Choosing a paint color....

 Have I mentioned I am indecisive when I am pregnant? My poor husband. First the babies name dilemma and now this. I wanted to go with a gray with white trim. 6 or 7 paint samples later I have finally made up my mind. Since I made a mistake about the first gallon we bought we are going with an accent wall in Silver and the rest of the walls in Elephant Gray ( which is actually not pictured in the above picture). Walls are primed and getting painted today and tomorrow. Biggest wait time was the ceiling. We had to get a professional in here to match the ugly popcorn ceiling ( because it takes a special tool that Mike does not have). Before anyone thinks we are fans of the popcorn look we are not but the whole house has it and its easier to just match it in the spots in the ceiling where the dry wall was repaired/redone than sand the whole darn ceiling and still have popcorn in the rest of the house.

 voila.... can you even tell whats old and whats new??

 The plastic bubble covered room we are dealing with. LOVE the mess!! But hey better now than when baby arrives!

This is where the "mudroom" will be. Its hard to tell under the plastic but the bead-board is up!! Hope Mike can get to the built ins this weekend if the painting is done.  The flooring is back ordered at Home Depot so its unlikely the project will be complete before #4 arrives but the messiest parts should be done at least so that is good.

Very important Baby Business!!

We never got our old house blessed. This time I was determined to do it and do it before the baby's birth since we hope for it to be a home birth. Huge thanks to Deacon Andrew and Deacon Jorge ( both to be ordained priests in a few short months!) for stopping here on their way back from Baltimore and blessing it for us. As you can see we enjoyed a yummy meal and there were dirty dishes and kids and toys everywhere. The chaos of family life, showered in Holy Water. Israel was funny telling Andrew " Don't get my toys WET!!!" When their was holy water flinging everywhere. Thank you Andrew and Jorge!!

35 weeks with #4

terrible picture but you get the idea!

My favorites from Joe and Christine's wedding

Nothing like getting married just hours after it stopped snowing from the blizzard of 2013. 2 feet of snow! We made it there and it was a beautiful ceremony and a fun filled reception. Nothing like a dance floor filled with kids under 10 to make for a good time.

 So handsome dressed up!

 Flower girl Keira

 The couple

 Nairi finds Corduroy more entertaining than the wedding Mass

 Daddy and son

 Sisters!

 Someone must be touching their face in every family pic right? And me of course big and pregnant because we apparently only take family pictures when I am weeks away from giving birth.

 It might appear that they do love each other once in a while...

Taking a break from dancing to watch someone shovel the mounds of snow

Influenza

What do you get when you add 3 home bound kids, one very pregnant mama and a case of influenza? Absolute nuttiness. That is us. Bringing stir crazy to a whole new level. Keira had a fever x 7 days, a positive flu swab and now an ear infection. Israel had 3 days of fever and appears to be over the hump. Nairi is just starting with the fever.  It appears we will go no where in February.  I'm more than ready for Spring which I can see is nowhere in site as we wait for the Nor'Easter of 2013 to bring us 2 feet of snow.  What exactly are the kids doing in this picture? Making their own drum chorus with books, pencils, spoons and bowls. Yes they are bored. We have done a million crafts, play dough, read books, watched movies, played endless games of Go Fish and Memory. Keira and Israel missed a complete week of school.  I will say dealing with being home bound and winter  is 100x easier in our new house than in our last tiny one. Space makes all the difference!!
Think we might need to break open a bottle of wine tonight while we watch the snow fall.

Dry wall is up

One step closer to moving onto the more exciting aspect of the project. My mudroom built in's and the new entry way/ kitchen flooring.

Pocket door fail...

 The plan was one last day of demo ( today) before the construction takes shape. All the venting pipes have been moved and this was the last step. We wanted to turn the bathroom door into a pocket door b/c directly behind the bathroom door is my HE washing machine door. I say HE because the door opens on the side  (aka a side loader) and is always open otherwise the machine gets musty. So the 2 doors are constantly banging into each other.

 But alas there is a pipe ( see R of the door) in the wall so the pocket door is a no go....

 Oh well on to dry wall patching so that the mudroom and new floor can go in and the project can start to take shape. Its slow going b/c the work only happens on weekends and I don't want him working all weekend because then I don't get a break from the constant kid duty. The drywall is going to take a bit since once its up it has to be mudded and dried and then sanded etc. Its not a one day process and then we have to match the ugly popcorn ceiling which requires hiring a professional since you need a special gun to do the popcorn look. We hate the popcorn ceiling but the whole house has it so its not prudent to spend big bucks smoothing the ceilings of the whole house. I would rather do something else like put on a back deck.

Ceiling that must be patched.

She is almost 2 !~ Happy 22 months Nairi

At 22 months you talk a mile a minute just like Keira and Israel used too. Your most used phrases are " I do it!! My job!" " Nairi do it!" and " Where daddy go? Where Keira go? Where Israel go?" You are fiercely independent and insist on trying to do everything yourself. Even things like putting on your jacket and shoes which you lack the motor control to do. You get frustrated at your lack of ability to do these things. You adore babies and puzzles and books.  You will come up to me with a stack of books and say " Sit DOWN! There! On the ground. Read books!!!" We do puzzles about 10 times a day. You love to play with Israel and he remains your favorite person in the world besides Mama of course.
In the car you get bored and ask to get out of your car seat all the time. You insist on listening to the same 3 songs. Cotton Eyed Joe, Gummy Bear song, and I'm a daddy and I know it.
You are still a great eater but have picked up the phrase from your siblings "There is green things! No like! " You sleep through the night maybe 3-4 nights out of the week and make sure to get daddy up 3-4 times a night the rest of the week.
Some of your other loves are chocolate, going outside and Curious George. We are already planning your second birthday with a Curious George themed cake.