Home Improvement, It Never Ends

I realize that this blog post is about 6 months delayed, but the last piece of one of the puzzles was just completed and it's finally post-worthy. We spent a lot of time doing some moving and shaking around the house this past summer, both inside and out.

Outside, we tore out a lot of the overgrown backyard garden and started over with new fabric, fresh mulch, and a blank canvas for spring. We also had to replace our fence which unfortunately wasn't quite a DIY gig. We had hoped not to have to deal with the old fence and leave it for someone else, but after a particularly cold and windy winter the boards were actually falling off and flapping in the wind. Hello, WT! I don't really have any 'after' shots, but imagine a nice new cedar fence that could double as advertising space to North Avenue to the right bidder. The old one was down in no more than 15 minutes and the new one was complete in about two days by a guy and his wife whom I'll just describe as a very handsome woman. Oh well, after seeing the work that it took we were happy to write the check on this one and just have it done.

Inside we decided it was time to move Genevieve from the lofty space upstairs into her own bedroom downstairs. It was super convenient to have her so close when she was itty bitty and nursing every few hours, but as she slept better it became clear that she needed a quiet space with a door that could close. So we set off to turn the former office into G's new room, and now that I've finally gotten around to building the cornice, it's finally complete.

Before:

After:

So then we needed to move the office stuff upstairs into the loft space. I didn't want to put a regular desk up there so Matt set to work building a floating desk along with some very customized built ins. It's clean and functional, and my lovely chaise now has a better home. And perhaps one day I'll be able to sit on it long enough to read a book again.

Before:

After:

The Holidays: A (Seriously Lengthy) Recap

The holidays have brought lots of busy activity, fun, and a few sleepless nights to the Maio household. Matt and I both had the week between Christmas & New Year's off and while it was great to be home there is something a little relieving about getting back in to a routine (and hopefully Genevieve's internal clock agrees).

It all started out on the 21st when I took Genevieve to visit the Man with the Bag. Our little cherub has been going through a serious 'mommy-only' phase so I wasn't sure what to expect. He was probably the least enthusiastic Santa I've ever seen, but she had no qualms hopping right up and letting him hold her so I was thrilled.

Maybe need to bring Santa an extra Starbucks next year. Perk it up, big man!

Exclaiming "Dat?! Dat?! Dat?!" Maybe her one wish was to know what everything is.

Later that morning, G had her 15 month check-up. She is still measuring in the 90th percentile for height at 31.5" and about the 65th for weight at 24.5 lbs. The eczema she had this time last year has reemerged (although much more mild than last year) so we walked out with a few more shots and a Rx for about a gallon of the fix-all skin cream, but basically everything is right on track. Her fourth molar is starting to crack through and Matt and I cannot wait for it to just come in and be done with it. On the upside, 15 months is generally when the language switch flips on and sure enough I think her vocabulary has doubled in the last 10 days. Matt and I are exclaiming, "honey, she said ____!" about a dozen times a day. The best example of this was on Christmas Eve when we put her to bed. Matt leaned over and said, "Do you know who's coming tonight?" which we of course expected her to say nothing, but instead she replied with "San-ta". It was adorable.

On the 23rd we had a bunch of Matt's old high school friends over to the house for what I can only call a reunion/baby-a-thon. These four guys used to be thick as thieves in their Shorewood days, and it was really fun to get together with them all and see how life has changed. Ben and his sig other, Flowers, came home from New Mexico for the holidays with their kids Hawk and Moses, Shawn and Melissa came with Alana, and Bilal and his wife, Usnije, came over with their little girl, Su Su. Genevieve wanted nothing to do with anyone but mommy but we had fun anyway. She especially freaked out when I took baby Alana for a tour of the house and was holding and rocking her. Although later when Alana started to cry, GG did look at her and exclaim "Oh, no!".

I'm sure that in the mid-90's....

...this is not what they anticipated for 2009!


Moms & tots


Gals in red


Hawk's castle


Moses - acrobat in training (Matt almost couldn't watch)

The next day was Christmas Eve. We hung out at the house and enjoyed a quiet day of cleaning up and making sure everything was ready for the next day's feast. After G's nap we gussied up and headed out to church with Grandma and Grandpa Maio, and Great Grandma too. The church was packed and we had to stand the whole time, but Genevieve was really well behaved so we'll take it. Afterwards we went back to Grandma & Grandpa's for Chinese - a Christmas Eve tradition. G turned on the charm and entertained Grandma and Great Grandma all night.

