Our Friday Night Fun

So... we got these tickets for the Phila Orch at the Mann. They were free and we figured why not go! It was Willa's second time to the Mann and we thought we'd be city-hip and take the "Mann Loop Bus." Wow!

So, the bus picked us up at the corner of Broad and Locust (Academy of Music) pretty much on time. We arrived at the Mann without event and grabbed some seats. As we laid out our little spread and started popping Edamame and gulping wine, we noticed a high percentage of people with umbrellas... -ella ella ella. Ooops.

My blackberry internet browser showed a front - in Harrisburg at 19:30 - making it's way toward us. That explained the umbrellas and also made us realize it may not have been the best night to take the bus!

So, we took in the first selection and then part of the next before spritzing began. We figured we would try to stand under the overhang, but then found out that regulations prohibit this! Ha, so we figured we would just head home.

Cab companies don't go to the Mann.

We waited for a while on hold, only to wait for 25 minutes for a cab who was supposed to be there in 10. After the 25 minutes, the rain had basically stopped and we figured what's the point now since we were only 30 minutes till our loop bus would leave for CC. We cancelled the cab and caught the last two selections - which were absolutely fantastic by the way.

But, the story doesn't end there. We boarded the bus at the conclusion of the concert and were told, "the bus isn't starting." Apparently ---- the guards told the SEPTA driver he shouldn't be idling in the parking lot (why SEPTA buses idle for hours belching black smoke into the air is beyond me). But in true SEPTA form, when the driver tried to star the best, it just croaked!

Long story short, we waited about 40 minutes on the bus for the relief bus to show.

All's well that ends well. We got our $7.00 ride back to Center City for free and dodged almost all of the raindrops on the quick 3 block walk to the house.

What the night lacked in fortune it made up for in challenge. Does that even make sense?

LUKE

Look to the right! Luke has a new post. Vienna...

http://ljweidner.blogspot.com

Willa's Hips

Here's the latest (and my final post of the day). Willa's appt yesterday at CHOP went well. She gets 12 hours out of the harness per day! The doctor said if her improvement continues at this pace, she can stop wearing the harness at that point.

In other news, her spitting up has significantly decreased in frequency. She still has her moments, but the cleanliness of her two week old harness is proof that it is not as bad as it was just 6 weeks ago.

That's it for now.

Baseball

I'm not normally someone who watches sports or goes to games. But the live experience can make a convert out of anyone - even me! I went to my first MLB game in probably more than 15-20 years this past Wednesday (I was once at a Phillies game at the vet when I was very young). And it was my first time at Citizens Bank Park during the day. Our company had a holiday party there this past December, but at night you can't really see much.

So, the game was a lot of fun. There were some great plays by both teams, but the best parts happened after I left at the top of the 9th inning! Phils were down 5-4 and I left before their final inning when they apparently tied it up and took the game into 5 extra innings. They ended up winning in the early AM!!

I think this Weidner family may return and sit in the cheap (safe from foul balls) seats so little screamie can have her fun too.

Catching up

Last weekend (Thursday night through Saturday night), Christie, Willa and I went down to Ocean City for Willa's first beach trip. We had great weather and spent a little bit of time at the beach each day - enjoying indirect sunlight of course!

This pic (to the left) is little Willa in her sun hat. She was pretty quiet when we were out on the beach which does prove the point that she enjoys a crowd. But, she also had her fussy moments.

All in all it was a good time, and we got to spend time with the 'rents which helps us feel young - since they're so OLD!! haha

Thanks again for hosting us!

More pix:

The coolest house in OC! (yes, it's in The Gardens)

The "baby in sunglasses" pic

Willa watching mommy watching the boardwalk.

Sunset 01

Sunset 02

Take that, hip dysplasia

Can you believe how big I'm getting? And, honestly, how cute am I in this dress? Our very nice neighbors, Steve and Linda, gave me this outfit and another (and the socks, too).

Since I was such an overachiever and wore my harness 23 hours a day like I was supposed to, my hip dsyplasia resolved early! Dr. Horn said I can have six hours out of my harness EACH day!!! I was only allowed one hour each day before that. Dr. Horn said I have to be weaned out of the harness so my hips don't pop out of the socket or become lax again. Mommy tries to put one of my dresses on during the out-of-harness time, since I can only wear onesies when I'm in the harness (or else Mommy and Daddy can't change my diaper unless they take the harness off). Mommy and Daddy are trying to take pictures of me in all these cute out-of-harness outfits before I outgrow them!

Check out my Willa photo gallery (link on the right). Mommy and Daddy took a bunch of pictures this weekend and Mommy uploaded several into my photo gallery. The newest pictures begin with the "So tired" photo.

