Before and After

It should be criminal to be this giddy about a blog post, but as a diehard HGTV fan, I've been looking forward to doing a virtual "before and after" tour for an embarrassingly long time.

We've finally reached a stopping point with our renovations to the new house, and we thought it would be fun to take a look back at where we began. We bought my grandmother's house, where "Mop" and her six siblings were raised, so moving in and transforming this house that has so much personal history has been a fun and interesting challenge. Every step of the way, I found myself wondering what "Ma" would have thought of this paint color, or that furniture arrangement. I hope she would have approved, and I have a feeling she absolutely loves seeing new babies put down roots and grow here!

The house hadn't been lived in for several months when these pictures were taken, and most of my grandma's furniture and artwork had been removed, which is why it has a bit of a deserted and abandoned look. When my grandma was alive, she was a meticulous housekeeper, with a warm and comfortable home. But the house did have a lot of deferred maintenance, as you'll see!

Front of house BEFORE

Front of house AFTER (just missing black shutters!)

Front entry BEFORE

Front entry AFTER

Living room BEFORE

Living room AFTER

Dining room BEFORE

Dining room AFTER

Family Room BEFORE

Family Room AFTER

Front Guest Bathroom - BEFORE

Front Guest Bathroom - AFTER

Guest Bedroom - BEFORE

Guest Bedroom - AFTER

Girls' Room - BEFORE

Girls' Room - AFTER

Joey's Room - BEFORE

Joey's Room AFTER

Master Bedroom - BEFORE

Master Bedroom - AFTER

Kitchen - BEFORE

Kitchen - AFTER (more changes to come here, with new countertops, floor, sink, and some appliances)

And finally, the backyard BEFORE!

The backyard AFTER

And that's a wrap (for now)!!

Five Months!

The Help

When Shawna was expecting her twins, and later, when they were newborns, we both couldn't believe how often she was asked, "You have help, right?"

I never expected this question to be directed at me, but apparently with three children, it's customary to call in the cavalry.  People stop me all the time as I'm herding Joey and Clara around, and carrying the carseat in the crook of my arm: "Wow! You have your hands full! Do you have help?" Or, "You make it look so easy! You must have help!"

Well, I'm here to tell you that yes, I do have help. It's live-in, legal, (mostly) English-speaking, and best of all, free! We just have to supply the step stool.

Flying High

Joey's world hit a high note on Saturday, when he, Tim, and Grandma Cecchin got front-row seats to see the Blue Angels fly over the San Francisco Bay. He was amped about this excursion for weeks beforehand, especially because he knew he would get to meet a former Blue Angel in person -- a colleague of Tim's, who set up their Marina Green VIP tent.

Even when he's not meeting pilots the following day, Joey is too excited to sleep half the time. So it shouldn't have been that surprising to discover him wide awake at 2 a.m. Saturday morning, feverishly coloring in the family room so that he could present some artwork to "Pilot Matt."

Here he is shyly giving his masterpiece to "Pilot Matt," not to be confused with "Matt, Megan's Daddy." He may not be able to remember his teacher's name, but he has retained every shred of information he knows about Pilot Matt, including the number that was on his plane. Here, Matt's #4 jet is going vertical into the sun, with Joey and the rest of our family observing from below.

Thanks to Grandma Cecchin for taking these pictures! I stayed home with Clara and Molly, and when we reunited, Joey sputtered, "You shoulda been there!!! This was my most super favorite day ever!!"

Looming Intervention

The Law of Imminent Facial Surgeries states that an infant's thumb-sucking addiction will increase in the weeks preceding surgery. The baby will also develop another closely related, and equally alarming habit: tummy sleeping.

Girls are from Earth, Boys are From Jupiter

Joey's recent interest in planets exploded when we informed him that Uncle Kyle was actually born on Jupiter. He's become obsessed with a library book about this mysterious place, but already seems more skeptical than Kyle was of this story at the same age.




"But Mommy, how did God get Uncle Kyle back down to Earth??"

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Molly May's Special Day

We decided to really break in our back yard, and threw two huge parties on back-to-back weekends. The guest of honor this weekend? Molly May. She was baptized at our new parish church here in Moraga, and we had a wonderful day celebrating our very special little girl, surrounded by our families.

