Letters to Bella: 15 Months

Dear Bella,

You turned 15 months old on Friday, August 27.

15 months! When people ask how old you are, I start by saying "One year." But then I immediately feel compelled to follow that up with, "Well, 15 months, actually." I have to be specific, even to those people who don't have kids and therefore are left thinking "What's the difference, you nutter?" But there is such a difference between all those months that make up being one year old. I feel specificity is required, even if it does leave me looking like a nutter.


Anyway, you are 15 months now and you continue to evolve and change by leaps and bounds every month. The big difference between this month and last would be your vocabulary and ability to communicate.


You talk. Like, a lot. Your vocab grows by a one to two words everyday and I quit keeping track of your words midway through the month after I filled up two grocery list pages. I would say you know around 50-60 words. Of those words, maybe only 15-20 could be understood by everyone (mama, dada, bye-bye, shoe, hair, eye, nose, ball, uh oh, meow, etc.) and the rest are your own special pronunciation. One of my favorite Bella-pronunciations is the way you say swimsuit: "Schwi-shoo!" This talking thing is just thrilling to witness. You now say help and please (well, you'll say please with prompting) and all I can say is WOW, baby girl. (And if you heard me say wow out loud, you would look at me and say wow right back.)

It feels so amazing to communicate with you through words. Now you can tell us things and share your preferences. Just yesterday you pulled a dress out of your drawer, called it a shirt (an honest mistake as your dresses do tend to be on the short side given your genetic predisposition to the ultra-long torso) and then when I asked you if you wanted to wear it, you said "uh huh" and held up your arms so I could put it on you. This blows my mind. You are an actual thinking PERSON. It's amazing. You're amazing.


Your language development has meant further development of your sense of humor. Sometimes you are purposefully trying to be funny or silly, but other times you just crack us up with your response. Like when we ask you how old you are. Do you know what you say, my one year/15 months old baby? You say, very clearly I must add, that you are two. TWO! Already lying about your age.

The weird thing is that we didn't teach you to say that, it was just something you started doing all on your own. You are fully capable of saying one, but, no, you say you are two. Maybe you like to say two because it sounds like shoe? And, lord knows, you certainly like shoes. Anyway, who knows why you do it; I just know it makes me laugh.


You have also decided that burps and toots are super funny. (Or, as your grandmother would horrifyingly say: burps and bottom burps. You can thank me right now for not making you use the term "bottom burp" growing up.) You laugh and say "burr" when your daddy or I burp and you will also fake-burp on command. I love, too, that you proudly announce your toots with a "TOOT!" and a grin. I could pretend your father was responsible for teaching you these behaviors, but it was all your mama.


You remain an adventurous eater (note the LIME in your mouth in the picture above), and blueberries are by far (BY FAR!) your favorite food. I have to hide them until the end of the meal and even then only bring out a small handful, otherwise you are yelling out "Boo-bewwy" the entire meal. This blueberry consumption, however, has some not-so-delightful consequences - the kind of consequences that lead you to announce "poopy" in your special Darth Vader voice a few times during the day. It's blue poopy. For real. Blue poopy.

Hmmm. Let's talk about something more pleasant. Like...

Your hair, Bella! Oh, your hair.
The curls are just perfect. Not quite long enough to scrape into little pony-tails, but who needs pony-tails when you have fabulous curls.


So I guess that's what's going on with you right now. I am your side kick throughout the day as you demand more blueberries and book-reading, talk up a storm and are just so cute I could eat you up with a spoon. We have a lot of fun and I'm thankful to get to spend most of my time with you. It's interesting, this stay-at-home-parent business. I still love it, in spite of the challenging dump-all-your-water-on-the-floor, throw-a-tantrum-over-not-being-able-to-open-the-DVD-drawer, and the occasional resist-your-nap-with-a-passion moments. Sure there are dud times, but there are a lot of indescribably sweet moments, too. We sat on the couch last week, you tucked into my side, and we were sharing a snack of some cheese and I thought to myself, "I love my job." I love my job, because my job is not work. My job is just life and I love my life all the more because you are in it.


A couple days ago we were driving along in the car and I couldn't handle another second of your beloved toddler music ("This is the way we mash potatoes!"), so I turned the radio to country music. Yes, mama secretly likes country. I know. It's, like, sooooo embarrassing. Anyway, this Darius Rucker song came on and suddenly I'm nearly sobbing in the car. The song was about babies growing up and parents seeing time slip away and, well, it hit home. Because that song is right. It won't be like this for long. So I gotta make sure to soak it in; take in this wonderful golden moment in your life and our life together.


