A New Name

I'm sure that it'll take me a few weeks (or maybe even months) to update the appearance of our blog but we are officially in need of a new blog name. Our house has sold, and we closed on it this past Friday!  A few weeks ago, I started a post about our house selling, but then erased it for fear I could actually jinx the process. Since putting our house on the market precisely one year + week ago,  the following "weird" scenarios have occurred.

• It's been shown well over 50 times between private showings and open houses. We'd receive the same feedback after nearly every open house/showing. "They love the house, but hate the main floor bathroom and lack of closet space. 
• One person, alone, looked at our house 5 times. She brought a contractor in to see if she could expand the half bathroom on the second floor. And, she even apparently talked to the bank. Last summer, she was supposed to list her house on the market, before buying ours. No offer was ever made.
• We've had at least 2 other "interested" parties who were supposedly making offers, only to not follow through. One couple had an RV that was worth well over $100,000 and was going to ask us if we'd be willing to trade the house for the RV, per our realtor....
• When we briefly took our house off the market this past winter around Macey's birth, we had a crazy realtor tell us that an offer was being placed on the house, only to find out that no offer existed.  As it turns out, her primary intentions were to get us to sign her on as our realtor. 
• We've been close to renting it twice. 

So, when an offer came in on the house in mid-May, Kyle and I decided that we had to make it work. Since August we've been paying two mortgages, combined with 2 large student loan payments, now two daycare payments...you get the point. Plus, the offer came from a couple with 3 young children who have a "small space" philosophy, so the house couldn't be more perfect for them. Thankfully, the inspection came back without any problems - the roof was not even mentioned in the inspection. Aside from our lawyer being over 45 minutes late for the closing, everything went smoothly.

Kyle and I did a quick walk-through of the house on Friday morning prior to the closing, and reflected on some of the best times we've had over the past 5 years in that house. We will certainly miss it! Our plans now - to stay put for a long time. I'm looking forward to making this house our home. We have so many projects that we want to start, but we're going to wait a little while. We want to get back into the habit of saving and investing and just enjoy the house in its current state. But, I know that I will be frequently driving back in our "old" neighborhood to check on 328.

5 months

Happy 5 month Macey Joy! I acknowledge that I'm a few days overdue with posting this update, but these days it seems typical. It seems like most times when I sit down it's to do a feeding or read a book with Micah. Today I'm having an oil change, which is allowing me to sit for an hour and catch up on blogging.

• Continues to grow! I don't have specific stats, as we don't go back to the doctor for another month, but I would have to assume she's 14-15#. She's wearing size 1 diapers, although she could easily transition up to size 2 or even 3. Her cute little bottom is busting out of her current diapers, but we still have about 50 left in the super economy pack that we bought last month and I fully intend to use every one of them : )

• Wearing size 3-6 months clothing. I love her clothes, and I will admit that I love shopping for girls clothes. Sorry Micah, the selection of girls clothes is much more abundant than the boys! I told Kyle not to allow me to buy anymore kids clothes the rest of the summer, because both kids are set.

• Eating 5-6 ounces every 3 hours. Food continues to be formula and breast milk. She's starting to show an interest in what we're eating, and we will plan to start solids with her at the end of the month.

• She loves her bottles and gets so excited at the first sight of them.

• Our house is filled with laughter and smiles, as Macey now belly laughs. Micah thinks it's great to get her to laugh, so he frequently can be seen laughing at her. I love it!

• We reached a new level of mobility on May 9th. Macey has begun to roll, and she goes between her stomach and back quite easily. She can roll across the room quickly! Once this girl gets crawling and walking, we are in for trouble. I think she's going to be just as active, if not more, than her big brother. She will sit for a few seconds before collapsing. Pivots on her stomach now too.

• Everything within her reach goes into her mouth. She's getting better at holding toys and assisting with holding her bottles.

• She's been showing a definite interest in toys. She likes rattles, the toys had hang from her playmat, rings, balls, and Micah's stuffed animals - when he shares.

• Sleeping has been okay. Our pediatrician warned us that her sleep pattern would change and it has. She generally goes to sleep around 9:30, sleeps until 6:00 and then comes into our bed and eats and falls back asleep until 7:30ish.

• She's sleeping in her crib - it was a necessary transition as she was outgrowing the bassinet in our bedroom. Still, the first few nights were admittedly a little difficult, even though her room is right across the hall from ours.

• She seems to know her name and turns her head in response to it.

• No teeth yet ( Micah got his bottom teeth at 4 months) so I'm expecting her to get them soon. She's definitely more drooley and everything seems to go in her mouth.

