Grandma and Grandpa's Visit

My wonderful parents came to visit last week and spent the first half of their "vacation" helping us paint the downstairs. The biggest obstacle was figuring out how to paint the tall 2-story portion of the room. Dad used his experience in riding unicycles on high wires to climb the VERY tall ladder and paint at the top ... mom and I were too chicken!

This is my favorite part - I've always wanted a yellow kitchen with wainscoting!

These frames are Paul's creation and my mom's hard work!

It took her almost as long to paint these frames as it took me to paint all of the yellow... well maybe that is an exaggeration, but it was a lot of work!

When our hard work was over we finally got to have some fun. On Friday we went on a beautiful hike by the Potomac River.

On Saturday Paul joined us and we went to the Arlington National Cemetary.

And then we went to Alexandria for lunch and a walk along the River.

Most of all though, it was just wonderful to have my parents be a part of our every day lives! What a treat to have grandma help with bath time and grandpa juggle for Zachary!

Halloween

I had fun finding a cute (and inexpensive) costume for Zachary. I think he looked quite cute! AND he didn't cry any of the times I put it on the poor kid! :)

Fun Videos

So the other night Zachary was sitting in his chair and put his hands on his head. It was sooo cute! So when he took his hands down Paul started putting his hands on his head to see if Zachary would copy him and he totally did! It was the cutest thing ever. I caught the tail end of it on video - before this he had been doing it even more, but this is still pretty cute!

Last Monday Zachary realized he had a jaw and started just moving it up and down. Then on Tuesday he figured out that moving his jaw would make him say all sorts of sounds. In one day he started saying "b," "mmm," and "p." The "b" sound is definitely his favorite though! Anyway, the teacher in me is very proud of him! :)

Grandma Jane Comes to Visit

Paul's mom came to visit about a week ago. She told me that she wanted me to get as much done as I could while she played with Zachary. It was wonderful having her here! I got to paint Zachary's room and just get a whole lot of "stuff" done. AND she came to swimming with us so I finally have some pictures of that to put up!

Zachary had a lot of fun hanging out with Grandma Jane!

Zachary has been working hard on floating on his back. You can see a video of it at the end of this post. He is getting better ever week, although sometimes he tries to roll over in the water. He hasn't quite figured out that he does not like the result!

We have loved our swimming lesson, but only have 2 left so I'll have to find another indoor pool where I can take him by myself!

Fall is Here!

Well, we finally get to experience fall again! Its been 6 years without changing seasons and we are loving having them back! Although, I do have to admit that I have become a bit of a wimp and think this fall weather seems an awful lot like the chill of winter. It makes me feel better though because everyone from here is complaining about the cold so I must not be totally crazy! So for the most part Fall has been amazing - the beautiful trees and even the rain has been enjoyable! Last weekend was beautiful and sunny so we took Zachary out for a 6 month photo op. Here are some of my favorites...

"Hmmmm... do you think I can get these in my mouth???"

I'm sad that the lighting is off in this pic because I totally LOVE it!!! Anyone know how to fix such things?

This is Zachary's new half-smile - he does it all the time now. Do kids really learn how to fake smile this early????

Zachary loves nature so it was pretty hard to get these pics because he kept wanting to look at the trees and pond behind him.

Our New Home

I can't believe that it has been almost a month since I last updated our blog! So much has happened so I'll try to fill you all in through these next few posts...

Ok, so one of the "most exciting" things is that we bought a house!!! Well, really a town house, but its our place and we are loving being here! Although, we are already learning about all of the "joys" of being a home owner! Every weekend so far has been filled with some sort of project. Anyway - here is our place...

This is the view from the front. I love that we have a tree right in front! :)

So our place has a LOT of stairs!!!! I get a lot of exercise caring our 20 pound "little Z" up and down them all day!

Above - looking up

Below - looking down

The first floor is the living room, dining room and kitchen. We just got our new couches last weekend which was pretty exciting after sitting on the floor for over 2 weeks!

This is the view from the kitchen looking to the front door.

And here is the view from the front door into the kitchen. All of this downstairs stuff needs to be painted. We are excited that my mom and dad are coming out soon to help us paint! :)

The 2nd floor is supposed to be the "master suite" but instead it is our office, craft room, guest room and of course, the recording studio. This "room," which is actually a closet, was our project this week. We painted Paul's closet (recording studio) and he organized all of his stuff. He is very excited about his closet! When I told him he could have it for his music stuff you would have thought I have him a million dollars he was so excited!

Here is my craft corner... the rest of the room still needs to be painted.

And the rest of the office. The guest futon is in a little side "sitting room." If you come and visit you get to stay there, but I don't have a picture of it right now.

This is the first room that I got totally done. Paul's mom came out a week ago and played with Zachary while I got to paint! I am very happy about how Z's room turned out.

Being able to paint Zachary's room inspired me to paint ours as well. So we painted it last weekend - well, I painted it while Paul and Zachary played.

And that is our new house... I'll post more pics as we finish up the rest of the painting.

No More Hanging Out on the Bed

Since Zachary started rolling from his back to his stomach a month or so ago I've been waiting and waiting for him to learn to turn back over. Well, yesterday I was cleaning while he was hanging out on the bed and all of a sudden I realized he was on the edge of the bed! It seems that he has simultaneously learned to roll over - both ways - and scoot. He appeared to be having the time of his life! :) I guess I won't be leaving him alone on the bed any more!