Per Request

I'm alive.  Just thought I would make that clear seeing how long it's been since the last post.  Life with a first year Dental school student and an 8 month old is pretty exhausting.  Especially when the 8 month old no longer likes to sleep and the Dental student has classes all day and can't help at the midnight and 4 am scream-fests anymore.  I'm really hoping Grace is teething and those suckers poke through soon!
Getting adjusted to life in a big city hasn't been as difficult as I would have thought; but everything takes longer to get to, traffic hours have to be avoided and all these one-way streets are kicking my butt.  I have not caused a crash or been involved in one yet, although Jonathan says it's just a matter of time because I'm a woman. (That's his kind of joke, most woman get offended when they hear him say it but it's just a joke, calm down)   Jonathan and I have re-discovered our love for snow-cones aka SnowBalls here in Nola.  I don't understand how those BahamaBucks can charge such ridiculous prices! I get a medium stuffed (with ice cream) for $2.00 and it's huge.  Because they're so cheap we get them most everyday.  I've learned you can always justify some things :)  We also eat a lot of po-boys which are basically sandwiches for really poor guys I'm assuming.  I'm learning to like seafood, heavily battered and fried of course.  

Jonathan's family came in town this past weekend and we got to do the downtown thing and had dinner and a boat ride on an old steamboat.  Grace ended the ride naked because it was so dang hot.  I can't wait till fall, July in New Orleans is almost unbearable, another justification for daily snowball trips.  

baby meeting the silver man

baby being cleaned by aunties after being covered in silver paint

Steamboat

naked baby enjoying the ride with her aunt

Sorry this has all been such a random assortments of ramblings but the baby is actually taking a nap and it is blowing my mind. I guess I should get the vacuuming done before she wakes up and tries to eat everything she can find on the ground.  Then I'm guessing a trip to the snowball hut :)

I'm going to try and get back to regular posting.  No promises but I'll try!

new sleeping position

pulling up

crawling

ASHLEY

House and High Chairs

Ok, so she's a little rough right now.  It's a Katrina victim and needs some much needed attention but give it a few months (hopefully no more than 3 more months because our lease is up then).  Everything was striped down to the studs and built back up again, new roof is on and windows and doors are going in this week.  

Looking into the kitchen from the dining room

Looking into the living room from the kitchen

dining room, the pink studs frame out the walk-in pantry and yes that pantry will be painted pink :)

 Since we moved to New Orleans about 2 weeks ago we haven't had more than a few minutes to just sit. Moving, unpacking, repacking things for storage and building decisions among just a few of the things going on.  So I hope to get back on a normal routine of blogging because I know some grandparents out there are very eager to see baby girl!

She likes to watch us in the kitchen. I'm looking for a high chair because she's started trying to eat the carpet.  Wierd. I'm thinking this Boon Flair Pedestal High Chair. It's one solid piece so crumbs and junk doesn't build up in the cracks, it rolls and the height adjusts.

Plus it matches her bow.

ASHLEY

NOLA

So we are official New Orleans residents.  It's the 4th of July and we can see some amazing fireworks displays right outside our window, beside a church dome and above the cemetery.  Did I mention we live directly beside a cemetery? Not the type where people are buried below the ground, but above in marble tombs.  About 40 feet away from the back door.  We may also be some of the few residents under the age of 75 in our apartment building which is nice that there isn't a ton of parties going on but there are a ton of yappy lap dogs walking around.  We are living in a one bed, one bath place for the next 3 months until the house is finished and surprisingly it is much bigger than I expected.  I had never seen the place, no pictures, nothing, before I walked in the door with Gracie and our suitcases.  Grace is sleeping in the dining room aka the nursery.  I'm not quite sure where exactly we live but someone said we live right on St. John Bayou. We're directly on the water, what type of water? No clue. A bayou I guess but I'm not sure what a bayou is so...  But across the water is an amazing children's playground based on all the fairy tale characters that Grace will love when she can walk in talk and get into trouble.  
We are absolutely exhausted and would like nothing more than to sleep for 3 days but with a baby I guess you can't do that.  I plan on exploring our neighborhood tomorrow, hopefully I can find my way back home.  
Ashley