revelling

our weekend was fantastic. we did absolutely nothing of note. :)

friday night, we enjoyed our leap day breakfast for dinner. we made pancakes using soy milk, and they actually turned out pretty darn good. bryan made giant ones, along with scrambled eggs, bacon, AND sausage. it was pretty yummy.

saturday, i got up bright and early and went to the spa for a massage. oh lordy, it was awesome. definitely adding that to my 6 week schedule. the masseuse was really nice, and wasn't afraid to apply some pressure. their facilities were very nice, including a GIGANTIC double shower to rinse off the oils afterwards. they do couples massages, so bryan and i are thinking that would be a good date to do every 2 - 3 months. i'm pretty sure i can find room the budget for that! ;)

afterwards, i headed home and jumped right back into my sweats to laze around the house. oliver's eating schedule was right on, but his sleeping was not. he just didn't seem to want to go down for a real nap at any point.

saturday was national pig day, so we had bacon for lunch. :) i think you're supposed to do something nice for a pig, but if you say "pig" to me, i'm going to say "oooo yum, pork!"

mom and dad came over for dinner, and to watch elizabeth the golden age. the movie was good, but a little slow. i do love cate blanchett, though. i made beef and guinness stew with dumplings. the stew was good, but could have been better. usually, i dredge the beef in seasoned flour before browning it, but couldn't do so since dad has problems with wheat. doing so allows the broth to thicken naturally into a delicious gravy. i made the dumplings with soy milk, and they turned out ok - not my best. bryan and mom thought they were good, but i wasn't thrilled with them. mom made a scrumptious apple crisp for dessert. oliver was falling asleep in our arms near the end of dinner, and went down without a hitch.

sunday, we woke up early (ollie definitely knows his schedule and does not vary!), and bryan made some delicious omelets with portobello mushrooms and canadian bacon (some really good organic stuff from peapod). we headed to church, where oliver charmed all the ladies in the nursery. :) he was, of course, super smiley and not the least bit fussy for them. everyone oohed and aahed over his incredible cuteness. he is a pretty cute baby! he was on a much better sleep schedule, and i even managed to get a little nap in. we spent the rest of the day lounging.

we ran a oliver + dairy test and he passed with flying colors, which means i can be back on dairy again, WOOHOOOOO! we took a bag of frozen milk i had pumped during christmas that we knew had dairy in it, and fed him a few ounces. it didn't appear to bother him at all. i ate some dairy at dinner as well, and he has been doing just fine. i am soooooooo happy. i'm not going to jump head first back into it; i don't think that would be good for either of our digestive systems. however, i'm so glad to be able to have some again. i had a bite of cheese yesterday afternoon, and teared up a little.

bryan smoked some ribs for dinner, and served that with some cabbage braised with apple juice and apple cider vinegar. i made my sweet cornbread - with real milk, and slathered it with real butter. it was soooooo good. i think i've perfected that recipe. it's ridiculously good.

the weather warmed up (to 40 or so) this weekend and melted some snow, and brought some rain (which wasn't snow, so i was happy). it was raining again this morning and has since turned into gigantic wet snow. which figures, since i'm wearing a skirt and heels today, left my boots at home, and i'm pretty sure there isn't a scraper in the prius. i'm going to be pretty much up the creek without a paddle this afternoon.

oliver has his 4 month doctor's appointment this afternoon. i can't wait to see how much he weighs! i'm betting it's at least 17 pounds if not 18. he's gigantic!!!

here's some oliver cuteness to start your week off right (the video is dark but it's the sound you want anyways!).

