I did it! I think I have figured out how to shorten and upload a video! Hope you enjoy seeing Luke's first cereal! Please let me know if it doesn't work. :-)
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Wicked Weather
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
And So It Goes...
We start a rather large painting party today. Grandma and Grandpa are arriving around lunchtime and we hope to get the nursery and guest room painted while they are here. Both will require primer (the nursery is a dark brown and the guest room is bright purple), but Mike was a big help in spackling last weekend. I swear, these people NEVER repaired one nail hole in the 15 years they lived here. Here I was about to say to you, "fill the holes as you go - it's much easier." But, then I realized that these people got us to do it for them. After all, we still bought the house, right? So, to each his own. I for one will fill them as I change my mind about things, but I'm hoping not to look at spackle for a long, long time.
P.S. I really hate to rub it in to our dear friends in Richmond, who are once again dealing with 100's. But, I will. It's right now 68 degrees and a strong breeze so I have the windows open.
Friday, July 18, 2008
6 Months Old Today!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Help! The Couch is Eating Me!
Luke is one energetic kid. He is constantly moving! He managed to wiggle and turnover right into the crack of the couch. And, all Daddy had to do was get the camera and he just smiled like he was so proud of himself. He's quite proficient at rolling over these days, but not very interested in sitting up. His feet are way to intriguing and so pretty much every time he lunges to try and get his toes in his mouth and ends up falling over. But, we'll keep working on it. Not really looking forward to crawling. :-)
He's definitely a huge Daddy fan, too. Tonight, Luke had been getting fussy (i.e. hungry and tired) so I was getting ready to start bedtime. In walks Mike and Luke was all giggles and smiles. It was terribly cute! Although, now, Mike's upstairs trying to get our overstimulated little one to go to sleep. Oops. :-)
Monday, July 14, 2008
Technical Difficulty
It's quite a fun thing, this blog. Throughout my day, I make mental notes of ideas to blog about. It's even become a bit of a game that Mike joins in on. "Oh, Jen, you have to blog about..." such and such. It's really fun to do and it's great to get notes from everyone who reads it! (Thanks, Aunt Marlo and Mark and Karen!!)
So, in light of my brilliantly planned blog, I'll give you an update on the guest in our bathroom fan. Mike had talked about taking down the attic fan to "take care of it" and that gave me all sorts of visions of bats/birds/squirrels/rodents flying around our bedroom. Not exactly a good idea in my mind so I talked him out of it. We have had several noise-free nights in a row. Once in a while we hear a couple of taps and then it's quiet the rest of the night. I still think that a pestman who specializes in this sort of extermination might be worth a call. I'm pretty sure that whatever it is can't get inside, but a) I don't want to keep hearing the noise and b) now I'm really curious about what it is. Mike says bird and I say bat, and I kind of want to settle who's right.
The big adventure of the weekend was succumbing to the ultimate suburban stereotype - we bought a minivan. Mike spent several hours last week sitting in traffic in manual transmission no A/C car. That was pretty much the nail in the coffin for the Audi. It's been an icon for Mike, but he was ready to inherit an automatic with A/C and a CD player to boot. We had planned to purchase something this fall and had thought it would probably be a Honda CR-V. Although, after careful thought and prices to help, we decided that having a bit more room at this point in life wouldn't be a bad thing. We plan on doing longer drives, so a minivan or SUV fit the bit. You just get so much for your money with a minivan and we loved the way it drove. So, we are now the proud owners of a Nimbus Gray Honda Odyssey. It is pretty darn cool. Much easier to get Luke in and out, and I love sitting up higher. When I can upload pics, I'll include one of the new wheels. NOTE: Plenty of room to haul around any visitors who come to Chicago...hint, hint.
The highlight of my day today was receiving an email from our former Pastor Phil. He has accepted a position in Chicago as an intentional interim, which means that both he and his wife, Alice, will be up here a great deal. I am absolutely thrilled at the prospect of seeing their friendly faces and even though the church he'll be at is a bit of a hike, it might be worth it for a visit once in a while.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Things That Go Thump In the Night
Besides our unwanted houseguest, I feel the need to vent a bit about our air conditioner and refrigerator woes. First, we had an HVAC guy out here because the air conditioner seems to work really hard, even though it's not too hot outside, and several of the vents have no air coming out of them. After doing a lot of investigation and smoking a few cigarettes, he offered that the house probably could have used dual zone or a bigger blower. He also suggested running the fan constantly to help with the cathedral ceilings. I'm not sure that sounds like it would do us much good on our utility bill, so we may just have to get used to it.
Next, the air conditioner on Mike's car went out (again). Now, most of you know about the Audi...the check engine light works really well, the power door locks don't work, the dash only lights up halfway, and the dome light doesn't work. And, the A/C needs a new compressor, which we've decided not to do in the hopes we could stretch the car until this fall when we plan to get me a new vehicle. It's a great car...just has a few electrical problems.
We ended up moving both of our refrigerators from Richmond. One went in the basement and one went in the garage. Neither work. We think that with the one in the basement, it's just an outlet issue like resetting it or flipping the right switch. However, the one in the garage was lighting up when opened, but wasn't getting cool. So, I looked online to find a repair place and called them up to send someone out. Does anyone know what a replacement SHOULD cost for a relay overload thingy?? Let's just say I'm wondering whether I got charged for replacing the entire compressor, even though he just put this new little plastic thing in there. And, now the company won't call me back so that I can verify the price. There is nothing I hate more than feeling ripped off.
On a positive note though, we are getting more settled. I try and unpack at least 2 boxes a day. At this rate, I should be done by Christmas! Hee! It's another beautiful day in Chicago, so I plan to get out and walk with Luke this afternoon. I started my diet on Monday and so far so good.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Highlights of our First Week in Chicagoland!
2) Chipmunks - Sydney had managed to find terrific entertainment at the apartment watching the chipmunks dart around outside. Right after I took this picture, I realized that these chipmunks weren't as nice as Chip and Dale. One darted right at her! It was hilarious to see her freak out momentarily forgetting that there was glass in between them.
1) 316 items and 20,000 pounds- That's what our stuff totaled, although there was a slight miscalculation. Saturday afternoon, our terrific movers Ron and Sean called for backup because they didn't think that all of that would fit on the 53' trailer AND allow room for my car to go on. So, they drove another truck out to pick up the car. Luckily, we were still all out by late Sunday night. I know, you must be thinking about the use of "terrific" and "movers" in the same sentence. I really could not have been more impressed; they took excellent care of our things and were very nice guys.
Speaking of, that's 20,000 pounds of things we have yet to unpack! We've managed to get the kitchen done, but everything else is still in progress. My goal is to have the basement done by Christmas. :-) To sum it all up, the house is good, Luke is good, Mike and I are good, but exhausted. Looking forward to settling in more each day. We miss everyone!