Welcome Little Ray

Calia has a new cousin!!! Raymond Kolbe Tucker was born Friday June 23rd to my cousin Kate and her hubby Josh (Kate and Josh are Calia's godparents, too). He was 10 days overdue!! Baby Ray weighed 6 lbs 9 oz and is a whopping 21" long, another skinny one. We went in to visit him at MMC on Saturday, Calia waved at him, but otherwise wasn't too interested... Wait until he gets home, I'm sure she'll be all over the poor little guy! Baby Ray looks a lot like his daddy and is doing great after a rough start. Our family is very blessed.

BFF

Calia and Coda---Best Friends Forever

Father's Day, Kevin's B-Day, and Sebago

Father's Day at Ft. Williams

Little Sebago in her float
Post-Swim with Sam
Happy B-Day Daddy!!

(Check out her Norwich Shirt)

Renovation Update

The renovation is coming right along. My master plumber hubby has installed the sink. No more doing dishes in the bathroom. The counter tops are 90% in, just need the piece to teh left of the stove. THe dishwasher is plumbed, but no electrical, and my light over the sink has to be installed. Hopefully Ben can come this weekend! I'm sure he can't wait to be done with our project either! Kevin has a little trim left to hang, then finish silling the nail holes, caulk, then paint, then done. Essentially, it's pretty much done. I can cook, clean, and have space!! Calia likes it too, as you can see by her in every picture.

Big Day

So, today when I dropped Calia off at daycare I was informed that she had been promoted to room 2...mobile babies only. While satisfying as a parent, yet another sign that my baby girl is rapidly growing up. Her best buddies, Emma and Dory, were also promoted today. So, the mean girls stay together! She will be in this room until she walks and someone from the next room (7) moves up and makes a space. This is why she and her fellow mean girls were held up in room 1.

More on the "mean girls"... Apparently, Calia, Emma, and Dory would sit on the play mat and chat and giggle, then make their way over to one of the babies, namely poor little Logan (age 2 months), and take turns squeezing his feet and tapping him. They would then make their way back to the mat and talk and giggle some more. The workers in the room dubbed them the mean girls after the movie, which now I will have to rent.

Calia was very excited to see her boy buddies again. They have been reunited with Carter, Ben, Alden, and Alex, all of the boys who used to be in room 1 with them. It was kind of like old home week. I'm sure there will be some interesting stories.

Busy Bubba

Playing

All of the sudden our baby girl has become a big girl. Into everything, all over the place, talking up a storm.

Appliances, Calia and the Red Sox

Kevin at the Cask and Flaggon

(green monster in the background!)

Cracking herself up
Enjoying time away!
Fenway!!
Appliances!

Last weekend was another busy one. Kevin and I had our first night away from our lovable Bubba. My mom and Ben took her overnight, with her cold and all. Kev and I headed to Boston praying for the rain to stop. Sure enough we saw our beloved Sox win over the Rangers in a great game and the rain did hold off until the 7th inning, but it didn't matter because we were dry in the grandstand. The Bulfinch Hotel was great, it was nice to get away. Bubba slept from 820pm to 720am, trying to make the best impression so they would take her again!

Sunday, we moved back into the house, floors done, cabinets in, stove and mircowave in. Still doing dishes in the bathroom sink and refrig in the garage (new one getting delivered in 2 days!!) The countertops, and hence sink and dishwasher hook up, are estimated to be in mid week next week, so hopefully by the 24th I'll have an almost done kitchen..trim/finish work pending. Poor Kevin is swamped with work, side work, house project and everyday household chores, and of course fiting some biking time in! He has promised me the kitchen will be100% done before we head to Pennsylvania on June 29th!

10 Months Old and Kitchen Progress!!

Loving the redone floors!

Dining Room
Kitchen

Moving out

Ok, so we've come to the point in the renovation where we can no longer live in our house. The first floor has been completely emptied, so that the floors can be sanded and refinished...no more basketball court-looking floors..yeah! This week (supposedly) the floors are to be done, the cabinets are to be in and my new appliances are to be delivered. Which means the only things left will be countertops (need cabinets in to be measured per Carl the contractor) and the trim work which Kevin is doing. Kevin spent the bulk of yesterday putting up the beadboard in the dining room. The walls/ceilings have been redone and painted, the new electrical is almost done (just needs to be hooked into the box in the basement) (Thanks Ben), the new plumbing is done (Thanks Tim). I can't wait!! So, it will be likely that I will be unable to download pictures in the next week; therefore, minimal updates, unless of course Calia gets a new tooth or does something new.

