*Spoiler alert*: this is going to be a little longer than usual : ) and I do know how to spell refridgerator, but you won't see it here.
I happened to notice tonight that I still had GG's birth stats on the dry erase message board on our fridge. As I stood there looking at our fridge for a minute, I realized what a story this picture would tell. I'm sure it will change in the coming years, so I thought it might be fun to do this every year as the kids grow. 3 years ago the only thing up there would have been the calendar and the message board with the week of pregnancy I was in with Jack. That's it. I remember the day that fridge was installed. I thought it was glorious. Our first real fridge. Our first
new fridge. It certainly wasn't the most expensive one, but it was the least expensive stainless steel-look one. I thought then and there, "it will ALWAYS be clean, it will NEVER be cluttered". Oh, how "life" takes over like a hurricane. Glad I'm supposed to be limited to one image per day, because I wasn't planning on taking a photo of the inside : )
I go back to the little message board on the top left. This is so telling about where we're at in our lives. GG's birth stats are still there from when I was afraid after we brought her home that Pepe might forget them when he was on the phone with well-wishers. (he never did) She's 17 months old. (guess we've been a little busy since then) It also has guidelines on storing and using human breast milk for when we would occasionally bottle feed. Erasing that will be heartbreaking, I can't believe she's not a baby anymore. She hasn't had a bottle for 8 months and never took them well. At the bottom is their daily routine and nap schedule, which has changed since then.
Below the message board are a couple of my favorite photos, GG and those cute cheeks and bow at six months in her little "Kansas Cutie" dress when the Jayhawks won the NCAA National Championship last year. And Jack in the front yard at Easter in 2007 when he was nearly 12 months old. That was the last time my tulips looked really nice, before I had to give up gardening for a while. Scattered around those photos are two birthday party invitations, for my godson Andrew and another friend, Marley, both turning 4 next week. That will be a busy weekend, but typical with the size of our extended family. There are also a couple of stickers there from one of the children's doctor check ups that shows their weight and height, but I don't know how old those are.
Below that is our water and ice dispenser, nothing amazing there, except it kinda is to me. That damn thing wouldn't spit ice out for probably a year. At first, it wouldn't dispense, later it stopped even making ice. So we were back to making ice or buying it for a long while. He finally figured out what was wrong and ordered the part only maybe a month ago. THANK GOD. You really find out how lazy you are when you don't have an ice dispenser. We're so spoiled.
At the bottom left you'll see the clutter of magnets I thought would never exist for many reasons and Jack's schedule that we try very hard to stick to.
On the right door is our crazy "green" calendar and a post-it of meal ideas based on what is in the pantry, helps me to make what's on hand saving needless trips to the store. Then we have some of Jack's beautiful art work, he LOVES stickers. He brings so much home that the fridge went into overload, so I made an area on the wall in the dining room for his masterpieces. There, we can discuss them over meals and this helps keep the important stuff from being lost on the fridge front.
Jack's school schedule follows his sticker art and below that is a reminder about his "Guest Day" at school. This will be a really special day that Daddy gets to spend with him. My mother wasn't able to do it this year, so hopefully next time. I'm really looking forward to this for him. Next to the notice are the little animals that go with the Leapfrog barn. What is cute about this is that he's into the whole "matching stuff" phase so this is really a story about where he's at developmentally. It also shows how meticulous and organized he's just starting to become.
Below that are our House Rules that Jack helped make last year. I use those for the "bad guy" instead of saying "because I said" or "Daddy said" or whatever. It's just "the rules". I'm anal and show this to visiting kids that stay to play without their parents. We never seem to have an issue then.
Well, it's a far cry from what I had expected when that fridge was installed. But I still love it and I think it's more beautiful than ever.
An unseasonable pretty day for January 31st. 71 degrees! We played at the park after Marley's 4th birthday party. I couldn't get any photos of the birthday girl, but GG was happy to say "cheese" over and over : ) while she was joyfully hunkered down into her comfy swing.