It's soon time for my nighttime bottle and bedtime, so that's all I have time to write. I'll be sure to model some of my other outfits and post them here for everyone to see.

Baby Kisses and Coos,
Willa

New Pictures in the Willa Album

Hi everyone! We've added a few new pictures to the Willa photo album (link on the right). I also re-ordered the gallery so the photos are in order by the date they were taken. The newest photos are at the end.

Willa had a doctor's appointment on Monday; she weighs 9 pounds, 10 ounces! Little gordita is what we've been calling her (though little and the -ita ending in Spanish are repetetive). She's growing so well, and her little brain is developing. She is so alert, looking around all the time; in fact, she doesn't care to be held and seated - she wants to be up and walking around, taking in the world around her. Her vision is continuing to improve, too. She now follows objects with her eyes, and one of the neatest things was seeing her grab Markus' face for the first time on Monday night. Last night, she grabbed for her little zebra toy that Markus was dangling in front of her. Big girl! She coos and smiles, which melts our hearts, and when she's out of her harness, she loves moving her legs and arms all around.

On the medical front, things are going well. Obviously, the breastfeeding is going well (verrrry well, judging by her weight). She had a checkup at Wills Eye today and the doctor didn't see any cataracts - great news! We'll continue to have her monitored there every few months for the next two years, at least, but it's really convenient to get there - just a 5 block walk. Tomorrow, we head back to CHOP for another hip ultrasound and a harness adjustment. She's been in the harness for five weeks now, and the original thought was 6-12 weeks, so I'm hoping to get a sense of how much longer she'll need to be in it. Hopefully just another week or two...then she has her two-month checkup (and vaccines - yuck!) next week. So, a busy few weeks, but overall, a good report card from all of the doctors. That's what we like.

Our girl is napping now, so Mommy's going to finish up a few other tasks. Enjoy the new photos. We're going to try to take more pictures more often - we've been pretty lazy lately. Check back soon for other new photos.

Durham, NC

We went to visit our friends Sean and Brook in Durham, NC from 7/5 to 7/8. Fun times and lots of pics. I am holding a little hiccup filled Willa right now, so I'll keep this extremely brief. Anyway...... enjoy the pics!!

The Home Improvement Post - Basement, 1st Floor

Here is a brief summary of what happened.

In April, our neighbors were getting their house painted and once we saw how good it looked, we decided to ask the guys to paint our house. That was easy enough - a three day job and the house looked great. Well, it didn't stop there. Since these same contractors had done significant work on the neighbor's house, we knew they'd be able to handle any task we threw at them.

Our wish list was long, but the most important project for us was the basement (rip and replace the floor). We got an estimate quickly and asked them to begin the work. This was literally the week Christie had the baby. What was originally planned as a project to be complete BEFORE Willa came home, became a project which was in progress once she actually did come home. She will certainly never be scared or startled by loud noises since she lived for several weeks with the sounds of hammers, saws and construction workers shouting.

The work went smoothly, aside from small unforseen discoveries. In fact, the demolition was over in just a few days. I had posted some photos of the "pit" in the floor if you recall. There was a brief pause and then the subfloor construction began. They basically built a platform using pressure treated 2x4's (laid on their sides) and half-inch plywood. On top of that they fixed wonderboard. Then, they laid the tiles.

The floor extended in to our powder room and as part of the job, they redid the fixtures. That is why we ordered the new sink, toilet and faucet - which was also mentioned in a previous post.

The men finished their work with poplar ("Top of the line" they said... *eyes rolle*) 1x4 trim with small quarter-round since the tiles create an uneven surface at the edges. On door frames they used 1x3 boards.

Our storage area was out of scope so they simply fixed a portion of the wall which had been damaged and laid a simple vinyl tile floor.


In the midst of this project we suddenly decided we were sick of our disgusting floors in the dining room and entry area. So.... we got Kempas floors installed. They didn't install trim, so we spent the last few weekends installing and painting trim.

Painting ---- Yes we love to paint!

Since the work messed up a lot of walls we did a lot of painting. Rooms: basement powder room, basement nook (formerly known as the man room), half of the basement wall, dining room (since the red clashed with the red of the Kempas). And of course we had to paint the trim.

So, here are the galleries:

Daddy is lazy

So, it's the fourth of July and what will I be doing today? More housework. I think we are almost finished painting the trim in our dining room and entry way. When that job is finally complete, I don't think I want to see a paintbrush again for a long time.

The plan then is to put the rooms back together and then maybe I'll finally be able to take some photos!!!!!

Other than that, no big plans for today.