<3

pickin taters

2011-06-16T16:58:00.000-07:00

Back When i planted my potatoes. (March 28th) i was so excited for June to come. Dug em up today! weighed them and it came to 8.10 pounds worth of Taters! THEN, there was this random plant OUt of the raised bed things that i thought looked like potatoes, so i pulled that up too, and got 4 more Red potatoes.
So much fun. I am excited to try them:D

Case turns 1 ♥

2011-06-16T15:49:00.000-07:00

Cupcakes at Cases

Family ♥. wish ALL of our fam could have been there.
I can't believe Our Handsome Baby is ONE. SUch a Long year it has been for us, things are getting easier. So glad to have him.

Color Me Mine

2011-06-16T15:26:00.000-07:00

as an Anniversary Tradition, we will go to Color Me Mine, and paint a piece of Pottery. we decided this at our first year anniversary when we didnt have any money, to do this, and then splurged and went to the Olive garden. well, we loved it so much, we decided to keep Color Me Mine as a yearly thing.
This year, though, we decided to do One Big platter, so Case could get in on it too :)

so its a platter with all of our handprints on it. i know i know, no final pic. ill get one of alll the color me mines we've done to make up for it, hows that sound?

June6. 20011

2011-06-16T15:09:00.000-07:00

Got up, got ready, left town at 9:am got to Hanford at 10, met up with some friends, Stelle, and Lisa and Luis, and a fun Breakfast and visit, and then began our Car shopping.!

A long day. Looked at all our options in Hanford, then went to Fresno checked our options there. Decided with a Lincoln MKX we saw in Hanford. everything we wanted. dont have a picure of it here, but its perfect for space we need for all of our stuff for trips to SF, comfortable, AC works for the blazing heat here in the Valley and we're just so excited for it.

Please excuse why Case looks like a homeless child. In the last stop in Fresno, we didnt notice that he unhooked his Gtube, (filled with the chocolate version of Pediasure) and started swinging around his tube as the milk still pumped out. hahahah he had chocolate all over him. It was the end of the day by this time and he already went through the other 3 outfits we had..(by throwing up on them) so he was stuck in this. we cleaned him up as best as we could, but he didnt seem to mind..it was so funny though..:) We drove back to Hanford, and checked out and finally went home to a warm bath for Case, and a glorious anniversary present.
the second best anniversary present so far. The BEST anniversary present will always be Case.

BBQ and Bubbles

2011-06-16T15:04:00.000-07:00

the title says it all. The first week of June the weather still wasn't blazing hot, so we decided to cook our dinner on the BBQ that night. we had potatoes Tri Tip, asparagus.. mmmmm

Case got to hang with the Dogs Jasper and Maggie, and we blew some bubbles. Fun FUn:D

The Greatest Place on Earth!

2011-06-02T13:21:00.001-07:00

Nope, not Disneyland. ;) one of our fav. spots (im sure ive mentioned More than once) is the Ranch. you're just 20 minutes from town, but you feel Hours and Hours away
Luke was leaving the next morning, so we decided to go for a drive, shoot some guns, and have a few beers. left Case with Gram.
drove up in Rys truck, got into the convertible Toyota complete with a bus seat (literally) in the back and headed out. (it is THE place where we collect the horned toads for the races every Derby,.. Also, it is our school Mascot.- another fun fact is my dad knew the guy that drew the ORIGINAL horned toad mascot for the high school)

Beautiful isn't it!

Ry Hit the bottle!

I hit the bottle too! (in the background you can sort of see Coalinga. not real well in this pic, but its there )

The hill in the pic above and below with the tree on it is called Toggenburg. i have no idea why its named that..ill have to ask.. but you can see it from town. Its the tallest hill on the ridge you can see from town. we find ourselves looking at it from time to time from town and just being so happy that we can head up there any time. awwww ;) one year on fourth of July we want to go up there and bbq on that spot (where we were shooting guns) cause you can see Coalinga from there. i bet the fireworks would be cool

See the Doe on the side of that hill? so cool. we think she had a fawn with her, because she was stopped there, but not looking at us,.. she waslooking ahead of her in that brush..so cool

Ry Lived up at the ranch until he was four. His mom kept buggin his dad to 'build these boys a tree house!' his dad didnt do it fast enough so she did it.. Ry said it was like a death trap. if you stepped in the middle you'd fall out! hahahah, i love how its still standing. you can see it from the house they used to live in.:)

Horned Toad Derby

2011-06-01T19:50:00.000-07:00

The 75th one Coalinga has had. Carnival. Food, Beer, live Music, High School reunions,ect, oh and Horned Toad Races. thats right. hahah
As far back as Rylan can remember, Rys Moms side of the family has been getting the horned toads for the Races, a group of whoever wants to go, drive around the canyon and when one is spotted, jump out and get the horned toads. pretty cool that our family is the one that provides the toads. ;)

this was on Monday. the last day of the Derby.. we took Case to see his first Horned Toad Race... and, his first horned toad.

he didnt think much about the little guy..stared at him for a while..and that was about it...
my camera was on the wrong setting and i was in a hurry so its not the best picture..bummer, but at least i got some :)

Above is Case and his cousin Paige. my sisters daughter. so cute. and below is Case and Jaelyn (rys cousins daughter).

My mom and Dad with Case. Gram and Papa.
we saw them there with my niece and nephew,Ry and I went on the tilt-a-whirl with Evan and Paige and they hung with Case:)

Then Paigey (in the light blue shirt, on the end) went on THis and had a blast!
this was all on the last day. didn't get anyother pictures of the whole weekend! but then we said Goodbye to Luke, and relaxed the rest of the evening.

Coe (rys bro) me,Case, Ry, Luke(Ry&Coes Cousin)

love these four :)

new Formula for Case

2011-05-14T12:18:00.000-07:00

No more baby formula for this guy.. and i think its gonna be a good thing..
we've moved to Toddler fomula.. so he can still get his high calories and hopefully gain some weight!
little man is only 17.6 pounds.. yes, the point six counts around here ;)
and so far its going well.. he likes it cold.. yesterday i went to get my hair done so he was home with dad and he ate 80 mls ALL BY HIMSElF every 2 hours over 6 hours total. and thats exactly right because he usually needs 120 mls every 3 hours.
just gets tricky when he gets tired and he doesn't want to eat.. but he's not full enough (comfortable) to fall asleep.. so..

we are in the works of getting his OT (eating therapy) rolling...and hopefully he will learn to Looove solids like the rest of us, and get rid of the Gtube.

haha, the fish and the bear... random. i just threw em in the pic cause they're so cute.
Grandma and Grandpa Bourdeau got those for their one and only grandson.

PlayDates are Fun!

2011-05-13T12:48:00.000-07:00

Case,Jaxson, and Zoey have been hangin out since four months old.
here they all are at Zoeys house, Natalya is there too. Zoeys big sister.
fun fun fun!
Zoey is moving away soon, so these pictures will be more spaced out :(
Case is the oldest, then 2 weeks later is Jaxx, then two weeks after him, is Zoey..aren't they precious!

feelin the L♥ve

2011-05-13T12:37:00.000-07:00

Why are people so nice?!
wow.
Chelsea, giving me a Heap of potatoes,Marigolds,Among Lots of other things, and Owen, (her handsome baby boy) sending Case lots of goodies as well. She has been a great friend to me.
SHout out Girl! :D
Her and I met at the Ronald Mcdonald House. we were getting ready to leave and she had just gotten there..our bracelets to get to where our babies were, were once dark blue like hers, and now were mostly faded to white with a little blue showing..
that is one thing she said to us.."you've been here a while?" looking at our bracelets..so glad we have kept in touch.

Melody, So nice, sent me some Tomatoes that she grew and a honkin' loaf of bread! Her husband works in town, and she lives about an hour away, so she had him drop it off on our porch super early before work. people are So. Nice.

Case even got a SmarTrike from a girl i went to highschool with's little girl Madilyn.. quite the shocker! we are on the lookout for fantastic little girl things to send as a thankyou!

this thing is so awsome, it will 'grow with him' till his about 3 or too big for it. pieces come off and it turns into a trike..really clever.

family is awsome with Case.. friends Love him...always giving him lots o love.
feelin so lucky
♥

Case. In S.F. 5.5.11

2011-05-11T17:22:00.000-07:00

So our trip to San Francisco on 5/5/11 went really really well.
His Gortex patch is Still in tact, and his surgeon said that 50% of babies' patches
have torn already.
Case is getting stronger so when we have to hold him down for xrays its a little tougher.. Rylan got to go with us this time. The first trip back my parents took Case and i and then next time after that Rys mom took us. It was nice to have Ry see what appointments are like.. he's never been to one before.
his Left lung (that was 1/3 of the size at birth) is growing nicely..
He is Very smart, really interested in books, figures things out quickly.. He was given a Bailey, Baley..(spelling??) test and did Fantastic! the lady was really impressed with him. I'd explain what that is,but its really hard to explain..hah :)
They are going to change him to Pediasure formula which is a toddler formula, instead of his infant formula. Still has high calories, to help him put weight on.
He is 29 inches long and 17.2 pounds. Tall and Skinny.. still. Eating is an everyday struggle for both him and Me..very time consuming and frustrating. He is probably frustrated as well.."ma, why dont you just put the milk in the TUBE! i dont want to eat!" hopefully we get some OT therapy to help with his eating and this can be a thing of the past sooner rather then later. He does eat about half of his bottle.. and sometimes when we give him a half hour to an hour break, he will finish his bottle..and as far as solids go.. some days he does GREAT and other days he's not interested.. he has liked yogurt, green beans, avacado...and ONCE he ate a WHOLE jar of Chicken and veggies. Uh-Mazing! i remember running out to RYlan in the back yard and said, all casual..'look how much he ate' and showed him the jar.. ry couldn't believe it.. we really thought it had it.. we got too excited too early. But hey! its a step!
Everyone asks when his GTube will be out. Well, when he starts eating.
He is Happy, Smart, CUrious, VOCal, social.. he is doing so well. we have so much to be thankful for.:D
Oh yeah, he has FouR teeth on top.
Two on the bottom. and the past couple days got the next bottom on the left.
He is Crawling like a mad man.. (ry and him have races all over the living room)
pulling himself to stand..
and loves to walk when you hold his hands.
he also likes to cruise along the couch..tables..and change from one chair to another while standing.
sometimes it sounds like he says "doggie" or "gie" they're his fav. sounds right now.
before we know it he will be runnin with his big cousins. FUn!

guitar lessons

2011-05-10T09:40:00.000-07:00

Case LOVES music. He will dance when he hears some...he will even dance when there is a steady sound his stroller makes when we are going on a walk..in home depot..if you start making some sort of song..*if he is in the right mood.. he will start grooving.
Grandpa Bourdeau Playes music. Hes Very good and has a Beautiful Martin Guitar.. im in love with that guitar, its sounds amazing. even makes the songs i try to play sound good. I know Case is gonna play. He gets Lessons from Grandpa John every chance we get.

here is Grandpa and Grandma Bourdeau.. (my husbands parents) John is Singing one of his many songs..:D

out with the dogs

2011-05-10T09:23:00.000-07:00

Perfect weather. This was about 3 weeks ago. beautiful day. beautiful boys.