It wouldn't be a holiday without some Mary Janes and a pair of ruffle-butt tights


After church (where is my shrimp chow mein?!?! Amen.)

We arrived home to find that Uncle Grant had landed here safe and sound from Eau Claire. My parents weren't scheduled to arrive until Christmas Day, but I suspected that they were on the road headed East already. Sure enough the MN sleigh pulled in around 9 and everyone collapsed and went to bed around 10. Genevieve treated us to sleeping until 8 on Christmas Day (best gift ever) and Matt and I went in together to retrieve our little elf from her bed. She kept saying "San-ta, San-ta". Clever girl!

We had a big breakfast and started in on presies. As always, Santa was very good to us all. Highlights included web-cams all around, a digital camera for Grant, matching "Genevieve" photo-collage mugs for the grandparents (thank you, Snapfish) and a VERY stylish bowling set for Matt. Santa brought me a remote car starter, which has been used about 38 times since its installation on Wednesday. LOVE IT. Genevieve got piles upon piles of treasures...a G-sized table & chairs from G & G Maio, a tent & tunnel from G & G Martin, and great goodies from Santa like books, coloring paper & crayons, and the big hit: Elmo.

Mini Monet


Loving the gigundo tent & tunnel


Books are the best!


Smooches for Elmo


The four silliest monsters on the block


That's right, he's got spiders on his bowling shoes. You should probably fear him.


Pearl blue, complete with custom holes and the MKM monogram.

And while G's stuff is now taking over every room of the house, I must admit that I ended up with the Grand Poobah of gifts...a 5-day trip with my mom to NYC in February for one of the oldest sporting traditions in American history: the 134th annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. The show is at Madison Square Garden and we'll be staying right across the street at the historic Hotel Pennsylvania. Greatest city in America? Check. Swanky hotel? Check. Doggies, doggies, and other dog-obsessed people? Check. Can't wait!

After the wrapping paper dust had settled, it was time to finish the big feast. We had been brining a turkey for the whole week leading up to Christmas and once again I swear by the brining method for a super juicy bird. Add all the fixins and it was a table full of yummy chow that everyone dug into.

Ward and June Cleaver, at the ready

Greetings, holiday eaters

Two stuffed lumps

Now lest you think that just because Christmas Day had come and gone that we were done celebrating, let me remind you that we still had two more events to attend! The first was the day after Christmas with the Moore side of the family at Tom and Barb's in Nashotah. Their lovely home and the roaring fire served as the perfect backdrop for the snowy night, and we ate MORE and Genevieve was spoiled again. Then on 1/2 we celebrated with the Maio side at Ken & Jean's house in Waukesha where we ate MORE and Genevieve was spoiled AGAIN. Actually she played with the other kids and wasn't nearly as clingy as she's been in recent weeks which was great fun for both her and us. Less funwas the fact that she was awake that night (this morning) from 12:30-2 and then was up for the day at about 5:45. DAMN YOU, MOLARS!

Grandpa scores a huge box-o-chocolate, which I could have eaten in its entirety at 2:00 this morning.


The most perfect hand-me-down: an Elmo chair from Sammy!


PLUS her very own Adirondack chair for the cottage.

My parents stayed with us for 5 days, which unfortunately coincided with my mom, my bro, and me all contracting a very unattractive stomach flu. My mom and I dropped like flies within an hour of each other two days after Christmas and I wasn't fit to go out in the world again until late Tuesday. We finally saw the light of day and decided to take Genevieve to get her first haircut. She started freaking out the absolute second we walked in the door, but the gal was very patient and gave G the cutest little bob. Beauty costs, babe!

Sassy new 'do

That night my parents insisted on taking us all, including Karl & Kathy, to Le Reve. It probably wasn't the best idea for my first real meal in 3 days, but my taste buds cared not. Fortunately I was back in fighting shape by 12/31 so Matt and I could go out for our 4th anniversary. We went to a place called Juniper 61 which is very near our house and is fantastico. Super fresh food and a cool atmosphere. We rang in the New Year at home watching my fave movie, Love Actually, and marveled at how much happened to us between 2000-2009. We have big expectations for 2010 and beyond and resolve to take in the good and the bad together (thanks for getting up with her this morning, honey)!