A Quick Abby Update

Miss Abigail continues to grow at a rapid pace. Last Friday she was up to 13.7 pounds and 23 1/2 inches! She is enjoying day care and the interaction with the other kids. Mom is happy to be back at work, but really likes that she now has Friday's off to hang out with Abby (and usually lunch with Daddy).

Abby is getting very chatty and often babbles through our evening walk through the neighborhood. She loves to be outside and enjoys looking at everything. She's also been to several Rhino's soccer games, which she also finds fascinating with so many people to watch. We think she is going to roll over very soon, she's got all the individual motions down, she just needs to put it all together. While we are excited that she will soon reach this milestone, we do realize that baby mobility brings all new challenges :).

A Quick House Update

I promised picture of the back of the house with the deck and enclosed porch area. This was one of the big things on our wish list. My grandparents always had a screen porch at their house and used it as an family room in the summer (they even had a little TV out there). I can't tell you how many floor plan ideas we dreamed up before we found one that integrated this enclosed porch idea well enough. The double doors leading to it are on the eat-in end of the kitchen and the kitchen sink is behind the bank of windows in the small bump out. You can also see the small 2nd floor porch behind it, which is off our bedroom and over the garage.

Hopefully by early next week all of the important inspections will be done and the insulation and interior walls can go up. Meanwhile, the septic system was dug in this week. This was done closer to the end of the project rather than the beginning so that we could clear a minimal amount of trees but have access to the foundation and house from all sides. If the system had been installed early on (which is the usual practice) then there would have been a fairly large area where trucks would not be able to drive or park.

It looks like we will be back there the last week in August or the first week in September to help out with a lot of the finish work (paint rooms, install the kitchen cabinets, lay tile in bathrooms and the mudroom, install all the interior trim, etc.). If things really move along, I guess it could be ready for occupancy in early October. When we actually move will be a function of our various projects at work, but we expect to be there by Thanksgiving at the latest.