Hello, Bleach, My New Best Friend

Hello, Bleach, my new best friend
You've gone and done it yet again
for on the mildew slowly creeping
I left you into the grout seeping
and the vision that was left to greet my eyes
to my surprise
was a pristine new shower
(all sung to the tune of Simon and Garfunkel's Sound of Silence)

cue the "ping!" sound effect to signify clean

Thank goodness, too. After the last set of bathtub pictures we took of Ethan, the Husband and I realised that our tub surround was in desperate need of TLC. And not just any old dose of extra attention. This tiling and grout needed attention like a hyperactive 4-year-old at their baby sister's birthday party. It needed attention like that friend you know you have who posts leading Facebook status updates like, "Ugh; worst morning eveeeeeeeer!!! SO don't wanna talk about it!" just so that you'll ask them what's wrong. This shower was the red-headed stepchild of dirty showers. Don't get me wrong: I cleaned that thing. I went to it with Ajax and Cilit Bang like my life depended on it. I was legitimately hands-and-knees scrubbing that thing with a bandana on at one point like I was Cinderella.

But as far as those skanky mildew stains were concerned, I might as well have been using the tub to contain an unholy hoard of Chia Pets: whatever wanted to grow there was going to do as it damn well pleased and give a trollish smile to my Ajax-covered knuckles.

I'm sorry; did you want those clean?

After a short Google search, it seemed that the best solution - as with E's crib mattress, was the old school solution. A spray of bleach and a short half-hour wait later, I gave the tiles and grout a short scrub and the shower was in brilliant shape yet again. In fact, the best shape it's seen since we moved in. So stick that in your pipe and smoke it troll midlew stains!

And speaking of new additions and changes around the house...

One of the two prints I ordered for the kitchen! They're both hanging up, but I only just realised that the other picture is shamefully unfocused, and since I'm about to start typing one-handed so as to better attend my wailing son, I can't be bothered to expend the effort to retake the photo. It was a great find from The Word Shop on Etsy. I'm on a bit of an art kick lately: nice framed prints are an easy way to spruce up the house.

And guess who's on his way to a snazzy new UK passport?

this face was made for travel

He was both amused and bemused by the photographer, who was quite charmed by my little boy. Not a bad camera performance for a little boy who's still fighting a cold.

Sick Day

What do you do when you're sick and don't have anywhere to be? We go out for story time with friends at the library (thanks Sarah & Sienna!) and then come home to bounce ourselves in the doorway like a pinball. See?

Now if only I could get baby video Inception and have a video of Ethan watching himself in a video. He's transfixed by it...but then, he's pretty enamoured of everything on the computer screen. Even the blue screen of death.

Oh Yeah...I Forgot About That

I was playing around on Facebook and just realised that I have some lovely pictures from our April trip up to the Lake District that I never shared.

That was a fantastic weekend. We loaded up the car to the brim with camping gear we'd borrowed from the in-laws. Bagel sandwiches were assembled, clothes were packed, and iPods were readied with an assortment of fun listening. We were set. What we weren't set for were that weekend's gale-force winds. It was the weekend of the Royal Wedding, and while Wills and Kate were very publicly celebrating their I-Do's, I was off to see some mountains and Lake Windermere with my husband of nearly a year, and our almost-four-month-old fetus (who eventually became our unbearably adorable Ethan).

Those aforementioned gale-force winds were the reason that - on the last night of our trip - we slept on a half-ruined air mattress. I say half-ruined because the thing was thankfully constructed with two air pockets; allowing you to inflate it either as a double mattress or a single. I had gone off to use our campsite's rather dubious shower facilities (cleaning yourself in a sketchy shower was - I reasoned - better than not cleaning yourself at all) and the Husband was making ready our lovely tent for the evening.

