Who's Sleeping Where?

As we eagerly await the arrival of our Little Lady, we've had to do a little bedroom swapping to make room for everyone. (We have two additional bedrooms downstairs, but we're not comfortable with a five year old being on a completely different floor of our house...) About two weeks ago, we moved Abigail and Zachary into the same room. {Breath held}

Thankfully, it went swimmingly! After a night or two of a bit more chatter than we would have liked, both kiddos are now settling into their new digs. We've adjusted Zachy's bedtime so that he and Abby go down at the same time, and thankfully they usually wake up around the same time anyway. Zach loves his "new cribby," and Abby loves snuggling with Zach in her bed before we say goodnight.

Abby helped me pick out a color for the walls, which I painted back in September. We've re-organized the closet and dresser to make room for Zachy's stuff, as well. I have to say - I really like how it turned out. And I think both of the kids like it, too, which is good, considering they'll be in this arrangement for a few years, at least!

Abby liked the idea of light blue walls, especially after she decided
to choose butterflies and flowers wall decals. We went with
"Blue Sky."

Zachy's decals are "Things That Go." He loves pointing out
the cars, choo-choo, and "air-pane."

A view of Abby's side of the room. Even with blue walls, the pink
makes it obvious that an adorable little girl sleeps here, too!

The shared wall between the door and closet. I love how there's
a bit of Abby and a bit of Zachy mixed together. (I do plan to
redecorate the frames for their caricatures, but I wasn't sure if
I'd have time before the baby arrived, and I wanted to get
everything off the floor!)

But Zachy's old room won't be empty for long. (At least I hope it won't be!) I admit to burnout after painting and re-decorating Abby and Zach's room, so Carey and I decided to decorate Victoria's room in such a way that we could utilize the current color - light green. (Plus, Zach's room was just painted less than 3 years ago...) Thankfully, we still had all of Abigail's nursery decor, which goes very well with light green walls. We sprang for a few new crib sheets and new window treatments, but we were able to re-use a good deal of our baby stuff. So, Victoria's room is all set up and just waiting for a sweet little girl to sleep in it!

All ready for a sweet baby girl!

It became very real that Victoria would be coming home as
soon as we put a sheet on her crib!

Duckies and bears, all in yellow!

A changing table, complete with tiny diapers for a tiny tush!

We're beyond happy with how the move went for Abby and Zach, and we hope that Little Lady will settle into her room once she comes home!

Seven Days of Thanks: Day 6 - The Mess

I am not a messy person. Not at all. Then I got married, and my stuff joined another person's stuff and we were double-stuffed. Then we had a child. Then we had another child. Now we're preparing for a third child. And I have been forced to let go of some of my notions of clean and organized. There are only so many ways to store toys. There are only so many places to set up exersaucers and cradle swings. There are only so many hours in a day to do laundry and vacuum and wash dishes.

God has shown me that I am blessed by my mess. My house isn't as clean as I would like, but my days are spent helping Abigail with her homework and playing cars with Zachary and sometimes even getting to sit on the couch with Carey for a half hour after the kids go to bed. My house is messy because my children are blessed (even spoiled!) by so many people who love them. My sink is full of dishes because we have food to eat. My hamper is full of dirty clothes because we have an abundance of clothes to wear. All of the things that make my house a mess are blessings in my life, including the aforementioned husband and two darling children. ;-)

So instead of being frustrated and overwhelmed by my mess, sometimes, I just look at it and smile. Why wish for a clean house when my home is filled with laughter and playing and living?

Cleaning your house while your children are still growing is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing.  -Phyllis Diller

Seven Days of Thanks: Day 5 - Our Home

As I write this, the one-year anniversary of Superstorm Sandy has come and gone. As I watched the special news coverage, I was shocked to see that there are still people who are not yet back into their homes. Our home escaped major damage, and the homes in our neighborhood that sustained tree damage were quickly fixed. Life has returned to normal for us, and it was saddening to realize that this isn't the case everywhere...

