Staying Afloat

Many apologies for the long lapse in posting. Life at the Studer house has been anything but boring the last few weeks. The picture above is of our basement, and yes, that is an inch of water covering the floor. This is our first spring in Huron, and what a wonderful initiation to the flat plains of East Central South Dakota we have received. Massive amounts of snow this winter melting in a short period does not make for a great situation, and we are now the proud owners of an in-house wading pool!

Chris was out of town for work when the water problems started, so thanks to some wonderful friends and their giant Shop-Vac (Hi, Justin & Allison!), we got the carpet ripped up and started the water removal process. Our problem seems to be of the seeping-water variety, so despite our almost daily use of the Shop-Vac, by the next morning we are greeted with an inch of water lining the floor again. The waterproofing contractors have been out for an estimate, and they are confident that the problem is fixable (at no small cost, of course!) but since this is their busiest season, they cannot return to fix it until April 19th! So we continue to plug away with the Shop-Vac and thank the good Lord that 95% of the stuff in the basement was just Rubbermaid totes full of baby clothes. Seriously, if I ever meet the person who invented those things, I just might kiss him/her right on the mouth. And although this would not have been our method of choice to inspire a full-scale basement remodel, we will certainly not be sad to see the nasty dark wood paneling go far, far away. There was only one room of the basement that was carpeted, the remainder was just concrete-floor storage space.

And when we're not busy removing water from the basement, we are busy dealing with this...

Yes, that's right, he can fully escape the crib on his own. Full-fledged battles of the will occur daily at naptime and bedtime, and I am confident that Alex will soon learn that Mommy means business! What's funny about this is that every time he climbs out of the crib, he gets a swat on the behind. And Maguire is there to provide colorful commentary EVERY SINGLE TIME. When Alex cries after a spanking: "Alex, he's very sad, Mommy." Or, "Is it ouchy, Alex?" Or my personal favorite, "You gotta learn, Alex!" Good stuff.

Maguire, surely spouting his knowledge on the evils of crib escape.

And here's some other random pictures, just to amuse and satisfy the grandparents...