I don’t know what birthday parties in other families look like, but around here birthday parties are pretty basic. As long as there’s lots of food, a houseful of family members, cake, ice cream, and presents we’re all happy.

We recently celebrated Z-Man’s sixth birthday with a Sunday brunch that ended up lasting all day. Z-Man had very few requests: “little porkies,” marble cake with chocolate frosting, and vanilla ice cream. Teacher and I opted to go easy with the rest of the meal and added with scrambled eggs, bagels with cream cheese veggie, chocolate/chocolate chip, and plain, fresh fruit, and juice. My mom found a new recipe she wanted to try so she brought blueberry french toast – it was was out of this world good!

Peanut and Love Bug are so adorable together! I really hope they end up living near each other; I have a cousin just a couple of months younger than I am and we loved being together all the way through high school.

Games are big in my family so it’s not unusual to have a couple rounds of cards while we’re waiting for everyone to finish eating.

Once we’re all done eating it’s time for presents – yea!

College Boy and Irish Girl cuddled on the couch to watch Z-Man open his presents.

Look – I got a good photo of Mr. Elusive! But that’s only because he was contemplating this…

Don’t worry, no wives were harmed in the celebrating of this birthday. Irish Girl may look quiet but she can hold her own against College Boy.

It must have been “couples day” because Cowboy and Princess snuggled together too. It looks like Cowboy is playing on his iTouch but he’s actually kissing Princess on her head. She still has that “newlywed glow” – I hope it never fades.

Even Uncle Jon and Diana got into the act, posing together for me. Aren’t they a great couple?

Everyone’s ready Z-Man; ready… set… rip!

I made sure he’d save the best for last: my mom has been working on this quilt for him for over a year. It’s one of the most adorable things I’ve ever seen.

Love Bug thinks it’s pretty special too.

After presents it’s time for CAKE and ICE CREAM! I can never decide what’s the best part of birthdays; presents or cake. What do you think?

He’s gonna huff, and puff, and blooooow those candles out.

I took three tries but finally he got them all blown out. Personally I think he was trying to prolong the moment – that whole guys-love-fire thing.

Angel Face decorated the cake and scooped out the ice cream. She suffers from cameraphobia like College Boy, except hers is schizophrenic; sometimes she’ll dodge the camera but other times she’ll flash a stunning grin. I never know which persona is going to appear when I point the camera at her, which keeps things interesting to say the least. Trying to take her picture is almost as much fun as trying to take College Boy’s!

Irish Girl decided to let Love Bug “practice” eating birthday cake so she’d be all ready for her first birthday in a couple of weeks. I decided I should practice too, so I’d be ready for my birthday, but since I’m bigger I had to practice a lot more.

I think she’s got the hang of it! Me, I’m not so sure about. I may need to practice with Princess’s birthday cake. And Little Guy’s, and Teacher’s, and Jo-Bear’s, and…

Come to think of it, there’s still some cake left and I’m feeling a need for more practice. I’ll be back later… much, MUCH later.

Some things you should know before you read this post:

• 1. My taste is usually the opposite of Teacher’s
• 2. I’m not very fond of change
• 3. “Compromise” means you do things my way
• 4. I have caviar taste but a tuna fish budget
• 5. I’m terrible at making decisions

With these things in mind you can imagine how much fun it was when Teacher and I decided we had to do something about our poor, run-down, used and abused love seats.

The love seats were first purchased by my parents the same year Teacher and I were married. They the love seats, not my parents started out in my parents’ living room – a room which also housed our piano, a record player < -- linky for those of you too young to know what a record player is and a couple of end tables. The room should have been referred to by the old-fashioned name, “Sitting Room,” because it was mainly used for obligatory piano practice my parents’ after-work cup of coffee and newspaper time.

About seven years ago the love seats entered our crazy household when my parents bought a new couch and gave the love seats to us. Freshly cleaned, Scotch-Guarded, Amish-made, and barely used, they were in almost-new condition.

Sadly, that didn’t last long.

My mom thinks it was the cleaner’s use of water-based solution instead of the solvent-only solution called for on the care tags that did it…

I think it was the endless parade of daycare children and constant use and abuse by our active family that was the cause – after just four years in our household the fabric began to shred.

One day the button on the back pocket of my jeans got so tangled in a cushion’s loose threads that I couldn’t stand up until Teacher cut me loose. Actually, I could stand up but I’d have a cushion attached to my butt. I chose to stay seated until I was rescued. That weekend we purchased duvet covers to throw over the love seats so they wouldn’t try to eat unsuspecting guests.

