Adam turned 1

Adam's first birthday!
Adam turned 1 on June 25th. We have had him in our family for one whole year. What a fantastic addition he is. Michael calls him the Golden child. He looks a bit different from the other two. His hair color is golden and he doesn't have the dark eyebrows and hair like Liam and Sean.
Adam thinks that he is five. He tries to do everything that Liam and Sean are doing. Here in VA we have a fantastic front yard and sidewalk with no car traffic, (we're used to 17th Ave in Denver) and so Liam has learned how to ride his bike with no training wheels. He's doing a great job and absolutely loves this activity so I'm often on the front porch while the kids ride bikes. Sean also loves to ride his bike and thus Adam would also like to ride a bike. I was telling this all to Michael's mom and so she sent this cute little blue bike in the mail that she had sitting in her garage for Adam to ride. He loves it. Plus it arrived on the day we celebrated Adam's bday so it was a bonus present. Thanks Grandma!

Here is Adam with his party hat. We've never celebrated a bday with only the five of us. Adam's first bday was a good time to do it because he certainly didn't mind. Liam and Sean aren't crazy about cake and ice cream so we bought a snow cone maker at Target. (my favorite store that I go to because it makes me feel like I'm at home) The snow cones were a hit. Adam loved it and we can make these treats every day since it is so hot.

I told Liam and Sean that they were invited to Adam's bday party and they each needed to find a toy, wrap it, and bring it to the party. Adam loved the idea and opened all the FREE presents. It was great. Sean picked some pretty random toys but Adam enjoyed ripping the paper apart.

Liam spent more time on the project and made him a cute card and chose some baby toys that he got when he was one. It was all very cute. Adam's birthday was very fun and we missed all our friends and family who were not able to come. You're all excused since it would have been a 27 hour drive.

Here is Liam with his cape and his hat and his sunglasses ready to ride his two wheeler. His goal was to go fast enough to make the cape fly in the air. He made it happen a few times.

Here is Adam and his Fantastic legs. This is two months of walking on them as well. They used to be even chubbier. What a cute boy.

Here is my Seany cakes. He's always entertaining us. Sean has more facial expressions than the average boy. He makes me laugh a lot.

Here they are, Sean and Liam. They have become even better friends here because there are no other children in their lives right now. We're working on making more friends. So far everyone we've met has had 2 and 3 year olds. Liam is looking for a five year old friend. School will start Sept. 8th so we're looking forward to some friends there and hopefully we'll meet some more in the mean time.

A few other things.

Thanks for the bug suggestions. We finally went and got some Terro which is a liquid poison that actually does get rid of ants. Thanks to Layna Maxwell and others for the suggestion. The sugar ants are going away and I only see one occasionally instead of twenty crawling around the counters at any given time. That was driving me crazy. Michael actually found one in his cereal after he finished in the milk. Yuk.

Now for the really scary story. Michael has been working nights here and so one night this past week I was brushing Sean's teeth and Liam was in his room previewing his books when he ran into the bathroom and told me he saw a giant bug crawl across the room and under the tree part of his bunk bed. I told him to calm down and that I'd be right in. However I knew exactly what this meant. Days previous I had gone into their room and saw the same cockroach and it crawled very fast into their closet and I couldn't find it. I hate cockroaches and they freak me out. Now I knew I needed to stay calm because my reactions would impact the way they felt. So I went into the room and assured Liam the cockroach was gone and not to worry. He was worried and wouldn't come sit on the floor to read books. I crawled under the tree trunk part of their bed where it is dark and moved a toy and sure enough, there it was, gigantic and scary. I stayed calm even though I was scared out of my mind, I told Liam to hand me a yellow sand castle bucket and I put the bucket down very quickly and caught him. He was trying to move his speedy legs under the bucket and I could here the scratching on the hard wood floors. I moved the bucket along the floor out into the open room and found a zip lock bag big enough to put around the bucket so as not to let the roach escape.

Anyway we looked at him after I caught him, he was huge. I told Liam I would just leave him in the trap until Michael got home the next morning. So that was that, Liam was a little nervous going to sleep that night but I told him there were definitely no more cockroaches in the house. Yeah right.

The next morning I looked in the bag and it was gone. Michael had already come home and was sleeping so I assumed he got rid of it. Later that day when he woke up we were all talking and I asked Michael what he did with it and he said he never touched it. Oh man.