Jasper is the sweetest dog. He doesn't have very good vision, has something wrong with his eyes. he's almost 8 years old, and we love him.

Maggie will bring you her ball and even put it right in your hand if you want... (i made her do that when i was big and pregnant and wasnt gonna bend down every 4 seconds) she loves playing fetch. Case Loved it too. shes a hyper dog, but we love her too...

So....

2011-05-10T09:20:00.000-07:00

i love black and white pics...Look at that crazy hair!

thats ME. i guess we know where Case got his wild hair from...

Mothers Day

2011-05-09T14:45:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone had a great Mothers Day!

Ry and i spent the weekend building my present.:)

well, i did the top wood planks.. sanding and such, and he did the rest. sure is nice of him to let

me take some of the credit. the design of it and say i 'helped' with building it. hah!

Wednesday we went to SanFrancisco for an appointment for Case.. went Very well, maybe ill post more about that later. Stayed the night, Appointment on Thursday.. after that, came home.

Friday went to Home Depot for our supplies

and we were finished, stained and Everything, Saturday. It got to come in on Sunday.

we're pretty excited about it.

Ry Got this built super fast. Im glad he's so talented.

putting the doors on.

Here was my job (pic above) i was roughing up the top planks with a hammer, screws.. and whatever else... wanted it to look 'rustic'
then time to pick a stain. we lucked out and actually had the stain already (Rys cousin Luke used to live with us and he'd make beds and had tons of stain left over. we didnt choose any above.. we went with Walnut.

almost donneeee!! i love the feet on it too.

and here it is! i woulda made the top look a little More rustic, but hey, for our first time making our custom entertainment center/walk along thing for Case/ Toy Storage/bench ect.. i think we did pretty good.

I LOVE how ry hid the wires from the TV. so clean looking... and nothing to temp Mr.Case back there.. i know he'll climb on it one day, but at least its sturdy enough! :) Case is really trying hard to get those doors open.. but they are baby proofed (the whOLE point we made this).. he sure is determined though.. Ry is so smart he made holes...(in the form of a blade cut) on the front of the doors, for the signals from the remotes. he's a thinker!

what'ya think?

later on, after we got the MONSTROUS thing inside the house, and admired it for a while, Ry and Case got me a card and Case got me a cute sparkly necklace with the letter 'C'... my first mothers day was Perfect... their presents made me cry and i feel so happy to have these two guys in my life. and i have to say im so excited to get noodle necklaces and painted hand pictures from Case when he gets big! ill probably cry every single time too

Potatoes.

2011-03-29T19:29:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my girl Chelsea, i am planting potatos this year! FOUR kiNDS! whaaaat! haha, Russets, Fingerlings, Yukon Gold and Red Lasoda. learned so much about potatoes, i did. chopped them so there were 2-4 eyes on each piece. put them in egg cartons in the garage, where it was cool, covered them with crumpled news paper so it was dark and the air would circulate and let them cure.(the cut pieces get hard so they dont rot in the ground) thanks to my friend Chelsea for all of this knowlege! so fun.

to make raised beds, we chopped a plastic trashcan, and a plastic Bin in half. I shoveled the dirt for one of the bins in 20 minutes, last week, and Ry shoveled 3 bins, in about oh, 5-10 minutes. JEEZ! ;) he tried to make me feel better by saying that he's got weight behind him though, so that makes shoveling easier for him.that was nice. After most of the dirt was in, from the compost.. we put in some potting soil and mixed it in the dirt. Our compost is full of worms, thats a good sign.

My sister sent me some Green Beans and Acorn squash also! exciting stuff!

ohhh Case. you make me smile

2011-03-28T17:38:00.001-07:00

whaaaat TWO posts in ONE week!? this camera is makin be a picture takin fool, so what better place to post them? First lets talk about Case and Bath time. he. LOVES. Bathtime. i wrapped him in a towl and bring him out to the living room. it was so funny to me that he sat there sooo good. usually he's getting the towl off of him asap and enjoying being naked. i grabbed the camera stat! USually we have to get some clothes on him pretty quick because well.. you'll see.

this wasn't like him at all, so serious, stayed all snug in the towell. like he was thinking.

he finds his Gtube.

right here is when i tell him "Case.... dont play with that.."

i love how he gets shocked and then... ..keeps messing with it without looking at it.. like i cant see that. hahahahaha!!:)

ohhh silly boy. so i go up to him, move his hand. and tell him "No. that will hurt your tummy" Case doesn't like to be told no... hahah :) well at least he left it alone after that :) being mad didnt last long. wait a minute... now that i think about it, maybe he was messing with it before the towel came off of him... heeyyy you sneaky little thing!! i dont think he was.. but.. maybee...

Canon 60D

2011-03-23T17:29:00.000-07:00

I got a new camera.

i can't beLieve i own one of this awsome things.

i dont feel worthy. haha

its a Canon 60 D. best in its class and all that hooplah.

its pretty awsome.

i love it.

have i mentioned its awsome?

enough talking. lets look at some pics. :)

Case. Over nine months old.

Case and Daddy

Elaines sweet boots

in front of Gram and Grandpas house

my friend Lisa

the house in the evening

my nephew Evan. age 8

Dad

he was prepared for some heavy snow. all we found was the ground just dusted with it up at Los Gatos park.
at the creek taking the dogs for a run
my sister Elaine

dad took this one with a different lense

Still have a lot to learn with this awsome piece of machinery.

ive always been into taking pics.

great way to remind me of the memories that i forget about.

3/22/11

2011-03-23T17:28:00.000-07:00

3/22/11: "Today was one year since I found out about Cases Diaphragmatic Hernia... Doc told me they weren't positive if it was or not, and 'don't look it up until it's confirmed, because it's scary' (of course I looked it up) had to wait 3 days till our appointment at Childrens. Longest 3 days of my life...we weren't going to find out the sex of the baby- but decided to the same day they confirmed it was CDH. We knew he'd be strong. We were right. <3 you Case!"

i posted this on my facebook page.
i can't believe it has been a year already. Rylan and I have learned so much this last year. a year ago it felt like the rest of my pregnancy was going to take For. EVer. after i learned of his CDH i still had 12 more weeks to go until i had him. Lots of stress tests to make sure he was okay near the end of those 12 weeks. being told that he may have a chromosome disorder..he may be blind, deaf, heart problems...may not even have enough lung tissue to survive.. no way to tell until he is born because in ultra sounds the intestines look the same as lung tissue does. and his intestines were in his chest. i'd always tell the ultrasound tech. that it was lung tissue. Lots of lung tissue.
i would always say he is fine. he is strong and healthy.

February 18, we went back to SanFrancisco for a CDH clinic. where they check him all out. discuss nutrition, do xrays. Looks like his right lung is Compensating. thats a good thing.

things so far are moving in the right direction. His Gortex patch Diaphragm hasn't torn yet, but it is inevitable that it will. he will be throwing up green and yellow, not wanting to eat a Thing. USCF told us as soon as we suspect, to take him to the ER. they will Xray and then if he is torn he will get a helicopter ride to SF. to be patched up again.

I never did think things wouldn't be ok. I never doubted UCSF's abilities. not for one second. i knew it would be hard and there would be sad moments, but for some reason i knew/know everything will be ok.

9 month rundown

2011-03-08T14:20:00.001-08:00

where do i begin?

He is Sweet, Handsome, Smart, Funny, and i love him with all my heart.

he's just about 28 inches tall (as of the 17th of Feb)..and 16 Pounds.

He is perfect. His Diaphragm just didnt form. thats what i always say.

He didnt get to use his instincts to eat when he was first born... didnt get a chance to try until he was about a month old.. so he learned how Not to eat. so now we are spendin our days trying to teach him how.

Sense he has a Gtube, he is able to get his nutrition when he doesnt feel like eating the rest of his bottle. Thank Goodness for the Gtube!

when he is teething and doesnt want to eat, we can still make sure he gets fed.

but he learns that food will appear in his stomach.

we used to think that 'well he will eat if he is hungry.. we'll just wait it out.' doesnt work
we've tried everything
he is perfectly happy with an empty stomach.

For the first 11 days of his life he was intubated. a tube down his mouth, through his vocal chords.. controlling his breathing.

he would be suctioned (hard to watch... hard to even talk about) who knows how many times a day... everything this poor baby knew when it came to his mouth was he Did Not want anything near it.

who could blame him.

he was fed only through a feeding tube for 24 days. when we finally were allowed to try to feed him by mouth... all night still, he would be tube fed with the nurses.. doesnt sound like great practice to me..

we didn't know that eating was going to be such an obstacle. no one told us.

