Kitchen Remodel

Our house is 100 years old. When we bought the house, the kitchen was decent, but certainly not awesome! I went from having a very small dishwasher in Boston, to no dishwasher in D.C. Since I spend a lot of time in the kitchen and we know that at some point we will want to sell our house, we thought a kitchen remodel was in order. Here’s the transformation…

BEFORE

White appliances, white cabinets (that I painted), laminate counter tops (which I really didn’t like), no backsplash, and very little counter top.

The “old” layout had the sink underneath the back window, leaving no room for a dishwasher to just be easily added to the kitchen. As you can see the countertop space is rather crowded.

Our former refrigerator was small and the freezer was on top, pretty standard.

The bar area between the living room and kitchen was WAY too high for me to really use.

In the Midst of Renovation

This is after everything was torn out of the kitchen. I sold our whole kitchen to one lady on Craigslist! It was really cool. She came in one Friday and took everything out. This is what was left.

Another view. When the former kitchen came out, there were remnants of city living present. Unfortunately a rat, who had succumb to the power of poison, was found decomposing behind the sink cabinet. Awesome!

AFTER: My Urban Cottage Kitchen

Most of our kitchen came from Ikea. The cabinets, the butcher block countertop, and the farmhouse sink are all from Ikea. The appliances, cabinet handles, backsplash, and under cabinet lighting were from other stores. You can see in this picture that the sink is no longer underneath the back window…

Here’s the new bar with farmhouse sink and DISHWASHER!!! There are still a few little touch ups needed, mostly with paint, but everything is pretty much in order. You can see the paint color I chose is much lighter than the dark red that was in the former kitchen. I really like the fresh look.

Our new refrigerator has french doors up on top with the freezer on the bottom. Our range is still electric, which I don’t love, but the oven has a regular and confection option, which is nice for baking. The Cup Pulls on the drawers give a classic look, which I really like. The Cup Pulls are one of my favorite accents.

Having the microwave above the range, creates more countertop space, which is vital in a small city kitchen. Another favorite feature of mine is the white subway tile backsplash. Again, the white subway tile is great for a classic look.

Moving the sink to the bar area gives me SO MUCH more countertop space. AND I can watch Elijah playing while I’m working at the sink. It really is a better layout. You can see that looking out the back window was not so lovely…ahh, city living! So, I’m glad that the sink now gives a more pleasant view.

What do you think?

Spice Cake with flare

Since it is October, I thought that I would do something special for dessert this evening as we hosted a dinner party. I made a simple spice cake with vanilla icing. But this is what it looked like:

I thought it was fun. If you’d like to try it for your own October party, it’s simple really. Make your cake in a Bundt pan. Use white icing as a base and add orange food coloring (or yellow and red mixed together) to most (but not all) of the icing till you get orange color you want. Then take the rest of the white icing and add green food coloring to it. Ice the bundt cake with the orange icing and then get a square bottom ice cream cone, turn it upside down and put the green icing all over it. Place the ice cream cone upside down in the center of your bundt cake. There you have your pumpkin cake.  It’s a simple way to add a little October flare to your dessert.

Getting into everything

Elijah is 13 months and 3 weeks, and getting into everything…literally…

This used to be a table that held magazines and papers…now it holds toys. You can see why…

“Are you talkin’ to me?”

Lots of fun!

Beautiful Wedding

This past Sunday, we celebrated the union of our friends’ Odoi and Melissa’s wedding. It was a gorgeous setting near York, PA on a farm located on a hill over looking the Susquehanna River. Elijah was dressed for the occasion.

The green grass with the white picket fence, provided the perfect backdrop.

Family photo. Here’s a look at the view. There were even horses in the back ground. It was beautiful.

The theme was Fall and the decor was lovely.

The happy couple just after the ceremony.

We got some great photos of Elijah in this setting. Here are a few.

Elijah made a new friend in the ring bearer, Grant Brown.