Finally I got to talking to Liam and found out that he and Sean had some fun with it that morning while I was still asleep. I asked him if it was dead and he said yes but he said it was split into two. I asked him more about that and got him to tell me that he had gotten a hold of my kitchen scissors and cut the cockroach in half and then took it out to the sidewalk and left it there. I of course then had to go into the chat about going outside while I'm asleep and how that is absolutely not allowed. We went into the stranger danger talk but in the end I told him he was very brave and I was thankful that he got rid of it. I washed the scissors for a long time with soap and hot hot water.

So that is the bug story this week. I hate these cockroaches, some are trying to tell us they are water bugs or Palmetto bugs. Whatever they are I hate them and wish they never existed.

The end.

2nd week in VA

Our second week in VA has been lovely. There is quite a lot to do here so we haven't had too much time to get sad yet. It might feel a little little bit like a vacation so far with the beach aspect. We live only blocks from the beach so we go there often for it is free and fun. Here is my little Adam building sandcastles with Michael.

Adam loves the ocean but he has a hard time walking in the sand. He falls a lot but he just gets right back up and keeps going. This little guy sure loves his brothers. He tries to do everything they are doing. They keep him pretty entertained. Thank goodness for siblings.

Liam can't get enough of the ocean. He loves it out there. Here is Sean doing some of his Kung Fu moves. We love free entertainment. The only danger here is the sun. It is beating down on us and we must apply plenty of sunscreen. So far, no burns on the boys.

Michael keeps calling me a wuss because I'm not jumping into the ocean at every chance I get but I'm trying to convince him that someone has to stay dry to take care of Adam. Maybe that is a lame excuse but once you get wet, the sand really sticks to you. Eventually Adam gets tired and needs to nurse and I'm sure he doesn't want to nurse on a salt water breast.

What a happy, sleeping boy he is. He has taken three or four lovely naps on the beach so far. It is a very soothing place to sleep. I'm still trying to figure out Adam and his hair. It is so different than the other two. I wonder what he'll look like when he is three.

Here is Michael covering the children in sand. Liam was getting a little chilly from swimming in the ocean so he kept laying in the sand because he said it was very warm and it helped to warm up his body so Michael offered a full sand blanket.

Of course Sean wanted in after he saw how cool it was so here are my two little boys all covered with sand. They stayed here for quite awhile.

Our first VA visitor. Emma Lou. She was driving through with her dad and step mom after touring the white house and other D.C. attractions. Adam kept looking at her to see if it was real because he's going through Jen and Emma withdrawals. I've been Gmail chatting with Jen and Adam just loves seeing her but still doesn't understand why he can't touch her.

We all went out for lunch at a place on the fishing pier next to our house. Then she came over to our house and looked around. We wished she could have stayed longer but she had more driving to do. We love her and we're happy she stopped by.

Today Michael took the boys back to the fishing pier and did some fishing. There are a lot of very serious fishermen here who have very expensive equipment and such. Liam showed up and sat down with a cheap rod, threw the line in with Michael's help and immediately said, Papa I think we caught something. He said, no Liam the waves are strong and are pulling on the pole, but sure enough they caught a fish. Here is the proud Liam with his fish. Good job Liam. Michael said he really enjoyed fishing and could do it all day. We'll have to do more fishing.

Here is Sean with his fish. I think Liam caught it but he let Sean think he did. Liam is a good brother and much like his Papa always helps to make other people happy.

Here they are, my little fishermen. They had their sunglasses and poles and their blood worms. Not really my thing so I'll just enjoy the peace and quiet I get when they all go fishing. Today I made some dinner while they were gone. We had our delicious salmon with roasted red pepper sauce. We had black beans and rice and then grilled corn. It was delicious.

Sean walked in the door from fishing and laid down on a stuffed animal and fell right to sleep. I love it when they just crash in the middle of the floor. It makes me laugh a little. Sometimes I wish I could take naps in the middle of the day but too many little people need my attention. We woke him up a little later for dinner.

Liam has been bit by all the mosquitoes that live here. We need to do a better job with the OFF spray. We all seem to have bites all over. I'm still not happy about all the bugs that live here. I've learned that I have what they call sugar ants in my kitchen, which are very hard to get rid of. Then of course the stupid cockroaches that come out in the night. I hate those things. We did some research on them and they really try to scare you and say that they will chew on fingernails and eyelashes. They better stay away from all my people and their eyelashes.