And look at that. I'm crying again.

I love you. So much.

Mama

Tour of Homes Guest Post: Nicole in Boston Suburb, Massachusetts

Today we get to tour Nicole's house located outside of Boston (which should be pronounced, of course, as Baaaw-stin). Nicole, also known as Mama Tully, blogs at Adventures in Tullyland. When Nicole first contacted me about participating in the Tour of Homes series, she sent a few pictures of her house in the email. And I have to tell you, just as I told her then, her house pretty much represents my current vision of a dream house. The space! The yard! The close proximity to a big city! The play room! The wood floors! The light! Thank you, Nicole, for sharing your gorgeous home.

I am super excited to be guest blogging for the first time in my blogging career! Thank you so much, Laura, for giving me this opportunity! Here is a little background on us, our home and how we came to live in it. I am a 20-something Mom who works two days a week as a dental hygienist. My husband is a strapping, young business owner. We love being outside, whether it's at a Red Sox game or skiing up in the mountains. Our house is a traditional, colonial style home that was built in the early 1990's. We bought it from the original owners and moved in just about a year ago. We live in a small suburban town about 20 minutes outside of Boston, which is where we moved from and where my husband and I still work. We had our daughter last August as well (it was a busy month!), which was the main reason for us moving out of the city. Our previous condo (a brownstone built in 1890) we had bought and spent 4 years living in and renovating. When we decided to move, I was DONE with major renovation. And moving, for that matter. So we bought this house because it was big and needed very little work. Before we moved in, we did have hardwood floors installed where there was carpet (all of the bedrooms and both downstairs living rooms). We have also done a few other small projects here and there. We intend to live here as we build our family and then, hopefully, someday, God willing (or should I say bank account willing) we can build a house. And without further ado...welcome to our home!

One of my favorite aspects of this house is that it has a lot of land surrounding it, which is rare when you live so close to Boston. We have just under 5 acres surrounding the house. Our neighborhood is a really beautiful, well established development, which was one of the major selling points of this home for me as well. As you can see, we have a big yard and a large deck off the back. Lot's of pros...the only con I can think of is that there is very little shade during the day.

The photos on the left are two different angles of the kitchen. The center photo is the small half bathroom that is located on the first floor. And the photos to the right are two different angles of the family room. Pros: Kitchen is large and gets lots of light and has plenty of storage. Those closet doors across the back of the kitchen are both large pantry closets. The family room also gets a lot of light and has those gorgeous built-ins (courtesy of my very skilled and talented father-in-law, that was another project we did after we moved in). Cons: the white kitchen floors are the bane of my existence...I have to clean them pretty much once a day. The family room is a bit small, but as you will see later in the tour, there are plenty of other areas for hanging out and playing.

The top two photos are of our dinning room, which is one of my favorite rooms in the house. Below is a photo of the hallway/stairwell from the main entry of the house and one photo of the "formal living room." Pros: dining room is large enough to seat 14 around our table when it is extended. I like that the dinning room is separated from the other parts of the house so that I can display pretty, but breakable, items in there without worrying about the baby getting to them. I also love the wainscoting and crown molding in this room, another project done by that wonderful father-in-law of mine! The formal living room is not really "formal," but that's what those in the real estate biz call the second living room in a colonial house. This is where we usually hang out and watch movies at night after the baby has gone to bed. Cons: None really.

The two photos to the left are of my daughter's bedroom, which is the room that I put the most thought into decorating. The small photo in the upper middle is the landing/hallway at the top of the stairs, where the entrance to the four bedrooms and the upstairs bathroom are off of. I haven't done much with this space yet. If you have any suggestions, send them my way! Since it is central to all of the bedrooms, I sort of picture it as an area to sit and read to our children before they all go to bed, in the future.

The two small photos on the bottom right are of the two extra bedrooms; one we use as a guest room and the other will be baby #2's room. And the last photo is of the upstairs bathroom, which we call the "kids" bathroom and it is decorated with a ducky theme. Pros: all the bedrooms are a good size and have plenty of light and closet space. The only con prior to us moving in was the carpet, but we had hardwoods put down.

