California Closets to the Rescue!

When we moved into this house a little more than six years ago, we had California Closets come in to do a couple of big projects for us. One was to deck out our master bedroom closet (LOVE IT), and the other was to build an office for us.

At the time, Jason and I both had desktop computers (what are those?) and needed homes for them. We spent a lot of time in that room and used the office well. Well...that is until we both got with the times and bought laptops several years ago.

Since then, the room we dedicated to be the office has become a home for stuff...and a place where we sit every now and then to hook up to the printer.

Fast forward to July 2011. We found out that Baby #2 was on the way, and we immediately realized she would need a space of her own. I wanted to make sure she didn't get the shaft as second child. I didn't want it to seem like we just shoved her in the office, which is the room we selected to become hers.

So, once we found out that she is, indeed, a girl, we needed to put a plan into motion. (If she had been a boy, we might have put her in R's current room and reworked the office in a different way to be his new room.) A couple of weeks ago, I called California Closets to get an estimate on moving the built-in stuff. I just wanted a baseline so that we could run numbers and bounce ideas around.

Well, when he told me it would only be about $100-150 to do the work, I went ahead and scheduled a date for the move.

That date was today. Last night, as we were cleaning off all of our shelves so that the office would be fit to move. Jason decided to do some last minute measuring and realized that our desk piece wasn't going to be able to go where we wanted it...because it wouldn't leave room for the attic stairs to pull down.

BLAST! Why didn't I realize that sooner???

I sat on the couch and cried last night. I was so hoping for today to be the day that would get the ball rolling toward getting baby girl's room started. 

So, when the guys from California Closets showed up this morning, I was dreading telling them that they came for no reason. And I was furiously brainstorming other ideas for how to move/salvage/rearrange the office pieces and make baby girl's room just perfect.

There were other snags too, but that was the most major, project-ending snag.

The guys showed up and I took them upstairs to the scene of the disaster. They whipped out their measuring tape and...and...voila! It turns out Jason's measurements were off! That's the most I've ever rejoiced in Jason being wrong! :)

So, they moved the office pieces, made a few minor adjustments to make it all fit the new space, and now we have a relocated office and a blank (albeit messy) canvas for a new nursery!

Now we're well on our way to carving out a place in our house specifically for baby girl. And I'll have somewhere to put all of her things...which right now consist of a onesie, a hoodie and one diaper. :)

R and I holed up in his room 

(across from the office) to watch the progress.

The repurposed office, now in the hallway!

Would you care to take a guess where the 

cut-out for Jason's chair was in the old office?

Longest 30 Minutes of My Life

Jason and I went out of town for the weekend. Our favorite band played two back-to-back nights in Isle of Palms. They've done it every year for the last several years. We've only missed it once...last year when we had a brand new baby.

It was really nice to get away. R spent the weekend with grandparents, and we got to enjoy time with great friends, great music and no naptime or bedtime restrictions.

Friday morning, I began to get things ready for us to leave. I've learned that, with a child, it takes pretty much a whole day just to get out of town. I showered, got R dressed, put some laundry in and headed downstairs to get ready to take the dog to the kennel.

Since Piper (the dog) isn't playing nice with R anymore, I put her in the back yard so that R could play for a few more minutes. I grabbed her food and headed into the garage to put that and her bed into my car. I pulled the door shut behind me, because I didn't want R to pry it open and fall down the brick stairs.

I was out there 30 seconds.

When I returned to the door, I found it locked.

Locked?!? Yes...my 13-month-old son locked the garage door on me.

I kind of laughed it off and thought, "It's a good thing I just let the dog out back. At least I can still get in through the unlocked back door."

I got to the back door, and I couldn't get the knob to turn. Sometimes the back door knob gets a little stuck, so I gave it an extra hard twist. It still didn't budge. That's when panic set in.

My 13-month-old son locked me out of the house.

Of course, my cell phone was locked in the house with him. So, I sprinted to our next door neighbor's house. I rang the doorbell and tried to wait patiently. It's the most unnatural thing to be standing on another person's property, knowing that your small child is at home unattended. I rang the doorbell again. Nothing.

I sprinted back across my front yard and to my other next door neighbor's house. All the while, I was frantically trying to figure out where I'd go if she wasn't home, because I knew all of our other neighbors in the cul-de-sac were at work. I wasted no time and rang her doorbell four times right off the bat.

Thankfully, she was home.

She came to the door, even in her nightgown and peeked through the window at me like I was crazy. I said, "I just need your phone," and put my hand to my ear to make the international symbol for "phone."

She let me in and tried to small talk with me. I frantically told her what had just happened, and began to dial Jason's cell phone number on her phone. I had to dial it four or five separate times to actually get it to go through. Once it started ringing, I thought, "Uh-oh. This number is not going to be in Jason's phone, and he might not answer. Then what?"

Thank goodness my husband answers calls from strangers daily.

He answered. Our four second conversation went like this:
     Jason: This is Jason.
     Me: R LOCKED ME OUT OF THE HOUSE!!! HE'S INSIDE!
     Jason: I'm on my way!!!
     Click.