WFD: meatloaf! bryan made a duxelle with the leftover portobellos, so we're going to put that in the meatloaf, mmmm. i'm thinking some glazed carrots (BUTTER) and mashed potatoes (CREAM AND BUTTER) on the side. oh dairy, how i love thee, let me count the ways.

a little ambition never hurt anyone (but a lot might have)

forgive the picture quality. it was taken at about 9pm last night, on my phone, with the aid of work lights, which i'm pretty sure could land commercial aircraft.

so, we're in the house. not living there, but we have keys. ;) we learned friday evening that our neighbor's property line goes right up to our driveway. which means bryan has to plant fence posts in the driveway. that's going to be fun, isn't it? if you want to help, by all means, call me - you're more than welcome to join.

saturday morning we trucked over to the new house with supplies. my parents showed up to help out. while mom primed the living room and dining room, dad and bryan ripped out some cabinets and moved a gas line. bryan spent the afternoon with his buddy dirk and a 2 man auger, drilling 2.5 ft deep holes for fence posts. it took them a little while to get the hang of it, but once they got going they made good progress. our appliances were delivered (woohoo!), and they are gorgeous. i managed to convince bryan that we needed to pull down the full wall of wallpaper in the master before painting. i ended up skipping a trip to chicago to visit a friend who was in town in order to stick around and help out, even though i couldn't do everything. i ended up doing a lot nontheless. pretty much everything we want to paint got primed, with the exception of the master bedroom. we dragged our butts home around 10:30pm for some frozen pizza (you know i was tired and desparate) and then fell into bed.

sunday morning we got up as early as we could. i headed to the new house to spackle and tape, then back to the old house to pack up whatever i could. bryan and dad spent the morning digging more fence post holes. they completed the back and side, holes dug and posts cemented in. dad also did some electrical work, and bryan ran some new plumbing to the new fridge for our ice maker (with options for 3 sizes of cubes, fancy schmancy). we found a broken part on the fridge and a missing gas connector for the stove. mom and shannon had found a way to strip wallpaper without chemicals (diluted fabric softener), so we spent about 4 - 5 hours yesterday doing that. it was easy, just tedious and time consuming. it's down now, though, which is great. i have a feeling though that the room will smell like fabric softener for some time to come. bryan got the color cut in in the dining room, and it is going to be great!

today i am working and mom and bryan are laboring. he is working on getting fence panels up, and they're also working on painting the master bedroom. mom washed the previously wallpapered wall with chemicals to remove the glue, which i am sure was fun. last i heard, it was almost all primed, and they were starting on paint for the ceiling. that's the one room we have to finish up tonight before the movers come tomorrow! shannon got off of work early so, lucky her, she doesn't get out of painting today, muhaha. i need to head to the appliance store to get the gas connector, and they've ordered us a replacement for the broken drawer part we need. i think i'm also going to order the silk for the bedroom drapes, since i didn't pick that up when shan, mom, and i spent 3 hours at joanns last week poring over fabrics. i also need to call for big trash and brush pick up. funny story, i called atlanta watershed management to find out why they sent me a water bill (albeit for a credit) even though i closed my account in march (and didn't receive anything in april or may). atlanta watershed management is seriously f'd up. turns out even though they closed my account in march, they billed me for april and may on the final bill. so i am due an even larger credit! the nice gentleman i spoke with is actually in the billing dept, he was helping out on the phones. so he's going to help me out. i am sooooo lucky to have gotten someone smart. last time i had to call about a problem (they were billing me for *2* houses and the bill was over $1000), i got some snippy little queen who refused to help.

tomorrow is moving day. the movers show up around 9am. i'll be in IL again until wednesday night, which is unfortunate. then i get to unpack all our stuff, which is exciting. next saturday bryan is going to rent whatever it is he needs to core holes in the concrete to get that fencing up. that may suck a bunch. hannah arrives sunday though! we're pretty excited about that. we've got a busy july planned. and we're cramming as much into this week as possible so we don't have to do too much house stuff while she is here.

nothing else to say. home depot is our new favorite store. they may get to know us by sight there. luckily, it's not far, though it sure wouldn't hurt if there was one closer. i'm pretty beat, and i haven't even been doing the hard work. makes it tough when the baby gets all my blood! speaking of baby, i think he wants a candy bar. i wonder if an orange will suffice instead...