Basement Pre-Carpet and Post-Carpet...

The last few weeks were very busy and very stressful!  I would recommend if you are going to put a deadline on finishing a basement never to take a month and a half break for the holidays during the 6 months you have to finish it in!  We were able to make it livable for Larkyn's party, but it took a LOT of late nights and very work filled weekends with little rest or time for play! Here is a tour of the basement before carpet, after carpet and then with furniture...

Opening the door on the main level and walking down the first flight of steps... 

2nd flight down to the basement...



 

Looking into the living room from the bottom of the stairs...

Living room...

Living room (other view)...

The bedroom...

Bedroom (other view)...

And...the almost finished product...

(Shea got a couple really nice Packer frames and he was trying them out for space and size.  Not sure where they will go at this point!)

Larkyn wanted to welcome you to the bathroom...

Larkyn's play area...

The entertainment center is still to come...

(Actually because I'm writing this on April 16th and I'm posting it as March 7th, I will let you in on a little secret.  The entertainment center was put in yesterday and looks absolutely fabulous!  You'll just have to wait and see it when I post that in a couple months:))

Miss Chievous...

Larkyn loves getting into the pantry. Our pantry does not have a lock, but now has three empty bottom shelves.  This was established after she took out every single Ziplock baggie at least 10 times!
You think we would learn after the second time....

Larkyn also loves the Tupperware cupboard!  She will take out every single one of her dishes and lay them out on the floor.  She has also taken a liking to the pitchers in the cupboard.  Not sure if that is a good thing???:) Larkyn enjoys filling them up with her letters from the Fridge Phonics and taking them out again.

Larkyn has also mastered climbing on top of the dishwasher door to "help".  

Larkyn enjoyed playing in the basement when we finally got carpet.  She loved checking out our new faucet and sink.  We ended up taking this sink back though because it didn't quite fit. 

Tiling the bathroom Part 2...

Shea decided to work on the shower the next weekend and began tiling it Saturday morning.  I was downstairs painting the closet doors white when I heard shouts and frustrations coming from the bathroom.  I walked in the bathroom to find Shea sitting there with one tile on well, one tile on crooked, his hands somewhat dirty, thin set on the shower floor and the level board falling off!  He was having a minor (okay, maybe a major) meltdown about hanging the tile.  I told him to be done and I was taking over.  (I was kind of kidding at first, but I didn't really have a choice! And just a side note...I've never tiled before or used a wet saw.)  Luckily I'm a quick learner and was very determined to finish it.  Our awesome neighbor Scott K. came over to help for a few hours.  He helped measure, cut and hang the tile.  He gave me a good start and I gained more confidence going into the night.  After Larkyn went to bed, Shea mustered up the courage to help out again:) Ha, no actually he was a great help with measuring and cutting the tile.  I was able to hang it and do the "dirty work".  On Sunday, I was on my own--cutting, measuring and hanging, and put the finishing touches on the tile work in the bathroom.  I'm no professional, but it looks pretty darn good! 

I don't know how much tiling we will do in the future, but it was a good learning experience for all involved!

I began putting the tile around for trim...

I think the hardest part was getting the level boards in under the first row of tiles.  It took us forever to get them screwed in and to stay!

The bathroom view from the shower.  This view also shows the first sink we had.  However it didn't quite fit so we made a switcharoo. 

 

Tiling the bathroom Part 1...

Shea and Mike began the tiling project in the basement bathroom on Saturday morning.  By late Saturday afternoon the floor of the shower was complete!

They had to make quite a few cuts and piece the mosaic stones together.

Starting to come together...

Mike took his turn on the saw...

On Sunday Chris came over to help tile the bathroom floor. 

The guys finished tiling on Sunday and I grouted the tile on Monday.  It is looking better each day!

Granny Janny and Grandpa Charlie visit...

Janny and Charlie came to visit and help out with Larkyn as we worked on more of the basement. We did a lot of painting and Shea hung the cement board (Durock) in the shower. They came Friday night and ended up leaving after dinner on Saturday due to ANOTHER snow storm on the way. Larkyn enjoyed seeing her grandparents again and spending some time with them. Larkyn warmed up come Saturday morning and loved on Granny Janny!

Charlie, Janny and Larkyn read Larkyn, Larkyn Who Do You See?

Larkyn wanted to be by Mommy and Daddy so Janny brought her downstairs for awhile to be part of the action.

She enjoyed dancing on the step ladder and watching Mama paint.

I cut out around the ceilings and corners. Don't look too closely when you come to visit...I'm not as good as Shea!

Shea did a great job hanging the Durock.

Shea also did the cutting out in the stairwell.

After a long day of work in the basement we went for dinner at Bubba Gump's (Charlie's favorite). We didn't get a table until closer to 7:30...past Larkyn's bedtime...YIKES! She was very tired because she didn't take an afternoon nap and it turns out she wasn't feeling well either. She felt warm just before dinner and just wanted to snuggle and lay on our shoulder all night. Larkyn barely ate and slept through most of dinner.

When we got home we took her temperature and she had a temp of 103. YIKES! She had a fever for a few days and was such a lover! She rarely sits still for more than a second so it was completely out of the norm for her. Larkyn ended up cutting 2 more teeth in the next week. Whether or not that was connected to the fever, I don't know???

11 months...

We have seen so much growth in Larkyn over the past month. She has become much more vocal and really tells us (tries to anyway) what she wants and when she wants it, which is usually right then and there! Larkyn has also perfected a lip/tongue smacking sound. It is almost like a cluck of the tongue but much louder and more dramatic! Larkyn's biggest development in the past month has been walking. She went from pulling herself up on things to quickly cruising. Larkyn also began standing on her own towards the end of January. From there she started to show signs of wanting to move forward but slowly just collapsing to the floor. She officially took 3 steps on her own on February 8th and gradually became more confident.

Funny story from her 11 month: Larkyn LOVES the remote and will play with it any chance she gets. Every night before she goes to bed we sit down in the recliner in the living room and she drinks milk and begins to wind down. She will usually try to climb up on the end table and reach for whatever she can get her hands on. That night she obviously got the remote without us knowing because when we went to get her in the morning we found it zipped up in the bottom of her sleep sack. The craziest part about it is Shea and I sat down in the living room that night for a couple hours and never once reached for the remote to turn on the TV! Also looking back, Larkyn woke up during the middle of the night crying and I went in to rock with her a bit and put her back down to sleep. Poor thing was lugging the remote around with her...no wonder why she was so uncomfortable!

Moral(s) of the story: Don't put anything on top of the end table! Always check the sleep sack for extra gadgets!

Larkyn's highlights and favorites from this month include:

• First Super Bowl--Go PACKERS!!!
• Standing by herself
• First Steps
• First Valentine's Day
• Finally Saying "Mama"
• Saying "Breally" (her cousin). It sounded more like "Breeyee"
• Perfecting the "Raji" dance (Hula)
• LOVES to take her socks off and be barefoot!
• Babble talk which sounds a lot like Trixie in the book Knuffle Bunny
• Larkyn can point to her nose-Each person in our house has a different sound that our nose makes. Larkyn's beeps, Daddy's honks, and Mama's moos!
• Moved to a big girl carseat (still rear facing)

Can't forget the cell phones...Larkyn LOVES the phone and will put it up by her ear and say "Hiiii" in a really high pitched voice:)

"Hmm...11 months...what's this?"

"Yah I took the sign down. What are you gonna do about it?"

"Okay fine, 3 more!"


"Here, I'll hold it up!"

"Are we done yet?"

"Okay, enough of this!"

One of Larkyn's favorite drawers...they now house her books and movies only!

One of Larkyn's favorite foods: Lasagna