Alex is 5 months old – and started daycare on the same day! She is approximately 13lbs 13oz and wearing 6month and 6-9month clothes but out of the 3-6month for the most part.
She is working on rolling, she can get from her belly to her back and from her back almost to her bellly (hasn’t figured out how to move her arm out from under her yet). She likes tummy time now and usually only rolls because she’s trying to reach something. If she’s on her belly she tries to scoot herself by kicking her feet against the floor rather than trying to roll. She’s no where near crawling but I do see her scooting around on her belly soon (and getting frustrated!).
She loves to hang out naked, it’s her very favorite thing and it’s so much easier to get her to laugh or giggle when she’s naked and you tickle her face or belly with a soft blanket. She loves to try to grab you with her feet and she tries to investigate your face with her hands (usually daddy’s face in the morning and she’s quite violent about it) 🙂
She can fit in the jumparoo without anything under her feet now (toes just touching) and loves to bounce and explore. She also loves standing if you’ll help her and playing that way. She’s obsessed with electronics and technology, if there is a cell phone or computer (or tv) anywhere in the room, she will crane her neck to try to see it 🙂
And finally the pictures. It was harder to get her to smile because I did these later in the day on Sunday instead of morning when she’s at her best but I got some fun ones!
5 months oldThere’s a smile!Always trying to eat anything and everything!example number 2dresses are so constricting – freedom!oh what’s this over here?Her twin in the mirror!
More progress on the built-ins this weekend! We got the shelves painted (last coat) so we can install them tomorrow. We put in the 5 drawers that were finished (yea – storage!!!). Ryan hooked up the final speaker wires and we ran a new wire for the subwoofer that is hiding behind the couch. All of the electronics are hooked up and wires are run appropriately. Ryan also drilled a hole in the console of our couch and we installed a surge protector in the console so we have easy access to outlets for our laptops and phones!
Outlets in our couch!Speaker wiresSpeakers are wired in the top and bottom of the bookshelves.The cabinet with doors has 3 finished drawers installed and the 2 drawer cabinet is baby stuff!Almost done!
We still have 5 drawers to finish (the shellac goes fast, but they need a first pass of good sanding first). Then Ryan has to make/install doors on the built-ins – he has 1 set of doors almost done and ready for paint but that leaves 3 more sets. We still have to finish the doors to the room and the closet itself. I can’t wait to move our dvds into the built-ins and put some things up on the bookshelves and walls!
This week the weather is supposed to be great, which is good because this is Ryan’s one week to get the last window installed and all the siding up! By himself. Hopefully this works out!
That’s right, last weekend was our annual Groudas family camp out in Knox. This year we had 2 little ones with us so it was very interesting. Luckily the days went on without a hitch, little Jason crawled around happily, not caring that it was grass and not a floor to crawl on. His favorite activity by far however was getting pulled in the wagon by grandma who drove him over to the pond and back multiple times (a day).
Grandma, the pond is that way, why are we going into the woods??Oh! You want to take my picture? Awesome!
Alex’s favorite activity during camping (and any time really) was getting some naked time with daddy tickling her with a blanket or burp cloth or whatever. This is her favorite game and getting to be naked made it even better evidently. She surprisingly did not pee all over the place like she does at home.
Our kid loves to be naked and outdoors.
On Saturday it started to get a bit warm out so the kids got changed into something lighter to wear. Alex decided to sport her favorite dress.
She loves dresses because she can pull them up and eat them.little jason doing some yoga posesthank you grandma for bringing the little travel swing – naps were great because of it!
While naps were great, sleep was ‘okay’. Better the first night than the second for sure on both counts. Alex slept until 2am in her bouncy chair Saturday night. When she woke up her hands were freezing (i didn’t think to bring mittens or a hat). So she spent the rest of the night in bed with us which meant she woke me up to eat a few times. Saturday night jason slept great, he did wake up crying at one point but it was probably a dream because he calmed down and slept the rest of the night.
Sunday night was a different story for both kids. Alex slept the entire night with us after watching fireworks. This meant we were up every 2-3 hours to eat. Jason was up crying quite a bit himself – probably the molar he had pop through (bad timing!). Of course he slept soundly right through the fireworks.
The fireworks were short lived though Sunday night, Fitz got freaked and after a while ran off to get away. After an hour of everyone searching in the woods (and down the road) for him he finally slinked back on his own. Crazy dog.
So Sunday was not as good a night as Saturday and on Monday everyone was a bit tired. All in all though camping was successful, no one got hurt! Oh except Fitz there too – he got a huge thorn in the paw and was limping/crying until Ryan took it out. Other than that no one got hurt!
the tents – notice pj and erica’s tent hiding behind our tent – not the ideal location when babies are crying in the middle of the night !Jason and PJ had a little accident in the pond when the canoe tipped over during an attempt to land 🙂
I didn’t get a trip in the canoe this year, Alex needed constant attention (she always does) so I took my breaks to do more productive things like eat. Next year though I plan to get out there!
