A Saturday catch up

I'm writing this post to a chorus of "thump! thump!" as the nail gun goes off on our roof. Some people (most likely wise people) would look at their accomplishments from last weekend and rest this weekend. Not us. We (and I use the word loosely) are currently putting on a new roof. An intimidating project for sure, but by doing it ourselves we are saving an estimated $5000 to $7000 (which is good when you don't have $5000 lying around!). And, must admit, thus far, the project has gone without a hitch on our part (okay, so the slight hitch was the truck bringing our roof to town broke down about a half hour out of town, which meant that the guys started on the roof about 5 hours later than the wanted to, but they did find plenty to do to keep them busy --like, take old roof to the dump).

So who is the "we" in this endeavor? Obviously not me (Alisa). Kevin and my brother Ed are the main players and we've been blessed with some extra helpers filling in where they can -- two guys from our bible study and a couple from church. It is very nice to have friends who can come help in a project that maybe isn't so fun. With any luck, by the time Ed flies home on Monday night the roof will be complete....

Speaking of Ed, he recently got engaged a couple weeks ago to his girlfriend Shay. They went to Hawaii to visit her family and came back engaged, which is very exciting for a couple reasons. First, Hannah is excited to add another "auntie" to the list (and an auntie who will be a great one at that). Second, she will now get to be a flower girl at least once (as a girl that never did, I'm excited for her). Third, we really like this girl and are glad Eddie is smart enough to marry her. Fourth, the wedding is in Hawaii! That means next summer the Lind family is going to Hawaii, where none of us have ever been before! And, we are going with babysitters (well, my mom and sister who I know want to spend a little of their Hawaiian vacation hanging out with their two favorite girls!). So, our summer plans are made and we are excited (now we just have to save some money....).

Hannah has spent the last day and a half trying to "help" to the best of her ability, which is pretty much limited to bringing drinks to the workers. She has been just sitting outside on a lawn chair watching them work, occasionally shouting out "do you want a Gatorade? We have red or orange!". Poor kid is dying to climb a ladder.

Abby has recently discovered toys, and not just those clutch ones that you shake around. We've spent the last 11 months in deep denial that our baby is getting bigger, something we revelled in with Hannah ("look! she can wave! look! she can clap!" etc...) but Abby is bringing us out of our denial. Maybe it was her playing the xylophone this morning (correctly and having gotten it out all by herself) or pointing at Kevin on the roof and saying "dada!" or putting the toys in their bucket or crawling to the top of the stairs and standing up at the gate there while she waited for me to come back to her or going with Kevin to get Hannah up from nap time and squealing "Nanah!" at Hannah's door (completely unprompted). Or maybe it was just all of those put together. Somehow, she's been making the impression that her baby days are numbered and that she is quickly approaching being a 1 year old. I've started to realize that I have only 2 and 1/2 weeks left till her birthday, which means that I need to get my act together and organize her party and buy her birthday presents (the other day I had fun updating her amazon wish list -- it is like online window shopping, which is about the only type of window shopping I can do!!) We've also broken out the presents that Hannah got for her first birthday for Abby to play with (so, second kids have it made -- sure, their clothes are mostly hand-me-downs, at least with our girls, but they get almost twice as many toys -- everything big sister had, plus some new ones just for her). All that's to say that our playroom, which is huge, is full and Abby hasn't had her birthday yet....

Now, with Abby, we are on the cruise patrol. She's cruised along my leg a bit (like right now as she is trying to type on the laptop) but has yet to break out in any serious cruising which is a precursor to walking. I try not to remember that Hannah was walking by now and instead focus on how much Abby's gross motor skills have changed in just a month, but still, comparisons are inevitable (on a different front, Abby is happily sleeping two naps a day, where Hannah was down to just one, so that is a plus one for Abby!).