The week in pictures

We've been busy - Cori was sick from Halloween and then the next 9 days. Just something viral; thankfully she checked out fine. But we've been swamped with work and kiddo illness and lots of home fixes prior to listing our home for sale. Once Cori was better we went to the Children's Museum and then played in a big pile of leaves!

playing is hard work!I just love the look of joy on her face below!

New Build

It's been an expensive week here in the Sprague house-hold...between the electrical repairs and the new furnace, we also decided to put a significant deposit down on a new home to be built next year! Here she is!
About 10 days ago Dave and I drove through a small development of new builds in Adams Township (which is in Butler County near Cranberry Township & Seven Fields). We pulled over on the street to admire the great fall view - farms and rolling hills with trees of changing colors. We wandered into the S&A builder's community model and really liked what we saw. The sales agent Monica was really wonderful to talk to and gave us all kinds of pricing and print outs to look over.

Views from our lot

Later in the day we just couldn't contain our excitement and wanted to get some concrete pricing. We met with Monica again and walked away thrilled! We went home over the next week or so and talked about options and came to an agreement on price with the builders.

We chose a delayed delivery option where we don't have to start building until Halloween next year; we can choose to build sooner too. It takes between 4-5 months to build the house and close on it. This is the perfect option for us since we're aiming to sell our current home in the late winter / early spring and we have no idea who soon it will sell. We'll be living with family while the new house is being built so we can save up money.

The house is about 2300 sq. ft and a 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath two story home. It's on an unbacked lot that's 1.33 acres. We're lot number 23 below (my lucky number!!)
The community is probably about 75% full with only half a dozen lots left. There are lots of families and it's part of the Mars school district which is an excellent district. To say we are excited is an understatement! Now we just need to pick out paint and cabinets and hardwood flooring and carpet and countertops and doors and lighting fixtures- yikes!

Risky Business

It's proved to be an expensive week so far with visits from the electricians to complete some work and the HVAC people to clean our gas furnace. But it could have been much, much worse.

A regular cleaning by the furnace people showed that the heat exchanger in our furnace was majorly cracked. A crack that has proably been growing for months. (Could have been longer since we never had our furnace checked last fall.) When there is a crack in this component, carbon monoxide is produced from the air that is blown over the hot metal (to create your heat) and is pumped out along with the hot air.

As you know, carbon monoxide is a very dangerous gas. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), carbon monoxide is the number one cause of poisoning deaths in the U.S.A. Making sure furnaces and other potential carbon monoxide sources are properly vented and in good working condition, along with owning a carbon monoxide detector, could become a matter of life and death.

We'd been unknowingly living with a danger for some time. Sadly enough, we have a CO detector but just never got around to installing it. I really beat myself up on Monday upon realizing this. Things could have been so much worse; we certainly have the good Lord looking out for us! The price of the new furnace (ouch) is nothing compared to what could have been lost.

So please use my bad experience as a learning opportunity - go out and buy a CO detector. You can get models that just plug into the walls and have battery back-up for about $25. See here. You can also get units that mount to the ceiling like your smoke detector for about the same price, and that may be better for detection.

Proper placement of a carbon monoxide (CO) detector is important. If you are installing only one carbon monoxide detector, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recommends it be located near the sleeping area, where it can wake you if you are asleep. Additional detectors on every level and in every bedroom of a home provides extra protection against carbon monoxide poisoning.

Homeowners should remember not to install carbon monoxide detectors directly above or beside fuel-burning appliances, as appliances may emit a small amount of carbon monoxide upon start-up. A detector should not be placed within fifteen feet of heating or cooking appliances or in or near very humid areas such as bathrooms.

When considering where to place a carbon monoxide detector, keep in mind that although carbon monoxide is roughly the same weight as air (carbon monoxide's specific gravity is 0.9657, as stated by the EPA; the National Resource Council lists the specific gravity of air as one), it may be contained in warm air coming from combustion appliances such as home heating equipment. If this is the case, carbon monoxide will rise with the warmer air.

