Terrible Twos are Truly Terrible

I'm not sure who these tantrums are worse for, myself or the little guy that can't express his desires, anger, and frustration.  Yesterday was the worst I've seen.  Ryter has been having tantrums for a while every once in a while.  Typically when he's tired or hungry.  Usually I can put him down for a nap or feed him and he's fine.  Yesterday was a whole different animal!  Throwing himself around on the floor all day pretty much.  He wanted a banana, then I gave him a banana, then he cried because he didn't want the banana.  Same goes for the walk in the stroller, painting with water, playing with toys, watching Finding Nemo, eating animal crackers, milk, juice, water and dinner.  He was even so mad at me for offering him what he asked for that he ran full speed at the oven and whacked his forehead on the door handle.

He finally napped for 3 1/2 hours which was a fantastic break for both of us. He woke up just as evil as he went to bed though.  I kept thinking if I can just get him to nap he'll be back to normal.  NOPE!  I had to put him in the high chair in the kitchen while I made dinner and just let him be mad because it seemed the only safe place to keep him from running into things or hitting them and hurting himself.  Total insanity.

Vain arrived home about 6pm from work and calmed Ryter for about 15 minutes...then it all started again and Vain says...and I quote..."I'm about to lose it babe".  UM? I just used the take-a-deep-breath technique that I preach to Ryter all the time when he gets frustrated (which of course did not work for him at all yesterday) and continued on through the screaming while Vain found himself a quite place to take his deep breath.

Since I don't have any tantrum photos to give anyone a good laugh and be grateful that they weren't me yesterday, this is how I prefer to picture my child:

Scarlet Fever

Ryter came down with his very first sickness in his entire life this week.  So, for his first illness why go with something simple like a cold...too common...how 'bout some Scarlet Fever to make it interesting?  He started with a rash last Monday that continued until Wednesday when I took him to the doctor.  She didn't seem concerned, but of course Vain and I were a little nervous.  It's apparently no biggie these days even though people in the 1950's were quarantined for weeks because of it.

We found a new pediatrician out of the deal too.  She's right up the street within walking distance which is pretty cool.  We really like her.  Our other pediatrician who I really like (because he's a D.O. and being hot doesn't hurt)  is just too far for these kind of last minute appointments.  He's in Germantown and it takes about an hour to get there.  It's just silly.

So, poor sicky has been watching a lot of Finding Nemo, Toy Story, and Thomas.  He had a fever for the first couple of days after he started his medicine, but that seems to have gone away now.  He's just a little low at times and doesn't have a great appetite, but otherwise is his crazy busy self.  Hopefully this will all be in the past by next Friday!

21 Weeks

Well, I'm half way there.  The baby is kicking around, but still only I can feel it.  Ryter is starting to get impatient about this new baby.  I don't think he believes us!  The other day he lifted my shirt up and said "New baby. Open it?"  I don't know if he can make it another 21 weeks.

Ryter-22 weeks

Baby No. 2-21 weeks

Rydoo and McGillicuddy

It's been a while since I've talked about Ryter, Vain, or this new baby growing inside me.  Well, I'm 17 weeks tomorrow and my belly is definitely bigger with this one than with Ryter.

Ryter-16 Weeks

New Baby-17 Weeks

I'm also feeling a lot more stiffness this time, and I think this baby is really low for now because I remember being able to bend over a lot easier at this stage last time than I can now.  It just feels painful like I'm squishing the little Thumper.  Speaking of Thumper, I can already feel this one moving.  It's probably because I already know what it feels like so I can recognize it better.  I'll get my ultrasound in 2 weeks, but we're waiting again to find out what flavor this one will be until the very end.  I've been thinking about that and wondering why I don't have the urge to know the sex, but I just don't.  I really love surprises, and I don't peek at presents so maybe that's why I can be so patient.  I like to get the gift when it's meant to be given and never before.  That goes for birthday presents too.  Don't even try to give me something before the actual day!

So, the subject of this post is a little off I know.  Earlier this week Ryter decided to call himself Rydoo.  He's very serious about it sometimes.  If I ask him who "that" is in videos or pictures, he says Rydoo.  When I ask him "is your name Rydoo" he looks and me and says "yeah....noooooo".  It's very very funny!  I really have no clue where he got Rydoo.  I've always called him Rytee which he does call himself sometimes.  Whatever it is, I'm sure he'll have a new name for himself next week.  As for McGillicuddy...Vain asked me if I would call him that from now on.  I live in a very very weird house!

Ryter has been growing up so much!  He's trying the potty, although quite unsuccessfully.  A couple of times he actually went, but for now he just wants the chocolate treat he gets after he goes potty.  I can't give in :).  He's counting to 10, knows most of his colors (likes red the most and yellow is the hardest to learn), knows most of his shapes (circle is his favorite), and a few letters (O is the most popular).  He started singing the ABCs but it's mostly a combination of A D D I W and X.

I'm trying to teach him about the baby in my belly, he mostly just says New Baby when he points to unpacked boxes because I told him he can't open them because they're for the new baby.

 

Living and Dining Update

The living and dining rooms are still not complete, but they are painted and the curtains are up.  It's kind of hard to take pictures in these two rooms because there are so many windows that the colors get a little bit distorted, but it's what I've got so far.

