Kitchen Update IV

After the counter tops were put in Ravi decided to take it upon himself to install the dishwasher, sink, and garbage disposal. I would have been happy to save the money but he only gets like 0 days off a week sometimes. This particular week, he had been working non-stop and was sick and was going on a trip the next day for 8 days. I didn't want him to do it. I wanted him to hang out and relax and have the plumber do it while he was gone. Ravi wouldn't hear of it!! So, he began with the sink...

His two little helpers were very excited about this!!

Jin is sticking a slide whistle through the left side hole. This picture shows you what a nice sized sink it is, though! It is a white, ceramic farmhouse sink with a apron front. It is incredible and I love it! Ravi did a good job!

Next up was the dishwasher. Ravi installed one in our Galveston beach house so he was familiar with what to do, but I still wanted him to NOT do it. We butted heads the entire time over who would do what. I wanted the plumbers to do it all. Not because Ravi couldn't do it but because I wanted him to spend his time with us. Not working on the house. Ravi saw it as a cost-savings and couldn't bear the thought of spending any of his hard-earned money paying someone to do something he was capable of doing. I am certain we will have the same debate over and over again the next 51/2 years! He will probably win majority of the time.

Quality Control in tighty whities was just checking things out.

Jin showing Baba how to work an Allen wrench, with his nimble fingers. "Dishwasher handles are just like brains, Baba..."

Kitchen Update III

What up fellas? I realized I need to update the bloggy blog before I have another kid and have to recap a year passed in a paragraph- SO, let's start with la cucina. It looks way more like a kitchen! My mom came to visit/live for over a month and helped me out a lot with the projects Ravi and I have been starting and not finishing. THANKS MOM!!! While she was here we had our counters installed. It was like the sky parted and angels were singing directly to me. Heavenly bliss. The sunlight bounced off their polished surfaces and scattered light all over the room. It was the best feeling ever. As soon as they were in I immediately forgot what it was like to be living with out them. Funny how that has been the case with the renovation. As soon as we make another change it is like it's always been there. However, it does make for a majorly depressing reality-slap-in-the-face when I go back through pictures and say, "Holy crap. I can't believe we were living like that." Horror is all I feel. Anyway. I'll go through the horror so you can all see the accomplishments! You're welcome.

I was beginning to see the light after these were installed.

A Child's Wisdom

Jin and Sun Li have really been into the Nat'l Geographic books for the past few months and one of them (Deadliest Animals) has a section on scorpions. This really got the kids attention! especially Jin. He has been pretending to be a scorpion for a while and even wants to be one for Halloween (I'm a gonna hafta bust out some major momma mojo creativity!) and anything Jin wants to be Sun Li wants to be, too. Only pink.

We were sitting in the car talking today and the conversation went like this:

Jin- "Where's Baba going?"

Me- "To work. He has to round on the patients there this weekend because he is on call. He wants to be sure they are healthy."

Jin- "Well, if he goes to work, then I will just follow him and break open the hospital with my stinger and pinch it in half!"

Me- "Yes, I see, because you are a scorpion. But that's not very nice and you would probably lose your Spider man cartoon privilege."

Jin- "You didn't let me finish. That was just a naughty dream I just had that I was talking to you about."

Me- "Oh, okay."

Sun Li- "I'm a corpion, too! I'm a nice PINK corpion! But I only have a tail, but no tinger."

Jin- "If you only have a tail and no stinger then you're not a scorpion, Sun Li. You're just a lobster."

These kids are hilarious. It's true, too, isn't it! It would look like a lobster!

Bath Time

Jin and Sun Li love to take baths with Bae Li. Since our youngest still refuses to sit up on her own she is bathed in the baby bath tub. For a special treat for the older kids I allow them to bath all 3 together sometimes. Jin and Sun Li are smooshed in the front while Bae Li gets to chunk out in her own tub inside the bigger bath tub. She does, however, have to endure the screams and splashes from her siblings. It's kind of a trade off. They all look like they love it, though! When Bae Li starts sitting, she can take a bath with the others and then they will all 3 be bathing in one another's pee. It's how they roll. I was only able to take pics of the kids with 100% nudity. I will take more with their bits covered so I can post!

