Operation More Space

So we have been wishing to move for a few years (we're really good wishers). 

We have been talking about moving for several months (we're also really good talkers).  We even made a list of all the things we should do to make our house more staged and appealing to everyone else. 

We made plans this weekend to fix and paint the ceiling, we just got our roof fixed, and we have a landscaper in the works to help us tame the monsters bushes outside.  I've been cleaning things out and Operation More Space was starting to take shape.  (We're starting to actually get off our butts and become really good doers.)

Then tonight our neighbors hammer a for sale sign in their front yard. 

I don't know how to feel about it.  Is it better for competition and would actually sell our house faster?  Or will it totally screw us because we live in identical houses (darn townhouse developments).  Hmm, who knows.  It does kind of motivate me to get things moving even faster but I'm not sure why. 

Precious

Sleep is precious and a sleeping toddler is even more precious.  It is quite possibly the cutest thing ever. 

After our months and months of a bad sleeper we are at a pretty comfortable, happy, restful period with Luke right now.  In fact this week in general he has been taking 3+ hour naps in the afternoons.  Growth spurt?  Not sure if they go through anything like that at this age.  It has allowed me to get things done around the house AND take a nap myself.  In short, this week has been heavenly.

Because of the lengthy naps I have been going in to check on Luke to make sure everything was okay.  I wonder if that ever stops or if I'll be doing that in 10 years from now too.  Anyway, the different positions he sleeps in are adorable.  I always want to take a picture but fear I'll wake him up so I don't.  This week he actually snuggled up with this stuffed animal dog that is almost his size and he looked so happy and peaceful with his little friend.

No pictures displaying the many sleeping positions of Luke, however the cats don't get the same courtesy from me.  Sometimes they sleep like cats like this

 or this.

But most of the time they sleep like this...

 and this.

And after our little photo shoot they were both completely annoyed with me and not sleeping at all.

Mom vs Toddler

Mom prevails! (I've been watching a lot of Man vs Food lately)

Anyway, the childproofing "war" is never ending.  I lock something up and Luke figures out something new to get in to.  Since I've been home for the summer Luke learned to open the oven, mess with the dishwasher, open the pantry, flush the toilet...the list goes on. 

Exhibit A - no locks

So lets start from the basics - cabinet locks are fairly easy to install and keep him out of the stuff in the kitchen.  Done and Done.

The pantry and powder room door are bi-fold doors.  Luke is barely tall enough to reach the door knobs but came up with this crazy plan about shoving his fingers in the fold part of the door and prying it open just enough that he can fit his hand in the door and open it up.  Talk about stressful - he could pinch the crap out of his fingers and he has no fear.  Not to mention this gave him access to the cat food container and boy did that turn out to be fun.  But don't worry, Mom won, remember.  We found plastic covers for the top of the door that only grown-ups or a Jolly Green Giant baby can reach. 

Then there's the oven and dishwasher.  They come with locks, solution found right?  Wrong.  Luke knows how to lock and unlock both using the lock that is installed.  The oven lock we bought was easy to find and no big deal.  Our dishwasher on the other hand was really hard to figure out.  I kept buying locks at the stores but nothing would fit correctly and worked for our situation.  Yesterday I won!  I found a lock that we can put part on the counter, part on the dishwasher, and no way little Luke can undo it.  (Thank you Target!)

The one appliance Luke hasn't figured out yet is the refrigerator. I'm thinking its not too far away now.  No worries though, the lock I used on the dishwasher was a two-pack. 

As of today, Mom is victorious!  Tomorrow may be another story. 

Duster Extraordinaire

Putting Luke to work today.

TV stand, nice and clean.

Moving on to job #2.

Date Day

Yesterday ended up being an impromptu date day.  We had plans to run out to Harrisburg to exchange some jeans for Zach and visit our friends who just had a baby last week.  My mother-in-law volunteered to watch Luke and off we went. 

We started at the Harrisburg Mall - um, yeah, don't ever go there.  It was very interesting.  They had an Express and they had a Macy's and pretty much nothing else.  I thought it was weird because no one was there.  Park City gets packed on Saturday afternoons but this place was dead, now I know why.  We did venture into Bass Pro Shop.  That store is a big deal I guess but we're not really outdoorsy people so it didn't excite us as much.  Some lady was walking around taking pictures while we were there though, she loved it. 

Since the mall didn't wow us we had extra time before visiting the baby.  We went down to 2nd Street and decided there would be enough to do to pass the time.  We ate lunch at one of the local bars, walked around for a while, and ended up on City Island.  I had never been there.  We saw some crazy teenager attempting to do the batting cages on fast pitch baseball, yelling some choice words, and afraid to swing the bat, very entertaining.  The Senators ballpark was open so we went in and walked around there for a bit.  Then we saw the arcade and they had skee ball.  I LOVE skee ball, so of course we went in and played a few games.  We gave our tickets (that's right, we rocked skee ball) to some little girl and were on our way. 

It was relaxing, fun, and I got to work on my tan.  Score!  We stopped by the hospital to visit and I got to hold their 3 day baby, adorable!  I love babies and I've been able to hold so many lately.  The afternoon turned out to be awesome.  Yay for date day!

Water, yay!

Luke took his first trip into a pool last week and he really liked it.  He is back to loving bath time (we go through phases around here, loves it, hates it).  He also loves sitting next to the cat water bowl and splashing, dumping, spilling it everywhere.  So yesterday we went out and got this awesome little water table.  I think hes in love.

Splashing water all over.

Filling the cup.

Dumping the water onto the ground.

Not sure what he liked more, the actual toy or the box it came in.

We kept really busy this week in general.  We got a visit from my brother and my dad, tried out a Gymboree class (which Luke loved and we signed up for the summer), took several trips to the park, played with Cheerios all over the living room (I may have lost my mind at that point),

Luke also had been playing the cat food so I tried a more appropriate option.  Only problem, the cheerios didn't really stay in the containers.  The boy is happy though.

Eating them was his was of cleaning up.

and of course played with water.   Whew - summer is awesome.

Shopping, Baseball, and Rain

That describes my Saturday.

Zach and I headed down to King of Prussia to do some shopping.  We got to the Plaza and I was all excited, it's been forever since I've been there, but Express was closed.  That was a main reason for our visit, so off we went to Plan B - Plymouth Meeting Mall.  Its small but we got some clothes, a pair of shoes, and a snack so it was a success. 

Next we headed to the Phillies game.  We had awesome seats, 5 rows from the field in center field.  Just as they announced the first batter, BAM, buckets and I mean buckets of rain fell out of the sky.  It was insane.  We all got a little shower and then it was dry the rest of the game.  The Phils ended up winning, we sat near some characters, and had a good time.

After the rain when the game actually started!

Shane and Domonic

Raaaaaauuuulll!

I love baseball!

On the way home we hit some ridiculous thunderstorms but after taking quite a bit longer than expected we made it home.  Only to find it "raining" in our own house, but that's another story.  Overall, good day!