In the usual way of things, the days flew by so quickly that we didn’t have time to do anything more about the love seats for over a year – except for the fluffing, folding, rearranging, tucking and fussing I did with the duvet covers innumerable times a day.

Finally, fed up with those duvet covers, I decided it was time to do something about the love seats NOW! We couldn’t afford to buy new ones, and everything except the fabric was in such excellent shape that we didn’t want to throw them out, so we decided to reupholster. Following a friend’s recommendation I found a guy who used to work for a big upholstery company. His price was half of what the other companies quoted me, all we had to do was find fabric.

This is where things get interesting – remember the list at the top of the page? We started out at JoAnns, and it didn’t take long for us to realize that the pictures in our heads were vastly different. When I say our tastes are different I’m not exaggerating; it took Teacher and me three years of looking to agree on a comforter! For the love seats Teacher was imagining a fabric with a definite pattern and some depth. I was picturing something neutral, with a small pattern that would disappear when you unfocused your eyes. Neither JoAnns or Hancock had anything to make our hearts go pitty-pat so we decided to check out the place suggested by Brook, aka “the upholstery guy.”

After a 45 min drive we found the place – a huge warehouse-style building surrounded by cornfields and nothing else. Inside it looked like an overstock sale married a flea market; a huge variety of unrelated items – maybe leftovers from other discount stores – were displayed helter-skelter on the shelves. I didnt’ think that we’d find what we were looking for until I saw two rows of triangular shelves displaying roll after roll of upholstery fabric.

Hooray!

None of the fabrics had a content or care label, just a price tag, so Teacher and I had to rely on our instincts. Starting on one end of the first row we methodically unwrapped a corner of each roll to see if we liked the look of it. If we did we’d unroll it further to check the feel, thickness and durability of the fabric. Eventually we narrowed our choices down to three fabrics: a bold silver and purple floral, a multicolored design of intertwined leaves, and heathered greenish tan.

After a surprisingly short debate we decided on the greenish tan. Not only did we both like it a lot, it seemed the most durable – and it was only $5/yard! At home we draped the fabric over one of the love seats and knew we’d made a good choice.

Not only was Brook aka “the upholstery guy” inexpensive, he was FAST too! He picked up the love seats Wednesday and returned them the following Monday. He Scotch-Guarded them for free, and gave us the rest of the bottle to maintain the protection. Can’t beat that customer service!

Want to see the finished love seats?

Drumroll please…

Ta-da!

Brook said the fabric was actually indoor/outdoor fabric and would definitely hold up to the wear and tear of the daycare and our family. He also said that if we’d gotten it retail it could have cost as much as $30/yard. Score!

The fabric has absolutely NO give to it so we don’t have to worry about it stretching and getting saggy – unless the cushions deteriorate. Knock on wood that they’ll hold up another twenty-some years!

The fabric feels kind of silky and smooth – not too fuzzy hot for the summer but not too slippery cold for the winter.

And the bonus? There’s nothing under or behind the couches right now!

How long do you think that’ll last?

A vacation is a wonderful thing.

No matter how much you love your job – and I love my job a lot – it’s always nice to take some time off to relax. This year I planned my week of vacation to coincide with a visit from College Boy, Irish Girl, and Love Bug.

You look like Jesus! was the greeting as College boy walked into the house. Can’t argue that one – I don’t understand why he always looks like Jesus – or a young Wolfman Jack – whenever he visits.

If you read my previous post you’ll understand why I don’t have many good photos of him and have to use the same photo again and again.

“She’s getting so big!” Angel Face was thrilled to see her niece – as you can tell by the huge grin on her face.

Z-man was excited to see Love Bug too, but not so excited to see mom with the camera again.

My poor kids can’t go anywhere or do anything without mom and her camera.

We were all wondering what the cousins would think of each other. At first they eyed each other up – Peanut is used to being the youngest around here and I don’t think Love Bug has had many opportunities to play with other kids. It wasn’t long before they were playing with each other though. Peanut even learned to say Love Bug’s name!

Even though they’re eight months apart Love Bug is almost as tall as Peanut! But you could tell that Love Bug is younger because she still walks with a Frankenstein lurch while Peanut is perfecting her climbing skills.

She’s so adorable I could just eat her up!

