Alayna

We made it!!! Tonight is our first night in Newport. We drove about 50 miles or so from Mystic and met the realtor at the house we are renting. On our way to meet her she told us that the heat and hot water weren't working. It was only about 51 degrees then around 1pm, so when we got there I bundled up Kaia in a blanket because it was so cold in the house. They have done a lot of work to the house and are getting ready to paint the outside and put on a deck. Inside it has been repainted, the hardwood floors have been re-finished and the bathrooms have been re-done. We walked around and figured out what we would put in each room and then headed out to find a hotel for the night.

We got a call later to tell us that the heat and hot water were working again so we will be able to stay in the house tomorrow night after the movers leave. We have been told they will show up around 9am and won't be done until about 8pm. Needless to say, it will be a long day.

We are staying at a cute bed and breakfast in the downtown area. After we got all of our stuff inside for the night we broke the stroller out for the second time and went to find dinner. It was cold out so we went by the car and got out Kaia's snowsuit from Uncles Roald and Robert. Bryn said she reminded him of the kid in A Christmas Story as she laid out in her stroller. The other highlight of the night was Aunt Danja and Grandma getting to see us on the street on a web cam Aunt Danja had staked out. Danja has been trying to find us on various traffic cams during our trip, so they were very excited to finally see us. The funny thing about the camera that she found this time was that it is sitting in the office window of the B&B that we are staying in tonight.

Tomorrow our life in Newport begins. What we have seen so far is very cute. We should have a great time here for the next year.

I need to update everybody on some of Kaia's latest skills. She is grabbing things with her hands like crazy. She is one strong girl (not that we doubted that). If she is reclining she will sit herself straight up. I swear her stomach muscles are in better shape than my recovering abs. She has been playing a lot with sounds and is drooling like crazy. The last week of photos it looks like her chin is constantly glistening. Lately she has been able to blow her lips and mimic us. Today marked a big first. We had our first laughing spell. She has been giggling and cooing here and there, but she continued to laugh every time I repeated the same thing.

Time to run and top her off for the night.