More on the house

Today Mark and my Dad were able to get both the guest room and Oliver's room windows replaced. Now we have to replace the two windows in our room and then it's just a few little things before the electrician can get in there to do everything else.

Does this look like a good idea?

I give you exhibit A:

The windows on most every vehicle I've owned have a habit of getting stuck open.

This is the second time Mark has jimmy-rigged my window so it would shut. I'm not sure what the batteries were for.

It's a good effect.

House updates

Here's the whole family in our upstairs tub                                              

Mark, hard at work. Furring in the rafters and framing our bedroom closet

The view from the Kitchen looking into the Living Room

                                                                      our new back porch

                                           turned into our dining room and breakfast nook
  

                                It's hard to imagine how tall this house is until you've seen it

                                it's towering. It's rumored that someone fell off the roof and died

We're getting closer to moving in every day. I'm looking for volunteers to help with insulation, and painting when we get to that point.

You'll be paid in pizza and soda.  

Luckily it looks like we might have found a drywall contractor that is within our budget. It will save us buckets of time. Close to a month. 

Little Bird

When I was little, in the morning, my mom used to make us a nest.

She would get all the blankets and pillows and circle them around us. So cozy! 

Here Oliver is carrying on the tradition.

Lady bug, lady bug....

Oliver Loves Ladybugs.....

Nearly every day he finds one.  He will stop everything he's doing and get very quiet. 
He'll very gently pick it up or put his hand next to it knowing that it will crawl onto him. Then he'll let it run around on his hand and arm. 

"But not sooo fun" (as Brandi would say) is that they stink every time they get touched.

"A treasure to a little boy does not consist of money, gems or jewelry.  He will find far greater pleasure in the wonder of a rock, pebble, stick or beetle."   - Unknown 

Goin' Green

Even though Oliver is only 8 months old it's already very obvious that he is a boy.
A few nights ago he was sitting on the bed when a big string of drool fell from his mouth. No worries. He quickly grabbed it with his hand and put it back in again. Apparently he's going green.

Mamma & Dadda

We had Oliver and our hearts melted at the sight of him, then he started turning his head to our voices and I thought it couldn't get any better. A little while later he began getting excited when we entered a room, soon after his arms would reach for us and no matter what's going on we drop everything to hold or hug him. Now we get to hear the sweetest little voice say Mamma and Dadda. I can't even tell you how amazing that feels.
We thank the Lord every day for this perfect, wonderful, squishy gift.



A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth living for.
-- Anonymous

Praising God

This weekend was beautiful! The weather was warmer, and sunny. We ran up to the house this morning and I felt like we got so much more done than usual.
I'm finding that the older Oliver gets the more he is content just sitting and playing. Because of this I was able to get a lot of cleaning done.
I forgot what it was like to be there and not be cold. It was fantastic.
It however was not fantastic when Oliver stuck his finger in my soda can and got his first owie. He cried for a few seconds and then I cried.
It was a tiny cut, but just seeing his little finger bleeding upset me so much. It makes me want to cry now.
It's a funny thing but I kind of think things like "I'm never going to let him get hurt, I will not be one of those mothers who lets there child fall and bump his head...", or "he'll just never get cut because I won't let him near anything sharp", and then it's something totally random.
It's funny thinking about it now.
By the way, Oliver is fine, but he was trying to eat his bandaid.

Early Morning

The last several mornings I've been getting up at 6 with Mark, and boy do I have new appreciation for him.
Because of that Oliver has been getting up a little earlier each morning, so I told Mark that if he tried to wake up too early on Saturday (today) that I would take him in the other room. Well, the little turkey made just enough noise for me take him out, but now I'm sitting in the guest room with a sleeping angle. Figures.

Later today Mark and Oliver are having a boys afternoon while I go scrapbook with my sister at a creative memories party. I'm excited. I printed about 170 photos. I know I won't use all of them today but I decided that transitional period or not, I need a hobby.
We've been in one transitional period after another for the past 3 years..... I can't wait to get into our house.

Bejing Garden

This is our favorite Chinese restaurant in the whole world. My family has been coming to eat here for about 11 years. Over the years Yen has watched us grow up, get married, and now have a family of our own.
Mark and I know that whenever we eat there with Oliver we will have a sitter for most of our meal.
Yen will practically ignore customers to hold Oliver and the feeling is mutual. He will now reach for her when we sit down.

Our house

For those of you who got to see our house in it's former glory here are a few pictures of the changes we've made. Mark, Dad (Stagg) and Dad (Melby) ripped off the old porch, and rebuilt most of it and added a peaked roof.
It makes the dining room feel so much larger.

The whole project has taken longer than we expected but we're still making good headway. Besides closets all the framing is finished. Now we jut have to finish the HVAC, electric, insulation, drywall, mudding (we are thankfully not doing these ourselves) refinishing floors, paint, install cabinets, pour concrete countertop (stay tuned for how Mark is going to do that), trim, carpet....
I'll stop now.

Eight months old

It's been so long since we've written on here that I forgot all about it.
Oliver turned 8 months old yesterday! I can't believe how fast this is going.

He's already doing so much, and I'm certain he's lightyears ahead of other children his age;)
He'll now occasionally say "mom" and "dad", and has no problem yelling "HEY!" if he's mad or just meeting someone.

I've been trying to download a video of him dancing. No luck yet.
We noticed him doing it about a month ago and now he's a regular John Travolta. He'll dance to anything that resembles music, or a beat.
The other night Mark was trying to whistle. He could only get out a couple notes before Oilver would start up and then Mark would laugh too hard to keep going.