Basement Bathroom Reno

We finally did it! We have a usable basement bathroom! And by "we", I mostly mean Colin. He was a rock star when it came to turning this bathroom around. I can really only take credit for some menial painting and decorating. It was his first experience with drywall, and as he said he, "learned a lot" with this project.
This was one of two pretty awful rooms in the house, so it feels good to have it looking wonderful and fully functional! Here are the before and afters:

Before

After

Before

After

The floor is vinyl tile - my new obsession. I've never been shy on here about my aversion to tiling. It's a long, arduous process filled with errors regardless of how hard you try. Not to mention the sadness you feel when you break one of those tiles and dollar signs flash in the back of your mind. These babies are the exact opposite. They're cheap - $30/ box and in this bathroom there were tiles to spare. They're super easy to install - stick 'em down and you're done! And finally - they feel great, look good, and don't get as cold as real stone. Color me a believer. We'll be using these (with grout! Because you can do that!) in the kitchen and both upstairs bathrooms to save on time, money, and heartache.

We voted to keep the weird giant Japanese soaker tub but opted to try and make it feel more like a spa room vs the product of some old mans weird bathing obsession. I think we got close. With baby E we just don't have the time or ability to take things on full throttle like we used to, so I'd say this is as good a job as almost any!

So, what do you think? Are you no longer scared to risk peeing in our creepy, barely functioning, dirty basement bathroom? Care for a soak?

Night Time Teething

Besides watching the VMAs and feeling a combination of shock, disgust, and sadness, this was our night last night. We've been working hard at getting this little angel to sleep in her co-sleeper, but teething sure makes it hard. Having dad spend so many nights at work makes it even harder.
She was happily asleep by 830 like normal, and then woke up whining, drooling, and chewing on everything. I'm pretty sure the only reason she fell asleep around 11 was sheer exhaustion.




During the day we're a huge fan of razbaby teething pacifiers, wooden teething rings, and we're just delving into the world of amber teething necklaces (which sadly can't be used at night and Colin likes to think of as her magic crystals a la Spencer Pratt). Nothing of course tops chewing on dad's knuckles, but we have yet to find a good night time solution that will allow her to fall asleep. Especially since it's just the two of us a lot of the time so a snuggle with dad while gnawing on his knuckles isn't a good fail safe.
So the question is, what do you use to help a little one with teething, and how many wrongs did you try before you found a right?

VMA Recap

Can I get some of whatever gives Justin Timberlake all of his energy? And can we all agree that Miley Cyrus is just sad and weird now (Liam. Seriously. Get out now)?
I'm pretty sure with questions like these, and the N'SYNC reunion (however sluggish it may have been) being my favorite part of the show, I'm officially too old to be watching the VMAs.

UPDATE:
I'd like to add this to my recap. I concur: http://www.buzzfeed.com/mackenziekruvant/will-smiths-family-reacting-to-miley-cyrus-is-perfect?s=mobile

How did I end up with a morning baby?

Anyone who has woken up within a block of me, or come into contact with me within the first half an hour of waking up, knows that getting out of bed is not my specialty.  My darling husband is the exact opposite.  He is up and rearing to go early early no problem.  Combine these two things and you get my daughter: the happiest morning child. 

Before she even opens her eyes she has a giant smile on her face.  From the moment she wakes up she just wants to squeal and smile and wiggle.  It's like she can't even believe that she was chosen to wake up again today, so by golly she's going to celebrate!  It can be so nuts that sometimes she can't even focus on eating (even though I know she's starving), because she's just too darn busy smiling and being happy.  What a great way to start the day!

Want to know where the "me" side comes in? This never starts earlier than 9am, and is usually closer to 10:30am.  My sweet child does love me after all :) And sure, she needs a nap roughly an hour after she wakes up just to recover from all of the excitement, but who cares when you're that happy about just getting to spend the day being a baby!

New goal: Be as excited about life as my three month old.

Cloth Diapers: BumGenius Freetimes

I've decided to write about some of our All-In-One diapers next because they are my absolute favorites. They fit her skinny little legs no problem, aren't super bulky, and can hold a river (as made evident by the time I didn't change it for 12 hours overnight and we didn't have a single leak! (Oops!) The best thing about these diapers besides their absorbency is that they work just like a disposable (like the newborns), so it's super easy for non-cloth friendly friend and relatives, and especially easy for tired mamas. The other "big girl" diaper that we have doesn't fit her skinny little legs as well, so being able to get a tight fit with these is another definite plus.




The downside is the cost. All-In-Ones are slightly more expensive than the ever popular pocket diapers, which is the only foreseeable reason why I can assume anyone would choose having to pull a dirty insert out of a dirty diaper vs just rolling it up and throwing it in the pail. They also have a slightly longer dry time, but with summer I haven't had any issues hanging them out in the sun and getting them dried in no time. Especially since BumGenius adds these cool little flaps to expedite the process! If I could go back, I would definitely make these the bulk of my stash instead of the Flips (which will be the next post), but of course I had no idea what shape my baby would come in before she was born, and I was dead set on being over prepared before she got here. In fact, that would be my biggest piece of cloth diapering advice - Don't go hog wild buying one type of cloth diaper because of "reviews" or "recommendations" Until you know your baby. Doing that will force me to go back and sell some so that I can justify buying more of these babies and still staying within my "this is cost effective!" parameters.
Questions about BumGenius Freetimes or All-In-One diapers?? Leave it in the comments and I'll do my best to answer them! (As always I just want to make sure everyone remembers that I am in no way a cloth diaper expert, just someone who has been loving testing the waters!)

Basement Renovations

Since I last wrote, we've finished a few (but not many) more renovations.  The biggest improvement has to be the basement.  We finally got rid of that horrible carpet and all of that furniture that the old owners left.  It feels like a whole new (better smelling) house down there! 

This was also the first project we hired out for.  It was a difficult decision, but Colin was gone and I was 5 months pregnant, so there was no way we were going to tackle a carpet install.  Plus I hear it requires a lot of expensive tools.  We used a reference from a friend and helped out a guy in need of some work.  Needless to say we were more than happy with the price and completed project!  If you live on the Kitsap Peninsula and need some carpet replaced, just let me know and I'll pass along a name and number!

Before (Super messy)

Before (Also super messy)

After (Clearly Christmas time sorry)

After

After

"Wicked" Pandora Station

My little lady LOVES broadway musicals. My poor husband is outnumbered.