Brief Update

I don't have much to tell, but I figured it was time for a quick post.

We're just waiting for our house to close so we can start working on it! Our loan officer now has all of our documents, and we're just waiting on underwriting. Expected closing date is September 12th. Work on the house is expected to be completed on or before September 6th, 2013.

Here is what we have to do before we move in (sorry if this is repeat information!):

• Scrape "popcorn" ceilings & paint
• Buff & stain hardwood floors (they look VERY bright, and are original hardwood)
• Linoleum replacement in the bathroom (there's some minor water damage due to improper use of a shower curtain)
• Replace lighting fixture in bathroom
• Paint all walls 
• Main living areas will get a "wainscoting" look similar to this. Upper 2/3 = taupe, lower 1/3 = white
• Still contemplating ideas for our room and my office, but I'll be doing a cherry blossom tree for sure in Ellie Jo's room! 
• Clean (duh) 

We have had a lot of people asking us what we need for our new house. The truth is, we aren't entirely sure, but we know that we want to make many cosmetic improvements. We don't know what or how much we'll do, so I'm sure we'll be frequenting Home Depot, Lowes, and other such stores often!

For all of you who follow me on Pinterest, I'm sincerely sorry for blowing up your feeds lately with all my ideas for the house!

In other news, I'm hoping to get caught up on various projects around the house this weekend after we go to the fair!

Hoping to write more later.

Summer Reading

So far... I've completed one book. Pathetic.

I mean, we've been somewhat busy with moving and Ellie Jo (she is already 3 1/2 months old!)

But still!

I am absolutely loving my lunch breaks at work on Mondays & Tuesdays. I get to hide away for an entire hour in a private location and pump, set up my Kindle and enjoy a quiet lunch all by myself. :) I think I'll forever remember this one and only book that I've read this summer so far as my "lunch hour book."

The Fence My Father Built

You can read my review here. 

Anyway, I'm going to try to get to the library this week to return all the books I swore I would read in 3 weeks (ha! little did I know that I would be moving - twice - in one month!), and try to make a list of them all so I can re-check them out when I'm back in "good patron" standing. Sigh.

We're moving....again

I've been reluctant to say anything about this so soon, but regardless of the outcome of the situation, I think it's going to be an encouragement to share here what has been going on with us.

We've recently moved (as my previous posts mention). But we're actively looking for a new home to buy.

Here is what we are looking for in our new home:

3 bedrooms
Safe (passes inspection)
Yard
Garage
Parking
Bottom of the price range we qualify to purchase
A home that needs some TLC
Close to home still


Here is what we are not looking for in our new home:

Dream home
5,000sq feet
No yard
Perfect
Expensive
Out of town
Unsafe

That being said, let me share a bit of what's happened so far:

Last Wednesday, I looked at 3 houses with my mother & sister-in-law. We all liked them, and agreed that they would work just fine to meet our needs and serve our purposes. I put an offer in on one (foreclosure) up north from where we live now.

The third house had just gone on the market that day, and I really liked it. It had everything we wanted and more, plus it's in town. So, I put an offer in. I didn't think twice about it; the chances of getting it were slim, anyway.

Let me interject here that my husband is trusting my judgment on this, as he works all day every day and I don't. (And, I had more than just my opinion!)

Saturday morning as we head out to Safeco Field to watch Ken Griffey, Jr. be inducted into the Mariners Hall of Fame, my realtor calls and leaves a message saying, "I hope you're sitting down, because you just bought a house!" I called him immediately assuming it was the foreclosure.

Nope.

It's the one here in town. Not only that, but the sellers agreed to our offer with no changes! I was blown away.

We've spent this week doing hours upon hours of paperwork, arranging the inspection (tomorrow morning at 8am), and getting our down payment to escrow.

We're exhausted and excited.

I got a text on Wednesday from my realtor that said, "Guess what...you just bought another house!" Our offer was accepted on the foreclosure up north!

I am blown away.

I know this post is a little vague, but I'll try to post more as soon as there's more to tell.

