A Bottomless Pit

Folks, I think there is a serious problem with my son. I'm quite certain there is some sort of hole in his stomach or intestines or something because he seriously never stops eating. I'm going to have to take out a part-time job just to keep him full. Seriously. For breakfast yesterday he ate a whole egg, an entire banana, a serving of oatmeal, and 4oz(ish) of yogurt. And he still wanted more. I know, I know, there are worse problems we could have, but still. My 30-year old sister doesn't even eat that much--at any meal!

The upside to feeding a human garbage disposal is that he will eat pretty much everything. So for lunch and dinner Darrell and I just chop up whatever we are having and give it to him (usually with an extra side of vegetables because let's be honest, Darrell and I probably don't eat enough of those ourselves. And he's inevitably still hungry anyway). The only thing we have consistently found that he doesn't like is BBQ sauce. He will spit out any bite of a pulled pork sandwich that gets near his mouth--but he eats pork fine prepared other ways. Weird kid. And hungry kid. ALWAYS hungry. 

Maybe it's not too late for me to get a garden in at our new house? And maybe raise some chickens? And I don't know, buy a cow or something? Eesh. We always knew our budget would change with having kids, but we didn't expect this much of an increase this soon. But at least he's healthy, right? 

Zoo-per Day!

A few nights ago we took William to the zoo for the first time and he LOVED it. Granted, he seemed to be most interested in all the geese that room around the zoo grounds, but I can't say I blame him because they were definitely some of the most active and easiest to see animals there. Nevertheless, we plan to make good use out of our zoo membership this summer--and even this winter to explore the indoor museum! (Anything that gets us out of the house in the dead of winter--and is free with our membership--is a win-win in my book).

Enjoying the flamingos--he probably could have stayed there all night

Look Mom and Dad!! Pink birdies!

No time for taking a picture with Mommy because...

Look how close that peacock is!! (Seriously, there are two or three of these that just roam the grounds. It's pretty awesome)

 

Checking out the parrots

And a tiger!

 

Seriously--these peacocks were pretty much everywhere and let you get super close

This kid is going to be a climber. Thankfully there were only tortoises in this enclosure

Really excited to have a lot more fun at the zoo this summer!!

A Little Problem Solving

A few fun things about our house: It is twenty-six years old. And most of it seems to be in its "original" condition--appliances, furnace, paint, etc. You should also know that the most current (previous) owners were, shall we say, creative. It does appear that they did some updating (mostly with paint), and their color choices were questionable at best. I do think they updated some of the flooring as well--but only some (as in--they laid new flooring in the foyer but not in the closet that connects to it). They also appeared to not be very thorough and careful Do-It-Yourselfers, and you'll probably hear plenty more about that in the coming months (years!) as we transform this into OUR house. But first--the paint.

From the first time we walked in to this house we knew that the orange family room HAD to go. No ifs ands or buts. And while we didn't mind the white walls throughout most of the other common living spaces (not the bedrooms, though--oh no, not the bedrooms. Those are all their own special combinations of color), they were in bad shape and had clearly undergone one too many touch-ups jobs with not quite the same shade of white (or they weren't touched-up at all). So, we selected a neutral, much more palatable shade and bought three gallons (with fingers crossed that it would be enough!). Then came time for the painting. And painting the interior of a house with a split-level floor plan brings with it its own special set of difficulties. But that wasn't going to stop my husband.

In case you can't tell, that is a paintbrush tied to (what used to be) our rake. And this was the "safer" of the two approaches he used to cover this wall; if you look closely, you can see our ladder in the foyer, which he then climbed up and leaned off with his paint-brush-rake to cover the wall from the other direction (and one point I actually had to hold the ladder so he could step onto the highest rung and lean toward the center of the wall). Thankfully, this portion of the wall probably won't need a second coat, but the orange (oh, the orange), definitely will. Fortunately the orange is a little less dangerous to get at (albeit more shoddily done. At one point I noticed that Darrell was getting tan on the ceiling (which we are leaving white), and when I pointed that out to him he responded that he was NEEDING to put tan on the ceiling to cover the ORANGE that was on the ceiling. Folks, he is bound and determined to make sure there is no trace of orange left in his house. And I appreciate him for that.

Leisurely Walks

Going for walks with a thirteen month old--especially when you let him out of the stroller--can be a very slow task. There are pinecones to pick up, dandelions to pull, anthills to destroy, sticks to break. Not to mention all the people and wildlife that distract from the task at hand. But you know what? I wouldn't want to spend my morning any other way. Especially since the weather is finally getting its butt in gear and starting to feel like something that actually resembles spring (summer?). I see many more lazy mornings like this in our future.

PS Yes, I know that it's been well over two weeks since I last posted. I could list a million reasons for my absence, but my new philosophy is Make Progress, Not Excuses. So I'm only going to focus on the former and not dwell on the later. Here's to progress!!

Moved!

Well, we're here, we're moved, we're in. We are far (FAR!) from settled, but I suspect that will be the case for quite some time. Except for our kitchen. That room is pretty much already running like a well-oiled machine. If there was ever any doubt that Darrell and I are cooking/baking people, this should pretty well cement that fact: our kitchen was the last room we packed in our old house and the first room (and so far only room!) we unpacked in our new house. We're still sleeping in sleeping bags (on our mattress though--we were only on the floor for one night!), but just about everything in our kitchen is unpacked. Which was no small feat--we had more boxes for our kitchen than we had for any other room in the house! And I'm already excited about baking my first goodies in this house--who cares if my clothes are in a suitcase for a few more days?!?