First floor

The framing on the new house started yesterday and when I went by today, the first floor is done! I expect that the second floor will be up in full when I go by on Friday.

The front of the house showing the garage on the far right, 2 windows on the left are for the living room and the two on the right are for the dining room. Entry way door & sidelights are in the middle.

Side view showing the bump out for the stone fire place in the living room.

Here's the back of the house. On the far left is the kitchen window. In the middle is the sliding glass doors to the rear deck, and on the right is the double window in the family room.

I hope the Amish laborers didn't mind me taking their photographs thinking I was stealing their souls! I guess this means I won't be buying them a case of beer on Friday as I'd planned; Dave said to take them lemonade like in "Witness" instead!

Lemons

Tonight Cori had her first taste of lemons - we think she liked it, but it's hard to tell with the sour face she makes. Quite funny!

You be the judge....

Old Home Movies

For about 20+ years, I've had a pile of 20+ old 8 mm film reels in a bag in our barn / shed. Recently I bit the bullet and took them into Costco to have the film transferred to DVDs. I had no idea if it would even work, because the film was exposed to hot summers and very cold winters, and it was really old. These are family movies from before I was born up until I was 5.

In case you're thinking about doing the same, the Costco online form (which you must do prior and then take it into your local Costco with the movies) was very easy to use and helps you figure out the price prior to officially ordering. The process took about 3 weeks (remember I had 20+ reels) and I got a call a few days ago that the movies were done. Because I don't have a spare $150 laying around (and it just wasn't factored into our budget), I've not picked the DVDs up yet.

But yesterday I got an email that my DVDs were available for free online viewing. Color me puzzled as I've not paid for them yet. Surely they would charge a fee to see the movies, or they'd only be snippets of film..... Nope! The entire DVD (23 reels actually fit onto 1 DVD) was online for me to watch.

After work yesterday we watched some of the movie online. It's a little odd as there is no sound (other than our live laughter as we watch it) and the chapters skip around from when I was a toddler to when I was a baby to before I was born to when I was a big sister, etc. (None of our film reels were labeled, so they just pieced everything together.)

I ordered a copy of the DVD for my brother and my cousin Tracey who I grew up with. Here are a few pictures to make you smile (and realize what a long way film technology has come!)

This is my brother and me. I'm 2 and he's a few months old.

This is my mom (3rd person in) in 1969 as a Vickette (a high school dance cheerleader)

My brother and me again, about the same age. Look at the old fashioned walker!

Um, this is me getting a bath at a few months old. hee hee

My brother (a few months old) and me (2) with our cat Kermit when we lived in North Huntingdon.

Christmas 1975, right before my brother was born. I'm about 21 months old.

My brother at 3 months old, being held by our grandma Frost and next to our Pap

My cousin Tracey and me on my 2nd birthday - she's helping me read the cards.

My Dad holding my baby brother at a few months old -look at those clothes!!

My second birthday, 1976. It is surreal to see myself at this age and know my own daughter is the very same age!

Aside from the laughter about the funny clothes and hair styles (or lack of, thanks hippie parents!) it is really nice to see relatives who've since passed away. And it is also a real treat to see both myself and my brother and Tracey all playing just like I rememeber!

a good foundation

This week the foundation was poured for the house. I stopped by on Monday and the crew was adding the drench drain around the footer. I went back out today at lunch and the foundation was done, and is in the process of being water sealed (the black stuff painted on the concrete).

View from the street

You can see the front porch area dug out (across the front), the main house, and the garage area (on the right).

You can even see out walk out basement door (far right side of back basement wall).

Not sure what next week will bring, but I'll be checking in!

Ground Breaking news....

It's started! The builder broke ground today, and we are very excited! I drove up to the site during lunch on a hunch, and saw a big yellow back hoe on our lot, so I figured that something was up. I drove up and this is what I saw:

Closer inspection showed me that the outline for the foundation to be poured was done, and the back hoe was still working. Here's the house and then the garage shots.