And another one down for a nap! Success!One goes down, the other gets up – ‘Mom, i’m not amused, don’t you have any NEW toys for me?’ 🙂 She’s so opinionated.Don’t be fooled by my cool shades, mom did not let me out in the sun at all, i was stuck under the tarp all day!Dressed in her new camping outfit as it started to cool down for the evening.Oh look – the cousins match!Jason’s favorite books by far are his bug books – he just kept going back to read them again.Alex, not to be outdone grabbed her own book to read and settled in 🙂 She’s not competitive in the least i swear!and the burpcloth/blanket game again – she loves this!jason got to sit on the tractor with grandpa, this did not last long, but he kept looking for the tractor when he heard it!a little photo opportunity
On Sunday we all went out for a little adventure (actually Alex slept so she stayed at camp napping). We went out on the quads then met up with Aimee, Jason and Jason at the pond. PJ caught a bass after only fishing for about 15 minutes with bobbers that don’t float no less!
See! I wasn’t joking – this kid loves to read! Just like his momma!Giving me the stink eye – cutie!
Later on Sunday our friends Justin and Jen brought their little one over to play for a bit as well. He and Jason didnt’ exactly play ‘together’ but next to each other, it was cute and Landon liked the wagon just as much as jason did. Next year it will be Jason and Alex fighting over the wagon! Or hopefully, Jason pushing/pulling Alex in the wagon.
One wakes up from a nap…The other passes out 🙂
On Monday we waited until the tents dried out and then got packed up to head out. Since we were able to drive the trucks all the way into the campsite setup/breakdown was really pretty easy this year. One good thing about drought conditions at least.
He’s a crawling machine now!Packing up camp is hard work – tired Alex right out.
Just before lunch we headed out to go to Grandma and Papa Williams’ house for the day where I got a nice long shower – the best part about getting done with camping – showers feel awesome when you haven’t had one in a few days!
It is getting very close now! This last weekend we made some more progress on the tvroom. I got 5 of the 10 drawers sanded, and 2 coats of shellac put on them. Ryan installed the hardware so they’re ready to get installed and we only have 5 more to go 🙂
I also got a first coat of paint on the shelves, hopefully finishing up those this week so we can put them in! And finally I cut in on the last 2 walls and ceiling in the tvroom and ryan got the rolling done so the walls are completed and the room is looking more finished for sure!
We still have to finish those 5 drawers, the shelves and make the doors for the built-ins but it’s very close now and much more usable. Once the shelves are in Ryan can finish installing the speakers (2 more to go) and our 7.1 surround sound will be done as well.
That’s right – we hired someone for another project. This time we decided we really want the porch to be stripped (lead paint) and re-painted before winter so we decided to hire someone to do that work. Interestingly enough I could probably do this stripping faster if we just hired a babysitter, but the work is getting done and I don’t have to do it so bonus.
What are they doing? We are having the soffit and frieze board around the top of the porch all done, the tops of the posts (the bottoms are being rebuilt by Ryan’s Dad). The soffit and frieze along the roof line on the driveway side of the house and the shingles in the peak (those are not being stripped but just sanded and then painted). Finally the siding next to the side door is going to get stripped and painted. It’s easier to show in pictures.
Rather than strip a lot of this, they are actually just taking down the wood and replacing it, fine with us and cheaper for them.
This section of siding will be stripped and then painted green with yellow for the trim.Here you can see the posts are stripped and that upper frieze board was replaced, the piece between the posts and the top has also been stripped but needs some repair work (they are going to screw it up to secure it better than putty it up). The posts and frieze/soffit will all be yellow.The outside frieze/soffit removal is started. I believe they remove the entire thing and replace it because the moldings are all standard and easy to replace rather than strip. The carpenter is waiting for confirmation on that from the contractor so he’s waiting on that.The work up here hasn’t been started yet but they will replace and/or strip the soffit all along the roof there just like the porch. The shingles will be sanded and painted red, the soffit yellow and the molding they are going to add in will be red. There are also 2 sections that were rotted a bit so they are going to repair that up as well. The only section they aren’t touching (except to sand and paint) is the shingles and frieze around the shingles.
So that’s our house progress while we have no time to work on the house just yet. I have the shelves for the built-ins primed, ready to be painted. I also made one of the two curtains for the nursery so some progress is being made here and there. Hopefully this weekend will see more progress.
Baby girl is 4 months old already! In exactly 1 month she will start daycare so today we went over to check it out and meet her ‘teachers’ and fill out paperwork. Alex loved watching the other kids (she always does) and I think it will be a great fit.
