and maybe some Pinterest… and let’s see what’s happening on Facebook…

Next thing I know, it’s been over another hour! I look at the clock and realize I could have done SO-MANY-THINGS!

I suddenly feel very unaccomplished. So I get up and open the dishwasher, take out a few plates… and I hear a peep from the nursery...

I kick it in overdrive and put the rest away so fast it’s a miracle they aren’t all chipped. As my baby’s awakening protests get louder, I fly around the living room on the way to the nursery picking up toys and throwing them into the toy basket like a pro making free-throws. Why bother? Because she likes them better if she can take them out again.

I open her door and she immediately smiles. Time to play. Next nap, I’ll be productive…

April 11, 2016

Disjointed Bookclub: Little Women / AKA I was named after a dog.



This past week I finished reading Little Women for the first time. I feel like it's something I should have done a long time ago, but as a late-bloomer-Little-Women-reader I'm glad I finally did. It's a big accomplishment because I think it may be the first book I finished since Hazel was born... (I take that back. Actually, I also read Fat Girl Walking. And Dad is Fat. But still not a lot of reading has taken place....)

As an avid Jane Austen fan, I've been trying to read Mansfield Park, but haven't been able to get into it. I was worried that my mom brain may have changed taste and can't stay interested unless childbirth and babies are involved. However, we went to visit an adorable used book shop in our town and I picked up Little Women, and sure enough I fell in love like millions before me.

Since I do not have a bookclub that I'm in, nor would I complete the reading in the proper time span if I did. I wanted to have a little chat with you, the people of the interwebs, because I'm sure many of you have read this one.

This is a great coming of age book for women, and I wish I had read it when I was junior high/high school instead.

I, of course, tried to choose which character I was most like, but I can't decide. A little of all of them. Is that the point? Who are you most like?

Who's your favorite?! I think Jo is mine, but she also seemed to be the focus character. Is she everyone's favorite? I guess not, because - fun fact! - in a round about way I was named after Amy...

You see, my mom came to the realization that I might have been named after my childhood neighbors' dog. We had two sisters who lived across the street from us, and they were very sweet, but also the epitome of cat ladies (the dog was before any of my memories) as they had at least 23 cats at one point.

My mom says that Amy was their favorite character of Little Women, so they named their dog after her. I guess Amy (the dog) got out a lot and they could be heard calling for her frequently. Well, after hearing it a lot, I guess it came to my mom pretty naturally when she was choosing my name, and my parents subconsciously named me after a dog!

Hi, my name is Amy, named after Amy the dog, named after Amy March of Little women.

I like dogs, and now I know I like Little Women, so it could be worse. :)



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April 6, 2016

Easter Weekend 2016.

I bet you didn't know you needed to see pictures of Hazel dressed up like a gnome, but I bet after you see them, you'll realize it's exactly what you needed to put a smile on your face this Wednesday evening! 

I'm a little bit behind on posting, but every chance I get I have been out working in the yard, fostering my plant family, and taking advantage of this Spring to the fullest extent. I have done SOOO much planting! I can't wait to share our big yard project soon!

This past weekend, as well as Easter weekend, we had some great weather (even if it was a little stormy occasionally). The flowers and trees have been blooming, and the first cycle of spring blooms is already coming to a close. For Easter we really enjoyed getting outside, celebrating with family, and taking lots of pictures!








 




 Hazel Hollyhock the Wee One (her gnome name) has a very important role in the Springtime. She monitors all the flowers and when they have bloomed long enough, she thanks them for their pretty service and helps them drop their petals. One by One. Though she is a happy gnome, she takes her work very seriously, as you will see...










I posted this next one specifically so you could admire her windblown mullet...


And I couldn't help but giggle at this one. She loves it when we smell her feet and say, "pee-yoo!"


As soon as she saw her Easter basket Sunday morning, she climbed up on the hearth and started peeking inside! Here she's showing off her Little People Unicorn!!


She also got some dress-up accessories from the Easter Bunny (via Uncle Dave and Aunt Lee Ann - thanks!) that happened to match her Easter dress perfectly! So formal!







Norbert was a little bored by the easy egg hunt since they were just spread throughout the yard (he prefers more of a challenge), but he was a good sport about it. 


She got Little People in her eggs too, and couldn't help but hug them when she got them. <3 <3


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