This collage show the "master suite." I swear I'm not trying to be snotty or making these names up...that's what the real estate world calls it! Anyway, this room is really big and has a whole bunch of cool features. The main room is where our bed is. Then there is this super huge galley with big closets on both sides, and then it opens up to another little room. We use the extra little room as an office, but the people before us had it set up as a sitting area. And there is a master bathroom in our room with double sinks and a separate room for the toilet (no photo of the toilet room because it just seemed weird to post one). Pros: huge room, lots of light and closets. Cons: bathroom is dated (as are all of the bathrooms in the house) and it would be nice if the office were a separate room.

This collage shows the basement of the house. There are two unfinished sections which we use for storage. And a finished section as well, which my husband intended to use as a "man cave," but it has since turned into a playroom. Probably a more functional use of the space anyway. I did have to make him move his kegorator out of this room as it just didn't seem appropriate to have one in a children's playroom. We also have a two car garage. I couldn't put a picture of the garage up because it is too embarrassing. We have only lived here for a year and we have so much crap in there, that we can't even park our cars in it at the moment. Pathetic? Um, yeah.

So anyway, that's our home! This post was WAY longer than it probably should be, but I hope you enjoyed the tour! Oh..and here is a photo of my lovely little family that makes this house a home :) (I should apologize for how cheesy that was, but I just can't. I truly AM that cheesy).

When Type A Goes to Plan B

There will be no spring baby next year. Little sigh. Just little, because I know that 3 months of trying is NOTHING in the grand scheme of things and that I'm lucky to even be in the game of trying and I need to maintain perspective in this process. But I would by lying if I said I wasn't a little disappointed that I'm not pregnant right now. Just a little disappointed, no tears shed over it or anything, but a wee bit bummed none-the-less.

The good news?

• My luteal phases are fully back to normal and it was 13 days this past month. This might be partially related to a B6 supplement I started taking (in addition to my daily pre-natals, omega-3s, and vitamin D) or it might just be that my body has regulated back to normal. Who knows? Here is my fertility chart for you chart stalker types.
• Wine again, wine again, jiggity jig! I had two glasses of wine last night. Sadly, I seriously need to limit my intake to one, as two seems to push me into hangover territory. And even more sadly, I think I've blogged about this more than once before. As one of my favorite bloggers would say, TITFTLOG! (Which would mean think it through, for the love of God! Obviously.)
• More sushi consumption. Oh yes, there will be sushi. Lukewarm and slippery raw fish. It will be mine.
• I will be able to travel in October free of morning sickness. I have two airplane trips and a possible car trip, which is sort of crazy and unusual, but fun. Now, I can't guarantee that I wouldn't have morning sickness for my last trip - the big one to Mexico - as I could still get pregnant next month, but it would be more of an early-on morning sickness and not the hell that is 9-weeks-pregnant morning sickness. In all honestly, it's probably a really good thing I'm not pregnant right now, because that would have been seriously awful to be traveling while constantly puking/almost puking.

So, anyway, my (slightly ridiculous and presumptuous) Type A plans of FOR SURE! having a spring baby are now fully out the window, along with my desire to be obsessed with all things baby-making. Plan B is to continue trying, but in a less zealous manner. I'll continue to chart (I'm still Type A, after all. Just Type A going with Plan B), but I won't listen to Pregtastic on my iPod while doing dishes or look at pregnancy message boards while wasting away a naptime. I'm going to seriously limit my pregnancy test taking and buying, except for a few internet/dollar store cheapies. (I have some serious problems with my desire to pee on things. Am like dog.)

And, finally, I'm going to be hella goal oriented this month - I have exercise plans (30 day shred, increase to running 3 times/week, weekly yoga, continue with daily walking), craft completion plans (FINALLY finish the week-in-the-life scrapbook...and possibly not do that again, because I'm not so good at follow through), and blog post plans (meal planning 101, cloth diaper update, house hunting, Q&A with a stay-at-home mom). It will be good for me to be productive. It will (hopefully) take my mind off the great quest for baby and keep things in perspective: that baby making takes time and patience.

In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy the special womanly time of men-strooo-ation. Off I go to put on a long sundress and straw hat and then dance around in a field of daisies while celebrating my female ways. Or something. That or sit around on the couch feeling slightly hormonal and near tears thinking people don't like me because I suck. I find that both are good options for men-stroo-ation.

Tour of Homes Guest Post: Livy in Alberta, Canada

Today's guest post is from Livy in Alberta, Canada. We all know HGTV loves featuring Canada and Canadians and I do, too. Also: she writes color like colour and favorite like favourite. LOVE IT. Thank you to Livy for sharing her beautiful home with us!
I am Livy from Making Over Mum, my husband is Mike, and our baby girl is named Laney. Laney was born in October of 2009 and made the move to our new home in April of 2010. We live in Alberta, Canada.