For this reason, the makers of First Alert®, a leading brand in carbon monoxide detector technology, suggests mounting the detector on the ceiling. This also puts the detector out of the way of potential interference, such as pets or curious children.

You can read more about this here.

If you already have a CO detector installed, please test it. This weekend we roll back the clocks and you should use this opportunity to test your smoke alarms and CO detectors. I know that we'll be installing ours immediately.

THUD

***THUD***

That's the sound of me falling off the exercise wagon the past 3 weeks. I'm ashamed and it's made a difference (for the worse) in how I feel. I'm hoping public shaming of myself will work for me.

I'm climbing back on and vowing to drink more water. Thank goodness I'm not traveling or with my boss this week - those company dinners are not waistline friendly. Who's with me??

17 months

Can't believe that Corinne is 17 months today! The time really does fly by. Her vocabulary is growing almost as fast as her height, and pizza seems to be her new favorite food. We think some more teeth are working their way in (she is only up to 6) and that is the cause of some mild crankiness lately (or it's a reaction to both the H1N1 and seasonal flu vaccines).Last weekend we took Cori to get her pictures taken which turned out to be quite a day. There was little time spent on the nap front that day as well a strong desire to just run, run, run in the studio; this lead to not very many pictures of Cori looking at the camera. And even then, very few of them turned out decent. We laughed that the one "fall" shot we got was only because we put her butt in the bucket and she couldn't figure out how to get out. (Snort snort - evil parents!)
Cori has also discovered that she likes to lay all the way back in the tub. It's a little freaky seeing your child laying very still in water, eyes closed, hair spread out..... Though I will say it is a very effective way to rinse her hair! Here is a progression of shots from tonight's bath. Our little fish sure enjoys the water; I see a swimmer in our future!

Pumpkin picking

Last weekend we took Cori to our annual pilgrimage to Trax farms. We missed the good sunny weather by a few hours, but I guess it could've been much worse if we'd gone this past Saturday!!
Cori has been doing well. She really has such independent mind! And apparently the apple doesn't fall far from the tree when it comes to being stubborn. Whoops... But she is quite the sponge and understands most of what we say to her; I think the frustration comes in when she just chooses to not listen to us. (Does it really start this young??)

A good reminder to stop and smell the flowers! It is just amazing at times to see things through the eyes of a child (even if those eyes are closed! ha ha)

Vegas, baby!

Last Friday we set off on a surprise adventure for our wedding anniversary. This year it was my turn to plan something for us and for Dave to be surprised. I thought he'd never suspect that I had a trip planned to Vegas for us. Dave had always wanted to go, and while it never was on my radar to go there, as the day drew nearer, I got more excited.
Not only did Dave not know where we were going, he didn't know the method of transportation that we were taking. I'd even packed for him! (That is an ultimate act of trust - I don't know if I'd ever let him do that for me. But I'm the control freak between us.) Dave didn't seem to have any idea where we were headed even when we got to the airport. It wasn't until the agent at the counter asked how many bags we were checking to Vegas that Dave realized where we were going. And though I wasn't able to capture the moment on camera, I have a mental picture I'll always remember. Dave was pretty excited!

After a looooong flight at the back of the plane (sitting next to a guy who felt that half of my seat was his & wanted to constantly talk about how he just got out of jail with Snoop Dogg's cousin) we finally got to Vegas.
I think it's safe to say that our expectations of Vegas were a little different that the reality of Vegas. Don't get us wrong - we had a really good time! (4 days / 3 nights of no child and some alcohol = how can you not enjoy?!?) But Vegas is somehow even more expensive than we thought. And way more smokey that I would have guessed. And if we had a $5 bill for every child we saw, we'd have left far ahead financially! Who brings infants & toddlers to Vegas? What is there to do for these kids? Wow. And we both were very disappointed in the severe lack of Elvis impersonators. The weather was warm on Saturday (about 85) but a severe cold front blew in and we had a high of 68 the next 2 days and 30 mph winds. Yikes!!

