on the move.

we have a crawler, ladies and gentlemen. bennett has found his rhythm: knee, hand, knee, hand. it is so cute to see him scoot around. he usually has a huge smile on his face and is breathing hard as if he's running a marathon. for him, it probably feels like it!

happy boy after supper

loving splashing in his sink bubble bath

baths in the sink at grammy's house are the best

soooo happy

so, we joe got the baby gates up this weekend. (liz + power tools = yikes.) also, we made sure cords are secured, things are off the floor that ben could choke on (think: bobby pins), moved george's food and water bowls (disaster waiting to happen), plugged outlets, etc. i think we are childproofed. oh, also we had to lower the crib... when we went in bennett's room to get him up from his nap he was kneeling in his crib with like half of his body above the crib rail. awesome.

we (again i say we as if i had much to do with it) got a lot of other home improvement things done this weekend. joe painted the bathroom and finished painting the bead board and trim. we deep cleaned. we bought a new entertainment center (IKEA clearance- score!) and joe got that set up. i got bennett's clothes organized and put away all the clothes that are now too small. i got all our laundry washed, dried, folded and put away, which is no small feat, i assure you. i think i deserve a medal in marathon laundry-ing (laundering?).

it feels amazing to have the house clean and [mostly] organized again. all we have left to do is paint our bedroom and dresser. in some ways it feels slightly pointless to do all of this stuff to the house considering we plan on moving (hopefully) within the next year or so. but a year is a long time to keep everything the same. plus if we update a few things that we will take with us now (like new bedding, and a new entertainment center), it will spare us from having a whole house full of things we need to buy, update, etc. when we do move. taking it in stages is good reasoning, right?

in other news, we're moving forward with our refinance. also, we got our property tax statement and our house went up $13,000 in value in the last year! that takes the gap between what we owe and what it's worth down to a measly $19,000. chump change (ha). still feels like a long way to go, but it's good to see the value going back up since it's gone down each year before this.

i didn't get to the gym once last week, so i need to make that a priority this week. i'm going to a kickboxing class tonight, and will hopefully get to another on wednesday night. we leave next wednesday morning for south carolina for 5 days with my family! i can't wait! well, let me rephrase that: i can't wait until we're there. i'm not looking forward to the flights with bennett at all. he just does not want to sit still ever, so i'm really nervous about how he's going to do. any tips for flying with a 9 month old? we have two flights each way, since there aren't direct flights from minneapolis to myrtle beach. i'm thinking lots of snacks, toys, and probably the ipad.