At nine months old, he will eat Usually 45-50 mls at every feed. (every 3 hours) definately not enough to be healthy. so we Tube him the remaining ounces.

I am glad we have the Gtube. he needs to grow big and strong so his lungs, brain, everything can grow.

everyday we practice with solids. he sits in his high chair with his own spoon... and a toy (eating therapists say so, so dont get all crazy..haha;) he needs to develop a Good relationship with food. even if he doesn't eat it, he is playing and having fun, and if its all over him, you Know that some is getting in his mouth.

we've been practicing this for 3 days now and already (sometimes) he will even open his mouth for a spoonful that i feed him!

he used to not do that. he would turn his head. (going back to his instincts of not wanting anything near his mouth.)

we read something our OT (feeding therapist) gave us that was a lightbulb, that everyone i think needs to hear..

".. Many people believe that eating is completely instinctual and that no matter what happens a child will eat. This is another myth in the food world. Actually instincts only start the process, and that is if you are lucky enough not to have your instincts not interfered with by prematurity, a physical disorder, or disrupteive procedures needed for survival. Eating is, in reality, a learned behavior. just as children learn to eat, so can children be taught to not eat by the circumstances of their lives..."

this just made so much sense to us, because we were like other people in the beginning.. just thinking, that if he gets hungry, then he will just have to eat. but poor guy doesn't want to. its not enjoyable to him like it is to the rest of us.

So the new thing we are doing along with the spoon, his toy in his highchair with his food, is tubing him at the same time. (we hide the pump around the corner of the hallway so he cant see that it is there..) this way he will hopefully make the connection that when he is 'eating' he is getting full... when he has this food in his mouth, the hungry feeling goes away..

we wish we knew this at four months old.

we wish we knew that eating would even be a problem in the first place!

we wish the hospital even let him eat 5 mls... 2mls! anything, as soon as that breathing tube came out..... they had their resons though... sence he has a small lung, they didnt want to tire him..and we didnt know to ask if we could try to get him to eat, because we didnt know that would be an issue later. we just wanted him to heal up and get off nitrous.. among other things that were of main concern at the moment.

we also have to be grateful that it is ONLY feeding that he is having trouble with.

he will get it eventually, and just like the feeding tube down his nose ry and i had to put in every time he pulled it out... this too will be a thing of the past.

He is so active and happy, and no can tell he went through so much just by looking at him.

I wish his diaphragm did form. but its ok that it didnt. it makes him who he is and makes all of us real strong in the end.

and now, for my first post of 2011 ...

2011-01-30T10:22:00.000-08:00

wow, been gone a while..i hate that about me. ill do a few posts, get all into it, and then eh, forget, get too lazy...just dont. haha!

anyway, its almost february. Almost time for our (cases')3rd RSV shot.

Case has been pretty healthy so far...

Teeth: two bottom ones. second popped up on Christmas! guess he got his two front(bottom) teeth for christmas. Good! cause thats all he wanted ;)

Crankiness: ranked up to a 8 when he's annoyed with the pain from workin on the next teeth.

(no sign of em yet)

He's a Very Very happy little guy, laughs, plays peek-aboo, Claps, talks talks talks, loves to laugh, and im pretty sure he's starting to try dancing. hah

feeds are now at 120mls every 3 hours during the day and then for 10 hours over night he is on the pump at 45 mls per hour. this = 9 or 10 feeds a day, compared to 6 or 7. Has helped a lot! gained about a pound in 2.5 weeks apposed to his Maybe a pound in a month.

it definately shows. look

My chubby bunny! hard to believe he will be 8 months old in 8 days.. time really does fly.
i guess that pic doesn't show off his new found chubbiness, we were all bundled up yesterday because we went up to the ranch..

we visited with grandma Karm, ate some lunch, (Case mainly hung out in the back of the suburban chillin like that out of the cooollld wind. drove around, saw some wild turkeys...and a bobcat. didnt get a pic of the bobcat..

the turkeys were in the corral just hangin out... later we saw them get in a line and head out.. and then Later, saw them again. cool. they were BIG!

Karm is Rylans Step-Grandma.. she just Loved Case!

this is up on Turkey Flat...looking down at the dam canyon. Rys dad build that gate out of pipe fittings! sweet!

not a very good pic, but looking back at the turkey flat... this is gonna be the fam's main hangout.. outdoor kitchen, bathrooms, showers, camp spots, awsome play area for the kids.. that yellow thing back there, just right of center, is a spiral slide that was in our backyard when we bought the house.. Uncle Mark (rys moms sisters husband) re-used it for up here.. man, i cant wait till its done. might just move up there permanently ;)
Ry.:) href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_uVeP3QXpGG4/TUW3D_pzoZI/AAAAAAAAA2c/FsILX9BYJvU/s1600/case%2B1302.JPG">

weekend of projects.

2010-11-14T19:10:00.000-08:00

nothing too big, like a new fence or anything, but yesterday, Ry and i cleaned the house, Ry organized the garage, and i decided i'd finally get to painting this random shelf i got for the bathroom. 10 bucks at a cool store out of town thats half consignment, half.. um..just cool old stuff. i got a 1920's chair there too that im gonna stain and re-upholster.. .so, i didn't get a Totally 'before' pic. i remembered after i painted the swirly designs brown. i just spray painted it. (before it was ALL yellow) my mom said my grandma had the same one. :)

i kinda liked
yellow if i was gonna leave it outside in a cool, covered patio area, or if i had a funky bathroom. but as of right now, our bathroom is hideus and instead of make it even worse, i thought i'd work with it.
so i spray painted the back brown and the swirly designs. then i taped those off.. and spray painted the rest a tan color. easy peasey lemon squeazy!

and after: the lighting is horrible, but i didnt get the pic until right now as i wrote this. its 7:30 pm. and the lighting in the bathroom made it look orangy, so i tried the flash.. you get the point.

Yay! im happy with it. dont know exactly what else im gonna put on it, but as of right now thats what i got ! yay!

me and my boy :)

2010-11-11T22:47:00.000-08:00

so, my friend has an awsome camera. im jealous, not gonna lie. im ALWAYS getting new cameras and this last two year stretch just MIGHT be the longest ive gone without getting another one.
My dad does photography as a hobby and sometimes people hire him..when he built his house he put in a dark room off the garage, so thats awsome. my sister Elaine is a professional elainetaylorphoto.com.. and my sis. Tippe has an awsome camera, and the talent to be a pro, i think, too. ive got a good camera now,its a small point and shoot and i got it just before our honeymoon November 2008. (about 5 months after our wedding.)
before that another point and shoot. and another and another. they are nicebut now, i want a big one. the kind you gotta hold with two hands while taking a pic, the kind you gotta zoom with your left hand on the lense.. the kind with all these sweet functions.. ok, im drooling on the keyboard. ha! no, but lets be honest. its gonna happen. one day. and you better watch out. the pictures comin out of this girl are gonna be unstoppable.
so anyway, my friend came over and took some pics of my baby boy... and USUALLy i hate pics of me, ill avoid getting in the cameras view and ry says ill 'freak out' and make these random faces if i know im getting my pic taken. he's always telling me. 'act natural....just make a normal face.' haha. thanks.
anyway. Melody got one of me, when i didnt know, i was laughing at Lisa. and Case was looking at the camera. well, he just looks so cute.. :)

the wedding:

2010-10-29T12:40:00.000-07:00

my side:

his:

2010-10-27T14:44:00.000-07:00

Case pulls his feeding tube out from time to time.. (another good reason for the surgery to get the Gtube...) and when he does, he's just so dang handsome, we bust out the camera and start taking pics. we've got to be quick, before he gets hungry and we have to put the tube back in.

haha, Ry was trying to hold him up, he wasn't havin it.

lonnnnng day, even longer night.

2010-10-26T19:49:00.000-07:00

So we went to the doctor. he weighs 11.14. last time, two weeks ago, he was 11.5. not good. They expect him to gain a pound a week. He doesn't LOOK skinny. He looks healthy. but we understand their concern.

My dad took us to the doc. the doc ordered anothe CT scan since Case has been throwing up a TON and doesn't even want to eat. The concern is that his Gortex Patch-Diaphragm has torn. That would be bad.

I call San Francisco (UCSF, where Case was born/had surgery/lived for two months) after every appointment to check in and see what they think.
They're thinking GTube. we knew it, we just HOPEd Case would eat all by mouth, but CDH kids most of the time, have a hard time with that.

So, Dad, Case and I go have some lunch to kill time.. and to hope Case went #2 before we drove home. (they want some samples to run some tests,..just make sure he's digesting everything ok)
well, he didnt do it for us. oh well.. we'll get the samples one day.

looking at grandpa

I called San Fran and they say to Not wait for the CT scan appointment.. and a CT has so much radiation, and he got one not too long ago to check his lungs. An XRay would tell us if it is torn, with LEss radiation (IF his patch is torn it can be bad, Fast.. sometimes it isn't, but why take the chance.)

So off we went to Valley Childrens. we left at 7:15pm or so, got there about 8:20. Got INTO the doc about 9:30. they ran tests, took XRays. Gave him an IV to get some fluids into him, Turns out he's allll good. No Tear, No bladder infection, Nothing.. just seems he's got a bad case of Acid Reflux, which is quite normal for him... well, for CDH. But it was so great to make sure his patch hasn't torn. We didnt get to leave until almost 4:00am.

When we first got called back into the ER, the nurse handed me this cute little baby gown. ive NEVER seen these, so i had to get some shots of him in em. this is before any IV's and stuff.. so he was a happy kid. just tired.

waste of time.

2010-10-21T18:59:00.000-07:00

so we go alll the way to the doc. a 50 mile drive. and the doc. isn't there. aparently she locked herself out of her house in the next town. and was going to be back later and we could wait if we wanted to...
um.. no.
who KNOWS how long she was going to be, and who was in front of us waiting.
so we rescheduled.
Monday is-Better be our doctors appointment.
what a hassle.

bummer. i was really excited to see how much Case weighs.