The tent itself was brilliant. A family-sized affair; we used the back "bedroom" to store our luggage, threw down the giant carpet (seriously; our tent had wall-to-wall) and set up our bed, chairs, and dining table in the main compartment. We had a thick duvet, fluffy pillows, a lamp, a board game (hello travel-sized Settlers of Catan...), dishes...I almost felt like we were cheating. Almost. After all, I had hammered in guy-ropes and held down the waterproof tarpaulin while being buffeted by winds that nearly ripped the tent from my hands (and undid half of the guys in the night). These winds were what ripped the newly re-inflated mattress from Sebastian's grip as I was off getting my shower on. In such conditions, taking the mattress out of the tent to get it close enough to our car to use the plug-in fan inflater was a two-man job. Alas, by halving those numbers, the wind managed to wrench the mattress away and blow it into the path of our trusty gas lamp...which promptly punctured a huge hole in one side of the mattress, rendering it nothing more than useless fuzzy plastic. Bummer.

scoping out a fort on Hadrian's Wall

One of many stunning vistas

arm's-length photos prove that we were there...and had no friends.

heading back to our tent for the night

Otherwise, the hiking, and Lake Windermere, and Hadrian's Wall were all absolutely amazing and one of my favourite weekends away that we've had. In fact, the best lunch we had was parked in the car on the side of a road. The sun was shining spectacularly for our journey home (which would begin shortly) and we had an amazing view of one of the lakes. It was a bit too chilly outside to set up the camping chairs, so we rolled down the windows and played a game of Catan. We don't play this game often because I always lose. Always. And usually in a pretty spectacular fashion.

Really, now that the weather is on its way back to being decent again, we need to start taking advantage if all the awesome historical sites at our disposal, what with living in England and all. That weekend in the Lake District was definitely an experience that needs repeating.

Hello, Cousin...We Meet Again.

Rachel and Henry made their way over to us today for some good old-fashioned hanging out. As always, it's great as a mom to have other adult company that doesn't have to wait until your husband gets home from work. As a baby, it's apparently pretty cool to spend some time in earnest contemplation of your cousin. And for me, personally, the following videos are a chance to think, "How did I not notice my baby was so tan?"

As we can see, Ethan is far less loquacious at this point than his cousin is. But they still had a whale of a time holding hands, bouncing up and down, and making determined grabs at one another's faces. I'm just waiting for the day when they can actually talk to each other, and not just talk at the room in general. It'll be like the "talking" twins on YouTube. And let's face it: what's not cute about babies thinking they can communicate with you? Bless them, they're so earnest about it.

Aw...best friends!

Bouncing Means Ups and Downs

After the astounding success of letting E have a go in Henry's door bouncer the other week when we made a visit to see little Henners and Auntie Rachel, the Husband and I decided that the time was ripe for E to have a door bouncer of his own. After all, he can hold his head up with reasonable skill now, and he certainly likes to spend time in a standing position. Why not?

Well, on the surface, there was no reason why not. Ethan enjoyed time in the door bouncer, we could find one online for cheap, it was easy to set up (I did it all on my own while bogged down with some suspicious lurgy today), and there's no shortage of door frames in our house in which to position said bouncer.

good times abound

But, wait! What's that squelchy sound that fills my heart with dread? That wet percussive noise that can only be the harbinger of bad news...oh yeah: clad in an unhelpfully leak-prone disposable rather than his sturdy BumGenius nappies, Ethan decided to let rip with a torrential wave of the most disgusting yellow bum-mud. Normally, this only sounds disgusting. This time, it managed to leak all up his back and down his leg onto the muslin I'd placed on the floor as a precautionary measure.

Oh, and when I say all up his back, I mean it. I was wiping baby poop off this boy's shoulders before I ran a small bath in our kitchen sink. His onesie was covered in the sort of yellow sandy wetness that usually accompanies a run on the Grim Challenge course in Aldershot. It seems the pressure of a door bouncer harness and a pooped-in disposable just aren't the most trustworthy of combinations. Perhaps now that we're clean, we'll get a cloth nappy on and give this whole thing another go...

now the possessor of a freshly hand-cleaned baby butt

A Few of My Favourite Things

Having gone on a Pinterest binge over the past couple of days, I thought the time was right to share a few of my favourite finds again. Not just those from the furthest reaches of Teh Interwebz, but a few from the real world, as well! How about that?