Kitchen Update Again

We made some progress over the weekend and the house is finally getting some normalcy back. Ravi and I worked long hours until ALL the cabinets were up. They look good in the kitchen and out of the dining room! We made a counter top change as well. Originally we bought Zodiaq Quartz counters in a light tan, but they were pricey and since our budget blew up and now only allows for counters made from our own self-compressed denim jean shreds we decided to visit our local Lowes and see what they had. Quartz was my kind of thing because it is a solid surface. No stains, ever. No sealing, ever. Heaven. Lowes, however, showed us a new granite counter that has the sealant embedded in the stone. It is guaranteed stain proof for 15 years, no sealing needed, and then you can choose to stain after that but it is still not needed. Price tag? $52/sq ft. Where do I sign, please? What did we pay at Ikea? $77/sq ft and that is with the 20% off we received. Cost savings people, feels so good. I guess we could still afford to get that counter-depth fridge after all...? Settle down, Ravi, I am only half joking, but not really, at all. But seriously, or not. I love you, babe. ;)

You can see we have our popcorn/ rice cooker/ crock pot station set up still, but it looks so much better.

So, the plumber is coming tomorrow to hook up the gas range and the electrician is coming tomorrow to finish off the pot lights and new outlets. It is really creeping along at lightning speed. We are quickly getting done, slowly. It feels good.

Bae Li's Typical Day

Bae Li just had her 6 month well-baby and everything checks out perfectly. She is 50% percentile for head, weight, and length. I was a little surprised she wasn't rockin' a 90's on the head, but happy to hear otherwise! Anyway, the one thing she hasn't really gotten the swing of yet is sitting unassisted and rolling. She hates tummy time and she arches herself out of the Bumbo, so I usually just have her in the Jungle Jumperoo (which she LOVES) and on her back with toys. On the occasion that I do put her on her tummy, I place her favorite toys just outside reach for tempting. She will take a quick swipe and if THE FORCE doesn't assist the toy being placed into her slobbery hand she just leaves it be. She will not work for anything. On her back, she does not roll to her tummy (save one time the day before her well-baby) and on her tummy she doesn't roll to her back unless she feels like it. Otherwise it is just Cryfest 2011. I told her doctor all about it. She is still within the normal bell-curve, I was assured.

I did realize though, that when she becomes more mobile that the kiddos are gonna have their hands as full as I will with Bae Li. She is Jin's little buddy and Sun Li loves giving toys to her. But she will not be an immobile passerby just laying there for you to do whatever with soon.

Jin was putting his Transformer stickers on himself and Bae Li so they could pretend to be Skinner Tuner (Bae Li) and Optimus Prime (Jin). That is why Jin is posing with a hard core face. He is the leader of the autobots, afterall. But, I don't know how willing Bae Li will be when she can crawl the heck outta there on her own. We will see, but at the rate she is advancing I guess I still have a year or so.

Photoshop

About a month ago I was doing the laundry in our room and Jin yelled, "Mama!! Come look!" That usually means, "Mama!! Get in here quick because I am doing something naughty and really dangerous!" Dutifully, I ran to his room only to see him doing one of the single most amazing feats to date.

He propped one crappy, plastic Ikea stool on top of another crappy, plastic Ikea stool and somehow got on with out one slipping off the other or with out falling off, himself. I was clapping and laughing like a circus monkey. "Good job, Jin! That's awesome! Great balance!" (Yes, I am his enabler). But come on. This is crazy. The green stool legs had to be JUST SO, in order to not expand under his weight and slide off the white stool top. Is this an ordinary thing to come up with? I think it comes from the mind of a naughty 4 year old genius!! Thank goodness his dad is a neurosurgeon. Stack and climb away, Jin!!