Case through the weeks.

2010-10-20T20:06:00.000-07:00

two hours old

one week old

two weeks old

three weeks old

four weeks old

five weeks old

six weeks old

seven weeks old

seven and a half weeks old

eight weeks old

nine weeks old

nine weeks four days. finally get to come home from UCSF!!

ten weeks old

ten weeks old

almost eleven weeks old

eleven weeks old

twelve weeks old

thirteen weeks old (two months)

fourteen weeks old

fifteen weeks old

sixteen weeks old
seventeen weeks old

eighteen weeks old

nineteen weeks old

twenty weeks old

amazing how far he has come, im so glad he is here with us and that he's a strong little guy. and soo handsome too.

2010-10-20T19:37:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is a doctor appointment for Case. its getting close to the time when they will be deciding weather or not to put in a G Tube.

Right now, Case has an NG tube, it goes down into his stomach through his nose. Ry and i can put that in ourselves.

with this G Tube he'd have to have surgery. so sad. i hate it when they have to 'find a vein' to put an IV in... its always hard, and he's just crying so much and i hate to watch, but i like to be there after to hold him.. now, i dont know IF i'll be able to even be around for that if he has to get the surgery, but poor little guy, i just hate it.

at our last appointment he weighed 11.5 and was 24 inches long.

the nutritionist told me that babies need to gain 15-30 grams a day. and that equals to about a pound a week. so im hoping to see 13.5. he does seem more 'plump', but i dont know if he's gained that much.

weight gain is such a hard thing for case because he uses so much energy just by breathing. since his lung capacity isn't great, he breathes faster, so its like he is running a marathon.

i have to pump breast milk every three hours, and then i mix in 1 tspoon of formula for every 40mls. this is to make it more Caloric. have more calories.

IF he ate all his food by mouth, then of course they wouldn't consider doing the GTube. but since that isn't happening, it seems that is most likely going to happen....

a GTube is where there is just a tube going straight into his stomach from the outside of his stomach.... it requires surgery where they go down into his mouth and then poke out from inside. so there wont be a tube down his nose anymore.

Im getting ahead of myself.. they havn't made a date for it yet, they havn't said for sure, but i know its comin up.

lets hope for a heavy baby tomorrow. and healthy in all the other aspects too.

bathime :)

2010-10-20T19:29:00.000-07:00

Bath time for Mr.Case, during the end of daddys lunch break. here he is looking at his daddy :)

Such a happy happy little guy. i love him so much. my nights may be longer and there is less time during the days to get stuff done, and i some days dont do my hair, or even clean ONE thing or do any of my projects, but its all ok. one day he'll be Big and strong and we'll do projects together.

2010-10-20T12:32:00.000-07:00

the house is A MESS.. ugh, im trying to get around to it, so far ive folded laundry. yeah. only one basket. well that was after i got Case fed and asleep..that can take a while. so then i started cleaning and realized I should eat something. so i just had some cheerios and decided ...'since im so close to the laptop i should just write a short post before its time to PUMP AGAIN (before i get behind AGAIN...) and before case wakes up and its time to eat again.

the dishes are the. worst. i keep going past them to get started and then im like- naw, ill...clean off the kitchen table.

ok. im gonna get to it.

ill feel so much better when its done and not so embarrassed if someone shows up.

ohhh i want a mocha. that'd make me clean. maybe ill treat myself to one AFTER i clean ;)

Just for Fun, here is a pic of Rylan and I (and case) on June 6th. the day before Mr.Case was born. ugh, i really hate my face in this one, but i always do that. screw up pictures with my weird faces i make. haha oh well, what can ya do. Boy i got big at the end eh?

our hospital room was A Ma Zing! Corner room, Windows allll the way around. and Huge! best room in the place they said. You could see the bay bridge And the SF bridge. when it was clear enough..

nothin like buildin fence on a sunday :) or- so im told

2010-10-18T21:12:00.000-07:00

so. lets cut to the chase. here is our backyard Before:

that white beautiful dog there is Jasper. sweetest thing ever. can't see too well.
Rys getting into the Carport..
Notice the far fence is short (behind the tree). so hardly any privacy.
Maggies (The dog) pool.
boards and tools getting ready for the fence buildin!
Ry mixing cement to set the posts. Maggie 'helping' good dog.
the neighbors were really shocked at his speeed. he can really get up a good lookin fence in record time :)

and FInished. the worker-man 'lookin at the fence line'. he's so cute.

I looked at the times on my Camera of when the pictures were taken and he had it up and done in a matter of 2.5 to 3 hours! (the posts were set the day before, so thats not counting that... but still. and to have it look THIS good.. wow, im just so proud.

he's definatly got thousands of hours of practice building fence.. barbed wire fence MILES and MILes of it up at the Ranch, Pickets with different styles...you want a fence, Rys your guy.

We bought the panels. (the pretty fence on the left with the lattus on top) redwood and cedar. and then he went to his dads (His dad is John Bourdeau Construction Inc.) and he hAPPENED to have left over redwood and cedar pickets that he didnt need! WOW.. how perfect did That work out!? and how PRETTY does it all look together? looks like we planned it. ;)

new house projects!

2010-10-15T14:56:00.000-07:00

There are a couple new projects happening at the Case De Bourdeau, but im only posting the completed one.. its not a hUGe one, like change the entire look of the house or anything, but it really makes a difference.

When you come out of our front door, you automatically wanted to walk straight. a few of our friends and family members have almost wanted to step off that drop, esspecially if we're talking, and they're not really paying attention. i've found myself saying.."no! go that way" plenty of times. i dont want my peeps falling Off of that!

The stairs are in the middle arch. so its no bueno if you start walking straight out the door.

So, this is what we.. err RY did. i think it looks fantastic. :)
aawwhhhh so much safer and.. better looking.

if you look past that far chair.. we were torn about putting a railing on that side.. there are Stairs there.. and it iS nice to be able to access the side yard without going down and around. i guess we'll live with it for a while and then decide if we'd like it better With a railing. but for now we're thinking some potted tall tree/plant thingys next to the chair and down the couple steps will give it a little "closed in'' feeling without Actually being inaccessable to that sid of the yard.

heres a view coming straight out the door. see what i mean about how a person could have fallen right off!?

oohh the next project is exciting! its gonna have to happen in Stages, but its Very much needed andwill make a HUge difference.

we have big plans people. a clue: no its not on the House itself :( but we're getting to that too, just not yet).. what we will be re-building is actually in one of the pics above. its brown.

cloth diaper fun

2010-10-14T14:37:00.000-07:00

hahaahaha ok. Know ahead of time, i am Not serious about this wrap job ahah!! Case pees So much, im talkin Two to three wet diapers in Rylans lunch break which is a HALF hour!
now, that doesn't happen all the time, but it did one day and wow. thats just crazy!
My mom brought us some old time cloth diapers, but no rubber pants (weird how they didn't sell them where she got the cloth diapers) and at first i was using them for burp rags.. and they worked great.
well since Case decided to let it flow freely lately- im using those during the day when he's just kickin it.

Now this wasn't a very good wrap job, but whatever. it works. :) since there is nothing stopping it from soaking out onto the blanket, i just stick a folded cloth diaper under his booty.
he doesn't mind these..and doesn't get at INSTANTLY mad when he's damp.
i love how he looks so sad in this pic. goes great with the HUgely cloth diapering. Trust me. He was happily kicking,talking and eating his hands Right before this. for some reason he get serious-mode when the camera is in front of him. hah :)

the cloth diaper was taken yesterday, and heres a pic of my head Today. I got this shirt at a Consignment store. it was brand spanken new, still had the tags on it. originally 25 bucks and I got it for 10! Score!

rylans scraggly hat.

2010-10-14T14:27:00.000-07:00

one of my favorite picture of Rylan. Well...there Are a million favorite pictures of Rylan. he's just so photogenic. Ive probably already posted this pic. but whatever...im posting it again. we were up our friends Ranch. Guitar playing, beer drinking, man-made-lake-hanging, good times.

i love his style...its like- 'hey im thirsty...im just gonna drink out of this Gallon Jug. who needs cups?' and his hat. just like Rylan, it gets better with age.
i almost messed that hat up the other day. i washed it. its been washed before, but this time it looked all mis shaped and scraggly. oops! It was sad to think of him getting a NEW one. i like the worn look. like cowboy boots, or wallets..some things are just better with that lived-in look.

The Ranch

2010-10-12T14:37:00.000-07:00

when i was pregnant, we went up to the ranch toget a Juniper tree for my Dad. he had mentioned he was going to get one one day, and we wanted a ranch day, so it was perfect. heres Ry, with his tools.. searching for The perfect Juniper.
after we got the news of Case's CDH, we took lots of trips to the ranch. it was hard to be happy everyday with this sad news, not knowing if your baby would even make it. it was hard not to think of anything else.. if you're feeling low, going up there really seems to help. love it up there when its green..well, we love it anytime of the year. we're really lucky we've got a place like this.

probably 7 months along..

heres whats cookin'!

