May Flowers Please

As we wrap up April here in the U.P. I am hoping that the May flowers are not too far away. It's a gray day up here. Thankfully it's 60 degrees, but not the kind of 60 you'd want to be outside in. Luckily it was beautiful yesterday when we had the home inspection done, so we were able to see a lot and stay outdoors longer than we could have even a week ago.

The home inspection was overall a good thing, with the exception of two major and two semi-major items that need addressed. The wiring in the home is almost all original wiring from 1926, which isn't too surprising. The main problem is that the wiring itself isn't up to code and shouldn't be insulated around. The inspector said the wiring was in great shape and wouldn't be too much of a concern were it not for the fact that there is blown in insulation around it in the attic (a major fire hazzard). So we have a call in to the church to see if they have anyone who will take care of that before we start looking for an estimate on the cost. The roof, which is overall in almost new shape, also had some leaking around a dormer where the flashing was done improperly. Those are the major problems. We'll also have to have 2 cement windowsills replaced and there are leaks in the faucets and some drains, which should be relatively minor repairs. Ugh... So we'll see how the repair and estimate process goes and decide what we are going to do from there. I guess with old houses comes old everything.

Abby is back to being her normal, silly self. She has been playing extra hard with Maize and doing lots of extra eating to make up for her self-imposed fasting last week. She's just right back to our good little lady. She cried instantly last night when she saw her baby sitter Kitty come through the door, but was good and played with her while we were gone. She's got a pretty good memory, since Kitty hadn't been here for at least a couple months. And now, back to cleaning up. I've been doing loads and loads of laundry to catch up from last weeks siege.

Too Cute Not To Share

Courtnie's Shower(s) Photos

Smarty Pants

Abby and I made it safely home from Hastings yesterday with a very minimal amount of crying. It was a record, even for when Steve and I are both in the car and I can ride in the back with her. Some days we can really tell she is growing up.

Abby's Uncle Dan and his friend Zac Fay came and hauled away our old Buick yesterday so that it can be repaired and be her Aunt Hannah's first car. Dan and Zac got to enjoy Sault Ste. Marie's finest dining establishment (or not) - The Antlers. While we were having dinner Abby completed another one of those incredible little "firsts" that happen in these first couple years. She successfully fed herself a french fry with a fork. We were surprised that she was able to fork the fry and then for her to be able to eat it off the fork was even more impressive! She is growing up so fast.

Steve and I are heading out this afternoon to have our new home inspected. While I was down in Hastings for the showers I was able to sneak off to Home Depot for a few minutes to pick up some updated light fixtures. I am so excited about our new home and all the fun we will have decorating and making it our own.

Saturday Fun

Well, we've made it to Saturday and I think we just may come down to Hastings for Courtnie's shower. We got Abby to eat most of a stick of string cheese last night and this morning she had a few bites of melon. That's a pretty big improvement for her. Before we decide for sure we'll have to see how she does at the Angel Food distribution this afternoon. We'll have to head out soon to get things ready and help Steve unload the truck. I'm sure he'll be tired after his early morning drive down to Gaylord to pick up the food.

Abby and I picked up more paint cards yesterday. I am trying hard to figure out what color to paint her room and what color to paint the extra bedroom, which will probably someday be for a little brother or sister. Any ideas or suggestions would be helpful. I've been trying to to find a perfect quilt for a little girl's room too, but finding something cute, but that will grow with her is quite a challenge. Plus a lot of the "kids" bedding only comes in twin or full size and we have a queen size bed for Abby to use when she gives up on the crib. I didn't see the point in replacing a beautiful queen with a full just because that is what most kids use. Aah.... decisions, decisions.

Update Part 2

Abby is apparently on the downswing of a 4 to 6 day flu bout that is destroying this town. The doctor wanted to check her out, just to make sure she wasn't dehydrated, since he's already sent quite a few to the hospital from this bug. Luckily we checked out just fine.

Now we are airing out the house since it is so nice out. Maybe we should head out for a walk past our new house to check on the landscaping. It's a whopping 4.5 blocks away :-)

Going to the Doctor's Office

The nurse decided we had better come in to see the doctor after 4 days without eating. Our appointment is at 11:20 a.m. Hopefully we can get back on track soon.

Illness Update

Abby just threw up all over my leg and herself. We are not making steps in the right direction for making it down to Courtnie's shower.

Enough With The Sickness Already

We are still battling some bad diaper situations and we are not to happy about that. I'm not sure now if the problem is the flu, or the lack of solid food in Abby's diet the last few days. Either way Abby is on her third outfit for the day (the first was destroyed by the Mac and Cheese she had for breakfast). I'm hoping we are almost at the tail end of this! Either way she has had a wonderful nap today and has been in a pretty good mood all things considered. We are almost at the 3 hour mark for her nap, which is a first for this week.

We are busy trying to get things set up for a home inspection, getting the mortgage finalized, and trying to prioritize the renovations and changes we want to make at our new house. There is so much that could be done, but doesn't really need to be done at the same time. One thing that is certainly at the top of the list is a fresh coat of paint and picking the colors is proving to be quite a challenge. We are also planning to rip out all of the carpet that is currently in the house and hoping that the hardwood underneath isn't terribly damaged or stained. And then there is the fancy pink bathroom, which has a leaky sink. We may just get new fixtures and leave the major renovations of that room for later. Eventually we'd like to put a walk-in shower in so that we can have 2 full baths. And a fence around the yard, and someday a 2 car garage instead of the one and a half car garage that is there now. Like I said, a lot that could be done, but nothing that absolutely needs to be done before we move in. Either way, we are going to enjoy having our own space and will really enjoy the nice big deck in the back yard.

Sold

Abby finally talked us into buying her a house and we signed the contract today. She was most impressed with this nice big playroom and the big bedroom upstairs, although I think we will be changing her room from blue to a more feminine color before we move her in. Now all we have left to do is have the inspections, the appraisal and closing. Hopefully we will be in our new, permanent home sometime in June.































We are still battling the flu, but luckily the throwing up has ended for now, so we just have the other end to deal with. Still yucky! And poor Abby is still not feeling quite like herself yet. Hopefully she will be back to normal soon - I miss all the fun we have when she isn't clinging and whining.