The Wallace's: M.I.A.

I know I haven't blogged in a while, but I have some good excuses! We have been extra busy trying to get things done on the house before summer hits. Our exterior paint job is now going on it's TENTH WEEK! However, all that's left is a few touch ups and fixing some broken things. It's been a nightmare to say the least. The first crew that was sent out was unsupervised and royally messed up the whole job, so it had to be redone about 6 weeks into the promised 3 week job. Through out these 10 weeks I've had to stay on their butt everyday, inspect the work every day, hound the contractor everyday, make sure the workers have some snacks and water everyday, oh, and take care of an infant and work from home part time. Since the sanding and Tahana music is so loud I have to get out William's pack n' play, move his sound machine, and video monitor and juggle William from bedroom to bedroom during nap time to the most quiet room upstairs. INSANITY. Fun times.

We have also made several improvements to our landscaping. It's a gorgeous yard, but A LOT OF WORK. There are so many plants, none of which I know anything about. So, I also have to be outside with the landscapers and horticulturists each week.....yes I've hired horticulturists.....asking them questions and pointing out all the problem areas. That's also a work in progress. Brian is redoing our entire irrigation system for our high maintenance landscaping. The owners before us designed this crazy intricate drip system, but didn't bury the pipes, so it all froze and broke this winter. As of yesterday it is 95% complete! Hallelujah! Thankfully just in time for our summer "drought".

Brian has also been working like a dog, picking up extra shifts at work to pay for all this crazy house stuff as well as help pay for our legal fees. Yes, you heard me right. We have a clinically insane (Brian diagnosed him) next door neighbor. In a nut shell he dug a whole in our front yard and put his mailbox on our property. Reason being: he doesn't want to put it on his own property since his whole front area is asphalted to fit his 3 boats and 3 cars. Putting up his mailbox on his own property would take up "too much room", so he felt justified in using our property for his need. Brian kindly asked him to move it and he told us to sue him. Welcome to the neighborhood!

Brian recently passed both his written and oral anesthesia board exams, so he is now officially board certified! That is a huge relief. He also was recently voted in as a partner of his anesthesia firm. I am so proud of him!

My dad is flying in Wednesday to help Brian rip out our kitchen counters and 1/2 bathroom counter, so on Thursday our granite can be installed. I am super excited about these new counters! Right now we have 80's style 4X4 inch square poop brown tiles with wood trim on the edges. Not to mention the grout color, which was white, is now brown from all the years of spilled food, dirt, and just plain nastiness. My dad is also installing our new sinks, exterior lighting, as well as several other items. He is staying for two weeks, Lord give me strength, and then my mom is coming one week in to visit and help out with William.

So, with some heavy praying, I hope all of the items we are wanting to accomplish on the house by July 1st gets done and that our next door neighbor issue gets resolved quickly and in our favor.

William has been on the move! He crawls so fast I can hardly keep up with him. He is crazy observant, just like me, so he notices EV-ER-Y-THING. Future type A in the making :) It makes for a busy day making sure he is kept safe while exploring every square centimeter of his surroundings. He also pulls up on everything, which makes me so nervous since the whole downstairs is all hard wood. William is also so proud that he can open and close drawers and doors. On the other hand, Bear is a big ball of stress running away from William and freaking out about all the new baby gates installed. He can't stand to be separated from any of us if left behind a baby gate and will make his disdain heard. Usually right as I'm upstairs in the nursery trying to get William to sleep. I sometimes feel like I have 2 babies around me! William is still dealing with his separation anxiety. Some days are worse than others. All he wants is for me to just hold him. I can't set him down next to me and play with him. No, no. He has to be in my lap on the floor and then we can play happily. I do love all the snuggling, but when you need to get things done around the house, or make some work calls, or deal with the painters, William's extreme neediness can be quite taxing, but I know this too shall pass and then I'll miss all the snuggle time.

Lastly, I have a bad cold right now. First cold in probably 4 years! Brian's worked 2 24 hours calls since this cold started a few days ago, so it's made it hard to get a little extra rest. Plus, I am so worried William is going to get it since he is so up in my grill all day. Hopefully I'll get over it soon and the rest of the family comes out unscathed.

Whoa. That was long, but I felt the need to explain why I have been M.I.A. lately and haven't taken many pictures either. Now that the weather is getting gorgeous and all of our house work is coming to an end we are looking forward to all of our summer plans and especially our Texas friends visiting in the next few months!

Here are some recent pics: