Happy 2nd Birthday to Our Baby Girl!

It has been a couple of weeks since my last post, and what a busy couple of weeks it has been!

We celebrated Sarah's 2nd birthday (Sept. 29) for an entire week! She had an Elmo cake on her birthday (made by ME!), and we attempted to take her to Build-a-Bear but she got a little overrwhelmed and could not make any decisions. Mimi and Papa came for a visit on Thursday and spent the day with Sarah on Friday. They played together at the park and went out for lunch. That evening, we attempted Build-a-Bear again, and although things started off shaky, she eventually selected a bunny and even chose some clothes, shoes and ear-bows for her. The bunny's name is Emily...Sarah named her all by herself! She LOVES Emily and treats her just like a real person! That Saturday, we went to the NC Zoo in Ashboro. We met up with Grammy and Paka, Aunt Kristin, Uncle Mike, Madison and Brady, and our friends Jennie, Julia and Julietta. Sarah had a blast at the zoo...we stayed until it closed only stopping for a lunch-time picnic and birthday cake to rejuvenate us! Sarah got lots of nice gifts from everyone. She sure is a lucky girl!

It is so hard for us to believe that our sweet baby girl is already 2 years old! We took her for her two-year pictures today, and she really looks like a little girl now. She is so independent and opinionated. Right now she talks and sings all the time! She is learning how to use her manners by saying things like "Scuse me mommy (or daddy)", "I welcome" (for you're welcome), and "Bless you mommy (or daddy)." On the other end of the spectrum, she has also learned to send herself to time-out when she does something naughty! She can pretty much sing her A-B-Cs correctly, and she is working on counting to 10. Her new favorite songs to sing are Rock-a-Bye Baby, Baa-Baa Black Sheep, Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, and Where is Thumbkin. She is growing up so fast! Speaking of growing, she had her 2-year checkup a couple of weeks ago, and her annual ENT checkup last week. She is a very healthy girl! She weighed in at 25 pounds (20th percentile) and was 32 3/4 inches tall (25th percentile).

Those are Sarah's recent updates. As for me and Duane, we are good too. Both busy at work, and anxious to get out of the rental townhouse and into our own home. With the economy the way it is now though, we're planning to wait things out a bit to see how things progress. Oh, and for anyone interested, I did get the lab results back from my physical a few weeks ago, and everything checked out great...I even have LOW cholesterol which is great news! So it was nice to get a clean bill of health and not have that to worry about for a few more years!

I'll be busy the next few weeks studying for the regulatory exam that I have to take for work, but I'll try to post again before the exam! Hope you are all enjoying the fall weather!

Doctors, Tutus and Picnics...Oh My!!!

The title of this blog sums up our activities last week and weekend. Not sure if I mentioned it in a previous blog or not, but my New Year's resolution for 2008 was to get a physical. I decided that it was important to get a complete blood work-up so that I will have some baseline numbers established in my early 30s. I am not a big fan of doctors in general, mainly due to all the drama I experienced in college dealing with my heart arrhythmia. So I am proud to say that I faced my fears head-on by going for my physical last Friday. I really liked the practice and the doctor I saw. They all made me feel comfortable, which is important for me given all of my anxiety and phobias. I went back for a fasting blood draw on Monday of this week to assess cholesterol, glucose, thyroid, liver function, and kidney function. Should have the results from the blood work any day now, so hopefully all is well and I can say I came out of this medical experience on a positive note!

Saturday, Sarah paraded around the house in her ballerina tutu and matching headband. She even attempted a pirouette or two for us. Guess she must get her dancing skills from her dad, because as most of you know, my ballet career was short-lived due to my lack of gracefulness and inability to do a cartwheel (still can't do one to this day, by the way).

After church on Sunday, we headed to Pullen Park in Raleigh for my company picnic. Despite the intense heat, we managed to have a nice time. Duane enjoyed meeting some of my coworkers, and Sarah enjoyed playing with the hula hoops and bubble machines. We took her for a ride on the train at the park, and she also enjoyed a ride on the carousel. After all the heat and activities of the day, she crashed in the car on the way home and proceeded to nap until 5:30 that evening!

So far, this week has been pretty typical for us. Sarah seems to have a bit of a cold right now, but it is certainly not slowing her down at all! Without sharing all of the details, she has been making some progress with potty training. She has successfully used the potty twice in the past two weeks: once at home and once at preschool. They continue to work with her each day at school, so hopefully she will get the hang of it soon! Her vocabulary continues to develop each day it seems. Right now she enjoys singing her A-B-Cs and counting, although the letters and the numbers are not always in the correct order! She has also recently discovered M&Ms, and she LOVES them!!!! Guess we hid the pleasures of candy from her long enough...there is no turning back now. At least the M&Ms have been somewhat educational...she names the color of each one, so it is a good way to practice her colors!

No big plans for the upcoming weekend. We'll probably just take it easy and maybe look at some more potential neighborhoods. If the weather stays on the cooler side, I am sure we will take a trip to a park so that Sarah can enjoy some play time.

