How We Started 2013

Sorry, I'm not even going to be creative and hold you in suspense...

We started it by painting our addition!

I'm so excited about it I could scream, or something.  :)  My mom came over today and we painted the entry, hallway, office and most of my bedroom.  We would've finished my bedroom, but we ran out of paint.  All that's left is the laundry room (which my dear husband is priming right now) and the bathroom (which is going to be wainscoting and wallpaper and will be finished a little later.)  Matt even hung up one of my pretty new light fixtures.  He's wonderful!

We didn't go out last night to celebrate New Year's Eve.  We decided to stay home - mostly because Clarence had been running a fever for the third day in a row and we didn't want to expose him to other kids - and also because we wanted to get all the rooms primed so Mom and I could really make progress today.  I'm so glad we did it.  I love the colors we chose and how nice it all looks so far.  Now we're on to flooring, wood on the ceilings, and wainscoting in the entry and hallway.  Progress is going great!

Sorry if it seems like all I do is talk about my addition.  I'm so excited for the extra space.  Some days, I'm so overwhelmed with the mess in my regular house I could cry.  And I have a hard time telling Matt how I feel because he's doing all he can to get things done for me.  The thing I'm most excited for is finishing the office...right now, my office desk and file cabinet are in my kitchen, one object on each end of my kitchen table.  Things get a little tight when we have company over for a meal (which explains why we've been pretty stingy with our invites this fall and winter). 

My dad came up after chores today, too.  He spent the afternoon working on making a skating rink out in my yard for the kids.  It's really thoughtful of him; he knows it's a long drive in to Hallock to take the kids skating, and he wants us to get them skating so they can play sports.  :)  Grandpa (well, all the grandparents) is excited for the kids to get involved in sports so they can start having someone to cheer for again. 


And, as I'm sure you already know, baby #3 is arriving two weeks from today.  Oh, dear!  We've got so much to do before he/she gets here.  I'm excited though, to meet this baby.  I don't have a strong feeling either way with what it is.  I can't wait to find out! It's hard to believe how fast the time has gone.  I'm ready to be done being pregnant again, too.  I get really stiff if I sit too long and really seem to waddle when I get back up to walk again.  I'm sure it's quite a sight...and totally cliche...the "pregnant waddle"...I totally feel like I have it these days.  Oh well.

Adina's been doing okay with potty training...today we had six successful bathroom trips and no accidents in her undies.  My only challenge is convincing her to sit on the potty.  She's such a headstrong little girl that I have to find creative ways to get her to sit for a while.  I ask if we can sit down and look at books together.  A couple times, I let her play with her plastic scissors and cut up a few pieces of paper (which she does, then asks for another and another...).  She's very content if she's got something to do while she sits there, but sometimes it seems to take forever to convince her to go potty.  Hopefully if I just keep on top of it, she'll get the hang of it and love being a "big girl" wearing undies.


Hope your 2013 is starting out great!

Tomorrow's agenda:  finish painting! (I think.)