Sloan Jeffrey Seidler was born at 1:29pm at Silver Cross Hospital. After only about 2 hours of active labor and a couple pushes, we met all 6 lbs 4 oz, 19 inches of her.

She’s just as beautiful as we imagined and it’s been such a great day finally meeting her.

It all happened so fast, it still blows my mind. I woke up this morning, not in labor. I was just having some serious pressure and just overall discomfort. I worried I’d have a rough day at home with Cohen while Tim was working, so I decided to call the doc’s office. Well, she advised us to come into the hospital. Said doc was here on surgeries all day anyway, and better safe than sorry.

A couple hours later, we left Cohen hanging with Grandpa and headed to the hospital. We weren’t sure what was going to happen when we got here. I was dilated to 3cm the day before at my appointment, and was scheduled for an induction on Friday anyway, so we really hoped they wouldn’t send us home.

We got checked in about 10:15-10:30. Doc said I was about 3.5-4cm and he was cool keeping me, breaking water and getting the ball rolling. He predicted we’d meet Sloan by 4:00.

At 11:19 he broke my water. Immediately, contractions started. They were the worst. Soooo strong and so close together. After a hold up with blood work, I got my epidural at 12:55. At this point, I went from a 5 to 10 in 7 mins. Suddenly, doc says “okay, ready to have a baby in 4 minutes?” I could not believe it.

Sure enough …

I was blown away by how fast it all went. And so thankful I went with my gut this morning and came in before I was actually in labor.

Tonight, my mom and sister came up with Cohen, too, and he got to meet his “baby mistah” for the first time. I’ll get those pics and video up next.

Thanks to everyone, though, that called and texted and wrote on our Facebook pages today. We really appreciate it. And couldn’t be happier.

Here’s a little video of Cohen decorating some eggs with Daddy!

Saturday morning we participated in the Morris Lions Club Easter Egg Hunt at Goold Park.  Even though Cohen only got a whopping 3 eggs, yep, 3, it was a great time.  The weather is absolutely gorgeous today, and it was fun to see how excited he was to pick up an egg when we got to it.  I’ll admit, I had to box out a few kids/parents to square us off to an egg, but we were able to get a few.  It was absolute chaos, and really, because we hadn’t done this before, we didn’t have a good strategy.  We’ll know better for next year!

Cohen was even able to pose for a picture with the Easter Bunny, which he thought was hilarious.  I wish we had video of that because he just couldn’t stop laughing!  It was adorable.  He could have sat with that Bunny all day, and not even cared for a second about the egg hunt.

Remember what he looked like last year with the Bunny?!  He’s such a big boy now!

We were able to snap a few pictures before the hunt began, too, but Cohen was really just focused on his strategy, and didn’t really want much to do with us!

Here’s the whole 1:30 Egg Hunt – caught on camera by Tim!  ha.  As you can tell, it was chaotic and over before you even really realized it started!

After that excitement was over, we hung around, snapped a few more pics, and chatted with friends. Grandma was even able to take Cohen on a little walk and snag a few more eggs from one of the Lions!

We have had a great Easter weekend so far. This morning we went to church and are headed to brunch soon. Hopefully we will be able to get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather today, too!

We hope everyone has a wonderful Easter!

xo,

Madison

First – a day at the park last month!

& a couple weeks ago Cohen & I went with Brinlee & Emily to the Dupage Children’s Museum in Naperville.  It was so much fun.  Even more fun than I anticipated.  I can’t wait to take him back again.

The water feature was definitely Cohen’s favorite part of the museum trip!  It was so fun.

I’ll leave you with a few pictures from last week of the goofiest kid ever.  Not sure what he was thinking, but I was in the kitchen and walked in to check on him, and found him like this signing “milk.”  He always keeps me on my toes, that’s for sure.

xo,

Madison

Anyways, we got new carpet.  Thanks to Tim’s wonderful parents.  The other stuff just wasn’t cutting the mustard, or the rug, or anything else you cut.  In the front room, we had the burgundy carpet, that had some stain/moisture issues, where no matter how often I shampooed, and how vigorously, I couldn’t get the smell out. In fact, it was getting worse.  And in the family room, we had the white berber, which because it was white, had worn down – a lot – over time.  So luckily, they were the greatest in-laws/parents/landlords ever and agreed to change things up for us.  It has been the squishiest week ever spent in this house.  Disclaimer:: I’m a huge germaphobe.  Like timeliness, cleanliness is insanely important to me.  I have a hard time with carpet, because I’m so weirded out that I feel like it always needs to be replaced in between “tenants.”  Because there were 2 other families living in the house between Tim’s parents and us – I always felt like I couldn’t get their dirt out – so I’m soooo eternally grateful for the new carpet.  For my sake (because I’m crazy, as previously mentioned) and for Cohen’s sake because he loves to play on the floor – and eat stuff off the floor!  And also for Moe’s sake, because he spends so much time on the floor.  So all around we love the new carpet.

