For about 2 years now we’ve been slowly re-doing our ENTIRE house. Inside and out. Inside is done (will post those photos soon), and we’re in the middle of the exterior project right now. Below is a photo of our progress so far (click on photo for larger image). It’s getting there. I’m guessing I’ll have some final comparisons by end of November.

What’s left?
Carport, black shutters, red door, side yard basketball court, fence in the side yard, and general landscaping.

I never really saw how quickly time passess until having a baby. The development is so rapid, you blink and suddenly you have a little person running around. Where did my little baby go? She’s just over a year now and definitely has a mind of her own. Getting more and more fun every day… I LOVE being a mommy.

Julia has been walking from object to object for a few weeks, but as of her 1st birthday (9/14), she’s officially on the move without any assistance.

I can’t believe next Monday, Sept. 14, Julia will be 1 year old. It’s incredible how quickly time passes – and in that time, how much growth occurs. Julia is just about walking now. She’s averaging about 10 steps from one point to another. She’s also able to get in to the standing position without holding on to anything. Julia’s 3rd tooth is now poking out – top tooth. It’s been causing a lot of fussiness – and sleeplessness. We’re having Julia’s 1st birthday party next weekend – Elmo theme – her favorite. Speaking of Elmo, over the weekend Rachel, Meme’s dog, stole and buried Julia’s FAVORITE Elmo doll somewhere – and we can’t find it. I tried to get a replacement Elmo, but it’s not the same – and Julia knows it. So I’m now on the hunt for the same one that’s lost…

Paul is good. He starts school tomorrow. Like Julia, he too is growing fast. He’s 94 pounds, 4 ft 11 inches. What I find most interesting with Paul is how quickly “maturity” hits. One day he’s playing with toys, and suddenly now he’s “texting” with girls, surfing the Internet for skateboards, hats, gadgets. BAM!! A tween. Yesterday I took him shopping to reward him for helping us out with some yardwork. He had about $20 to spend. After walking through all of the toy isles he decided that he’s not really in to toys anymore. He wanted me to buy him a DC hat instead. Fine. Later, he changes his mind. He wants to save it instead. Fine! What a good kid.

Anyways, I’m tired of typing. Check out some new photos from the past couple of weeks on our photo site. Click on the image below…

Lots of new photos from August are on our photo-share website. Click on the image above to visit the site.

This summer has been a lot of fun. Julia LOVES the water. She’s not afraid of it. In fact, she tries to push our hands away. She’s a little dare-devil. She’s very close to walking. She’s been taking a couple of steps on her own since late last week. Moving from a table to a person, for example.

Her vocabulary is pretty big for her age…
mum, mummy
daddy
nun, nanna
pow (paul)
wahsat? (what’s that?)
uh-oh
book
duck
quack
moo
row, row, row (your boat)
e i e i oh (old mc donald)
emo (elmo)
up

Been taking a lot of new pics with the new DSLR! Check out our photo site:
http://gauthierphotos.shutterfly.com

Julia is now 9 months (soon to be 10) and is doing great. She’s VERY close to walking on her own. She’s in to EVERYTHING. It’s funny how they KNOW what they SHOULDN’T touch and want to play with those things instead of their toys. She’s 20 pounds exactly. I *think* she’s 28 inches (or maybe 26, I forget – I will look later). She absolutely loves “school”. She is excited when we walk (or sometimes dance) in to the building every morning. Her “boyfriend’s” name is Jacob (Jake). And her “best friend” is her cousin Camden. She recently started “kissing” everyone… especially other babies. It’s funny. She’s very gentle. She can have quite an attitude too though… mostly when she’s over-tired and refusing to sleep…

Paul is 11 and is also doing great. He’s a super star baseball player – made the 10 year old (he was 10 when he started the season) All-Star Team. He’s in a tournament this weekend. Dave and I were talking tonight how quickly socialization changes… 7 girls recently “asked him out” and they constantly are texting and calling him now. OY!

David is good. We’ve got a lot to do with the pool this weekend. Although we do have baseball most of the weekend, so who knows what will get done. We’re anxiously waiting for some land court matters to wrap up so that we can have some work done on our house.

I’m good, but misrible. I have a HORRIBLE case of poison ivy. It’s all over my neck, arms, and right hand. Yucky. Work is good, but SO busy. Lots of new projects. I’ll post links when they start launching for the public. Not sure if I ever posted it, but here is a sort-of recent project launch: http://top10.patriots.com.

Alright, that’s it for now. It’s getting late and I’m tired.

Got a new sweet DSLR yesterday and had a lot of fun taking some photos today. It ended up being a beautiful day so we were very busy outside. Here are a few of the photos – check out more at http://gauthierphotos.shutterfly.com

Wow… Julia has been alive as long as it took to “cook” her… I really can’t believe how fast time passes. We went to get new photos taken today… came out GREAT. Check ‘em out at http://gauthierphotos.shutterfly.com.

Let’s see…
- Julia has her 2 middle bottom teeth now
- Paul turned 11
- We SOLD our townhouse!! Took a loss, but we needed it gone.
- My friend Rachel got married
- I’m starting to do some research on getting a new car in a few months
- I’ve got a couple of HUGE projects at work that will be awesome for Pats fans
- Julia is crawling, standing, cruising… we anticipate walking next month
- Oh, Paul and David got the FLU
That’s it for now…