9 months!!

Crazy to think that our little man is already 9 months old. :-)  He has developed quite a personality and is such an unbelievable joy!  Sporting a hippo smile of 4 teeth, he is rolling, just about crawling, and making all kinds of babbling sounds, his favorite being "ya ya ya ya ya".

We are also making continued progress on the barn (and the main house!)  All the new windows and doors in the barn have been replaced thanks to many helping hands.  This week Hugh and our friend Dan emptied the barn of all our boxes and furniture that have been stored there into a Pod so now we do not have to shift things around anymore!  We also had the roof replaced on the main house which was in desperate need of repair.  Next steps:  Finish electrical, insulate, and start sheet-rocking!!

God is good.... All the time :)

Rejoice, and Again I say Rejoice....

This is a concept I am slowly learning.  In ALL things, rejoice!!!  And not just in my circumstances, but rejoice in the LORD always because with HIS joy and strength, I can do all things.  As we continue to play the waiting game with the barn, comfort a crabby, teething baby, and juggle busy schedules, it's easy to loose sight of any rejoicing.  But God is SOOOO good and has given us so many reasons to rejoice.  Here are a few:

1.  We have a beautiful, amazing son.
Trace is such a blessing.  He will be 8 months in about a week, and his personality is every bit as big as his chunky, lovable thighs :-).  Despite the teething, rough sleeping patterns, and cranky screaming, he is such a happy baby.  He has started clapping, giggling, and has the best, toothy smile. A constant ball of energy, he rolls around the floor, and loves to bounce.  I can't imagine life without him.

2.  The barn is making progress!

This week, Nathan is graciously taking a few days of his February Vacation to help Hugh with the next project, which is the windows and doors!!  all the rough framing in the house is finished, along with the rough plumbing, electrical, heating, and services.  And we finally received our telephone pole from National Grid, so now we can get electricity to the barn.  God is so good.  Slow but steady wins the race....or finishes the house :-).

3.  Work and side projects for me...

Working at the Y has been such an amazing blessing for me this year, and I look forward to returning to it in the future.  I am currently in the process of preparing for returning to teaching in the fall and looking into local daycares for our little man.  I am excited to return and am so thankful for the year I have had home.

I have also been doing a lot of little side project of crocheting and sewing, which I really enjoy.  I created an account on Etsy and have had a few sales which is exciting.  My favorite project has been cloth shoes and I plan on selling them this summer at a few local craft fairs. Check out my site if you get a chance!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/amyprichard1?ref=ss_profile

We have so much more to be thankful for.  Loving and supportive friends and family, a wonderful church that we are an active part of, and good health.  So, I am choosing to remember these amazing things and in all things, REJOICE!!!!!!

It's been a while.....

So, life gets crazy and things you would like to do go by the way-side.  This being one of those things.  Now that the Christmas hype and craziness has settled, I hope to be much more pro-active at making posts!!  So what has happened in the last few months?  Tons!!!

Trace is now 6 months old.  Where did that time go?  He is rolling around, eating everything, drooling, laughing, and being an absolute love.   He has 2 bottom teeth and loves to chew on whatever he can get in his mouth. Thankfully, he is enjoying peas, squash, and rice cereal.  We are experimenting with a dairy free diet to see if his constant congestion clears up, but we will see!  Trace is such a happy baby and we love every minute of him.

As for the barn, we are making slow, but steady progress.  What have we completed:

-utilities down the driveway

-rough plumbing

-plumbing for propane heaters

-hot water take installed

-rough electrical

-walls and some closets framed

-lots and lots of meetings with the city!

Next steps:

-order windows and install

-finalize kitchen and plumbing accessories

-sheet-rock, paint, etc!

-wait for National grid to install a telephone pole on our side of the street

I'm sure there is lots more that I am missing, but those are the big-ticket items.  I'm looking forward to the progress in this new year, and hopefully moving in soon!!!

Until next time.....

Smiles, Giggles, and Drool

Trace is officially 3 months now.  How time is flying!!  He is becoming more animated and alert with each passing day.  He is full of smiles and giggles. 

As you can see as well, he is growing and growing!!!

This past weekend Trace inherited about 90 new grammies, aunties, and girlfriends.  He came along with me to the Rumney Bible Conference Women's Retreat.  I along with 5 other women from our church were actually the worship team for the retreat which was such a blessing.  So, since Trace is still breastfeeding, he had to come along as well!  (Poor Hugh missed him dearly all weekend!).  Trace did SO well throughout the entire weekend.  He absolutely soaked up all the attention and love, and was one happy camper.  Who would blame him?  I was worried that he would go through attention withdrawal upon our return home, but he has been doing well.

We are also making more wonderful progress on the barn!  The plumber and electrician are almost finished all their pipe and wire laying.  We have also had the contractor here for the past 2 weeks putting in the water line, new culvert, city septic, and today Hugh and our dads put in the conduit for the electrical wires.  So exciting!!!

