Some House Adventures

We have slowly been adding furniture and rearranging stuff since we have moved in here. Has it really been six months already? There is a blank wall that is sort of in our living room, but also is a high traffic area so we couldn't put anything wide on that wall. This bench was our solution--it is great. Out of the way when we don't need it, but it fills the space. It is near our door to the outside so is a good place to sit and put on shoes, well, once we start wearing something other than flip flops. When we have more than 5 or 6 people in our living room we can pull it closer to the couches and complete a "conversation area." This bench seats three people easily. It was a great bargain find at HomeGoods store, as was the painting above. I love that our living room now looks more complete with art, rug, seating, throw pillows, lamps, etc. that all coordinate so well! I wish I could take a 360 degree picture so you all could see :)

In other house news, we found out that we had a family of raccoons living in our walls and Aubrey's room's ceiling. Gross, I know! Our basement/crawl space didn't really have a solid door on it and they were getting in there. They tore out some insulation so they could climb up inside the walls. Bill and I shovelled out 14 wheelbarrows of mud out of there (who knows how long that had been accumulating, the house is over 100 years old!) and then the next weekend Bill and my Dad framed out the door and then built a special two layer screen door to shut it tight. It has to be a screen so that the air can circulate under the house so that it doesn't get too damp. We put a fine mesh screen to keep out mice and a sturdy wire screen to keep out bigger varmints. Once the door was done we left it open until we heard the raccoons leave in the evening. We shut it tight and locked them out! We haven't heard them since, so we are pretty sure it has worked. :)

Next we are going to be working on the bedrooms downstairs, moving the baby furniture out of Aubrey's room into the guest bedroom since she is in her big girl furniture now. I got some wall decals that match her new bedding, but want to paint her walls first. They haven't been painted for over 20 years (I think) so they are due! The colors in her bedding are pink, green, orange and tan. I found this picture and liked the idea of an orange stripe, maybe with pink background or a less khaki looking green.

The Out Takes

I will hold you by the nose and bash you with this musical instrument!

If I have to smile and look at the camera one more time I am just going to lose it!

Maybe if I tickle myself I'll smile.

You want me to lay on my tummy why? What if these creepy photo ladies creep up on me from behind?

Some pictures from Aubrey's Photo Shoot :)

Two Years Old!

Aubrey on her new swingset from Gramma and Papa

Aubrey with her new tricycle from Gramma and Grampa.

Aubrey celebrated her second birthday last week. We just had a small party with family, with a dinner and cake and ice cream. She really enjoyed opening her presents: a lawnmower, a backhoe, a little people airplane, and a cooking (pots and pans) set.

At her checkup she weighed 32.5 lbs (95th percentile) and measured 35.75 inches tall (90th percedntile).

Our other big news is that Aubrey is now potty trained! She is so proud of being able to wear her big girl underwear and go in the potty, she even makes it through the night without having to go. I now get woken up every morning with a little voice calling, "go potty, mommy?"

Cousins

You all might remember this picture of Aubrey with the frog from when she was about three weeks old. The frog was a present from her Uncle John (my brother)

Now, here is a picture of Kyle at almost 4 weeks with his monkey, a present from Aubrey. I thought it would be cute to post them both here for comparison.

We had a beautiful Independence Day celebration. Friday afternoon our Texas relatives flew in and we had some massive thunderstorms. All the rain was worrying us that all our outdoor plans would be ruined, but July 4th and 5th had the most beautiful weather that we have had so far this season! It is so nice to be on the lake when it is a holiday weekend and not be the ones to have to drive in all the traffic. :) Anyway, we had a wonderful time participating in the boat parade, eating, swimming (only the bravest, the water is still very cold!), eating, talking, watching fireworks, eating, hiking in a local park, and oh, yes, we ate. My Aunt and Uncle were up only Friday through Sunday afternoon, their visit flew by. My grandmother will be staying the whole month. She will be here for the birth of my brother's baby (already 11 days late!) and for Aubrey's second birthday.

I hope that this good weather holds because we have some outdoor work to do--we need to put deck preservative on the deck and we have some stairs that are falling apart that need to be replaced. Aubrey LOVES swimming and boat rides. She always asks Papa to "go FAST!" and then shrieks "Weeeeeeeeeee!" when he does.

