A Growing Baby and a Growing House

It has been almost a month since our last post and so much has happened in the mean time. First up is the little one. Abby will be 8 weeks old in a few days. She is growing like a little weed and is over 10 lbs now (she was only 6 lbs 2 oz when she was born). She is healthy, strong and doing great. It appears she has a sensitivity to milk protein, so Melissa is off dairy for the remaining months that she is nursing her.

Two weeks ago, we went out to the Cape and stayed with Mom and Dad Brown (Nana and Pop). I had a conference to attend in Lexington (outside of Boston) on Tuesday and Wednesday, so we drove up the Friday before to get away and to check on the progress of the new house. The house is very far along now. The pictures are almost 2-weeks old now. As you can see, the principle framing was almost done and windows were being installed. All that has since been completed.

We did a walk through with the electrician and mapped out all the lights, switches and outlets. The electrical and plumbing install will start next week, and I think they start to shingle the roof next week too. When we visit again on the 4th of July, the roof should be done, the basement and garage floors should be poured, the electrical should be well underway and the rough plumbing almost done. They might even start on the side wall shingles (natural cedar) by then. We have been planning this house and move for years and to finally step into a structure was pretty exciting. Some rooms were felt bigger than we thought, and some felt slightly smaller.

We also spent some time with my best friend from high school Crissy and her family. They live down in Woods Hole (the other end of town). Crissy gave birth to Kate in February, so her and Abby are the same age. Being able to move back home and still have a friendship like the one Crissy and I still have is very nice and raising our two daughters together is going to be a lot of fun. Kate is Crissy and her husband Billy's 3rd kid and I must relay their very helpful advice to first time parents. "Have your 3rd kid first, it is so much easier".

After I was done at my conference outside Boston, my parents came back to Rochester with us. They came in to help us do a bunch of projects around the house which will make it easier to sell. We have been in this house 10 years, and some things have needed some updates. They (essentially by themselves) power-washed and stripped the garage paint, prepped it for new paint and got that first coat of new paint on. It looks so much better and matches the house now. My Dad and I tore apart the bathroom, laid down a new vinyl floor and installed a new sink and vanity. That and some fresh paint and trim will make the bathroom 10x nicer. It was 3-4 days of hard work, but we got a lot of big things and some little things done. We then loaded up their truck with 20+ boxes of books and other assorted items (Xmas decorations, etc.) to take back to MA for us as part of our "trickle move" strategy. We will see them again in a few weeks for the 4th when my sister Wendy and her family are on the Cape too.