2010-10-11T18:23:00.000-07:00

Tonight for dinner, we're havin Macaroni and Cheese, BAKED and SPAM.
who doesn't love spam?
oh man, we loove it. it has to be very well 'browned' though, i can't eat it raw. my sis can and it makes me cringe every time.
macaroni and cheese baked is the. Bomb.
cook macaroni.
(in our case, i used those bowties.. all i had)
drain
put back in pot on stove
add cheese.
(we used a mix of cheddar and jack)
when the cheese gets all melty and its exactly how much cheese you want
put it in a cast iron pan.
(or any kind, but mom always makes it in Cast Iron, and i think it makes it EXTRA delicious;))
top it with MORE cheese!
put it in the oven at 350 degrees until the cheese on top gets all crispy-delicious.

while its in the oven doing its thing, pop open a can-o SPAM and let IT do ITS thing on the top of the stove.

im writing this as all those things are happening and i caaannt wait until i can eat it.

fridge magnet word thingys

2010-10-10T15:29:00.000-07:00

People that know ry probably dont imagine him as being all romantic and say cute things.. he's a tough guy, worker, strong, too cool to be mushy. haha, i dont know... but for his birthday- (we were still at UCSF with baby boy. so i just went to the gift shop, and found those fridge magnet word thingys under the category "Love" so i got him that. and the Giants donated 50 tickets to the hospital for the parents to get a 'break' from being in the hospital Alllll the time. AMazingly, we got the LAST two, thanks to our Nurse Jane! I wrapped his Love magnets, and then the tickets all incognito, so he thought the magnets were his only present.. of course he was so appreciative and loved his present, and then i told him to keep looking through the tissue paper....he found the tickets and was sooo shocked! he's like.."what did you BUY???? :):)" and i told him how they were donated and, told him to look at the day the game was. July 18th. the next day. His Birthday. he was so excited. the game was a great time and it was good to get out of the hospital.

we went and visited Case first, so we were a little late to the game, but that was ok. We explained to him that we were gonna go watch the Giants and that we'd take him when he got older ;) thats a promise.

gettin a burger before we went to our seats... we were having so much fun :) we look so excited. haha, i guess we really love us some burgers.

aaannd at our seats. it seemed like no one else from the hospital showed up.. we were surrounded by 40 or so Empty seats! i wish they let us know- we woulda given those tickets to our friends and had a proper Bday bash for Mr. Ry. but it was SUCh a Blast!

aannd back to where this was going from the beginning. the fridge magnet word thingys. I come home from San Fran. and weeks later i see these....

Wowzers. so sweet. Ry doesn't even say "HEy look what i made out of the magnets" or anything, he just does it and, thats it. i see them later and am just so happy that i found this guy! so happy he loves me back and so glad he's so sweet like this. No one really knows it, but thats ok. he's a sweetheart. MY Sweetheart. I can't wait to see the man Case is going to be because of him.

hey i just got an idea- wouldn't these be great framed pictures in our room? :)

two handsomes

2010-10-08T12:37:00.001-07:00

oh yeah- can i just say- (adding something to that post down below) how its a darn GOOD thing they THOUGHT my placenta looked low, cause otherwise, i wouldn't have gotten a second ultrasound where they Found out about his CDH.

That was a CLose one!

OH- and. my water broke like you see in the movies. the Petocin was just beginning to REally kick in, and i was having MaJOR back labor, so the awsome nurse said to walk around and bend over every time a contraction kicked in..(try to get the baby to turn) so we were doing that, and Bam! in the hallway.. splash.. sounded like you spilled a cup of water on the ground. crazy.

here is one of my favorites while in the hospital.. this was in the beginning. his and our favorite nurse Jane was there, she was his primary nurse, with him the whole way. every day she worked she got to be with her Case. so sweet. Rylan and his baby boy..

and here are the two now. my two handsomes hanging out on the floor. Case is starting to talk a lot now, and its the cutest thing

26 weeks

2010-10-06T21:23:00.000-07:00

26 weeks pregnant, end of March 2010 was when our lives took a turn down a road we never expected. I had my second ultrasound because in my first one (18 weeks) they thought my placenta was low, so they wanted to do a follow up.

Turns out my placenta was fine. but something else looked wrong.

we got called back in a day later. told us to be in at 5:00. when you get a call like that its the scariest thing. you know its not good. you never want 5:00 to come, because you dont want to hear what they have to say. but at the same time you want it to hurry so you can just KNow what it is.

our doctor told us about how it looks like CDH, but they are going to send us to Valley Childrens to Really check, he told me not to look it up, because if i do, im going to be scared, and it may not be that at all.

Ry told me not to look it up until we knew for sure. our appointment at childrens wasn't scheduled for another 3 days. i didn't look it up for a whole day, but by the second day, while Ry was at work, i just had to. I told him when he got home that i looked it up...well, he knew because i had a swollen red face from crying so much.

So, we go to valley childrens..and they confirm that it IS a Diaphragmatic Hernia. More Tears. We weren't going to find out if the baby was a boy or a girl, but on this day, we really needed some good news, so while we were getting the ultrasound, we told them to just tell us. a Boy! we knew it!

they lay it on us, the good, the bad, the ugly.. the baby might not make it, they dont deliver at Valley childrens.. if he needs ECMO they only do that in San Francisco... SO many things, we were drowning in information. the baby could have a chromesome disorder, downs syndrome, heart problems, his brain spaces didn't look right and his heart was moved over.

i was so sad all i wanted to do was cry. i kept praying to just make it Not be CDH...but everytime i'd say that in a prayer it was like i KNew it was. something kept telling me to say 'if it IS CDH, just help it not be the worst case, help him not to have a chromesome disorder..and all these bad things'

Ry would come home from work and i'd be in bed... or looking it up online just crying my eyes out.

No matter how many ultrasounds you get, they cannot tell how big his hole in his diaphragm is, how big his lungs are.. anything.

we just kNew he HAD to be OK.

we decided we'd deliver him at UC San Francisco. better safe than sorry when it came to the ECMO...(ecmo is a process where the blood comes out of the baby, gets oxydized and then goes back in, acts as a lung basically) He didnt end up needing it. thank goodness.

i was induced at 38 weeks. when we walked into the room to start being induced on June 6th i was so overwhelmed, i just cried.. i try to never cry in front of people, but i just couldnt help it. i tried to smile/laugh it off.... and i looked at Ry and he looked teary too. Its so scary not knowing what to expect...we Knew we wouldn't be able to hold our baby right after he was born, and we knew we'd be in the hospital for a while...but expecting that and actually seeing your baby get taken away right after he is born is not the same.

he was born at 8:52pm. he didnt cry, but he was trying to. his arms were stretched out and he was making crying faces, but no sound.. we got to see him at 10:51 pm..didn't get to see him move or cry for days and days...I stayed at the Ronald McDonald house a week later until August 13th.Ry was with us for a while, but eventually had to go back to work, so came up on the weekends.

its The hardest thing seeing your baby with all these IV's and wires and stuck to a bed, when all you want to do is hold him...take him home, want him to be OK

People have been telling us how strong we are and commenting on how tough this must be to go through... Yes it is tough...but i dont think it has anything to do with being strong...its just something that was placed in front of us and we have No choice in the matter.

our only option is to be strong.

we've cried, privately...we've felt sorry for ourselves and our baby..but we tried to stay positive.

in the ICN we'd only dwell on good things. his BIg lung, the fact his heart and brain turned out COMPLETELY normal, he passed the hearing test and the vision test...MRI was perfect. So much to be thankful for.

we were always positive in UCSF's abilities to help him.. i never once believed REALLy that he wouldnt make it... i knew it was a posibility, but we believed everything will work out.

It just had to.

above his him four days old, right after surgery, they gave him a cute dog patch over his incision..he's swollen, but did SO well during surgery..surgery only took 2 hours when they thought it'd take 3. below is the first time we got to look into eachothers eyes.. swelling has gone down a lot (on his right side) and he was able to wake up... he's so handsome.

aaand.. a recent one. i will always post a recent picture of him at the end of every post that talks about the past. no oxygen (at the moment..yes he is still on it) and his feeding tube was out, because we had to change it this day. Rylan dressed him in a 9 month outfit. i think he was just too excited about it because it's so dang cute ;)

2010-10-06T15:03:00.000-07:00

i think i am so lucky i get to hang out with this little guy all day long.

he is starting to talk a whole lot now..

i love him

the little mister

2010-10-06T14:13:00.000-07:00

this pic always makes me laugh because he's just so little. sitting in his high chair getting ready for daddy to come home for lunch.
the black box thingy next to the wall heater is his Oxygen. STill on 1/4 flow, which is almost nothing, and he doesnt need it all the time. so we're almost done with that!

isn't he just so handsome! he probably gets tired of me kissing those cheeks he's finally starting to get all the time! he has the wildest hair and his eyes are greyish blueish...

Feeding time has been the most dificult for us. In the hospital, they didn't even have him try eating until he was about a month old. he does great on the bottle for about 1/2 of his feed. (which now,is 55 mls) and then for whatever reason he is just done.. they want him to eat 115mls every 3 hours. we went and saw a Speech Pathologist who helps babies eat and she was SO helpful. Marjorie Palmer is her name, she's the only one in the state i hear. So glad we heard of her. so glad we got to GO to her. he still is working on it, but he's so stubborn i think it will take some time.. ;)

a quote i Love love LOVE!

2010-10-06T13:59:00.000-07:00

"Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get but, if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen."

Thanks Conan O'Brien. you're awsome.

My Baby, Born with CDH. Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia

2010-09-30T21:19:00.000-07:00

sure has been a while since ive posted. last you heard about me was i was pregnant. well, we had our BEAUTIFUL baby boy on June 7th 2010, Our second anniversary. Couldn't ask for a better , present,experience or Day! He was born at 8:52 pm. 19 7/8 inches long, and we dont know his weight for sure, but the nurses guessed around 6.7 to 6.11.

He was born with a Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia...CDH. it is when the Diaphragm doesnt form completely, causing the abdominal organs to go into the chest cavity and crowd the lungs. Since the lungs are the last thing to form, being crowded isn't a good thing. in some cases the babies dont have any lungs at all.. :( .. in our case, his right lung is a little smaller than it should be and the left lung is only 1/3 of the size.

we named him Case William. when we first layed eyes on him we cried and cried, he was beautiful, it was the most amazing experience of our lives.. he was quickly taken away to be stabilized without us being able to hold him, kiss him, touch him... we got to see him 2 hours later. sedated, with a breathing tube and wires and tubes... he had surgery at 4 days old and finally able to wake up around 5 days old. finally got to hold my baby at 9 days old and daddy got to hold him at 19 days old. didn't hear him cry until he was 17 days old...

they dont know why CDH occurs, it happens one in every 2500-5000 babies. 50% of babies make it, and when they do, sometimes they have other problems, chromesome disorders, can be deaf, blind.. heart problems.. its heartbreaking and really scary, because they cant tell you the extent of all the problems the baby might have until he is born.

