The Office (No, not the series, the actual office)

I've been threatening to post pictures of our updates on the house forever. I've been keeping a careful picture account of all of it. But I haven't been good at keeping them organized. So, going through the pictures was a little intimidating. But here we are. The first room that we finished.

The original office:

This is how it originally looked. Unfortunately, this is the only picture I took of it before we tore into it. So, you can't see the fact that the ceiling is coming off and peeling away. But it was. That was something I had to fix. Love that striped carpet.

And then I did this to it:

Fixed the ceiling and painted it. Painted the baseboard. New carpet. Ripped down the awful shelves. Re-textured the ceiling (before paint). Repaired and textured the walls. Then we went with a nice smoky green to finish the product.

Then we added furniture:



And now we have a lovely office that I sometimes struggle to keep clean. It happens to be the room that we like to pile things in. But at least the ceiling isn't falling off. Keep in mind, I did this back in November. Cormac was under a month old. Ammon was working on the bathroom, so this project was entirely done by me. Only a month (and less) after having a baby. Am I proud? Well, I'd be lying if I said no. I like to think that those Garrison genes I have make me tough, and I like to think things like this prove it. Toot toot (that's the sound of my own horn).

P.S. No, the bathroom is not done. Ammon and I like to start projects. We struggle to finish them. We have given up on the bathroom in favor of the massive kitchen re-do that we are currently in the middle of (shudder...more on that later).

Half of a Year

Attacking the bear. See how mischievous he is.

Okay Mom, I'll do the picture face.

I cannot believe it has been 6 months since I was miserable in the hospital thinking that I would probably die. But as of yesterday, we officially have a 6 month old. I didn't realize how in denial I was about all of this until I wrote out the sign to take Cormac's sixth month picture. I got everything set up and ready to go. Then I looked at the sign I had written. It read "Four Months Old." Uh...

Well, despite my brain dead powers, our little man is anything but brain dead. Cormac is growing and changing every day. He is so much fun. Here are a few things about Cormac:

~He LOVES!! to spit. All the time. Well, you know, you saw the previous post.

~He loves to hear his own voice. He sings, hums, yells, babbles, yells, lectures, yells, talks, yells, and occasionally screams. We love to hear his voice too.

~He's teething, blah.

~Cormac loves to be around people. He likes to laugh and giggle, but he makes you work for it.

~He has the most amazing laugh.

~He is once again rejecting the binkie. This time I'm ready for that though and I'm okay with it.

~Still not sleeping through the night.

~We sort of started solids, but then we backed off. So, he's not on solids yet, but his weight is slowing down, so here we go.

~He is one TALL boy at 28 inches. He is only 18 lbs now (but have you seen his dad? I think tall and skinny might be in the forecast for this one).

~He enjoys playing and eating everything he can get his hands on. Especially if it is in Mommy's hands.

~He is super curious. He loves to go places and see what is going on. He even enjoys watching Sandy and Charlie play.

~He rolls all over the place, can sit on his own for a while (until he gets too excited and shoots himself backward), and is closer to crawling than I am ready for.

~Cormac is always, always moving. He loves to bounce, roll, scoot, squirm, anything really, as long as he's in motion.

~He is such a handsome boy. Here, judge for yourself:

And we adore him. Ammon and I are so happy to have him in our family. It has been a crazy, fast, and fun 6 months. Everyone was right, it goes by too fast. But I am loving every minute. Happy half birthday, Cormac.

He's communicating?

We're so proud.

Spring

I spotted our first few budding flowers on our tree just a few days ago. Ahhh. Spring is coming. Only one more snow storm to go. Well, in theory. You never do know around here. But what a wonderful way to remember the resurrection. Just looking at this tree budding and coming to life after a long winter sleep makes me thankful to know that we too can and will be resurrected thanks to our Savior, Jesus Christ.

This Easter was not my favorite I can remember. To me, being with family is the most important part of Easter. But alas, duty called my dear husband off on a journey. So, we had Easter morning with a nice breakfast and sent Ammon on his way. Cormac and I did spend the day with my aunts, uncle, and cousins, so it was still a nice day. We just missed our Ammon.
Cormac and I are lonesome without Ammon. He has gone back to the birthplace of his son, Helena, Montana, to see a few last minute details finished up on the project that kept us there all summer. When he returns from this journey Ammon will be taking a new job at a software company. We are really excited that this job appears to be a lot more stable than anything in the construction industry right now. Plus the job is in Orem, thus he can now get to work in 5 mintues rather than the 15 or more that he has previously had. I am thrilled that he will be so close and that he will not have to travel all over the country.
Cormac had no clue what was going on Easter morning. But he loves his duck and his sippy cups that the Easter Bunny brought. I haven't actually put anything in the sippy cups for him to sip yet. But he knows how to use them and what they are for and feels like a big boy when he uses them. The other day I was feeding him with a bottle and he wouldn't take it from me. He finally grabbed it and proceeded to feed himself. My little baby is growing up.

Well, since my husband is abroad, my mother is coming to stay with us so we won't be as lonley. Cormac is excited to have Grammy Garrison here. I am too. But I have a room to paint before our guest arrives. I had better get it in gear. Happy Easter and Welcome Spring.