Too bad her dad looks like Jesus.

College Boy and I have had an ongoing competition:

I try to take his picture,

And he tries to avoid having his picture taken.

He’s become an expert with the hand block.

And the arm block.

I’m pretty good tenacious with the sneak attack. But not quite good enough yet.

Sometimes I get lucky and catch him when he’s distracted.

I suspect he enjoys the game more than he minds having his picture taken. Just look at that smirk!

But that’s OK, because in the end I always win.

I play the Grandma card.

Works every time.

Sometimes you’re tired.

Falling down tired.

Dead to the world tired.

So tired you’ll fall asleep almost anywhere.

Like in Mom’s underwear drawer,

Big sister’s wedding,

On the floor,

In your dinner,

Grandma’s lap,

In your carrier,

In mom’s chair,

On grandpa’s lap,

I don’t know what it is about sleeping children…

And kitties…

That I can’t resist…

Maybe it’s cuz they look so sweet and innocent…

Even though I know they’re not.

Teacher introduced me to Annie Leonard and The Story of Stuff just a couple of months ago. Since she’s been doing her thing for quite a while and I just heard of her I guess I’m a “Johnny Amy Come Lately.”

I don’t really care if I’m not first on the bandwagon; I always figure “better late than never” one of my main mottos so I’m just happy to have discovered Annie.

The latest film in her The Story of… series is The Story of Cosmetics. Like her other films, I found The Story of Cosmetics fascinating and frightening at the same time.

I hope The Story of Cosmetics makes you think as much as it made me think! The phrase that caught my attention is when she asks if we’d fly an airline that only inspected 20% of its planes. Yikes! Hopefully you’ll also be convinced to help support the Safe Cosmetics Act 2010.

It was an unexpected pregnancy. We’d always planned to have five children – I even asked the OB right after Jo-Bear’s birth how soon we could start trying for #5. But shortly after bringing Jo-Bear home from the hospital Teacher and I looked at each other and realized that our family felt complete. We were perfectly happy being the parents of four children.

Fast forward five years to the day I realized something was missing. I counted the weeks, then counted the pills, and tried figure out how many had been missed that month. Teacher stopped by Walgreens on the way home from work – just to ease my mind. Of course we weren’t pregnant, we couldn’t be pregnant; I was on the Pill.

The little stick told a different story. We watched in disbelief as a second line appeared next to the default one – a very dark, very definite, very pregnant line.

For several days we walked around in shock. Of course we were thrilled about having another baby, but it was a lot to wrap our minds around. Our family was complete, we were happy being the parents of four children; we weren’t going to have any more. Then almost overnight the shock gave way to overwhelming joy and excitement for both of us. We decided to share our good news with our family and friends, beginning with the kids. We bought a Dairy Queen ice cream cake and I wrote “Baby” in fancy letters on top with icing. Fifteen-year-old College Boy figured it out first; “You’re having another baby?!” All four kids were as surprised and excited about the prospect of a new baby as Teacher and I were.

Shortly afterward Teacher and I went to see Dr. Acosta, our OB, for our first prenatal visit. Since we hadn’t been trying to get pregnant I hadn’t paid attention to my monthly dates so we had to guesstimate as best we could. After feeling my belly Dr. Acosta asked how sure we were of our guess because the pregnancy felt more like eight weeks than ten. I was fairly sure we weren’t two weeks off but didn’t think much of it.

Later that day I began to spot a bit. A bit of spotting can be expected after a PAP so at first I didn’t worry, but the spotting didn’t taper off like it usually did. The next day my spotting was heavier – almost a full-fledged period – and I was beginning to worry in earnest. I knew I should rest but was too nervous to lie down so I ironed a bit, trying to hold back the tears, and praying constantly.

I tried to stay positive and concentrated on envisioning myself hugely pregnant or holding a newborn, but my mind kept drifting away to different ways of telling the kids that we’d lost the baby. Now I wonder if my subconscious was trying to prepare me for what was ahead. I couldn’t handle the stress alone but Teacher was working all morning so I called my Mom. She told me in no uncertain terms to call the OB’s office and see what they said, then lie down and not move until Teacher came home from work at noon.