Over this past year, the gratitude that I feel for our home has increased. Of course, we still have a home improvement wish list - things we'd like to upgrade/update when time and money permit. But I have come to appreciate our home as it is, warts and all, because it is ours. Do I want to replace the white tiles of our kitchen floor? Absolutely. But right now, those white tiles make it very easy to find and clean up the assorted messes made by the kiddos. Do I want to replace the pink toilet and the pink and peach bathtub in our upstairs bathroom? Of course. But right now, I can close our beautiful shower curtain to mask my not-so-favorite bathtub and, well, the pink toilet is Abby's favorite color. Do I want to do some major landscaping work on our front and back lawns? Sure. But right now, "that darn chipmunk," as we call him, is teaching me which plants he likes to eat and which plants he doesn't, and pushing me to be creative with the flowers that we have that are thriving.

I could sit around and bemoan all the things that are wrong with my house, or all the aspects of it that I don't like. Or, I can strive to make my home a welcoming, peaceful refuge for my family and our visitors. I can make my home as clean as possible (which, with two small kids and a seven-months pregnant belly, isn't always as clean as I'd like...). I can organize it to make it "user-friendly" and a little less stressful. I can create a pleasant atmosphere by lighting candles and decorating for the holidays and hanging up photos of and artwork by those messy, wonderful kiddos. But most importantly, I can make my house a pleasant place to be simply by my attitude. And over the past year, I've done my best to adopt an "attitude of gratitude." My house may not be perfect, but it is mine. It has seen our family grow over the past 5+ years. It has been there as we experienced joy-filled moments and heartbreaking moments. It has hosted visits from family and friends, near and far. It has been the backdrop for some of the greatest memories I hold with my husband and my children. And that is far more important than the color of the floor tiles or some dug-up flower bulbs.

He is happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home.  -Johann von Goethe

There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort.  -Jane Austen

Sandy

Nothing could have prepared us for this.

Two weeks ago, "Superstorm" Sandy crashed down on the northeast, hitting the tri-state area (New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut) especially hard. We dealt with a hurricane last year (Irene in August), and while it wasn't fun, it was nothing like this. Our power was out for just over a day, and it caused some downed tree limbs in our neighborhood. But, Sandy wasn't an ordinary hurricane. Unlike Irene, she didn't make landfall before hitting our area, so she was strong. But she was also mixed with a winter storm, the jet stream and high tide. Superstorm, indeed.

While we had our evacuation bags packed, we hunkered down and rode out the storm at home. (Our house is not in a flood zone, so our town did not issue an evacuation order.) Sunday began with some wind and rain. Monday really brought the power of the storm. Our power went out around 4:30 pm on Monday afternoon. All of us slept downstairs as we heard the wind whistling and the crash of trees and limbs. By around 1:00 am on Monday, the worst of the storm had passed through, so Tuesday morning found many folks in our neighborhood out and about, checking on neighbors and surveying Sandy's aftermath.

The end of our block. (There is a car under the downed limbs on the right.)

Our babysitter's car was crushed under this tree...

Our brother-in-law and sister-in-law's house,
which also experienced damage to the roof and chimney on the back side of the house.

Do you see the person on the right side of this photo, in the navy coat?
Look how small she is compared to the uprooted tree roots...

Another downed tree at the end of our block.

This tree went through the home's front entryway.
(Thankfully, everyone inside was okay.)

Another downed tree that took out the power lines.

An uprooted tree around the corner from our house.

All this devastation in the neighborhood, and this was our front lawn.

That's right - one tree limb, which bent our gutter, but caused no real damage to our home, cars, or property. I remember standing in our front lawn, unable to process how incredibly fortunate we were. Giant trees had been uprooted all around our neighborhood, and yet, this was it at our house. Our property was fine, but more importantly, we were fine. My family was safe, thank God. Walking around the neighborhood, I saw neighbors checking on neighbors and heard the good news that our neighbors were fine, too.

I know that our area was extremely lucky - our neighborhood had no flooding and power was restored to houses fairly quickly. (Our power was back on Friday, four days after it went out, with power restored to most other parts of our neighborhood within 7-8 days after the storm.) Since we were without power, on Wednesday morning, I took the kids and drove up to my mom's house. (Proof that you are never too old to need your mother. She allowed the kids and I to invade her house on less than a day's notice for what would be an indeterminate amount of time. After being frightened by the storm, Abby and Zach loved our "vacation" to Grandma's house!)

