Patricia's thought of the day (I'm feeling very reflective)

Lessons that came to mind this week:
1- My daddy taught me how to patch drywall...
2- ..and how to properly swear at it when it doesn't turn out.
3- My mother taught me patience....
4-...and manners....
5- ....and to take one day at a time.


Whatever the goal we're pursuing,
No matter how rugged the climb,
We're certain to get there by trying our best
And taking One Day at a Time. 


"Forever" is hard to imagine,
"The future" may seem far away,
But every new dawn brings a wonderful chance
To do what we can on that day.


I have been VERY distraught over this whole mess in the living room, but, keeping in mind lessons 3-5, I have decided not to be. I have decided to be happy that something pushed us into it because we may not have done it and it's going to be amazing when it's done! I have decided to look forward to the night I'm sitting on my couch looking around and saying, "Wow! We did an AWESOME job in here!" I have decided not to be angry at the previous owner, her cats, the realtor that told us she didn't think she smelled cat pee OR myself for going to bed that night without checking on the washer. I'm just going to be proud that we took what happened, and although it sucked for a few weeks, we made it through yet another trial and came out victorious with a BEAUTIFUL living room which we can be proud we did OURSELVES!

Alistair has been a good sport, as always. He has to spend a lot of time in his room, in the jumperoo or highchair when the baracades are taken down from the living room, but he doesn't mind. Every minute is an adventure for him no matter where he is!












Noah had to perform wall surgery....


Because of this:

too.....tired.....

.....pictures now, stories later.......

Mommy's new job, Alistair's new friend!

Some friends had us over for a Father's Day cook-out on Sunday. We had a really nice time and Alistair made friends with their son, Akiro, who is 14-months-old!

I started my new job on Monday, which I guess I forgot to mention in previous posts. I got a job as a full-time nanny for a 4-month-old little boy named Theodore. Alistair goes to work with me, so I still get to be full-time Mommy too! It was a big week with a lot of changes and some adjustments for everyone, but it went well. Alistair LOVES Theodore and Theodore is constantly entertained by Alistair! It's actually a lot of fun!

Akiro shared his car with Alsitair:


Alistair likes to give Theodore rides in his activity center:


Theodore enjoys sharing his toys with Alistair:

ONE BIG, HUGE, STINKY UPDATE

Sorry that I got behind this week, but, as the title indicates, this has been ONE BIG HUGE STINKY WEEK! I'll start where I left off last Friday before we left for Virginia Beach.

We took Alistair to Va Beach to visit Aunt Megan and Uncle Skinny. The trip also doubled as Noah's birthday present/celebration. It was too hot to do much (just getting in and out of the car was exhausting), so we mostly just hung out at the ice box Steve and Megan call home....HEHEHEHEHE. We did cruise the mall and visit the Virginia Aquarium, though.

We ate at most of our favorite restauraunts. We had "Beach Pub" Friday night for dinner, "The Bread Box" for brunch on Saturday, "La Plaza Azteca" (Our traditional dinner for birthday celebrations) Saturday night, and brunch Sunday at "Silver Diner!" We got to see Aunt Jen Saturday night.....YAY! We also got to see Laura and Parker, which was awesome and refreshing! Craig was working and sleeping, but we got to see him a little......we miss Uncle Craig!

FRIDAY EVENING ALISTAIR WAS WOUND UP FROM THE LONG NAP IN THE CAR:


AT "THE BREAD BOX" SATURDAY MORNING:


CRUISIN' LYNNHAVEN MALL....JUST LKE OLD TIMES:


TAKIN' A BREAK TO PLAY ON THE PLAYGROUND:


DRESSIN' UP AND GOIN' OUT TO DINNER FOR DADDY'S BIRTHDAY:


HAVING BREAKFAST IN MY NEW BOOSTER SEAT:


AUNT MEGAN AND UNCLE SKINNY AT SILVER DINER:


ALISTAIR WAS HAVING A CONVERSATION WITH THE FISH IN THE CHESAPEAKE BAY AQUARIUM:


CHECKING OUT THE STING RAYS:


VISITING THE SEA TURTLES WITH MOMMY:


A SHARK SWIMMING PAST THE WINDOW OF THE SUBMARINE EXIBIT:


EATEN ALIVE BY A GREAT WHITE:


THIS WAS NO LONGER FUN FOR MOMMY:


SO, SHE HANDED HIM OFF TO UNCLE SKINNY:


TOO INTERESTED IN THE CROCODILES TO LOOK AT THE CAMERA:


WORKING THE CRANE AT THE "LITTLE BUILDERS" INTERACTIVE EXIBIT:



YOU THOUGHT THIS WAS THE END???!!!!! OH, NO!