So how about some photos?!  It all started last Sunday when we ripped up the carpet…well first we emptied the two rooms – into the dining room – and partially our bedroom.  That was fun.  Thanks again to Tim for his big, strong muscles there!

But first, I must show some good ol’ fashioned Cohen photos.  Tim busted out this large roll of thick backdrop paper that he doesn’t need anymore, and we let Cohen go to town with crayons.  So cute and boy is this kid smart!  Although Tim and I did enjoy some coloring too!

Ok, now to clearing out the rooms and prepping for the install.  Cohen went down for his morning nap and we got to work.  Finally, right?! Here’s the emptied out rooms – before the vacuum went through them.  Ick – or as Cohen says Gick Gick.

And here’s all our stuff in the dining room!

At this point, the rooms were cleared and ready for carpet removal.  And Cohen was awake.  So I took Cohen and we went to Grandma Michele’s, then Menards and then Grandpa Steve’s before needing another nap (him, not me).  We got home to see this…  (We went to Menards to get BIN by Zinsser Shellac-Based primer.  This was to cover the stains on the subfloor.  It prevents odors from seeping back up or spreading.  We wanted to guarantee we wouldn’t have any more issues with smelliness, etc.)  Tim had applied this in the front room while we were gone because it is strong smelling and something we wanted to avoid Cohen inhaling.

Then Tim finished removing the pad and all 1800ish staples from the floor and I put the primer down in the family room. I figured it was time I chip in on this process, since I had been on Cohen duty all day and he was sleeping…until I started…at which point he woke up.

After we got Cohen up we headed to my mom’s for the evening.  We didn’t want to be around 1-the shellac smell or 2-the tack strips around the perimeters of the room.  We stayed there until it was time to get Cohen to bed.  Next morning, carpet install!  And literally, I could barely sleep.  I was so excited.  It was like a kid at Christmas … or me at Christmas, now.  Whatever.

The installers got to the house at about 8:15 and they got right to work.  Cohen and I hung out in the bedroom that morning.  Had breakfast, played toys, peeked at the installers, watched Finding Nemo.  Regular Monday stuff…except in the master bedroom, and the peeking at installers, of course.

Oh and here’s a glimpse to the spill over of stuff into our room…

& a peek at the installation progress… We went with the upgraded 8# pad with the StainMaster moisture barrier, by the way.  And the carpet is MoHawk Trixecta frieze in Croissant.

Then after a little more playtime under our belts, we came out for another sneak peek and saw the carpet was starting to go down!! But yes, I must say I was slightly annoyed they didn’t have booties on those shoes…and they also didn’t refrain from taking a super long – like 25 minutes long – smoke break (in the rain) during the install – and then came back inside sans booties again.  Oh well.  Always the germaphobe/dirt police, I guess.

And now for some “after” but “before” photos…(after install, before furniture)

Thanks to my Dad and Steve Turk for coming over after the installation to help me (but by help, I mean do) load the furniture back into the rooms.  I am sure Tim was also super appreciative he didn’t have to do that part when he got home from work!

We also decided that we’d rearrange the front room/living room furniture to basically be on the exact opposite wall.  This opened up a lot more room for Cohen’s toys and really just the furniture in general.  I am really happy with this arrangement for now – we just need some curtains on the windows, though because it is such a fish bowl right now!

Super cute, too, was Cohen’s reaction to the new carpet.  I sometimes forget just how observant this little person is.  But boy, he couldn’t believe how great it was.  He actually kept squatting down and rubbing his hands back and forth over it, like he couldn’t believe just how cushy it was!  It was too cute!  And he was so in shock with the new carpet, that he just kept pointing to our picture and saying “dada dada dada.”

With our new carpet, too, it’s of course inspired us me  to do some other updates and additions.  I made some new artwork yesterday, and we hung that picture up that you see Cohen playing with above in the living room and have a new frame above the mantle in the family room (with no art/pic in it yet, but still it’s there and ready, thanks to my super awesome Goodwill find!).  So, yes, this week with the new carpet has been awesome and while I love how soft and comfy it is, I also love being able to play in the living room again.  It’s more open because we have a much different layout and it’s awesome to be able to keep Cohen’s toys in there and keep the space open in the family room.  It’s really been so great!  Oh, and I gotta say, the carpet itself is so pretty!