Recent Pics

With Jill on Memorial Day

(those are Susie's school pictures from K-12 behind them)

Sites of California

The outback and the bike

Montana de Oro State Park
Justin Vineyards

The view from our patio at sunrise

With the Reeds

(for those of you that attended our wedding,

they won the aniversary dance for having been married the longest!)

Our Trip

Ok, so I can finally blog about our recent trip out west to CA. We flew from Boston to LA, then to San Luis Obispo. Calia was a wonderful traveler. She played happily on our laps, mostly playing the the tray tables in from of us, open, close, open, close... She ate, napped, and smiled/flirted with anyone in her vicinity.

We stayed at the San Luis Bay Inn in Avila Beach. The view from our unit was incredible, ocean and mountains. We traveled all around the central coast. To Morro Bay for hiking around Montana de Oro, to San Simeon and the Hearst Castle, to Paso Robles and the Justin Vineyards, to San Luis Obispo for lunch at the Downtown Brewery and to the farmers market where they had fresh fruit and veggies, food, puppet shows and live animals, to Solvang a cute little Dutch-themed town, to Los Olivos and Firestone and Curtis Vineyards, to Santa Barbara where we met up with Suzanne and Mike Reed (Suzanne and Bruce (Kevin's dad) are cousins). We went to the Santa Barbara Mission, then had lunch on the ocean, then walked around State St (shopping district :)).

We relaxed, too...hung out by the pool, Calia swam/kicked/splashed and loved going underneath, Kevin rented a mountain bike for a day and biked around Montana de Oro, went to the Avila Beach farmers market (about 1/10 the size of the SLO market). The central coast was gorgeous..70's and sunny, plenty to do and not do. We can't wait to venture back that way.

More California Pics

Petting the mini-horse at the Farmer's market

Port San Luis
Loves eating out, and standing on the foot rest of highchairs!
Naked sitting with Daddy
Post swm bliss

Bubba in California

Chillin Poolside On Avila Beach with Daddy
Hiking at Montana de Oro After dinner and her first time trying refried beans
On the Hearst Castle bus with Mommy

Recent pics

Mother's Day

Bathtime
That tongue

Here are some of the pictures from this week. I'm ofically on Vacation until May 30th, WOOHOO! We leave for Boston tomorrow night, then California on Saturday am.

Bubba on the move

So, it's almost like something clicked in Calia's head upon turning 9 months, she is suddenly into everything. Crawling, trying to open any door she can find, trying to pull herself up to sit and/or stand, walking across the room when we hold her hands, oh my. The crawl is the best, it's like a combo of the commando crawl and the freestyle swim. She flies across the room toward her intended target, typically Coda or the entertainment center. She then tries to climb up on Coda, thank God we have a patient dog! Of course our house is in total disarray making her new skill all the more fun!

9 Months!!

Bubba went for her 9 month well visit today. She was in yesterday, too and diagnosed with bilateral ear infections. Anyway, here are her specs...Ht: 27.5 Wt: 16 lb 3 oz Head: 17.25
We are gearing up for her first flight cross country to California next weekend. Our first big family vacation, thankfully we are flying Boston to LA direct before changing planes to head up the coast to Avila Beach.

When we get home our kitchen walls will be done and painted, the dining room will be done, and maybe the new cabinets installed?? Kevin knows the timeline better than I do. All I know is my new appliances are delivered June 9th, and that is when everything including refinishing the first floor floors will be done. That day will also be our first trip away overnight from Calia (both a happy and sad thing). We are going to Boston to see the Red Sox take on the Rangers and staying at the Bulfinch Hotel It will be Calia's 10 month b-day...time is flying!!

Renovation Update

As of today (wednesday)...Kevin is hanging sheet rock as I type.

We found Mexicans on the wall
By Sunday night the ceiling was done!

Check out the recessed lights..no more pull down cords!!
Saturday at noon....tearing out the walls.
Sunday morning...down to the studs.