The Baby Grand Piano Room

We got this really great piano for Ani from a co-worker. It's made out of wood a little out of tune, just like a real piano. Bob says it's as close as we're going to get to the baby grand....I say it's a small step.

It's baby alright!

Finished! 2012 Photobook.

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A Weekend in Canada

It feels like we haven't sat still for the past couple of weeks, we were in Chicago, then Toronto. I took this video of Anika while I was trying to rally the troops for a bath, this one, didn't want to go to the bathroom! She's crawling all over the place and hates to be immobile. Sigh. I wonder what walking will be like.

A Little Bit of Spring

One of my favorite things about the Pitt is the number of flowering trees we have this time of year. We've got over 12 and they are just exploding right now. The apple trees are beautiful, and I try not to think of the fact that they'll start shedding their apples come fall and I'll spend most of my days trying to get the dogs to stop eating them!

The red buds are probably my favorite and I love that we have one right off of the master deck:

And I couldn't resist getting Ani outside to pick at the grass!

Grown Up furniture

The last post showed how the built in bookshelves were finished, and I neglected to show a finished picture of this room with our, GASP, grown up furniture.I've been pretty lazy about hanging up our pictures. There are a couple I would like to re-frame, and honestly with the kitchen remodel, the dust in inevitable in this room as well. So the decorations are a bit scarce, but overall I love the minimalist clean look of these pieces.

Because the next step is the kitchen, we've emptied most of the things from the kitchen into our bookshelves, which now are officially full. In our unpacking we found Bob's childhood pewter collection (oh joy!) that is now on full display. The bottom two shelves are for kid toys and books and not pictured here, I've finally found a use for the yoga mat, it makes for a very inexpensive play mat for Ani.

What's so great is that the new floors, the built in bookshelves and those couple new pieces of furniture really make our old couch look completely fresh and new. When I was uploading the photo's the one below looked like it would show the couch, but I was wrong. You do however get to see the cool rug that we purchased at Target. As a random side note, does anybody out there exist that can go into Target and not come out spending a minimum of $100?

The other awesome thing in this front walkway is we installed slate tiles. This was incredibly painful for us because we spent over 10 hours washing grout. Bob swears that it still doesn't look as clean as he wants it to, I think it's gorgeous!

 

One of our fun activities at the Pitt is for Bob to pick up a dog, or now baby and hold them with their heads peaking around the corner. Usually this activity is done to scare, I mean surprise, me.  This photo also gives a great view of the flooring.

Bookshelf Complete

I had my doubts, but I should learn by now that I don't need to question my father. The bookshelves are finished and beautiful! Now to find things to fill them...

2012 Wrap Up

This 2012 wrap up is a bit late, but honestly, that's how all of 2012 has felt, a little bit late. But what a year it's been for us. The beginning of the year started out with Bob saying, "You're almost 20 weeks pregnant, you have to tell people." and me responding by, "I've got plenty of time."  Plenty of time to continue to be in denial.  Although 2012 sped by, here's some of our highlights:

Fun at the botanical Garden

• I almost finished the Star Trek Quiet Book. I've yet to bind it, but it'll happen I swear.
• We traded in Rosie the Cavalac for a Prius V 5
• With the unseasonably warm winter, I had the opportunity to spend a lot of time to spend with my camera and branching out of aperture priority into manual mode.
• We finished the study, bathroom off of the study and completed the laundry

Calm before the storm.

  

• It basically rained babies this year



Baby D

• Added a new niece to the family from my brothers side
• Added a new nephew to the family from Bob's side
• Announcement of a new niece from Bob's side
• Added a new 'nephew' from the Spisich side, whose first birthday we had the pleasure of hosting
• Chicago gang all having babies
• Oh yeah, we had a baby

•    We installed an electric fence. You're thinking, did you just put in a physical fence a couple of years ago? Well yes, except our circus dog, Sheeba, can clear a 5 foot fence as if it was an inch tall. The last straw came when Ani was 7 days old, Sheeba jumped the fence, and I had to chase her down with the new baby. Sheeba was 3 houses down barking at our neighbor on her back porch. 4 days later, the fence went up.

 

•  The Color Run - happiest 5K on the planet 
• Lots of visitors at the Pitt, some have compared us to a bed and breakfast
• Another year of good friends getting married

So yeah, the year has been a blur. So much has happened, and we've had so little sleep, that I don't think it's all sunk in yet. So here's some of our
goals for 2013:

• We're starting the kitchen!!
• The master bathroom?? (Slipper tub!)
• Landscaping?
• Tri Goddess Tri
• Sleep, sleep and more sleep. If that means I'm going to have to start giving Ani whiskey before bed, so be it :-)

Baby Brigade

•  A finished living room with possible new furniture additions

• Going back to healthy choices - this one's for me, I mean Bob still has 0% body fat, and I feel like I'm 95% body fat. It's not babies that make you make unhealthy decisions, it's the lack of sleep. "Getting More Lean in 2013"
• Yoga for me. I hate to even type it because I hate yoga so much, but it's so bloody good for my back. So there, now I've typed it so it must be so.

So here's to another year of renovations at the Pitt, but more importantly a year of family and love.