See our home improvements

We've been pretty busy with our house projects still. Over the weekend we were able to paint the office/guest room and put in new blinds and today Alex was able to finish painting the fence...this is a project that we have been working on for weeks! I am starting to see an end to the constant projects approaching. We've contracted with someone to handle the work in the back yard, and my mom is going to come in a couple weeks to help me paint the rest of the house. After those projects are completed in August, we should be feeling much better...still not done, but much better.
Here is a picture of Alicia washing the car with her daddy recently. She loves to wash the car, and is surprisingly good at it. This is Alex showing off our newly completed garage. Alex and my dad drywalled it together, and Alex and I painted it the week that he left, and it is very nice to be able to get in both vehicles in the middle of the day without having to cool them off or worry about how hot Alicia's buckles are in her seat because we can fit both cars in the garage now!!

This is what will be the baby's room...it's a mess and a bit of a catch all right now, but we painted it a cream and green, put in the blinds, and my dad put in the light fixture. I still have six months to finish it off before the little one arrives.
These are a couple of pics of Alicia's room. She has a dark purple wall and the rest are a light tan...the blog just isn't doing any of the color's justice, but maybe it gives you a little idea.I think I already put this in somewhere, but Alicia's bathroom again...

...and our most recent accomplishment, Alex's office!


We took a little break from our work last Friday to go to Friday's for dinner. Alicia has just gotten into nose kisses and she was giving them to Alex while we waited for a table.

Alicia got to sit in a booster seat instead of a highchair for the first time, and she loved it. I don't know what it is, but she loves to be with Alex during meals. She loves to get his special attention during this time and she frequently cops a bit of an attitude in an attempt to get him to feed her. With me she is miss independent...there is no way that I'm going to feed her something, she handles it herself if we are alone. Here they are enjoying coloring together while waiting for the food...I think Alex is enjoying the coloring more that Alicia.

Enjoying some drinks together.
After dinner we went to an outdoor ampitheater in the complex that has free concerts every evening. We found a little grassy area to sit in and Alicia loved listening to the music...
...and looking at all the clouds.

I know, I don't look pregnant yet...I can tell, but most people can't yet...just give me another month or so. I'm just finishing my first trimester this week and thankfully the nausea and feeling like crap is coming to an end!! The hardest thing for me now is just fighting the exhaustion. When I was pregnant last time, it was really a stretch for me to be awake for 12 hours in a day, and we just have to much to do to be in bed that much, so I always feel tired.

4th of July

We started Saturday morning doing one of Grandpa Charlie's favorite things...going to the donut shop!! Alicia is showing off the way that she can eat all of the sprinkles off of her donut without eating the donut itself.
We went to the 4th of July parade in the morning...and while we didn't have the greatest seats, we were at least in a little shade from the tree.

Alex standing by one of the boats in the parade...he would like for it to be his someday. Alicia was tired, and getting pretty cuddly with her Grandpa.
Sitting with her daddy eating a sucker.
Staying up late and looking at the stars. We were there and ready for the fireworks at 9, but we were an hour late...oops!
Alex came up with an ingenious idea for feeding Alicia when she is grumpy...

and his FedEx model plane became good for something. We are starting to potty train, so I bought Alicia some big girl panties. I don't think that she really understands their purpose.
Alex in the garage with my dad learning about drywall.
Out to dinner with Grandpa

Grandpa Charlie is here

We are very excited to have my dad here for a whole week!! He is a huge help to us getting things done around the house. After two days he has installed three outside light fixtures, one ceiling fan, an interior light fixture in the baby room, completed drywalling the roof of the garage and more...our list of projects is still nowhere near completion, but it is very exciting for Alex and I to be able to walk into our room, flip a switch, and have light!
We have a new dishwasher that has been sitting in the living room for about 10 days now. Our homeowner's warranty covered it after I realized that the puddle of water in the kitchen was coming up through my flooring when I used the dishwasher! The guy came to install it the other night, but we were dismayed to discover that the flooring had been laid with the dishwasher in place...literally locking it in. The guy was pretty dramatic and unhelpful. Alex and I were extra thankful to have my dad here, because together they were able to saw off the legs of the old one and tear it out without further damaging the floors.
Between the pregnancy, home repairs, and Alex leaving me for a few days to go camping over the weekend...I must have gotten all stressed out. Last year about this time I got itchy lips during the stress of planning an out of state wedding among other things. I had visited about five doctors, done tests, and taken a variety of medicines and none of them could figure it out. Then after about two months it just went away. This probably sounds stupid, but I'm talking about lips that are so itchy I can't think about anything else!! It was like a really bizarre torture. Well, as the news was getting worse with the repair man the other night my lips began to itch and by the time he left I was itching like crazy, and my TMJ started to flair up again...I developed this during my first pregnancy and it lasted about a year and a half and a lot of doctor visits before it just seemed to dissipate. I'm saying all this not because I'm looking for sympathy, but because it's funny...I mean who gets super itchy lips!? I'm hoping that having a few of these projects done with my dad here will put me at ease and hopefully these nuisances won't reach their past levels.
Alicia has been a really good girl lately, she is sleeping through 90 percent of nights, starting to tell me what she needs, and we've taken away bottles without a major hitch. The other night she did wake up and when I went in her room I said tell me what's wrong....She said, bicky bicky (I call her pacifier binky) and I gave her a pacifier which she doesn't use that often, but I think likes to chew while she's teething. Then she pointed at her nose and said, boobie boobie (which of course means boogies) and she blew her nose for me. Then she pointed at her hair and said, bow bow...so I put some clips in her hair...her new thing is having to have multiple clips in her hair. Then she seemed totally satisfied, so just to make sure that we would make it through the rest of the night I got her a drink of water and changed her diaper when she said, hot hot, and I have to admit that while Alex and I were enjoying our new ceiling fan, her room had gotten a little stuffy, so I turned down the AC a notch for her and she went to bed content for the rest of the night. What a little angel.