Welcome to the Jungle - A 1st Words Blog Entry

Eden has a playmat.  She likes to play on her playmat.  Sometimes she gets really excited.

See the example below:

Eden has a dog.  She likes to pet the dog.  We don't think she will be scared of dogs. 

See example below:

(Click on photo to see fangs in lifesize hi-def)

Moving along

We had our electrical walkthrough last weekend and within a week the whole house has been wired, plumbing started, gas lines in, windows in, and furnace and water heater installed.  We have heard people like keeping up on the house so here are some more pictures.

Front View with shingles!

Eden looking out of her window :)

Living Room with fireplace in

Living Room windows

Looking into kitchen (over bar) from Living Room

Master Bath

Basement Great Room

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Not only was today my 5 month birthday, it was also a special day to wear lots of green and hear about all the great things Irish!  Mom and Dad put a special shirt on me and I'll show it to you:

And then I made sure everyone (and I mean everyone) followed the directions:

Mommy even snuck in several more kisses.  It looks like I enjoyed them :)

And we finished the night with Daddy telling me of all the great battles fought (and mostly won) by the Fighting Irish in this place:

And I as I drifted off to sleep, I smiled thinking of all of the battles that I will see won under the direction of:

Go Irish!!!!

Fun Times

Eden has been doing many fun things lately.

Christmas with Grandma Jennie

Opening her stocking

Getting loved on by Mommy after bathtime

Climbing on top of her bookshelf (it surprised us too)

She said she needed money from her piggy bank

Playing with her cousin Rocky

Failing at waking Daddy up

And many trips here, there, and everywhere!

Hope you are having fun as well and remember, only you can prevent forest fires.

Words....

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.  One immediately comes to mind whenever I see my girls:

Beautiful

Housing News

We will start with the exciting news that our home is now under contract for sale!

We received our first offer exactly two weeks after listing and feel extremely blessed that we had so much interest so fast.  We now are waiting to get a closing date and have all the accompanying disclosures / inspections completed.  Thanks to all who prayed on this for us...your support is appreciated.

We made a promise to Eden that once we did have the house sold we would break out her newest contraption, the excersaucer.  So, she reminded us of this Wednesday evening and as the accompanying pictures show...she seems to like it.

Another trip to Wakarusa and one more week closer to completion of our new home.  They finished framing the upstairs this week and began work on the roof.  They hope to have the basement framed during this next week as well.  Here is Eve welcoming me home for the first time:

The completed front of the house:

Looking from the entryway into Eden's bathroom:

Looking from the entryway into the living room with stairwell on the right:

If anyone needs any bent nails, four to six inch 2x4 scraps, or clay soil, let us know and we could work out a deal :)

And finally, Sherman wanted to let everyone know that he still loves his little sister and that there are pictures to prove it:

Have a great week and enjoy the warmer weather and sunshine!

Have you seen it????

WARNING

Local newscasters in the South Bend / Mishawaka area were informing the public this evening of an unforeseen danger.  It seems that the unusually warm and sunny weather of the past few days has been distorting the natural cycle of hibernation for some creatures.  Reports have been circulating of sightings of one of these creatures in locations their presence is not normally associated with including Meijer, Wabash Electric, and a home in Granger, IN.  One eyewitness reported seeing the creature riding in a gray SUV with Notre Dame plates.  It is not known if said creature is a danger to the general public at this stage of its early development.  Notre Dame biology professor Sherman McDizzle, PhD. is researching the possibility that this creature, which he describes as "a rare white Peepers bear,"  could be the offspring of a family that has lived in the Mishawaka area for approximately 8 years.  McDizzle heard that this family has been or is in the process of migrating south. McDizzle urges caution to any who may encounter this creature.  He warns: "you think it is harmless but then you find yourself talking in a high pitched voice, making funny faces at it, and wanting to bring it fun and colorful objects to play with.  Before you know it the creature is laughing and smiling at you and then, well then......" he trailed off.  Again, caution is urged for any who come in contact with the creature pictured below.  Please inform any and all you know if you encounter it.

Updates

We've been quite busy the past two weeks.  We started having house showings and it has been quite a whirlwind.  We had one two Sundays ago, one on Tuesday, two on Thursday, one each Friday, Saturday, and Sunday!  Poor Sherm doesn't know if he is coming or going anymore with as much as he is in the car riding to and from his Aunt and Uncle's house.  We did our grocery shopping Saturday during the showing and of course took Eden with us.  We were a tad bit disappointed in her though...we gave her one job (to hold the coupons) and she fell asleep "on the job."

We will forgive her this time....

We had a great Valentine's day a few weeks ago as well.  I took my girls out for lunch and really spoiled my wife.  I told her since it was a special day she could have whatever she wanted for lunch....boy did she take me up on it:

Daddy's Little Valentine

We were very excited to see the recent progress on our new house.  They were able to get the foundation completed even with all of the snow the past few weeks.  Framing started last week and they are moving quickly on that.  It is awesome to finally see (not just imagine) what it looks like.  In about four weeks we went from this:

To this:

Eden is almost 4.5 months already.  We cannot believe how fast the time has gone.  She is really starting to babble now (when the mood hits her) and getting stronger everyday.  We have stolen an idea from some friends of taking a monthly picture of Eden next to an object so you can visualize her growth.  Here is her 4 month picture next to her first Build-A-Bear (I know it's a rabbit.):

Other signs of Eden growing up the past few weeks included her starting to help to hold her bottle:

And showing kindness to others...here she is helping Mommy with her words:

We haven't caught it on film yet but little E. also rolled over for the first time this week.  Due to this fact, we will end this blog post with a warning: Watch out world, she's becoming mobile!