Quick update on...everything

Wow, another week has gone by without a post. I'm sorry that I have been so behind. I'll give a quick update as to what is happening in our lives:

• Signed more house paperwork last week, loan is in process as is Escrow. Still no word on when the house will close. They keep telling me April 10th...I don't believe it.
• We went camping last weekend, had fun until the winds came, by the way, Camping is not easy with an 8 month old!
• Since Scott and I currently do not have cable (or even rabbit ears) we watch episode after episode of TV on DVD - Currently it is Two and a Half Men. It cracks me up.
• I was sick all of last week with a really bad cold, stayed home from work on Monday, left early on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.
• Just now getting some energy back, but I miss my naps
• I hate packing.
• We packed 27 boxes of my husband's books.
• 5 boxes of DVD's & CD's
• 4 small boxes of outgrown baby clothes
• 2 boxes of Scrapbooking stuff
• 3 boxes from the Hallway closet
• 4 boxes from the Baby's Room
• ...still a lot more packing to go
• Scott got me a new camera to replace the one I lost.
• My video camera is broken, I have to send it back to the company for the warranty to fix it.
• Still plugging away at my current class, almost halfway done, and I still have an A!
• My husband started a blog, newsforliberty.blogspot.com check it out, it's basically a critique on what is happening in the news.
• Work has been busy lately as I prepare to be on vacation next week
• I am way overdue for a vacation
• My parent's are coming into town next week to visit. I am super excited.
• I miss my mom.
• Brendan has the worse diaper rash i have ever seen, I think I need to call the doctor.
• but he still is as cute as ever.
• He is showing signs of more teething, but no sign of more teeth.
• Our family is a little stressed and tired, but we still love each other and will make it through!

Thanks for keeping us in your prayers, I will try to keep you more current on our news, this will have to do for now!

Okay, okay, I'll leave you with a couple pictures as well! :)

Update with the House

Everyone warned me that buying a house can be a nightmare. Although it hasn't been too stressful, there has been a test to my pittance as we sit and wait for "them" to complete the processes, as well as a lot of paperwork. Not only have we been working with a realtor, but I had to work with a bank to get my down payment for the house accessible. Here has been the break down so far...

• Sat, Feb 14th - Met our Realtor (John) and started looking at houses.
• Sun, Feb 15th - Rich called to get information about financial status of Pre-approval.
• Sun, Feb 15th - Sent list to John of what houses we wanted to see.
• Mon, Feb 16th - Received loan pre-approval & letter from Rich.
• Mon, Feb 16th 12:30 pm- Found the house we wanted.
• Mon, Feb 16th 3:30 pm - Completed paperwork to put offer on house.
• Thur, Feb 19th - Called Laura at BofA to work with money transfer
• Thur, Feb 19th - Spoke with Parents of BofA, was told I should be working with Gail not Laura.
• Fri, Feb 20th - Spoke with Gail, she confirmed she was handling the account
• Sat, Feb 21st - Gail sent letter of authorization to be signed, signed and returned form
• Mon, Feb 23rd - Confirmed Gail received letter, said she didn't think anything else was needed.
• Wed, Feb 25th - E-mailed Gail asking for info on account & when the check will be sent. Sent Jan statement of account, "check should go out Friday"
• Wed, Feb 25th 6:00pm - Meet with John to sign papers to open Escrow. Papers are filled out with incorrect names by seller's agent.
• Thur, Feb 26th - Gail e-mailed, ooops, need another signature and copy of Drivers License. Faxed signature and DL to Gail.
• Thur, Feb 26th - Ooops, last name is different, now BofA needs copy of Marriage Certificate.
• Fri, Feb 27th - Faxed copy of Marriage Certificate. Not THAT fax number, use a different one! - Re-faxed Marriage Certificate.
• Mon, Mar 2nd - Home sick with Brendan, received check in the mail.
• Wed, Mar 4th - Called Rich who is working with our house loan, he gave list of required documents needed.
• Wed, Mar 4th 6:00pm - Met with John again to fill out paperwork again. Last name still not correct.
• Thur, Mar 5th - Sent to Rich: copy of DL & SSC, Current pay stubs, W-2's from 2008 & 2007, copy of tax returns, Bank statements.
• Thur, Mar 5th - Rich responds, didn't get the _________ forms back. Never sent us form to fill out! Rich sends us forms that should have been completed on 2/16. Bank Account doesn't show enough money for down. You didn't tell us you needed proof of down.
• Fri, Mar 6th 11:28am - Sent proof of funds & copy of marriage cert to Rich
• Fri, Mar 6th 3:15pm - Sent required paperwork back to Rich
• Fri, Mar 6th - Appraisal of house was ordered.
• Fri, Mar 6th 6:00pm - Met with John AGAIN to sign addendum's to correct last name.
• Sat, Mar 7th - John takes us back to the house to look at again. Bekah & Kevin join us and take pictures on their camera of the inside.
• Wed, Mar 11th - E-mailed Rich to see how process was going, missing any information?
• Fri, Mar 13th - Had house inspection with Anthony & John. House looks good, no major damage. Needs a good cleaning, remove wasps nests, paint & carpet.
• Sat, Mar 14th - Received package in the mail to sign more papers for Rich.Mon, Mar 16th - Received complete eval with pictures from Anthony from House Inspection.
• Tues, Mar 17th - Escrow FINALLY opens. Now we wait some more...
• Wed, Mar 18th - Financial File was submitted for Loan Approval. More waiting.

