Contrary to popular belief, Washington is not a black hole

We are alive and well. I find the transition to a new place and new responsibilities leaves me a bit disorganized. Most of our stuff is in storage- including my camera cord up until a few days ago when my nice husband dug it out for me. Now I am out of excuses for not updating my blog. I am loving being in Washington. The weather has been a huge shock to us, as we are used to 90 degree weather this time of year. It's been windy, rainy, balmy, beautiful, etc. depending on the day. I suppose it is typical spring weather, but we have forgotten what "spring" is really like.

We are living with my parents for the time being. We wasted no time in finding a home that we love and Kallen went to work negotiating. He has worked out a great deal on a gorgeous home, and we should be moving in shortly. It was in the process of being built when we put in the offer, so it was fun to be able to chose the finishes that we liked. Can't wait to move in, although I am quite enjoying being spoiled by my parents. My mom cooks awesome meals and treats all the time, and my dad lets me tease him and bug him, and he still helps with my projects.The house is actually completed now, but I am unable to locate the charger for my camera, so it died. It is wonderful though and we are excited to start having visitors...HINT HINT!

So here's a little bit of what we've been up to in the last 2 months:

Kallen celebrated his 32nd birthday shortly after moving here. It was pretty low-key, but Madison seemed to enjoy the party.

We took our first boat ride of the season. It was much to cold to get in the water, but it was a gorgeous day. Madison was enthralled...not so much. She's even drooling if you look closely. We'll have to try again when we can get her out on the tube.

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Yesterday we went to the cemetery to put flowers on my grandparents' grave. It smelled so good with all of the flowers there and it was peaceful and beautiful.

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I've been working on projects so that I can have them ready once we get the green light to move in. I wanted some 3-d butterflies for Madison's room, so of course we have to test them out in my parents basement. My dad tolerated them quite well for several weeks...I told him that I had to make sure they would stay up. I still left one, but figured that would be a good enough test.

It has definitely been an adjustment being a stay-at-home mommy. I am surprised at where my day goes. I used to envision having so much time for projects and wonderful activities with my child, but some days its an accomplishment to get a shower and some make-up on. I am loving it though and have been so very blessed to have my parents home with me to make the days so much fun! And to offer some moral support on some of the long nights. Madison makes me laugh every single day and I can't believe I can love this little girl so much. She is so smart (I may be biased) and I am in awe every day and the little things she does. I can't believe she is almost 11 months old. Over the past 2 months, these are some of her accomplishments:

• *learned to crawl
• *learned how to clap
• *waves hello and goodbye (sort of)
• *says Ma Ma (usually in a whiny tone when she's tired)
• *says "dog" except she thinks it is "goh" She LOVES her dog and follows him everywhere, shares her toys and much to my dismay her food with him. He can cheer her up no matter what. I don't believe the feeling is mutual, but he's warmed up considerably since she started sharing food.
• *Decided to start standing one day. I was not able to get this child to even attempt to try standing at any point since the day she was born. She used to pull her legs up and just hang by her arms if I tried. Then one morning I came to get her after her nap and she was standing in her crib. She now pulls herself up on everything and even creeps and cruises around a bit around the furniture.
• *Gives hugs and kisses if she's in the mood....really big slobbery open-mouth kisses!
• *Feeds herself finger food like a champ. She's also learned the fun game of spitting her baby food out. Love it....not so much.
• *LOVES her G-G and Papa and has fun waking them up in the morning.
• *Can go up the stairs all by herself...we're working on going down safely now
• *Splashes in the bathtub and entertains herself well
• *Sings in the backseat of the car to the radio

It is fun to watch her understand things and respond. We love our little girl and love having her close to some of her grandparents.