"Wow!"

Colin must exclaim "Wow!" or "Whoa!" at least 50 times a day. He uses it constantly and we now find ourselves using it more than ever before!  We question whether or not we used the word so much in our every day speech that he picked up on it, or if we just say it so much now because he does.

In addition to being Colin's most used (and favorite?) word, "Wow!" is a great word to sum up the last week. Granddad and Grandmom came down to Charlotte to visit, watch Colin while Mike and I enjoyed a few days in Savannah, GA and help with the long list of house projects we're trying to finish before our new little one arrives.

I had never been away from Colin since he was born and Mike stayed here in Charlotte while Colin and I traveled up to New York last summer so it was the first time that both of us were away from him at the same time. Needless to say, I was anxious about the trip from the start which didn't help the actual departure. Mike said that since I'm usually well prepared for any travel adventure, the fact that we hadn't made any reservations, much less discussed any plans, until the night before we were planning to leave made him realize that I was a little anxious about the trip. And I'll be honest-the actual departure was tough (I cried as soon as we got in the car) but it was really nice to enjoy a little down time. And like Mike said, being able to drink a soda at lunch without Colin stabbing the straw into the ice for the entire meal was very relaxing! We missed him like crazy but it was nice to know that he was well taken care of.

Once back home, we didn't waste any time getting right back into the swing of things. Mike wrote a 2 page paper for his Monday night class the night we came back and Mike's dad and I started gathering materials for our weekend projects. Our goals were to finish the front porch project (that we started Labor Day weekend) and get as much tiling done in the bathroom shower as possible. I've been trying to install as much tile as I can while Colin naps and it has not been very productive. Sunday and Monday, however, were great to be able to just work, with little to no interruptions (Thanks! Grandmom).

And Colin helped, of course, because the boy just loves to work and be right in on the action! He loved picking up all the tools and mimicking whatever Mike and his dad were doing.  The ladder was a big hit and luckily he stayed pretty clear of the power tools.  We'll wait a few years before we let him play with those!

 

Hard work deserves plenty of snacks!

The dynamic duo and their porch:

The close-to-finished tile:

These two spent a lot of time together while all that work was going on:

"Wow!"  Like I said, what a week.  Mike's folks flew home today and we can't help but think what a great help they were in such a short amount of time.  Many many thanks again-we'll have another list of projects for you guys this summer!