I brought all this up at the luncheon at Robert's mom's with all the girls in their family yesterday, and his mom's cousin (who is admittedly obsessed with real estate), kept saying how thrilled she is for us and that she had goosebumps (which I could see!)

Right now, pray for the inspection to go well - that anything that needs fixing is minor, and if not, that the major stuff can either wait or the seller will agree to fix. If it doesn't go well, we DO have the fallback option of that foreclosure, but I just don't have a peace about it.


I know this post is a little vague, but I'll try to post more as soon as there's more to tell.

3 Months Old and Other Various Updates

What a busy month it has been! Here are some of the things that have been going on with us:

• We moved (to a temporary location while we're still looking for a house to buy)
• I went back to work on July 1st (but I now work a full day M&T and a half day from home on Weds.)
• Robert has taken on more responsibilities at work
• I finished one of my summer reading books
• We finished softball season
• Robert had a serious abscess that I had to keep clean and bandage over the course of a week (yep - it was located in a hard-to-reach location below his back - super fun stuff!) He had to go in to have it lanced and drained - and I watched. BLECH! (Don't worry; he gave me permission to post this!) I think the worst part was how painful it was for him, and that it happened the week we were moving AND had softball tournament.

And here are some special highlights from the last month with Ellie Jo!

• Ellie Jo now sucks on her fingers all the time!
• She will scoot backwards on her back if you let her press her feet against your hands
• She will roll over with a little help
• She takes 7oz. bottles now (but still 100% breastfed, except 2 sad ounces of formula when my supply ran low)
• She typically takes one long morning nap and two medium afternoon naps
• All of Ellie Jo's newborn clothes have officially been put away! She's in 0-3 months now!
• She will actually giggle and laugh
• She exercises her will, and now reaches and leans for whomever she wants to be with (no joke)
• She will cry for "maaaa maaaa," and if she doesn't get me, she'll scream like you wouldn't believe
• Ellie Jo still hates to be too hot or too cold
• She recently completed her longest road trip to date - to Issaquah to visit Auntie Tricia and a few of her kiddos! (It was quite possibly the longest trip for mommy, Auntie and Grandma - we were seriously in the car for like 5 hours that day!)
• If she's fussy, she'll calm down when mommy plays piano and sings to her :) 
• Ellie Jo MUST have a lovey (particularly, Zoe the Zebra) when she sleeps or travels! (See the last few pictures for a frame of reference) 

So, that's the last month for all of us (in a very small nutshell!) I'm trying to find more time to get back to blogging, now that we're getting settled at our temporary house. We're actually with my parents now, but it's working out pretty well for all of us with nearly 4,000sq feet! (And mom and I are loving having both ironing boards and vacuums available to us! haha!) I've got my home office set up in a corner of the bonus room, and my sewing table (um, AKA "coffee table") set up in front of the futon, so I'm good! As for Elizabeth, well...she's got two swings, two bouncy seats, two cradles, two dressers, a crib and a changing table - AND her own private nursery (as long as my nephews and cousins don't stay over in one of the 3 twin beds in that room), so she's pretty much set. Robert's getting used to being here, and being around Sarge. We're actively putting offers in on houses, so hopefully we find the perfect one soon!

Here are Elizabeth's 3-month pictures!

Grunting at us

"Look at my legs, mommy!"

The ONLY clear picture of her smiling

Bored

Nana trying to make her smile

Daddy trying to make her giggle with "her" music videos

Of course this one had to be blurry, lol!

"Mom, seriously. I said stop!"

Daddy says, "Come on, kid! Just one smile!"
Elizabeth says, "No way, Jose!"

"Didn't I tell you to watch my legs?!"

"Oh, THAT'S why they call this a bouncy seat... woah."

Elizabeth's audience

Sarge photo-bombed the whole thing...

Another photobomb

Checking on the baby

This was actually a giggle!! 

Mommy and Ellie Jo sleeping

And here are some more recent photos....

Ellie Jo holding her own bottle!

My FAVORITE! This was taken on our little road trip to Issaquah!

"Hi mama!"

I took this one while I was on a conference
call for work - she did SO GOOD! Working
from home once a week is pretty great with
an awesome baby!