Some lovely English pottery: courtesy of my mother-in-law. We actually got this as a gift on the day that Ethan was born. It's just the right size to be a lovely salad bowl. I wish I could throw a neat potted bowl. Let's put that on the list of my long-term life goals, shall we?

Don't even ask me why the last picture is sideways. These two bowls (the top is serving size, the bottom is cereal size) came from the French Alps. I still revel in how cool that sounds to me! Anyway, we were there for our first family holiday after getting married, and - yet again thanks to my mother-in-law - we took a trip into this teeny tiny town called St. Sigismond. The whole excursion was specifically to suss out this amazing potter who had turned his garage into a studio and sold gorgeous pieces that he coloured with local natural pigments. He even had an adorable 6-year-old son who made a few coat hangers that my friend Kari bought, and who seemed amazed and transfixed at the number of Euros we brought out to pay his dad for our insane pottery hoard.

And now....teh Interwebz:

can you tell yet I'm a pottery fiend?

cutesy, but cute.

a nice touch of the sleek and retro

Riviera anyone?

Because, who doesn't want a good nail polish?

a good chair for reading is essential...and it rocks ;)

Hopefully, tomorrow I'll have pictures, not only of a nice outing, but of my belated Christmas present finally arrived and displayed in all its glory. Of course, the latter depends on making the time for a small project this evening once the Husband returns from work. 

And speaking of small projects, Young House Love - one of my all-time faves - is staging, some time soon, another Pinterest Challenge...and I think I'll be taking part this time around. You see, I have this:

lovely idea just hanging around on my Thanksgiving/Christmas pinboard, politely twiddling its thumbs, waiting on me to find the motivation to round up some snazzy vintage-y paper and go to town exercising my crazy crafting skillz. Crafty projects are good: they give me something to do during nap times when I'm listening to whatever podcast seems most interesting that day. Anywho, when I actually complete this project, I'll be sure to share all of its sticky decoupaged details with you right here. Hey: I'm at home with a 3-month-old all day, I need to share this with someone who has a sound grasp of the English language. :)

The Best Sundays

...are days like today. We've made it through church without too much fussing (and E behaved himself, too! Small joke...very small). I'm toasty and warm snuggled up on the couch. We watched a David Attenborough documentary over a yummy lunch of chicken jalfrezzi and naan. My baby is sleeping cuddled up in the crook of my arm. And from the kitchen is the insanely scrumptious smell of my husband...baking cinnamon buns. Though I have to say, he smells pretty scrummy on his own, too!

let the drooling begin...

I think now it's time to dig into a bit of Conan Doyle before I skype with die Familie. Le sigh: this is the good life.

time for hot chocolate and a good book!

The Lord of the Dance

As I mentioned earlier in the day on Facebook, Ethan is using his nappy changes lately to perfect the art of céilí  dancing. He seems to think that he's Michael Flatley...either that or having a freshly cleaned bum is just really exciting now.

Since I mentioned it earlier, I think I really ought to do it justice and show you just what I'm talking about right now...

Speaking Too Soon

Earlier in the week I praised E for sleeping a solid 8 hours in a row. I was ecstatic: my 12-week old son was sleeping through the night like an adult. But every high must have a corresponding low, and so yesterday E refused to take more than a 10-minute cat nap all day and fought his way to a 10pm bedtime, constantly re-awakening and ferociously attempting to scratch his face as best he could from within his mittens.

One bright spot before all the screaming and scratching of the evening began? The world's cutest bubble bath after I got back from the gym. (On a side note: throw yo hands up for the first 5 lbs. of baby weight lost, y'all! Holla!)

livin' large...

working on the smoldering male model look.

he seems pleased with his crown of bubbles

rocking a beard like Brigham Young.

