Family Pictures

Family Picture 9-06

and now....

Family Picture 5-08

BTW: The dogs are still part of our family, but you try wrangling 3 dogs and a baby for a family pic : )

After The Townhouse

Ever since we moved to our new home, it felt like we had put our life on hold because we had a lot of our money tied up with our previous home. Anytime we wanted to do something financially, we always would say "After the Townhouse", which meant when we sell the townhouse, we will have some money to get the things we want and/or need. Although there were a couple things like a fridge we just couldn't wait for. Unfortunately, the fridge from our townhouse would not be easy to move since there was not a pathway large enough to wheel it out. In order to move it, it would have to be lifted over the counter, and we just did not want to take that risk. We had an old fridge that we put in our garage at the new home, and for many months we went out to the garage to get our food. After the baby was born, and winter set in, the food kept freezing, and spoiling, so we ended up disregarding our "After the Townhouse" mantra and got ourselves a new fridge. It really ended up good timing because they stopped making the Maytag's wide-by-side style fridge and we were fortunate enough to get one of the last ones available.

Anyway, after 9 months of our life on hold, it is now "After the Townhouse". We feel a huge weight has been lifted from our backs, and we can finally get on with our lives.

Last picture of us at the townhouse.

Closing Day

So this last year has been a whirlwind of changes, and I'm happy to say that a chapter has finally closed in our life...and that is the selling of our first home together. It is a bitter sweet moment in our lives, but one thing is for certain, we are very relieved to not have that financial burden any longer.

To give you an idea of the time line:

Feb '07-We seriously decide we want to move
>>Looking for a house
>>Somewhere around this time we decide 'hey lets have a kid'
>>Looking for a house
April 29th '07-We find out we are expecting
>>Looking for a house
>>Still looking for a house
July 14th '07-Finally find the house we want to buy
August 13th '07-Close on house, start moving (around 20 weeks pregnant-half way there)
September '07-Moved into new home, continue moving stuff
October '07-Continue moving stuff, getting townhouse ready to sell
November '07-Continue moving stuff, getting townhouse ready to sell
November 7th '07-Sign with agent (about 2 months before baby is due)
December 7th '07-Baby comes 1 month early
December '07-March '08-smitten by baby, and not paying much attention to Townhouse
March-April '08-Getting more serious about wanting to sell, drop price a few times
April '08-Finally get a serious bid, accept offer
May 19th 2008-FINALLY CLOSE ON TOWNHOUSE!!! (Baby is 5-1/2 months!)

Time to celebrate!!

6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon

So the Internet is kinda like that game of 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon...I was watching a news snippet on a blog (dooce.com) that I've been reading for about a year and some other mommy bloggers were included in the piece, and I happened to remember one of the websites (wouldashoulda.com). So I was reading her blog the other day and she had a list of blogs that she reads, and I clicked on the top one (alittlepregnant.com), and her site was rather interesting, like a book you can't put down. She had a difficult time conceiving her son, and ended up having him 10 weeks premature, while she was 200 miles away from home visiting family. Her description says: "misadventures in infertility, pregnancy, and parenthood". I've only read a few months of her blogs so far, but the one thing that really struck me was how honest and raw her writing is. She does not try to gloss over the difficult times or emotions that she is feeling. She is straight forward and to the point! Having been a mother for 5 months now, I really appreciate her honesty in that babies are not all fun and sweet and perfect. Sometimes it is downright hard and frustrating. It allowed me to feel like I wasn't alone, and less guilty about the frustrating parts of being a mother.

So while I'm reading of her tales of motherhood, she mentioned in one of her blogs how she was marveling her sons birth certificate, and then it occurred to me that I don't ever remember seeing Liam's birth certificate. I swear pregnancy brain continues after you give birth! So, I ask DH if he remembers seeing it, and he didn't either. I remembered filling out a bunch of paperwork at the hospital, and I just figured that it would come in the mail. I did remember getting his SS card, but not his birth certificate?! So last night, I went through the pile of paperwork the hospital sent home with us, and sure enough there was a bright orange paper that says: IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR PARENTS...You are responsible for acquiring your Child's Birth Certificate. So 5 months later I finally ordered his birth certificate! Well, at least next time I will have all this stuff down pat, ha!

Our First Spring Project

So we moved into our new home last fall, and unfortunately the house had been vacant for at least a year, so the yard was not cared for at all. Our first priority when we moved in was to get a fence up for privacy, and for our dogs. Then winter came and then Liam was born so we have not worried much about the yard since we got our fence up. Everyone in our neighborhood has fairly well kept yards, and it is pretty embarrassing to pull up to our weed-full lawn! And now that spring is here, it's time for us to get started on the yard. Our first project is the front yard and the park strips since that is what is visible to passer-by's, then later we will tackle the back yard. We are not exactly sure what we plan to do, but we do know that we would like to plant lots of trees!

Here is a picture of our only tree that was there when we moved in.


BTW, sadly a cat (could be our garage cat, or another in the area) thinks this tree is it's personal scratching post. We hope that it won't die from the scratches, but if anyone out there has any advise on how to protect it from getting worse and/or dying it would be greatly appreciated.

China Earthquake

It seems there has been a lot of death and destruction around the world lately, and while it is all sad, I guess it just hits you a little more when you have actually been to the place that has been affected. Six years ago in June of 2002 my husband and I went on a tour of China. Regardless of the government there, the people of China are good, hardworking people. They loved to see tourists, and I remember sitting in our tour bus stuck in traffic, and I waved to a man passing on his bike, and he waved back and gave me a huge smile. In the cities some would come up to you and want to take a picture with you, like they couldn't believe they spotted a fair skinned person, as if finding Bigfoot in the woods. It was flattering to say the least. No matter where we went across the country the people were so friendly to us. When we were sailing down the Yangtze River, it always just blew my mind to find out that these cities sitting along the river in the middle of no where had more people than the state I lived in! While in the Forbidden City in Beijing a man was selling hats for the Beijing Summer Olympics in 2008! They had just been awarded the Olympics, and we had mentioned to him that our state had just hosted the Winter Olympics of '02! It was commonality we could share with someone else from clear around the world.

To hear of this major earthquake in Chongqing and the surrounding areas just saddens me. The China trip was such a great memory for us, and it's hard to see all the suffering of their people right now. China will always have a special place in our hearts.

Saturday Walk to Dry Creek Park

Next to our house we have a 10 acre park that is somewhat a hidden gem. It is a public park that they have made into a Frisbee golf course. It has overgrown trees and brush, a stream, a few bridges, walking paths, a swing set and a pavilion. It doesn't appear that they keep the park "groomed". It just pretty much grows wild, which I love because it reminds me of growing up in New Hampshire where nature was left to its own. It is a rare thing to find in the middle of a desert and we LOVE it! We actually discovered this park last year when we were house shopping. There was one house we were interested in that backed this park, but it wasn't the right house for us. Although shortly after we saw that house, we found the house that we ended up buying, and it is located on the other side of the park. It does not back to it, but it's across the street from our neighborhood. On Saturday the weather was beautiful, so we packed Liam in the Bjorn and took a little walk down there. He absolutely loved being out and seeing nature.

Stream

Cool Old Tree

Liam enjoying the outdoors