Still to Come

Later I will put up pictures of the family room, dining room, and Daryl's office, and perhaps some more bedrooms.

K and A's mural

K and A's mural, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

We had an artist paint a mural in K and A's room. I specifically wanted something outdoorsy that did not feature Disney or any other known characters. I gave him a children's book, "The Seven Silly Eaters" that i really liked the illustrations and this is what he came up with. He put in some cute touches, like the dog at the base of the tree that looks just like our dog. He also included a cat that looks like our cats, K and A have their names carved in the tree, and a bird nest with 8 baby birds. I love that personalization!

Master bathroom

Master bathroom, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

This is our bathroom. It is a huge upgrade, since formerly we were sharing a bathroom with all of the kids, which featured a shower with moldy grout that badly needed replacing, and one of the two mirrors in our house, a small oval one above the sink that you had to stand on the toilet to see most of yourself in.

I wanted to buy a house that had a bathroom similar to this, but Daryl convinced me to renovate our house instead. That's how the project began, with a nice bathroom.

Master bedroom

Master bedroom, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

OK, I am jumping around now, but this is our new bedroom. It is located at the far end of the house, past the sunroom, upstairs.

Den/guest room

Den/guest room, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

This room was formerly our bedroom. It will now be a guest room (to the left you see glass doors going into a small adjoining room which will contain a murphy bed) and a den where Daryl could have business associates visit without walking through the entire house, as it is near the formal old front door. This room was covered in peeling blue flowered wallpaper, and had taupe carpet. In the old portion of the house the only changes we made were cosmetic--new windows for energy efficiency, refinished floors (they are fir) and fresh paint/removed wallpaper.

This is the only room that has dark trim, since it is black walnut and that is it's natural color. The walnut all came from the property when the house was built, as did the stones, which were known as "hardheads."

All of the extra stones you see piled around the property, as well as those used in the various terraces and retaining walls, were here on the property. We didn't have to buy any. Those used in the exterior of the new portion of the house we did purchase, as they are cut stones.

Paula's "office"

Paula's "office", originally uploaded by PaulaK.

There are 2 small sitting rooms in the downstairs of the old portion of the house. This one, adjacent to the kitchen, is "command central", otherwise known as Paula's office.

Rear view: old part and sunroom

Rear view: old part and sunroom, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

Another view from the far edge of the property looking at the back of the house. The row of windows is the sunroom, and the stone part of the house is the sitting rooms downstairs and bedrooms upstairs.

rear view: old part, sunroom and patio

rear view: old part, sunroom and patio, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

If you are standing near the playground, you would see this view of the house. The sunroom is where the cedar posts are, and outside it is the back patio.

View from sunroom

View of playground from sunroom, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

This is what you'd see looking out of the sunroom in one direction.--our new playground! Fifteen years of having kids, and we've never had a play structure of any kind.

Sunroom looking out at back patio

Sunroom looking out at back patio, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

If you stand at the other end of the sunroom, you see out the windows and doors.

Sunroom facing old part of house

Sunroom facing old part of house, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

If you stand at one end of the sunroom, you see another stone wall, adjacent to the one in the kitchen. Or the right past the kitchen windows is the doorway to the kitchen.

Sunroom looking into Kitchen

Sunroom facing Kitchen windows, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

I am going to try and give a "tour" that makes a little sense. Since we've already seen the kitchen, if you stepped from there into the sunroom this is what you'd see when looking toward the kitchen. The floor is slate, and the stone wall is formerly an exterior wall.

My favorite gadget

My favorite gadget, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

But my favorite kitchen gadget is this--not the mixer itself, but the pullout shelf. The mixer stays sitting on it, and it drops down into that cabinet when not in use. Then it springs up and locks into place while being used.

Refrigerators and dishwasher

Refrigerators and dishwasher, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

This side of the kitchen, which looks into the sunroom, has the appliances, which have cabinet faces on them. The tall unit on the far left is a refrigerator, and to the left of the sink to the right of the photo (with the horizontal handle) is a dishwasher. There is another dishwasher on the other side of the sink. I LOVE having 2 dishwashers. My sink is never full of dirty dishes, and I rarely wash pots and pans, since the racks are adjustable and I just throw them in the dishwasher.

Prep sink and range hood

Prep sink and range hood, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

We have a small prep sink next to the stove.

View from new part of house

View from new part of house, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

If you are standing in front of the new staircase, this is your view. Now the sunroom is on the left, dining room on the right. In front of you is the stone wall, which is the former exterior of the 1862 portion of the house.

View from old part of house

View from old part of house, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

If you are standing in front of the stone wall in the kitchen looking toward the new addition, this is your view. Dining room/bar on left, sunroom on right.

Kitchen sink

Kitchen sink, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

This is the view from the raised bar/dining room side, looking at the other side of the kitchen. The window you see is looking into a sunroom.

Moving

On Sept. 22 we moved back into our home, after NINE loooong months of living in a rental house while our dear old (1862) house got a facelift, makeover, and an addition built onto it. Since then, we have had continual construction work and painting being done both inside and out, because it wasn't complete when we moved in. It is really lovely, better than I could ever have imagined, and we are so blessed. That is not to say that my patience isn't worn a little thin as we enter the 5th week of living with construction--the noise, dirt and invasion of privacy are hard to take, especially at 8.5 months pregnant. After the rest of this week, and maybe one more week, they should be (mostly) done.

