Before meets After - and weekend update

OK, so here is before. (You're looking at the junk behind the baby.)


And here is after!




This corner of our living room was previously the junkiest spot in the whole downstairs. It had been maybe years since we had vacuumed back there because of all the junk. Over the last few weeks, I had worked at dejunkifying it little at the time in preparation for Quint's mobility and his eagerness to shove anything in his mouth. Here's a short list of what I found back there: 8 kinds of wire or cords, a sub-woofer, CDs, DVDs, twist ties, fake flowers with lots of yummy parts, glass beads, tins of tobacco, a collection of smoking pipes, random bits of hard plastic (?), rubber bands, random photos, a field guide to whiskey (?), bouzukie instructions, a guitar pick, and dust so thick on the carpet that it looked smooth on the top.

I had hoped to wait until June or July to buy an entertainment center because we could pay cash and not use credit for it. Why on earth I thought my child wouldn't be mobile until 10 months old, I have no idea!

Saturday afternoon, Quint ooched over to what we had been calling our entertainment center. In reality, it was a very tippy coffee table with a skirt on it to hide the mountain of junk we keep underneath. He grabbed the table skirt, and tried to pull himself up on it. He wound up just laying on the floor beneath it, sucking on the skirt, but it was only a matter of seconds before he would realize that he could see all this STUFF under there and go completely nuts. Hmm... so that means we need the entertainment center.... NOW!

Sunday, I went and purchased said item at Target and started to assemble it in the fireplace room. It became clear at step 3 that the instructions were wrong. By that time, it was like 8:30, I had a headache, hadn't eaten supper, and little boy needed to go to bed. Hubby made my supper, applied medicine, and handed me the boy who needed to be nursed. Besides, I had to mentally construct the rest of this thing to figure out how that piece SHOULD be attached (debate rotating it 90 degrees clockwise or 90 degrees counterclockwise.)

Monday morning, it all seemed quite clear and I could move ahead with the project after putting the baby in his piano as close to me as possible. This is the piano.

About the time that Quint was thinking this was no longer a cool arrangement, Hubby got up and took control of him, and cooked us an awesome breakfast! Around mid-morning, the entertainment center was complete! I found two other places where the instructions were wrong, and I only messed it up in one place. But the error doesn't show on the outside, so we're good.

It always cracks me up when these things say you only need a phillips screwdriver and a flathead screwdriver to assemble it! Here's everything we used to assemble it, and modify it so our DVD player would fit inside it: Phillips screwdriver, flathead screwdriver, scissors, hammer, power drill, power screwdriver, power jigsaw, pencil, pot holder and rubber mallet.

During Quint's afternoon nap, we moved the entertainment center into the other living room and switched it out. Which took considerably more thought and logistics than you'd think. But we finally got to vacuum back there and oh how terrifying what that Dyson picked up!

Hubby went and averted some minor Republican crisis via 14 phone calls, and then we went on a walk! It was a beautiful day and we took the more athletic route with the stroller. Halfway through the walk, we went into the little convenience store to cool off and refuel. Quint was asleep and I managed to cut his finger-daggers. They had boiled peanuts for sale! So of course Hubby had to get some. We soon realized that it's really hard to walk and eat boiled peanuts when you're trying to push a stroller and drink a rootbeer. So we parked in the shade and munched down.

Our little boy woke up and was interested in what we were eating. Here son, have a hot goober pea. The first three seemed weird to him, but then he wanted MORE!!! Even so far as chasing the ones that got away all the way down his arm so he could eat them. So we sat on the sidewalk in the shade for probably 20 minutes devouring some goober peas. And singing the song, of course: peas, peas, peas, peas, eatin' goober peas. Then he wanted lots and lots of water. I forgot to bring his cup, so he got some more training in drinking from a standard water bottle. It got his entire front wet, but it was hot out and just water. And he had peanut water all over him which was kind of sticky.

So when we got home from our walk, straight into the swimming pool he went! Papa went and put on his swim trunks so he could sit in the pool with him. We sat in the yard for maybe a half hour playing in the pool and rinsing the peanut juice off Quint. Very fun! We got to play with the floaty boats and letters too. I had bubbles to blow everywhere too!

Papa made us some knockwurst on the grill for supper, too. All the laundry got done. Hubby vacuumed the entire house. All the dishes and bottles got washed. We made it to church. A very nice weekend!

Saturday, Hubby officiated a wedding for some friends of ours and he did great!!! No stuttering, stammering, or odd pauses, and he didn't drop the rings either! A beautiful wedding, a wonderful party at the reception, and (most importantly) our out of town friends got to tell us how cute our son is! It's always nice to go to a wedding where you just know the couple is solid. They've been renovating the fix-er-up-er they bought and have even constructed a bunch of furniture together. As in "the couch came in 4 boxes". All this, and they're still crazy about each other. They're going to do great.