Last night was clean-up of the downstairs.   Paul says it smells like his mum was cleaning (bleach).   When it flooded on Wednesday night, it was late enough that we only had enough time to just get the water mopped up and that was it. 

The repair man came in the morning and said we’re going to have to replace the whole sewer line down to the street.   Long story short, we should be able to have the previous owners pay for or help pay for the cost.

I took off work for a bit while the repair man was at the house, and Elizabeth and I went to Walmart to buy a few cleaning items.  More bleach, rubber gloves, and a new mop head.  Basically, everything that touched the poo water was tossed. 

Last night the sewer backed up into the basement.  Fortunately, it only flooded into the laundry room, Cameron’s bathroom, and the storage room, so no carpets were destroyed.  A small bit of carpet that goes into the bathroom was wet, but I’ll just shampoo it and it should be fine. 

Elizabeth likes to show off her new found strength.  She’s gotten to the point where she can scoot just one knee forward, but then she falls.  One thing, though, is she is very persistent.  Tomorrow she will be 9 months old.  Last night she weighed in at 17 lbs 9 oz.

I took Friday off of work to help get some chores done around the house.  Paul & I were able to get nearly everything done on our ‘todo’ list.  Yes, there is still a lot left, but the place looks a lot better.  The weather was cooler & a bit rainy-ish, which was nice.  It would’ve been horrible to be working so hard in the 100+ temperatures.

Note to Daniel — we got the loveseat down the stairs!!

The immigration papers are filed today.  Along with the documents to adjust the immigration status, we filed a Travel Document, which will allow Paul to leave the country and still be able to return back to the USA.   We’re hoping to be able to go over to England for Victoria’s wedding next April.   I’m so excited that these are finally done!!!

This is Elizabeth’s new thing… She wrinkles her nose and breathes really quickly through her nose.  It’s a blurry pic, but she moves so much while doing it.

Everyone seems to be breaking up lately.  My ex (Brent) and his wife (Martha) are getting divorced.  Cameron & Nadalee broke up.  And now Jon & Gloria have split.   Let’s hope that is all for a while.   and let’s hope & pray that some of these people come to their senses and get back together.

Last night Cameron & Paul went on a trip while Elizabeth & I stayed home.  They dumped the old toilet in my office dumpster, and then went to Lowe’s (B&Q’s) to pick up some odds and ends for the house.  One of the items was a gazebo.  It’s 10′x10′ and will be a nice shade area for our back patio.   After the weekend of chores, I’ll get some pictures of the house posted.

Elizabeth has figured out how to get her knees underneath her and rock back & forth.  It’s just a matter of days now…..  time to get the gates & locks in place!!   Paul has the camera & video camera by his desk all charged & ready for when the big event happens.

Cameron worked all weekend, so we hardly saw him.  On Sunday, no one was able to come in for the evening shift, so after working 9-5, he stayed on and worked until 9:45 that night.  Target won’t allow him to work too many hours because of the guidelines for minors, and it’s against policy, etc.  BUT when they’re despirate, then all of a sudden — it’s okay.

We’re taking Friday off work so we can have a 4-day weekend (Memorial Day is on Monday) and hopefully get some of these chores done.  It’ll be a lot cooler, from the 100’s, down to the mid 80’s, so that’ll be great weather for working outdoors.

I found these pics on my cell that were taken in mid-March.  I can see from these pictures that Eliabeth’s hair has grown a lot since then.  She is also a lot stronger.  I’ll try to get something a bit more current to post next week.

Cameron is doing well.  He’s working often and is looking forward to the end of school in the next week.  He’ll then be working a lot more and (hopefully) saving more money.  He & Nadalee broke up so he’s a swingin’ single again.  Hopefully for longer than the last time. 

My mom had her hand operated on yesterday.  She’s in a bit of pain, but is doing alright.  She’s sitting around the house and looking at things that have to be painted, redecorated or planted.  By the time she is able to move her hand again, I’m sure she’ll have a nice, long ‘to-do’ list to work on during the summer.

 It’s been a while since I’ve posted some pictures of Elizabeth.   Last night, I was preparing dinner and doing some dishes while Elizabeth was gnawing on a teether biscuit.  When I turned around to check on her, this is what I found:

Here are some other cute pics that Paul took of her eating:

Elizabeth and I went to a tupperware party last night and gave Paul a break from us for a while.   He’s not getting much work done during the day because of this cute little girl.  I think she’s more demanding on his time than first anticipated.  Somehow, though, we do manage to find a few minutes throughout the day to reconnect. 

We are doing bits & pieces on our house every day.  We’ve taken down trees & bushes, swept & mowed, cleaned and installed stuff.  The house is looking better, but we often sit back and wonder how the former owners were able to live in the house the way it was, for so many years.  Isn’t it normal to like things to be kept nice & in good working order? 

Elizabeth is loving her new surroundings.  We can see her getting stronger every day…. she’s starting to kinda scoot around the floor a bit.  Also, we’ve started saying “nananana” and today, we’ve noticed the occassional “dadada” and “mamama”.  Yesterday, Paul looked over to see her having a full on conversation with her toys.