Makin a list, and crossing it all off!

What a wonderfully productive week we had! Wowee. It's a good thing I kept notes on what we did each day, otherwise I'm sure I'd forget half of it...at least! :) I'm a huge list maker, so this week we were able to cross tons of things off my many lists. Wednesday we managed to iron, hem, install the curtain rod and hang up the living room curtains. I also filed a claim on Wednesday for our home warranty (because we haven't had any hot water for like, oh EVER.) to have someone come look at our "natural gas water heater" (as I looked it up in our inspection report). That night Kristin sat at our house while Sophia slept, so I was able to go to Borjo coffeehouse to watch Sam, David, and Cameron play a show. It was sooo nice to hear them play again. They are so talented! ...And the hot caramel apple cider with whip was pretty awesome too :)

Thursday someone came out to look at the water heater...only to tell us that we don't need a plumber, because it's not a natural gas water heater....it's a boiler. Sooooo, not only did our home inspector NOT know what he was looking at when he did our inspection, we had to wait until Monday for someone from the heating end of things to come out and look at it. Thursday we also hung up curtains in Sophia's room and hung 9 pictures in the guest room.

Friday was a rough day. Sophia didn't sleep well...which meant Mommy didn't get to sleep either. I think I managed to squeeze about 4.5 hours in that night. That evening we got cleaned up and Kristin took some family pictures for us down at the beach. My camera battery died about 5 pictures into it, but we managed to suck every last ounce of life out of it. It also started getting dark really quickly, so a lot of the pictures are grainy. Some of them are quite nice and I've posted a few below!

Saturday was the first day all week that Sophia slept past 6:30am. Thank goodness! We went for a walk on the beach that morning with Connor and Kristin. After Sophia's first nap, she and I went to the NICU to visit our old nurse Christy. It's always good to see her and catch up. After our stop at the NICU we went to the grocery store where we stocked up on the 10 for $10 items: ragu spaghetti sauce and all the chicken/tuna/hamburger helpers. What an awesome deal. Sam and I watched the movie "State of Play" and just vegged on the couch because I was STILL sick. Great movie - I recommend it!

Sunday morning I actually stayed home from church because I wasn't feeling well. I managed to clean the house up a bit and unpack some more boxes. I ironed the curtains for the master bedroom and guest bedroom.

On Monday, we got a great deal accomplished. We were up early for a beach walk (Sam's day off hooray!) and then I grouted the kitchen backsplash with the wonderful expertise and help of Kristin! It looks amazing! We also got our boiler fixed and now have an abundant supply of hot water! How exciting to be able to take even a lukewarm shower and to not have to heat water up on the stove for Sophia's bath. Ah, the luxury. Sophia also had a top tooth poke through today! We can't see it very well yet, but you can definitely feel it.

Today (Tuesday) I babysat Dylan for the first time. Dylan is a 2 month old baby of our friends from church/Sam's work. I'll be watching him while his dad works as a Norfolk Police Detective and his mom is busy as an art teacher. Sophia adores Dylan and of course would probably attack him if we let her get close enough. We also ran lots of errands (returned a movie, TJ Maxx return, Michaels, Old Navy, Target, bank, AND Home Depot), put up the guest room curtains, and did some other odds and ends.

In next week's blog, you'll hear all about....what, did you think I was actually going to tell you? Psht. Guess you'll have to stick around for next Tuesday :)

Sophia learning how to restring a guitar 10-7-09

Just being cute...as usual



A lovely family picture on the beach 10-9-09

Her first real time getting to play in the sand...and she kept trying to eat it

Sophia and Mommy

Sophia with Daddy

Grout. Oh, you mean that's not vanilla frosting?

Getting started

Looks marvelous if I do say so myself!

He's still in the car seat and Sophia is already trying to check out Dylan

Filling his own diaper bin

Such a cutie pie

Picking out a couple pumpkins at Home Depot to put on our front steps

MY little pumpkin. I picked her.

She loves Tommy the turtle!

I just realized there are no pictures of the curtains we hung or the pictures, so I'll try to do that next week :)

Did I not promise I would update today? :)

Here I am, one week later, updating the blog. YESSSSS. I'm actually quite proud of myself for keeping my promise. As the week went on, I tried to make notes about what we did, so that when tonight came - I could actually remember.


Wednesday I did a lot of cleaning (dishes, laundry, sweeping, etc) and put some new pictures in our dining room frames. That night I started feeling sick - my throat was sore. I wasn't sure if it was just dry or what. The next morning I was supposed to be going to Woodbridge, VA to Ikea with a friend, so I was hoping it was nothing. Thursday morning arrived and my throat was still feeling yucky, but we went to Ikea anyway. She has an 8 week old and he slept pretty much the entire drive there, while at Ikea, and on the way home. Sophia was not quite as pleasant, but that's alright. She has a short attention span now that she's older. At Ikea I got a few things that we needed: curtains for all the bedrooms and the living room, a curtain rod for Sophia's room, a TV console, some small jars for my sea glass, pillow inserts for the guest room shams (99 cents a piece!), a flower pot, and 3 small framed mirrors. By the time we got home that night, I felt completely awful. My nose was running, I had a horrible headache, and my throat was sore. I went to bed early and woke up Friday....MISERABLE. I still have my cold, but it's getting much better. Friday was probably the worst day of it - I kid you not when I say that I couldn't smell anything - not a poopy diaper, not the Vicks under my nose, nothing. I couldn't taste anything either. I love food, so this was a particularly frustrating day. Let me tell you - not being able to taste your food takes all the enjoyment away from eating.

