March Updates

It appears as though I have defaulted to monthly blogging rather than anything more frequent than that, so here goes with our March updates:

The House:
Ahhh, sweet success! Things are finally underway! Construction began March 17th, and during the first week and a half we have footers dug and poured and the foundation is in. Trusses are scheduled to be delivered to our property on Monday (March 30th), with framing beginning next week. If everything stays on schedule, we should be closing sometime during the second half of July. Here are a few pics of the progress that has been made so far.

Day 1: We have footers and our building permit!

Week 1: Foundation (view looking at front steps)

Week 1: Foundation (view looking at garage)

Sarah:
This month has been busy for Sarah, but that has become rather routine recently. At the beginning of the month, our family joined the church we have been attending since we moved to Cary (Kirk of Kildaire Presbyterian). At this time, we also had Sarah baptized into the church. It was so nice of all our family to be there to share in this special time with us. Sarah did great and didn't freak out when standing in front of the congregation or when getting sprinkled during her actual baptism.

Sarah in her baptism dress

The three of us outside the church

Lehtinen and Bagwell families

Preschool is going great for her. She really likes her teachers and most of her classmates, and she is learning so much! Still no success at the potty training since we had our potty boot-camp at the end of February. She had great success that weekend, but has remained uninterested since. She keeps informing us that she's not ready and that she'll learn soon. If you ask her when she's gonna learn to use the potty, she answers with, "Soon. I not quite ready yet." So we have decided to be patient a little longer and let her indicate to us when she is ready. She knows what she needs to do, and I guess she'll do it when she is ready and not a minute before!

Last week she developed pinkeye in both eyes, so we have been recovering from that this week. Sadly, I think I have it now, so I guess we'll just pass the eye drops around the family!

We are signed up to begin parent-toddler swimming lessons after Easter. Hopefully this will be a positive experience for Sarah and we will be able to continue with additional swimming lessons after this first set of classes is complete. I think it will be harder for me than for her. I am a tad overprotective and I have a fear of letting her go completely underwater. I have to keep telling myself that she will not drown in a controlled setting!

Allison and Duane:
Things are about the same for us. We are finally getting excited about building the house and moving soon. We have been in a holding pattern for so long now, not knowing when things would get started or how long we would be stuck in this apartment, so we are glad that things are finally underway and the end is in sight!

Our jobs are both good. Duane is always busy, and my work goes in cycles. Some weeks I am swamped and other weeks I have nothing to do. After a couple of weeks of nothing to do, I think I am finally getting fairly busy again, so that will certainly help pass the time at work each day! With several of our friends and family members getting laid off during these tough economic times, we both feel blessed to have jobs that seem stable.

We celebrated my 32nd birthday last weekend...boy, am I getting old! I took a vacation day from work on Friday with the plans to have a "me" day of haircut, shopping, and a girl movie. I made it through the haircut and some of the shopping, but then received the phone call from daycare about Sarah's pinkeye, so my afternoon was cut short. Oh well, still nice to have a day off from work! Sarah and Duane took me out for dinner, and they gave me two nice gifts (digital photo frame for my office at work, and a nice new rain jacket). We are planning to have a delayed birthday celebration/get-together with some of our Winston-Salem friends next weekend.

Guess that's all the news from here. We have had quite a bit of rain recently, which has led to some LONG weekend of being cooped up inside. We've made the best of it though, and have managed to get out a bit. Last night we took Sarah to Barnes and Noble for kid's storytime. There was a special appearance by her favorite storybook character, Curious George. So I'll close with some pictures from that. More updates to come in April!

Sarah waiting for storytime at the bookstore

Sarah even got to meet Curious George