Archive for August, 2009

Pictures of the House!

Friday, August 21st, 2009

Here are some pictures I took during the inspection.  They aren’t very good, I had my camera on the wrong setting, but you can get a general idea of the house!  Their stuff is still all there, I’ll take more pictures when it’s empty for “before” pics.   =)  Eric loves the openness and the downstairs area feeling all connected.  I love that I can now watch HGTV and make actual plans to play with my house!! =)  The inspections went well, no major issues.  One or two windows might need to either be replaced or resealed, and some point tuck on a few bricks, which my Dad says we could do ourselves if it costs more than the repair cap to fix it.

Our House!!!!

Our House!!!!

Front Living Room

Front Living Room

Other side of Front Living... technically formal dining area but who needs that? =)

Other side of Front Living... technically formal dining area but who needs that? =)

Kitchen!  I'd like to re-stain the cabinets darker... but I may be outvoted =)

Kitchen! I'd like to re-stain the cabinets darker... but I may be outvoted =)

Fireplace and Family area across from kitchen.  It's pretty open =)

Fireplace and Family area across from kitchen. It's pretty open =)

Master bedroom... although for us probably office =)

Master bedroom... although for us probably office =)

Master bath, two sinks, separate shower, bathtub.

Master bath, two sinks, separate shower, bathtub.

Whirlpool Tub

Whirlpool Tub

Upstairs bedroom that will probably be ours for now.

Upstairs bedroom that will probably be ours for now.

Upstairs Bathroom.  I like the colors she chose for her bathrooms!  All three =)

Upstairs Bathroom. I like the colors she chose for her bathrooms! All three =)

Serenity's room... the first to be redecorated =)

Serenity's room... the first to be redecorated =)

Major News!!!

Sunday, August 16th, 2009

Today was an incredible day!  For those of you who don’t know, Eric got a job two weeks ago.  He started the first of August, so we started an intense house hunt.  (Eric really likes his new job!  The company is called TradeHelm, and he is fascinated by all the new things he is learning and accomplishing.  So everything worked out great for us here!)  We tried to buy one house, but they wouldn’t bring the price down enough to pay for needed repairs.  Then we found another house!  It’s just ten minutes from Eric’s work, and a short commute was a major consideration for us!  The house was built in 1991, which is nice for me as I don’t want to deal with an old house.  It’s nearly move in ready, so we can mostly just play with fun ideas for the house.  Like restaining the kitchen cabinets and decorating Serenity’s room!  We still have to get inspections and sign papers, but we are just so excited!
It was such a wonderful 30th birthday =)  I spent the day being pampered by my husband.  He got me all my favorite foods (that are not diet allowed =)  Donuts, Dr. Pepper, and Ted’s!  Then we played games all day with Eric Wu who just happened to come into town.  Serenity was being particularly cute and sweet, running up to cuddle me or just giggling like crazy and running around.  (Part of the day this might have had something to do with me sharing my donuts with her 😉  And she cuddled and snuggled so sweetly, and told me Happy Birthday!  We got to see Alli and Laura.  And then we came to an agreement on the house offer!  Amazing!  I am so very lucky!!!!!!

Serenity is 13 Months old!!!

Tuesday, August 11th, 2009
Sometimes when she wakes up she roars and holds up her bear =)

Sometimes when she wakes up she roars and holds up her bear =)

Still counting by months =)  I can’t believe I had so much I hadn’t written about, I did so many updates last month for her birthday and that doesn’t seem so long ago =)  But I guess she’s growing and learning very quickly!  So here’s the update for the last month, mostly the journaling and a few pictures  =)

7/21/09

Talking

Serenity is starting to say the cutest things!  I know I need to write them down before she moves on to other things, so here they are.  My two favorites of the moment are “snuggle” which she pronounces, “shuggle” and “see me.”  She often says snuggle and then leans up against me or Eric.  It’s so sweet.  I love that she’s a snuggly girl.  She has started saying “see me”  when she wants someone to pick her up, or even if she wants us to give her something.  For instance, she said “see me” to her choo choo train and held out her arms.  It’s too cute!  It’s neat that she’s starting to figure out things to say on her own, not just stuff we’ve taught her by saying “Can you say…”

"shuggle" snuggling =)

"shuggle" snuggling =)

Other cute stuff:  She says “rock rock rock” when she’s wanting to ride the rocking chair, but it comes out “wocka, wocka, wock.”  Jennifer says she sounds like Fozzie Bear =)  She is very interested in the alphabet.  I can’t say for sure, but sometimes when we sing the abc song to her, she says the letter H at just the right moment.  And Eric’s been working with her on the new shape sorter that has letter shapes, and sometimes she’ll say the letter that comes after the letter he says, like Eric says A, she’ll say B.  It’s definitely not a regular thing yet, but she’s trying to figure it out.