I'll include some photos now, and more in a day or 2.

Anniversary Celebration

In late August Daryl and I went away together to New York City for 3 glorious days to celebrate our 20th anniversary, which was in May. We had a fabulous time, better than our honeymoon. It wasn't so much what we did, but rather the time spent together. It was a true celebration of our love and friendship.

Some of the things we did, in case anyone is interested, were:
Carriage ride (and lots of walking) in Central Park
Shopping
Eating out
Saw the play Wicked on Broadway
Chinatown
Spent the evening with dear friends that live an hour's train ride away in CT (they came to the city to be with us)

The kids had a fine time at home with a rotating crew of grandparents, their 26 year old cousin, and a babysitter. We were gone just long enough to miss them, yet not to actually wish they were with us!

36 weeks

36 weeks, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

And from the front!

36 weeks

36 weeks, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

Here's a couple of belly shots.

Pregnant from behind

pregnant from behind, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

Someone asked if I look pregant from behind, so here I am at almost 32 weeks. You be the judge.

31 week belly

31 week belly, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

Wearing the traditional birthday hat

DSCN0317, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

Wearing this hat is a tradition in our family. My birthday was spent visiting my nephew to celebrate his birthday, which is the same day as mine, and later, Daryl brought home carryout ribs and a fabulous cake (which I'd ordered for myself). It was a nice day.

24 week belly

24 weeks, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

Birthday blogger

Birthday blogger, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

Here I am on my 43rd bday, Aug. 2.

Wild Hair

Wild Hair, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

Did I say the ferry ride was windy?

Dh and I

Dh and I, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

Taken on the windy ferry ride back to the mainland.

All of Us

All of Us, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

Here we are, at the end of the vacation (Fort Michilimackinac in the background) ready to go home.

Mackinac Island

Mackinac Island, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

After we left the beach house, we spent a couple of days on Mackinac Island, a quaint vacation spot where there are no vehicles allowed except fire trucks and ambulances. Even the trash is removed by horse drawn cart. So carriage rides abound, as do bicycles. The island is known for great views, famous fudge and horses. There is lots of touristy shopping and a historic fort as well.

Skipping stones

DSCN0194, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

This was another favorite activity. We even had a contest one afternoon.

Studly physique

DSCN0200, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

Or to be 15 again! Here is D, our oldest.

Fun in the Sand

DSCN0199, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

The little ones enjoyed the sand. Here is A, playing away.

Bathing Beauty

DSCN0206, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

Ah, to be 13 again! J, looking lovely as always.

Chilly

Chilly, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

They swam even when Daryl and I were wearing sweatshirts! Brrr...

Here is L, emerging from the water.

Playing in the Waves

Playing in the Waves, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

The kids had a great time in the "surf."

Beautiful Sunsets

DSCN0209, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

We rented a house on the beach of Lake Michigan, in northern Michigan near Petoskey and Harbor Springs, where we enjoyed beautiful sunsets.

Rig is ready to roll

DSCN0153, originally uploaded by PaulaK.

I am doing some extreme catch-up, so bear with me.

Here we are, almost ready to leave for vacation on July 7.

Great News

Less than a week after my last post, requesting potty training help, my dd A decided to start using the potty! She went from refusing to consider it to totally trained in less than a week. I created a sticker reward chart for her, and for her brother K, where they received a prize after 3 BMs. Unbelievably, her "output" in the initial weeks of potty training increased, and she was getting a prize daily! I hoped it would influence K, and he did start trying more, but had no success. I began feeling sorry for him. After about 2 weeks, he did it! Two days in a row, he had a BM in the toilet. Daryl and I were not sure that it was totally intentional, because he made remarks that led us to believe he was somewhat surprised. Nonetheless, he received prizes (his sister can't really count and we wanted to reward his success) and a HUGE fuss was made. Then he had several accidents in a row. One day I went to the health club, and he had an accident at the child care center there, but it was a tiny amount and I knew he was holding it. Later in the day, as we were preparing to go to the movies to see Ratatouille, I instructed him to try again, but he refused, and a few minutes later had another accident, again only a small amount. As a consequence, I left him at home with an older sibling, my heart breaking at his tears, but I felt that since he refused to try and he clearly still had to go, he was literally an accident waiting to happen. I did explain my reasons for leaving him. The next day he went on the toilet, and he clearly knew it was going to happen and went in to the bathroom, unannounced and without prompting. It was a breakthrough moment. He hasn't had an accident since!

We cancelled his appointment with the special clinic, which was supposed to be Aug. 28, because he had been accident free for almost a week at that time, and was going frequently, not just every 2-3 days. It was a bold move, because we made that appt. 6 weeks earlier, but we were not disappointed.

Clearly, he wasn't really ready before, although I just couldn't accept/believe that. Hopefully our next child won't have this problem, but if it should happen again, I will remember this with more patience.

Those first few weeks of 2 newly potty trained kids were exhausting--I was spending a huge amount of time in the bathroom, either just being there, or wiping, cleaning the little potty, etc. I actually wondered if I should have been more careful what I wished for! Now, however, life is SO easy with all of my children potty trained! We got rid of the little potty when we moved, so we don't have to deal with that anymore. Our next challenge will be teaching them to wipe themselves! And of course, going back to diapers when the baby arrives.

Thanks to everyone who shared their experiences and advice with me. It was nice to know that I wasn't alone or doing something "wrong"!