Let's see if today we can't get back to sleeping like a champ. I'll even bribe him by taking him out to get whatever toy most strikes his fancy at the store. Baby Boy still has some Christmas money he can spend.

Tongue Untied

We fixed it! One quick snip and suddenly, my baby boy can feed like a champ: no clicking noises or excessive fussiness required.

They say babies often sleep through the procedure, and I can see why! Ethan woke up long enough to be indignant about having a stranger's fingers in his mouth, then fed a bit to nurse (haha, get it?) his offended pride, and was promptly asleep again before I even got out of the Maternity ward.

the Phantom of the Opera is there...

We tried to snap some pictures of the snip, but Mr. Paparazzi-Hands over here just wasn't having it today. So we took some video instead. He sticks his tongue out in all its glory early on...about 8 seconds in, but I had to keep filming just in case (and I caught some cute yawns for my trouble!).

It's funny: I texted the Husband and my mother-in-law after we were done, and the latter praised me - not only for the TLC I dish out on my boys - but for my "stoic nature". I suppose it is a virtue to be able to unflinchingly do, or watch, the difficult things for your kids when you know it's ultimately for their good. I never really thought of that as a mothering trait before...

Baby Steps

I have accepted the fact that some time in the relatively near future, I'll have to let Ethan sleep in his crib. In his own room. Where I can't watch him every three minutes during the night. On the plus side, this means I'll get my bed back. I'll only have to share with one boy, rather than two. On the down side...I'm a clingy momma. I confess it freely. When he's not screaming and I don't have to be anywhere or get something ready, I'm perfectly happy to sit on the couch with a drink and cuddle my baby and watch TV. I think it's the cutest thing when E falls asleep holding my hand, or clutching my shirt with his head resting against my shoulder.

I've tried putting him in the bassinet in our room. When he was really little, he'd sleep in it for maybe 3 hours at a time. As he got older, that figure didn't improve at all, and Yours Truly taking a succession of 3-hour naps at night just wasn't cutting it. So, one night we put him to sleep in our bed and got a miraculous 5 1/2 uninterrupted hours of blissful sleep. We haven't looked back.

Now, though, in anticipation of getting back to some semblance of a normal sleeping arrangement, I've started putting him in his room for naps. Said naps don't tend to last for long, but hey: the point is to set up the habit of using his room as a place to sleep so it's familiar by the point that I want him sleeping through the night in there. Today, I don't think we got more than 10 minutes sleep at a time in the crib, but it's a start.

if only this would last

Atmosphere and Exercise

Today we finally got back out for a walk. Between the rain (which is a legitimate excuse) and the laziness (which isn't), E and I haven't managed to drag ourselves out for a walk in quite a while. Since before Christmas, if I'm not mistaken. Of course, it doesn't help that he's been slightly fussier than normal lately, and quite a few days - including yesterday - were pretty much entirely taken up by me pacing the house with him in my arms. I couldn't have put him down long enough to get ready for a walk, much less actually take one with him in the Moby or the stroller for an hour. For now, I've just tricked him into a nap by nestling him into Seb's pillow in his crib. Top it off with a bit of milk, his binky, and a few rounds with the Brahms' lullaby dog, and I've got myself a peacefully sleeping baby: no jiggling or pacing required. (Let's just see how long it lasts. I'd really like to get my Sherlock Holmes on and finally get past the first page of A Scandal in Bohemia...)

Taking a break to cuddle.

It's been a cool and overcast day today, though lucky it hasn't threatened rain like yesterday. We had a lovely walk out on the MOD grounds nearby. There's plenty of scrub land just the next town over that the MOD uses for training and testing tanks, and the locals use for dog-walking, cross-country running, nature-walking, and - come December - the Grim Challenge. Now granted, it's not Regent's Park or the canal where I used to run when we both lived in London (le sigh), but it's lovely having so much practical wilderness so close by. It's relaxing, really.

gorse bushes and pine trees

Our other discovery this week? I think we have a Daddy's Boy on our hands. He's much more excited and talkative when Daddy comes home than at any other time in the day...even on fussy days.