Not too shabby, right?!  :)

xo,

Madison

I read a few blogs about redoing kitchen tables, and the like and I decided I would take this on!  I couldn’t wait.  I decided I was going to sand down and stain the top the same color that we did our cabinets a few years ago.  But…I would saturate the wood much more, so it would be darker and still stand out in the kitchen.  I chose to paint the base white, and then because I’m crazy I thought I’d paint the chairs sun yellow.  Yep, you’re probably having the same reaction everyone else did when I told them I was painting the chairs yellow.  Silence.  On the line.  In person.  However I told someone…it was silent, and usually followed by an unsure “cool” or “fun.” haha.  I wasn’t scared though.  I wanted something that would stand out against the turquoise wall and complement the artwork on the back wall.  And I didn’t want green, because I’ve already accented a lot with that.  And white would just be too drab.  I wanted fun.  And sun yellow was fun.

I started by having Tim get the table outside for me.  It was too big for me to move by myself, so this project was done on a Saturday/Sunday when I had my super strong husband around to help with the heavy lifting!  I started by using some super heavy grit sandpaper on the top and sides.  I intentionally wore down some areas more than others.  I wanted to make sure that the stain went on darker in some spots – keep it “vintage” looking.  (And nevermind the light fixtures in some of the pic backgrounds – we were also in the process of spraying those to be new looking again – along with our mailbox.)

I wiped down the top and sides with wet paper towel first and then a tack cloth before staining – just to be extra sure it was dust free.  

Next up I primed the base. I made sure to do a few coats of this so that the paint would adhere easily and get great coverage. Side note: I did not sand the base first.  Which I am happy about because it would have been nuts to try and get in all those nooks and crannies.  It worked out fine though just priming!

I used the Rustoleum Painter’s Touch Ultra Cover Primer 2x Coverage in White.  

Now it was time to stain the top.  I used a foam brush, let it sink in a minute and then wiped with paper towel.  In retrospect, I do wish I would have gotten on my cloths I had used to stain the cabinets, because it is neither eco-friendly or wallet-friendly to use paper towel!  You can see in the picture how the stain absorbed differently in certain areas.  This was the look I was going for but if you wanted it to accept it more evenly, you’d have to make sure to do a very even sanding.  Which can definitely be more difficult.

Then it was time to spray the base.  We had moved in the garage, because of course, the storm clouds rolled in and the wind picked up big time – before raining! On my reno parade! I did 2 coats of gloss white.  Also by Rustoleum.  Went on super easy because of the primer and looked great.  The gloss adds such a nice sheen to it!

In between base coats, I poly-ed the top.  It was non stop, let me tell you!  With the poly, I made sure to sand in between coats, using…you guessed it – in between coat sandpaper.  It was about 220-250 grit, somewhere in there.  I love the way the poly brings out the color even more.  Oh and speaking of that, for stain I used the Minwax Dark Walnut Finish.

Then it was time for the chairs.  I started by priming these the same as I did the table base.  These took a lot of primer because of all the spindles and crevices…so much primer I had to do a mid-project Menards run – in my painting clothes, with paint on my legs, hands, face, hair and a very disgusting ponytail as my ‘do.  I’m sure I looked real special.  But I was on a mission.

One coat was certainly not enough.  Two was better.  But it came out splotchy, so three light and airy mists was the best application.

Then it came time for this bad boy’s special appearance.

I held my breath and let ‘er rip!  And boy did it look magical.  A couple coats later, I had two sunny and gorgeous chairs!

My supervisor approved.  But don’t worry, he was not around while any fumes were being inhaled.  He just came for a quick looksy.

We ended up letting the table and chairs sit outside until Monday evening when the muscles got home from work.  I wanted to make sure they had ample time to cure and stuff before being abused by the fam.  Even after moving them inside, though, I have found that I want to give the chairs one more coat of paint and then a clear gloss coat for added protection, and want to do one more sanding of the table top and a few more coats of poly.  However, until I can get a minute to spend out there again — table and chair-less — it’s a great improvement from where we started.  What do you think??

I think it looks great against the blue wall, crisp white curtains and accents!

Never mind the scariness in the background here…pantry open, and mess of toys, too…EEK!

Lastly, got some early morning pictures of the whole look.  So pretty, and sun-shiney!  Makes me happy just looking at it!

So there ya have it – our little table makeover!  I’m super excited with how it turned out! It looks like a brand new table and really breathes new life into the whole kitchen!

Coming up:: NEW CARPET! )))

xoxo,

Madison

Hope you enjoy!

xo,

Madison

xoxo,

Madison

We had some crazy “comfortable” weather in the beginning of January – it was the perfect conditions to take down the outdoor Christmas decorations.  And rather than Tim go it alone, as usual, Cohen and I decided we’d play outside and help Daddy!  He loved being able to play in his Cozy Coupe in the driveway.  He’d only ever driven it around the house and down the hallways!

