New Update..and pictures

Hey gang..

here we are....3 months on down the road and we have been completely unfaithful in keeping up with what's going on.

Here are the updates:

Abby: She is growing into a fantabulous mother. She loves her son, loves playing with him, watching crawl around the house, watch him laugh at Raleigh dog, watch him as he hangs with the president (me)...and fusses when he does boy things. Like bump his head as he crawls, or scratches himself being the rough and tumble crawler he is.

Josh: I love my boy and he is pure fun to watch. Fathers are different than mothers and I'm good with that. My wife sit down with Noah for hours and just stare at him. I on the other hand thoroughly enjoy watching them together. Talk about warming the cockles of your heart. Plugging away at work. I have built some decent momentum, know it just takes keeping it going, finding new leads, following up on those that I have and really conveying the passion I have for what I do. I'm still working part time at the depot, but that will be ending very soon as my income level rises.

Noah: All boy. Crawling everywhere. If it ends up in his hands.....it's going to his mouth. He chirps, he laughs, he screams a greeting of hello, he grins and is just generally cute.

Raleigh dog: Eats, poops...sleeps and is generally annoying.

Here are pictures.

New Pictures

Pre-Christmas Update

I sometimes forget that I have a son...I also forget that I have a dog, a house and a wife. Those are the moments that catch me off guard and when I snap back to reality I can honestly say how blessed that I really am. I have a beautiful mate who is in full blossom as a wife, a mother and friend. I have a growly boy who is a joy to play with, who is eating real food, rolling around on the floor and doing a great impersonation of an inch worm.

I have a job that I love, a job that I am currently bad at, but God has consistently provided for our basic needs from the get go. I have a new and wonderful appreciation for my own father who has been a commission only salesman for a majority of his life. I understand now where he earned his steadfast trust in our provider.

My boy is lucky. He has his Beka and GiGi, his Tootsi, and his Oma and Opa. He has three sets of of grandparents that love him up. Not to mention his Aunts and Uncles who adore him locally. We are blessed.

I have a new personal goal. It's a BMW GS 1200 Adventure. We were at Oma and Opa's house a couple of weeks ago to hang out and catch up. Opa had bought a new toy and as Opa's are...he was generous and let me throw a leg over his new bike. For example, using the term exhilaration is tame compared to riding the Adventure. Thanks Opa! It's an experience that I won't ever forget!

While I was having fun...Abby and Noah got to spend some quality time with Oma. Oma is my other mother who I've known for years and has been an incredible part of our lives. She fell in love instantly. It was incredible watching her with her little grandson, playing, cooing, cuddling..you know..being the cute baby that he is.

Go to my Facebook page to see Noah crawling. If I'm not your friend..send me a request.

That is all for now.

Josh
President of Wind in the Hair
President of Fatherly Duties

No More Do-Gooding

Since we moved back into our house, I have made a concerted effort to walk Raleigh Dog every morning. This is because she drives me crazy while I am home with her if I don't. I roll straight out of bed, throw on sock and shoes, layer on several jackets, and we are out the door. I look like a cross between the stay-puff marshmallow man and the crazy pajama lady. I think everyone is familiar with what crazy pajama ladies look like, you might even have one in your neighborhood. In my neighborhood, its me. Hey - I'll do whatever it takes for a little extra sanity in my life.

It is usually pretty dark and cold so we don't run across much excitement. Occasionally, we will meet another dog or worse yet, a squirrel, and Raleigh will be off like a shot and take my arm with her. A couple weeks ago, there was this little black dog with a broken chain trailing from his collar wandering around the neighborhood. My maternal hormones kicked in big time (I can't stand to see a stray anything without wanting to find a home for it - not my home though, let me be clear on that point), and we chased that poor dog around for thirty minutes. I never caught it, never even got close.

So this morning, while Raleigh and I were out for our walk, I saw a little black dog with some sort of non-contagious mange issue. I immediately knew it was that same dog. She had a name tag with the owners phone number, so I attached her collar to Raleigh's leash and started my merry way back home on my do-gooder's mission.

I got about three steps before I hear someone yelling "Maggie! Maggie!" and I realize that I have just taken this dog from its own yard. That's right folks, I accidentally almost stole a dog. I immediately let her off the leash, stammer something about thinking her lost and I promise I was going to call you when I got home with her, and practically run away - dragging Raleigh with me.

