A Few More Pics

Here are some of Millie's favorite things to do at the new house. You'll notice that all of the pictures have been taken in the same room. This is because the backroom (also dubbed the den or playroom) is 1) probably the most 'put together' room right now, 2) where all of Millie's toys are, 3) blocked off by gates to give Millie a safe place to play, 4) the room where we will likely be spending most of our time (in addition to the kitchen!). Eventually we will show the rest of our house though :). Millie really loves this back room though. It is big and we kept the middle nice and open so she has lots of room to roam. Millie's other favorite place to be is outside. She LOVES to look at the trees (thanks to Grandma Lainey). She even waved to them today through the skylights in our room as she was going down for her nap :).
Millie thought playing in the basket was pretty fun. Grandpa Ric put her in there (slightly better than getting put in a garbage can ;) )

Lots of room to crawl and lots of places to pull up on! Millie has even started practicing standing up without holding on to anything! She's going to be a walker before we know it!
Silly picture of mommy and Millie
Millie loves her book corner -- her favorite thing to do is pull all of the books off the shelf!
She found a good one ;)

Millie is the spitting image of her daddy here....

Millie was the first to try out the new desk that Grandpa Ric and I put together last week. Only 31 steps and we didn't mess up once (well, not really...). She thinks the chair is pretty neat!

I'm pretty sure they are both looking at the trees :)

Swimming Hole

Millie and I took some time off from unpacking on Saturday and finally played in her little pool for a while. We bought this pool for Millie in July when Auntie LoLo was here thinking it would be a good activity for them to do together while mommy was at work. Unfortunately, we did not consider that a giant blow-up frog might be frightening to a little baby. When Lauren and I tried to get her to go swimming she wanted nothing to do with it. We weren't sure if it was the water she was leery of or the frog itself. I knew I would need to get in with her, but that particular day our yard was very buggy and I didn't really want to get in either. So we put the pool away.

Scott and I pulled the pool back out a few weeks ago to test and see if it was the frog she was afraid of. Scott blew up the pool, but didn't put any water in. Millie was not happy when I tried to sit her in the dry frog! So, I got in with her and she eventually thought it was okay. We were going to try with water the next day but it wasn't a very nice day and then we just got busy with the move so the pool got put away again. Until today. Millie and I suited up, Scott got the frog ready and off we went to the backyard (our new backyard is much smaller and much less buggy!).

Millie had her eye on that frog the whole time we were outside. She wasn't going to let him get her! We took things slow -- first I just stood in the pool holding Millie, then I sat down and continued to hold her, then I stood her in the pool while I sat, then she sat with me, and eventually I was able to get out of the pool and Millie was happy splashing and crawling around! Millie had her trusty rubber duckie with her the whole time. Typically duckie is reserved for bath time only (Scott has Millie put him back after every bath so he is there waiting for her next time). But Scott was smart enough to figure that duckie might give Millie a little extra courage. She did not put duckie down the rest of the day :). She even went as far as to carry him in her mouth as she crawled around!

Here are some pictures of Millie and her swimming adventure! (the pictures with mommy in the pool are currently stuck on the camera -- can't find the cord that connects to the computer, oh well!)

Happy Birthday Sister! (A.K.A. Auntie LoLo)

The Big Move




Okay, so we only actually moved 15 miles up the coast of Connecticut. Not THAT big of a move in terms of distance. In terms of work and the amount of "stuff" we had to haul, well, it was big enough! We were SO fortunate to have Grandma Lainey and Grandpa Ric here to help with everything and to have so many good friends willing to give up their Saturday to lug our heavy furniture around (Liz and Eric, Emily, Dave and Will, and Carrie, Jason and Chase). Overall things went very smooth, though I will say we weren't as organized as we would have liked. Come moving day, there were still a lot of loose ends floating around which resulted in a lot of random, last-minute boxes being packed. Those are the kinds of things that are avoided when you do a long-distance move and hire movers -- EVERYTHING has to be in a box before they get there. Not so much when you do it yourself. But, it still worked out and we were able to save a significant amount of money. That may be the last time we attempt a self-move though... .