And lastly, I just wanted to share a happy story:

Recently I have been trying to find doctors for us since it has been a few months since we have moved. I found a good pediatrician for Aubrey and then started looking for an OB/Gyn. I kept running into roadblocks and was getting really worried I wouldn't find one that met my requirements of a small all-female practice who encouraged low-intervention births who did not perform abortions. Everywhere I looked I found large (8+ doctors) practices of mostly men who provided abortions. With 8 abortion clinics in the small state you would think that an OB practice wouldn't need to do them as well! I looked for birthing centers: there is only one in the state 1 hour and 45 minutes away. I looked for midwives: the only ones I found were part of a larger practice with the above problems. I said, okay, I just need to prioritize what I am looking for and just let the other things go. So I decided I will go to a large practice and a male doctor if I can just find one that isn't an abortion doctor. I even gave up the idea of going to the closest hospital to us (1/2 hour away) and was going to look further afield. As I opened my computer this morning to start my search once again I prayed that God would guide me and lead me to the right practice. So I decided to look at the close hospital one more time and there was a practice I hadn't called yet! I called them up and found not only a two female doctor practice who do not perform abortions, but the head doctor specializes in low intervention births and VBACs (not that I need a VBAC but I think that says something about her philosophy on C sections.) I have an appointment scheduled to meet the doctors in two weeks, but I am fairly certain that I have found a practice that I can be comfortable and happy with. Praise be to God!

I should have taken some before pictures

Along with this old house on the lake that we have moved into we have inherited a number of very mature shrubs and gardens. I tend to prefer the cultured, mannered look of well ordered and pruned gardens, like the shrub mazes at Mount Vernon or Versailles. Others prefer the wilder, more natural looking gardens. Of course I choose the one that requires much more work! First order of business is pruning the shrubs. Two giant rhododendrons, a crazy azalea, an eight foot plus tall burning bush, some spindly holly bushes, and a leggy lilac have all met with my pruning shears. The hollies and the lilac I didn't prune much, just tried to give a little shape and encourage them to fill out a bit. The rhododendrons and the burning bush I took off at least half of their foliage and so now they look quite sad. I think it will take a few seasons of consistent pruning before they are looking more civilized. Anyway, I told myself I couldn't buy any more plants until the ones that are here are under control. This year I think will be totally focused on that, then I can plant some new stuff in the spring. It will be fun to have some gardens to plan over the winter. :)

We plan to furnish Aubrey with a few outdoor toys for her birthday. On her wish list is a climber/slide or swingset, sandbox, and tricycle. Also smaller things: a sprinkler attachment for a hose for running through, bubbles to blow, good ball to kick/bounce around, floats for swimming in the lake.

I would like to build some sort of fenced in area to put these toys so that Aubrey can play and I won't have to constantly worry about her running toward the lake. We were at my brother's house a few weekends ago and it was so incredibly nice to just let her have the run of the entire back yard. I could actually sit on a lawn chair and talk to everyone without running after Aubrey telling her not to go that way or the other way. We could put up something just out where the old horse fence was--there is already two sides to that fence still up. Or we could connect to the existing dog fence in the woods and just fence across the lake access. The only problem is that Dexter LOVES swimming 250 times a day, so that would hamper his water access. I would have to just be sure to close the gate only when I was out there with Aubrey I guess. More planning to do!

catching up

Last weekend we had our friends from Richmond, VA, come visit us. We had a great time, Aubrey and Charlotte are so cute together! We also got the chance to have some good food, play some games, spend time on the lake in the boat and kayaks, do some shopping, and even went out on a double date! One of the hardest things about our move has been being so far from all our friends.

It is so nice here on the lake now that summer has arrived. We have been enjoying the cool breezes and dappled sunshine we get here in the woods on the lake. Bill has been swimming for a couple weeks now, but the water is still pretty cold. I'll venture in soon I am sure. We just bought Aubrey a bathing suit at LL bean last week so she'll be ready once it warms a little. I am not missing the 90 degree weather of NoVA, we haven't had the need for any air conditioning yet this year here! We really want to buy a canoe, I have been keeping my eye out for one on craigslist since they are so expensive new!

I also need to buy a new bathing suit, ugh! Not looking forward to that search. I have a very specific idea of what I want: a tankini that the top is on the looser side and overlaps the bottom by a couple inches and the bottoms aren't cut really low so as to hold in my post baby tummy, but not so high as to look like granny panties. ;) Oh and not $$$ either! Some bathing suits are so pricey. I did get some good deals at Ann Taylor Loft lately--they really mark down their sale items. I got a really nice pair of dark wash jeans for $9.98 (size 2 no less, woohoo)

I have been trying out some new cake recipies lately which has been fun. My stand mixer is getting lots of exercise. :) I made a Carrot Ginger cake with Orange cream cheese frosting today for Alisa's birthday. We are going over to John and Alisa's house tomorrow to celebrate--they aren't going far from home these days since she is due in about 2 and a 1/2 weeks! We are all eagerly anticipating the arrival of baby Kyle. (well, maybe not Aubrey, I don't think she gets it when we tell her that Alisa has a baby in her tummy) I think Aubrey is in for a rude awakening when she finds out that she is not the littlest, cutest, center of attention at family gatherings anymore. It will be good for her though!

Speaking of Aubrey I can't believe her second birthday is next month! People always say time flies when your kids are growing up, and it really is true. It seems like she was just a little bundle that did nothing but drink milk and need diaper changes. :) Time to start planning a birthday party and another cake...