How Many Adults Does It Take...

to get a baby to smile for the camera?!?! We took this the day Eric and I left for Pierre to buy our house (little did we know) and I wanted to get a pic with Mom, Olivia and I. Good lord she was a little squirmy worm. But it is a fun end result - like those photo booth film strips!

A New Baby!

Our nephew, Noah, was born on March 14! He has already charmed me by falling asleep in my arms the first time I held him. Probably just a fluke. Olivia is easily becoming a big sister -- she has always loved babies, but she apparently likes to walk over and give Noah kisses when he's laying in his little chair. And I think Tony said that she will try to give him drinks from her sippy cup. I can't wait to watch him grow up!

We Bought a House!

********UPDATED -- SEE BOTTOM FOR MORE PICS**************

Yes, we really bought a house in Pierre! It was a whirlwind Friday. We made the offer at about 2 pm, got a counteroffer a 4pm, and said we'd take it at 4:30 pm! Then I was on the phone with our bank for a few hours getting our loan straightened out. We got a home inspector all lined up and we even managed to rent a storage unit yesterday, too! Wow. This all went so fast, but it's been fun.

Here are the specifics on OUR house -- 4 bedrooms, 2 full baths, hardwood floors in two of the bedrooms, big, fenced backyard, and a one-stall garage. The owners (a young couple with a toddler a little one on the way) have done a lot of nice improvements and you could tell they really took care of it. New carpet and fresh painting really made the place stand out amongst the other we looked at. It was a no brainer!!

Above: This is the upstairs living room, looking at the entrance. It's kind of small, but it's cozy.

Above: This is the living room looking in from the front door.

Above: This is the kitchen looking in from the back door right next to the stairs for the basement. Not the fridge in the left corner of the picture, which you can see in the right corner of the last picture.

Above: This is the downstairs family room. To me, basements are old and creepy but this one is super nice. There is a full bath down here, one bedroom down here and 3 living-sort of of areas. It's very spacious!
This is the exterior of the house (duh). There is a nice streetlamp out front that really casts a lot of light at night. This picture is a few weeks old - there is no snow there now. I can't wait for the trees to bloom to see how lush it gets!

This is the backyard, then. The deck was built in 2002. I think there is also a tree or two back here that you can't really see from the picture. But it's fences so the creatures will enjoy being outside.

Here are some specs for Tony (in case this appeals to your inner carpenter):
Living Room = 19' x 11'9

Kitchen = 11'10 x 11'3

Family room (downstairs) = 11'4 x 15'2 (plus additional open areas down the hall)

Bedrooms: 11'10 x 10'2
11'10 x 9
9'9 x 8'5
11'3 x 10'2 (basement bedroom)

Yoda's Big Adventure

Well, Yoda had a big afternoon. It was about 60 degrees around here so my Dad opened up the windows in the house. Some of them didn't have a screen -- including the upstairs bedroom...20 feet off the ground! Didn't think much of it until Eric asked where Yoda was. So I went around the house shaking treats -- nothing. If Yoda doesn't come running after treats then something is wrong. So thinking she escaped out the door somehow I walked outside and started calling her name. Then I heard a faint meow. I looked UP and saw Yoda on the peak of the roof!! I about had a heart attack. I had to coax her down while my Dad got a ladder. Then Eric climbed up the ladder to retrieve the daredevil. Turns out she escaped from the upstairs window and climbed onto the roof. I should have taken a picture of her up there, but I was too shocked to do anything but stand there and hoped she didn't fall. It's a happy ending, but could have been a little hair raising.

The Best Uncle a little guy could have...

This picture is a little old, but I would be remiss if I didn't include it. This is the last time we were home to Brookings for a whirlwhind hunting trip (I think it was early Jan 07). If I remember correctly, Anthony was getting ready to go to his first day of Sunday School. He was so excited with his little backpack and spiffy outfit. He's such a good little boy to like Sunday school and church so much.

Meet our new cat, Pigskin

No, we didn't get a new cat. But Yoda is a such a fat little football that Eric is now calling her that. I got Lily a new kind of dog food and apparently it's pretty tasty to the cat. So now she's eating dog food (in addition to cleaning her kitty bowl clean) and it's causing much consternation in the Hildebrandt animal kingdom. At least Pigskin Yoda has stopped tapping on the miniblinds at 5 am to let us know she wants to look outside...in the dark! When I get up in the middle of the night for a bathroom break I crack the blinds so she can gaze outside at her leisure. She used to sit on the window ledge at the crack of dawn and run her paw up and down the blinds. She'd wait until we'd wake up and scream at her to stop. Then she'd do something much less annoying like walking up to my head and sitting on my hair. I can about imagine how parents end up with kids with wildly different personalities. Bingo and Yoda are about as different as they get. I really have a lot of room to comment on being chunky, but here are some other names we have for Yoda (all with love in our hearts, of course): Chunky Monkey, Fatty Boombalatty, Yoda Pagoda, etc.

Tony vs Olivia

Here are a few pictures I found of Tony when he was a toddler. I think he's older here than Olivia is now, but they are close enough. She sure does look like Tony when he was that age! Little Noah is due on 23 March and I hope that he has the curly, curly hair like Tony had when he was little.