Home Sweet Home

Where on earth have the Walters been anyway?
Didn't you hear the "Yipeeee" heard round the world? We moved!
A couple weeks ago we closed on our house, got our keys, and flagrantly drank champagne off the trunk of our car...we are mortgage holders!
Since that day it has been non-stop work as we haven't worked before.

We have been pulling up carpet, painting, installing wood floor, drywall, trim, lights, outlets, heaters, and waging an epic battle against the funk-nasty that has prevailed in this house for a year.
I tell you it has turned my already small patience with the animal kingdom into full fledged disgust.
It will be years before I can look at a dog without secretly in my heart growling, and more openly narrowing my eyes at it.
Because it is this animal that is the source of all my sweat and woe. PEEEEEE! Everywhere! Every corner in the house! Resulting in various and unending disinfecting precedures and extreme measures not limited to the removal of drywall and insulation. Odious beast!
Although these measures have curbed the nasty to make our house habitable, it is in no way gone. Much like the fight against terror it is a slow battle and demands patience, fortitude, and fresh approaches.
However, we are very happy here and affectionately call it "Our Mess". And when we have things a little more under control we will dazzle you with the before and afters.
Greta has been a brick through all of this. Spending a good amount of time in her play pen and passed around family and devoted friends like an orphan, her patience has been tried.
Which brings us to the Thanks portion of our program.
Here are our heartfelt thank yous to everyone who has worked on the house as part of the Walter Relocation Program.
Dad- (Although you don't read my blog due to it being on the internets), you have worked harder than anyone and we would still be living in our apartment if it wasn't for your help making our home habitable and safe!
Mom- Letting Greta stay with you and sparing her the worst of the move. (She says hi!)
Meg and Ryan- For taking such good care of our Barley and doing the things no one likes to do (painting ceilings, packing, and shuttling our un-packable junk in your car)
Wes and Leslie- Being at the tip of the spear for the initial house confrontation, painting, and for Wes's use of brute strength and lifting face.
Robbie and Roxanne- Bringing lattes for everyone and helping us paint.
James and Rebecca- Coming to a second Walter relocation after experiencing the hell of the first.
Marcel, Mike, Jeremy, Kirk, Marcus- Orchestrating and carrying out a superb job packing and unloading the truck.
Carson and Taryn- Coming over to welcome us and help to make our house feel more like a home.
Jeff and Paula- For putting up trim with us even after moving day when there was no pizza!

Now that we are back! Stay tuned, all kinds of happenings coming your way!
*If you are not on this list and would like to be, just remind me of your service and I will probably feel so bad that you will make it to the top!

Only got the good stuff

We took some pictures outside over the weekend. I love how these three show some of Greta's unique personality traits.
Like her curiosity. She can sit and pore over a book, her fingers, or a leaf for an extended period of time, while remarking in a very small voice "ta.ta.ta.ta" and assessing her findings in a whisper. (She fits right in with the family as we are most of the time studying our books, phones, and little findings.)
Second, her silliness. She likes to drum her lips with her fingers and make burbly sounds. And she will do it to anyone else who gets close enough.
And lastly, her happy nature! She is quick to smile, laugh, and be amazed!
Of all the traits she could have landed with, Kent and I are glad she got those! We sat up laughing last night as we named all of our faults and what it would look like to have a child only inherit our flaws. The poor victim would be an overly sensitive toast glutton, scared of people, sky, land, and sea. Simultaneously idle and freakishly charged. Spends the day rubbing out his/her eyes and not doing the laundry. Spends the night as an insomniac mathematician factoring prime numbers (not knowing what a prime number is), and hoping it was something like prime rib.
It really makes a couple feel blessed:)

Dr's Notes

It's time to spill the beans...well, the kidney beans to be exact (narf!)
We discovered ages ago when Greta's home address was 123 Womb Street, that one of her kidneys was larger than the other, however with everything else about her vitals normal it wasn't a huge concern, just something to keep our eyes on.
We have had numerous ultrasounds since her home address changed to the greater Redmond area (USA). And we have met with numerous tests, procedures, and Dr's since then. Some very interesting and others most unpleasant. All which have made it known to us that she has a Ureteropelvic Junction, or the partial blockage of her left kidney.
Our Dr gave us the word picture of a 'kinked hose', and I think that explains it nicely (ureter being the 'hose' leading out of the kidney).
So now that it has a name and we are certain of her condition we get to share it with you! We were hesitant to share too much before we had all the facts. But here's how it is:
As of her latest study she has two fully functioning kidneys, so this should dispel all rumors that may fly using the words "kidney failure", "transplant list", or "great calamity". It's wonderful news that her kidneys are still healthy, and shows us that she is in no present danger of imploding or such nonsense.
Both kidney's take in what they ought, it's only the left that doesn't get rid of fluid as it should which has caused that kidney to swell (hydronephrosis). This could lead to serious problems if left unwatched/unknown but thanks to early discovery and watchful eyes she is in a very blessed position.
We have two options, one is to operate, the other is to watch for a little longer to see if it corrects on its own (as some children's do). However, operation seems more and more likely as her kidney has continued to swell over time.
We have had one Dr. who sees her likely going into operation and another who is gathering a few more images in a few weeks time to be sure.
So it's all up in the air and just the right time for your helpful prayers. We have known all of this for some time and feel no great shock or worry over the matter, except for the occasional motherly regret that my sweet little baby has to endure such discomforts. However, when they do occur they are brief and soon forgotten because she really is still the happiest little Barley, who doesn't know or care a fig about some bum kidney-tube.
She's blissfully ignorant of the whole deal and has been enjoying the duty of keeping me on my toes lately. I told Kent the other day that I feel more like a wrangler than a mother as most of my daily duties involve herding Greta out of places and keeping her from grazing on our electrical chords. (Today I turned around and she was gone like a flash! I found her stuffing her face greedily with the chord to our lamp, as she knows she is forbidden to, and was getting all the fun out of it in a frenzy of about 5 seconds.)
So, now that we have filled you in we will be keeping you posted on all her kidney's goings on. Thanks for caring!
(And sorry there was no pictures this post, I tried to find a jolly picture of a kidney to put up...it doesn't exist.)

