the drop off

08.27.09  - Oliver, age 2 months & 27 days was dropped off at his orphanage.

08.27.12 - Oliver, age 3 years, 2 months & 27 days was dropped off at his preschool

God's got such a sense of humor or timing or both.  Today is just one of those days where you see the full circle and it's simply amazing.

We prepped for preschool, we talked about it all month, we visited, and he could recite the routine... "Mama is going to take me to preschool, I say "bye bye mama," then I go and play with my friends, I listen to Miss. Davis, and then mama comes back."  And amazingly it actually happened all just like that.  Snapped some photos, walked him in, put his stuff in his cubbie, smooch face, bye bye...no tears, because what's sad about preschool?

shiny & gold, no more

Continuing on with the theme of getting baby's room ready, let's talk about ceiling fans.  Ceiling fans are not stylish, they are functional, especially when it's hot.  As much as I'd really love to rip them all out, and replace them with something so much prettier, I know it would be foolish.

However, something really had to be done with this hot gold mess...

the before

 First thing we did was remove the lights and shades, then unscrew all the blades.  We gave everything a good cleaning and then took the removable parts outside to spray paint away their goldness.

Oliver putting all the screws into a
play-doh pancake, so they can be easily painted

 

two thin coats of primer
two thin coats of semi gloss white

Now I was unable to remove the whole thing from the ceiling, I'm just not that skilled.  Instead I made a newspaper tent around it and spray painted it right there on the ceiling...with the windows open, a fan in the window, and a mask over my face.  I'd run in, give it a quick spay, and run back out X3

put it all back together
add new shades

 
Amazing? No, not really. 
Better?  Yes, white is better then gold. 

dresser, refinished

Back here I raved about a $40 dresser I scored.  I finally got around to giving it a bit of love. 

the before

After arriving home the dresser spent a few weeks hanging out by the front door, classy.  Later, when we had help, is was drug down to the basement...where many projects go to die.  Eventually I came across a pin for some "Gel Stain."  The pin led me to a blog post about a lady trying to make her kitchen less oaky.  She claimed that with this type of stain you didn't have to sand and sand for an eternity before you could start staining.  Sanding is my least favorite part, so I jumped over to amazon and ordered a 1/2 pint of gel stain, in java.  I also went over to Lowe's and picked up a quart of oil based white paint, for the top. 

 

I didn't take any photos of the during.  You can read her detailed post for all that.  Just trust me, it was easy.  Like really really easy.  Clean with a damp cloth, sand for a few seconds, wipe off dust, wipe on stain, let dry over night, apply second coat of stain, let dry over night, call it done.  If I wanted a darker color I could have used a third coat, but I really liked it after two, it felt close to the original without being orange-y.  

 

Side note; this stain is really amazing.  It is indeed a gel, so it's super thick.  I used a paint stick to scoop out about a tablespoon, plopped it on the drawer and used a cloth to rub it in, following along with the grain.  For the curvy hard to reach grooves of the drawers I used a Q-trip.  No brushes necessary, which means not having to clean them.  Ya!  I did however get a bunch of stain on my hands, because I hate wearing rubber gloves.  A splash of olive oil and some salt took the stain off my hands in no time.  

 

I also ordered some poly to finish everything off.  However, I felt that the stain was amazingly smooth and seemingly very durable, so I skipped that part. Also, the oil based paint clung nicely to the top, even though it was veneer and not actual wood.  I'll admit I was skeptical about the top, the first coat was really rough and streaky looking.  I just kept at it, a high density foam roller does amazing things.  Coat of paint, light sanding, dry...X3.  It's super smooth and scrub-able, which seems important since it's also going to serve as baby's changing table.   

 

the after

now baby had a place to keep his/her diapers

 

I'll admit it, I'm feeling a bit jealous....baby has a way nicer dresser then I do!  Also, it came in way under my $200 baby dresser budget.  

rashy

There were a few blissful weeks, two to be exact.  I stopped throwing up, I was rested and happy after vacation, and things were well with the babe at the week 20 check up.  At said 20 week check up I had a very small patch of itchy skin on my jaw line.  I mentioned it to the doctor, because I was there, she said I could take benadrly  if I found it necessary.  Got it.  That was a Monday.

Tuesday, rash moves to neck & chest
Wednesday, pain and intense itching increase
Thursday, rash moves to hips, very painful, can't stand it, call the doctor.

OB says see my general practitioner, his office can't take me and I can't wait, get sent to urgent care.  Urgent care diagnoses me with, wait for it....a rash.  Pretty sure I knew that, pretty sure even Oliver knew that.  They give me a script for a steroid cream.