Not until he had surgery at four days old did they know exactly what was going on in there. His speen, intestines, stomach were up in his chest. his liver was part up part down...this caused his right lung to be a little bit smaller than what it should be, and his left lung to be only 1/3 of the size it should be.

As i write this, we are home. Case is Four months old (tomorrow) and he is on 1/4 flow of oxygen.. he has a feeding tube down his nose but eats Most of his food by mouth.. we just need the tube to 'top him off' he is such a strong little man, handsome, just like his Daddy, and Such a happy baby considering all he has been through. We are so lucky to have him home with us, so blessed that he is doing so well.

Here he is the first time seeing him since he was born, 2 hours later. poor baby the minute he was brought into the world had to be put to sleep...for 5 days...
and here he is now...

2010-04-05T16:24:00.000-07:00

up at our ranch walking to a spring, the big black and white beast up ahead is our dog Jasper. and even further up ahead the black dog on the right of the trail is maggie. they love it up at the ranch and so do we. it was a great day !

2010-04-05T16:16:00.000-07:00

oh man i love this guy... he really is the hardest working guy i know. im so grateful that i get to be a stay at home lady. he is so patient with me, and so calm and kind. i want everyone to meet him. BBQ at our house! ;)

here i am when i was almost to the 28th week mark. now we are workin on week 30, and its getting CLose!
Oh- We found out its a BOY and now, its playin the name game! we like Unique, Short first names.

2010-04-05T16:15:00.000-07:00

WOWZA!

2010-03-19T18:39:00.000-07:00

27 weeks and one day- and my due date got moved up, i am now Due June 17th. It really really popped this last month compared to my last pics! the baby moves a whole lot, and ive noticed that ive been getting tired a bit more often. ♥ ♥ ♥

already march 9th.

2010-03-09T14:18:00.000-08:00

wow, this baby has less than 15 weeks left till it comes- I have less than fifteen weeks to get ready for this baby! im really really nervous and excited for it. Rylan is very excited and doesn't seem nervous at all, but im sure he is. he is so awsome, he'll be a great dad!

Sunday BBQ!

2010-03-02T13:24:00.000-08:00

On Sunday- it was a last minute thing, but we decided it'd be great to have friends over, bbq, and hang out! pictured here is Michael and Stelle (visiting from Australia) Lisa and me. in our kitchen. Allie and Jamie stopped by for a few, and Lauren and Kenny were also there. it was such a great night!
Heres Ry.
oh, lisa and stelle, such good friends and always a good time. Tonight was full of pure laughing, talking about the 'old days' when we all worked at Harris together, and ... looking at my belly. hah! here i am at 24 weeks and 2 days! its starting to go fast.in a little less than a month ill be in my third trimester!

"its too late, she's gone."

2010-02-24T13:36:00.000-08:00

rockin parts of this video.
* Eric Clapton. he just rocks lets be honest
* how hard that piano player guy gets down! Love that.
* the song rocks.

the OUTSiDE!

2010-02-23T13:19:00.000-08:00

We've got a TON of things done to the inside of the house, and the next things for the inside are re-doing the bathroom, and one day the kitchen, and then in a Long time.. the add-on. for now its just little things. We decided to start workin on the Outside. its sooooo ugly... it really needs to be painted, the yard needs help and it jsut needs a little curb appeal. landscaping isn't my or Rys specialty, but we'll learn as we go! the other day ry started taking off the horrible stucco that covers the foundation.. heres a before:

and the gloooorious 'after' makes me want to serenade rylan as he works. haha;) now, im LOVin the dark gray. but ry said its gonna dry to the color of concrete. which, im sure is still gonna be 4 billion times better, still.

Next is one day (soon im hopin') to paiinnt! (more serenading will happen when that happens too, im sure) we're thinkin a very light beige, trust me, ive seen an ugly bump house like ours painted in beige, and wow, hides the bumps a lot. im so excited. new roof, new fence! oh, the suspence! now we're just trying to think of what colors for sure, roof, door, paint trim. its gotta be perfect!

now, its not all the way dry cause today is kinda rainy- but i took a pic of the outside how it is right now. oh man i can't wait for the paint job. but ill take a glorious foundation-under-the-porch for now. :D

Good song.

2010-02-21T22:35:00.000-08:00

Please watch this. I Love it!

2010-02-21T22:30:00.000-08:00

couldn't post this video here for some reason, but, Go watch iT!

..

2010-02-20T21:19:00.000-08:00

umm.. real fast, can we talk about how quickly this year is ALreADy going!? i looked at the Calander today- feb 20th. WHAT!? where did the last..um, mONTh go? so amazingly fast. we've been having good times, and keeping busy, so i guess thats a factor, but even on slow days, its seems like its bedtime so soon!

Here is a pic of my nephew Kyle in January of Last year. Helping Ry load the truck. so cute!

HGTV Dream Home Central - Sweepstakes, Videos, Tours, & More : Home & Garden Television

2010-02-19T21:51:00.000-08:00

HGTV Dream Home Central - Sweepstakes, Videos, Tours, & More : Home & Garden Television

AAAHH i Really want to win this. you get this awsome house in Santa fe New Mexico, half a MILLION dollars, and a new car. shoot, i would be happy with the half mil. but man, that house is AMAZIng. i dont know if i would...er.. WILL (cause i am gonna win) rent it out, or sell it. probably sell it keep the car... maybe , if i liked it. and my BIG dream would be to build on to our tiny house, make it really unique and coool, not huge, just enough space, have an awsome hang out deck in back, and to have a little salon off the side of our house like ive always dreamed. so i could still work, but at home with my babies near me. ive always thought i'd want to open a salon, but there are SO many in this small town, and i think i'd be happier being able to be home, make my own schedule and have my cozy salon off my house. i get giddy just thinking about if this were to happen. Also, i would buy the Baker house in town. its a famous house in town that my dads Cousin used to own. i think it has THE best porch EVER. i would let my parents live in it, if they wanted to, hire them a maid, and a person to cook them meals on nights when mom didn't want to cook her delicious meals. (only if they wanted to of course) i would send them on a great trip, anywhere they wanted to go.. all of this if-When i win this Dream Home...

2008...

2010-02-18T19:51:00.000-08:00

Evan and Socko. makes me laugh every time...

wowzers...

2010-02-18T19:47:00.000-08:00

biggest beer everrrr! Pismo Beach Ca. 2008

flashback to 08.

2010-02-18T19:38:00.000-08:00

Driving the convertible Toyota for Deer Season. its one of my fav. places in the world. not the Toyota, the Ranch. ;) although Ry and I did have our first kiss in the Toyota.... :) ♥

the glorious ranch...

2010-02-16T15:48:00.000-08:00

Ry loves his hammoch. so do I. we found the perfect place up at 'Turkey Flat"

burning at turkey flat. gettin rid of all that brush. ry, john (his dad) and robin (rys mom). i steered clear of the smoke. it was good to roam around with the dog and get some pics. all that bulding material to the left is where an outdoor kitchen is going to be. a couple showers and a loo will be over to the left and back towards the hill a bit. there will be a place for John Bourdeau and his band to play. that table around the tree is my fav. part. Uncle Mark has done all this and its gonna be amazing. i love it up here.

Ry, Coe, and Luke. i am so glad my kid will not only be related to these guys, but get to hang out with them. Good Poeple.
this is at 'Skeleton flat' arent you lovin these nameS?! 'turkey flat', skeleton flat' theres a 'Ry's Canyon' ' The Damn canyon', "Grab ass", "Sherman Peak", "Stove Canyon", Little Oak flat", and the list goes on. Skeleton flat is a nice place to shoot clay pigeons, have lunch, camp and play cards. good times..
Me and Ry last year during Deer Season. there are so many pics of us like this taken throught the years. i should find em all and post em.

This isn't up at the same place. this is at my dads friends Ranch. So nice i loved this shade spot this pic was taken under. table and chairs to relax undernieth, it was a beautiful day!
the old nenoleum (spelling?aahh) floors in this old house that has been up there for yeears. i thought it was pretty awsome looking.

2010-02-15T21:13:00.000-08:00

my belly is getting so big so fast it seems. and right after i eat, its extra big. this was on 2/15/10. 22 weeks and 2 days along.

decisions,decisions....

2010-02-15T14:09:00.000-08:00

so, heres our house.
and heres a drawing of our house.

wow. i tried uploading this like 3 times, Non-slanted like that. but it didn't work. so for the first pic. you'll have to tilt your head....

ugly ugly blue house.... Here- is a drawing, with a few different things ( i drew this from memory.. in about.. 28 seconds) Painted. a LiGHter color to hide the Hideous bumps. I added a couple railings on the outside arches.. new Roof, inside the porch is a touch darker paint color. (that was dads idea-i Love that idea) and i drew the fence on the left side.. cause i think it really needs one.

..and here is an idea we've been brainstorming. same lighter paint job, touch darker in the porch . but different arches. the sidewalk going up to the house would come straight to the door, instead of in the middle, and the porch would be a little nook to hang out in. we can appreciate a good hang-out porch.

we are kinda diggin the regular ol arches... we know, their random, but the new idea just seems like .. played out. its too normal and has a little character but..not that much character...its a toss up. We like the character of keeping the arches and just adding the railings and better paint job, but the bigger porch to kick it on in pic #2 is pretty nice. but maybe the original arched porch would be fine for kickin too....hmmm..