I thanked the neighbor and ran back to my house. I rattled the garage door knob again. Then I ran back to the back yard to try the back door again...just in case. It was then that I got my first glimpse of my captive, yet oh-so-free toddler. He'd heard me rattling the doorknob in the garage, so he was busy toddling away from me and toward the noise he'd heard.

I went back to the front of the house. We have windows down both sides of our front door. I squatted down and started tapping on the glass and making funny faces at R. He thought we were playing an awesome game. That kept him entertained for a little while, and then he lost interest. He probably wondered why I wouldn't come back inside.

I continued to make a fool of myself as I followed him from window to window. It's a good thing that kid love his mama. He never ventured more than about four feet from the front of the house. He just kept looking at me, giggling, smiling and being completely unaware of the real situation.

Finally, Jason pulled into the driveway and ran to unlock the door. It should have taken him much longer, but he said he drove about 70 in a 45 to get home to us.

I ran inside behind Jason. He scooped R up, then handed him to me for a great big hug. It was a nice, sweet ending to the longest 30 minutes of my life.

Concerted Effort

I've been a stay-at-home mom for 13 months now. (Well, technically 10 months. I went on a three-month maternity leave with the intention of going back to work. I just never did.)

I am a very independent person, even though I'm very social. So, my days usually consist of doing whatever I feel like doing. R and I have our routine, and we run our errands and do our chores as necessary.

I have LOTS of stay-at-home mom friends and friends with flexible schedules and days off. But I'm terrible about calling them to get together. More often than not, it's a facebook wall conversation that goes something like this:

• Me: I feel like I haven't seen you in forever. We need to get together soon! What's your calendar look like? 
• Her: I know! We do need to plan something soon. Next week is a little crazy for me. Let's shoot for the week after that.
• Me: Sounds good! 

And then we never follow through. We have that conversation multiple times over several months before we finally buckle down and get together. You'd think I didn't like hanging out with these people or something!

This week, I've changed that.

I have a friend from high school who had twins 18 months ago. We have talked about play dates since our kids were tiny. Finally, yesterday, we got together. It was great! R had to skip/delay his morning nap to accommodate, but it worked out just fine.

And then I topped off yesterday with phone dates with two of my best friends. Yesterday was a win!

Today, I took the initiative to ask one of my best friends from church to lunch. Bingo-bango...we're out of the house and killing a couple of hours again! We even had another friend join us last minute. Good day!

So, I'm hoping I'm on a roll here. Watch out people! Your phones will be ringing soon!

To continue this awesome momentum, I have a question. I know there are tons of free activities around town for moms and their preschoolers. Who knows what? Where do we need to be going and when? What should I look for? R has more than reached the age/activity level where it's just not feasible for us to play at home all day every day.

Never again

Life with a new baby makes some things take a back seat. Sometimes it's intentional; sometimes it just happens. 

Our poor little pup, Piper, doesn't get as much attention from me as she used to...unless it's me scolding her for barking and/or growling at nothing (usually when the baby is trying to sleep).

The new parent adjustment period also caused us to slack a bit on Piper's annual check-up at the vet.  What got me off my butt to get her to the vet? I called the kennel to make a reservation for Piper for when we'll be out of town soon, and they asked if she was current on her shots. 

Ouch. I'm certainly not proud of it. But, at least it reminded me. I set an appointment and took her into the vet today. The appointment was at 3:50. So, I loaded up the dog and the boy, and off we went. I was excited that the appointment worked out perfectly with the baby's schedule for the day, and it would give me an opportunity to get to the chiropractor for a post-concert back adjustment.

Wrong.

See, I'm not the one who usually takes Piper to the vet. That's usually Jason's job. I was under the impression that I'd drop her off, head to the chiropractor's office for my adjustment, then swing back by to pick the pup up.

Wrong.

I didn't realize that I would be staying for the entire exam, shots and anal violation of my furry friend. Minor inconvenience, right?

Wrong.

Try simultaneously carrying an almost 15-pound infant (in a car seat), wearing a diaper bag on your shoulder and directing/dragging a 32-pound, terrified dog. It turns you into a wide load that's driving recklessly.

Not easy. Not fun. Not something I'm willing to try again in this century.

When I find mystery bruises later, remind me that I probably received them during this lapse in judgment. 

Piper, before she realized where 

the  fun car ride would end.

Elizabeth launches a blog: Take 3

Or is it my fourth attempt? Either way, I have attempted several times to become a blogger. I've always failed miserably. I'm not entirely sure of the reason. Maybe it's because I feel like my ramblings are a bit mundane and uninteresting. Maybe it's because I'm unwilling or uncomfortable to be completely unfiltered in such a public setting.

I'm launching this latest attempt in response to the passing of a friend. When a friend dies (as I've experienced entirely too many times in my short life), I find myself combing the internet for pieces of that person. In some strange way, it's like the internet paper trail keeps a person alive. In my search after her death last week, I stumbled back upon something I used to read, but had drifted away from. See, she was an avid blogger. Now that she is gone, I've found myself engulfed by the pages of her blog. She was so real. So candid. So full of life. I'm sad that she is gone...even sadder at how it happened. But, I've found that it's a nice comfort to relive bits of her life in her own words.

And, thus, I've been inspired (once again) to try.