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Saturday, February 20, 2016

To Violet, on her 5th birthday:

Violet, you're FIVE!

Violet's 5th Birthday

Let's talk about that for a minute.
I remember holding you in the hospital, five so-short years ago, and you would lift your head up and look around. At the time, I thought, "What the heck is with this baby? Should newborns do that?"
But now, I look back and think, "Yep. That's our Violet."
{And you were in there 2 weeks & 2 days longer than most babies.}
{No, I've forgiven you, but I'm never letting that go.}
{34 hours of labor too.}

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You carried on as such. You slept through the night from birth. When you were 6 months old, I wrote this post about you and your shoplifting and steak-eating habits. You crawled at 7 months and walked {without holding onto anything} at 8.5 months.

Violet's 5th Birthday

When you were a toddler, I worried you would be a bully and a bruiser.
To be fair, you did once take a Sharpie to my sofa and you pulled chunk of your sister's hair out.
You had a reputation, girl.
You were never really, truly a baby.
And you've never taken crap from anyone either.
From boys on the playground, to the man at the grocery store who teased you.
You were never one to quietly endure.

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From 0 to about 5 months old, you screamed bloody murder every single time we put you in the car seat. Your father and I had no choice but to:
a) not leave the house, or
b) one of us drive while the other sat in the back with you and held your hand

Violet's 5th Birthday

It wasn't because you were scared or hurt.
It was because you hated not being able to move and get into things.
Like my makeup, which you have always envied.

Violet's 5th Birthday

The fact is, you are not the bruiser I thought you'd be.
You are a princess-loving fairy tale girl.
You love pink.
You love ballet.
You love having your makeup done.

Violet's 5th Birthday

You are a romantic, like your mother.

Violet's 5th Birthday

I really haven't identified a part of you that is like your father yet.
But someday, as you continue to grow up, it will come out of the woodwork and I will admire you for it.
{Don't worry, I can already tell you don't have your father's nose.}

Violet's 5th Birthday

You are not my favorite child.
I don't have a favorite child.

Violet's 5th Birthday

But you and I do connect in a certain way.
We always have.

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I hate that you are so hard on yourself.
I hate that you are so easily discouraged.
I hate the self-pity you are prone to when things don't go your way.
{You've got to learn to cope with that, dear. Life is full of it.}
I hate that you compare yourself to your sister
and are let down when you can't do the things she can do.
Especially because, despite being 2 1/2 years behind her, you have always been ahead of your age.
And you're the only one who cannot see that.

Violet's 5th Birthday

But I love that strawberry blonde hair of yours.
Most people do.

Violet's 5th Birthday

I love that you notice your friends, and how they're feeling.
Always willing to offer a hug and a smile, my Violet.

Violet's 5th Birthday

When it is time to make dinner, clean up, or fold laundry, you're always the first and only
of my children to offer to help, and happily too.

Violet's 5th Birthday

You are silly at heart, and you have the groundwork for a brilliant sense of humor.

Violet's 5th Birthday

You compliment people as often as you can,
because you care about how others feel about themselves and you.

Violet's 5th Birthday

You come up with the most creative excuses ever,
for when you're in trouble and need to change the subject. {Even though we're on to you.}

Violet's 5th Birthday

You are sweet.

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You are loved.

Violet's 5th Birthday

We're excited to see what you do with your life.
I hope you keep up the hard work at ballet class,
and that you go easier on yourself when you fail at something.
But don't give up, keep trying.
That's when you really start to shine.

Violet's 5th Birthday

There are a lot of people in your life,
like Grandma Jan,
like Papa,
like Auntie Brittany,
like Aya & Indy,
like Grandma & Grandpa Sander,
like Aunt Rachel & Aunt Katie,
like Eisley,
like Mommy & Daddy,
and like God,

who love you.
Just the way you are.

Violet's 5th Birthday

We were here for you for the last half-decade.

Violet's 5th Birthday

...and we will be here for the next half-decade...

Violet's 5th Birthday

cheering you on, Little Red!

Violet's 5th Birthday

So Happy 5th Birthday, Princess!

Violet's 5th Birthday


Love you always,
Mom

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Our Bathroom Remodel - Before & After!

It's finished!
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We did it! 

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All our hard work and Home Depot trips paid off! 
There were a few Lowe's stops along the way too. 

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The before pictures really make me cringe now. 

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But the after pictures...

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It all came together quite prettily, we think. 

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I am so glad to be rid of all the old fixtures. 
Thank you broken galvanized pipe!!

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The new sink is, yes, IKEA. The faucet from Amazon {IKEA only makes one-hole sinks and we didn't like any of the faucets they carry.}
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The only thing I miss about the pink toilet is its 5 gallon flushing power. 
But I'm sure we'll be much happier with our new water bill.

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The new potty-training throne:

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There is nothing I will miss about the old bathtub. Or bathtubs

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Because... 
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It was all worth it just to get rid of this eye sore of a window.

