Our own winter "white-out"

Our house is coated in white...primer. Primer went on yesterday and we're looking forward to seeing color start on the walls today. We are firing up the furnace because we have a cold chill like the rest of the country. (Fell below freezing in Windsor last night!) Our wood flooring is scheduled to start on Thursday. Bathroom tile should be done by this weekend. Kitchen cabinets will go in next week. Counters, unfortunately, will not be installed until after the holidays. It's starting to take shape. We're praying that it will come together and that the choices we made so quickly a month ago were wise ones. Our movers are scheduled for the week of January 26th and we couldn't be more excited to move (getting ready is another story!) We've met our neighbors on all sides and are happy to be in such a great neighborhood. Michael and I both are ready to take a long hiatus from logging any more mileage on our cars. We've calculated that little Chloe has spent substantially more time in her carseat than her crib or anywhere else for that matter! She is a well known customer at HomeDepot, our city's building dept. and Direct Buy, and dare I say, a favorite one! Everyone loves a baby. Noah's adjusted to pre-school although he no longer likes nap time. He loves to color and carpets our floors with Michael's old blueprints that he glitters and glues together. Well, better run, time to get on the road and see what's happening at the house! Love to you all!

Family and Thanksgiving.

What a year to be thankful! We spent the day with Mandi, Joaquin and Lucca and cooked up a storm. This is our 4th Thanksgiving together and we're finally comfortable with the dishes to get things on the table hot or cold as needed and even be able to relax and enjoy one another and the kids in the process.

There is so much to be thankful for. While it's cliche, health, family, a home and full bellies top the list. We pray for peace and stability for the coming months and years, but today was warm and full of fun memories for us parents of watching the children roll around with one another and experience their impressions of what Thanksgiving means (Noah - Indians sharing corn with Pilgrims sharing pie). Lots of love to you all! Oh, and plenty of corn and pie!

Drywall is going up!

Noah is beginning to warm up the house as it begins to take shape. Before, he thought that it was dirty, yucky and smelly.

Best books for baby

Chloe's been chilling with some new reading material over the holiday weekend. Looks like a real page turner.

Renovation Progress Nov 19

Photobucket Album

Mom and her granddaughter

My mom was here for a long weekend to help out with Chloe and Noah while Michael and I worked on the house. We miss her very much already.

My little guy is growing up

I'm continually shocked by what Noah is able to do. He talks to me and tells me his thoughts and corrects me when I'm wrong. He helps me with Chloe and is beginning to really help out picking up around the house. Where did my baby go?

Fall Colors

My mom and I took the kids to snap some fall pictures. Chloe is now able to sit up!

Scary, Silly Sibling

My favorite part of being a mommy has been watching the relationship between Noah and Chloe grow. Okay, so it's not much yet - considering one is barely understandable and the other non-talking. They are still a riot to watch!

Election Day

We proudly fulfilled our civic duty and voted today at the local high school. I strapped both kids into the double stroller and brought candy to bribe Noah while we waited in line. However, everything went so quickly since so many people in Sonoma mailed in their vote. Noah was excited to wear his "I voted" sticker all day. And I snacked on candy the rest of the day!

Grandpa Pumpkin

Noah just can't seem to get enough of Halloween. Everything scary alternately intrigues and spooks him out! We got out the crayons and decorated our pumpkins. Noah and daddy did this pumpkin. We think it bears more than a passing resemblance to grandpa!

Happy Halloween!

Noah is so 'sighted!! (so excited) for his halloween party at Montessori school. He'll have a parade and (healthy) treats to share. Remind me to try to get more creative about what you put in a healthy treat bag next year. It's halloween for goodness sakes - I expect a sugar high. Chloe is a panda for the school party and is going to be a puppy for trick-or-treating tonight. Typical girl, has to switch it up! Can't be seen wearing the same thing twice. (Actually, I just couldn't decide!)
Have a Happy Halloween!

Sitting Pretty - well almost

Here's Chloe "sitting" at the pumpkin patch in Greenbrae last week on Friday. She almost can sit w/o help. Noah was too busy jumping in the bouce house to pose for a picture!

Some Toys You Just Never Outgrow!

We've been pulling all of Noah's baby toys out for Chloe to use. Noah's reliving his past all over again.

John McCain Sighting Yesterday

We were just driving along the 101 when we got passed up by John McCain. He's such a down to earth guy - no presidential motorcade or anything!

And the walls came tumblin', tumblin'...down

Michael spent Saturday filling up a small dumpster and then we filled up a larger one yesterday!

On Top of the World at the Pumpkin Patch

We've been talking about a visit for the pumpkin patch for WEEKS! We drive by each and every day on our way to Marin, but have been waiting to go with Noah's school field trip. So bright and early, after meeting a friend for coffee and a chat, we headed out to the patch on a bright and sunny day that would reach to 90 degrees.

Noah had a blast climbing on the haystack, relocating pumpkins, poking at the rooster and posing as a scarecrow. About a half an hour in, I realized I wasn't seeing anyone that we know. Turns out that we were at the wrong Patch! And that there are 8 in Petaluma. Never did find the school, but had a great time anyway!

State of the union...

He loves to make Chloe laugh and smile. Chloe will be 6 months on the 17th. She is very fond of laying on her belly and is reaching for everything. She'll only eat food mixed with breast milk. She spits anything else out. So she's not eating very often right now. I've just been too busy to pump. I was curious to see what Noah was doing at her age. He was already crawling, sitting up on his own and pulling himself up in the crib and on furniture. I can't even imagine Chloe doing any of that! She still pretty much stays put.

Pack it in - Pack it out

Noah's new thing in the car is to question my sense of direction..."mom are we going the right way?", "this isn't how we get to school". He also loves to drive around our neighborhood and look at all of the "scary houses" that are decorated for Halloween.

I'm amazed by the shear volume of items that we load into our car on a daily basis! Since we've begun to drive the hour or so to Noah's preschool we leave the house at 10AM and return about 7 in the evening. So there are AM snacks, school lunch, a snack for the drive home and dinner to pack up each morning (or I'm learning, the night before), extra clothes for Noah and Chloe (it's in the 50's when we leave and 80's by lunch time right now), toys for Chloe, diapers for both, DVD player with movies for the evening trip, specification catalogs for appliances, kitchen cabinets, plumbing fixtures for planning purposes, measuring tape, stroller, baby carrier, diaper bags, the list just goes on and on! I remember when I used to leave the house with a wallet, phone and lip gloss! Life has changed so much.

1st Week Progress - Room for a view

Our realtor recommended a great arborist to come and help us clear the wildlife away from the house. Here is the After and Before:

Bonk on the Nose

Noah fell of the seat of the sand box and took the brunt of the fall on his little nose. This is what he looked like that night.





Since we couldn't get an appt with his pediatrician, we took Noah into
the ER this morning (well and into the afternoon) and they checked
him out. The doctor says that he'll be just fine. She said that it's
a misnomer to call it a broken nose, because so much of a child's nose
is cartilage, so its classified as a facial contusion, but the care is the
same as a broken nose. We visited the doctor's office the next after noon with an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor. He didn't seem to have much pain, but he was fussy and slept more than normal.