On our way upstate, I passed no fewer than a dozen convoys of utility trucks headed towards the tri-state area. Each time I'd see one, I would point it out to Abby and tell her how fortunate we were to have people who were willing to help us. (On our way back to Long Island, we passed several convoys returning upstate, including a group of three trucks flying the Canadian flag.)

The kids and I drove back yesterday, after almost two weeks upstate. Long Island (and the other parts of the tri-state area recovering from the storm) is still feeling Sandy's after-effects. Cut up trees and limbs sit by the side of the road, or in some cases, in the road. Utility crews still work hard to restore power and other services to homes. Gas lines are still long (though not as bad as they were immediately after the storm).

And yet, I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude as I pulled into our driveway yesterday. I saw the lights on in our home and neighborhood. I saw our mums returned to our front steps. I saw Abby run into the waiting arms of her papa, whom we'd all missed so much. (Carey was expected at work whenever power was restored to his office, so he did not come upstate with us.) I returned to my home, a privilege that many people will not be afforded after this storm. We're doing what we can, donating clothing, food, and our time to help those who were not so fortunate. If you're able, won't you consider doing the same? ABC news has a list of organizations who are accepting donations to help those hit hardest by the storm. (This includes donating blood to assist with the blood shortages that resulted from so many blood drives being cancelled.) Did you know you can text the word "Redcross" to 90999 to make a $10 donation? So please, help out in whatever way you can, whether by a monetary donation, a donation of food or supplies, or by raising up those affected in your prayers.

Updating the Family Room Wall

I admit to being so incredibly tardy with updating our home with photos of Zachary. Anyone entering our house would think we were the proud parents of only one child - until they saw the flood of baby toys, bottles, and bibs, of course.

A few months ago, I posted about some wall art I'd created at Paper Coterie, an online shop that allows you to document and share your memories in very unique ways.  Using a credit I'd received via another blog that I love, I was able to create three adorable wall posters of Abby. The posters are made of fabric and are repositionable, so you can re-work your walls easily. Thankfully, I learned of another credit and was able to add a few more posters to our collection.

The wall in our family room:

Not exactly sure why this picture came out so blue...

Carey and I cannot believe how much Abby has grown since her "Abigail at Two..." poster!

Our precious little man!

(You can see how the wall originally looked, as well as close-ups of our other three Abby posters by clicking here.) I love how these posters look, and they show no signs of wear-and-tear due to the move. I can't wait to continue expanding our wall of cuteness! (I figure we'll probably use these for documenting the kids until they start school. Then I realized that I'll only be doing one more poster for Abby, if that's the case. Gulp.)

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting...

As they say in football, right now the Ngs are in a "holding pattern." We're ready (well, as ready as we'll ever be...) and eagerly awaiting the arrival of our Little Man.

Last Friday was my last day of work. It has definitely been funny not riding the train this week, but I am keeping busy at home. Carey and I made the decision to keep Abby in daycare through the end of this month. (Not knowing when Zachary will arrive, we thought it would be less disruptive for her to maintain her routine and it would be less stressful for me if I didn't have to worry about what I'd do if my water broke at 10 am with Carey at work in Manhattan and Abby at home with me...) So, I'm doing everything I can (energy levels permitting) around the house to get things in order before the upheaval of bringing home a newborn.

I had a check-up with my doctor on Monday, just shy of 38 weeks (which I hit today!). I gained 1 pound (total weight gain: 38 pounds), and Zachary is still head down, butt up. :-) Dr. Siegel was back in the office this week, so he reviewed all the procedures with us again, just to make sure Carey and I knew when to call the office and when to go directly to the hospital. My internal exam revealed that I am 60% effaced and 1 centimeter dilated. Just like Dr. Kramer last week, Dr. Siegel didn't want to hazard a guess as to when I might go into labor. But, he was able to calm one of my biggest fears/concerns. You may remember that my delivery with Abigail was induced. (As the doctor explained to us then, low amniotic fluid levels toward the end of pregnancy can indicate that the placenta is breaking down, so it is best to get the baby out sooner rather than later, lest any complications arise.) I was afraid that due to the fact that my labor didn't progress on it's own last time that I might be at a greater risk for going through the same thing again. Obviously, I wanted to do whatever was best for Abigail, and I feel exactly the same way about Zachary. If there is anything putting him in danger, I will do whatever is necessary to ensure that he is brought into this world and into my arms safely. But, I would love for my labor to progress on it's own this time... Dr. Siegel said that there is nothing he has seen with this pregnancy that would make him think that I would need to be induced again. We have another appointment scheduled for next Monday, so we'll see how Little Man is doing and how I'm progressing. Hopefully, the news will be good!