Hope you all enjoy these last few days of summer! More updates to come!

Our Labor Day Weekend

We had a very fun and action-packed Labr Day weekend. It all started with our nearly 6 hour drive Friday evening from Cary to Anderson, SC. We left Cary at 6:45 Friday evening, and finally rolled into Mimi and Papa's driveway around 12:30 am Saturday morning. What should have been a 4 1/2 hour drive was painfully extended due to 3 or 4 standstill traffic jams we encountered on our journey. Sarah held up pretty well through the trip though, despite the fact that she didn't really nap at all on the way down. Everytime I would tell her to close her eyes and go to sleep, she would just say "No eyes Mommy, no eyes." It was pretty cute! She was excited to see Mimi and Papa when we finally did arrive, so she got her second wind and stayed up until about 1:00 am!!!!


Saturday morning she spent some time swinging outside with Papa, and we also took her on a short wagon ride in Mimi and Papa's neighborhood. Uncle Jimmy and Aunt 'Risa came over around lunchtime, and we all ran some errands together before heading to the SC Upperstate Fair for the evening. Sarah had a great time at the fair...she LOVED riding all the kids' rides, she enjoyed all the animals in the petting zoo, and she even took a pony ride! Here are some pictures of her enjoying her evening:


Riding the carousel with Papa

Posing in the stroller with Mommy

At the fair with Uncle Jimmy and Aunt 'Risa

Riding the Treasure Hunt ride with Mimi

Riding the firetruck with Daddy

Pony ride!

Getting kisses from the llama

On Sunday we just took it easy. Sarah wanted to go on the swing again, and wanted Papa to push her so high that her toes touched the leaves of the trees. She would say "I touch the trees, I touch the trees!" And then she would giggle so much when Papa would push her and her toes would touch the leaves! I guess she enjoyed it a little too much because she suffered from motion sickness and got sick in the swing! So after we got her cleaned up and calmed down, she crashed for a LONG nap! We just hung around the house most of the day and rested and visited...it was nice!

Monday morning we headed out early so we could have time to stop off in Charlotte to visit with Grammy and Paka. We arrived at their house around 11:30, and had a nice visit and lunch with them, Aunt Kristin, and Sarah's cousins Madison and Brady. My friend Jennie and her daughter Julia stopped in to visit as well, and it was GREAT to see both of them! We hit the road again around 3:00 to finish the drive back to Cary. Luckily, the traffic was not bad at all on Monday, so we got back home around 6:00, which gave us plenty of time to unpack and wind down a little before starting our week.

The short work week was nice for all of us. Duane and I had typical work weeks, and Sarah had a pretty uneventful week at school. She spent most days in the 2 year old classroom, and she will officially be moving up to that room next week. She seems to have adjusted really well to her new classmates and teachers, so we are thankful for that.

This weekend will likely be uneventful as well. We are expecting bad weather from Tropical Storm Hanna tonight and tomorrow morning. I am supposed to head to Winston-Salem in the morning for a hair appointment and to visit friends, but we will see if the weather is on my side! Sunday will just be typical for us: church, grocery shopping, and laundry to get ready for next week!

That's all the updates for now! I'll post more when we actually have something else that is somewhat exciting to report! Take care!

An Attempt to Post Semi-Regularly!

In a vain effort to update you all more than once a month, here is a SECOND post for the month of August!

We continue to get settled into life in our new "home." We are trying to make the best of our return to apartment life. While we both mostly gripe about how much we hate this situation, there are a few things that are nice. For example, no yard work, no real home maintenance other than some light cleaning, and cheap rent which is allowing us to save more money for the purchase of a new home. In short, there are minimal responsibilities.

Last weekend, Mimi and Papa Bagwell made their first trip to Cary for a visit. We really enjoyed their visit. We took them with us to look at several new home communities in the area. We looked at a couple of neighborhoods that we really like. One of the neighborhoods will likely have sold all of their homesites by the time we are ready to begin construction in early 2009. But the second neighborhood still has plenty of homesites remaining and we actually like the builders for that neighborhood better, so we are hopeful that something will work out in our timeframe. We will still continue to actively look at neighborhoods in the area. I think we have decided that we definitely want new construction, so that helps us narrow our search a bit. That and cost...BOY, is real estate more expensive here than we ever imagined!

We also went to the Cary Lazy Daze festival with Mimi and Papa on Saturday. There were lots of booths of arts and crafts, live entertainment, several children's areas, and plenty of food. Sarah seemed to enjoy walking around and people-watching, despite the heat! Papa managed to snag her a firegirl hat, which she enjoyed wearing the rest of the afternoon!

So far, this week has been a pretty typical week for all of us. We are headed to Anderson and Charlotte for Labor Day weekend. Mimi and Papa want to take Sarah to the Upperstate SC fair Saturday evening, and on Monday we will be visiting with Grammy and Paka Lehtinen in Charlotte before heading back home to Cary. We are looking forward to having a long weekend and a break from the usual routine.