The latest Ralph Lauren models

Grant was so sweet with Elijah. This is before the ceremony and we were trying to make sure grass stains didn’t become part of his cute suit.

Elijah took in a few blades of grass to hold him over before the reception.

The Grahams and The Odoteis

Father and son looking quite dapper.

Mommy and baby…excited that baby is not squirming out of her hands!! He’s quite the squirmer!!

This picture doesn’t do it justice, but as the sun set the setting was perfect!

Nursing Gammy’s Knee

Last week Elijah, Aaron and I traveled to WV to care for my mom in her knee replacement surgery recovery (that’s a mouthful). Aaron went to Dallas for most of the week (for work) and Elijah and I took care of my mom, also known as Gammy. I’ll be honest, the week was a little bit exhausting, but I wouldn’t have wanted to be any other place. After a rough couple of weeks, I think my mom is doing a lot better.

Here are some photos of our time with Gammy…

Papaw and Elijah had a fun week together. Papaw was a lot of help with Elijah while I tried to help my mom.

Elijah is full out walking now…he prefers it and is quite proud of himself. It’s so fun to watch him toddle around.

Gammy will be REALLY excited that I included this picture. We are praying for a quick recovery so that she can be up and running by Thanksgiving…or maybe by Christmas! Love you Gammy!!

Invisible Illness Awareness Week

For 13 years, I have woken up to pain somewhere in my body. Some days it is worse than other days. However, the pain is consistent and constant. My hands often can not grip a simple bottle to squeeze out the contents. My shoulders often send shooting pain up my arm as I grab the milk from the refrigerator. When I sit down, stand up, or walk up and down the stairs, my left knee feels as though a knife is carving out parts of my tendons. While I do my best to live a “normal” life, I often wonder what my life would be like if I did not experience pain, fatigue, and sleep disturbances every day.

Tomorrow kicks off Invisible Illness Awareness Week for all those who do not physically appear to have an ailment or illness, but in fact their body is screaming from daily pain. The two invisible illnesses that have become the “thorn in my side” are Fibromyalgia and Endometriosis. I had Endometriosis first, beginning at the onset of my menstral cycle at age 11. When I was 19 years old, I had an emergency surgery where my blood pressure dropped so low that I almost lost my life.  I was bleeding internally from an ovarian cyst that had reptured. I experienced two grand mal seziures and was rushed into surgery.

A couple of months after this surgery, the symptoms of Fibromyalgia began. Physical or emotional trauma to the body are seen as possible causes in the development of the illness. I believe the emergency nature of my surgery, along with the hormonal changes in my body,  are to blame for the onset of my Fibromyalgia.

For years I was misdiagnosed, as is common among Fibro patients. Finally, an old school doctor from Harvard University knew exactly what was going on with me just from touching different pressure points on my body. It was a relief to at least have a proper diagnosis. Unfortunately, none of the treatments I have tried to date have offered lasting relief.

I write this post not to have people feel sorry for me, but to help people better understand my life experience. My experience, along with so many others…

So, during this week of Invisible Illness Awareness, as you go about your every day, think of all those around you who may be silently sufferring. If you know of someone in your life who suffers with an invisible illness, do your best to serve them in some way this week. I can guarentee they will appreciate it more than you will ever know!

Blessings,

Amy

Elijah’s First Birthday

Elijah has been one for a week and a half, but our life has been a bit chaotic since that day, so I’m just now getting around to this post.

We went to Huntington, WV, my home town, to celebrate his birthday. It was wonderful. Here are some pictures of our time there.

We made strawberry cupcakes with butter cream icing. Since Elijah is from South Carolina and started his life at the beach, and enjoyed the beach so much this summer, we decided to have a beach theme for his 1st Birthday.

We used graham crackers as “sand” and used blue food coloring to make our “ocean.” I thought it turned out pretty good for ametuers.

Up until this point, Elijah had not really had anything sweet. Here are a few pictures to show how he enjoyed his cupcake.

He wasn’t quite sure what to do when we all started singing to him.

