Another week & 5 months old today!

Well, Elie is now 5 months old and is doing great! We are keeping our warmer weather these days and are excited for a weekend in the 80s! We've done a lot of house work these past few weeks getting ready for a fun summer and family visits.

We upgraded our sleeper sofa to have a nice foam mattress and board underneath so our family room should now make a great guest room. We had the gas company come out and get our gas fireplace working - I know it's April, but it will be great to have it working for next winter! And, better late than never! He also took a look at our gas grill that is built into our porch and told me what a great grill it is, but that pretty much all the insides had to be replaced. I don't think the grill had been given a second thought in about 7 years, thanks to the previous owners. So, ordered those parts and we have to clean it out this weekend, but then after installing all the new shiny parts we should be set for a yummy summer of grilling!

We also just got numerous estimates on replacing our roof and decided on a company recommended to us by our neighbor. This weekend we are going to go out and look at a few places so we can decide on the color of shingle we want for the next 25 or so years. Then that work should begin in the near future and hopefully only take a few days, especially since I will have to spend my time elsewhere for the comfort of me and Elie.

Our neighbor also went into our yard and spent 4 hours pulling out poison ivy and other unnecessary overgrowth. Adam is now having to spend some time each weekend maintaining and continuing his work as the weather warms and things continue to grow. It looks a lot better and hopefully soon we will have a poison ivy child friendly yard! Adam also got a wheelbarrow to help out with the work and it was a lot of fun to get into the trunk of a corolla - I'm sure people were laughing at us in the parking lot, but we got it home! So, we have a lot going on, but it's all coming along very nicely and we are excited for the summer and beyond in our wonderful home!

Now here are some pictures of that kid of ours!

Playtime!

Crazy hair at dinner time

Tree Hugger for Earth Day!

New wheels! (I've tightened those straps!)

Elie's First Pesach

We enjoyed a lovely seder with the Adlands last week. Elie really enjoyed the singing and meeting her cousins Ari, Jesse, and Naomi. She particularly loved loved loved Naomi's dress (you can see a bit of it in the photo). It was a fantastic seder with fun songs, discussion, food, and of course Uncle Peter's famous dessert!

Today I hosted my play group at my house since the weather is pretty icky right now. We had a lot of fun and good conversation amongst the moms. It really helps to talk to these other women and find out how great I am doing and what a truly good sleeper Elie is (getting up just twice a night now). And, also I am very blessed to have a great husband who is so involved in taking care of Elie (especially at night!), and who is supportive of me staying home. I couldn't imagine doing it all alone like some of these other women do. I am very grateful for Team Singer!!!

And, here is Elie showing off her awesome onesie! We get a lot of comments on this one! Too cute!

Life Is Good

We've been hanging out these days enjoying the warmer weather and sunshine. Elie has grown a lot and is even fitting into some of her 6 month size clothes. She continues to dazzle everyone we meet with her long luscious locks and sweet good looks. Adam and I couldn't be having more fun!

Recently we took a trip to Maple View Farms for some ice cream and took some nice photos. It's such a great feeling to eat ice cream and look out over the farm and see the cows that it's made from. We will definitely be going back for more this summer! (and beyond!)

Baby Bumbo

I went to my playdates (yes plural!) on Tuesday and had a lot of fun. First we went to meet with a "newborn" play group, although only one other mom showed up. She has a little boy just 4 days older than Elie. This is a walking play group since the babies are too young to play so I walked 3 miles with her. Then Elie and I came home for some food before heading back out to meet with the other play group which I had mentioned previously. This group had five babies and moms there, including Elie and myself. Elie is the youngest and the oldest kid there is 10 months old. It is a nice mix of ages, although they are still close enough in age to interact. The moms were all really nice and all of us are first time moms with girls so we have a lot to talk about. Since these two groups meet weekly on the same day we will only be able to continue to go to one of them. I think we are going to stick to the second play group since it seems like a better fit for us right now. We'll keep the walking one in mind though.

I already learned some valuable tips from the other moms, including finding out about the Bumbo - that's the seat in case you were wondering. It's ergonomically designed for babies who have head control to be able to sit up on their own, gain some independence, and a new view of the world. So far, Elie seems to be really enjoying it! Hopefully I will learn more tricks and tips as the weeks go on.