I don't think anyone slept very well Friday night in anticipation of the move. I was up mentally arranging the kitchen cabinets (which my mom and I had started on that afternoon), my dad was up mentally trying to figure out the best way to cover the sky lights in our new bedroom to cut down on the heat without cutting down on the light, my mom was up mentally working out another piece of the puzzle that I can't recall at the moment, and Scott was sleeping next to a restless wife and baby :). We had an early start to the day on Saturday. Up at 4:30 to get showered and dressed before all the activity. Scott and my dad left at 6:00 a.m. to take a carload to the house and to pick up the truck. Unfortunately, Millie got up at 4:30 too. Too early for the little one. Fortunately she went back to sleep and had two naps by the time people arrived at about 8:45 to start loading the truck. This was the start to our day:

I did not stay on the couch with my feet up during the whole move ;). Though, I will admit I didn't lift much more than the 16 pounds you see sitting on my lap. With all the confusion, people, and chaos, Millie was pretty insistent that I stay close by. Luckily her friends Chase and Will came along with their moms and dads and helped keep Millie entertained while the move was going on around her.

The kids enjoyed all the empty space to play in! Once we got to the new house, Millie was able to go for a walk with Grandma Lainey and get in a nap while I started unpacking and the men went back for a second load. Emily and my mom (along with Will and Millie) helped me get the kitchen organized (two women with EXCELLENT organizational skills!). Will eventually went home for a nap and Millie went for another walk. The guys got back and unloaded the truck one more time and then Jason and Dave were released to get back to their own families. Scott and my dad made a couple more car trips and then everything was in. We were officially moved in by 5 p.m. Not too bad.

It was a long day and everyone was tired by the end. I'm pretty sure that everyone slept MUCH better Saturday night -- mostly out of shear exhaustion! I think the look on Millie's face as she slept in Sunday morning pretty much sums it up :).


More pictures and stories to come as we continue to get the house in order! Thanks again to all of our helpers -- we couldn't have done it without each of you!

Our Super Baby

It's even funnier to see when Scott runs through the house with her in "flying" position :).

Stand In the Place Where You Live...

Millie likes to stand -- no matter where she is!

Out of Chaos...

...Comes order. At least that's what I keep telling myself as we continue to get ready for the big move next weekend. And really, we are making progress. Along with packing we are doing a MAJOR clean-out. Anything that hasn't been used, worn, looked at, listened to, or enjoyed in some manner in the past two years is getting either thrown or given away. This move is actually more to us than just a change in address, it's an opportunity to simplify our lives and to re-focus on the important things (mainly the people in our lives ;)). It's a cleansing in a sense and it feels good. So, we will be making a large donation to Good Will at the end of the week and we were also able to donate a good number of items to my school. Of course, Fairfield Dump will be getting a few things too :).

This move will allow us to "simplify" our commutes too as Scott will be able to walk to the train station and I will have a 5 miles round trip commute between the house, daycare, and school. We're going to sell Scott's car and will hopefully replace it with two nice and reliable bikes. I'd like to bike to daycare/work with Millie in tow as soon as she is old enough and when weather permits.

As we get ready to leave this house, it's easy to come up with things we are NOT going to miss: the driveway, the old-fashioned doors that look cool but are not very functional, the drafty windows, the poor lighting throughout the house, the odd layout, the white kitchen, the four hours worth of yard work, the after hours shenanigans that happen in the school parking lot next door, the barn, the commutes.... BUT, this has been a very unique home to live in and we've gotten to experience a lot of nature, which has been very nice. This summer we've had a mom and baby deer frequent our paddock quite often. Millie loves to look at them -- and they love to look at her :). It's kind of funny to look out and see them behind the fence, almost like they are ours. Of course, they aren't but it sure is nice that they were put here for us to enjoy and live in harmony with. I was particularly struck one day when I looked out and saw the fawn nursing from the mom. How often do you get to see that in your own backyard? I felt very bonded to the deer after that -- especially when the mom nudged the fawn away as if to say "enough already" ;).


Despite it's "inconveniences" we will always have fond memories of this house as our first home in Connecticut, the place where Millie was born and where we got to experience many of Millie's "firsts" in life. Our new home is likely to have less wildlife roaming around, but hopefully there will be more contact with other families and children for Millie to play with. We are really looking forward to a fresh start in a new home and all of the joy we are going to experience there as a family.

Motor Boat, Motor Boat

The "motor boat" sound is quite popular amongst the 9-month-old set these days. Which is kind of funny because it's something each of them seems to have discovered on their own. Millie tries SO hard to get her motor boat going, but well see for yourself...