Friday, the pain is out of control, it hurts to exist, my stomach is solid red and hot, everything itches, and it's moving down my legs and arms.  Plus the steroid cream seems to have made it worse, feels like a chemical burn.  Forget about sleeping, or sitting, or moving in general.

By Monday I hadn't slept in a few days and demanded an appointment with my OB.  She didn't know what it was, but wrote a script for a high powered allergy medication that might take the itching down and help me sleep, she requested I come back Thursday to check in.  The medication did help me sleep, but it didn't do anything else.  Drug myself back in on Thursday, no improvement, a new script for oral steroids. 

Let's pause for a second.  That's three prescriptions over the course of a week and a half.  That's more prescriptions then I've been on in the last 10 years.  I don't get sick.  I rarely take any medication.  I've actually got a fairly high pain tolerance.  Being pregnant makes me want to take any medication even less, you just never know.  But I couldn't stand it, my body was on fire and itching like crazy, so I said yes to the steroids.  They are the strongest medication I've ever been on.

WoW! Steroids are amazing.  I was warned they could make me moody, and have some crazy dreams.  I was nervous but being crazy actually sounded better then what I was enduring.  Well for me, they were amazing.  My energy level went through the roof.  I painted the baby's room, refinished baby's dresser, hung curtains, cleaned my house like a crazy woman, all while my rash slowly vanished.  Now I'm almost to the end of the dose and I'm nervous that when the medication is finished the rash is going to come back.  My doctor thinks it could be a allergic reaction to something, but since I don't know what, I might still be doing it....let's hope not.  Let's log a couple more weeks before something else happens. 

half baked, baby #2

In case you missed it, here is the post where I told y'all we were having a second child.  It's a good one full of throw up stories and a tale of how my in-laws has no idea what an ultrasound picture was. 

Currently, I'm 20 weeks, which is half way done for this babe...give or take a week or so, really they come when they feel like it.  Anyway, around week 18 I stopped throwing up everyday, now I just puke once or twice a week.  I shall call that a victory!!

Jim, Oliver, and I went in for an ultrasound today.  The tech checked all baby's parts.  We got to see baby kick my bladder, wave it's arm around, and other general squirming.  We also got to see and hear the heart chugging away at 146bmp.  After about 5-10 minutes our tech proclaimed that things were looking well, she printed some pictures and sent me off to my doctor with the full report. 

The doctor looked over the information, measured my belly, listened to the heartbeat, and proclaimed things to good.  See ya in September.

2 years ago

Two years ago, after a flight half way around the world, and about a million other hurdles, we met our son.  Often times we will hear something like "he is so lucky" or "you did/are doing such a great thing."  The truth is we were a family with out a kid and he was a kid in need of a family.  We fit together just perfectly and all parties are equally blessed. 

 

That baby starts preschool at the end of the month.  "I go to preschool.  I say goodbye mama,  I love you, then I go play."

messy painting fun

Thanks to IKEA for this giant flat box.  The box previously held a chair, crazy.  I set it up to hold some paint, brushes and animals...then I let him loose.  

 

 

"that is a colorful elephant, mama"

 

"ahhh my toe is blue"

"now I'm going to dance"

"I paint my belly"

"I'm making the water dirty"

made it back

We got back to Kansas, from our almost month long jaunt across the country and back, on Monday night.  The drive home felt much easier then the drive out.  It was cooler and I was really excited for Niagara Falls and Chicago IKEA.  We also made stops in Upstate NY and Cleveland, OH

 Niagara Falls, Ontario
We both had our passports.  We didn't have anything dangerous or suspicious in our car.  However, we didn't have Jim or a note from Jim and the Canadians were under impressed.  Something about traveling across boarders and child abduction.  I got a million questions, from the drive up immigration folks, about what I was doing here (in a major tourist area) with my kid.  After that I was sent to the official immigration office to speak with someone about my intentions.  Eventually we made it in.

after parking at our hotel we went down to the
falls to ride the maid in the mist

 

Oliver's comment was "wow that was a misty ride"

dinner at the Hard Rock

Leaving Canada wasn't quite as challenging, we didn't need to get out of the car, but were still questioned for a good three minutes longer then most of the cars in front of us. 

A night in Cleveland and then onto Chicago.  We hung out at Millennium Park, enjoyed snacks and fancy non-alcholic drinks at the top of the Hancock Tower, and deep dish pizza for dinner.  Next morning we stopped at IKEA before our last and longest drive of the trip, 8 hours to Kansas. 

inside the bean

silly fountains

is Kansas City the only place with no
open free splash area for kids? 

Back tomorrow with some details about the 50ish hours of driving time we logged.