As promised in my last post, it has been a long time since I have blogged. Let me tell you why… 🙂
On October 17th we closed on our ‘new’ house. It is a brick rambler built in the 50’s. Beautiful 1/3 acre lot, 5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, lots of storage and room to grow. Although dated, it had the list of everything we wanted in a house and we got if for a good price. The former owner built the house on family farm property and proceeded to live there with his wife and raise his family. Our understanding is that the husband passed away 10+ years ago and the wife was recently moved into a home. The house was being sold by the family trust which was run by the daughters. The house is well-built and in great shape for its age, however it is also a do-it-yourself’ers dream. Green and red shag carpeting, pink rose bathroom (including pink wallpapered ceiling!?!), and a dated kitchen/bathroom just to start the list, so between closing on the 17th and moving on the 27th the shag carpeting was removed and the SOLID OAK FLOORS were professionally refinished, the bedrooms all got new carpet, and thanks to some very helpful friends we got 2 out of 3 bedrooms painted and the main dining/living room area painted. What a transformation! Since that time we’ve done about 30 small projects, and begun peeling wallpaper in the bathroom. We still need to paint the 3rd bedroom, trim, bedroom ceilings, and kitchen along with finishing the bathroom project. The most frustrating part for me is the super-SLOW pace at which I can get things accomplished while working full time, trying to keep up on day to day household chores, and tending a certain 8 month old. With some luck I will have more painting help at the beginning of January when my mom and aunt come out to help. It will be the first time they have seen the new house and I’ll be putting them right to work. Since one person has to be on full time baby duty, we’ve found it nearly impossible to get painting done on our own in a month of living here. There is a before/after album on my facebook page. I think you can access it via this link even if you aren’t friends with me on facebook. (Can someone confirm if this works?)
William is doing excellent. He spent about 2 weeks crawling and then moved straight to pulling himself up on stuff. At Thanksgiving (8 months old) he proved he can climb stairs. He now has 4 teeth and weighs somewhere around 23lbs. He never sits still. SO BUSY! He likes to Skype with grandma and grandpa every day. The move was good timing because now he has more space and we can baby-proof right from the start. We also have his high chair on wood flooring instead of carpeting, which is very nice–doubly noted when I step on a piece of mushed banana he’s thrown off his tray. He has begun to show preference with what we feed him. At daycare he continues to eat anything delivered on a spoon, but at home he has an opinion about everything! I’m hopeful that it is a stage we’re working through. Napping is still not his strong suit, although we had a really good week of nights after teething and before he came down with a cold. I think this is his first actual cold so I will count my blessings. He is recently much more interested in books, mostly the turning of the pages. Jason wrote a cute blog post about this that you can find here. He continues to make us smile and is the best thing we’ve ever done whenever he’s not the worst thing we’ve ever done.
For curious parties Kiki made the move with us and has adjusted to her new home quite well. We now have a full basement for her to claim and doors to shut so her nighttime yowling or playing doesn’t keep anyone awake. This may help Jason and Kiki develop a better relationship. She doesn’t drift on the wood flooring as much as I’d hoped, but maybe I just haven’t been around when she gets playing up to top speed. She and William are developing a cute relationship. Sometimes she begs for his attention when we’re playing with something else and then when he’s actively chasing her, she stays just out of arm’s reach. She is more patient with the grabbing and tail-pulling than I thought she may be.
This month we had a good Thanksgiving at the ranch in Logan. We drove up for the day–I had to work the day before Thanksgiving, and Jason filled in for someone the day after. William decided to be a real charmer that day, and being the only baby present he got all of the attention. It was nice to see Jason’s aunts and uncles and a few cousins we haven’t seen in awhile. We did miss Jason’s sisters (and family) that couldn’t make it.
The weather has been unusually warm. It doesn’t feel like the end of November, much less 3 weeks until Christmas! We got a small table-top tree, but haven’t managed to get it decorated. This weekend Jason went on a day-trip Saturday, so I doubt it will get done this weekend either. I have imagined our new house decorated in lights and ready for Christmas but I’m starting to lose hope of that happening. It seems like a lot of work to just take down again in another 4 weeks. Especially when I stare at all the wallpaper that needs peeling…
Our next trip to WI is scheduled for March! I always like when the tickets are purchased and we have a trip to look forward to!
Take Care!
S.~