Stella cuteness and her new (future) best friend

Stella discovering the joy of the garden hose

So first off, some Stella cuteness. We went over to Anna's today and had lunch with her and Daniel and afterwards the little ones went swimming in the kiddie pool out front. They had a blast and were out there getting in and out of the pool, running all over the yard, for nearly 2 hours! Finally Stella literally collapsed and kind of rolled over in the front yard and I decided it was time to head home for a nap. She still threw a fit, although once I'd held her for a couple of minutes, she indeed conceded that yes, she was sleepy, and yes she wanted a nap, although she did it with a nod, which is the antithesis of the "no, no, no" she'd responded with when I asked 2 minutes earlier. Tim is correct, she does indeed sound like Amy Winehouse in that ridiculously catchy "Rehab" song that I finally heard about a week ago. It's now stuck in my head like a parasite. In the car on the way home from Anna and Daniel's, she was reading the "Lowly Worm" book from her grandparent's house that has been her constant companion the last couple of days. Then she passed out. In the about 2 minutes from their house to here. So I go to get her out of the backseat and she is still holding the Lowly Worm book open like she fell asleep in mid-sentence. (Although there aren't any sentences in the book, but I digress). It was adorable. I'm so glad I have a waterbaby like myself. I was really worried when she had that bad experience at Little Stacy that she'd be afraid of the water and wouldn't want to live in it like I did as a kid.

Another cute thing is that Stella says "no, no, no" when the dogs bark. She gets all authoritarian. I think it's a side effect of living in Gulag Thomas. Just kidding, although seriously, the dogs are kind of frowned upon for acting like dogs here. Especially poor Roxie. I can't help it, she sometimes has accidents, she's old and has a weak bladder. She peed on the rug this morning and Tim's Mom left a note on the stairs that said "Tim-See Me. Mom" Very ominous, like they got his report card and it was full of D's. Anyway, it turned out Roxie had peed and she was like, "it'd be easier if it was Lucy, because I really like Lucy and she's so sweet." blah, blah, blah. What does that mean? So I said, "but since you don't like Roxie it's not okay when she pees? Should we put her to sleep for peeing?" I mean, I KNOW we should be grateful to Tim's parents for letting us stay here, and believe me, we really are, we really appreciate it, but my dogs and my kid come with me. Anyway, we finally arrived at the conclusion that poor Roxie will have to be outside or in her crate anytime no one is downstairs with her. Hopefully that will help curb the floor peeing. I really do feel bad, but I have said several times that the reason we didn't have a rug in our old house was that our old incontinent dog would pee on it. Also, they have tile here so I thought it wasn't too bad if she peed, but if we ruin their rugs, I will definitely replace them when we move out. Roxie's bladder is the reason we paid extra to have the entire downstairs in our new house (sans office, which has a door), done in very dog-pee friendly tile and hardwoods!

Speaking of the house, we went to see the frame of the first floor last night. It was pretty neat to walk through it and to finally get a sense of what it will be like "reversed" from the plan and the model. We also met more neighbors, the people diagonally across the street who are also getting a Danbury (our model), although with the garage on the other side from us. The wife is pregnant and due with their 4th(!) child under 5 in 2 weeks. But the most exciting thing was discovering that they also have a toddler. Who is 19 months (only two months older than Stella). And who is a GIRL! Isn't that the coolest?! Tim and I were already waxing about how they can be best friends and walk to elementary school together since they'll be in the same grade. Our neighborhood it going to be so awesome, I can't wait! They also already have their entire house framed and they only started the day before us. So I'm REALLY hoping they'll finish our frame today. We also re-measured from the back of the house to the Best Shade Tree On Earth (or at least my property) that will shade our back porch, and we're confident it's more than 10 feet so they can't screw up and cut it down to pour our patio. I mean, we told our builder not to cut it down, even if they had to make the patio smaller, but sometimes those sorts of things don't get conveyed to workers. But it's definitely more like 12 feet, maybe a little more, away and our patio will be 10x10.

The frame of the first floor:

View out the kitchen window (grumpy Daddy and squirmy baby optional):

View from sliding glass doors in breakfast room:

View from the front door:

Oh, and I deposited more money in our savings account today, the refund we got from our house insurance, and I am so happy with the figure I see. It's so encouraging and inspired me to obsessively tally everything we're saving up in my head again. This is a sort of embarassing habit of mine. I really like to tally figures. There's something comforting about it. I also like to save. And the more I save, the more I am inspired to save. Tim teases me A LOT about this, but it just makes me feel secure. I've always done this. When I was a kid, I was the one who still had Halloween candy at Christmas, and whose Valentine's chocolates would last past St. Patrick's day (or go bad first). I'd usually spend my Christmas money by my birthday in June

and my birthday money, well, I would hold onto it for a long time. I still can actually eat just one piece of chocolate, it amazes Tim. It's just that the possibilities of what you can spend your money on are often more exciting than spending it. And you have that anticipation, which just tastes so good. Wow, that was rambling. Anyway, I just wanted to explain why I talk about my savings so much on my blog. I hope it never feels like I'm bragging or something about my savings, it's just something that I have tremendous interest and pride in. Although I can't really take the credit for 95% of what's in there because we just sold our house and that's where it came from. I will probably be very upset after we close on the house and I have to start all over again, but that's what savings is for, right?

OH, and I lost 2.4 pounds this week, yay! Last week, gaining 1.2 pounds was a real wake-up call and I am back on program, counting every little bite!