She figured out that people have names just like things do!  We went to Norman for the weekend and she learned to say Gavin and Jennie.  She repeated them over and over and over, and each time she was so thrilled because she knew their names and could get their response.  She also tried Allie’s name, and Abbey’s name.  At the park, Tom tried to bribe her with a hundred dollars if she’d say his name in ten seconds.  About two minutes later she did say it =)  And just now she said Serenity for the first time!!  I thought it would take much longer as Serenity is not an easy name =)  It sounds like Sren Ti but it’s perfectly cute =)

First PBJ

First PBJ

Toys

Serenity has started playing with her shape sorter!  Eric figured out that while she still doesn’t like the yellow lid to be on the shape sorter bucket, she will attempt to put the shapes through the yellow lid if it’s just on the floor.  And she can actually do it!  There was much cheering and clapping for her =)

7/22

Serenity showed us that she has a great imagination today!  She was playing in the office, and she started asking to play with my mouse.  She actually said, “mouse!” “mouse!”  I have a cordless mouse, so I handed it to her to let her play with it.  Then she set it on the ground and pushed it around saying “car!” “vrooooom!”  It was so cute!

Serenity has evidently decided that Mama’s phone is only used to call Grandma.  I let her play with it (until she sticks it in her mouth, when I have to take it away.  This always causes her consternation)  and she ran around the room saying “Grandma grandma grandma” and “Hi Hi HI!”  This sounds more like Gaa maa ga maa ga maa.  She was very enthusiastic with both the grandmas and the hi =) A few weeks ago she actually managed to dial Grandma and she thought that was great fun.  I went ahead and called Mom so Serenity could really talk to her again =)

8/11/09

Serenity is learning so much so quickly it’s incredible.  She’s starting to learn the names for body parts.  She started with nose, which was funny because she says it “nooo” with just a tiny s so it sounds like no =)  She’ll touch her nose or more typically our noses when she says it so we know what she’s saying.  She doesn’t understand “Mama’s nose”  versus “Serenity’s nose” but it’s so fun to see her learning!  The second one she learned reliably was probably hair, and she’d ruffle her own hair in just the cutest way and grin when she said it.  Now she knows mouth, and she’ll say arm when I’m putting her arms in her sleeves.  She knows foot (usually when we put on shoes, which is very exciting because it means we’re going out!)

Pointing out Eric's nose... isn't the learning process great?

Pointing out Eric's nose... isn't the learning process great?

She’s starting to learn colors now which of course is extremely exciting for me, the ninja kung fu color master.  I wasn’t even asking her to name the colors at first, I just opened her color book to the yellow sun page and she said yellow!  And then I asked her on the other pages and the first time through she got blue, green and purple!  She also said red and orange and black.  It’s not completely reliable but she’s definitely getting the idea.

We got to have a playdate today with Casey, Barrett and Jennifer.  Jennifer was so excited to discover that Serenity likes to go “shopping!”  She says shopping in such an excited tone of voice, and wanted to go with her.  Jen said, “she’s mine!”  =)  Definitely related to her Aunt Jennifer, Queen of Shopping and Chief Elf.  We had a great time at the Promenade eating chicken nuggets and chocolate milk, both firsts, and playing on the playground with Casey and Barrett.  She ran around like a crazy person, climbing up stairs and sliding down slides all by herself!  I even stopped spotting her she did so well.  Then she got to ride on a tiny carousel in a duck!  That was extremely exciting for her, I’ll post the video on phanfare.
In the interest of painting a complete picture, I also have to say that Serenity has become addicted to saying “no.”  She says it a lot!  Lately especially when we say it’s diaper time.  She’ll say no if she’s doing something she knows she’s not supposed to, like eating rocks, or if she doesn’t want something.  Then if she’s serious she’ll wave her arms away to ward you off. =)  She has definite opinions and is not shy about sharing them =)

She loves her dvd.  I really need to fix it so I can hit play all because after each story she asks for “more.”  So I have to keep pushing play.  She’s figured out how to turn the tv on now.

We went to the zoo again Monday.  The best part was the monkey house, where we got to see a Mama and Baby monkey playing in the window, giving us kisses.  Serenity went nuts.  She loves monkeys, and loves to say monkey =)  I had to resist buying her monkey things at the gift shop.  We also rode the choo choo!  She fell asleep in the car, and when she woke up she walked around the house saying “Casey?”Brt?(Barrett)  Raegan?  Carson?”  Like she couldn’t figure out where they had gone =)

We babysat Carson and Raegan last week, and it was such fun because they play so well together.  Raegan invited Serenity into her tent and took a big pile of books to read to her.  Both girls love books and they had fun!  Serenity doesn’t always do what Raegan says, which perplexes Raegan, but they love each other.  Raegan is always saying with such joy “She likes me!”  and “I’m her cousin!”

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Whew, that was a big update.  And it’s two days late =)  Hope you enjoyed it!!!

Serenity and her rock bucket.  She loves buckets, and delights putting anything she can in them, whether it's her red sand pail, this paint bucket, or a trash can =)  Oh, and she still tries to eat rocks.

Serenity and her rock bucket. She loves buckets, and delights putting anything she can in them, whether it's her red sand pail, this paint bucket, or a trash can =) Oh, and she still tries to eat rocks.

Those toddler crayons didn't work so well for her, but she had fun with the chalk!

Those toddler crayons didn't work so well for her, but she had fun with the chalk!

She loves her ball pit =)  When her Daddy's not monopolizing it =)

She loves her ball pit =) When her Daddy's not monopolizing it =)

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