The “Big Boy Bed”

Last Saturday, Scott and I put together a toddler bed for Brendan to start the transition from crib to bed for our little boy. I must admit, the bed was probably the most difficult thing Scott and I had ever put together. The directions did not make sense, the holes did not line up and the screws would not go into place. But after much yelling and frustration, dedication (on my part, Scott was ready to throw in the towel before we had finished the first step) and good ol’ man power, we were able to piece together Brendan’s Handy Manny Bed.
Handy Manny (as I may have mentioned before) is Brendan’s favorite show. As soon as we had the bed together, Brendan recognized “Manny” and was excited for his new bed. He especially likes that he can crawl into his bed on his own, he is very independent!

We were a little nervous for the transition, as we have never done this before. We talked about the bed, put brand new sheets and a pillow and tried to get Brendan to understand the concept. Call us crazy, but as if the change to a brand new bed (and whole new concept) wasn’t enough, we decided to begin the transition the same night as time change. So at 7:30 that night (8:30 for the new time) we got Brendan ready for bed, and walked him to his new bed, in his new bedroom. (The room still looks a little bare, we are working on it).
Overall, the process was not bad at all. Brendan got out of bed once crying and trying to open his door. We got up and put him back into his bed, covered him up and told him to stay. “It’s bedtime now, you get to sleep in your new Manny bed, you need to stay in bed now. Good night Brendan.” And we walked out. Much to our surprise, he stayed. He cried for a bit, probably about 10 minutes, and then went to sleep.

That night I did not sleep my best, I was worried that he might try to get of bed in the middle of the night and hurt himself, or that he might now even stay in his bed and we would find him sleeping on the hard wood floor. He woke up a couple times in the night, whimpered and immediately went back to sleep!

We have now had 7 nights in the new bed, all has gone extremely well! Brendan only got out of bed the first night. He now lies dawn, even when he does not want to go to bed yet, he will cry for a couple minutes, but does not get out of bed. In the mornings, he will stay in his bed until one of us walks in and tells him he can get up. The whole process has gone better than expected. The novelty of “Manny” has not yet worn off; he is still excited to see Manny there on his bed every night and morning. This is how we found Brendan the first morning in his bed. Still learning the concept of a pillow! :)
We are very proud of our boy. This was another big step to “boyhood” and away from being my baby. I’m sad, but so excited at his possibilities. Next step…Potty Training!

Our Little Handyman

Since buying the new house we have had a bunch of little things that need to be done. Luckily, we have friends like Dave that have been extremely helpful with our house.

Dave came over a couple weeks ago and noticed that our ceiling fans wouldn't come on, they weren't connected to a light switch and even when I put new bulbs in, they wouldn't come on. Dave decided to fix it for us! (Okay, I may have bribed him with cookies or cake...I can't remember). Brendan was so intrigued by his handyman skills.

Let's just say, Dave didn't really mind the attention from an adoring fan.
"Can I help? I've got the tape measure!"
"No? What about a rubber ducky instead?"

He has so much to learn! Thanks Dave for fixing our lights! We can now see in every room of the house!

Cleaning Lights

Since we bought a house that was a foreclosure, the previous owners did not leave the house very clean to say the least. The kitchen was the worst of all.

When we looked at the house we noticed that all the floorboards were taken off, but weren't sure exactly why. My dad figured out once we got in the house the reason. Apparently, the house was previously infested with roaches, GROSS! Luckily, all bugs were dead when we moved in, but we had to clean up all the dead bugs and their traces they left behind.

The kitchen was filled with bugs, we cleaned all the shelves and drawers, and yet I still find them around. The kitchen is filled with grease that has gotten on everything. The cabinets above the stove were so sticky with residue that after scrubbing them over and over with different high-powered chemicals, they are finally livable (still a little sticky).

Scott and I are almost all unpacked with the kitchen and have it almost all clean. This weekend, Scott noticed the lights in the kitchen had some dust on them and tried to wipe it off. Only to discover that it wasn't just dust. The lights are COVERED in grease and dust and bugs. We originally thought the lights were frosted glass. Come to find out, it is actually suppose to be clear!

That is so disgusting! Well, now at least that part of the kitchen does look better! You can see why now I have waited before showing you pictures of the inside of our house. I want you to see the nice, pretty version! And not the bug filled, greasy version....

Kitchen

The unpacking is incredibly slow this week. I have been working late nights as this is our busiest time of year. On Wednesday, we worked until 11:30 at night, by the time I got home, both Brendan and Scott were fast asleep. I did notice that Scott has started unpacking the kitchen and when I got up the next morning, this is what I saw. It is just a sneak peak at our kitchen. Once everything is settled, unpacked, and arranged, I will give you a tour of the house. But for now, you can see my Red, Black & White kitchen!

