Step By Step

There are some things I don't teach Rex how to do because it makes my life a little easier. Climbing down stairs was one of those things. With him believing he couldn't climb down stairs, he couldn't get out of the house because all 3 doors have steps and he couldn't go down to the basement. Last Wednesday, he went out the back door and down the steps to the backyard. Hmm. We grabbed him and brought him back in. He went to the garage door and went down those steps. Uh oh. We secured those two doors so he couldn't do that anymore (the third door was already secured). Then he got really brave and tried the basement stairs which are pretty steep. He did just fine. And it turns out, he loves being in the basement. We couldn't keep him out of there so we decided to go ahead and fix it up so he could play down there. Part of the basement is finished- finished in 1960s style and not my taste but it could work. I spent some time clearing out the finished part of the basement this winter and organizing our stuff down there so it only needed a little work to be ready for playtime. Rob replaced the overhead lights and some ceiling tiles and cleaned it up. We got some big rugs and moved some furniture down there and both boys have had a blast playing down there.





The biggest surprise of all is how much Rob and I like being down there. We thought it would feel like you are in a hole but it doesn't. With the paneling, good lighting and new rugs, it feels nice. It feels like we added on to the house or we are on vacation or something. There are still things to do as far as decorating and storage but it is usable and comfortable now. And since the only guest room is downstairs now, I don't feel bad at all about having people stay in the basement because now it is a nice place to be.

We had a nice Easter. I was really excited about the Easter baskets because I got some new ones for the boys. I wanted to get Rex one with his name embroidered on the liner for his first Easter but I thought I should wait to do that until his little brother/sister came along so they could have matching, or at least coordinating, baskets. Since I had been waiting a few years to do this, I did it right and got nice ones from Pottery Barn Kids. Here they are before Rex got to them.



Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of the boys with their baskets because Rex took them all apart before I even got Wyatt out to see them and get any pictures taken. Oh well. I am just lucky I took this photo so at least I had something. We didn't do any egg hunts because it was cold and rainy for Easter weekend. I am not a fan of ham so I took another crack at making lechon asado which uses a fresh ham. I found a 17 pound bone-in fresh ham and cooked the whole thing. It was crazy- I've never cooked anything that big. I went ahead and copied the whole Versailles menu and did rice, black beans and fried plantains too. My plantains came out perfect. They were so delicious. We had some guests which were kind of a last-minute deal and I was a little nervous to feed them my Cuban Easter meal but they said they liked it. Rob and I thought it all came out really good. I wish I had some photos but between being cook and hostess, I didn't have a chance to be photographer too.

Rex has his first cold today. I guess we did good because he is almost 3 years old and he's never had a runny nose, cough, any of that before but our luck has run out. I noticed he sounded a little stuffed up and then I noticed his nose was running and now he even has a very tiny fever too. He doesn't seems to feel too bad but is definitely not running at 100%. I had a migraine yesterday, my first in about 2 years, so thank goodness these health issues are back-to-back and not overlapping. Hopefully we can keep Wyatt and Rob healthy and get everyone back to feeling good soon!