• She still has a clogged tear duct. According to her MD, no treatment is done until she's 12 months. She's otherwise been healthy this month and we are thankful for that!

• Thrives on attention - loves to be held, talk to, looked at, etc. Doesn't always love it when she's left alone in a room.

We love her and big brother Micah so much!! It's so much fun watching her grow, yet it's happening too quickly as well. It's hard to believe that 5 months have gone by.

Micah is 28 Months Old

Happy 28 months, or 2 years and 4 months birthday Micah. Earlier today, he and I were looking at a photo album of his first year. It's amazing how much this little guy has turned from a baby into a little kid in such a short period of time. Here's what we've been up to the past few months.

1) Big kiddo! I don't have specific weight or height measurements, but I would continue to assume that Micah is within the 90 percentile. It seems like he's the biggest kid in his class at school, even though some of his classmates are older than him.

2) Wearing 3T pants and shirts. Shoes are a size 9. Diapers are size 6.

3) Speaking of diapers, we're still rocking them. I'm thinking that Micah will be closer to 3 years old before he's potty trained, which is fine. He goes in spurts where he has interest and then he loses it. So, we move on...

4) Uses a lot of adjectives in his vocabulary. For example - "whose's that cute girl", as he was looking at the cover of my Pediatric's PT book a few nights ago. "Those are pretty flowers".

5) Asks a lot of questions - I love it. Dinner and bath time conversation is "where's ....(insert friend's name) at?"

6) Has an amazing memory -seriously. And, he remembers small details. A few days ago, he pointed to a Lexus while we were driving and said "that's Paige's mom's car". Paige is a friend from school, and yes, her mom drives a Lexus.

7) He's our neighborhood watch. He loves to keep us informed when the older couple across the street comes or leaves their house. He points out when the neighbor's dog is outside.

8) Favorite food is my homemade Mac and Cheese. He also loves pizza and hotdogs (Nathan's or Hebrew National), blueberries, bagels, oatmeal, cheese, goldfish.

9) Not picky - he continues to eat what we eat every night.

10) Loves to grocery shop with me because he knows that it usually involves getting a cookie.

11) Loves to go in general. He gets excited about small car rides, such as trips to the gas station, church, or even to go shopping.

12) New favorite toy is his grill.

13) Loves his Gosig (Ikea golden retriever) and stuffed duck.

14) PBS is our favorite TV station. Sesame Street keeps him occupied for a good hour in the morning to allow me to get a shower and get Macey ready. Thomas and Friends and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood are other loves.

15) Loves his daddy. He and Kyle have really bonded and it's fun to see how much Micah looks up to Kyle.

16) Loves running down hills. We're trying to teach him that he can't go up in people's driveways on our evening walks, but he loves running down the driveway hills so much!

17) Slowly learning to be patient, which is hard for him. He doesn't like waiting in line. He doesn't like waiting for all of us to sit down to eat supper. I know that this is going to be a hard skill to learn. I too am trying to work on being more patient myself!

18) Enjoys going on trips to the park. I love the park that's close to our house - the equipment in new, and it's not heavily utilized. We try to get there as often as possible, or as often as the weather allows.

19) Is hitting us less - I'm happy that we've made progress with that behavior!

20) Is learning to slow down and listen. Lately he's been doing some running when he gets out of the car. This usually occurs in the parking lot at daycare and has happened at a restaurant, but we're quickly trying to stop this behavior.

21) Loves to sing. It's great hearing him sing his school songs when he's independently playing. Some mornings, he comes in to our bedroom and serenades Kyle and I while we're still sleeping.

22) Easily embarrassed - he won't sing, repeat something, or do something physical when asked.

23) Still loves the word "no". I'm more than ready for us to get through that phase...

24) Responds well to timeouts, which are 2 minutes. He generally stays in time out until told he can come out. He's able to recall the reasoning for the timeout too.

25) Asks to read his Bible every night before bed. Some of his favorite stories are Noah's Ark, Jonah and the Whale, Daniel and the Tigers.

26) Seeking as much independence as possible. Wants to undress himself before bath, turn on sink to wash his hands, climb up into his car seat by himself.

27) Loves going out in the boat - last night we took the boat out on Lake Winona, and Micah had a great time watching Kyle catch weeds (and fish too). I don't think it'll be too long before he gets his own fishing pole.

28) Is a wonderful addition to our family! We love him so much and are thankful for all of the laughter and smiles that he brings to our lives. A challenge at times - yes, but we've grown as parents and a family through those difficult moments of parenting.

New set of Wheels

Pals