Then i drew this one. this time Looking at the house. sittin on my car as Ry mowed the lawn. I should have drawn ry in there...;)

keeps on growin'

2010-02-15T13:57:00.000-08:00

This pic was taken on 2/11/10 by Ry. so it would make me 21 weeks and 5 days along.
the baby in there moves alllll theee timmme. its acually wigglin around right now as i type this.
And last night, on Valentines day, Ry got to feel him/her for the first time!! im so glad he can actually feel it now! He was so excited and in shock all at once. it kicked his hand 3 or 4 times in a row, very lightly, so we were talking very quietly as if that makes feeling it easier. <3

Happy Valentines Day!

2010-02-14T17:12:00.000-08:00

im not a big fan of heart shaped boxes (unless its the nirvana song) and flowers that will die, or balloons that well, last what.. Two days?
and Ry is not a big fan of giving those types of gifts either, so it works out perfectly.
Ry is actually a very random gift giver. and i l♥Ve it!
example: this year he brought into the house a rose bush. a yellow rose bush. no buds on it yet, just a bag-o-dirt with the small branches of the plant sticking out. how sweeeet :D
example #2: one random day years ago, he wanted to get me the movie Monsters Inc. i didnt' have a DVD player. so he got me Monsters inc. a Dvd player and i forget the other movie that came with it...
example #3: a small Bear Statue, from canada, along with other random canada things. (he had a job there)
example #4: a blown up pic of probably the first picture taken of us as a couple. we were 16, and it was Valentines day. and i was wearing overalls. he had it framed. how embarrassing.
example #5: a random red plaque that says something like "if ever a day goes by that i dont say i love you, know always that i do" paired with it was one of those spiral twirly things on a stick that spin in the wind, and a pink candle. haha !
We went to the store to pick out a plant. we got a large inside plant.. No pic. sorry. and also one for the baby room. Ry did all the picking out, and i love his taste in things. he's soo sweet to want to get the baby a plant too. ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

'before and after's' are always fun!

2010-02-14T16:47:00.000-08:00

we had these Three pieces of furniture, that we thought it'd be great to re-do some how- and we're thinking Painting. i know your thinking.. why? they are so beautiful already!? haha. no. we didn't think that either. they are old, and scrathed and in need of some love. the first small table came from my parents house. I remember using it when i was really little.

the next two, we had at the house, the small one in the living room, and the dresser in the guest/now Baby room. we didn't even know they Matched eachother! they are very well made, and they came from his Grandma and Grandpa Bourdeau.

drumroll Please......
taadaa! here they are, we Reaally ReAALLy love the way they came out. we did this light Ivory color. Rylan is a trooper, sanding all these detailed parts by hand looke like no fun at all.

this one, i think i am going to make a cusion for it that matches the curtains that ill get one of these days... and use it for a foot rest in the baby room! since its very low, it will work perfectly.

Here is a sneak peak at the nursery. and a better view of the beautiful dresser!

i am happy that we decided to keep the original drawer pulls, they look great, the wood floor looks beautiful and the green walls are so pretty.. we're happy with how its coming along so far!

< 3

2010-02-13T16:43:00.000-08:00

My Parents. taken by my sister Elaine. elainetaylorphoto.com amazing.
i love this picture :D

FORTS!

2010-02-11T10:09:00.000-08:00

Every once in a while, Ry and I will just be hangin out, and he'll notice how much bigger my belly has gotten.. he gets all excited, rubs it, and just says how excited he is, and we both say how crazy it is, and how Soon the little guy or gal will be here.
The other day, we were talking about it, and Ry said with so much excitement "I can't wait to build FORTs!" hahahaha! Here is a pic back in 2007 when we had some of our nephews over, Evan and Kevin and thats our youngest niece Paige. Ry helped them build a HuGE fort. The whole kitchen and down the hallway to the bedrooms was Covered, and they Loved it! needless to say- so did Ry.

2010-02-09T16:50:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday Rylan and I went out on a bike ride... we went by my parents and were just going to drive past, but Eyo, my parents dog wanted out right as we were going by, so my mom had the door open and saw us.. so my nephew Evan ran out and played with Ry a bit, and Paige wanted a hike.. mom propped her up on the green schwinn and .. well i was more nervous then Paige was. She's a pro!

We ended up biking for just a few blockes more, and then came back to dad and moms and hung out. Paige found these sunglasses in the drawer.. she looks like a hippe.. i dont know if she even knows what 'being a hippie' means, but we said, "give me your best hippie face" and this is what we got. So funny!!

2010-02-09T16:36:00.000-08:00

Ok. im going to try to get back into the groove of making posts really often...

Last night was a really great night, I drove to Lemoore to my friend Stelles house, Allie came also, she lives in Coalinga too. Stelle recently moved to Australia with her love of her life and she is visiting for a couple months, we are all so excited she's back. We met our friend Lisa who lives in Kingsburg at Chilis in Hanford. Times with me, Stelle, Lisa and Allie is ALways Always pure laughing and just really Great fun. I wish we all lived close to eachother so moments like this could happen more often. Stelles birthday is coming up , so we are going to try to get the husbands/boyfriends to join us for some bowling.

allie, (ive known her since i was born) Stelle, met her and Lisa when we all (including allie) worked at Harris Ranch in the Country Store. From the very beginning we hit it off.

bump

2010-01-27T20:25:00.000-08:00

here i am at 19 weeks 2 days pregnant. it seems like it popped out really fast.. lOts of ladies guess that i am barely pregnant, or when i say im comin up of 5 months, they are shocked and say im tiny... wow,.. didn't think that would happen!

im sure it will all change here in a bit though..

Im feelin good, working out every night.. (i take off a couple days a week from the workin out.) Trying to eat well, and thats been goin.. alright... for the most part. Trying to think of names, Boys and Girls since we're not finding out the sex is a lot of fun!

you know the sound effect in movies when the heavens part and the sounds of angels singing.. well enter that here..

2009-12-13T12:30:00.000-08:00

So i already posted this picture of the crib i love. well i looked at ikea.com and found....
this one.. i think the difference is the sides. on the one above its solid wood, not bars. but i like the bars. i actually didn't notice they weren't bars until i found this one. this one is only 79.99!!! WHAT!? thats amazing. i think i might make it mine.

Then, there is THIS one.. its more.. 140.00 i think.. its a little different, wider pieces of wood aannd, it does this...

Converts to a toddler bed which is nice.. option options options..

and then i found this: my dream rocking chair. wouldnt they look beautiful together, on our awsome gunstock stained hardwood floor and a rug with some color in it...now i dont know if this dream rocking chair will actually happen.. ok. it probably wont happen. its $150 bucks i think. but MAybe!!

some fun pics ...

2009-12-12T19:44:00.000-08:00

This was a fun day.. Paige's 4th Birthday. Her cakes were amazing, bought by her Aunt Nette (my sister). I thought this was so sweet, her and her brother Evan hugging. so cute :)

Up at the ranch. we cruise around in the convertable Toyota. so beautiful up there.

up at the Ranch on Turkey Flat. Ry finally found a place for his hammock. we got this thing more than a year ago on our honeymoon in Mexico. it was very comfy

Dad and Ry up on Dads roof, gonna trim some big o pecan trees in the back

i L♥ve this pic of Rylan. he didn't know i took it cause im sneaky like that. we were up at Skazginis Ranch, always a good time there, i love him in his camo hat. he's my awsome bearded worker man Ry. Paigey and her Tio (my bro) watching Evan graduate from kidnergarten. she loves to wear dresses and i don't know how many shoes this girl has, but i wish we wore the same size so i could borrow some!

Good times at the Derb! its always fun with Tippe gets to be here for it. we always go on this ride with the boys and paige, we are always the loudest on the ride, throwing our arms up and laughing non-stop. Ry took this pic and im really glad he did..that ride operator (aka carney) is talking to us... its just a whole lotta akward-ness. i dont remember exactly what he was saying, but, it was something to laugh at later.

Evan Loves Tippe, she's a really fun Aunt, who can blame him!

something about this pic i just love.. in the background is mom "Gram" and Paige. in the front is baby Ty. i dont know why i love it. but i do.

i need to start thinking how im gonna do this nursery!

2009-12-10T15:40:00.001-08:00

i REally like this nursery, the color of the walls, the simple designs, the chair, i'd change the pictures to photos my dad, or i, or my sisters, or someone i knew took. but i think its so cute.
These bibs are so adorable! my fav. is the orange circles and the blue one in the middle.

we are contemplating using Cloth diapers! we'd save tons of money, they're really cute these days, and im pretty sure i can handle the cleaning process. my mom used them with my older bros and sisters. there are so many brands! Bum Genius, Fuzzibunz, ect. i gotta do my research :D

i usually am drawn to dark woods, but im really really liking this natural wood crib. i like how simple it is, and it seems so open.. i really think im gonna go for a light finish...

i got all these pics from spearmintbaby.com. its such a great webside :D

Paul Newman. i knew you'd never let me down...

2009-12-08T14:01:00.002-08:00

if you know me, you know i love Paul Newman. i love the movie Cool Hand Luke and now, i LOVe these:

ive never had them before! they are now my favorite snack EVER. im so glad they're good for me and the baby! i really want to share them with everyone i see right now. So Delicious! Thanks Paul. ;D

2009-12-08T13:26:00.000-08:00

and heres, Kyle, i havn't posted a pic of him yet, he's such a cutie and he's really really funny. i miss my Utah nephews.. Kevin Kyle and Ty i miss you and love you!!

2009-12-08T13:22:00.000-08:00

my nephew and niece, Evan and Paige are Great cousins to nephew baby Ty, they loved to hold him.
Ty seems to like it too :D

2009-12-08T13:06:00.000-08:00

I love this picture! this is my nephew Kevin. he's a smart kid. he's awsome at soccer and he's a great big brother to his two younger brothers Kyle and Ty. i took this picture up at the ranch last year. what a cutie :)

i hate how my shadow is in the picture, but lets just pretend is a shrub or something ;) here is Kev again, with Tippe and baby Ty. he was so small!
what a cute little guy!

dad and ma'

2009-12-08T12:49:00.000-08:00

i love my parents. i love this picture. i love how they are sincerely laughing in this shot.
my sister Elaine took this. she is an amazing photographer. she did our wedding photos, which i still havn't ordered. (oops!)
elainetaylorphoto.com

bowling!

