So big!!

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Laila's First Steps

Tonight, we had a first. A BIG FIRST.


Steve and I saw Laila take her first real steps.
Five sweet, stumbling steps.

We were laying across the foot of our bed and Laila was playing with her toys on the floor beneath us. She stood up and scooted along the bed to Steve's bedside table. She picked up one of her birthday cards. (yes, we still have her birthday cards strewn about...we don't get around to cleaning up much lately) She started looking at the card, turned around to show it to us. Then started looking back at the car

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d and one step ( I held me breathe) two steps (I hit Steve to get his attention) three steps ( I break out in smile) four steps (I look at Steve) five steps (I start to cry) and then BOOM! She falls on her butt. She looks up at us when she realized what just happened, a little frightened. When she sees us smiling and praising her she breaks out in a HUGE smile.

It was one of the best moments that I can ever remember and I am so glad that I was there!

OUR kitchen sink

:) it is the little thing in life that make us happy. Like having a kitchen sink and an electric bill. :)
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Laila's sign!

Laila's aunty marissa sent this to us!
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House update

The appliances arrived today. They look spectacular! We did a little yard work this morning and are working on painting the rest of the upstairs tonight and tomorrow!
We also have new toilets, faucets and shower heads. Windows are ordered and countertops/sink will be installed this week!
We are meeting with Donny, the carpet guy, this coming week as well. If we can get the carpet installed the following week we can move in!!!

So excited!
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A work in progress.

Just for you, my picture greedy blogger buddy. :) This is looking out from the kitchen through the living room to the entry way. More to come!
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The construction begins!

Our contractor, Dale, already has the wall removed! It is crazy how quickly things are moving! We hope we can keep up at this pace and move in 3 weeks!
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Oh the joys of homeownership

OK! So the last week has been a whirlwind. We almost lost the house and our earnest money because of a few choice idiots at the bank. But, luckily, we have to most amazing realtor who called in quite a few favors and got everything squared away! If you ever need a realtor, we most definitely will give you a great recommendation!

We signed all the papers Thursday and immediately went over to the new house. We changed all the locks from hideous gold to a more modern design and finish. Steve and I both like silver or pewter and the whole house is decked out in gold trimmed everything. Of course, we had our bottle of champagne and took lots of pictures, which I'll post later.

Friday night we went over to the house after work and ripped all the old carpet from the upstairs. It was so much easier to move around after that was out. It was thoroughly disgusting. We also started wiping down all the walls with bleach water.

Saturday was the big day. My mom had surgery for a retinal detachment (very scary by the way) so she is not able to lift anything. This makes it impossible for her to watch Laila. We had to bring her with us, which made everything a bit more challenging. In the morning we met the contractor to finalize the kitchen plans and then ew put her down for a "nap". I am not entirely sure how much she actually napped. We put her in a pack and play in one of the basement room.

She woke up and we went to The Home Depot. We purchased all of our appliances and they are set to come next Saturday! We are very excited. We also picked out all of our paint! We went back to the house and Laila took another nap. This time we are sure she didn't really sleep at all. I am sure it iwas just a strange room and strange noises coming from upstairs. But while she was resting we got the first coat on her room. We are doing it just like it was in the old house. :)

We used paint and primer in one, it is this new paint from Behr. It works AMAZINGLY well. There were crayon and marker drawings all over the walls and it completely covered it in one coat. We have a few spot to touch up due to my poor corner painting skills, but other than that...done! I am sold. Now we just have to convice Jes to come out and do her striped magic again! :)

The master bedroom had wallpaper in it. Lucky us. Steve worked tirelessy (obsessively) all day to get that stuff off. It is mostly done, save about a 3 foot section. I finally made him go home at 10:30 since we had been there since 9 am.

Todays projects? I am glad you asked. We will finish the wallpaper, clean and tape the master bedroom. Also, finish cleaning and taping the entry way and dining room. After that we will just paint away!

I will post more later on the progess and hope to get some pictures up soon!