This was the living room color before:

Now, it looks like this:

I'm working on furniture for the far side of the room where those two dining room chairs currently sit. I guess I don't have a photo of the curtains in the living room right now, but they are the same as the gray ones in the dining room.

Here are our new pets. Strangely, it feels more alive in here now.

...and our new vents.  This made the room feel so much more clean!

old

new

The dining room has been painted.  It went from a dark cranberry color to really really light lavender.  It feels so much bigger now! 

before

after

 The colored dining room chairs have moved to either side of the buffet in the dining room and are getting slip covers in this fabric:

The chairs were recovered in gray, and will be painted white this spring.

I'm still waiting for a sale at Home Depot for this rug under the table:

We got a new, brighter, up to electrical code chandelier with a new light switch to control it.  The old chandelier was actually rigged and tied into an extension cord that went across the ceiling, down the wall, and plugged in at the floor...not safe and not code!  My mom thought of the ceiling medallion which is actually just a very light weight silver and gold piece of metal work from Pier 1.  Not just for walls anymore.

We're movin' and groovin'.  Next BIG project are kitchen counters and cabinets.  I'm dying to start on that, but for now...caulk, caulk, and more caulk!  I've found that it really hides a lot of things I can't otherwise fix!

Sneak peek on the counters-I found this on Pinterest and have already bought half of the butcher block I need.  SO EXCITED!

Stairs and Hallway Progress

I've been waiting to post photos of the final stair case and hallway for a long time.  It really never feels like it's going to end.  Today I finally finished painting the stairs after almost a week and a half of naps.  2 hours seems like a long time when you want to take a nap, but not so long when you want to paint your stairs!  So, I just decided that I'd post progress instead of waiting for the final product.

You may remember from earlier posts or Facebook that my stairs originally looked like this:

I suppose they could have removed the railing!

started taking the carpet off before photos

Then, my mom and I tore the carpet off and I paid someone to come in and make the banister look like this:

Thanks Terry

In the mean time I had the bright yellow walls painted Navajo White (although it still looks yellow). Can you tell?

After much thought and a side project painting the living and dining rooms, I decided to prime and fill the staple holes.  Then it looked like this:

Then today I put the last coat on the last step of my aqua ombre project.  It's subtle and even more subtle in photos than in person but I LOVE it!  I rant into a little issue today when going back with the wall color to touch up.  Turns out the wall color that I have in the can doesn't match what's on the wall.  Sometimes from gallon to gallon the colors can vary a little.  This one varies quite a bit, but I'll fix the problem.  So, it's not done, but it looks pretty done for now.

The banister still needs a final coat of white, the steps need to be varnished to protect them, and I may paint the railing and end post a charcoal gray.  Haven't decided yet!

The upstairs hallway has been a mess since we got carpet in January.  The installers removed the hall carpet and hauled it away, but I didn't have them lay anything down in it's place.  There were a lot of staples left over that I had to remove and some carpet tacks as well.  Since then it's been a patchwork of rugs protecting our feeties from splinters.  I hoped so much, considering the house was built in the '30s, that there would be something other than plywood under the carpet, but no such luck.  Plywood it is!  Here's what it looks like now (new railing upstairs too!):

The plan is to paint the floor with this stencil in a combination of charcoal, aqua, and white:

Paint Colors

I'm finally making some choices around here.  Thanks to my mom for pushing me because seriously we're sitting in a pile of crap with mismatched furniture, half torn up carpet, and lots Lots LOTS of yellow walls.

A Norse Legend
My palette for my living/dining/kitchen is really what I'm most excited about because I'm going gray.  It's not something I've ever done before as you all know.  I'm always bold with reds, blue, greens, and every wall a different color.  We're quieting down this time.

Gray walls with Martha Stewart's Bedford Gray (or something close to that),

and a beautiful almost purple but not quite called North Cascades in the dining room, 

 

and Martha Stewart's Gray Squirrel on the cabinets in the kitchen.

As far as the kitchen goes, I'm toying with the idea of keeping the counter tops to save some money.  They're formica and they're not attractive, but they are plain and in order to make them work, I think I can paint the top cabinets a creamy white color and the counters won't be so bad.
 
I posted a really dark picture of the blinds last week, but these are the blinds that I chose for all of the windows in the dining and living rooms, and up the stairs in the hallway. (that is not the view out of any of my windows)

The fabric for the dining chairs that will eventually be white, or some shade of that, is also gray.  I know this all seems really boring, but the accent color is aqua and all of the wood is cherry colored. It's so yummy!!

I also made a decision on the paint color in the bedroom.  We finally put our black platform bed together yesterday now that we have new carpet.  We got a gray and gold bedspread and I have a cute chair that I will recover with gray and gold as well.  I am going bold with the wall color in the bedroom because most of the walls will be covered with cabinetry from Ikea, windows, window treatments, bed/headboard and closet doors.  In the end there won't be very much wall showing.

Gallant Gold

Bedding

chair fabric

headboard and roman shade above bed

wardrobes

So, those are all of the decision I've made so far.  I will update with pictures of the real thing soon!