big day today!

LOTS of stuff hopefully going on at the house today. Carpet, appliances, kitchen countertops, kitchen plumbing and the masons will be there finishing up the fireplace hopefully.

Should have pics to share tonight!

champs

Last night was our final night of volleyball and it was playoffs. We started off a little slow and went 2-1, then won the final match 2-0. Team pic below. (not sure what is up with my camera, seems to capture floating dust and sand well....)

Front: Me, Kacie, Nick

Back: Aaron, Ryan, Zach

Thanks to our sponsors Eide Bailly.

Otherwise known as I.D. Bailly or Eddie Bailly.

We have a couple months off before winter ball starts, which is nice. This league in New Ulm starts WAY too early (2nd week in April?) Crazy.

Off to a tournament in Sleepy Eye today, hopefully will have fun pictures tonight or tomorrow. Connor is hanging out with Grandma Loula today. He's still not sleeping well, and he had a dirty diaper 7 times yesterday...7...that's a record, so I don't know if that's what was bugging him the past few days, he might be running a small fever too, so hopefully he's good for Grandma today.

rolling!

We are officially rolling! It started two nights ago, so August 20th. He was kind of near the lip where the carpet meets the vinyl in our kitchen, so I thought he had a little help, but when we put him fully on the carpet, he still managed to do it...and now...he seems to do it all the time. Look away, look back and he's on his tummy :) Oh, I should clarify, we're rolling from our back to tummy. A few videos below...sorry the first one is SO long, he wouldn't exactly roll on demand and since I didn't want my voice to be on video, he thought I was kind of being weird not talking to him but smiling and making funny faces.

first cereal

Well, since Connor has been sleeping so crappy the past 7 nights...we tried rice the other night. Not that it helped, and not that he liked it, but, it's probably a step in the right direction. He really had NO idea what I was doing to him and kind of looked at me like, are you kidding me? Why is my milk chunky (okay, so it was super runny, don't think I tried thick cereal right out of the gate), why does it taste funny, and why are you bringing it to me on some strange instrument...needless to say, we wasted a few ounces of milk trying it. Guess we'll just keep on trying.

Sorry for the TERRIBLE pictures, remember lighting in the ghetto is pretty bad, it was night and there are no lights in our living room.

He sees the spoon...

Oh God it's hitting me in the face...

Hmm...kind of tastes like milk?

That was NOT milk.

big boy bed?

Well, last night was the 5th consecutive night that Connor has slept like crap. I am SO tired. I guess he had spoiled us in a big way sleeping through the night like he had been. Now it seems he only likes to sleep in our bed or the spare bed. Trust me, I know, bad habit. Last night he slept in his crib for about 3 hours, then after 3 failed attempts to get him down in his crib, I just brought him into the back room with me. We slept off and on for about 3.5 hours.

So, tonight we try again.

no more mint

The mint is gone. Thank God. They still have to put stone on the pillars, make and install the pillars (will match the front door) and grout the stone. So it's not QUITE done yet, but awfully close. Bryan has done a ton of work in the back yard as well. He trimmed up a bunch of trees in the ravine and cleared out a space in it that he wants to build a little patio/firepit type area. Only bummer might be bugs? But it'll be cool. We LOVE our yard. (well, once it has grass we'll love it even more)

Plan for this week:
-kitchen countertop
-appliances (well, we might push these out til next week just to make sure the countertop is there)
-finishing touches here and there
-electrician (whoo hoo, lights!)

Carpet I think is next week...and then...the 28th...we can start moving!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Driveway and more

They poured the driveway today. It looks great!! Can't drive on it for 4 weeks now, and they have a little bit of work on the exposed to finish that up. Then they'll grout the stone on the house, finish the pillars, do the fireplace and I think that should be it for the masons.

If anyone has seen a Lowe's bag full of bronze cabinet hardware...let me know. It has gone missing...and it's making me angry.

Other than that, house is still plugging along.

kitchen hardware

Think all we need is the grout

4 Months

Hard to believe that our little man Connor is 4 months already! Officially turned this past Sunday. He's getting SO big and is SO fun right now! Here's the report from the doctor. Oh, we switched pediatricians, too. We're now with Dr. Smentek and are confident we'll be much happier with her...double bonus is that she had a little boy one day before Connor.