Since it was Saturday I was put through to the on-call doctor. I’ve been told by friends that he’s very kind; I wish I could agree. I could barely control the tears enough to tell him what was going on, and after hearing my symptoms his only reply was “whatever is going to happen is going to happen; nature will take its course and there isn’t anything we can do about it.” I asked if I should lie down and he said “Go ahead if it makes you feel better. It won’t hurt anything.” I know he was right, but at the time I needed caring sympathy – not clinical reality.

Sunday I awoke early, hopeful that the bleeding had stopped and life would go back to normal, but it hadn’t. As the early morning sun flooded our bedroom and soft summer breezes tickled my nose I sat in the middle of the bed, sobbing uncontrollably.

My mom urged us to go to the ER to find out what was going on. Dr. Acosta was off on Mondays and I knew I’d have a nervous breakdown if I didn’t find out something before then so Teacher and I went to the ER.

Up to now my only experience with the ER was taking College Boy when he sliced his hand open trying to cut an apple with a serrated table knife, and watching ER on TV. Based on those experiences I explained to the triage nurse what brought me to the ER, and naively asked about having an ultrasound done so we could see if the baby was OK.

She managed to refrain from rolling her eyes but couldn’t mask a dirty look; “We don’t have an ultrasound tech available on weekends.” Apparently in her book a possible first-trimester miscarriage isn’t much of an emergency.

The doctor that Teacher and I eventually saw looked like he’d just graduated from medical school. He gave us some good news; an ultrasound tech had been called in to see someone else and would squeeze me in afterward. I was tricked out with a catheter for the first and hopefully last time in my life – I offered to chug a gallon of water but they said there wasn’t time for it to work its way through my system and rushed up to the ultrasound room.

The lights dimmed. Teacher sat by my side holding my hand. Our eyes were glued to the monitor. The ultrasound tech didn’t say a word, and didn’t need to. After numerous ultrasounds with our four children Teacher and I both knew what we were seeing – and what we weren’t. Snuggled along the curve of my uterus was a perfect little baby; I could see the head, the bottom, the tiny arms and legs all curled up in the classic fetal position. But there was no heartbeat.

Tears flowed as I watched the picture change again and again. First one angle, then another and another and another. With color and without. With sound which was quickly muted when no heartbeat was detected and without. No matter how many times, techniques, and angles were used there was still no heartbeat. Our baby was gone.

I don’t remember the rest of our time in the ER, except for the poor young doctor’s obvious discomfort at having to give us the bad news about our baby. He took his time coming back to see us after the ultrasound and was so uneasy I felt a little sorry for him.

We returned home around lunchtime – it’s amazing how the visit seemed to last forever yet go so quickly at the same time. Teacher drove through Burger King for lunch but I couldn’t eat. I sat at the table mutilating a a chocolate chip cookie and choking back the tears. We’d told the kids why we had gone to the ER, and that the baby was gone, but they didn’t comprehend it. All they knew was that Mom was really, really, really sad.

The following week is mostly a blur in my memory, but there are occasional moments I remember with crystal clarity:

• Interrupting Nicole during our usual Monday morning phone conversation to blurt out “Nicole, I lost the baby!” She was due just two weeks after me and we’d been looking forward to going through the highs and lows of pregnancy together. Now she was on her own.
• The confusion on Dr. Acosta’s face when he saw Teacher and I standing in the same exam room where he’d left us just days before. The ER hadn’t notified him of our visit so we had to fill him in, and he couldn’t have been more kind, gentle, or sympathetic. We decided to let nature take its course during the week but schedule a D&C for Friday just in case nature didn’t come through.
• Sharing my heartbreak with Sandy, a long-time friend of my mom and director of the group center where I was fulfilling a requirement for an Administrator’s class. Sandy wrapped her arms around me and cried with me when she heard the news.
• Helping in the center’s infant room when they called Sandy’s office for back-up. A sweet little boy with the same name as Jo-Bear needed some loving. I cuddled and rocked him for the longest time, weeping for the baby I’d never hold and pouring all my love for our baby into the little one I held. He’ll never know how much healing I received from him that day.
• Calling Nicole when the cramps got to be too much to bear. I’ve never cramped – even Braxton-Hicks – except for when I was in labor. She urged me to take Tylenol but strange as it may seem, I didn’t want to give up any connection with the baby. Even though I knew our baby was gone I didn’t want to give him up. I hugged my cramping belly wanting desperately to hold on to my baby.