Good-Bye Apartment

We are finally out of our apartment! We are so glad to be out of our old apartment with no central air, no washer and dryer, away from the stairs and the long walk from the car, and into a house with a garage to park our cars (once we get it cleaned out that is). Ahh! Sigh of release!

Oh Wait! The stress is not even close to being over! We still have boxes to go through and unpack, things to find, items to clean and repair in the house...

but...it is a house!

So I thought I would share a few pictures to commemorate our apartment leaving. Here is our apartment right before we walked out for the very last time. See how nice and white the stove is? Scott scrubbed that thing to death to get it looking nice, hopefully they don't charge us for it!

On Sunday, our friends Tawni & Rob watched Brendan from 10:00 until 2:30 while we did the final cleaning of the apartment. It was SUCH a help, there is no way we could have cleaned the apartment with Brendan crawling all over the place.

By 3:30 we did the final walk-through (which took about 1 min 30 sec), seemed like a joke, but we turned in our keys, loaded up our cars with the very last load of stuff from our storage bin. Here is Brendan driving our car with the last load of stuff.

I realize that I have not posted any pictures of the inside of the house yet, they will come once I feel a little better about posting pictures of the mess that is my house right now.

Movin' on up!

Well I think we might actually make it. I fell so unprepared! My house is not done being packed, work is CRAZY BUSY which makes me stress even more and I can't concentrate at work because of the stress of the house which makes work even more stressful! AHH! I think I am making myself sick...

All that to say that I went to my our new house today and saw the paint complete. It looks wonderful! I of course LOVE my red kitchen. My dad worked ALL day on my house, he patched another hole, hung all the bars/racks in the closets, rehung all the lights removed for painting, bought supplies from Home Depot for us, worked on my kitchen sink and I'm sure tons of other stuff that I am leaving out. I don't know where we would be without him! He says that's what dads are for, but I know that I am special, that not all dads would put in that much work, time or energy. I am so thankful for my father!

with all my father's help getting the house ready, it looks like we will hit our goal of moving on Saturday. We hope to start by moving boxes into the house on Friday night so the movers can concentrate on the furniture on Saturday morning. If you are wondering if you can help, we do need a few more people to help Friday night with boxes if you are available, and/or if you have a truck, SUV or a bigger vehicle to put boxes into to move to the new house, that would be great! Moving with a baby (or doing anything with a baby really) can be quite the challenge. If you have time on Friday night or Saturday and would like to spend some time with an adorable baby (Brendan that is) please let me know, we really could use all the help we can get.

Once again, that you all for your thoughts, prayers, concerns and encouragement. Sometimes I wonder if all the stress is worth it, I'm sure in a few months, I'll have forgotten all about the stress...

KEYS!

We finally have keys to our house! The house officially closed on Friday afternoon. We immediately started working on it. And by we, I mostly mean my father. Read his post about it here. The house was absolutely disgusting, but we scrubbed and cleaned like crazy. The Kitchen had grease everywhere, but dad was able to get most of that off. I am so excited to watch the transformation of the house.

The painters started painting on Monday. I think it will look so much better once there is fresh paint on the wall. We went with Rudy's Painting and Decorating. I have been pleased so far. I will let you know when I see the finished results. So much more work needs to be done! Mostly little things which is nice but truely time consuming.

I don't have much time now, but the important thing is...we have a house! I'll keep you posted - of course!

No House

Well the house did not close on Friday like it was suppose to. Unfortunately, I'm not really surprised. Right now, it seems as though the only thing we are missing are the HOA papers with our signatures. They were ordered on March 26th, but not sent by FedEx until Thursday or Friday of last week. They should get to out Title company on Monday, hopefully our house will close next week.

It was a busy week last week with a lot going on. Sorry I wasn't around, I was off from work on "Vacation" as was my husband, we did some packing and some more stuff for the house, not really a vacation. I will try to keep you all updated.

Signed Papers

We are getting closer! Last night Scott and I signed "docs: with the notary, It only took about 30 minutes which was nice and quick. We were told that she doesn't make any promises but it should hopefully be in the middle of next week! I am shocked at how quickly it has all happened, less than two months ago, Scott and I were not even considering buying a house but were looking around for a place to rent, and here we are! It would be nice to have a house by my birthday! Happy Birthday to me!

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.

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!

Signed Papers

Yesterday afternoon Scott called me at work to tell me our plans had changed for the evening. We were going to go sign papers for our house! The bank accepted our counter offer. The price was still more than we originally asked, but less than the listing price. They agreed to pay all closing costs and up to $1200 in termite damage. We were very excited that it went through. So last night we sat down and reviewed all the paperwork, signing our lives away. It was totally worth it! We hope the papers will be signed by the seller by the end of the week and we can start escrow right away. The goal is for the house to close by April 10th.