Well there they are reading the evening books. We really are just fine here. I've had one very bad day but that is all. I told my mother in law that I had a bad day and she said, "only one? I've had more than that." I guess I forget that other people are sad too and not just us. We look forward to the visitors that are coming this summer. Michael's parents are coming in July. I think Mary and family are coming sometime and my mom is coming in Aug. It will be exciting to look forward to these dates.

ok, this was the second week. I will keep on posting and I am grateful for the comments. It is great to hear from all my people. I'm hoping to meet a friend at church tomorrow. We'll see.

We made it.

We left Sunday night and drove to Salina Kansas where we stayed in a hotel and then ate at I-HOP. Then we drove to St. Louis which took about 5-6 hours. We stopped in St. Louis where Lara is from and hung out with her and her family. That was a perfect midpoint because we were able to let the boys get out and run. Plus her family house is a palace with toys and endless entertainment. Lara's little sis, Aleesa (sp?) showed them around and took care of them.

Here is cute little Elijah who looks taller to me. His chubby little self is getting longer. What a cute boy. Elijah and Adam explored together and discovered the drain that the rain water goes into. They got nice and messy!

Michael holding the new little Isaac who is looking bigger. What a good baby. It was so fun to see these cousins before we left forever.

Liam, Sean and Aleesa (sp?) spent a good 2-3 hours going up and down the driveway. They got pretty good speed and a plus? No one got hurt. Liam and Sean are pretty brave little guys. The exercise really was perfect for the middle of the trip.

We left the Bailey house around 2 and drove to Louisville, KY. We had Bucca de Beppo to go and went to a nice park where we ate and played for 3 hours. We left there around 9 pm and the kids slept while Michael drove to Lexington, VA. He drove till 4 am. Wow! That made it so the next day was only 2-3 hours. We finally pulled into our new house around 2 pm. Here it is!

Michael surprised me with a CO flag on the outside. Everyone seems to have a flag around here so we represent the CO flag.

This is our front porch. I loved it at first but later that evening I was talking to my mom on the phone and this very porch and had my first experience with the roach. They come out at night and you have to keep your door shut at all times because they will find their way in. I watched a few roaches while on the phone and then decided to go in because they are scary little creatures. Once inside and off the phone I lifted a towel from the ground and there one was crawling in our house. Michael killed it immediatly and that is the only roach I've seen inside. The next night I was breaking down boxes and the back deck and a roach crawled out of a box. I'm trying to get used to the idea of roaches but they scare me. Michael put out some roach traps but told me we are working with a forest of roaches. We'll see how it goes.

With roaches comes humidity, rain, green green grass and good soil. We decided to plant a garden. Here are the boys planting away. We planted tomatoes, basil, corn, peppers and more. Let's see how it turns out.

Here is Adam trying to navigate the tall grass in the backyard. We need to buy a lawnmower on Craigs list.

Michael dug out entire garden with his little camping shovel. I sure love this man. He's seems to be able to do anything. He has little experience with gardening but sure seemed to know what he was doing.

We found a nest in the tree in our backyard. There is a lot of animal life here. Liam used to have to search far and wide for one rolly polly at the Perrenoud and here he finds millions of creatures in his backyard. So much to choose from. This is a little starter nest that Sean found and carried around all day. He called it the Best Nest.

Liam seems to be very happy here. We've gone to the ocean twice now and Liam has no fear. He loves the water and the sand. He writes his name in the sand and finds seashells. Sean is a little more timid and just when he was warming up to going in a little further he swallowed a mouthful of saltwater. He think we're saying spit water. He immediatly threw up and then made his way over to me where he washed out his mouth with water and ate some oranges.

So far so good. I'm trying to figure out what the catch is. The house is great, the ocean is so close and fantastic. The backyard is huge, there is plenty of room in the house. I guess the catch is that all my people are not here. If anyone would like to come to Norfolk VA and hang out or move here just call me and I'll help you to get here. OK.

So here we are in VA living our new life. I think this is going to be just fine. More posts to come later. I'm really trying to do this now that I live far away and people may want to see pics of the boys. Plus, I have no trash to take out, (except my own), no mail to deliver, no Perrenoud lawn to mow, no Perrenoud snow to remove, no Perrenoud phone to answer and deal with problems. It's really quite relaxing to just take care of my people and not the Perrenoud people. That is all for now.