So suave with the arm out the window, right?!

There was some tricycle building going on, as well.  Cohen got this from his Grandma Cindy & Grandpa Ken for Christmas, and he had fun helping  making it harder for Tim.  So eventually we had to go into hiding so Tim could finish quicker and with less of a choking hazard hanging around! Cohen is very happy with the finished product and loves riding it like a big boy, but also flipping it over and working on the tires (which just means spinning them while mumbling under his breath … not unlike most guys working on cars – aside from actual mechanics that is).

I was even able to force my family to take a nice picture on the hearth together.  Not unlike last year – minus the water retention, sleep deprivation and Christmas decor! This was something I talked and talked and talked about all while the Christmas decorations were out, however, somehow we never got it done.  And then finally, I laid my foot down, made everyone get dressed and forced them with every inch of my being to look happy and smile pretty!  And low and behold, we got some great shots!  It’s great to see how much we’ve grown (or in my case, shrunk, hallelujah) in a year!

And because I’m all about keeping it real – let me just show you what it took to get this…

The tripod was perched very delicately on the back of the couch and the wall…smart, right? That kitchen chair is there because Tim would peek in the viewfinder, make sure we were all set, click “go” on the timer, then jump down, run over and sit all before we said CHEEEEEESE!!  So, as you can imagine, we are very lucky to have as many “good” shots as we do!

Closer to the end of the month we even got some snow action in there!  Cohen had never actually played in the snow, so we decided to break in the snowpants his Great Grandma Barb & Great Grandpa Orlin got him for his birthday.  He didn’t quite fit in the pants yet, but we were able to roll them.  They also got him a matching jacket, but that was definitely still a little big.  We are actually really happy about that, since we know he’ll do lots more playing in the snow next year – assuming we get any…

I seriously don’t think he could be any cuter all bundled up!

We thought it’d be fun to pull him around in the sled…he thought it’d be fun to lay down and relax a little I guess.  Tim and I actually laughed really hard pulling him around because he just laid there.  Too funny!

We even stopped for a little family picture…which was not easy to get given the fact that Cohen weighed about 300 pounds, we were standing in a couple inches of snow and his snow pants were slippery!

Unfortunately, when he decided he was done…he went to a stage 5 meltdown pretty quickly and this was how the experience ended; however, within a few minutes of getting the snow clothes off he was ok!  PHEW! Hopefully some day he’ll be able to talk about that in therapy without crying…

The month ended with a little finger painting for Grandma Michele’s birthday…

The last few days in January were spent in beautiful California.  Hopefully we’ll share a little more extensively about that trip very soon.  It was such a whirlwind January, which doesn’t even include the normal day-to-day craziness, but it was a good one.  Now, thankfully, we are almost through the shortest – but feels like the longest – month of the year, and hopefully it’ll start to warm up so we can do more outside playing! I can’t wait to take Cohen out and let him explore more in the yard.  He’s sure to love it!

I’m also looking forward to work on some projects for the house.  It’s been a minute, and it’s driving me crazy.  With the weather the way it is, I’m anxious to get some sanding, painting, staining done, but want to wait until I can spend more than a few minutes in the garage at a time.  On the agenda, kitchen table/chairs update, foyer table redo, fix up a garage sale chair and side table (which I snagged for $20 combined).  Now I just need to pull out the DIY clothes and get to work…once it’s warmer than 33* and not rain-snowing…shouldn’t be long now!

Thanks, as always, for stopping by!

xo,
Madison

One of the best parts was seeing the beluga whales in the underwater viewing area.  They would swim right up to the window and Cohen got such a kick out of that !

We also got to see the Fantasea Water Show – featuring the dolphins, penguins…and Santa!  It was cute and luckily Cohen made it through sitting “still” for that, which made us happy.  Granted we shoved his face with cheerios, and even his pacifier, once or twice, just so he didn’t try to run away…which would mean falling down cement steps!  EEK!

After leaving Chicago, we stopped in the suburbs to eat at Red Lobster. Have I ever mentioned what a rock star our kid is when it comes to eating out?  Not only had he been in the car for a large portion of the day, at the Shedd and now in a restaurant, he was happy as a clam.  He is so darn adaptable!  He also ate lots of chicken strips from his kids meal, which made us happy because he isn’t the best when it comes to “big people” food.  He’s getting there, but it’s definitely baby steps.

So once again, another post chock full on Cohen-y goodness.  And hey, we are getting closer to present day!  I will get there eventually!  In other news…where did the first month and half of this year go?  Wasn’t it just New Year’s Eve?  It’s nuts….can’t wait for Spring though.  I’m happy February is going by quickly, because to me, it’s the least productive or necessary month ever!

Thanks for checking in!

Cheers!

Madison