What’s new this month? Well Alex laughs (sometimes), blows raspberries! All.the.time – as of yesterday. Rolls to her side like a pro (not all the way yet). Holds her head up steadily now. Found her feet (but hasn’t eaten them yet, just plays with them). Scratches herself daily (insane how quickly these darn baby nails grow!). She’s drinking pear juice now – her first non-milk ‘food’. You know, all the things those genius children do – read books, count to 10 (just kidding) – but we’re having lots of fun.
We had some fun taking photos today…
It is so hard to choose a favorite so there may be a lot…didn’t get many smiles but a giggle is greatgoing for the feet, i had to grab her so i wasn’t able to center the pic but still cute!oh hello thereand some tummy time, always tough to get good pictures because she hates it, i tricked her by using her giraffe to pose her a bit. This lasted for about 20 seconds longer than normal (which is 2 seconds)For size reference, getting so big!
Well it’s done! We are officially no longer using oil – the oil boiler is gone! That really saves a lot of space in the basement, opening it up a bunch. The gas line is in (they even planted grass where they tore up the lawn – and some of it is growing even without me watering it haha!). The new water heater (tankless) is in and feeding the hot water for the house. The heat works, although it was only on to test it. We have a furnace in the basement that does forced hot air downstairs then we have a gas line that goes up to the attic and runs a furnace up there that has forced hot air through ceiling vents to the upstairs.
The oil furnace is gone!New tankless water heater nicely mounted!
New gas furnaceA view of the main trunk and return trunk.
We also have central air in the upstairs (condenser unit outside) that has been on for a few weeks (no gas needed). So we are very excited to have actual heat this winter – no oil bill (just a gas bill which should be MUCH lower than oil has been!).
We also bought our own heat registers for the floors downstairs, the brown ones they installed were very nice but we were looking for something a bit more ornate to match the victorian feel since the downstairs has so much nice trim work we are doing to keep it victorian. Upstairs the vents are in the ceilings and I couldn’t find nice ones to replace them so we’re leaving the simple white vents up there.
Heat registers (this is actually a return, the registers are smaller)
If I haven’t said it, I’m very excited, last winter half the downstairs didn’t even have heat because we had removed the radiators during renovations. Now every room has heat (the kitchen will be light on heat until we renovate and he comes back and adds a second drop to it but that was our choice since we don’t know the layout yet). The ducts take up a lot of space but surprisingly they fit well in the basement, you can easily walk under them without even bending over so it shouldn’t be a problem. In the attic they are all run to the side (behind what will be a knee wall) and then under the floors leaving the main area open still.
We just have to insulate the attic before winter so the furnace doesn’t freeze up. Technically we could put in the knee wall and just insulate around the furnace but with the spray foam it’s easier to just do a large area. We’ll see what happens, we have time before we have to decide and other projects to finish first.
On my list now is to find someone to remove the old oil tank and then someone to remove the old steam radiators!
Alex and I spent some time on Monday over with our cousins. The girls got to play with Alex on the floor as she attempted to roll (back to front) – she still has to work on getting her arm out from under her and she mostly attempted to roll with her giraffe in her arms so I assume that was an impediment as well 🙂
Georgia and AlexChloe and AlexMaia and AlexPlay timeAnd nap time 🙂snuggling with her raffi the giraffi
This weekend was a busy one! Between visitors and painting we got a lot accomplished. By the end of Saturday we had the first coat of paint on all of the trim in the tv room, just in time for friends to come over for dinner. Then after Alex went to bed we got the second coat on the windows!
Sunday we sanded all the trim again and got the second coat of paint. Plus ryan started installing the shoe molding that got a second coat in the morning. This was all pretty much after a visit and lunch with Mimi (Alex’s grandmother drove out for a visit).
Built-ins all painted!Trim all painted!
What’s left in the tvroom?
A coat of paint on the outside of the window sashes and putting them back in
A coat of paint on the walls once the trim is all dry (and it has to be cut in around all the trim)
Cut in the ceiling paint along 2 walls of crown
Shoe molding needs to be installed (just behind the couch is getting done, the rest of the baseboards just got painted).
Shelves and drawers for the built-ins need to be finished (painted/shellac’d)
Doors for built-ins need to be re-made and finished
Doors to the room all need to be painted
I think that’s it, basically the room can start to be used now, we can start putting in the stereo for example and run the wires for the tv. We can put the rug down as soon as the wall and ceiling paint are done … fun stuff!
Tomorrow Alex and I are off to visit the cousins since when they stopped by Saturday she was napping they didn’t get to play with her. Then Tuesday it’s back to work!
And what a night out has been. alex was in a good mood after a good day and she was right on schedule. Ryan gave her a bath while I made dinner, we all ate together then she went to bed. Once she was down we got more painting done in the tvroom. The windows, shoe molding and crown all have one coat of paint now as well as 3 out of 4 door trims. That leaves one door trim and baseboards before we sand and re coat.
Oh and the new couch arrived!
And alex seems to have started teething (drooling and chewing on everything).