New Additions!

It has been a very satisfying shop week!
Packaging prints up with a whistle and plenty of trips to the post office. Just the way I like it! I LOVE the post office, when I was wee I dreamed of working there. In my mind it would be very glamorous and official as I played 'elf' all day with stickers and brown paper tied up with string.
However, I think I have fulfilled that hope quite nicely with my etsy-ing and the couple trips a week does me nicely:)
It is a happy thing to see my little illustrations adopted into new homes.
I have a few more for you!
I will be putting these in the shop sometime tonight or tomorrow.
I am shaking it up with some fun splashes of French Ultramarine!
How's that for daring?

Love Love Me Do!

Sometimes I feel sorry for people so acutely it makes my heart sick. This last week I have felt sorry in particular for the boys who lost their innocence and optimism during WWI. (I am reading a book where that is the setting and I almost never read a book without being fully engrossed and therefore am subject to all kinds of moody moods.) But this morning I just feel sorry for everyone who isn't married to my husband. Because I feel certain, with conviction, that he is better than everyone.Did you know today is Thursday? And it's not my birthday, nor is it any other day where I should warrant any special attention.
But no matter, this morning I woke up to the click and jangle of keys and someone coming into our house.
What the devil was Kent doing home from work? I thought for sure he had thrown up and the poor boy was sick. He came into our room with two large boxes of breakfast he picked up at our favorite breakfast place, it was a holiday he said and he had the next 5 days off! (a gift from his managers manager for the great performance of his team) and in the napkin he gave me there was a clue.
From there on I was on a scavenger hunt and I was walking all over Redmond (and I do like a good scavenger hunt!)
I had messages to decode:This one told me to go to Starbucks and say "I'm Kirsten, I would like a Kirsten" Which was a special concoction I made myself (and named) in my old Starbucks days. And behind the counter they had my next clue waiting for me with my favorite drink.
From there I went to the grocery store and rifled through countless boxes of cereal to find my next clue, then off to the library to do some research.

 My clues eventually led me back home and into the fridge. Ah-hah! The old hollow egg trick! This was my last clue, and in it I discovered that the treasure I was seeking was with me the entire morning, it was at home when I was home, and out when I was out....my surprise was in the soles of my shoes!

Kent knows how I pine like a silly tween for the Beatles! And I have been especially giggly for this game coming out next week (however I was not too hopeful considering the current moratorium on all spending that has fallen on our household as we save for our house). But that just added to the surprise! So calling all Friends-And-Relations you are cordially invited to bop your heads with us in the coming weeks, however a warning... I will be doing this...

Babies in tummies babies on floors!

She sees the camera, she likes the camera, she eats the camera!
And if my girl doesn't have her daddy's sweet eyes then I will eat my hat...(or the camera?)




Today Greta and I made a trip to Silverdale with Aunties Meg and Lindz to celebrate Lindsey's little Brennan in her belly!
It was great to see some of my favorite people from the place I spent so much time growing up in.
and crazy to see all of the babies of my friends crawling around the floor where I used to be crawling on the floor (only in my case it was teenage angst).
Time does zoom!

Happenings

Things are surely picking up around the Walter house.
We are still knee deep in the closing process of this little number.If I haven't mentioned it before it's only because I still can't believe that we are actually pulling off buying a house (such a grown up thing) and that we really will be moving next month!
So we are pricing repairs and renovations and spending way too much time thinking about things like grout.
Then you have Greta, braking records in the 200 meter crawl. As I posted last week she was inches away from crawling and later that day she did! It's been "Wow! You're over there!" since.
On top of Dr.s visits and friends and family flowing in and out we have had lots of happenings!
Tomorrow we will be joined by the Great Juice Johnson, whose name is neither really Juice nor Johnson but to every one else a simple Lindsey will do. She is great with child and has come from VA to show us her tummy and to play!
So if you don't see me for a few days it's because well that first big thing, then chasing the other thing, and playing with that last thing.
Oh and one more thing!
This stuff! Now available at my Etsy Shop:)