beach baby!

we spent the past week relaxing on the jersey shore. it was very relaxing and a lot of fun. we all got to spend some quality time with krissy, jeff, and lilly. Q was in a much better mood than the last time he saw lilly, so they had a ton of fun baby-wrestling, stealing each other's binky, playing with each other's toys, riding in a wagon, eating sand and much more!

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both babies really enjoyed the wagon rides to and from the beach. and both enjoyed playing in the sand. we were actually very impressed with how little sand quentin consumed, given that virtually everything goes straight in to his mouth. i think he really liked the beach toys. he didn't mind when the ocean water touched his toes, but he was not at all amused when daddy took him "all the way" in.

step by step (oooh baby)

last friday, the little Q man took his first steps!! he started out by performing a single step several times before pulling out a 4-step stroll from daddy to mommy. i guess the nice jersey shore air inspired him. (we were down the shore for the week visiting with krissy, jeff, and lilly - pics from the trip forthcoming - have to get back to organizing the cellar while the Q is at day care!)

big boy toys?

ok everyone. we need help! quentin's 1st birthday is approaching so family members etc. have been asking us what he "wants" for his birthday. it was easy when he was just a little guy but it's a lot harder now! he likes toys, that much i know. all his current toys are infant toys and it's getting to the point where many can go into retirement (exersaucer, jumperoo, etc.) what do big kids play with? i know lots of you have toddlers - what do they like? what couldn't you live without? are there good "educational" toys for this age group?

a special father's day gift

quentin wanted to give his daddy something very special. he knows his daddy misses abby very much, so he had a great idea to have a painting done to remember her by. he asked me for help - since he doesn't know how to use the internet. we looked for someone to do a custom pet portrait. if you google that, you find all kinds of artists, but most charge several hundred dollars for a small painting. luckily i remembered that i had seen custom pet paintings offered on ebay in the past. we looked there and found many more reasonably priced. then we just had to find someone whose style we liked. many of the ones we found were not our style, but after looking through her portfolio, we found one we loved and purchased it. it was a very easy process - we just had to email a photo that we wanted replicated, and a few others for the artist to get a good sense for her coloring and personality. this is the photo we started with. it was the very first picture of abby we ever saw. someone from the beagle rescue took it and it's just so abby. it's totally her "please feed me, please please please" face, a face we know quite well. we also got to pick a new background, since the background in the actual photo is just a hardwood floor and a dirty old towel. we selected tomato plants since they seemed to be abby's favorite. our plants in richmond didn't stand a chance once abby discovered how tasty tomatoes were. this is the sketch the artist sent back to me a day or two later. i love the tomatoes hanging out of her mouth!

and this is the finished product! i absolutely loved it and thought it was perfect. it was so hard to keep it a secret, but we did it! notice the hidden lemon in the top left corner? that's an homage to abby's lemon coloring! we've got a custom frame on order and as soon as that comes in, abby will be on our bedroom wall, smiling down on us forever!

da-da

dear da-da,

mom said if i wore this outfit, it would make you smile. hope it does. i feel ridiculous. sorry you had to work today. i'll see you tomorrow!

happy da-da day.

love,

Q

swinger

today we set up a backyard swing for quentin. hopefully this will hold him over until we have the moola to buy him a whole swing set extravaganza. we've been trying to find a good place to hang a swing. there was this perfect tree that we wanted to use. we assumed it was on our property when we first moved in, but after some conversations with our neighbor, it seemed like it was actually in his yard, though it was still vague. jeremy talked with the neighbor today while they were both outside doing man-work and finally verified that it is our tree after all. yeah! we have a bit more work to do on it (anchoring it in to the tree, rather than attaching it to chain wrapped around the branch) but Q already seems to enjoy it. i see many swing-filled days in our future!

