More painting fun :)

Chris and I have been very busy lately. I thought we were done with the majority of our house work, but I was clearly mistaken. I had forgotten that my husband is the type of guy who can't sit still or relax. I love that he makes himself a "honey-do-list", then completes it all on his own. I don't even have to ask. I came home one day and this is what I came home to. I didn't get a picture of the kitchen, because he had already finished priming the dark red, so my picture would have just been white walls, and that's boring, so here is the living room transformation.




























We had briefly discussed paint and what we should do, as far as touch-ups, but I am pretty certain that we never said we would do it now, or even in the very near future for that matter. It kinda stinks, because we had already painted the entire house. I was thinking we were finally finished, other than the touch up stuff...I was waaaayyyyy off. We, and by we I mean mostly Chris, has re-painted the living room, most of the ceilings through out the house, a lot of the trim throughout the house, and lastly (at least for now) the kitchen. I am quite sad about the living room and the kitchen, I loved the dark brown living room and dark red kitchen, but because we are getting ready to put our house on the market, we deiced that we need to have a more neutral color palate. Oh well, at least we had it the color we loved for the majority of the time we have been here.

Paiton has really been into markers and painting lately, I think it is partly her age, but I also think it is partially because of all the painting that has been going on around her. Her is a pic of her painting in the bathtub. I found a really easy bathtub finger paint, and she loves it. She is in that phase of not wanting to take a bath, but with bath paint, I don't even have to resort to begging.

Pay no attention to the green bathtub, it is a project in progress.

I LOVE Freecycle!!!

I have gotten some AWESOME treasures from the website “freecycle”. I have also gotten rid of quite a big pile of my junk. You know the saying one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. And anybody who knows me at all knows that I LOVE me a bargain. Not just “I got it on sale”, but rather “I got it free”. I love the idea behind freecycle, because who honestly doesn’t have junk they would love to have someone come and haul away? Here are my most recent treasures!

Now that we have the power wheel, Chris has gotten really pumped for “the kid” to go outside and drive. He also has been watching youtube videos on how to “Pimp my Powerwheels”. (Check it out if you want to see some parents who spend waaaaayy to much money on their kids toys). Chris has plans to “pimp” Paiter’s just a little bit. He promised she would not be able to drive any faster than I can run (since I will be the one who really will have to keep up with her). I better start working out now so that when the snow is gone I am already in shape.

I HATE being cold!!!

I have a quick random complaint; I HATE BEING COLD!!! My little family recently returned home from our holiday vacation in Utah. The weather outside was great most of the time, but it took a while for all of us to adjust to the temperature inside. The problem is we keep our house in Michigan quite cold (65^ during the day, and 62^ during the night), and both of our parents keep their houses quite a bit warmer than that. Most of the time we didn’t sleep with a blanket; needless to say we were pretty warm most of the time. Then, right when my body was completely adjusted to the warm weather and sunshine, we boarded a plane and flew back home to Michigan (and back to our cold house). I AM FREEZING!!!! I don’t think I have been warm since we got here. And one last complaint, “the kid” is in that “naked, naked” phase. I spend all day convincing, pleading, forcing, etc. to let me put Paiton’s clothes on. I am super cold while dressed in a hoody and sometimes a jacket on top of that, yet she runs around at the very least, without a shirt, or pants, and most definitely, no socks or shoes. Oh well, what do ya do?

Pictorial Holiday Review

We have been very busy lately, for some reason I thought life would slow down over the holidays. Boy was I wrong… There have been a couple of slow moments, but nothing like I had envisioned. I wanted a nice, quiet, relaxed holiday season; instead we have had a vacation filled with road trips, family parties, bon fires, marshmallows and hot dogs, and many other fun/festive activities. I am not complaining though, I have had a blast!!! And the best part is, there have been enough people around who want to play with “the kid”, which in turn has let me have some “alone/grown-up time” without having to do any type of planning or scheduling. SCORE!! Here are just a few of the pics we have taken along the way. Merry Christmas & Happy New Years!! Thanks everybody for spoiling me and my family, it is greatly appreciated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is a pic of "the kid's" very first gingerbread house (and by gingerbread, I mean graham cracker)

“The kid”, helping Santa find all the presents .

Paiton wearing the skirt of a princess dress, (grandma Bown thought it needed to be pulled up to her armpits), but she also wanted to be Santa's helper, thus the princess elf, with a touch of grandma help. PRICELESS!!

Paiton's favorite cousin (on her father's side) a little family joke!!

Playin' in the snow with the fam!

Just the girls... And the boys.

1st Born Tag

First Born Tag!!! Kimmie tagged me....

1.Where were you when you first found out that you were pregnant?
In the bathroom at my house in Riverton.

2.Who was with you?
Just me, but Chris was on the computer in the other room.

3. How did you find out that you were pregnant?
Home pregnancy test

4.What was your first reaction to finding out you was pregnant?
I was ecstatic, but Chris’ first reaction was, “Oh, are you sure?”

5. Who was the first person you told?
Chris, then a while later, Chris’ family.

6.Did you plan to get pregnant?
Yes, we had been trying for 10 months. We were going to be moving put of state so Chris could go to law school so we gave ourselves a deadline date. The day I took the test, we had 4 more days left, after that day, it would have been back to birth control.

7.Did you tell everyone else right away?
No, we waited until we went to Chris’ parent’s house for thanksgiving.