We have been so blessed this year in that we were able to purchase our first house. I have found it so amazing to go from renting to owning your our place. There are definitely some annoyances associated with owning, but I'll take them over the domestic disputes occurring in the rental unit below us any day. I also love being able to decorate and turn a house into a home. I never had that urge with the rentals we've lived in.

We moved into our house in April of this year. It is a bi-level house that is about 10 years old (in other words, lacking in character) and is approximately 1200 sq. feet. I love watching HGTV and looking at design websites. I have tons of plans for our house.

Our house opens onto the landing with stairs leading up to the main living space or down to the basement. I would like to figure out a nicer way to hide all of our shoes eventually, but I do like having a separate entrance as opposed to walking right into the house.
Our living room has a nice vaulted ceiling and the only thing I have done in here is to paint the wall with the TV on it. I am not quite happy with the colour choice, but it beats the "pylon orange" that was there when we moved in. I am kind of wondering whether or not I should try some kind of grey on that wall, but we will see. The main thing is that I can't wait for the entertainment unit and TV to go down into the basement once it's completed. True story: Mike dropped the old clunky TV on his foot during our move to this house, hence the current monstrosity. Our couches are courtesy of my parents and they replaced our college-style futons. The grandfather clock was given to me by my grandma and my grandpa actually made it!

The dining room is open to the living room and the kitchen which is a feature I love. Our table is also from my parents and we are currently using fold-up chairs. One day I dream to have real dining chairs, but for now they serve us well. The buffet I found at IKEA. I am not quite sure where I want this room to go yet which is why it looks a little plain. I do have several items I brought back from Ethiopia currently displayed (and lots more that are not yet) and would like to maybe give it a kind of African feel. I like themes. I just have to try not to go overboard.

The kitchen is where I spend much of my time. I have done nothing to it since we moved in. I love having some cupboard space, lots of room on the countertops, and having a pantry. I am not a big fan of the butcher block countertops, but people seem to like them when they come over. I kind of think they are unhygienic and they also stain super easily. I would like to put quartz countertops in eventually and have an overhang so that I can make a breakfast counter with barstools against it. Another thing I would like to do is add some colour. I just haven't settled on a colour scheme for the main area of my house so everything is a bit drab for now.

Down the hallway on the left is our main bathroom. This was recently renovated when we moved in. I like the tiles that they selected, but once again we need some colour in there.

Our master bedroom is roomy and I like it. I want to paint the walls a very light blue like I had once before. I love blue bedrooms and we are going to tackle that in the fall. The room also needs to have a light fixture. All we currently have for lighting is our bedside lamps and they don't give enough light in the evening. I also would like to move the hope chest into our guest bedroom once the basement is completed. I want to give our room a relaxing feel with light blues, light greens, and glass pieces throughout. The pictures above the bed are photos that I took when I was visiting relatives on the Isle of Man and visiting my parents back home on Vancouver Island.

Our master bedroom has a small ensuite with a shower.
It is so wonderful to have two bathrooms in the house. We have never had that before and it is so nice not having to stand on top of each other getting ready everyday.

Laney's room is my absolute favourite. It is the only room "done" in the house. I love the Benjamin Bunny picture in the entrance to Laney's room. Mike's mom knows that I like Beatrix Potter and she found it in an antique store. Since our house is lacking in character, I had Mike add a chair rail around the room and we painted the bottom half of the wall white. It was very easy. Actually it was especially easy for me as I didn't do a thing, but it didn't take Mike long at all. I chose a light green for the top half of the wall and haven't regretted it. The painting above the crib was done by Mike's grandma and the picture over the change table is something we got when we were visiting Mike's relatives in Pennsylvania. His grandpa was Amish and that picture feels like a part of Laney's heritage. The dresser is an antique from my grandma. I made the curtains myself. They were really easy and I can't sew very well. I needed something with blackout lining and found they were rather expensive to buy so I found some instructions on the internet and made them myself.

Here is are current catch-all-guestroom-office. That's all I have to say about that.

Our basement is unfinished and we can't wait to develop it in the future. We plan to add a tv room with a fireplace, toy room, guest room, office, laundry room, and bathroom eventually. I also love my washer and dryer. They were a bit of a splurge, but they work great.

We have a deck off the dining room and we hope to add some furniture out there by next summer.