I'm sure that the back hoe operator thinks I'm a nut as I was dancing around in the dirt.

Since these pics require such imagination to see the potential, here's 2 pics that require less imagination. Here are the rough drawings of our kitchen. The cabinets aren't totally right (we have a corner glass cabinet & moulding under the cabinets) and they don't show the island in the center, but it's fairly correct. The door shown in the drawing leads out to the garage.

More pics and updates to come - the house down the street broke ground only 2 weeks ago is already up, framed, wrapped, and window and doors installed!! That's fast!!

Big Girl Bed

We received Cori's new comforter & sheets from Pottery Barn Kids today. I love it, and I think it is going to go really well in her new bedroom as we plan to paint it pink (her favorite color - she wouldn't hear of anything else!)

She is really excited and when she woke up from her nap declared that the comforter went on her bed. We fixed up the bed and snapped a few pictures to share.

Petting Zoo

On July 4th we took Cori to the big Butler fair - it would have been perfect except that we arrived at 11 AM and the rides and booths didn't open until 1 PM. Cori wanted to ride the kiddy rides right away and we couldn't. (odd since the fair opens at 9 AM)

So instead we watched some of the dock dogs contest, which are dogs who jump long distances (like 15+ feet!) into water to retrieve items.

We then went to the free petting zoo and visited some animals! Cori was afraid of some of the more active animals like the goats, but she enjoyed herself a lot.

We then visited the big horses and cows in their stalls. Unfortunately, the heat started to really get to Cori. She is like her parents and really doesn't handle the heat well. It was 1 PM and we'd been out in the sun and 92 degree heat for 2 hours. Cori started to not be well, and we knew we wouldn't be able to do any of the rides, so we headed home. We're already looking forward to next year when we'll be closer and know to go out later in the afternoon.

Heat Wave

You know it's hot outside when your car console dislays this:

Potty

I think potty training has begun. Today Cori went on her potty pretty much all day!! She loves that the potty makes music when you pee in it. Luckily she is home with grandma for the next week and we can positively reinforce her efforts.

She'll probably hate that I took this picture, but oh well. That's what parents do!

Catching Up

It's been a while friends! I've had good intentions but no time to post. We've been really busy. Things are good overall, so let me just dive in.

New house - we had our final construction meeting and ground breaking begins in two weeks!! So, so excited! We also met with a security system company and decided to get a system installed / hardwired into the house. We have our blueprints and they even provided us with some 3D drawings of our kitchen which was neat to see. I'll have to scan them in and post them. The timeline is that the house should be complete by the beginning of December and we'll close by December 10th. We'll move in the last week in December, after Christmas and before New Years. The 2 weeks between we'll use to custom paint and slowly move some items into the house.

Work - I've been super swamped with work and recently had my mid year review. I got a really nice raise (very unexpected after last year's company policy of freezing all raises) and I also got the okay to work from home two days a week. That has made a tremendous difference in my stress levels and also the number of times I need to fill up my gas tank each week. Dave's work is pretty much status quo; unfortunately there's been a few later nights which leads to even more traffic and getting home really late. I think Dave is really looking forward to the shorter commute once we're out in Adam's Township.

Trip to CT - We recently drove to Connecticut to attend a bunch of family events. I was really worried about Cori being in the car for so long (it's an 8 hr trip with out considering multiple diaper stops) but she did great. We broke the trip up by staying overnight midway which I think really helped. We woke up early at 4 AM for the straight drive home; it wasn't as bad as I'd envisioned, but I think we were all glad to be out of the car when we pulled into West Mifflin.

During our trip, Cori had her first stint with a baby-sitter; she's always been watched by family when we would go out. I was nervous but Cori did great and we had a fabulous time at the country club! (Agh, that is the life let me say!) Unfortunately, we also had some random car trouble during the trip. The car's powertrain & ESC (electronic stability control) lights would come on and the car would lose power. You could press the gas pedal, but the car would do nothing. This was downright scary when we'd be merging onto the interstate, or driving 75mph on the highway. As soon as you'd shut off the car and restart it, it would work. But yet at some other random time, it would occur again. After having to find a Hyundai dealership that would take it for service, it turns out it was a bad powertrain sensor, and a big inconvenience. Thank heaven for guardian angels and car warranties!