What else have I been up to? After an amazing sale on lean ground beef, I've been stocking our freezer with mini-meatloaves (a BIG family favorite around here - I'll share my super-easy recipe soon), lasagna, Shepard's Pie, and taco meat. I've also been doing A LOT of cleaning/sorting/organizing. It's true what they say: when your home is organized, you just feel calmer. Yesterday, I tackled our bedroom, sorting through all the piles that had, well, piled up over the past few weeks. I also sorted through our closet and drawers, refolding practically everything. I love the look of neatly folded clothes! I've been prepping Zachary's room, getting everything washed and folded. I'd forgotten how tiny baby clothes are. :-) I'm also trying to get a jump start on Abby's birthday party. Carey and I have decided it will be a small family affair this year, but we want to make sure that she feels special on her 3rd birthday, especially since Baby Brother will probably be getting a lot of mommy and daddy's attention right after we bring him home. After a chat at dinner last night, it looks like this year's theme will be Dora the Explorer. :-)

Speaking of Abby, she just keeps getting cuter. That little munchkin makes me smile each and every day. She is funny and smart and helpful and beautiful - I am so blessed to have this little girl in my life and my heart. Abby deserves her own update post, which I will do very soon, but I just had to mention her for all the joy she brings to my life these days of big bellies, sore backs, and uncomfortable humidity.

So, that's the Ng household these days. Please keep those prayers coming for a safe delivery of our little guy!

Zachary's Room - Complete!

I admit it - at 36 weeks pregnant, I'm kinda feeling like I'd like to be done with this, sooner rather than later. Of course, I want what is best for our little guy, so if staying put for another four weeks (or beyond) is what he needs, then sign me up.

But, I do admit to being in a bit of a funk. There are lots of things that I'd like to get done around the house, from small household projects to organizational tasks to scrapbooking, and I just don't have the energy to do much anymore. Sure, I'll get bursts of energy, but those are getting fewer and farther between. So, imagine my pleasure at realizing that one big task on my "To Do" list is complete! That's right folks - Zachary's room is done! There are a few small additions that I'm sure we'll make as time goes on, but if Zach came home tomorrow, we'd be ready for him. (Well, his bedroom would be ready for him. I'm not brave enough to say that I'm completely prepared for our little man!)

Below, a few pictures from Zachary's room.



I'm very happy with how things turned out! Most of the room decor is from the Mod Pod Pop Monkey line available at Babies R Us. We decided to forgo the crib bedding set, since we only used the sheet, dust ruffle and bumpers from Abby's Ducky Dots bedding set (and even the bumpers came down as soon as Abby started standing up) - it seemed like a waste of money to buy the full set for Zach. Instead, we picked items "a la carte" and got exactly what we wanted. I also found the adorable window valance at JCPenney - even though it's from a different bedding set, I think it works well with the Mod Pod monkey stuff. I have to admit that I love walking into Zachary's room - it's cheery and bright and fun, and I hope that it will reflect his personality. (Not to brag, but I definitely think we hit the nail on the head with Abby's room. The bright yellow walls and pastel duck decor fit her to a tee - she has such a happy, smiling disposition that her room is truly a great reflection of who she is. {giving self pat on the back} )

Now, all we need is a cute little boy to go with all these cute little monkeys! 26 days and counting, assuming the little guy decides to stay put until his due date!

Zachary's Room - A Sneak Peek

The painting is done - thank goodness.

The furniture is assembled - thank goodness.

Now, we're just waiting on a few finishing touches before putting Zachary's bedroom together. But, I couldn't resist giving you all a sneak peek of the little guy's space.

