A memoir

I typically don't blog about the stuff that I scrapbook as it's a little more personal. However, tonight, as boxes pile slowly (Ugh--so slowly. Anyone want to come move us?) around me, I'm feeling quite sentimental. Thus, my three readers get a glimpse into my thoughts...

Oh, this house. We have always dreamt of having something bigger and nicer. We have been saving from soon after we got married for our “house on the hill.” However, now that our house has sold, I’m getting a little sad and sentimental about our first home. This was the first house your Dad ever bought, the home that I moved into after your Dad and I married, this was the home in which we brought you, our first born home from the hospital. This house is oozing love, memories, fun times, laughter, and all sorts of “firsts.” It will always hold such a special place in our hearts. It is just big enough for the three of us. It’s big enough that we aren’t under each other’s feet but small enough that you can’t get away from each other! This home has been the place where all worldly worries fade and the important things become the focus. Work is forgotten and dreams are realized. The Home Team has actually become a team under this roof. When the builder of this house was putting brick to brick and linoleum down (yep, linoleum) he couldn’t have anticipated the wonderfulness that would take place in these 1300 square feet. We will always fondly remember this wonderful, simple, small sanctuary. 702 Oak Lawn Lane, thank you.

One year. Ups and downs

Ups go first:
Our boy is 24 lbs. (75th percentile), 34 inches (95th percentile), and 90th percentile in noggin size (that means he's real smart even though he won't wave or clap. Argh. What one year old refuses to wave or clap? I mean, he shows me his belly button to tickle, he'll high five, and will even give me the "tough guy face" on command. Why not a simple wave? I digress.)

The downs:
While he is RSV negative, he was noted to have some crackles and wheezes (lung sounds that aren't good.) He probably has a bit of bronchiolitis and will have to be watched closely for the next few days. He's also got some fluid in one of his ears but it's small so if he spikes a temp, it is probably another ear infection. This is for all you formula and day care moms out there: I breastfed for the full year and he didn't even start a mother's morning out program until around 8 months and it's only twice a week. He'll be on his 4th ear infection. Ugh. Just goes to show that no matter what you try to do to protect these buggers, it really comes down to luck, family history, and neurotic hand washing (although sometimes that doesn't even work.)
I just realized my "downs" paragraph was way longer. That's just sad. Here's some more "ups."


--He's not in the hospital and I will keep it that way with lots of fluids and fruits and veggies (and neurotic hand washing.)
--He's going to his first college football game for Thanksgiving, The Egg Bowl. I'm pretty fired up. I'm just hoping that after 5 minutes, when he's over it, I'll have a willing babysitter (read: Granna) to take him home so that we can actually watch the game. Don't worry, she doesn't like football either.
--Speaking of Granna: she looks like a picture of health. She's almost totally given up Diet Coke and replaced it with....wait for it...aww yeah...WATER! My Mom is the bomb. Next, she's going to join a gym sometime this month.
--I'm looking at 8 houses Friday and have already fallen in love with one last week. I'm making sure it's THE house before we make a bid.
--My Mother in law is awesome. I just thought I'd throw that in there because, well, frankly, she is. Also, I think it's pretty rare to have a MIL that you love and I am totally crazy about her.
--The wall came down at work. For those of you that work with us or even within a 50 mile radius of us, you'll know how big this is. We've been working in a construction zone for over 6 months now and we were over it. The new rooms are so nice and state of the art. Can't wait to see it tomorrow!!
There we go. Lots of ups!

Humor me.

I am fired up. Really. Our house just sold. It was on the market 35 days. We're even going to make a little change on it in the process. HOWEVER, I was not expecting for the "grass is surely greener" side. First off, I love our starter home. It is the perfect size for us. If we want another rugrat, that's another story, but for us, it's fab. It's so cozy and is in the perfect location. We are within 2 miles of restaurants, grocery, our gym, E's Mother's Morning Out, Lindsay, Mom, ice cream (oops!), etc. We're only 10 minutes from my work and about 5 minutes from Wade's work. This is the house Wade bought when we were dating, the house we moved in after we married, and the house in which we brought our first born home from the hospital. I do NOT love our neighborhood, lack of yard, and I'm not super keen on the school district. Thus, back to the fired up about selling our little home. I have looked at over 10 homes in two days for us to buy. Who knew people, in general, are messy folk? Wade and I found ourselves almost putting a bid down on a house just because it was actually clean. Never mind the fact that the entire backyard was a HUGE pool and we have a one year old. Almost every house we have looked in is a mess with "projects" throughout. I'm not even talking change the paint color. We're talking change out crown molding (with an emphasis on the molding part), sand and refinish hardwood floors, knock down walls. We will be homeless as of December 17th. Yep, just before Christmas. The guy accepted our counter offer on the price of the house but not the date of closing. We took the money and quit fussing. Anyway, I keep trying to think how fortunate we are that we actually sold our house in this market. I know a lot of people would like to be in this predicament. Someone call the wambulance. I'm back to being grateful that our house sold without hassle. Thanks for allowing me to get it off my chest.