Come home so we can play!

Shout Hosanna...Quietly.

There is no sight more beautiful, no sound more lovely, and no event more welcome than to behold a sleeping baby. Especially when that sleeping baby was alchemically transformed from a screaming thrashing bundle of rage into a peaceful slumbering cherub after hours of bouncing, jiggling, rocking, walking, feeding, burping, changing, and a long ride to nowhere in the car. True story.

"some peace (and quiet) I give unto you..."

New Year, New Look

So I can't get a new look for myself so quickly (oh how I wish), but I can change up the look of the blog once again.

if only my figure would revamp so easily...

I'm sure it'll go through another several incarnations before I find a layout and theme I'm willing to settle upon. My big problem? I can't choose between the really bold colourful things and the sleek, elegant, subtly-coloured things. It's a cruel dichotomy: bold or subtle, loud or muted. The bigger problem is that I read most of the blogs from whence I'd take inspiration in Google Reader. And while Google Reader is great for collecting all my beloved reading material from Teh Interwebz into one conveniently organized place, it does take away all of the fun background and formatting that I'd like to consider for my own blog.

Other things that are changing their look? My living room. E was kind enough to let me take down the Christmas tree today, so my bay window can now house my stationary chest/bench again. Oh! And I got myself a lovely Christmas present from Etsy store, TheWordShop...

Mine won't be diner-mustard-and-ketchup coloured, but a lovely textured charcoal. I decided the kitchen needed some wall art love just as well as the rest of the house. Of course, I still have a huge blank wall in our bedroom to fill. Insert the devious finger drumming here...complete with smirk and patented Dreamworks Hero Eyebrows. (Just Google it.)

A Day in the Life

It's a busy job being 10 weeks old. People are constantly asking for your autograph...

Lemme get your John Hancock on that...

You've got to make time to hang out with your crew...

do you wanna roll wit' us?

And of course, sometimes you just need to take a break from it all...

scoping out the mysteries of the universe...

err...make that the iTunes visualizer...

Of course there's also breastfeeding clinics to get your tongue-tie diagnosed, some screaming to exercise the lungs (and remind people to feed you), a few soiled diapers, and nonchalantly facing the indignity of being stripped naked in public to be placed on a scale. (12 lbs. 15 oz. When you've got it, flaunt it!)

Also; aside from Sophie the creepy squeaky giraffe, I named everything in that picture of E and his toys. Now, Nom the Fish (a name and an imperative!) and Horsey are - I admit - a bit more mainstream, but Humbert? Marmaduke? Sherlock? I know I call them as I see them, so I have only myself to blame, but my son's playthings sound like the members list of a poncey Victorian gentlemen's club! (Back when the clubs actually housed something akin to gentlemen and not just big-bosomed floosies with nipple tassles and the perverts who kept them employed.) All he needs to seal the deal is a stuffed sheep named Algernon.

Say it with me: "Iwillnotbuymoretoys...Iwillnotbuymoretoys..."

Floating Along, Singing a Song

Ladies and gentlemen, I proudly present the first DIY project of 2012!

That's right: it was time to get back to work on the bare walls of our bedroom. Seeing as how one of the joint New Year's resolutions the Husband and I embarked upon was to keep the surfaces in our bedroom tidy and free of clutter, it seemed only appropriate that we get a bit more storage space for our bedroom. And what lovelier way to accomplish that than to install a floating shelf above the bed?

Well, straightforward as this project was, there were still a few logistical concerns. The first? The crap-tacular quality of all the walls in our flat. You can see the beams and studs bulging through the paint on at least two of our bedroom walls. Not to mention the patently lazy job the previous tenants did of patching the holes they made trying to beautify the place. The second of these problems, thankfully, can be covered by our own attempts to slap some snazzy artwork on the walls. Of course...that relies on the first problem not being so much of a problem. You see, we'd assumed that since our bedroom has 2 exterior walls, those walls would be sturdier when it came to drilling holes. Wrong. It was the same hollow-sounding Fraggle hotel as the other walls.