Zachary's crib


Zachary's changing table


Zachary's dresser, complete with his first stuffed monkey from Auntie Anne, Uncle Jon, and cousins Luke and Lauren, and the Monkey Lamp that goes with his room decor.

After a slight misstep with the paint (the original color was WAY too dark on the wall - thankfully, I only painted a small corner before stopping), we went with Celery Sprig (a light, pastel green) by Behr. I love how it turned out!

I'll definitely share more photos once we have things set up and ready for Zach's arrival. But, I am loving his room so far, and I'm sure I will love it even more when there is an adorable little boy in it! :-)

Naked Walls

Continuing with this week's (unofficial) theme of updates at Casa Ng, I wanted to share a photo project that I created and that is now proudly adorning what used to be a naked space of wall in our downstairs family room.

One of the blogs that I follow is The Mom Creative, written by Jessica Turner. Jessica is a wife, mom, and crafty lady, so I love reading her blog daily. Jessica manages to find great deals on photo books, prints, gifts, etc. and posts them for her readers to take advantage of, too. Back in May, Jessica blogged about a new online photo book and gift site. As part of their grand opening, Paper Coterie was offering a $40 credit toward their products, not including shipping. After looking through their website, I decided to create three repositionable posters - one for Abby's birth day, one for her first birthday, and one for her second birthday.

As you can imagine, traffic to the site was pretty high, considering what a great deal this was, so it took about 2.5 weeks for me to receive my finished products. But I absolutely love how they turned out! The posters are made of repositionable fabric that adheres directly to the wall - no nail holes, no picture frames required. The quality is beautiful, and the customer service was amazing. (Paper Coterie actually reached out to me because I'd started a project but hadn't finished it before the discount code expired. They gave me a special code (for the same amount) and gave me an additional week to complete my order!)

So, the big wall in our family room is no longer "naked." We now have beautiful pictures of our beautiful little girl, and I can't wait to make posters for Zachary's arrival and Abby's 3rd birthday!

My beautiful little girl!

Since the individual posters can be hard to see in the photo above, please see below for close-ups of each individual poster.

Seriously, how cute are they?! Well, I think that anything with my little girl on it is pretty darn adorable, but I love how Paper Coterie sets up their projects to assist the, ahem, creatively challenged like myself. I would have never thought to put together posters like these, but I love them!

Abby's New Playroom!

As I blogged about yesterday, we had new carpet installed in our downstairs after the removal of the kitchen on that floor. We knew that we wanted to give Abby a special space for her toys and such, especially with a sibling on the way. (As great as she is being now, I have a feeling there might be some tough times ahead when little munchkin isn't the only show in town...) Plus, with me staying home with the kids, Carey and I thought it would be great for Abby to have one place with all of her toys and books and activities, rather than some in her bedroom, some in the living room, some downstairs - well, you get the picture.

A majority of the playroom has been done for the past two weeks, but this past weekend, Carey and I put the final touches on it. I have to say, I love how it turned out! We went with primary colors, that way the room can grow with Abby and with Zachary, once he's old enough to join in the fun. Plus, I think the bright colors make it a cheery space - very important, considering we have only one small window in that room, so very little natural light. But, most importantly, Abby loves playing in her new playroom, asking to go downstairs as soon as she wakes up, as soon as we get home, as soon as we finish dinner... :-)

The finished playroom!


I love the walls! We got the bright red clock at IKEA, and the decals were purchased from an online store called Walls Need Love. They have a great assortment of repositionable wall decals, their prices are reasonable, and their shipping and customer service were fantastic.


The wall shelf and bookshelf were two more IKEA purchases, and the table and chairs (also from IKEA) were a gift from Carey's parents for Abby's 2nd birthday. Plus, I managed to find a red CD player at Walmart, which matches the decor perfectly!


The toy storage is also from IKEA, and the easel, tea kitchen, and kitchen set were gifts.


The curtains are from IKEA, and the ledge on the wall provided the perfect place for Abby's Yo Gabba Gabba friends to sit.


We also picked up these two circular carpets at IKEA. I'll admit - they were an impulse purchase as Carey and I were walking toward the check out. However, the first time Abby saw the playroom, she hopped back and forth from carpet to carpet - "Red! Blue! Red! Blue!" She was having such a blast that it made the purchase completely worth it!