8. Was everybody happy for you?
I think so.

9. Did you go out and celebrate?
I honestly can’t remember

10.Did you want to find out the sex?
Heck Yes!!

11. Did you get any outfits at the baby shower that you knew you wouldn't put on your baby?
Yes, not only did she get a lot of things, but she also was given a few things that just weren’t my/her style.

12. How much weight did you gain?
About 35 lbs.

13. What did you crave the most?
Butterfinger candy bars.

14.Did you crave anything crazy?
I don’t just love sea food and had never had crab before but one day, I needed it, BAD!!

15.Who or what got on your nerves?
I hate people touching me, and I really hate it when people would touch my stomach, but I especially hate it when strangers would try to touch my stomach. I developed karate like move to deflect their unwanted gestures.

16. Did you have any complications during your pregnancy?
No, I don’t think I have ever felt better

17.Where and when did you go into labor?
At 5:00 am I woke up for my usual potty break. Only I was hurting and didn’t know why. I waited till 5:30 then called my mom. She said to go to the hospital, and the rest is history.

18. Who drove you to the hospital?
Chris

19.Who was in the room when you gave birth?My mom and dad, Chris’ mom and dad, and my sister, the dr, and 2 nurses.

20.Did you go early or late?
Paiton was born 1 week early

21. How long were you in labor?
I didn’t start to really hurt until 7:00am, soon after that I had the epidural, then Chris and I took a 2 hour nap. Then Pater was here around 11:00am. Short answer 4 or 5 hours.

22. Did you have any drugs for the pain?
Heck yes, are you kidding!!

23. Did you go natural or have a C-section?
Natural

24.What was your first reaction after giving birth?
I was very overwhelmed. It worked out okay though, because I think that Chris felt the same way throughout my whole pregnancy, but was fine as soon as I started going into labor. We just traded emotions with each other when she was born.

25.How big was the baby?
7 lbs 12 oz, and 21 in long

26. Did your husband cry?
No, he stepped into daddy mode, and was taking care of Paiton and I.

27.What did you name the baby?
Paiton Rose Christensen

28.Does his name have any significant meaning?
Paiton came from Peyton Manning, but we changed the spelling so it would be more feminine looking. Rose came from my side of the family. The first born girl is named Rose; Paiton is the 5th generation.

29. Did you have any visitors?
Yes, lots of family and friends.

30. Did the baby have any complications?
Yes, I don’t think I was ever really told what the real problem was, but Paiter wasn’t able to breathe very well, so the last day and a half in the hospital, she had to get oxygen. The really terrible part was she had to have a clear bucket looking thing sitting over her head. It looked like a form of torture.

31. How old is your baby today?
On Christmas day she will be 2 ½ years old.

32.When is the next one coming?
Hopefully soon, I have wanted to start trying for another for the last 6-8 months, but it takes two to tango ya know.

33.If you could would you do it all over again?
Most days yes, but she is 2, so sometimes I think “remind me why we did this again“.

Tag five: Megan Finlay, Suzanna Rowley, Nikki Batista, Summer Anderson, Angela Anderson

Not such a girly girl

So, I am totally fine with boys wanting to do “boy” stuff, but Chris has Paiton walking around the house making deer and elk noises (the elk bugle is actually quite accurate, well as accurate as a 2 year old can get). Her favorite thing to do is watch hunting videos on youtube. I am NOT exaggerating about this at all. She walks around the house randomly making all these crazy noises, or says her baby is doing it. Chris is a great dad and spends as much time with Paiton as he can. Her favorite thing to do with him is go out behind our house to look at the deer.

Going to look for deer

A little background info, we live near a wooded area, and deer come close to our house to graze. Chris has a wild animal fetish; he likes to watch them, chase them, and hunt them. Since we moved to Michigan, Chris has not had the opportunity to go hunting, so he makes sure he gets to at least watch the animals. He takes Paiton with him and they sit in the field, or on a small hill in the trees and wait for the deer to come. There are a couple apple trees and they shake apples out of the trees, so that the deer will have something to eat. Paiton will usually munch on one while she waits. If we have apples for a snack or treat or something, Paiton will almost always hold it up and say something to the effect “save for deer mommy?”

Getting apples down for the deer

She sees one

Chris said sitting and waiting for the deer are some of the only times he has ever seen her sit still and quiet, other than when she is sleeping. I guess I can’t complain though, I always said I didn’t want any little “girly girls”. She definitely is not girly, other than she totes her babies and purses around with her everywhere, even to go watch the deer.Here are some random pictures we took on sunday while out on a family walk/hike. (I just started using a new camera, and I am not so good with it yet. I ended up deleting a ton of pictures because they were really fuzzy)

Halloween Pics

I don’t understand how people pick which houses will have good Halloween candy, but I need to fix something. We had a grand total of 6 trick-or-treaters at our house this year. I did leave and take the kid out treating for about an hour, but I am pretty sure we didn’t miss anybody, because we stayed in our little neighborhood, and I didn’t see one child (or adult) out begging for candy.

That is a whole other blog session in and of itself. I have spent Paiton’s whole life trying to teach her not to beg for food or snacks, and especially not from strangers. Just as soon as I think she has got it mastered, we put on a silly outfit, then drag her to the neighbors houses, then get her to beg, I mean trick or treat . The whole time we were trick or treating, she was begging for, or
trying to open her candy. What a fun time we had. Here are some of our pics. Paiter is the pink dragon, her friend Ellie was a frog.
Sooo cute!
































Just a random cat hat she made for Halloween story time at the library.