40% percentile for height. So, we're short.
75% percentile for head circumference. Extra smart? :) Or already knows he's so studly...?
and...
80% percentile for weight. He's 16.8 lbs. Chunker. Or as my mom calls him, budah boy.

We're still just supposed to let his eye do its thing...which is get all mattery, crusty, and not be concerned until the white of his eye isn't so white anymore.

Then, the little spot on his upper thigh still isn't gone, so we have yet another cream to try for the next month.

Growing right on track, things look good, the only thing we had to mark 'N' down for the development part is rolling over. But I think he is SO close, basically has his whole body turned over except for his upper body and arms. We're working on it :)

And, we got the next round of big shots, it had both mom and me teary eyed. He never cries that hard and had all sorts of real tears, so sad when he's looking up at you like, "mom, what the heck are you doing to me and why aren't you holding me!". But, he's been a trooper ever since, sounds like he slept most of the afternoon for the ladies at daycare and then has been really good for me here at home.

I'll try and do a mini photo shoot sometime in the next few days. Maybe over the weekend.

more card box :)

I re-used the card box from my wedding again for another friend. Mary and Ben are getting married this Saturday, can't wait for the wedding!

I thought the box turned out pretty cute.

can't get everything right.

So, thus far, I've been REALLY happy with everything that I've picked out and how it all is coming together...til just recently. And of course, it has to be something that EVERYONE sees. The outside :(

I am pretty sure I like the actual color of the house, and I liked the stone in a nice 4-color printed brochure and on a 10" x 10" square of it...but in real life, actually installed on the house? Not so much. I'm sure it'll grow on me, and I just keep telling myself that once all of the pretty mint green is gone, it'll be better...so, we'll see. Hopefully by the end of this week the house painting will be complete and THEN I should give my true opinion. Bummer. Makes me sad.

The other item is the master bathroom sink/countertop. Everything is very brown (besides the cabinets) in the bathroom...and then I went and picked a nearly black countertop with 'flecks' of a brownish-tan. Not sure what I was thinking :( Maybe I'll just set out lots of decorative towels on it when people come to visit... Again, bummer.

They also started the driveway today, so that's exciting. It's way bigger than I thought it was going to be, so that's super. We have to wait 4 weeks to drive on it...which sucks, but, that's ok.
So, I'm kind of bummed, and I visit the house like 4 times a day, which isn't helping my issues with the outside. Ugh. I am so sick of this and ready to just move in.

Up close of the stone and house color. The mint green will go away and become tan someday.

Fireplace, will get different stone than the outside.

Master vanity.

Stair railing. Love how this turned out.

Master bath. Again, love how this is turning out.

Start of the driveway. Outside border will be exposed aggregate.

A better picture of the stone and the green.

The REAL color :)

The painter started this afternoon on the actual color of the house. I'm really happy with how it's turning out! He had the whole front, left side and part of the back done when I left town earlier. He's hoping to have it finished by the end of the week. The shakes are still the pretty primer because those will be a tan-ish color, and then the trim will all be painted to match the window color (which is hopefully lighter than the tan shakes). Hope it all looks good when it's done!

The house is painted!

The painter got started the other day, it is turning out SO nice! I am so happy with the color, even though I was a little skeptical at first, like everything I've picked out so far, once it's opened or installed...I remember why I picked it in the first place :)

Also some pics of the start of tile installation.

Close up of the 'decorative' tile...at almost $100 a sheet...we're definitely using this sparingly.

Okay...and...hope you didn't take me seriously on the paint colors. That's only the primer ;) And, it's actually WAY worse in person. Can't imagine what the neighbors are thinking.

Should have pictures of the REAL colors sometime this upcoming week.

more updates!

We have a front door! I LOVE it! It's 'walnut' on the outside, and then a cherry color on the inside to match the rest of the house. I love it. They also got some of the base trim and casing around the doors on the main level...love that too :)

Spare bedroom closets

laundry again. really happy with our vinyl selection.

Master Closet. You can kind of see the start of my shelving unit, then directly across from it is Bryan's. (smaller...and I'll still probably take some of it over ;)

The casing above the 'main' doors on the main level.

we have cabinets!

They started installing cabinets today! Also got some doors hung, casing up and vanities installed! It is SO exciting :)

hard surfaces

All the hard surfaces are installed! I LOVE it! Tomorrow they should hopefully be setting cabinets, vanities, etc. A few pics below.

Mudroom

Kitchen

Dining

Entry

Laundry

Connor's Bathroom