We are all finished with the tile! And when I say “all finished” I mean that we still have to do the grout and the sealant. So not really all finished. But the end is in sight!
You know, having a blog can be really motivating when you’re trying to get stuff done. Because once you’re finished, you get to take pretty pictures and blog about it. But, I’m realizing, it can also make you think that maybe every project you do should take about half an hour, because then you’ll get to take the pictures and blog about it SO SOON!
When you spend 356 years tiling your bathroom, not only does your back hurt, but you have nothing to blog about. Except how you still haven’t finished tiling. And I’m guessing most people have a limited attention span when it comes to listening to you complain about how much you hate tiling. I seem not to be content with guessing, though. Looks like I’m conducting an actual experiment to see just how long I can get away with this.
(oh! also! I thought it would be no problem that I wouldn’t be able to blog about finished tile just yet, because Abe was supposed to have a birthday party Saturday. Only then he got sick and we had to postpone. Thoughtless baby. My BLOG! He’s all better now; party is rescheduled for a few days from now).
I am not going to be writing any kind of “how to tile” tutorial, because that would be ridiculous. I clearly have no idea how to tile. I’m sure I’ll ramble a little about how we got slightly less terrible at tiling as we went along, but mostly I’m planning to just take pretty pictures. But we did get pretty good at dedicating relatively large chunks of time to tiling even though we have a baby (and cats. Turns out cats and wet mortar are a terrible combination. Who knew?) So I’ve written up a handy tutorial about THAT instead:
1. Start having kids 11 years before you have your baby. Have three. IMPORTANT: do not skip this step!
2. Bribe the three older children with small amounts of cash and unlimited amounts of screen time to get them to happily take shifts watching their baby brother.
3. Promise them that you will find time for something fun in between frantic tiling sessions. Take them out for ice cream.
See? Easy!
For real, though, we could not have done this without the older kids helping out. They were so great about it. They love hanging out with Abe, and I really want it to stay that way, so I try hard not to take advantage of it overmuch (I also want grandchildren some day, so I don’t want to burn them out on childcare just yet). But they rotated out half hour babytending shifts, so that no one was too overwhelmed, and it worked out really well. Normally when we do this kind of stuff, one of us will watch Abe while the other one works on whatever the project is, but we found that tiling is really a two person job. Dave did the cutting while I did the mortaring and tile-laying. It would have been even more agonizingly slow if one person had tried to do both (although that did happen some of the time).
Some shots of our celebratory ice cream trip. Everyone looks so excited.
i will never get to tile my bathroom because i only have two kids. UGH. 😉
nah–your kids are already old enough to neglect; you’re all set! 😉
This is genius. High fives for ice cream. Can’t wait to see how your floor turns out!
Thanks, Brittany–I really, really hope I can show it to everyone by the end of the week!
You are the master. I’d watch Abe because he’s so stinking cute. But again, in only half hour increments.
He’s really the cutest in half hour increments, I’ve found.
Isn’t it great having big kids to help with the little kids! Soon you’ll be able to go on dates again!
It really is the way to do things!
Does this mean I have to have more kids in about 7 years? I might just skip out on this tutorial if that’s okay. 🙂
I am the 2nd of 4 with an 8 and 10 year age gap between me and the 2 younger ones (who are lovingly referred to as the B team…obviously me and the older sister are the A team). I so appreciate you being mindful of having the boys watch Abe. It’s an easy thing to overlook/take advantage of, and you do a wonderful job of respecting them (and rewarding them which is awesome).
Unfortunately for you, you can’t even START tiling for another 8 years or so. That’s the downside of my tutorial….kind of time consuming. Poor Abe, he has to be the B team all by himself 😉
Gretchen, you rock. I want to be a good mom like you.
Thanks, Kenz–ice cream is my secret 😉
Love your rotating schedule. I have way, way too few kids to ever be tiling. I can see that now. Thanks for clearing that up 😉
You can get your kid to actually help tile since you don’t need him for babysitting! Even better!
I don’t have any kids so I guess tiling is out for me! Sounds like it’s a pain in the butt but it looks like you’ve made some great progress! I can’t wait to see it all grouted and sealed up 🙂
YAY!!!! The tile is beautiful! And your tutorial on tiling with a one year old is spot on! Look at sweet Abe and all of your boys enjoying ice cream!!! A job well done as a family team!!! And yes having a blog pushes things along quicker!! Nicole xoxo
How exciting! I guess the two year gap between my two boys won’t quite work for babysitting. 🙂 My poor mother ends up getting most of the baby sitting shifts for which I am super thankful. Can’t wait to see the end result.
LOL too funny. But I’m not sold on having more kids. I’m so DONE!
Loooove the tile. And I was cracking up at the part about Abe getting sick. Silly baby. THE BLOG. Cracking me up.
Also. One is wearing me out a lot. But I’m not buying the more is better thing. Yet. 😉
Hahaha! That’s a great tutorial … So I think, the first time I’ll be tiling something will be in, umm, 20 or more years?! 😉
I’m excited to see the final result!
Love, Midsommarflicka
Every tutorial should have a “how to do it WITH A BABY” version, because that changes evvvverything. I’m well on my way to #1.