Once I regained my senses, I realized I could probably have handled that exchange a little better. So, I went home and showered, fed Noah and got regular clothes on the both of us and we made our way to her house with some toffee as a "I'm sorry I inadvertently tried to steal your dog, and by the way Merry Christmas" present. The world's cutest baby and some homemade toffee have got to go a long way in soothing ruffled feathers, right?

Unfortunately, no one was home in the house I though they lived in and I didn't want to knock on random doors looking for them, thereby adding to my crazy pajama wearing, dog stealing image - so we just went home.

All in all, I failed in my attempt to rescue a dog and in my attempt to make friends with a neighbor. No more do-gooding for me, at least until I quit blushing for this one.

The Momma

Thanksgiving Update

Hello.

I bet you have missed us so much, that you went out, bought me an Ipod touch, and are in the process of mailing it to me as we speak. Well, go ahead and send it on already!

Life is interesting. I have a job that I love, however, recently I have been going through stages of denial about certain aspects of what I do. There is a certain grind associated with being a salesman. A grind that I have never experienced before, and one that I am learning to deal with on a daily basis....more on that in another post.

Family Update!

Noah is 6 months old tomorrow. Six months of little grins, hidden smiles, funny cries, and just all around cuteness.

We are waiting on our laptop to be fixed so that we can more conveniently update the blog. So, in the mean time...if you have an old laptop gathering dust...I might be game to taking that bad boy off your hands if the price is right.

Josh
President of the Grind
Janda Corp

Long Time No Blog

Oh, my friends. Life has happened in the more than a month it has taken for me to finally give you an update. Here's the rundown:

1. We are back in our house! O Sweet Mystery of Life, at last we're home.

2. Mostly everything is fixed. Hey, we have a wall and heat and air - and that's all a girl needs, besides coffee and the occasional ice cream fix.

3. Noah is rolling over. Today I found him in his crib on his back and facing the wrong direction.

4. My child is sleeping in a crib and his own room and through the night - none of these things were facts when we moved out.

5. Raleigh dog is about to drive me to the brink of insanity. Today Noah, I, and a very nice workman named Isaiah chased her around the neighborhood because the door was open to let the paint fumes dissipate and she took that opportunity to bolt. My elderly, chain smoking neighbors quite enjoyed the show.

6. I have discovered that Crocs are magnets for baby spit up and given that they are about as water tight as swiss cheese I end up walking around in my own private puke puddle.

7. My brother Samuel is an incredibly talented man and re-finished our entire basement floor by himself. It looks incredible - pictures coming soon.

8. I am a working mother. Well, sort of. I don't really count it work if I get paid to bring my baby along and hang out with my husband all day.

9. I tried to cook dried beans and came out with pruney, raisin looking things that were about as edible as sawdust.

10. I am currently foraying into the world my sister so aptly named Kitchen Chemistry, which is basically "I haven't been to the store in ages and it doesn't look like I'm going anytime soon so I'm gonna scrounge in my cabinets for food that possibly might could go together, mix it up, throw it in the oven and cross my fingers". Tonight's fare is a concoction of rice, chicken bullion, cheese and tortillas. I'll let you know how it goes.

Ahh, its good to be back.

The Momma

Catch You Up

Its been a while since we have posted about the house. Partly because there has not been much going on but mostly because I forget.


They have built a new set of stairs and given us what is perhaps the ugliest railing known to man. They had to install a railing to pass codes but because there wasn't one there before all that was in the budget was a couple two by fours which they nailed diagonally down the side. We also have the workings of a new fuse box.

Gluttons for punishment that we are - we decided that while everything was out of our basement it would be a perfect time to refinish the floors. Both Josh and I have always wanted stained concrete floors. Part of the reason we bought this house was because of that possibility with the basement which will eventually be finished out into living space.

My fabulous brother owns a painting and repair business: http://www.streetsidepaint.com/ and is helping us. I use the word help very loosely because really he has done all the work. As it turns out, the basement was not empty. My brother and his son spent an entire afternoon emptying the basement into the storage pod. We are working to get the old linoleum glue off the floor and then its onto refinish-ville!

There is a moisture treatment on the outside of the wall and the trench is filled in. They are waiting until the torrential rains stop to level out the ground properly, finish up the electric, and start on the ac.


Up until this point a lot of progress was made very quickly, so this is a little hard for me. Oh, weather why won't you clear up?

The Momma