The Hard Stuff is Done

Take a look at that fancy bathroom!! I am so pleased with the way this has turned out and knew that if I looked long enough for what I wanted, I would find it. Brian and his Dad did a really great job and I truly believe it was money well spent. Everything is functioning and ready to be used, but now it is my turn to splash on some coats of paint and decorate. Hopefully what I see in my head will turn out really well. I'm thinking of putting this towel rack in and getting a shower caddie and/or storage for the bathroom in general. Wish me luck! Here are a couple more pics of the shower tile and door.

P.S. If anyone is interested in having your bathroom or kitchen remodeled or just looked out, please let me know and I can get you in touch with Brian!

Phase III: Vanity and Crown Molding

I must say that I love Brian for being so quick in his work! On Monday he came over and put the grout in the floor and finished up the wainscoting. Today him and his dad came back to finish up patching the walls, the crown molding, putting in the light and making sure the toilet was in and working. I am already so pleased with the way this is turning out. As some of you know, anything is better than what used to be in there! So I went to Lowe's this evening and bought our paint, a new mirror (the one I bought was too tall and was going to be wedged in between the back splash and the light fixture) and a shower door. Since there weren't very many choices for wall mirrors, I went with a very simple 36W X 30L framed espresso wood one. I went with a Kohler shower door since there was only one in a polished nickel finish and it looks like this. Tomorrow Brian's dad will be back to grout the wall tile and put in the shower doors and that should be that from them! Then onto my work of painting and cleaning...wish me luck. Here are some more pictures of their progress:

Phase II: The Tile is Set

Yeah! The bathroom is well on its way to being useful again! I can't hardly wait to get in there. Brian started the remodeling this weekend and I think him and his father did a great job so far and are keeping things moving right along. We picked out the same tile that we used before on the 1/2 bath downstairs and decided to go with the matching 6 in and 3 in tiles in the bath surround. Also, we opted for the wainscoting again and I can't tell you how much easier and nicer it looks to me than a whole room full of tile. I'm really excited to see the finished product hopefully next weekend. We did run into a little snag with the new vanity, but we just had to give up a little "wiggle" room around where the commode is going to be. I'm sure Josh and I won't ever get too big to handle it...or so I say now. Ugh. Anyways....I'll be updating as the progress is made. Here are a couple more photos from this afternoon:

Kaya Faye Ahmad

After a much anticipated arrival, Kaya is finally here! She was born at 4:51pm (I believe) and weighing 7lbs. 15 oz. and 21 inches long. Here is the proud Nana with her new granddaughter. Stephani did really well and held in there for quite some time starting at the hospital at 12:30am last night (or should I say, this morning?). She was moving right along, but her body decided, "uh, nope I don't think I'm going to dilate anymore"...so she did end up having a C-section and we have beautiful Kaya! And just so everyone knows, its pronounced "ki-yah", so make sure to write it down! Can't wait to visit her tomorrow.

Here are a few snaps from the hospital that Pepere donated to the blog:

Happy Easter!

Make a scrapbook - it's easy!

Well, Easter has come and gone again this year and if you ask me, a little too early! I'm all thrown off this Spring. Considering we don't even have warmer weather yet...I'm really bummed and can't wait for nicer days. As for Sunday, we were pretty laid back, yet again (which I LOVE with my family), and we ate and drank and exchanged little bunny and egg themed gifts. It was really great when we got to my parents that afternoon and had Emaline's first egg hunt. Obviously, it was in the house since it was 37 degrees outside and snowing. I'm telling you, its getting a little ridiculous. After all that finding and squishing of hard boiled eggs, we had lovely ham and turkey for "dinner" (2pm to be precise). Kayleigh was luckily still home and Steph and Adham made it as well. Josh ended up not being able to join us as he had to get some sleep before going to work that night.

After a little nap, we headed to Grandma Audrey's to celebrate with Josh's family and have some left over ham and dessert. Unfortunately Grandpa Gary was still out on the road and Angie and Chad didn't have Maddie, so we will see them next weekend for Maddie's birthday. Josh finally joined us around 7:30pm and we all got to spend some much needed time together.

All in all, it was a pretty good day. Now we are looking forward to Baby Ahmad making her way into this world this week! We are so excited to meet her. I'm pretty sure Thursday will be the day, since she's is scheduled to go in Wed. night to be induced. Stephani is more than ready to feel like a lady again vs. a cocoon. So...more updates to come this week and the weekend. Maddie's (our niece) birthday AND, yes I said AND, the start of our new bathroom. Believe it or not, I finally bought some tile and Brian will be coming over this weekend to get the ball rolling. Keep your fingers crossed everything goes as planned....

RIP: Sir Rupert Thomas

Yesterday, the old man Rupert finally passed on to doggie heaven. I don't normally report bad or sad news on the blog, but I thought Rupert should have a shout out considering he was a member of our family for 17 years. Yes, I said 17 years. This dog lived through everything, diseases, being hit by a car, gang shootings, etc. (okay, not so much that last one, but you get the point). He unfortunately, we believe, might have had tumors in his stomach area which caused him to "bloat out" as they put it and put too much pressure on his lungs to where he couldn't breathe. Granted in dog years, Rupert was 92 years old and we knew he had lived a long and I think exceptionally happy life. I know he's happy somewhere chasing and catching vermin to his little hearts desire.

