Hello? and the Craziness of Nesting

Well, its’ been a while.

I hit this nesting surge and it has completely, and I mean completely, taken over my life.  Seriously. I have made list after list after list and started project after project after project.

But let’s go back to where we left off.

Mr. Dunbar’s Birthday.

The boys and I surprised him at his hospital with a cake (as chosen by the boys from Costco). All of the food in the cafeteria where Mr. Dunbar works is practically homemade so rather than heading out we ate there.

It was crazy hat day at school so we stapled a whole bunch of handcut-outs to the top of this green hat. Only  one cut out hand remained by the afternoon.

I had just about started the full on “nesting” mode, cleaning out drawers and closets, and making messes everywhere, nothing too stressful or heavy, just the itty bits in the house that had been irking me for some time.

 

My mom and I headed into South Coast to get the boys’ bedding. We tried waking Monkey up when we got home but he just wouldn’t budge. So this is what it looked like the next morning.      Yes, they got the Star Wars sheets from Pottery Barn Kids and a brownie.   

Then two Sundays ago , Mr. Dunbar flew to Chicago. That was all it took.

It was my ticket for craziness! (And I blame it all on my mother. Just so you know.)

A few hours after Mr. Dunbar left, my parents came over and we started in on the boys’ room.

  

       

And this is just the beginning of the saga. My house has pretty much looked like the above picture ever since. Only all of the junk in the living room has just been revolving stuff. Boys’ toys, boys’ clothes, boys’ old bedding, nursery stuff, baby clothes, baby gadgets and bedding, my bedding, junk from closets, you name it… Hopefully I’ll have some after pictures soon.

For now, here are a few shots of the boys on their first afternoon in their bunk bed.

And after all of the excitement, they actually BOTH fell asleep. Mark it as a holiday, that never happens.    

A BIG thank-you to my parents who came over and helped me convert both boys’ bedrooms and for all of the stuff that came along with it.

And also to my MIL who has taken the hooligans for hours on several different days so I could make messes by myself.

Hope to catch up with everyone soon.

~mrs. dunbar

Riding Around in Circles

My life this week, as spoken through Bogie:

I’ve been riding around in circles all week.

Emptying one closet here, cleaning one drawer there, creating a list over here, making a mess over there.

Going round and round and round. In circles. 

Thinking, “Oh man, I’ve got to get this done too, I guess I’ll go back over there.”

It’s been tough and frustrating and there is a mess everywhere. Our house looks like a disaster zone. Again. 

Organized disaster.

Sort of.

Makes me feel like this!

But I’m going to keep going.

Trudging through the trenches of closets, dressers, drawers and cabinets.

Pushing just a little bit. Not too too much.

There’s a prize at the end of the tunnel.

Sunshine someday soon.  

For today we are going to leave the piles of junk out and enjoy our day

because

today is Mr. Dunbar’s Birthday.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

And who wanted to see this silly grin?

 

~mrs. dunbar

A Surprise

I was surprised on Saturday night with a Baby Shower by my closest girl friends.  I thought three or four of us were just going to dinner, as a Girl’s Night, probably for the last time before this little guy comes. (I was even 20 minutes LATE and I didn’t bring my camera- good thing Casey brought hers.)

It was so nice to see that a handful of my dearest friends were also there and shared in the celebration. Mrs. C, Mrs. Webb, and Mrs. Baker were all part of the sweet surprise.

We ate at the Macaroni Grill, one of my faves. The food was yummy, as was the ambience of the Opera singers and I think the servers were intentionally breaking dishes because we just kept right on cheering.

Ali made these cute pretzel sticks and cake pops as center pieces and favors. Each one had an “It’s a boy charm” attached. Thanks, Ali!!

 

As cute as onesies and baby blankets are to open up, my girlfriends all pitched in for one {very generous} gift card for us. Even girls that weren’t able to be there on Saturday pitched in for the gift card. How sweet is that? It was such a perfect perfect gift. I just know so many little things will pop up along the way in the next month or two. Especially things like diapers.

Thanks Girls, love you all mucho mucho.

(Casey- I know you were the hands behind it all and I am so grateful. )

mrs. dunbar

2011 Word of the Year

My word for 2011, or actually words are:

Calm

Endurance.

Calm:  implies an unruffled state, esp. under disturbing conditions,  complete inner command of oneself, usually as the result of an effort.

Endurance: noun- the ability or strength to continue or last,  despite fatigue, stress, or other adverse conditions; stamina.

-lasting quality; duration.

Baby Boy is due to arrive in about six weeks, maybe less. My natural tendency is to have had everything in its place, washed, primped, and ready by now. I’ve been waiting in silly anticipation for some changes around here. Still waiting, so the endurance is starting to creep into existence because there is so much to get done. I’m starting with the bathroom today, figured might as well begin with the smallest space in the house. Got to make room for that baby bathtub and all of the baby essentials. Either way there will be lots of changes in the Dunbar Home in 2011. (Calm.)

Room changes; Monkey and Bogie are going to share a room. They are super excited about this for now. Everyday someone is begging for bunk beds and my boys have been mulling over the Pottery Barn Kids Catalog almost every second their not allowed to play on the Wii. There’s bedding to be chosen. How do you change a 5-year- old’s mind about a Star Wars bedroom? I think I’ve got them sold on Star Wars sheets only. I thought perhaps I’d buy the Target ones since they are just about half the price but those sheets only have a rating of 1.5 stars, all of the comments said they are rough, itchy, and thin. So that idea went right out the window. The PB ones have a 4.8 out of 5 stars.

  

How did I get stuck on the tangent of sheets?

Changes…

Mr. Dunbar started a new position at a new hospital in a new city. We’ll see where that leads him this year. It seems to have lots of opportunity for advancement, which is always good. The hours have been killer recently. I guess that’s the way it is though, when you take over a staff at the start of a new year. Hopefully things will calm down in a month or so. I have still been getting up every morning to make him coffee, we’ll see how long that lasts. (Endurance, think endurance...)

This was January 1st. and that mess, is mine. Sorting through bins and bins and bins of the boys’ clothes that I actually chose to keep. Putting them in order by size and season. It’s been almost 3 years since I’ve actually gone back through the clothes, I guess I just kept throwing the things I liked in bins or bags because I never really thought I’d HAVE to go back through it. It took some tenacity and patience to finish going through the mounds of Newborn to 5T shirts, sweats, jeans, sweaters, jackets, hats, pajamas… everything. I felt like the Berenstain Bears and the The Messy Room organizing and making labels. And even when I thought I was done, I still found two more trash bags full of clothes.

These hooligans are so good. I hope they will forever be friends.

 

Soon there will be baseball practices and games,  pre-school parties and lessons, newborn cries and around the clock feedings. Along with life.

I’m getting my game face on for 2011.

Calm. Endurance.

Yup, that’s what I need.

~mrs. dunbar