Our backyard is split into two sections.
One is going to stay all grass so that Laney has a good area to play in. With the other section we have added garden boxes and are currently working on some landscaping. I love flowers.

I can't wait to decorate our house and really make it feel like a home so don't be shy in sharing if you have some great ideas. Thanks for visiting.

Dear Miss Manners

Dear Miss Manners,

I am in dire need of your assistance regarding a most urgent manner. I, along with two friends, am hosting a baby shower this Saturday at my home. There will be 10-15 guests, most of whom I've never met or have only met once or twice in passing. Here's the thing, MM (Can I call you that? Or maybe that would be rude and too forward. You are making me nervous with your mannerly ways.) Anyway, the problem:

We have a toilet sprayer attached to the toilet in the bathroom that looks like a creepy bidet, but is used to help clean cloth diapers.

Exhibit A

I don't want the guests to think I'm a creepy butt sprayer. So what would you do? Would you put a funny little sign in the bathroom explaining the toilet sprayer? Would you try to mention it to guests just before they use the bathroom? But what if I forgot to say anything and then they see it and think ZOMG, WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS FAMILY? Or would you not say anything at all, cause HI, rude to talk about toilet sprayers at dainty little party?

The option of removing it for the party is, in fact, NOT an option. My husband would start hissing and would likely pitch a fit and refuse. It's simply not worth it, MM.

I fear for my social standing, Miss Manners. I also fear getting the side-eye from these women for the rest of the party and, quite possibly, for the rest of my life.

Yours truly,
A Party Host Who Reserves All Water Cleaning of Bum Exclusively for the Shower

PS - I probably should not have called myself a Party Host Who Reserves All Water Cleaning of Bum Exclusively for the Shower, huh? I going to go out on a limb and guess that would be considered in poor taste.

Tour of Homes Guest Post: Lisa in Middletown, CT

Our first guest poster on the Mothership's Tour of Homes is Lisa from Middletown, Connecticut. I met Lisa through my sister and she has since become a friend of mine (though we've never actually met in person). Lisa has some mad crafting skillz - you can see the adorable fabric booties she made for Bella in this post. She is also queen of witty and pithy one-liners on Facebook, often leaving me going "HA!" at the computer screen. You can find more of Lisa's photos on her Flickr site. Thank you, Lisa, for letting us take a peek inside your home!


My house is a 648sf, 1930’s bungalow in Middletown, CT. It is 1/3 of a mile
away from work (I walk, obviously!).


I purchased it in January 2010 (five years after placing a prior offer on it... long story!). Since the day I first saw it 5 years ago, I always referred to it as "my house" or "my cottage". It's proof that good things happen to those who wait and good things come in small packages.


When you walk into the front door, you enter the living room.

Two Views of the Living Room: top photos are before painting/decorating, bottom photos are after

Straight ahead is the little galley kitchen. To the left, the living room opens up to the world’s tiniest dining room (seriously, if I put any leaves in the dining room table, the table comes into the living room). Behind the dining room is a small hallway with the bathroom to the left and the house’s only bedroom straight ahead.

When I bought the house, we (meaning my dad & stepdad) made a new opening from the dining room into the hallway, closed up the opening from the kitchen into the hallway so that I could install a full size fridge in the kitchen (the dorm size fridge that the previous owner had just didn’t cut it for me – imagine that?).

Two Views of the Kitchen: left photos are before painting/decorating, right photos are after

We replaced all of the lighting fixtures, repainted EVERY surface (warning... garish colors to follow in the "before" shots of the bedroom) and I had lots of fun decorating. I made all my own curtains except for the bedroom.

Two Views of the Bedroom: top photos are before painting/decorating, bottom photos are after

The kitchen and bath were remodeled prior to my ownership. I probably wouldn’t have gone so modern with the style in those remodels, but I’m certainly not going to remodel the remodel at this point! I don't mind the kitchen, but I really am not a fan of the bathroom style.


I can appreciate the quality of the work, I just don't think a 1930's bungalow should have a NYC penthouse bathroom. If it were my choice, I would have done white bead-board halfway up the walls with a pretty paint color above. I also would have kept a tub. Sadly, no bubble baths for me.

The only two closets in the house are in the bedroom. Fortunately, I have a full basement (laundry and storage)


and a really cool attic for storage (perhaps make into to a craft room once I get motivated).


Even though it’s tiny, it's just for me and is my perfect little dream house that I love so much.