At Last! A virtual tour of our home

Finally, I have pictures of my entire house. I am calling this a virtual tour because I am probably posting more pictures than most of you care to see, but nonetheless, here they are. We haven't done any work on the main floor yet, just the upstairs.

I posted these first few pics a while ago. This is the front room--what you see when you come in the front door.

Dining Room

Kitchen

(This one turned out dark)

Half bath off of the kitchen

Back in the front room are the stairs. If you look closely, you can see that they need some work. They used to have a carpet runner going up the center; I'm planning on painting the tops black or dark brown.

The hallway will be painted a shade or two darker than it is now.

3 Bed 1 bath upstairs
Master bedroom. This room was covered in layers of wallpaper so we had it dry-walled, painted and the baseboards redone.
I love these windows; I'd like to build a window seat under them one day if we can make it work.

Other half of master. There's so much space here that we hope to add a master bath where the walk-in closet is now (door at the end).

Office/Guest room. This room we painted ourselves; it used to be an ugly yellow. Once we get shelves and a bigger bookcase, we're going to display all of David's treasures from Africa in this room (at least until baby #3 comes along). It's the brightest and warmest room in the house.

I wish we had the before picture; Imagine hot pink tile and mirrored walls. All that we kept was the floor and the sink. It feels so good to know that any grime in this bathroom is OUR grime! No one else!

The girls' room. This room used to be a muddy brown color that was sponge-painted on--ugh. It is a perfect size for two little kiddos, although Charlotte is still in our room for now.

Love this wall; I found a picture and David made it happen. What a stud. This crib was my project right up until Charlotte was born. It used to be an unattractive oak color; I still have to add knobs on the drawers. Love it now.

So that's it! Come and visit us anytime! We're all finally healthy and well although I'm still not taking Charlotte out and about until after her blessing on March 8th.

the Phipps

Sisters

As you can see, Hazel loves her little sister.

Look at that fat little belly.

I LOVE these little booties!

Activity Time

So every day I try to do an "activity time" with Hazel to make sure she still gets some one-on-one time with mom. Lately, it seems like my coolest activity times--the one I'm most excited about--end with her having a meltdown because she can't eat the crayons or spread the chocolate pudding all over the floor. Finding activities for a one year old that maintain their attention for longer than just a few minutes can be a challenge. So, yesterday I got brave and we tried painting. It soon ended up all over her face and then my face, which was just fine because it was washable. I was so excited that we finally had an activity time that didn't end with a tantrum and tears, and then as soon as we grabbed the camera...

Oh well, we at least had fun for a little while. I love that you can see how messy my house is in the background plus the fact that I'm still in my pj's. Gotta love motherhood!

So this isn't the best picture we've ever taken together (sometimes my camera does not live up to it's potential), but yesterday we celebrated our three year anniversary! David told me to get all dressed up and then took me to a shooting range (ha!). It was really funny because the guy helping us wouldn't look at me, he just kept talking to David. Then he finally looked up at me and said, "You smell really girly and it's kinda weird to smell that here at the shooting range." I'm sure they're not used to seeing someone in a dress and heels either. Anyway, we actually decided to come back on a weekend when we had more time because they closed sooner than we expected. SO, we headed over to Cassar jewelers--a jeweler that David did a deal with and received some instore credit--and I got to pick out a beautiful white gold necklace with a tiny diamond penant (I'd post a picture, but it's gettings sized). We're also making some changes to a chocolate pearl necklace David got me last Christmas. After that we headed over to Jasoh's restaurant for some fine dining. I should have taken a picture of my unbelievably tender filet mignon with garlic mashed potatoes, carrot bisque soup and very rich chocolately dessert with berries. Yum.

If I had lots of time on my hands, I'd dig out some cute pics of when we first met, David's prom we went to together, our wedding, etc. but I just don't see myself doing that. Maybe next year!

David James Phipps, I love love love you. You're perfect.

Janelle

Charlotte

Here is Charlotte getting ready for her first bath at home. She's holding on tight to her binky just in case. I was so anxious to get rid of that mohawk they give them at the hospital.I love bathing them in fleece like this when they're brand new because they hardly notice they're getting wet.

I love these small windows of "awake time" when they look around and wiggle for a while before falling back asleep. I did try to put another bow in her hair but I didn't have Karo syrup or anything else sticky enough. Just so you know, honey doesn't work and it makes a sticky mess on your baby's head.

Lookin' at her mama.

My mom came up to visit and help out over the weekend. Thank you Mom!

RSV

Most mothers that have given birth during the winter months have heard of this nasty little virus called RSV. In adults, it manifests itself similarly to the common cold, but in infants it can be more serious. Well, tis the season and we've been hit!

The day before we brought Charlotte home from the hospital, both and Hazel and I started coughing and we both got sick. We took Hazel to the pediatrician immediately just to know what we were dealing with and she says, "Sorry, it's RSV." Needless to say, we've kept Charlotte as far away from everyone as possible. I think Hazel believes her baby sister has transformed into a little crying voice on a monitor. Since the virus is SO contagious, David has stayed home from work longer than anticipated to take care of Hazel as much as possible so that I could be with Charlotte. I wash my hands about every five minutes, disinfect, wear a mask at all times, and change my clothes every time I enter our room to feed Charlotte. We are EXHAUSTED!

But, on the brighter side, Charlotte is still doing well (we're praying she stays that way) and Hazel hasn't gotten worse, although she's still in the thick of it. David is back at work today and I actually got some sleep last night and feel a little better today. Sorry if it seems we've slipped off the planet, but we'll be staying inside for quite a while. We love you all and can't wait to have our friends over to see the baby---just know that it will be a few weeks before we can safely let you in our doors!

Here's a link about RSV for those of you who are unaware. Keep your little ones inside and wash wash wash. Remember that these germs can stay on clothes and hard surfaces for a few hours.
http://www.cdc.gov/rsv/index.html

Love you guys.

Janelle

P.S. thank you so much for all of your responses to our Charlotte post. We love hearing from you. I have more pictures of her coming soon. I love her dark hair, it's my favorite. And did we ever tell you? Her full name is Charlotte Patricia Phipps. I actually let David name this one since I named Hazel (although we both loved the two names we were choosing between--so I was safe either way). Charlotte is after my great-grandmother "Lottie" and Patricia is after David's favorite grandmother. She's got a lot to live up to.

She has arrived!

She's here! At about 3:30am my water broke and we headed to the hospital as soon as possible. By the time I was brought into the delivery room, my contractions were only a minute or two apart and I was dilated to an eight! They quickly administered the epidural (love that) and at 5:16 am we had a beautiful little girl in our arms! She weighs 7 lbs 9 oz and is a little over 20 inches long. She has a full head of black hair just like her mom did. We couldn't be more in love with our second little girl and Hazel is SO excited to be a big sister. Thanks for all your love and support and phone calls. We are all doing well.

At this point David votes for naming her "Tank"

My favorite is the mohawk they give her after her bath.

Hazel loves holding the baby and pointing to all of her features and saying them.- "nose", "mouth", "hair"

And there is no taking that little baby away from her. "NO!"

The Phipps ladies. I have now been completely outnumbered! -David


So, what is her name? Well it wasn't very easy, but we decided to name her...

Charlotte.