He needed a little help to blow out the candle…

Digging in…

He wasn’t sure if he was supposed to eat the cupcake or wear it…

In true 1st Birthday fashion, Elijah had it all over his head, hands, clothes, etc…he went directly from the table into the bathtub! It was a lot of fun and he seemed to enjoy it.

Elijah’s cousin Tim helped show him the ropes of opening his Birthday presents.

And that’s how it’s done!

All in all, the 1st Birthday was a huge success! Elijah got lots of fun toys, books, and clothes; He ate his first cupcake; and he had a great week at his Gammy and Papaw’s house!

AND, We’re Back…

It has been a long time since I’ve posted anything and a lot has been going on.  Since my last post (June 3rd) we have:

Celebrated Terrence’s 21st birthday,

Celebrated the 4th of July with some great friends that visited us from WV,

Visited the Billy Graham library in Charlotte, NC,

Traveled to South Carolina to finalize Elijah’s adoption,

Spent two amazing hours with Elijah’s birth mother, siblings, and uncle, and

Had a wonderful vacation in Myrtle Beach….

…it’s been busy!

We don’t have pictures from every thing, but I will share a few. We have a lot of photos of our time with Elijah’s birth family, but we are going to just keep those special for Elijah.

Aaron and Elijah in front of the Billy Graham libray. It was an unexpected blessing on our journey. If you are ever in Charolette, NC, you should certainly check it out. It is free of charge!! Well worth the time!

This is Judge Woods who granted our adoption. Our court room was like Comedy Central. Family court judges spend most of their time tearing families a part, so when they do an adoption hearing the atmosphere is a lot more light hearted. It was a fantastic day!

Aaron, Elijah and I taking in our first few hours at the beach! It was AWESOME!

My mom joined us for the week, which allowed her to spend time with Elijah and allowed me to actually get a vacation! It was so much fun to have her there with us! Thanks MOM! My mom got a lot more pictures of Elijah playing in the ocean and the sand…I’ll have to get some from her and post them later. Elijah LOVED the beach…just like his mommy!

Elijah is getting so big and his personality is shining through! He’s very social. When we go out in public, especially to a restaurant, he wants to interact with everyone around us. It’s fantastic (unless I’m trying to get him  to eat)!

Elijah continues to be a very happy little guy. Of course, he has his moments, but overall he’s very easy going and just happy. This week he learned to stand on his own. He is so proud of himself when he tries to stand, wobbly legs and all. He also just started clapping this week.

We are so thankful and blessed to have him in our lives. I love him more every day!

My new favorite “toy.”

We all know that Dads, men, and boys love their toys. Well, Mom’s love their toys too…usually toys that make our lives easier. The ERGO is my new favorite thing! It is the baby carrier of all baby carriers.

I have a hotsling…which Elijah never liked, therefore I didn’t really like it either.  We have a Baby Bjorn, which isn’t too bad, but you can only carry your baby in the front. It also hurts my back and Aaron has never been a fan.

So, after seeing my lovely friend Sandra carry her little one (who is now 2 years old) all over China in the Ergo, I figured it must be pretty awesome. You can also carry your baby in the front, on your hip or on your back. The back carry position very much reminds me of African women carrying their babies while they do everything they need to do (even working in the fields).

All that to say, I LOVE my new toy and Elijah loves it too! He is so content to hang out on my back. Here’s what it looks like:

We were cooking dinner together. Elijah loves to cook!

The only downside is that I have to wear my hair up so that Elijah doesn’t start dreads in my curly locks. Not such a bad thing.

Long and Lean

Today we went for Elijah’s 9 month check-up. Everything’s going well thus far. Our pediatrician called Elijah “long and lean.” Here are his stats: height 29.25 inches long (81st percentile) and weight 19 lbs 12 oz. (37th percentile). Yep, long and lean just like his dad (well, actually just like his birth mom)! 

Here’s another picture for your viewing enjoyment

Starting to look like such a big boy!