By Friday it was obvious that nature needed a little help so we prepared for the D&C. Nicole gave up a day of her vacation to sub in the daycare so Teacher and I could go to my mom’s for some TLC after the procedure. Once again I don’t have many clear memories of the day, but the ones I do have are extremely clear. I’m sure my brain was only allowing me to remember as much as I could handle without having a nervous breakdown.

The nurses knew the reason for my D&C and were very kind as they prepped me for the surgery. I’d never been “put out” before so I was very nervous and a little scared, but there was nothing to it. The anesthesiologist asked me to count down from 20 to 1 very slowly – I don’t think I made it past 15.

Tears were trickling down my cheeks I drifted to consciousness. Before I was fully awake Dr. Acosta stopped by to tell Teacher that the procedure had gone well and everything looked normal. When I awoke fully I opened my eyes to see Teacher’s beloved face. Bursting into tears I reached for him.

I wasn’t in pain, but felt so tragically empty inside.

On the way to Mom’s we picked up lunch from my favorite Chinese restaurant. Teacher settled me in bed and cuddled next to me to watch movies – he suffered through a Julia Roberts flick even though he can’t stand her. Now THAT’S love. He was wonderfully nurturing and caring throughout the whole ordeal – I couldn’t have made it through without him.

Teacher and I returned home around suppertime, and life went on. My body healed relatively quickly; my heart much more slowly. Desperate for a physical remembrance of our baby, I replaced the diamond stud in my left ear with February’s birthstone, an amethyst, so I’d have a memorial with me always.

This week it’s been seven years since we lost our baby. But just as rain clouds give way to the sun, this week’s melancholy will give way to next week’s celebration. Z-Man will be turning six and although he can never replace the baby we never got to hold, his bright brown eyes, quick smile, and sweet hugs help fill the hole in our hearts.

Each July since we lost the baby I find myself holding Z-Man a little longer, hugging him a little tighter, and appreciating him a little more.

Each February as Nicole plans her daughter’s birthday party I feel a pang of wistfulness over the birthday parties we’ll never plan.

Then I kneel down, open my arms wide to Z-Man and Little Guy, and feel my heart swell as they run over to wrap their little arms around me.

I’ll never forget the baby we never met, and will always be thankful for the blessing he left behind. If it weren’t for his brief time in our family we wouldn’t have our sweet Z-Man and Little Guy.

Thank you, Baby. We love you and we miss you. Always.

~Mom

A couple of years ago I appliquéd a pair of overalls for a friend’s little girl, took photos of them, shipped them off, then forgot to post the photos. Yeah, I’m an airhead that way sometimes – I blame it on “Mommy Brain.”

When I came across the photos the other day I decided to post them. After all, “Better Late than Never” has been my M.O. since Little Guy was born.

At the time I wasn’t making anything except diapers so I really enjoyed the opportunity to make something else. Besides, it had been years and years and years since Princess and Angel Face were young enough to want me to sew for them, so it was nice to sew for a little girl again.

It was kind of a PITB to stitch through all the layers of denim at the seams and pockets but the end result was definitely worth it.

I had fun digging through my craft supplies for pearls, ribbons and flowers to add a little something “extra” to the design. I was able to do the octopus’ face with the machine, but I knew that the mermaid would look like she’d run into an ax murderer if I tried to do her face on the machine.

My mom offered to embroider the face by hand, and since she likes hand embroidery more than I do I “let” her do it for me. Thanks mom!!

Someday when I’ve got time to regularly haunt my local consignment shops I’d like to upcycle clothing with appliqué, but right now I’ve got more than enough to keep me busy!

Thanks for reading; your comments are eagerly anticipated and hugely appreciated!

One of my goals is to raise independent children who can take care of themselves. Being able to feed themselves is toward the top of my list, so beginning when they’re young my general rule is “If you hunt it and kill it, it’s yours.”

For instance, if you crawl to the open pantry, grab a box of crackers, manage to pry it open and get a handful, you can have them.

Even if we just ate.

Or if it’s almost time to eat.

I figure anyone who works that hard deserves to be rewarded.

Over the years my rule has resulted in some pretty amusing – and messy – situations.

Like the time I walked into the kitchen to see eighteen-month old Princess sitting in the middle of the table surrounded with the entire contents of a box of Rice Krispies.

Or the time ten month old Angel Face crawled into the refrigerator to gum a watermelon half on the bottom shelf.

When Z-Man was two his favorite snack was an apple, peeled and cored but not sliced. That was Princess’s favorite snack when she was that age too.

