Frances's Baptism

Baby girl was baptized Saturday afternoon. We were able to include cousins Zoey and Melody, too. So it was a hectic few days, with both families camping out in the house. It was a great experience, and who knows when we'll all be able to get together again?

Here is Frances being baptized. If you look at the center of the photo, you can see Henry watching really closely.

Mere and Doodah catching some snuggles.

Frances's godmother, aka Nanny 'Rie.

From L to R: Kathy holding Zoey, Tim holding Melody, Fr. Tom, Melissa (Zoey's godmother), Dennis (godfather to both girls), Bobbie (Melody's godmother)

Our little family.

I promise Frances didn't cry all day. Just for most of the pictures.

(The swing was my birthday present.)

The Perrys

Front row: Mere holding Frances, Henry, Doodah holding Andrew

Back row: Michael, Marie, Jacob, Rebecca, Dennis

We missed you, Kelly!

The Chatham kids.

Front: Zoey, Melissa holding Frances and Melody, Henry

Back: Tim (Frances's godfather), Rebecca, Dennis

Can't forget the Gipper, the original grandchild.

The Twisted Sifter created the cake. It was "Pink Velvet," which is flavored with pomegranate juice. Yummy! They also sell awesome cupcakes.

Henry and Parrain Jacob got to spend some quality time together.

Henry was so excited to hang out with his favorite cousin Zoey.

Frances has figured out the whole smile thing!

Where ya been for the past month?

We've been busy growing, and eating, and playing, and napping...

"What up?"

Naps with Mere are the best!

Super Henry to the rescue!

Henry does love to hold his baby sister.

Henry has some cool new shoes!

Sweet baby toes.

"What's my big brother doing to me?"

"What's my daddy doing to me?"

Henry just can't get enough Frances!

But he's not alone--we can't either.

1 week down

17 + years to go! Well, and then some!

Grandmom has demanded more pictures, so I must oblige:

This past Saturday we brought the kids to Lex to meet cousin Andrew. He and Frances took turns sleeping through the visit.

Frances spent most of Doodah's visit sleeping, too.

Earlier today Frances enjoyed hanging out with Daddy.

Henry's always up for a photo op.

"Cheese!"

Baby sister is here!

Frances Marie was born April 13, 2010 at 12:39 p.m. She weighed 7 pounds, 10 ounces, and was 20 inches long. She was OP, aka "sunny side up", so instead of a conehead, she has a squishy face--but that's improving. She's a champion nurser already, loves to sleep, and Daddy says he hardly ever hears her cry. Let's hope this lasts!

"I so excited, Mommy! You brought Baby Sister home!"

Dr. Anne, my good friend and obstetrician. She's the best!

Henry loves to hold her. He'll just pet her over and over and call her "cute" and "little" and "pretty." "Baby need to grow up."

Progress

Although the whole process seems unending, we are making some progress. Almost all of the wallpaper is down. Now we're scraping the residual wallpaper glue, which takes as long or longer than just removing the paper. Then just 2 more washes of the walls, and we're done--with that aspect. This is starting to get old fast.

Dining room before we started.

Dining room now. (Thanks, Grandmom!)

Hallway before.

Note the THREE layers of wallpaper in some areas.

Hallway now.

Downstairs bath before--who doesn't love bouquets of seashells, really?

Bathroom now.

Have I shown you the most interesting room in the house? It's the master bath. Note the gold tub and toilet, the blue shag carpet, and the pink wallpaper. I think the wooden toilet seat really brings it all together and makes it work.

(In case you were just dying for a close-up of the Valentine's wallpaper.) It came down over the weekend, which I think was very fitting.

So if you're keeping track of our to-do list, here's an update:

• sliding glass doors replaced with French doors--mostly completed--needs some framing finished and handle/deadbolt installed
• French doors installed to front living room--doors not delivered yet, and "the guy" for that is working on the other French doors right now anyway
• front door threshold repaired/jacked up--done, I've been told
• garage door openers--purchased, waiting on "the guy" to install them, hopefully within the next week
• HVAC repair--"the guy" said he'd be out to look at it this week--I guess he's taking his time, but still 2 days left to the week
• electrical work: ceiling fan installation (7 of them, please) plus moving the bathroom light fixtures, plus figuring out the front floodlights--"the guy" checked out the house today, and apparently will be back next week to get that done
• drywall repair--gotta wait until all the wallpaper glue is cleaned off first and the electrical work is done, then we'll call "the guy"
• carpets--to be done after drywall and priming are done
• locks changed--will call "the guy" after the back French doors are done so we can have all matching locks (I'm totally pumped about this--only one key!)
• chimney cleaning--back burner at the moment

And by the way, I'm 31 weeks pregnant today--only 9 weeks to go until my due date, so the pressure is on! Besides, who knows when this girl will decide to show up? If all of the above list doesn't have you feeling my stress, I also haven't made any diapers for this baby, or done any shopping, or even evaluated what sort of newborn stuff we might need. I got rid of a lot of Henry's baby stuff that I didn't just love, plus I've been told I must have some pink things. And the icing on the cake is that she's still breech--already a troublemaker! Keep your fingers crossed that she will cooperate and turn over sometime soon!

Grandmom came to visit for the weekend, and we kept her hard at work. Mere is coming Saturday to take the next shift. And I need a nap.

I'm a farmer's wife

or at least a farmer's-wife-in-progress.

We did finally close on the new house and farm on Thursday. Over the weekend we began the renovation process. French doors have been ordered, "guys" have been called, lists have been made.

On Sunday we got started with wallpaper removal. We have one upstairs bedroom, the entire upper and downstairs hallway and stairwell, the dining room, 3 bathrooms, and the kitchen to scrape clean. As of today, Henry's room has been done, and part of the upstairs hall and stairway has been done--only 12 thousand more hours of work to go! It's not terribly difficult work, just very time-consuming.

After all of the wallpaper comes down, we'll have the drywall "guy" make any needed repairs (there will be a lot) to the walls and ceilings. Many of the walls and ceilings in the house have cracks that need to be repaired, and it's enough that it would be a huge mess and a pain and not enough of a money-saver for us to do ourselves. We'll most likely need several of the ceilings re-textured as well.

(Oh, and we'll probably have some light fixtures moved/changed/added before we get the drywall done.)

Then, after the drywall is done, we can have the bedroom carpet replaced. Then we can move in, we think.

Other items that need attention as well (preferably before we move in):

back sliding glass doors replaced with French doors

French doors added to front living room

HVAC system addressed--may need one or both blowers replaced

front door threshold repaired/replaced

fireplace and chimney cleaned

locks changed!

garage door openers replaced

Wow, that looks overwhelming when it's all typed out! If we ever accomplish all of those things, we can get started on the "want to" list of things that we can do after we move in.

So I know you're so entertained already. Wanna see pictures inside the house? I know that's what you're here for.

Henry's room before

First ya gotta peel the outer decorative layer off, then wet down the backing and glue, then scrape scrape scrape!

Here's what you're left with: walls that need a little more TLC.

Some examples of what we need "touched up."

We think the mold may be old--the roof is relatively new, but the previous owners probably waited a bit too long to have it replaced.

Henry helped by keeping himself (mostly) occupied in Baby Sister's room.

He insisted I take a photo of the TV.

Here's a sneak peek of what's to come:

Next up, the hall and stairwell!

The downstairs bathroom

The kitchen (which will likely be the last room to be renovated) has THREE layers of wallpaper. Looking forward to that!