Sunday morning I started a roast in our slow cooker and went to church. It was our first Sunday in our new church building! So exciting! The building is awesome and I'll try to take pictures next Sunday. The grand opening services totaled almost 700 people! That is amazing! I hope the Lord continues to help us reach new people and grow as a church community. Sunday night we had the roast, potatoes, carrots, homemade gravy, and wheat rolls for dinner. It was incredibly disappointing...because I couldn't taste a thing. Arg. Sam said it was great, so I took his word for it. Leftovers on Monday were great though! So glad I actually could taste it and enjoy it.

Monday night Sam and I went out for dinner at El Loro - our favorite Mexican restaurant. Sam's mom was kind enough to give us a gift card AND volunteer to babysit so we could go out to eat. Dinner was wonderful. Afterward we ran a few errands at Target and Babies R Us.

Sophia has been quite the chatterbox this week. She babbles constantly and is saying new syllables all the time. Tonight while she was eating dinner, it sounded like she was singing. Adorable! I think she's also working on a little tooth on the top. Her gum has been really white for several days, but nothing poking through yet. I hope it explains why she hasn't been eating as well this week and cranky.

Scooting herself under the chair

Awesome new shirt from Auntie Kristin!

Hanging out at Tyler's baseball games on Sunday

The new tv console! Need to find some neat decorative paper to back those shelves...because Sam accidentally put the backing on backwards. Oh well :)

The OLD tv console...aka a dresser we found on the street

Playing before bedtime

The new pictures in the dining room

Our lights we hung inside the screened in porch

Some more pictures....

This is what walking on the beach looks like every morning. Ahhhmazing.

Sam walking in the water.

A great toy!


I'm in rare form. I hardly every actually dry my hair, get dressed, and put makeup on. I used to do this daily....now it's maybe once a week.

Such beautiful eyes.


Mount Trashmore on a gorgeous afternoon.

I love my husband.

Playing with the grass...

Family picture at Mt. Trashmore 9-27-09

These two are the loves of my life.

I just love being HER mommy.

If you'd like to look at all the pictures from our recent trip to the Botanical Garden, check em out here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2618907&id=8602449&l=660fd5ef4f

Autosave? I need an Autoupdate too!

Ok, so I know I have been sooooooo crummy at updating my blog. I promise I will do it WEEKLY. Every Tuesday you can expect an update from now on. That means you all need to start harrassing me about it on every Sunday probably :D Ok, so I did make an awesome attempt at updating the blog one week ago from today. I uploaded and captioned ALL the pictures from the last two months. I then proceeded to write about half of my blog. All of a sudden internet explorer decided to shut down. The only things saved were the pictures I had uploaded the night before. Needless to say, I was devastated after 2 hours of work was GONE. I have absolutely no idea why all that work wasn't autosaved like it always is. Anyway, here are the pictures that I had uploaded that first night of working on the blog.

Some quick updates:
Sophia had her 9 month appt at the end of August and was 26.25" long and 15lbs 7oz. Her stats dropped from the 15th % to the 10th. Nothing to be worried about though - she is doing great! No crawling yet, but loves to roll around and push herself backwards. She is babbling up a storm. She has mastered "babababa" and is getting close to "mama" and "dadda." I could listen to her talk all day. Absolutely priceless. Sophia also really loves her Gerber Puffs. She's getting much better at the pincer motion, but sometimes she just grabs with her whole hand anyway.
At the beginning of September, Sophia and I went back to Wisconsin for about 10 days. It was great to be home and spend time with family and friends that I haven't seen in a long time. We got to meet my little niece Tanner for the first time too! We did a photo shoot with Sophia and Tanner - quite hilarious.
When I got back from my trip to Wisconsin, Sam and I (and Sophia obv) went to the Botanical Garden again. It was gorgeous weather and the flowers were absolutely marvelous too. Can't wait to go back and photograph some more of them. We still haven't been through the entire garden yet.

Cousins: Sophia (9 months) and Tanner (4 months)

I love her little toofers!

Playing like a good girl!

The girls reunite at a backyard bbq at Caitlin's house.

Steph's first time meeting Sophia!

Enjoying the water fountain at the Riviera.

Spending a day in Lake Geneva with mommy's friend Julie!

This is what happens when you put more than 1 puff in your mouth. Billy Bob teeth!

When she went in this in April, we had a pillow under her feet and a blanket behind her back because it was so big for her. It's perfect now!

Hangin' with Auntie Jaclyn!

Sophia with her Great-grandparents. 9-10-09

Lovely picture with my Grandma and Grandpa Leedle! :)

"Stay on your side, Sophia! Ugh!"

"Just sit right there, Tanney."

I melt everytime I look at her. <3

Pretty in purple with Mommy.

Swallowtail butterfly on a butterfly bush.

Just makes me happy to look at this. God is so amazing!

An attempt at a family photo. :)

We tried to let her smell the flowers, but she really just wanted to eat them.

Happy girl with Daddy.

One of my favorite shots of the day.

A beautiful sunflower. I love them!

Walking with Daddy through the Children's World of Wonder Garden.

Sophia and I at the Botanical Garden 9-13-09.

Well I hope you enjoyed my skimpy blog, but after losing all of it during my last attempt, I really lost the ambition to blog about everything that happened in the last two months! Don't forget to start reminding me on Sunday! Hahaha. Actually, I'm not kidding. Do it.