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There is nothing quite as delightful as replacing ^THAT^ with a fresh new window. 

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I am so proud of us. Mostly just Justin. But we did nearly all of the work ourselves. Justin, actually, did the vast majority of it. Saved thousands. They say the average bathroom remodel is $16,000! We spent no where near that. 
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Justin's mom was nice enough to lend us her tiling skills. 
And some tools. 

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Then, the day the bathtub arrived was a turning point. 
For weeks the room had been an unusable mess. 

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He came home from his lunch break just to unbox the tub with me and attach the feet. 

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We were getting so close to being done, we couldn't wait!

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We took our time to do it right, above you can see the walls are white. We didn't paint them, but we did a wallpaper liner before the final wallpaper. BEST DECISION EVER. I'll tell you why someday. 

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Speaking of the wallpaper!
I was super intimidated. I had never wallpapered before. 
But it went on just beautifully, without a hitch!
{Thinking of wallpapering? I have tips coming in a post sometime soon!}

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The wallpaper was one of the last things to go up. It took forever to get here from the Netherlands. 
It is from Eijffinger and designed by Pip Studio. {See more of their amazing wallpaper on my wallpaper Pinterest board!} 
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After the wallpaper went up, I was sincerely puzzled at what to do about window treatment. I wanted to match the wallpaper, obvs, but didn't want a busy pattern, but didn't want a plain one-color either. 
So I pulled the colors from the flower cameo and made a ruffly ombre curtain! No pattern or anything. Turned out alright, yeah?

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On the beadboard wall above the tub, I hung those Disneyland handcut silhouettes we got, remember those?
{Frames from Hobby Lobby.}

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We're in love with the bathtub. 
We purchased it from VintageTub.com
It is not cast iron because I worry about falling through the floor.
I mean seriously, they can weigh 400-600 pounds, then fill it with water, then put people in it.
We briefly entertained the idea of bringing in a structural engineer to make sure our floor could handle the weight. But finally we agreed upon the newer material tubs. And I feel much safer in it!
{My imagination!}
It's some newer material, acrylic cement or something like that. 
Good thing, because the two of us were able to get it installed and Justin hooked it up to plumbing and it all went swell. 

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There is one piece of trim missing, because Justin's mom took it home to cut properly as it goes around a light switch, and couple caulk touch ups we need to do. But I couldn't wait any longer to share the before & after! I'm not the blogging perfectionist I once was. 

So now onto some fun details...
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New light fixtures, just $15/ea from IKEA. 
I really like the classic globe design, I think it's timeless. 

The soap dispenser is from Target and reminds me of an old fashioned seltzer bottle. 
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Here's an upclose of the wallpaper print.

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For hardware, we chose a white and chrome set from Home Depot.

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This is the only wall decor up, so far!

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Also from VintageTub.com, a telephone.

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I mean shower nozzle.
As you can see, we chose not to do a standing shower set up.
We could always add that later, but we have two other showers in the house, so why?
Also, I much prefer baths but when I want to wash my hair I end up taking a bath then standing up and finishing with a shower to wash my hair. So I sort of love that now I can wash my hair {and more important, the kids yogurt-crusted hair!} while in the bath!

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Justin said, "We'll have to go pick out a new medicine cabinet." And I replied, "No. The original stays."
So he refinished it and we put on a new knob.
I feel good about this decision to keep an original part of the bathroom.
Plus, I love the round mirror on the inside.

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It's the details that make the room!
It was really fun getting to shop and pick out all the little things to fit your style just right.

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Now here's a quirky detail that was all Sander's doing.
We decided to replace the door because why leave an ugly old hollow door when you completely remodel top to bottom? But Sander has always said how he hates how narrow the old bathroom doorway is. So he sought out hinges like the kind you'd use in handicapped homes, so that the door opens all the way to the adjacent wall instead of sticking out in the doorway path.

This would never have even occurred to me to do. He's so left-brained.
Also, now we can make friends with people in wheelchairs and have them over for dinner.

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Including this picture because you might be able to see the line where the old wall used to come to. No?
Justin insisted on a 66" tub. I said, let's play it safe and just order the 60". He said, "No you height-lacking midget! If I'm doing all this work, I'd better be able to stretch out in a tub when I'm done with it! We can't all be 5'4" like you, shawty!" And so I was like, "Well... it'd better fit." So he moved the wall about 8 inches and there is about 1/2" inch of space on each side of the tub. CLOSE. CALL. SANDER.

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I know, I know, I said, "I won't post all the pics." Now here I am posting all the pics.

Paxton's view from the hallway:

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And finally:

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I just love it so much!!!

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Why yes, we have been enjoying the new tub.

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We've been showering our kids, but there's nothing like a bath for a little one.
I mean it, the water was dirty after that first bath.

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Thanks for letting me show our new dream bath!

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Once more, for old time's sake:

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Cheers,
Heather & Justin