So as you're out drinking your 40s of malt liquor this afternoon, tip a little to our homedog Rupert. We'll miss you buddy.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Ah, the life of Riley for these two...actually, it took me way too long to get this good of a picture out of the both of them. Anyways, Happy St. Pat's to everyone and I hope the luck 'o the Irish are with you today. There is quite a bit of green being worn in the house today, so no pinching allowed! Unfortunately, it is very stormy and raining today and there will be no fun had by us outdoors. Here are a couple more pictures of the "kids" in their festive green:

I'm sure Nana will have some fun activities planned for us later this afternoon!

Now, as for myself...my girlfriend Meghan had her bachelorette party this past Saturday and all intentions were to head to the parade downtown, but needless to say we never made it. Shenanigans started at 11:30am with Bloody Marys, Irish Coffees and/or Green Beer. It was a great spread put on by the Ladies O'Winter with sandwiches, green rice crispy treats and cupcakes, festive beads and lots of pictures of Meghan. After witnessing probably the funniest taping of Jake doing some "Newlywed Game Questions" we headed down to McGurk's in Soulard for 6 more hours of Irish fun. There were definitely good times had by all and we look forward to the wedding Meghan! Here is just one snapshot of a few of the girls with the bride. p.s. thanks to Courtney for the workout wear--go see Run Fat Boy Run when it comes out.

What, I Have to Keep Up With This Thing??

Sorry for the lack of writing people, but things have been pretty crazy and I haven't had much time to myself to reflect upon on our stellar lives. For starters, my youngest sister was in a very scary car accident and we have been making sure that she is going to re-cooperate well and get back to her normal sarcastic self. Thankfully, she is doing well and healing nicely!

Next, my other sister, the pregnant one, had an ultrasound last Friday found out that her baby is going to come out probably sooner than expected, the size of full grown adult and have her aunt's spot on wit. Actually, Baby Ahmad is probably going to be a little bigger than your average peanut, but no problem for me, just more to love! Although my sister might not agree since she is the who will be doing to work to get her into this world...

Lastly, our bathroom is put on hold for a few days, weeks, etc. since Josh has been working CONSTANTLY. Not to mention I've been putting in a few more days here and there at The Barn to save some spending money for our future trip to Mexico in May.

Other than that, everyone is doing well and Emaline is the size of a 14 year old. Okay, not really but she is quite a bit taller than average at 34 1/4 inches tall and 25.05lbs. We went to the doctor this week and she said Emaline is roughly the average size of a 24-26 month old child. She is growing so fast I had to actually buy these. Good investment if you ask me.

I'm sure there will be lots more to come with me going to the St. Pat's Parade on Saturday and getting ready to celebrate Easter, babies being born and multiple birthdays. So keep checking back!!

The Demolition Has Begun

We have taken on the task of demolishing our master bath in order for "Brian, our bathroom guy" to come and turn it into something new and beautiful! Josh and I have been very excited to do this and you can tell from the fact that I didn't, yet again, get "before" pictures cause when I brought the camera in Josh had already tore up half of the vanity. Should I be worried that he takes such pleasure in destroying things?? Hmmmm. So here are the first pictures of our nasty bathroom. Hopefully it won't take too long to get completely finished since using only one bathroom for everything is really annoying, guess I've been spoiled too long. We've actually purchased most of the hardware that is going to be put in so once I get off my bum and go buy tile we should be done with everything and Brian will put everything in. I can honestly say I am a big believer in having someone else do the work for you...

Here are some more pictures of the broken down bathroom--check out that green tile! Gotta love the 70s!

Our plan is to re-tile the floor and the bath surround, new vanity, new lights, new mirror, wainscoting, new fan, take out medicine cabinet, paint and possibly crown molding. Check back for updates!

Meghan's Bridal Shower

My good friend, Meghan (middle) had her bridal shower on Feb. 23rd and it was great to see all my girls together! Our other good friend Liz came down from KC that morning and got to hang out with me and Emaline all day and we took our friend, Mike, out to lunch that afternoon for his birthday. He turned 48. Not really, but he gets it... As for the shower, it was really a lot of fun catching up with some good friends and learning some much needed embarrassing information about Meghan from her Mom and sisters. Thanks to all the girls that put the shindig together and a shout out to our "sommalier" Brad for teaching me how to drink wine (not that I really needed help in that area).

We also played this really ridiculous game that of course Noonan had to contribute. It was called "Stomp The Grapes" and she told us before we played, "my fifth graders loved this game!". I didn't know what to think. I think I have a picture of the chaos, which consisted of us running around trying to stomp on each other's ankles.

Nice work ladies, nice work. Now we have to wait for the debauchery that will ensue at Meghan's bachelorette party at the St. Patty's Day Parade downtown. God help us.