God is so good.   He sure is teaching us patience throughout this whole process, but it has truly been an amazing learning experience.  The light at the end of the tunnel (or driveway) is looking brighter!!

Until next time......

Growing, Growing, Growing!

Well, I have attempted to post some videos for the last few weeks and have been unsuccessful for some reason.  So, I will just post pictures I guess!!

Trace is now 11 weeks and growing every day!!  He is about 13 lbs and 24 inches long.  Quite a difference from him birthday!  He is starting to smile a lot more and is cooing, which is so cute.  He is such a flirt already as well!!!  He has his eye for my brother Tim's girlfriend Dana.  It's really cute. He gets all smiley and giggly and coy when she is around.  We will have to keep our eye on him when he's older, I'm sure!

Trace had a pretty tough week as he turned 2 months a few weeks ago.  He was given his 2 month vaccine shots which was so sad to witness!  Poor little guy.  The next day, Trace and I were rear-ended while waiting to turn into our driveway and the car was totaled.  We were both ok though.  Then we took our first plane-rides as a family 2 days later which Trace did not really care for.  All in all, these events made for a very upset baby for a few days!  Thank goodness we are back on a schedule for him.

We enjoyed a wonderful weekend away over Labor Day weekend as we visited Hugh's step sister, Amy in North Carolina, and attended a friends wedding.  It was our first time flying as a family, which was nerve-racking!  Trace was very upset when we first got to the airport and cried all through security and trafficking.  It was pretty stressful! (at least for me).  Thankfully, both down and back, he slept on the longer flights (we had layovers both ways).  Although it was stressful, I would do it again, so I guess it wasn't too traumatizing.

 2 months old!!

Flying to Amy's in NC

 With Daddy at the Wedding

 Auntie Amy!!

One of his happier moments on the plane

Trace also went apple picking for the first time this past weekend.  I can't believe it's already that time of year!  I love it!!!  He slept though a lot of the festivities, but he was present!

 

  Trace flirting with Dana :-)

Along with celebrating Trace's wonderful milestones, we are also making GREAT milestones and progress on the barn!!  Last week we had a large tree cut down, which meant that we could start digging up the driveway for the utilities.  The contractor will be starting this week fixing the culvert for the stream that runs under the driveway, and then laying water, sewer, and electrical pipes.  So exciting!   At the same time, our plumber has started and will be working on weekends to finish up the project, and my father has just about completed all the electrical work.  Our next large step if for Hugh to go back to the Board of Appeals to see if they will allow us to dormer the back roof in order to make it a 3 bedroom house instead of a 2 bedroom house.  Pray, pray, pray!!!  

Until next time......Blessings!

Funny Faces

One of the most wonderful things that we have been observing in the past few weeks is Trace's new facial expressions!  He is starting to smile, goo, and stick his tongue out.  You can tell that he is trying SO hard to talk! It's really cute.  It's nice to see him smile after a week of sad, sad faces!!!!  Trace developed acid reflux and refused to eat, until we put him on liquid Zantax.  What a God-sent!  He is a much happier baby now, for the most part :-)

Here is one video update of his many faces!  The best video won't upload :-(

As for the barn, we are still making slow progress, but meeting with lots of city officials to get all the proper approvals.  Talk about a lesson in patience!!!  We hopefully will be breaking ground in the next week or so to put in the utilities. Here's praying!!!

But as always, even through screaming, unhappy baby, small current living spaces, and frustrating city bureaucracy, God is forever faithful and has blessed us beyond what we deserve.  When I stand back and look at all that we have and have done, I find that I have more than enough, and the discontent in my heart seems petty.  God's timing is not our own.  That sure is a lesson that we have learned in the past year!  I just pray that we can continue to keep a heart of gratitude and worship as we continue on this journey.  Not by our strength, but HIS alone!

6 weeks and growing!

Well, 6 weeks have passed and we are learning new things about Trace every day!  He has wonderful facial expressions that make us laugh, he constantly gets the hiccups, and he has a raging temper when he doesn't want to go to sleep!  We are loving every minute of it though.  He is now 10.3 lbs and 22 inches long.
Hugh reluctantly returned back to work the last week of July but is enjoying being back with his co-workers and working on plans.  His department is also moving across campus at Mass General, so that has kept him busy!!!  Trace and I send him pictures and videos daily so he doesn't miss anything :-).

The barn is at a little bit of a lull at the moment as we are waiting on some approvals from the city.  We are hoping to have the utilities brought down the driveway in the next few weeks which will be great. Then it's just a matter of finishing the electrical, plumbing, and insulating, (hopefully) dormering the back roof, and sheet-rocking!  I'm excited. 

We will leave you with a little video that makes us laugh and we thought you would all like. Enjoy!