Day #3

Today we got one continous wall from the staircase and the very beginnings of the built-in. I am so excited to see the finished product. More to come....

the progress so far...

DAY #1- here are the "before's"-these go in order as the progress was made.. view from the bottom of the stairs...banisters and ballisters to be gone and this will be one continous wall from the staircase.

The corner of the banister at the end will be changed....look below to Day #2 to see the differences.

The view to Cole's room as it used to be...see updates below...

Future built-in bookcase area....

View from the top of stairs....

The ceiling had to be jacked up because of the sagging in order to raise it back up to normal. oh, what fun....

Sheetrock had to be cut out to add reinforcement to the ceiling since when the house was framed enough wasn't added up there then to support the weight of the water heater and AC....all the beams you see running down the middle are the added support.

cutting out the banister to insert the second column...

Day #2- today's work...the structure of the bookcase began today...and as Steve likes to put it, "It's been screwed, glued, and tattoed." The uncarpeted corner that you see was where the banister used to be. We decided on 45 degree corners to avoid those times, which we call " head splitters" when kids are just the right height and would run into a sharp corner. It also makes it easier to move furniture in and around the corner in Cole's room.This side of the former banister will just be a half wall. The bookcase is being framed at 42" tall (bringing it up to code) instead of the shaky banister which was only 35" tall and waist high. Notice the difference..

View from the top of stairs... preliminary beginnings.

Stay tuned...more to come later this week... did I mention how thankful and blessed I feel to have a father-in-law who can do this for us? (The bookcase was the added bonus and not part of the original plan until I asked for it to be added in as an added "perk").

a mini-remodel....

Let me give you some background before I explain this picture...our house is one of those that we have little by little started to turn around and make better. In the midst of the changes, things have to be fixed because of the "idgits" that lived here before us and did things completely "bass ackwards". Got me?

Well, upstairs is a gameroom and the extra bedrooms. As you come up the stairs, you turn right to the gameroom and kids rooms. As of now, there is a slightly loose banister and the rods that are underneath (formal name unknown) that frame the staircase in a "L" shape. Very 70's, not up to today's decor.

Turns out before we moved in, the drip pan to the water heater in the attic (who puts one there, I don't know) overflowed and caused some water damage on the ceiling. No biggie at the time, easy fix. Time passed and we haven't fixed it (yet)...little by little it starts cracking more and more on the joints of the sheetrock. lovely right?

We decided it needed to be done and pronto as the longer it stares us in the face, the worse its getting. So we enlisted the help of Steve (my very talented father-in-law) and of course, Brian. This weekend begins the project of fixing the existing issue while making some small improvements ( i.e. extra storage space and something decorative).

So in a nutshell, they decided that a supportive fix to the problem is to 1. fix the problems inside the attic structurally, 2. add columns upstairs to provide added support to the ceiling on the outside. To which I say, "sounds great!" but I don't think columns will look all that great with the existing "rods" already there.

Hence, this is how the idea of what you see in my picture came about...I wanted the rods gone, a half wall built, and extra storage for the kids stuff.

...and voila! This is what I envision. Let's just put a disclaimer on this blog that I am NOT even close to an artist or decorator like my fav, Candice Olsen. Not even close.

(Stay tuned for pics of the existing, the construction phase, and the after....)

So, if you have suggestions, improvement ideas, and decorating sense, POST A COMMENT...I appreciate input since I am not a decorator, architect, artist... Thanks.

our chunky monkey

Today we had our six month check-up and let's just make a note....don't ever make an appointment on a school holiday. Convenient for my schedule, not on my patience or theirs or for that matter everyone else who was at my dr. today. Two and a half hours later and three shots...here's the latest on this little man:

Weight: 19.9

Height: 25.5 (on the short side for now, but of no concern)

and in comparison to his sister- she is 27.4 lbs.

difference in age = 22 months

difference in weight = 7.5 lbs.

It won't be long until he is completely on the move- he has perfected the "army crawl" and gets around really good already. He just hasn't figured out how to stay on the knees, but the army crawl gets him where he wants to go and usually that means towards anything of his sisters... to which we usually hear, " No Bo, mine!"