The good stuff was that the food was wonderful everywhere we ate, and we had a fantastic room at the Mirage. My friend Jen (pregnant with twin girls!!) and her husband drove up from LA for the weekend so we got to spend some time with them as well. Dave and I had an amazing dinner high above the strip in the evening thanks to advanced reservations at the Eiffel Tower Restaurant (see 1st picture above). The food here was so good, I deliriously only managed to take pictures of Dave enjoying his huge bowl of creme brule and of my raspberry napolean (probably one of the top two desserts I've had in my life).

Probably our favorite part was that we saw Cirque du Soleil Beattles show "Love", which was just amazing!! I can easily see why it won for show of the year in both 2008 & 2009. All you really do need is Love!

experiencing technical difficulties

I know I am slacking updating the blog; right now I am contending with the sinus pressure headache from hell and telling myself that it's okay to go to be at 8:30 on a weekday night. (The DVR is set, the kid is asleep, so all is good right?)

I need to post Vegas pictures and stories. I want to update you with info about the house we will be building next spring. Yesterday was our 4th wedding anniversary and I meant to reminisce and post some pictures about that too.

I'm beat though, so patience please. I really promise to try harder tomorrow!

Random Pictures

Today it's pretty cool in da Burgh so we put Cori in a fall outfit. Don't you just love the boots?
Cori loves animals and often tries to pet Zoe. She's gentle but Zoe is still not sure.
Out little ballerina - let's just hope she has more grace than her momma!

From happy to fit-on-the-floor in a moment's notice. I guess we'll cut her some slack since she's had a fever for a few days.

Cori update

Cori turned 16 months today, and it's such a mixture of awe and sadness. Gone is our little baby and somehow she's turned into an independent little toddler! We knew it would happen at some point, but it kind of feels like it crept up on us.

Some of the new things she's up to:

• Cori loves to be outside, and her biggest thrill seems to be just running in open spaces. She's enjoying the big girl sliding board we got her; pictures to come.
  
  
• She's taken to picking up a "lovey" - literally - we have our own little Linus. Cori has become attached to a cotton blanket that we keep in her crib. It's really a cute sight.
  
  
• Cori's hair is becoming curly in the back. The past few months we'd noticed that when we'd bathe her, the back of her hair would curl up. Lately it's becoming more curly and without being wet. It's odd since Dave and I both have poker straight hair, though there is some curly hair genes on the grandparents' sides. In any case, we think it's adorable! (you can click on the picture below to make the picture larger and see the curls better)
  Reading is fast becoming the favorite past time, but Cori has certain books that are hew favorites. Probably the top pick is "Rainbow Rob" about a penguin who wonders if he could be some other color than black & white. When we recite words from the story (which we know by heart) she starts smiling and looking for the book. When she's upset, reciting the story calms her down. And a few times I swear I've heard her say "Rob". This weekend we may try to get a video of us reading it to her so you can see how she reacts and kisses Rob during certain pages. Too cute!!

Last Weekend of Summer

We celebrated the last weekend of summer by spending some time with some friends. I swear they didn't have fun stuff like this when Dave and I were kids.
Cori has been obsessed with dogs lately and while visiting, she got to play with Buddy. Buddy looks just like my mom's dog Merlin who passed away 2 years ago - a chubby chocolate lab with gray hair under his chin and as friendly as could be! Cori was excited to play with Buddy until he kept licking her in the face; then she wasn't so happy anymore. We're definitely getting a dog when we move next summer.
Speaking of moving, we're meeting with a realtor this coming weekend. We're hoping for encouraging news about placing our current house on the market. We have an appointment with Heartland Homes mid October to get specific pricing for the model we like with all the add-ins. Please keep your fingers crossed for us!

Dave and I finished up the last full weekend of summer with a mini date night. Last weekend we had a date night at the new River's casino, but we had to cut our night short and head home since Cori was having a really rough time with our sitter. We didn't get to see my brother & sister-in-law as planned either. So last night we had a bottle of red wine around a bonfire on the deck. The night air was so cool and we were able to just relax. Sometimes time just goes by too quickly! As much as we love fall, I can't believe summer is over!