I know what you're thinking: "Another blog post, so soon?! Amy, surely nothing could have happened in the past six months." Believe it or not, nothing really has. Housework has taken a back seat to parenthood, and parenthood has effectively taken up every spare second of our lives. Ugh, why didn't anyone tell us that having a kid would be such hard work? But seriously, Chase is the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to us, even though (or perhaps because) raising him keeps us from thinking about/acting on all of the home improvement projects that loom ahead.

Unfortunately, the longer we wait to finish up our renovations, the less time we'll have to enjoy them. To that end, one of my 2011 resolutions was to complete at least one house project each month. This ties in nicely with my goal to post here at least once per month as well. Finally, blogging goes well with my third big change: drinking more tea. So here I am, on January 31 (I'm nothing if not a procrastinator), sitting in front of the computer with a cup of Earl Grey to my right and a can of paint to my left. (The brushes are where they've been since I primed the walls two months ago: soaking in the guest tub.)

Since Chase will only be napping for another hour or so and I won't likely be able to finish painting and update this post with house-related pictures by then, here's a quick pictorial play-by-play of what we've been up to since last August. Enjoy!

eating...

sleeping...

(you were expecting a pooping picture, weren't you?!)

torturing our son with the bear costume...

sightseeing...

and (this one applies to Chase only:) just generally being cute.