Time to catch up!

Wow, I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted. We are now settled into our new home in Georgia, and are slowly exploring Athens. We've had grandparents come to visit... John has also started his position at UGA, working on his research projects until he teaches next spring.

We've also had few dozen contractors to work on the house. That's right...our new 5-year old home has thrown us quite a few surprises in the 4 weeks since we've moved in, and all I want to do is call the landlord. For the first time, we are the owners and are more than acquainted with the Lowe's up the road from us. We are about to begin installation of a huge fence around our 0.8 acre property, have a designer work on the blank canvas that is our backyard, replace our rotting master shower and chimney, clean up a small lake in our crawl space, and transform our sagging, splintering, not up-to-code deck into a lovely screened-in porch. We have had our frustrating moments, from when we first stepped into the house the day of the closing to find that it was totally filthy, to our visits from contractors giving us the bad news about the molding shower that wasn't waterproofed/rotting chimney/etc. But, when the renovations are done, the home and yard will be amazing. I'm looking forward to seeing the transformation, and I'll be sure to post pictures.

Katherine has handled the transition well, and absolutely loves the stairs in the house (our house in Tucson had none). She climbs up them, screeching at the top of her lungs, totally thrilled with herself. I'm terrified! AND...on Friday afternoon, she took her first steps by herself! She and I were playing in her room and she walked over to me from a box of diapers I was unloading. We got a repeat performance on Saturday, but so far nothing on camera. She will be walking before I know it, and again...I'm terrified!