Hope you all have a fun and safe Labor Day weekend. I'll attempt to post again soon!

Attention Duane's Buddies...

When Duane left Wake Forest, he also left his e-mail address book! Since he no longer has access to that e-mail account, he is unable to get in touch with any of you. So here's the best way to reach him:

duanelehtinen@gmail.com

His cell phone number has remained the same.

He'll be waiting to hear from you all with updates!

And Graham...what happened to your blog?

Greetings from Cary, NC!

As usual, I have not updated in quite some time, so there is much to tell!


First, and most importantly, WE MOVED!!!! We moved to Cary in mid-July, and right now we are living in a townhouse (we are renting) until we can decide where in the general area we want to purchase or build a new house. For anyone who is interested, Cary is about 110 miles East of Winston-Salem and is located mid-way between Durham and Raleigh on Interstate 40. Basically, Durham, Raleigh and the Cary area all sort of run together. I tell people that we have moved to a big city, but several people keep reassuring me that this is NOT a big city. I'm sorry, but when it regularly takes me almost an hour to make it 9 miles down the interstate because traffic is at a standstill, I consider that a big city! I guess it is all relative though...it is certainly "big" in comparison to other places I have lived! At any rate, we are all getting adjusted to the new area and our new "home." Duane and I are both settled in at our new jobs and we are both enjoying what we are doing. Glad we have no regrets! Sarah adjusted great to her new preschool. We had one week of crying at dropoff and she has been great since then. We are so blessed to have such an adaptable and easy-going child! Even Mr. Winston is taking things in stride. He was on edge and barked a lot the first few days, but he has since gotten used to sharing a wall with a neighbor and no longer barks and howls at every little noise. I forgot to mention that we did spend 2 weeks here in Cary with no furniture except Sarah's crib mattress and our air mattress. The movers came to Winston-Salem to pack up our lives at the end of July and all of our stuff was delivered to us here in Cary on July 31. After 2 weeks on an air mattress, we were certainly ready to sleep in a real bed...and eat our meals at a real table rather than picnic-style on the floor! Here's a picture of Sarah helping us pack things up in Winston-Salem and a picture of her last morning in her very first bedroom!

In other news, we are all set to close on the sale of our house in Winston-Salem this Friday. Closing was originally scheduled for July 31, but got pushed back until August 15. After much headache and stress, we are FINALLY all set to close in a couple of days. We will both be glad when it is all over and we have that behind us! Then we can start focusing our efforts on looking for a new house and getting out of the rental townhouse!

As far as Sarah's latest skills and accomplishments, there are too many to name. She is extremely verbal now and can communicate very well with us. She is starting to form simple 2 and 3 word sentences, so it is just amazing to see how quickly she learns. Some of her recent funny sayings are "See amarrow" (for "See you tomorrow") and "O-dokee" (for "okee-dokee"). She is also working on learning her alphabet, she loves to sing and play "Ring Around the Rosie", and she still enjoys being outside and loves to sing and dance to music. We are coming up on her second birthday so quickly...it is hard to believe!

Hope you are all doing well and that we will have a chance to see or talk to many of you soon! Until then, take care!

Busy, Busy

We have been busy, busy around here trying to get our ducks in a row for the big move! We had a few minor repairs to finish up that were pointed out as part of the inspection. Thankfully, Grammy and Paka Lehtinen came to visit last weekend and Paka was able to help Duane get the repairs done. Between that and Papa Bagwell's electrical help the weekend before, I think we have all of the repairs marked off of our list!

Yesterday was Duane's last day of work at Wake Forest after 11 years of school and employment there! It was also Sarah's last day of school at New Horizons, which as I continue to say, has been very difficult for me. Today Duane and Sarah will be heading up to Cary so Sarah can visit her new preschool for a few hours and meet her teachers and classmates before starting officially next Monday. Hopefully her visit will go well and she will adjust fairly easily to her new routine. Barring any work-related conflicts, I am hoping to meet them at the preschool for a portion of her visit so I can check things out myself before Monday. You all know me...I like to at least feel like I am in control of things even if I really am not!

This weekend we will be moving to our new temporary home in Cary. We are renting a townhouse that is close to Sarah's new preschool and close to the interstate for our 15 minute commute into work each morning. Although our official moving date is not until July 31 (that's when the moving company will be bringing all of our stuff from Winston-Salem to Cary), we will begin staying at our new place this weekend so that we don't have to all endure the Lehtinen Family Commute each day for the next 2 weeks! We will be bringing minimal things just to get ourselves through the next few weeks: clothes, kitchen supplies, bathroom supplies, toys for Sarah, her crib mattress and our inflatable air mattress. Oh, and of course we will be bringing Mr. Winston! Hopefully Sarah will cope well with sleeping on a mattress on the floor as opposed to being confined in a crib...if all goes well, we may transition her to her toddler bed when all of the furniture gets moved to Cary. We'll keep you posted!

Guess those are our updates in a nutshell. I will make an effort to post sometime next week and let you know how we are all adjusting to life in Cary! Hope everyone has a nice weekend!