52 : 3

Lounging is not something that this McDonald clan does well, or often --- well until 3 weeks ago that is. Ewan is a little lover and if he is upset it is one of three things: he is hungry, tired, or wants a cuddle. With the cuddle comes the lounging, it is not our nature but for EP we are adjusting and enjoying every minute.

Project People - Front & Back

6 years ago this last weekend we bought our house, a house we knew would be a lot of work --- Peri had no idea how much and Kevin swears he knew. The house was built in 1950 and had minimal updating in the 70s and only one occupant, the same family lived here for 56 years.

In the process of redoing our house we became project people... we now have at least one project going at all times, and there is always the "when we have time list" in the background. When the day came that we thought we were done Peri was all of a sudden bored with the master bedroom paint, the original flooring just was not tolerable anymore, and we found out we were having a baby --- so there you go, Round 2 began.

With much of our family not yet having the opportunity to visit we thought doing a house tour here would be fun and allow a preview for when they can come on by. This post will include the renovation of the front yard and the backyard, and future posts will go through the rooms of the house.

Curb appeal was not what drew us to this house... but it became an instant goal when we closed escrow. This is the before picture of the house, sold sign still standing!

We did not like the flat roof so we had it raised, installed central heat and air, removed the 2nd driveway to the right of the house, painted, added a brick path, and re-landscaped. For the first year or two of renovations we pretty much ignored the front yard --- neighbors we still apologize for the travesty that our front yard became, but we love the current look!

And now on to the backyard, currently one of our favorite spaces. 

This space also became a travesty during the interior renovations, but when we had a special party to host we got our acts together and created a backyard that will allow us years of entertainment. When choosing an after picture we could not pick just one...

The lovely deck and lots of benches for seating and storage.

Space for eating.

Room to chat, fire pit coming soon.

Hanging herbs, keeping the goods from the pups.

K's built-in bbq with concrete counters, one of his fav projects to date.

We are waiting for the summer to return so we can host a BBQ and get back to enjoying this awesome space with our son. 

From this, to this, to this...

I think the most amazing thing about pregnancy for me was seeing things go from this, to this, to this... you may be wondering what the hell I am talking about so I will illustrate with pictures.

My transformation --- The belly went from this at 18 weeks,

to this at 32 weeks, 

to this at 40 weeks. 

Ewan's transformation --- He grew from this at 7.5 weeks in utero, 

to this at 12 weeks, 

to this at 19.5 weeks,

to this at 34.5 weeks. 

And both of these transformations resulted in this --- Amazing!

52 : 2

Today EP is 2 weeks old! Everyday he seems a little bigger, although technically speaking he is not. We feel like we learn something new about Ewan everyday and that we get a little better at this thing called parenting.

For those of you that know Kevin you may know he is a singer, he comes by it honestly, his "Crazy Grammy" was a singer, which is how she came by her moniker --- of course a woman who wanders around singing all the time would seem crazy to a 6 year old, but now he understands. Kevin has a song for everything, and really who could argue that singing an original tune about doing the dishes would not make it more fun.

Shortly after EP came home I heard some humming, and then the tune had words. While rocking/walking Ewan I caught Kevin singing, "bumpy ride, bumpy ride, going for a bumpy ride." These simple lyrics are sung over and over again while (you guessed it) Kevin bounces/rocks the baby.

Kevin has spent 7.5 years melting my heart, Ewan has spent 2 weeks doing the same, and the two of them together with a round of "bumpy ride" is just too much to take.

52 : 1

Project 52 is common place on many of the blogs I follow. Those of you that are not familiar with this concept it is the posting of one picture a week for the entirety of the year, 52 weeks. The image can be anything that the writer wants and most folks spend some time detailing why they chose the particular image. Project 52 is something that I have been wanting to participate in, but never really felt that the week to week in my life was that exciting, and I envisioned post after post of puppy pictures --- Then March 8th came and now I feel I have an exciting enough subject for Project 52, my son Ewan Porter. Instead of chronicling the weeks of the year I am going to track each week of his year. This will be a good memory mechanism for our family, and will likely be put in to a baby book of sorts in time. Also, with family near and far I figured this would help everyone watch him grow.

And with out further ado, entry 52 : 1 - 



This face, this face is my inspiration. I spent years imagining this face, the 36 weeks I knew I was pregnant hoping for a healthy pregnancy so I could meet this face, and the 21 weeks I knew I was having a boy dreaming that I would have a son that would look like, act like, and love like my amazing husband. When I start to feel the pains of healing that my body is experiencing, or getting overwhelmed with the emotions of things, I look at this face and nothing else exists.

Welcome Ewan Porter - March 8th, 2012

What a day... The fun started at 5:00am with the first contractions and our new love arrived at 3:33pm.

Ewan Porter was the big boy we anticipated, 9lbs 13oz and 22 inches long.

Everyone is doing well and as expected we are over the moon.