I miss you mommy

Have a safe and fun trip. I love you! Can't wait until Thursday! Oh yeah, bring me back a new toy!

little dude

inspection drama

the buyers of our richmond house did their home inspection on wednesday. the inspector found a few dumb things totalling $750. i don't remember them all but i did a lot of eye-rolling as i read them:

• downspout disconnected: estimate to fix $75 (seriously, it's called a ladder, climb it, reattach, cost $0. done.)
• recommend sealing the openings beneath the gas logs in the fireplace so mice don't get in (umm. just turn the fireplace on. scorched mice = no mice. or get a cat. done.)
• trim the trees away from the house (estimate: something ridiculous like $350)
• need new dryer vent cover

whatever. but the buyers asked for an additional $800 toward their closing costs which annoyed me for a few reasons:

1. i'm already mad that we're selling them our house for less than we paid for it
2. also mad because in addition we are giving them $5000 for closing costs
3. and buying them a $400+ home warranty
4. the inspector's estimate totally $750 so they were trying to squeeze that plus an extra $50 out of us.

but. at the same time $800 is a fairly small price to pay to get this disaster over once and for all. jer was ok just paying it but i am stubborn and really wanted to counter something lower (or say heck no.) so i poured over the contract to see what we were obligated to do.

contracts are never easy to read given all the legal-ese but i was pretty sure it said that they need to present us a list of requested repairs and/or credits by 8 p.m. on wednesday 6/4 or they waive their right to ask for anything. the addendum they submitted to us requesting the $800 extra was signed and dated 6/5. seems to me they forfeited their right to ask for anything.

i made jeremy ask our realtor about it, and at first he responded that the buyers were still entitled to ask for repairs as long as the inspection took place by 6/4. i know i was driving jer crazy, but i made him ask the realtor one more time. at that point the realtor went back and re-read the contract and realized that i was actually right. it turns out the standard virginia purchase agreement has changed recently, and that was one key change. guess neither their realtor nor ours was aware of the change. supposedly the buyer's agent now has to pay the $800, not us.

for once, my stubbornness was helpful and saved us $800! woo hoo! now we just need to get through the termite inspection and the appraisal, and then it should be smooth sailing (knock on wood) to closing on 7/7. the end is near!!!!

um. ok.

got this in the mail the other day...

My Little Prince Our First Ever Pageant For America's Beautiful Baby Boys! Ok, we admit it. We're a little slow. It's taken us over fifteen years of parents telling us that they wanted a Pageant where they can proudly show off their adorable little mess makin', heart stealin', gotta love'em, BOYS! Well, we finally realize that the other fifty percent of children who AREN'T made of sugar and spice, (but are still filled with everything nice), deserve a special day to celebrate with family and friends, where they can shine in the spotlight, get tons of attention and lots of cool prizes! C'mon Dads, we know what you're thinking. Don't worry... we've got your back. We're not going to make that rugged little guy of yours wear a pink tutu and carry a flower. In fact, just forget the word "pageant" all together. Think more along the lines of "Super Macho Manly Men." (Ok, maybe that's pushin' it, just a bit.) How about this? Think of your lovely wife and how happy this will make her and how nice she'll be to you FOREVER, if you just smile and say, "Yes Dear." Seriously though, it's going to be a GREAT pageant. He'll get to make some new little guy friends and receive thunderous applause like a rock star just for being the awesome little dude he is. (Not to mention getting to flash his gorgeous smile in front of the leading talent reps in your area. Maybe he'll score a diaper commercial and you can retire.) Woo Hooo! This is a day to celebrate you son. This is NOT Your Sister's Beauty Pageant!

the categories are "baby boy" for 6-24 months and "little man" for 2-3 year olds. what the heck is a 6 month old going to do? they can barely even sit up on their own! the application must be postmarked by monday. totally filling it out right now ;) see you at the boston marriott on august 3rd! ;) hahaha. in a sick sort of way i'd like to watch this thing and see the crazy pageant moms pushing their 7 month olds out on the stage with teased hair and mascara. what a disaster!

10 months old!

double digits! it's hard to believe that much time has already passed. at 10 months, quentin is eating a whole bunch of people food. he eats with the big boys at day care (but still has bottles too.) he's tried all kinds of food - today he has yogurt for the first time - big fan. he's also eaten his first kids' meals at restaurants - mac n' cheese at bugaboo and a grilled cheese at friendly's. still not loving the cheese but we'll keep trying it. my son will love cheese.

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quentin can stand for long periods of time but still hasn't braved his first steps. if he's anything like his daddy, he'll be walking in 2 weeks. he's showing off his skillz in the last picture.

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he loves to swing outside and his new favorite game indoors is knocking things down. if you build a tower of blocks, he takes great pleasure in knocking it down. sometimes he'll let you build it nice and tall so it's more fun to knock over. other times you can only stack the blocks 2 or 3 high and he's already on the case.

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no words yet, but he is certainly experimenting with a whole range of syllables. but raspberries remain his go-to noise.