Anyway, after a trip to our beloved B&Q, it was time to get cracking.

Where do I start? I brought my own hammer!

Since there's a small aisle on my side of our bed, putting the shelf on the same wall as the door was out of the question...unless you wanted it so high you couldn't reach it without a step-ladder. That left us with the wall over the bed since the other two walls are occupied by an unruly crowd of feculent protesters a window and a large mirror.

The Husband broke out our/his tools and got to work. The shelf was centred over the headboard and I volunteered to sit up in bed to help gauge an appropriate height at which to hang our shelf. It was a floating shelf, BTWay, because we didn't want to run the risk of cheap and tacky-looking brackets. Plus: the stuff we wanted to put on the shelf wasn't that heavy anyway, so we weren't too worried about the mounting for a floating shelf being too flimsy.

Once smaller pilot holes were drilled (smaller holes are easier to centre), the Husband enlarged the holes with a bigger drill bit and hammered in - you guessed it - the Rawl plugs. Side Note: now that I have a baby to entertain during these projects, Rawl plugs must now be referred to in a gravelly voice akin to a lion's roar every time their name is pronounced. 

With the Rawl plugs in place, it was time to hang the fitting for our shelf. A bonus was that this was the easiest mounting to fit since it could be screwed into the wall on its own and then the shelf would be positioned and secured once everything else was already in place.

The shelf was then slotted onto its fitting and loaded up with some of the items we wanted to clear off of other surfaces in the room. Alas, the pictures don't quite do it justice, but it looks fantastic now that it's done. Why didn't we get to this project sooner?

in all its de-cluttering glory

What else are you looking for? This post is over.

Hello, Goodbye

Well, we're at the start of another year, which means it's time to resolve once again to make a few much-needed - or at least much-desired - improvements in my day-to-day life. In all honesty, I'm not the biggest of New Year's resolution-makers. I'm pretty rubbish about keeping up the momentum to stick to my goals for the whole year. So this year, I'm making resolutions that I'm already inclined to keep:

Get back in shape and down to my pre-pregnancy weight by Victoria's graduation.
Train for and run a half marathon.
Practise my flute again at least once a week.
Keep up with my blog as much as I did this year.
Keep the surfaces in the bedroom tidy.
Try to read 1 book a month around my schedule with Ethan.

I think that's a pretty satisfactory list of goals. Of course, the other thing that New Year's is good for is lists of superlatives from the previous year. And so, without further ado...

Best day of 2011: 26 October! The pushing was over and I had a gorgeous baby boy.
Biggest adjustment of 2011: Ethan is the biggest adjustment without a doubt.
Most hectic event of 2011: Angus and Emily's wedding. Though really, nearly anything after Ethan's birth would qualify. That said, the wedding was also really nice. Pictures to follow.
Best movie we saw: The King's Speech (though other favourites were Sherlock Holmes, X-Men: First Class, and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.)
Worst movie we saw: I can't believe I'm about to admit that I watched this, but...Twilight. Oh yeah: on holiday over the summer we decided to finally bow to our morbid curiosity and watch the first Twilight movie. I can't get that time back.
Mistake that won't be made again: having a baby so near cold and flu season! It's hard enough taking care of a small baby, but doing it when you're feeling like death is even worse. At least if Ethan had been a bit older, it would have felt slightly easier.
Best decision ever: I think that one's pretty obvious...

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

Farthest trip from home: Being in Utah in January to visit my family for Christmas/New Year's.
Most fun holiday: I loved the trip to Utah, but I had loads of fun when we went up to the Lake District back when the Royal Wedding took place.

Daddy and son

Trying to stay stylish

Yummy wedding lunch

The newest edition to the family

Gorgeous centrepieces for the wedding

My son the crumb-catcher...

another year over, and a new one just begun...