hellos and goodbyes.

i dont think i ever updated you that the day care that we "interviewed" with a few weeks back is going to work out! i guess we somehow passed the "are the parents crazy?" test. becky (our new day care provider) is closed for the first full week in august as her "summer break," so we will keep ben at new creations through august 8th and then have him start with becky on august 12th. she is, however, going to watch him on a couple fridays before then. i'm hoping this will help ben to get to know becky and the other kids, plus it will give me some uninterupted time to work on things at the new house.

we are so excited to have a new day care that is so close to our house (1.4 miles!). plus, becky comes highly recommended and seems like she'll be a great fit for bennett. she plans lots of fun activities (spanish teacher, music teacher, story time at the library, swimming lessons, etc.) that ben will love. plus, in-home day care is quite a bit cheaper, so we'll be saving some money ($50+ per week!). despite all the positives, i must admit i'm very sad to say goodbye to new creations. they've been amazing and we are truly grateful for the love and care they've shown bennett over the last 10 months or so. if anyone is looking for day care in the blaine/andover area, we HIGHLY recommend them.

as for the new house, we have been working away since the closing on monday. i think bennett and i have been to home depot about a dozen times in less than a week. i won't be surprised when they greet me by name soon.

paintbrushes are fun

the house is starting to take shape more and more each day day and it's feeling more and more like it's our house. joe's brother jake powered through on painting the walls on tuesday and wednesday and got almost all of the rooms painted- he's crazy fast (and does a great job!). i stripped the lovely hot air balloon wallpaper out of the downstairs bathroom on friday, thanks to a little help from a good friend! those walls need to be washed to get rid of any glue residue, patched in a few places, and then they'll be ready to paint.

wallpaper. yuck.

cute, right?

adios, balloons!

things have been a little stressful lately with working on the new house and trying to pack the townhouse, coupled with the fact that bennett has been sick and is teething in a major way. i'm actually bringing him into the doctor to make sure he doesn't have an ear infection or something else because he has been crying [what feels like] constantly for several days. he's just not his normal, happy self AT ALL. the only thing that seems to help is his nuk. we had good intentions of taking that away at a year, but i think we need to get through teething first.

i feel so bad for him because i have to believe he's in quite a bit of pain based on his mood, and i feel guilty because my patience is wearing thin. it's not his fault he's so whiny and fussy, but it's hard to stay patient when it seems like nothing helps. i'm hoping this passes soon and that he starts feeling better and getting back to himself. thank goodness he's sleeping through the night and taking good naps still- otherwise, i think i'd go crazy. if nothing else, i'm thankful for more frequent snuggles from my sweet boy.

snuggles make everything better