On the bright side.

Despite all the craziness with the overflow I was able to get Presley a new pair of shoes. She has mastered the skill of standing up from a sitting position on the floor! Last Friday at Chris' parents house she did it for the first time--it was a very wide-legged stand but she was up for a couple of seconds. Now Presley will stand on command, if she is in the mood.

With her new ability I decided Presley needed some shoes that had a better sole for walking outdoors. So far she has had several pairs of soft-soled crib shoes and a couple of darling pairs of Robeez but no real shoes to wear outside. With such a narrow and small foot for her age I was lucky to come across a near by outlet that sold Stride Rite shoes--the very shoes I wore as a child!

Here are the shoes we purchased--they are perfect for her in between stage. The rubber toe is great for those times she decides crawling is best (so she won't scuff up the toe) and the flexible sole will still give her the control she needs when walking. And of course they are PINK!

Disaster (round 2).

Thursday morning started out like any other--up at 7:30-ish, feed the baby, eat my own breakfast, and then get ready for the day. With the morning rituals behind us I began planning the errands and projects I would tackle. Today I was going to paint the new in-wall speakers we had installed back in February.

I had all the supplies I needed and the only obstacle was getting the 5 gallon bucket of paint over to the Home Depot to be shaken up. Chris offered--though somewhat reluctantly (he does not like my projects especially when they involve him, which more often than not they do). So I ran downstairs to the mechanical room to bring up the paint.

When I opened the door I could immediately smell the water. You see back in January the same thing happened . . . the drain line from the kitchen/laundry area of the house had overflowed! At least this time it didn't happen after boiling 4 gigantic, live lobsters (something I will never do again) and dumping the leftover water down the kitchen sink

• Last time this happened the plumber had installed a plug that was supposed to be pushed to the top of the drain and plug it up if the water were to ever get near the top--this plug failed to operate correctly.
  
• When the mechanical room drain overflows the water spreads all across the floor, seeping under the walls and into the hall way and spare bedroom.

As you can imagine it was quite a mess! The carpet was ripped up, the soaked pad cut away and discarded, and fans put in to dry everything up. Things like this are NOT supposed to happen in a brand new home--I hope there is a better solution than last time and a permanent one, we cannot have this happen again. Needless to say, the speakers are still not painted.

Play time!

Today was a busy day. Tuesdays are usually our day to relax at Seven Peaks (the local water park) but with one of my friend's children unable to swim for 2 weeks we decided to try something new. We ended up at a place called Kangaroo Zoo. The "zoo" was really a large open warehouse filled with gigantic, inflatable toys. Slides, castles, animals, and obstacle courses--all filled with air and bouncy--were everywhere. No bare feet are allowed (socks are a must) and hand sanitizer helped to keep every one and everything clean.

Presley had so much more fun than I thought she would! She loved the inflatable "ocean" complete with an orange alligator slide, pink sea monster, and a purple dolphin. I took Presley down a couple of the bigger slides and she didn't hate it--maybe it reminded her of all the times she went skiing with Chris and me in the Baby Bjorn this past winter. The Kangaroo Zoo is definitely a place we will need to visit again (I suggest arriving as soon as they open, the closer to lunch-time it got the more crowded it became). You can visit the Zoo here to see more of what there is to do.

Some sort of developmental milestone??? Presley has become obsessed with looking at and pointing to her belly button lately. She will stand in front of a mirror, lift up her shirt and proceed to push her stomach in and out as she points to her belly button. It is quite a site!

About time.

The time has gone too quickly! When I first thought about starting this blog I was so excited to out my thoughts into actual words on a page. Well, as you can see that really hasn't happened. It has been quite a while since my original "test" and finally I am going to get this thing started.

The summer has flown by and I can't believe we are in the last week of June. Chris has traveled a bit this summer but it hasn't seemed as much as I had originally thought--in fact I think he only has two more trips scheduled and then he is home for a long stretch. It is great having dad around so much!

We have had many adventures to report for the summer--to many to list them all--but here is the short list. Many trips to the local pool and near by water park, golfing with dad, many hikes/walks in the jog stroller in the mountains we call "the back yard" with Roxy, and lots of trips around town.

Presley has been walking (although pretty unsteady) for about one month. She still prefers crawling but each day seems to test the waters a bit more on her two feet. Her words keep coming but not fast enough . . . saying "please" and then pointing to everything and anything seems to be her way of letting us know what she wants. She is the joy in my life as she discovers everything in her little world.

Just getting up from a nap--ready for an adventure.

Talking on the phone (one of her favorite things).

Anything to keep her occupied during feeding time.

Sitting with the frog in Park City after a healthy lunch at Wild Oats.

Photo shoot in grandma's back yard--she is a pro!
(my sister takes these wonderful photos visit her site here)

Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3 . . .

This is a test.