Hurry-up and wait! We are told that our estimated closing date for Escrow is still April 10th, I am not holding my breath since it took them so long to get the process going. I am a little nervous and I really hope and pray that the house will close on time. I don't want to pay any extra money if it does take longer to close.

Brendan the Sailor

Happy Friday to you all! My father pointed out that I did get a video camera for Christmas, and apparently, I am not posting enough videos! So I thought Brendan looked so cute in his little outfit this morning that I would take a couple pictures to share with the Grandparents. I had to take it this morning after Scott left for work because he hates the hat Brendan has on, I just think it is SO ADORABLE! The video is about 1 min 40 sec. If you don't have time to watch the video (it is a little boring) I have posted some pictures too. I just love this outfit, when I first got it, I wasn't sure, but now I feel like I need to take him to the beach in Nantucket or Cape Cod to play in the sand, or put him in a wooden toy boat, just what the outfit reminds me of! I can't help it, I'm a proud Mama and I think he is so cute!! Happy Friday!

Ode to my Coffee Table

When Scott and I were first married, we did not have much furniture. He came from living with his parents, and I from living at my sister's apartment (which she fully furnished). Luckily, we were given some pieces of furniture, and frugally bought the rest that first year. One item that was given to us was a nice oval coffee table. Nothing fancy, but a cherry wood that looked nice in our living room. I told Scott many times that this coffee table was not an ottoman and that it would not hold up if we continued to put our feet up on it. And yet, we (myself included) continued to use this poor little coffee table as an ottoman. It was multi-functional: A coffee table, a dinner table, an ottoman, a desk, and a support device when Brendan started standing. Although it would get wobbly, Scott would just flip it over, tighten the bolts and we would continue on our merry way. I was a nice little coffee table for our little apartment

My Coffee Table at Christmas Time

When we talked of moving to our new house, Scott started talking about what new furniture he wanted. I asked that we not purchase any new furniture until we get settled so we can see what we really want, really need, what we can afford and what would look nice with our other stuff. Scott agreed, however, he said that he really wanted a new coffee table.

A few nights ago we were enjoying our evening in the living room. Brendan was playing on the floor with his toys and Scott and I were enjoying The Cosby Show reruns. Scott was lounging on the couch with his feet on the coffee table (of course) and I had just settled down and barely placed my feet next to his when CRACK. We look down and our poor coffee table is now standing on three legs. (You may have seen where this was going considering my past tense in this post).

I couldn't believe my coffee table was broken! Scott quickly flipped the table over and I ran to find our super glue (we don't have any wood glue and it wasn't a matter of just re-screwing the leg back in). Sadly, I couldn't find our super glue. Would Hot glue work? I asked, Scott said probably not but we were willing to try anything. I heated up the hot glue gun, of course it didn't work. I do believe my coffee table is beyond repair.

Scott looks up at me, "I guess I do get a new coffee table after all."

No way, we are getting an ottoman!

Teething Baby

I posted on Brendan's 8th month update that he got his first tooth this past weekend. Even though the tooth finally broke through, Brendan was still unhappy and extra clingy. Yesterday evening I noticed that a second tooth came through right next to the first. Here is my attempt to get a picture of the tooth, sorry, no video Dad. Poor baby, I know it must be really painful!













I know the teeth are hard to see, but if you click on the photo it should make it big and you can see the teeth then.

Irish Dinner

Last night I had my Traditional St. Patrick's Day dinner for the girls. We had 6 girls and three kids at dinner. I thought the evening was wonderful! This was my 5th year cooking this dinner for the girls. Although it is not the "Traditional" dinner my parents make, I don't have time to spend hours in the kitchen, so I have improvised my meal a bit. My Parents still makes their dinner every year.