Molly was smiley and unflappable throughout the baptism, and beamed several sweet smiles directly at the priest -- he later told us that she was one of the happiest and smiliest babies he's ever baptized!

Everyone headed back to the house after the baptism, and we snagged some godparent pictures, as well as some extremely rare family photos!

Thanks to all who helped us celebrate, especially Molly's godparents, John and Stacey!

Rock n' Roll

At four and a half months, we have a roller! Unfortunately, no one witnessed Molly's back-to-stomach feat this morning... we were smack in the middle of our breakfast chaos. Hopefully this won't be the case for all of her milestones!

Off to start babyproofing ;)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Today at Target, surrounded by my brood, and attempting to print a baby registry at a computer kiosk, I somehow was mistaken for a Target employee. A Target employee who was out of uniform and had decided to bring all of her children to work. These details seemed irrelevant to the 75 year-old woman who accosted me.

"Ma'am, I locked my keys in the car, and I need you to call Triple A."

Despite the fact that I abhor being called ma'am, I obliged. After receiving help from complete strangers many times over the past few months, I was happy to pay it forward, despite two monkeys cavorting at my feet, and a baby who was unhappy and being vocal about it. I pulled out my cell phone, located the emergency roadside service number for AAA, and, most impressively, showed this elderly lady how to speak into an iPhone.

I then waited for what seemed like forever for her to get off my iPhone, so I could go about my business -- namely, bribing children to be good in Target by heading straight to the toy aisle.

But then, an actual Target employee appeared on the scene, and was entranced by my kids.

"Wow, you have your hands full!" she said. "And one more on the way, too!!" She cast a knowing look directly at my stomach.

She looked like she could have been mentally challenged. I'm really clinging to that.

One of These Kids is Doing Their Own Thing

One of our favorite things about Lamorinda is that everything seems to cater to young families, even the gyms! Our new gym not only provides awesome childcare while we work out -- the most powerful incentive I've ever had to do some cardio! -- but classes for kids are also included in the membership.

For the fall session, white belt Tae Kwon Do and Beginning Dance happened to be scheduled at the same time, in studios right next door to each other. In other words, the stars aligned perfectly in my mommy world, and I'm able to usher Joey and Clara into their respective activities, take a seat in an armchair where I can see both classes, and nurse Molly for a peaceful half hour.

Here's Clara, going against the grain in a class that is exploding in pink (thanks Aunt Meredith, for helping out this novice mom and supplying our little dance student with everything she needed for class!). Thanks to her birthday party, Clara now has an assortment of tutus in every color imaginable!

Meanwhile, Joey was the lone student in his class who wasn't properly outfitted for Tae Kwon Do... next week we'll be more on the ball!

Tales Out of School

Anthropologists interested in the differences between the sexes need only ride shotgun in my SUV after a school pick-up. I never realized just how different boys and girls could be before shuttling two of these little creatures to and from academia.

On Teachers

Clara: "Mommy, I love Miss Luci. She helped me use the bathroom, and let me paint, AND let me play with Play-Doh!"


Joey: "Mommy, what are my teachers' names again?"
Mommy: "Miss Kristi and Miss Jill."
Joey: "Oh yeah. Miss Kristi and Miss Jill. Miss Kristi and Miss Jill. Miss Kristi and Miss Jill. Miss Kristi and Miss Jill. Miss Kristi and Miss Jill. I need to remember that."
(One minute passes.)
Joey: "Mommy, what are my teachers' names again?"

On Playing

Clara: "I helped Henry a lot today. Can I play with Brooke at her house?"

Joey: "Well, I play kind of rough at school. Some kids play more gently, so I don't play with them. I don't play soooo rough that I hit or kick anyone, or kill anyone, though."

Mommy: "Oh, good. That's a relief."

On Discipline

Clara: "Mommy, I'm so sorry. I was bad during clean-up time. Miss Luci said 'Clean up, clean up! Everybody clean up!' And I didn't. I sorry."

Joey: "Playing on the playground is not so fun when the teacher says you can't play with swords. Why can't you play with swords, Mommy?"