Here are some pictures of Cori enjoying Aunt Karyne's pool during our trip.

Cori - speak of the devil, sleep has been bad again the past few weeks. I have no clue - could be teething, could be trying to adjust from our trip back to being home. But I fear the latter as during our trip in CT, Cori ended up in sleeping bed with us. It was either that or wake the entire hotel with her screaming. And none of us really slept well with Cori in bed, and that just seemed to compound daily. So now we're back at the spot where Cori will go down and sleep for a few hours on her own, but then she screams for us in the middle of her sleep cycle. It seems to be when she enters her lighter phase of sleep, about 5 hours in. She is often awake for 1-2 hours after this, and then eventually goes back to sleep but only if you stay with her.

One night a few weeks ago, we were awake for a few hours and tried unsuccessfully to get Cori back into her crib multiple times. We tried to let her cry in her crib and self-sooth, but the screaming was so intense she actually flung herself out of her crib and fell. We were scared and realized that her crib days were about over. So as much as we hate having her in bed with us (were we wrong to assume that she'd sleep on her own forever??) we also knew this was the safer option.

This past weekend we went out and got Cori a "big girl" mattress set. Her crib converts to a full sized bed, so rather than pay money for a toddler bed or a twin bed, we decided to go all the way to a double bed. That way we can lay with her in her room if need be. So far, it's made no difference in her sleep. She is still waking mid night and up for a bit. Thankfully she is home this week as her daycare is closed, so we're hoping the adjustment will be done by the end of the week. I'll have to take some pictures of her bed and new bed spread from Pottery Barn Kids.

Cooper James - our new nephew finally came into the world on July 2nd. Cooper weighted 8lbs 6 ozs and is 21" long. He is just adorable, and doing well as is our sister in law Kacey. We hope to visit him very soon, and Cori keeps talking about her new cousin.

In the little 4th of July outfit we got him (and he almost missed!).

Uncle Mark makes the very same face!

Hope that you've been well, staying cool in this heat wave, and I promise to update more soon!

More Splash

Sometimes the rain keeps Cori indoors, but she is always happy when she can go out afterward!

The week in review

It's been a busy week (and hot! where did the transition from spring to summer go?). We had an enjoyable Memorial weekend together as a family. A lot of time was spent in the pool.

The weekend was enjoyable until I lost Cori at the Galleria. The short of that long story was that in a split second Cori left where she was when we weren't looking. When I noticed, the minute she was gone felt like 10 minutes. It was a horrible, horrible feeling. Cori was eventually found by the store employee- she was under a clothes rounder "hiding". It's a game she likes to play at home. Example below of Cori hiding in Grammi's suitcase.
Then Cori caught a stomach bug from daycare and took a few days to recover. Then I caught the same bug. We're both better now.

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A happier note- on Wednesday Dave and I had our selections meeting with our home builder. We picked out everything from siding and paint color, to cabinet style and stain, to hardware and faucets, and everything in between. Who knew stone came in so many colors? We are super excited though!!
Right now the plan is that the house would be done in early December with an approximate close date of Dec 10th. We wouldn't move in until after Christmas. This would give us time to paint rooms (the builder only paints one color, so if we want a pink bedroom for Cori and a grey bathroom, we'd have to do it ourselves). We'd also have time to move in casually and slowly, not to mention wait for a warmer day!

Some other cute pictures we snapped this week:

Cori knows it is hard to fill daddy's shoes!

Checking out the latest blog entries with her mama...
Tonight we had a great playdate with Aunt Jen and Carli and Erin. Tomorrow we go to the zoo for our fertility clinic's annunal "IVF reunion". Cori is very excited to see the elephants! I'm just hoping it doesn't rain (tradition apparently whenever I go to the zoo...) Hope you had a great week!