2009-12-05T16:00:00.000-08:00

its been a very, VeRy long time, since Rylan and i have been bowling. we have some friends in the next town, Lauren and Kenny, so we all went. (in their town of course cause there is no longer a bowling alley in our town) of course i forgot socks. but how funny there were socks in a vending machine.

the necklace im wearing here, was a gift from my mother in law. its made from Volcanic rock from Europe. i love it.
heres Lauren and Kenny. Lauren mentioned that she used to be on a bowling team. but she FAILed to mention how awsome she was!!! she kicked our butts!! she even has a trophy, she means business.
this face Ry is making was probably reaction to Laurens mad skills.

back in august...

2009-12-05T15:54:00.000-08:00

i cut my niece Paige's hair. i never did post pics of it, but it was so cute, and i love all her modeling poses. she's four. going on 14 ;)

Beautiful

2009-12-04T11:04:00.000-08:00

up at the Ranch. I absolutely love it up there. i am so glad i am able to enjoy such a glorious place anytime i want. and its onlyabout 15 minutes away. glorious.

Furry

2009-12-04T10:41:00.000-08:00

hahahahaha Ry probably wouldn't approve of me posting this, but he's not here right now. this is the face i get when i say..'make a sad face' i just think its so funny.
this was taken right before i cut his hair. i was going to take an after picture, of course he would be 'Happy' in that one.. but i guess i forgot cause i can't find it.

and let me just say, since we have his face right here, i think he resembles so many people. sometimes his profile and smile is a young elvis. when his hair is like this, i think he looks a teeny bit like robert pattinson, my sister says every once in a while she see's bret favre and Sometimes, only sometimes, brad pit reminds her of him. there are others. but i dont know the actors names.

lets have a mini flash back to Chirstmas 08. When Tippe and Fam were here, Shall we?...

2009-12-04T10:26:00.000-08:00

This, my friends, is one of the funniest pictures. I think that is cake that they are making.. from left to right. Mom, Baby Ty Cougar (nephew), Tippe (sister) and Paige (niece) Tippe and i planned this pic to look serious...when really we're not. Notice Paige is in a Baby sling. Tippe is holding the bowl and spoon with both hands, while Paige "floats" on her hip. hahahahaha! we thought it was so funny. I miss baby Ty and Tippe so much! love you guys!

2009-12-03T15:49:00.000-08:00

:)

2009-12-02T21:49:00.000-08:00

i just love this picture for some reason. it makes me happy. i took it up at Skazghinis ranch when the boys were having a trap shoot.
another one i took that day was this one of Ry, when it was his turn to go up and shoot. i like it too.

now, this is what i call a full day...

2009-12-02T12:54:00.000-08:00

so the day Rylan started cutting out the hole in the wall between the cave- i mean Kitchen, and the living room. was the same day that we got the news that will change our lives forever ! but first - here are the pics of the glorious work my husband did...here is the before...

and BAm!

please excuse my ghetto kitchen. ooh, my new dishwasher is on the left under the big blue bowl and you can see a bit of the new fridge on the right. so beautiful. oh yes. back to the hole in the wall. we didn't leave it a square. just didn't look right.
drumroll please....

wow, Rys amazing. im so glad he is talented enough to do this. the mudding took a while, but im so glad we decided on the arched sides. it really just ties it all together. and WOW it opens up my kitchen. its not so depressing in there now! :D

OH- The news! Rylan and I found out on this day that we will be having a baby. Due June.20th. we are soooo excited! when we told my parents, i had them stand ready to take a picture. and i said.. "everybody say Tylyn and Rylan are going to have a baby!" this is what the pic looked like.

in the pic is also, my sister, Brother, and my niece and nephew. husband Ry is on the far Left.

ya think moms excited? :D

10.2.09

2009-12-02T12:36:00.001-08:00

Remember these crazy trees that needed to be trimmed?... well here they are now :D..

Ry did a pretty good job eh?
heres a recent view from the front. such a huge side yard, can't wait for the add-on! and the arches are starting to grow on us ;) and wow, the grass has gotten So greeen !

9.10.09

2009-12-02T12:35:00.001-08:00

HElloo!! we're in the house now! heres what you missed!
well, what i Failed to blog...

The Living ROom! the floors are beautiful aren't they!? the stain is called Gunstock.. Baseboards are now a tinted white.. (havn't painted the walls yet...)looks so much bigger in here!

i love how we painted the baseboards that were allll around the doors.. makes such a big difference.

One day, this wall will be gone. I will keep the built in doors and make another built in somewhere else so it will look like we just moved this.. it will probably be re painted one day too, but for now, we just painted the trim around it.

the other built in in the hallway. again just painted the trim around it.

the front bedroom.

a bad pic of the back bedroomr (the walls came green, we'll get to painting them one day) oh, New fan!

the hallway. bathroom on the left, back bedroom with green walls straight ahead

new fan. :D new floors. ugly baseboards, Gone :D
Painted Cabinets. Dishwasher coming soon :D

the living room. nothing hung up yet. but here it is as is right now :D

8.5.09

2009-12-02T12:33:00.001-08:00

standing on the back porch looking out to the left- tiny garage up ahead. this is where our huge deck will be one day:D so excited!

huge tree- HUGE carport... shady shady shady

got a sweet little swing set and slide too haha.. not very sturdy- so can't swing till we fix it..:(

8.5.09

2009-12-02T12:32:00.000-08:00

wow, its been a while- and busy busy we have been. wait till yousee these Glorious floors!!

heres Ry slappin on the stain. The stain is not dark, not light, not red..not brown. its GunStock. so beautiful.

here he is final step, the laquer. all thats left is the Bedrooms :)
and now the kitchen.. i WAS going to take down the top cabinets and put up shelves but decided the paint (on the bottom) looked so well, that ill just keep the top ones.. ill have to sand agian errr. but thats ok. they'll look great :D

7.28.09

2009-12-02T12:31:00.000-08:00

one of the cool little details on our new place are these old Fence latches... looks like some oil worker/welder made them.. at least thats what my dad says... sorry about the spider webs, but anyway- when we build the new fence, we're keeping 'em. not the spider webs. the fence latches ;)

7.26.09

2009-12-02T12:30:00.001-08:00

My eyes are soooo red from all the sanding- I think next time im going to wear some safety goggles. Today's progress just consisted of getting down with the sanding agian- and I took a better pic of the house- yay!Floors are done! (with the sanding part)

SO . .. the picture-
our house is on a lot and a half which is glorious- HUGe side yard which means, space to make the house bigger- and a huge yard also means a big deck in the back!- im getting ahead of myself.. but I really can't wait. The grass needs watering- which we'll turn the water on tomorrow- and the trees still need major trimming. and some of the concrete is pretty ugly- we'll get to that one of these days too.

Me and Ry with our work faces on.

7.26.09

2009-12-02T12:27:00.000-08:00

I was going crazy the first day without any music, so I made a playlist for us to enjoy. (for moments when we take a break from the lovely sound of sanding)

Lets get together- the youngbloods

I wont back down- Tom Petty and the heartbreakers

Take your time- Lynard skynard

Start me up- Rolling stones

Southern man- Niel Young

King of the road- Roger Miller

Crazy love- Van Morrison and Bob Marley

Alice's Restaurant- Arlo Guthrie

Hey good lookin- Hank Williams

Lots more including, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Loretta lynn, The White Stripes, Fleetwood mac, Sublime, John Denver, John Prine, my Father in law, John Bourdeau, Lee Skazghini (i MUSt find a way to post music by them-amazing) the Pixies, the shins, Ray stevens...

Off to work!

7.25.09

2009-12-02T12:24:00.000-08:00

Still sanding our lives away, wooden baseboards crawling all over, up around doors around every corner and hallway- only place it iSn't, is the kitchen, laundry room and bathroom. I've got doors I need to sand, underneith windows.. never ending it seems! It will all be worth it though... Rylan is busy busy with the floors... I had no idea that when you sand off the finish on a floor, you've got to go over it THRee times!(each time with a finer and finer sand paper) wow, and the edges gotta be done by hand, the machine doesn't fit right up next to the wall.
while I was busy strengthening my arm muscles sanding the baseboards, my mom and niece came by to say hi. Paige decided she wanted to help...
I was using the sander, but that would not be good handing her that to help with.. she did however get to wear (and take home) the shnazzy dust mask..

what a little trooper. don't worry, I made her 'take a break' no sweat shop at this house! haha

7.24.09

2009-12-02T12:21:00.000-08:00

SOoo, I havn't posted any pics of the house yet... its not a very good one- but, its all i've got at the moment... you're gonna be seeing wayyy more of it, so...

wow, how do you feel about the arches? and the bumbs! haha, we were not crazy about them at first, but I think that if the house wansn't Blue, it'd be better.
The original plan for the day was to Trim up these crazy out-of-control trees surrounding the house..but, since the weekend is... well.. Here. Ry decided he'd better go Rent the Sander out of town (we're gonna re-do the floors). So I stayed back and sanded up my kitchen cabinets woohoo! I almost looked tan with all this sawdust on me ;) I was sanding all day.. So he got back with just enough time to 'try out' the sander. and I was done sanding my cabinets. (no pics of the finished sanding on my part) Here is Ry and the test-sand of the floor in the living room!
well... it works. check. we're thinking a touch Lighter stain throughout the house.. and those wooden base boards are gonna go. yaay for more sanding (and primer-ing for me) tomorrow!

7.24.09

2009-12-02T12:19:00.001-08:00

So as soon as we got the keys we decided it'd be fun to go get some lunch and eat it in our new house! dont you just love my blinding white face in this shot? haha and believe it or not, Ry took that picture.. long arm eh?.. ok im kidding.;) Im already ready to start ripping down walls and painting!