My little toots is two months already.  She's sleeping about the same as she always has, but she is doling out more smiles now.  She really makes you work to get the smile though!  

Such a sweet little monkey.

Oh, the back door.  It's one of the older, more antiquated (ahem, ugly) features of the house.   We had wanted to replace it right away, but decided to wait until the big items were brought in and out (e.g., old oil tank) so that a new door wouldn't get dinged up.  The door is chipping and flimsy looking and we thought it would be easy for someone to break into.  We thought this until a few weeks ago when we locked ourselves out of the house because the front lock was jammed.  After trying multiple times to get in the front, we decided to try to break down the back door.  

Here was a perfect moment for Greg to get all cop-like and bust down the back door.  After kicking and running and kicking and kicking it some more, the door wouldn't give.  

Okay, one point in defense of the door.  It's not flimsy, just ugly.  

Our neighbors have quite a few tools so Greg went to ask them for a crowbar to pry the door open.  He came back a few minutes later with the crowbar and went to the back of the house to pry the door open.  Our neighbor that we borrowed the crowbar from came out and suggested that we try going in through the basement window.  

A few minutes later, our neighbor is holding Greg by his ankles as Greg dangles through the basement window, headfirst.  He successfully makes it inside without smashing his skull on the concrete floor and unlocks the front door so that we don't have to break in.  

Although the back door does have good qualities, we will still be replacing it.  Let me show you why:

I went to Home Depot over the weekend and found this one as a replacement.  

I like the craftsman look and it's made of fiberglass.  The sales guy said it would hold up better to dings than a steel door. Anyone have any input on this…does fiberglass hold up better than steel?    

Autumn is my time of year.  Not only because I enjoy the cooler weather and fall colors, but also because I get the opportunity to display my vast cardigan collection.  

First, a family update:  Marielle is doing well and we're adjusting to our new life schedule.  She's up about every three hours or so at night, which means that after we get the kids in bed, I lazily flop onto a bean bag chair (for lack of seating in our tv room) and don't move until my back starts to hurt (typically 1-2 hours).  The girls are doing well at school, but with school comes homework.  Our home is not a fun place to be at 4pm: while I am trying to entertain/pacify/relocate a newborn and three year old, I cook dinner and help two [incredibly distracted] kiddos with homework.  I found that yelling a lot helps me feel better during homework time, but strangely, the children do not respond well to this.  I will have to experiment with other methods.

We have been cooped up a lot this week, so today was a lovely day to be outside, fly homemade kites, and drink vats of coffee.  

I also got a mini-date with the hubster this week.  I say mini-date because it involved bringing along two of the four kiddos, but we will take what we can get.  We dined on a rooftop.  It was lovely and I also got the chance to wear a cardigan and escape the after lunch clean up.

Our house update: our master bath has been tiled.  I love, love, love the herringbone floor.  I chose a porcelain tile that looks like weathered wood and it turned out nicely.  The carpenter began laying down the trim in our room as well and the floor got its first sanding.  The vanity and recessed medicine cabinet were also installed.

The carpenter also rebuilt the linen cabinet and we have the door put back on.  I have begun painting the trim and hope to get a few more doors painted this weekend.

The countertops also arrived today!  If a person can develop a crush on a piece of rock, just consider me smitten.  It replicates marble well and I love the polished finish.  The fabricators did a wonderful job  matching up the patterns on the seams and carrying the patterns up the backsplash and down to the sink.  I'll have better photos down the road when I have the backsplash installed, but wanted to post these tonight.  

Also, this is a small thing, but we discovered that our old microwave fits into our appliance cabinet.  

I just love it when even the little things work out, no?