*...and just in case you didn't know about this recent FYI...my nurse called me this afternoon after leaving and reviewing Cole's file to tell me that the AAP has just recently found that using Vick's Baby Rub ( or the off-brand, Little Colds Baby Rub) is no longer safe on children under 4 and should be used sparingly over age 4. It causes swelling of the nasal passages and inflammation of the lung tissue causing susceptibility to pneumonia.

Apparently, the findings have been released to the dr's but have not yet totally hit the media to inform all of us parents. I have used it on both of mine previously but will not anymore.

quick question

I figured it out a while back and now can't remember...I want to change the format of the blogs I read to show when they are updated like many of you have. Help me, I can't remember how! Post a comment please!

A day in the life of our children...

Here's the sweet Riley....

Here's the mischevious Riley...once she figured out that sidewalk chaulk doesn't write on people and dogs, she got it wet and went to decorating herself and Neika's dog...awfully perceptive of her I thought.

and it just wouldn't be fair unless the dog got some red chaulk too!

much better now... and Bailey is just loving the attention that he got!

A little more on the legs....to match my red pajama shirt and Snow White high heels

Just like her daddy used to do...loves the water and mud.

those pants are soaking wet!

And for our other sweet darling who as of yet is not as mischevious as his older sister....

Glad I could make ya'll laugh.

I know all of you with two year olds experience these type of days...( just admit it...it happens to all of us!) lol.

Cole's 2nd tooth arrived today. I can't believe it...last Tuesday, 12/30, he got his first and exactly one week later here is #2. I guess what amazes me the most is that this exact same thing happened to Riley one week apart on a Wednesday. Weird coincidence.

Our life lately....

The Peterson's- Christmas Eve 2008 (Minus Andy and Candice)

We went to church on Christmas Eve as we always do- Riley and Cole both were captivated by the music and lights. Our church always does such a good job with worship. Riley loved it and decided to dance in the aisle to Silent Night as the service ended. From there, we always have dinner and some Christmas at Brian's parents- where Riley enjoyed making cookies and providing us with more laughs.

At first sight of the sprinkles, Riley grabs a handful and crams them in her mouth- as if to do it so fast that hopefully we wouldn't see. How can you get mad at that excitement on Christmas Eve baking cookies?

hmmm...should I be eating all these sprinkles?

Cole sure is happy about something..hopefully it's not what's in the background. (that was by accident)

Santa visited us in overload this year!!!

watch what happens to poor Steve as the pictures progress!

Totally crashed out on the floor Christmas night after a day of no nap and overload of excitement...

The weekend after Christmas, Kara and Anthony were in town for the week so we joined them at Santa Fe Flats where Nate was singing...Riley took Cole and started swaying with him and trying to dance. We were all cracking up laughing. She is always the entertainer.

She was upset at us when we left and kept saying "Nate"...we were saying good bye to Anthony and glanced inside the truck to check on the kids and her head and face were covered in something wet. We looked around thinking maybe she dumped water over her head that she found in the truck. Nope. We kept looking..finally, we just asked her what she did to herself. She opens her mouth and says, "agh.." like you do at the dr's office. Yes, that's right...she had spit in her hand and rubbed it all over her face and hair. She was mad at us for making her leave the music. Let's just say she got a good scrubbin' when we got home a few minutes later.

Cole didn't make it until the New Year- he slept right through all the fireworks and noise outside.

We really enjoyed spending time with everyone this holiday- Brian took off this last week of work so we were both home and enjoyed time to sit around and relax with the kids. We had some good times with friends this week and did some shopping at the outlet mall and ventured out to Market Street another day ( a new favorite of mine). It was really nice just to sit and relax and let the week pass by slowly.

We did have some firsts this last week:

- Cole starting sitting up and got his 1st TOOTH! That happened Tuesday (12/30) literally in the span of a few hours that afternoon- we couldn't figure out why he was so cranky on the way home from the Woodlands. Hunger was part of the problem. Fixed that (no tooth) I checked thinking maybe his mouth hurts also and gave him oragel to also try and help. Thought all was ok until dinner when mom got a sharp bite on her finger when I spoiled him with some mashed potatoes.

My gummybear is no more and he is growing so fast. He sat up about the same time as Riley did but she didn't get her first tooth until she was 7 1/2 months old. They both got the exact same tooth (bottom right was the 1st)

Riley and Cole- Dec. 2008

Christmas pics coming soon- until then...