Before leaving for work, I put my Corned-beef (frozen) into the crock pot with a few cups of water, set it to 10 hours low, and left for work. Because I live so close to where I work, I was able to come home at lunch and add the golden potatoes (I like the taste better than red potatoes) and carrots to the crock pot. After work, I came home to finish the meal, although most of the meal was already done, sitting in the crock-pot waiting for me. My sister helped me with the asparagus (instead of the mint peas (not minced) my mother makes), we boiled some cabbage in the juice from the corned beef, and I went to work making the Girl Scout Thin Mint brownies they were really good. I had purchased some Potato rolls that were in a bread basket on the table (since I didn't have time to make the Irish Soda Bread) and with the pear jello made the night before, dinner was a snap!

Sorry, no pictures of dinner, but I did get a video of the kids playing afterwards. The video is mostly of my son...but what do you expect? :) Pictures of the kids together can be found on Tawni's blog.

Wee bit o'Irish

Here is Brendan's first St. Patricks day. It was a busy morning so I will get more pictures tonight at our party. Please excuse the hand in the mouth, he is teething like crazy and his thumb is an attachment to his mouth as of late. It is a rare piture to get without the hand in the mouth. Enjoy!

Pear Jell-o

Happy St. Patrick's day!

Growing up, St. Patrick's Day was always a big deal. I ALWAYS wore green to School. My mother would try to make the day fun for us, she would pack green food in our lunch with mint cookies, I remember one morning we had green malt-o-meal for breakfast and maybe even green milk! She always wanted us to enjoy the holidays. Every year we had our traditional big St. Patrick's Day dinner with everything included: Corn beef, cabbage, potatoes, minced peas (gross!), key-lime pie, Irish Soda Bread and pear jell-o.

Pear Jell-o? What is Irish about that? I have no idea! But it is a tradition in our house, and it seems to be spreading. My first year of working at my job, I suggested that we have a "party" on St. Patrick's Day and all bring goodies. (Our office is always looking for an excuse to party.) That year I brought my "traditional" pear Jell-o and they were a huge hit! From then on, Jen in my office makes me bring them every year, and every year we have a party. This will be my 4th year bringing my "Famous Pear Jell-o" to work.
They are actually very simple to make, but somehow I always wait until the last minute to make them and stay up until 11:00 at night to finish them. In the center of the pear is a cream cheese mixture with powdered sugar and walnuts covered with Lime Jell-o. Considering half of the Staff is new this year, we will have to see how well they go over.

8 Months & new Teeth!

Well Brendan turned 8 months this weekend, maybe it was because February was a short month but I feel like I just wrote his 7 month post. But in one short month, Brendan has been developing like crazy! We started the 7th month with him just really mastering crawling, now he is all over the house, following me around back and forth through our hallway. He has learned to pull himself to a standing position and now can move around the coffee table while standing.

This weekend has not been fun for us though. Brendan's first tooth came through on Friday. Finally! He has been drooling and chewing on his fingers like crazy for months now and one finally broke through. I htink another one is not far behind because he is still miserable!

I just love that picture even though he looks so pathetic! Now that Brendan has been sitting up so well, and NEVER stops moving, he doesn't fit in our baby tub any more (and hasn't for a while). So now Brendan gets to bathe in the Big-boy tub. He loves his rubber duckies. Even though he has about 8 of them in the tub with him, he always wants the one just out of reach! It is so cute how he tries to pick them all all up at once! And of course, Rubber Duckies taste WONDERFUL!We are very excited for Brendan as he learns new things. As he gets older, we become more and more tired at the end of the day! I hope teething passes soon! Until then, I rely on his cuteness to get me by!

Child Care

Leaving your child in someone else's care for 45 hours a week can be very difficult on a mother's heart. During the day, my mind sometimes will wander...thinking about my baby being cared for by someone we picked out off of a list of local certified child-care providers. Is he being loved enough? Is he getting cared for like I would care for him? Is he happy? Does she play with him enough? Is he safe? Sometimes I just worry that he is not getting the care that I had hoped for because of the cheap rate we found. Sometimes I just wonder...

Today, I took Brendan inside to see Marion. She walked over to him, arms open wide, with a big smile and he shrieked with excitement and started jumping around in my arms at the possibilities of today. My heart feels better.

Keys to Mommy's Heart!

My friend Tawni saw this at Wal-mart and thought it was perfect, so she bought me (Brendan) one. I just LOVE this shirt - it is perfect isn't it??

If you can't read it, the shirt says "I've got the keys to mommy's heart" Thank you Tawni!