Little Guy uses his creativity – and a plastic spoon – to get into an orange.

Don’t worry, I took pity on him and finished peeling the orange after snapping the photo.

Peanut’s learned how to play the “hunt and gather” game too, but her tastes run more toward sweets – like this giant marshmallow – than fruit or veggies.

I figure that when Teacher and I get too old to cook for ourselves our kids and grandkids will have this hunting and gathering thing down pat and will be able to feed us.

Unless they adopt my “If you hunt it and kill it, it’s yours” rule.

Then I’d be in major trouble.

This week I had a prospective child care family come for a tour and interview so Teacher and the boys helped me tidy up. Our house isn’t usually dirty but with so many children around it’s often messy and cluttered.

Would you like to take a tour while it’s still clean? Hop on the tour bus; here we go!

We’ll enter through this door; it opens into the playroom so it’s the most convenient door for parents to use when dropping off and picking up their children.

To the left of the door I hung the required Food Program notice, Licensing Certificate and results of the most recent licensing visit, and my Eco-Healthy Center and Registry certificates.

To the left of the door are the cubbies Teacher and his dad built for me years ago. They’re very sturdy and much nicer than what I’ve seen in other centers. Parents sign their children in/out on the form on top of the cubbies, can read the current month’s newsletter and other information I have posted there.

The shelving unit by the cubbies holds a rotating selection of toddler toys on the bottom, a hermit crab tank in the middle, and paper for free art and drying art projects like our shaving cream/glue ice cream cones on the top.

Behind the cubbies is the Quiet Corner – a place look at books or just chill out.

Moving around to the left is another shelving unit. The top shelf holds art supplies, the second shelf is full of empty wipe boxes that the kids use as building blocks. The bottom two shelves hold a rotating variety of toys – usually some sort of blocks or building materials and a Little People set or two.

Most of the time there are play dishes and food items on the table but the kids hadn’t been playing with them so the last time I switched toys I put them all away for a while.

This is the view from the back of the house toward the dining and living rooms. My father in law built the diaper cubbies and changing table for me also. Under the changing table are the kids’ extra clothes and large art supplies like tempera paint and empty Pringles containers.

Teacher built the shelf over the door to give me even more storage room. The drawers each hold smaller art supplies like pom-pons, containers of glitter, googly eyes, etc. They’re out of the way yet easy to get to when I need something.

The play room opens into the dining room, which unfortunately the kids think is a perfect runway to the living room. We do learning activities and eat meals at the table – sometimes at the same time! I think that the best projects are the ones we can eat. On the left are shelves with small motor activities aka manipulatives and my “works in progress” sewing projects hiding in the picnic basket.

Here’s the view from the other side… The small basket on the table in the corner holds our cloth napkins while the larger basket hides my sewing notions and small supplies. My serger and sewing machine are out of site under the table cloth – clever, huh? I used to keep them in a closet by the front door but it was a PITB to carry everything through the living room and back every time I wanted to sew. This way I can have my sewing things nearby yet out of sight.

Next to the dining room is the kitchen. When we purchased the house this corner was empty except for one of those corner bench table units. As cute as it was, I think we’ve made much better use of the space.

We ended up totally redoing the kitchen before moving in. We kept the sink under the window, but moved the refrigerator to where the stove had been, added a dishwasher and crammed in as many cupboards as we could.

Originally a wall where the refrigerator was divided the kitchen from the dining room, but we knew it would be impossible for me to prepare meals and keep an eye on the kids with the kitchen all closed off. We tore down the upper part of the wall which opened the space beautifully and allows me to keep tabs on the kids while I’m working in the kitchen. I can hear everything that’s going on, and by leaning over the counter I can see most of it too.

The living room is a work in progress. It’s long and narrow which makes it hard to figure out the best furniture arrangement. When I’m caring for an infant I’ll have an infant swing or pack ‘n play in the corner where the ficus is but right now I don’t need them.

Here’s the rest of the living room as seen from the dining room. You can really see how narrow the room is. What you can’t see is the space between the piano and the near couch – that’s where another pack n’ play or nap mat goes, depending on what’s needed.

And finally, the view from the front door. We’re having the couches reupholstered soon – I can’t wait – and eventually want to replace the end tables with something more Arts and Crafts style. Little by little we’ll make the actual living room match our dream living room.

Well, we’ve come to the end of our tour.

It’s not perfect, but it’s home. And that’s enough for me.