Monday went on as usual: Daddy went to work, Mommy and Alistair tried to get some stuff done at home....YADDA YADDA YADDA...Enter Tuesday Morning.....which was June 10th, by the way....Happy 26th Birthday, Noah!
Noah walked to the kitchen at 4:30am to find a pond! I had run the washer the previous evening, but did not switch the load before I went to bed thinking I would take care of it in the morning...nothing new here....HOWEVER, the water level switch on the washer decided to die, therefore allowing the water to run ALL NIGHT LONG! Of course, we couldn't hear it over our fan running and the sound of Alistair's fan through the baby monitor. So, I spent Tuesday soaking up water and ringing out towels and Noah pulled back the carpet when he got home, only to find previous damages which we think is cat urine, so OUR HOUSE REEKED! THANKFULLY, our AWESOME neighbor, Mark has a dehumidifier that he was kind enough to lend us. It helped a little with the moisture, but the smell got worse. By Thursday evening, we decided to rip it up!

OUR LIVING ROOM BEFORE:


OUR LIVING ROOM NOW:


Well, the week wasn't all bad. Noah's dad took us out to dinner at a FANTASTIC seafood joint Tuesday night for Noah's birthday. THANK YOU! IT WAS INCREDIBLE!

ALISTAIR AND PAPPY:


FAMILY:


3 GENERATIONS AND SOME VERY COOL CLOUDS:



Well, I hope you enjoyed LOTS of pictures. Alistair had many AWESOME ADVENTURES over the past week, even if some of them happened in his room. More to come....I start work on Monday!


hmmm........I'm thinking of starting a blog about the joys of homeownership......

Keeping up with the Wee Man

Oh my! THIS CHILD! He NEVER EVER stops! He has absolutley no desire to sleep these days. He's been up 3 or 4 times a night, then waking up at 5 or 6am and staying up for the day. His 60-90 minute naps twice a day have turned into 30 minutes. NOONE in this house has been sleeping! But, even without much sleep, he has accomplished some new things! He is not only pulling himself up on furtniture, but he's walking while hold on AND switching from one piece of furniture to another. He's getting braver by the day. He is learning what "no" means and sometimes decides to listen. Other times, he just shakes his head, "No," back at us and continues what he's doing.

He has also started eating foods from the table on a more regular basis. I gave him french fries at TGI Friday's a few weeks ago and he LOVED them. So we've been kind of dabbling with it until last weekend. We shopped until late Sunday evening and, even though we hadn't planned on it, we ate out. I had not packed any baby food for Alistair so, I ordered chicken tenders and sweet potatoe fries and shared them with him. He did so well! He had spaghetti that I put through the food mill one night, and breaded chicken with "real" green beans another night. That last one wasn't too successful, it was too late and he was tired.

Other skills that he is perfecting are dancing and operating the stereo equipment. Prior to this video being shot, he had decided he did not want to watch "Handy Manny," he wanted to listen to AC/DC! So, he proceeded to turn the stereo from TV to CD and press "play." He was so happy about what he had done, that he danced along with the music and yelled at it! Which is no surprise, the kid has always had perfect rythym, it's just hilarious that he does not need prompted, he does these things on his own! Well, enjoy Alistair's version of "Stiff Upper Lip" and HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND! We're busy this weekend, so we'll blog lots on Monday!

CHEEEEEEEEZZZZZZZ!

Any loyal blog reader is familiar with Alistair's "cheese face"


But not many are aware of the sound that ALWAYS acompanies the face: