Progress

Things to be grateful for on the "Done" list:

1. A one-year-old successfully wiened from the pacifer.
2. First coat of paint completed in the guest room
3. Basement storage room scheduled to be waterproofed
4. Carpet pulled up in our bedroom and a gazillion staples pulled out of the hardwoods
5. Yard tidied up (thanks to Tom's awesome brother who spent a whole day outside at our
house)

Now I just need to track down someone who can un-wire a dumb waiter from the house's electrical system within the next two days (yes, there is an inoperative dumbwaiter in our basement-strange, but true).

We are getting there!

A Place to Make Our Own

Here she is-the Pohl's new home- after this, no more moves for a long, long, long time. The yard needs a LOT of TLC, but it is full of beautiful perrenials and trees. We had three massive trees that were leaning against the house pulled down and now it is loooking a little more ship shape. We will be moving our belonging slowly over the course of the next month, but for now we are still living in the rental house.

We got rid of these 2 ugly monsters.

Loved our tree guys!

The fireplace work turned out to be slightly more labor intensive than I anticipated, but we got most of the paint off and can now prep the room for paint. The room is going to be toned down just a bit to a soft yellow.

Welcome Home!

Okay, I know I have been HORRIBLE about posting, but I have a good excuse- this past Tuesday, Tom and I finally threw down roots and closed on a house! I am supposed to be painting so we can start moving in furniture, but here it is 5 days after closing and I haven't even opened a paint can. Instead, we decided the gorgeous floor-to-ceiling brick fireplace in the family room that had been painting bright yellow needed to be restored to its former glory. Approximately 20 hours of manual labor later, most of the paint is off- at least well enough until we get moved in and settled. Tonight, I decided the carpet in the upstairs master bedroom and hallway needed to be pulled up. I did some exploratory pulling and verified that for the most part, the hardwoods underneath look in pretty good condition. We are getting there (except for the painting part) and can't wait to show off our new house, which already feels like home. I will try to post some photos tomorrow. Good night!

No Time like the Present

Now that Patrick is a year old, I told myself it was time to take away the pacifer. I figured there would be no good time, so I started him cold turkey on Tuesday. P only got his pacifier for naps and bedtime in the past, so I was hoping things would transition smoothly...I think we are getting there. After quite a bit of crying before his morning naps and bedtime, he is finally settling down for some zzzz's. He is also waking up at 6:45 Am instead of his usual 7:30, and he is protesting the abscence of his pacifier by refusing to take an afternoon nap.

I am tired, but have not waivered, even though we had three shots yesterday at his one year check-up and LOTS of tears.

Just to update everyone, we appear to be on track to close on our house this coming Monday! I can't wait...

Tradition

Now that P is one, it was time to make the dreaded trip to the barber to get his long hair trimmed back. So P and I met his Baba at Hal's- Hal used to cut Tom's hair when he was little!

Needless to say, Daddy can take Patrick next time. It didn't go so well, as you can see from the pictures.

An IUP Reunion-at Princeton?

Coincidentally, one of my old Indiana University of Pennsylvania roommates, Meredith, lives about an hour from Princeton and for the second time in the last few years met us on campus Sunday before we headed back to Pittsburgh. This was an exciting reunion though because it was the first time I was able to meet her son and vice versa. Her son is 18 months and he and P had a fun time playing ball on the lawn behind Tom's eating club (like a fraternity but where they ate all their meals also), Cottage Club.

Patrick's P-Rade

The family traveled to NJ this past weekend for Princeton's annual college Reunion. The easiest way to explain it is every year at this time, alumn travel back to the school where they have big block parties on campus grouped by the year they graduated. On Saturday, there is a big parade (the P-Rade) and each class lines the parade route grouped by their graduating year(the class of 1959 is near the start of the P-Rade route, and Tom's class of 2000 would be further down towards the end). Everyone jumps into the parade in the proper class order- as soon as 1999 passed, the entire class of 2000 who showed up jumped in behind and was cheered on by the younger classes as we passed. Each class has a theme and costumes- ours was a beach theme and Patrick even had a decorated stroller. Since it was his actual birthday, people along the route who saw P's sign wished him Happy Birthday and a few groups even sang "Happy Birthday" to him as we made our way along.

Here we are at the hotel waiting for the shuttle to pick us up to go to campus for the P-rade.

Patrick barely slept all day-way too much stimulation!

Couldn't resist this photo-sorry Yale and Harvard...

Old roommates all reunited for the first time in years!

Patrick has never fallen asleep in his stroller-until this past Saturday!He was one tired Tiger cub.

The After Party

After all the party guests have left...

after Daddy goes downstairs to clean up...

the real fun begins.

We Made It!

Patrick is ONE. He has teeth and walks and says "ought oh" all day long. We love him infinity plus one. Happy Birthday P!

Because we traveled over Memorial Day Weekend, we celebrated Patrick's first birthday a week early with a backyard BBQ. We kept it small, but our big guy (formerly known as my little guy) didn't seem to mind and loved all the attention. I credit the party as a success-Patrick did not cry, throw up or poop during the BBQ, nor did his mom or dad.

Tom and I actually gave P his present a few weeks ago, but he had lots to open thanks to aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, godparents and neighbors. He is already quite the chef.

Note at time of print: We are still assembling toys from the birthday. We'll get there.

Note from Patrick at time of print: It's a red plastic car-how long can it possibly take them to put it together? Toyota and Ford make a new car like every second, but I'll be lucky if I see this thing before my 16th birthday.