Monday, January 28, 2008

In the Doghouse

Nope, it's not Dean!

Natalie on a playdate with her friend Lea...

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Really, Winter Does Exisit in Florida

Finally, proof of winter here in Florida!



Back in April, when we were house hunting, I remember commenting to Dean on how silly it seemed that so many of the houses we looked at had fireplaces. I mean, come on, it's Florida. Well, I have to say that while it's likely to be used less than 10x/year, it is such a pleasure to have one. Although the first time we had a fire, we did have to open the windows after about an hour as it got too hot in the house.

I know you can barely make her out, but miss Natalie enjoys it too. And look, imagine, she's even wearing a sweater! One thing quickly learned upon moving to Florida is that one must wear their favorite winter clothes as soon as the weather chills down. Otherwise, you'll miss the opportunity. There are only about 10 or so days spread throughout the "winter" to wear that silky cashmere. And that lovely wool coat? Forget about it, it ain't gonna happen.

Oh, and yes, against my wishes, it seems I have assimilated. I have a green suede coat that I absolutely love. I put it on last week for a jaunt out of the house and I couldn't figure out what was wrong. Something didn't feel right. After much inspection, I realized that no, nothing was wrong, I just am no longer accustomed to bulky layers. Help me!

Monday, January 21, 2008

Wheels!

We got Natalie a tricycle for her second birthday, and it was soundly rejected. A few weeks ago she took her first solo revolutions. She's still not loving it, can't quite get both the steering and pedaling combo down yet, but I know it's on the horizon. Her first set of wheels. Her first taste of independence. It all came so quickly. I know I'm going to blink an eye and I'll be handing over the car keys, and making a large cocktail hoping she doesn't do all the stupid things I did behind the wheel as a teenager. Yes, mom and dad, you were right, it all comes full circle eventually.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.



Isn't she cute??

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Bedding Bliss

Being a homeowner was something I've looked forward to for years. When you rent, you just don't want to invest a lot of time and money in a temporary space. I've been dreaming of wall colors for years, and now, finally, no more off white walls for us, hooray! The house we bought already had almost every room painted. Many of which we really liked, but we do have some wallpaper issues to address. But more on that later.

For our bedroom, I looked for several months for the perfect bedding. Living in FL, our duvet was too hot, so I was looking for a quilt. If you're like me, the idea of a quilt brings up images of country, grandmotherly patterns that are just not my style. Although in fairness, while what I found was predominately of the country variety, my friend Sherry, of VerrySherry has proven to me that quilting can really be done in a multitude of styles.

That said, it was no easy task to find the bedding I desired. I wanted something a bit more modern, or geometric. Dean had to like it too, as he has strong opinions on design, which I love. After an extended online search, and many stores later, I found for me, the perfect bedding. I love it! The pattern has an Asian influence, and I love the cranberry accents. If you zoom in on the photo, you'll see the block patterns and cranberry lines within the black. This look really appealed to my graphic design sensibilities, and I knew Dean would appreciate the slight zen look about it.


Bedding

My next task it to find curtains, hopefully in a muted cranberry pattern to match. We currently have, shudder, vertical blinds, which I hate with a passion. Nothing says "I really don't care about the decor of my home" like a vertical blind. And we have them on three sets of the main rooms in our house. They will slowly but surely be eliminated, one by one. But it will take some time. This is where Dean and I differ in our approach to design. I want to look and look to find the perfect item, he wants to get it done in one fell swoop. In a way it is a good mix, I can probably take too long, so he'll push me to just try something, and I usually end up liking it. And when he just wants to get something done, but I really don't like it, he'll wait. So we're a good team like that.

Oh, and another big secret, as hard as I try, Dean can still make a better looking bed than I can. I made it in the above picture. I will have to post another when he makes it sometime, and you'll see for yourself. It just always looks better when he does it. I'm not sure why, but kudo's to your mom Dean becuase if she taught you how to make the bed, she taught you well!

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Potty Training Failure, a Deux

We decided to try our second attempt at potty training today. After a previous failed attempt back in early Dec, which started well, but ended up with three accidents (on the tile floors at least), not a single drop in the potty and ending with screams of "no more potty!" we decided it she wasn't ready.

We started with a ridiculous video (I gotta go) of kids dancing and singing about going to the potty. I found it slightly nauseating, but Natalie loved it. Was singing along and dancing in her chair. So as one does when one is a parent, I sucked it up and pretended I loved it as much as she did. The Academy would have been proud.

She got a special treat of chocolate milk and banana bread with peanut butter this morning, to encourage lots of drinking. I've read this is the thing to do to... fill them up with sweet liquid treats they don't normally get and there will be lots of opportunity to train. Makes sense, right? Wrong. We then sat on the potty for about 20 minutes, reading potty books and talking about how exciting it was to be a big girl. I even pulled out the big guns, the Dora underpants. I told her once she peed on the potty for the first time, she would get to wear them. This was one thing I learned from the first attempt, when I put her in big girl underpants right away and went through three pairs before halting the training. This time, no Dora underpants until at least one successful go in the potty.

She wanted to put them on immediately. So instead, we read about 10 potty books, including a bunch of new ones from the library. I continued to ask her if she needed to go. She kept saying in five minutes. I left the bathroom for a few minutes in case she was getting stage fright. When I came back, she said she thought she should put her diapers back on. I again pointed to the coveted underpants, but she said no. And then proceeded to immediately pee in her diaper. And that is when we stopped. If she's turning down the Dora underpants, it ain't gonna happen.

Sigh. I know you're not supposed to compare your child to other kids, but come on, we all do a little bit. It's just frustrating to know so many of her little friends who are a few months younger are already trained. She gets the concept, can talk about it but just isn't interested. We want to start her in Montessori preschool this summer, but guess what, you've got to be potty trained. So that gives us a little over four months. We'll see. Can I just say, that I love being a parent and adore my little girl, but this is one aspect of parenting I am admittedly not enjoying. So if you have any tips, please comment on them for me now!