As you can see, a lot of this playroom is thanks to IKEA. I confess - I am addicted. They had so many storage options at incredibly reasonable prices, and the pieces that we purchased (bookshelf, toy storage) will really grow with the kids. I have to admit - I think I like playing downstairs just as much as Abby does!

More updates from Casa Ng to come later this week, including a sneak peek at Zachary's nursery!

Old Carpet, New Carpet

Casa Ng has been undergoing some big updates lately, thanks in large part to a very important upcoming arrival. I'll be posting lots of house-related photos this week, so please stop back throughout the week!

Last Friday, I posted some photos of our newly-painted bathroom. The next big project on the list, after our bathroom re-do, was to remove the kitchen from our downstairs level. Our house was actually set up as mother-daughter apartments when we first moved in. Right away, we decided that we would not be renting out the lower level, but we didn't quite have the funds that we needed to do everything that we wanted right away. So, we cleaned the carpets as best we could and put fresh paint on the walls.

Thankfully, my company had a very good year last year, and we met our bonus target. Carey had agreed that if I got my bonus, we could put part of if towards new carpeting for downstairs. Oh happy day! So, we picked out new carpet - we went with Empire Today, who I highly recommend. They came to the house for a free estimate, gave us a great discount for mid-week installation, were courteous, and left the house as clean as it was when they arrived. I wanted something similar in color to what we had - a neutral beige color - and with stain guard. (Very important when you have kids and, God bless him, a messy husband!)

Huge thanks to my dad and Carey, who removed the cabinets and appliances from the downstairs kitchen. (Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of their handiwork because I was out grocery shopping while they took care of everything...) Big thanks also go out to my co-worker and friend, Ian, who came out to our house to fix some pipes and replace some dry wall. Please see below for the first part of our downstairs transformation!

The downstairs kitchen, as it was when we moved in.

The giant hole that needed to be fixed after the removal of the sink.

Ian, hard at work fixing the hole and patching some other rough areas.

This is the carpet where the refrigerator had been. Can I just say "Ick"?

The downstairs kitchen, repainted and awaiting the folks from Empire Today.

Some "work-in-progress" photos. The installers tore the old carpet away, and what was underneath was a bit yicky...

New carpet!!

Even Abby liked the new carpet. :-)

Stop by tomorrow for photos of Abby's new playroom!

Goodbye Blue, Hello New!

I admit it: there is something about being pregnant that makes me want to paint things in my house. Perhaps it is because during my first pregnancy, we had to repaint the entire house...

Me and Abby, painting the dining room (May 11, 2008)

I have been wanting to repaint our upstairs bathroom, well, pretty much since I originally painted it. While the color was supposed to be periwinkle, it turned out plain blue on the walls. We had purchased the paint for our bathroom in Hoboken, but we found out about Abigail and bought our house prior to actually painting that bathroom. So, we figured that we'd use it for the bathroom in our new house. It was fine, but I didn't love it...

The light blue bathroom (May 25, 2008)

Carey and I kept our eyes open for a paint sale, and I had been saving up gifts cards that I had received for stores that have Home Departments (e.g. - JCPenney, Lord & Taylor). I'd also collected coupons for some of my other favorite stores (Bed, Bath, and Beyond and the Container Store), so I was able to redo our entire bathroom (paint, rugs, towels, shower curtain, counter top accessories, etc.) for less than $100. Add this to the fact that we had a new bathroom window installed in the room last December, and I feel like we have a brand new room.

Yes, we still have our pink toilet. I have to say, it's growing on me...

The walls are "Creamy White." I wanted something neutral, so I can change bathroom accessories if I feel the need to update in the future...

I got these Lauren by Ralph Lauren towels at Lord & Taylor - they are the softest towels I've ever used, plus I got a super discount on them.

I found this print at Bed, Bath, and Beyond.
It reads: Faith is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you do not see.
(Hebrews 11:1 - one of my very favorite Scripture verses!)

I am so happy with how the bathroom turned out! Now, if I could just convince Carey that our bedroom needs to be updated...