At the condo!

My parents were here to visit the week after Easter, so Lydia got to spend some time with them at the condo. She pretty much explored every corner of that place. Good thing my folks have a new house for her to explore near Portland this summer.

Summer Days

It feels like summer suddenly this week. While that means that the wood bees have resumed eating my house from the outside in, it also means that Lydia gets to wear super cute summer outfits like these. I realized that Lydia was so small last summer, that she didn't wear a lots of summery shorts. So hear she is in about the most summery thing we own, enjoying a beautiful summer day, playing with a chair.

Growing Pains

Lydia is now 10 months old and growing more and more independant. I go to pick her up at daycare and she is playing with the "big kids". We are still awaiting the arrival of the two front teeth. Lydia has been having bouts of fussiness that keep her and us up most of the night. It seems like a combination of factors. PJ and I have been really busy this week. Lydia has a lot of drainage from the teething and apparently has a touch of a sore throat. She is also growing up and realizing that she can keep herself awake. Here she is doing one more thing for herself. She grabbed her spoon from me and got it right in her mouth. I put some food on it and she got it back in her mouth, again. We'll keep working on teaching her to do thing for herself....including going to sleep!

Our house....is a very, very, very fine house.

It feels like we have been renovating the house for a LONG time now. It's been long enough that Lydia is now able to crawl over to PJ and offer her expert assistance.

I'm not ready to say that we are completely finished adding or changing things. But, the projects that were happening as a result of Lydia's arrival were finally completed in time to show off the house during Easter dinner.

In order to give Lydia a bathroom of her own, we moved the claw foot tub out of our bathroom. That meant we didn't have a bath of our own until we finished hers and THEN also finished renovating ours. Both bathrooms are basically finished. There are still a few finishing to obsess over and I'm not quite ready to move all of our stuff into the closet and vanity, but the medicine cabinet is fully operational and the plumbing all works. I have to say it is gorgeous! PJ did a GREAT job with all the construction and the design elements came together nicely. We even have art on the walls!

Here is a view of the shower end of the room. You can see the slate floor. There is a bench in the corner under the angled wall made by the stairs. It is just so cozy and so much a better use of space than how it functioned in our old bathroom (hiding the litter box, yuck!)

Here is the new kitchen island. You didn't know we were getting a kitchen island? Neither did PJ until about 12 hours before the project needed to be finished. He had to stain it and build the counter top. Such a trooper! And look, there's Lydia crawling around the island. That has been my FAVORITE part of finally being finished with all the renovations. The tools are put away. The clutter is picked up (for now!) Lydia is able to crawl almost anywhere on the main floor without fear of power tools. We have a ton more storage spaces for me to fill and lots lore real estate for Lydia to explore. A very fine house indeed!

Easter Sunday

Opening her Easter basket was a little overwhelming for Lydia. There were lots of people watching and several trying to take pictures. Jen had to show her a few toys to get the ball rolling. The new toys, books, bubbles, and bath squirters were fun, but not nearly as interesting as eating the crinkled green paper that came in the basket! Good thing paper is dairy free!


Happy Easter!

Easter Egg Hunt

In between grouting the new bathroom floor and deciding to purchase, stain, and install a new kitchen island, Jen and I took Lydia to the Easter egg hunt on Saturday at our church. She had her bunny hat on and her basket ready. Lydia is now able to crawl pretty well, so I thought she might have fun grabbing at a few eggs laying around her. Unfortunately, the other kids were much faster than Lydia and the other eggs proved fairly uninteresting. Lydia grabbed one egg on her own and enjoyed sitting in the grass and chewing on her egg while older kids grabbed all the eggs laying around her.

Two More Easter Pictures

We are extremely busy this week. Sick dog going to the vet. PJ has car guys in from Detroit to scan clay designs. I have Friday off, but it is rapidly filling up with haircuts, doctors visits, cleaning, etc. Oh yeah, we still have a bathroom floor to grout and a toilet and sink to install before we have Easter guests visit on Sunday. In the mean time, enjoy a few more Easter pictures.

Two More Easter Pics

Not much new to report. Here are a few more Easter pictures to enjoy.

Weekend Warriors

Friday we picked Buckley up from the vet. He had been in another fight with a neighborhood animal. He will be fine, but we spent Friday night listening to him howl while trying to find the right dosage of his medications.

Saturday, I ran a half marathon. Then I came home and helped PJ with the bathroom. He has done all of this by himself so far. It locks amazing. The beadboard is up, the walls and ceiling have been painted. The super amazing steam shower functions as a shower and is only a few electrical connections away from making steam. Today we laid the slate floor. The goal is to have the room finished before Easter, when PJ's family will come over. Wish us luck!

FINALLY!

I have been SO impatient, because the Easter pictures are SO cute. Normally I get an e-mail within a few days of teh pictures being taken. This time, no e-mail was sent. So I waited, and waited, and waited. Tonight I finally looked up my access code and went to the web site and got to them manually. No telling how long they have been ready, but I am SO excited to FINALLY be able to share them.