Natalie & Ryan: Quick Fix

I woke up Saturday morning, thinking I'd spend the day relaxing with Lilly and Ryan. But, that is NOT how it ended up going...

The future for our family included moving into a house at the end of the year, followed by all the fairy tale bliss, but after talking to our landlord on Friday, plans went out the window. We wanted to take out a 6 month lease, but she refused, forcing us to be out of this condo by the end of July. That doesn't sound so bad, until you realize that we have to pack and paint, despite being out of town for the next few weekends, and having to have the place ready for showings by mid-June. Instead of hopping in bed for a nap, I found myself running to Home Depot for paint...and sending out an S.O.S to my mom.

It took us two long, miserable days of simultaneously packing and painting to get everything mostly done. We planned on only painting the rooms we changed, but after noticing how terribly the previous tenants did at paint-matching and how many nail holes there were, we basically ended up repainting the entire place. Now that everything is painted and all of the "unnecessary" items are packed, it feels like we're living in a very plain, empty house. The only thing left to do now is slowly finish packing and moving stuff into storage. Since the time frame isn't what we initially planned on and since we're not ready to buy until at least September, we will be mooching, ehh, living with my mom for a couple of months. Until then, we just need to survive and maintain our sanity.

In the moments when we weren't neck-deep in paint and packing tape, we actually managed to spend our Memorial Day out and about, hopping from furniture store to furniture store, in search of a bed for Lilly. We were torn between getting a bed now, waiting for a house, or even getting it now and having it delivered to my mom's house. After finding the perfect bed, we decided to wait until we get a house. Lilly gets to go back to the crib while at my mom's, in an effort to not be completely inconsiderate house guests. The last thing we need is a toddler waking everyone up every morning. Once we were able to stop Lilly from jumping on beds and climbing up bunk bed ladders, we ran home to play at the pool, in what was an attempt at phase two of wearing Lilly out. I think we succeeded, not in a good way, but simply because she was tired of crying every time I forced her into the deep end with me, and the cherry on top was the epic tantrum she threw when we made her leave. Everyone got a short nap before we went to my mom's for a BBQ that night.

That's when Lilly got her first sprinkler experience. My mom went running through the sprinklers, hoping Lilly would follow. Eventually Lilly was sticking her hand in the water and splashing in the little pools that were accumulating on the sidewalk. She was soaked. Ryan asked me if that counted as bath time, to which I responded "not unless we clean her hair." Hoping to get out of bath time later, he grabbed Lilly and dipped her head into the sprinkler stream. I thought she'd hate it, but it ended up being the catalyst to more giddy laughing. Although a very busy, TIRING weekend, it was very enjoyable.

Was totally startled when I checked the camera Saturday morning. Glowing-eyed Lilly was staring me down...

Grandma's little helper, sanding away

I asked Ryan to help me make the bed. He response was "it IS made!" Does this look made to you?

Goodbye, beautifully stenciled wall.

"YAY-YAY'S ladder!!"

First off, yes, we let her spend the day in her diaper. She enjoyed herself. Secondly, I may or may not have turned my back for too long. She found a pen and decided to color all over her legs and tummy.