I am really glad that we got the bid in when we did. The seller's realtor said that he received 3 calls on the house yesterday. I know that at this point it is not finalized and something could still go wrong, but we are getting closer to being Home Owners. It is quite a step in our lives but we feel that God has really taken care of us and we can make this next move in our lives. It is exciting and yet, opening up a whole new level of stress!

House Update

Our realtor called Scott yesterday afternoon to let him know what was going on. We received a counter offer from the bank raising our price $5,000, which we were already prepared for. They also lowered the price of closing costs that they would cover. Our realtor sent another counter offer back saying that we would pay the higher price, but asking them to cover the full amount of closing costs. We are now waiting to hear back from the bank of whether they accept our counter offer or not. They may just come back saying they will not cover the whole amount of closing costs, and we are prepared for that. In our opinion, it is still less than we were originally looking, and so the price is still worth it! So, I am trying not to get too excited, but it looks like we pretty much got the house! Of course, you never know what is going to happen, they may change their mind at this point. I will continue to keep you updated as we hear.

Scott is very excited to be getting his family into a house with a backyard. He wants to provide the best for his family, especially for Brendan. The apartment was a great place for us for a while, but we were wanting something more and are excited for this opportunity. Hopefully we will know soon, otherwise, it will be a long weekend!

By the way, if anyone is looking for a realtor, we have a GREAT one we can give you the information to!

Valentines Weekend

Last weekend was Valentine's day, it was also a 3-day weekend, Scott and I had no plans. We have never really celebrated much for valentines day. Our first year I planed a nice date but since then, it has gone down-hill. This year, Scott didn't even get me a card, I bought him a card, but left it in my car, still haven't given it to him. Valentine's day is just not that big of a deal for us. Being that it was a long weekend, we tried to make plans.

• We thought about going camping with friends - but it was raining.
• We planned to go to a cabin at Big Bear instead - it was snowing.
• We were going to go visit Scott's grandparents - they already had plans.
• We tried to make little plans with friends to go bowling - the timing wasn't right.

Somehow, all our plans kept getting cancelled. So instead we stayed home on Friday night just the two of us, and on Saturday, decided to go looking for a new house to rent.

On Saturday morning, we were going to go drive by a house to rent, but instead decided to go get pre-approved to see if we could get approved to buy a house instead. We went to Bank of America while Brendan was sleeping hoping to meet with someone before he woke up. Unfortunately, we waited over half-an-hour and Brendan woke up. We finally got to see a representative, sat down at the desk and she basically told us that she couldn't help us. If we wanted a FHA loan (which we did) we would have to speak with another loan rep over the phone, but she didn't work on Saturday.

We left, frustrated that we had to actually wait that long to hear that we couldn't be helped. While we were loading up in the car, I remembered that my Boss (rather my boss's Boss) had just bought a home and had given me the business card of her realtor. I gave him a call just to get the ball rolling, we gave me the number for the guys he works with to get us pre-approved, said he would be in touch.

Not 20 minutes later, he called us and said "I have a house I want you to see" and that was it, all of the sudden we were house hunting! On our 5th Valentine's day together, Scott and I started planning our next big step for our family, purchasing our first home. We looked at about 6 or 7 houses together, There was a nice two story house that I loved, needed some new paint and a lot of cleaning, but I loved the potential, Scott did not love the train that went through the backyard. Scott loved the one story home in the corner lot with a nice back-yard. I didn't love the large "great-room" that would count as my living, family & dining room. We went home that night excited, nervous, and indecisive.

On Sunday we had dinner with friends Jenni & Dave (picture of Dave, Jenni & Brendan above, Brendan & Dave below) and discussed our options, what to expect, and what quetsions to ask about the money portion.

Monday afternoon, we had an appointment with our realtor again. I took a long lunch and we look at another few houses. This time, we found one that we both loved. No offers had yet been made, we went right to work and made an offer on a house!

Happy Valentine's day to us!

SO MAD!

Today I took an early lunch to go and see a house for rent. I made the appointment yesterday afternoon, it was for a nice 1 story, 3 bedroom, 2 bath house with new appliances, new carpet, Central AC and 2 car garage. It sounded like a great place for us to rent. Like I said, I made the appointment yesterday afternoon for today at 11:15. I left work a little before 11, it was suppose to take me 10 min to drive but of course there was road work so it took me 20 minutes which was a bit frustrating. I get to the house, look around, NO ONE IS THERE! I try to find the phone number to call the lady, and my phone dies! I wait another 10 minutes and STILL NO ONE! Mad as can be, I drive back to work. I have now just wasted my lunch hour and didn't get anything to eat. I call the agent that was suppose to show me the house and her response? "My boss rented the house out yesterday." THAT'S IT?? I tell her that I drove all the way there and waste my lunch hour and you couldn't bother to tell me it was already rented out!!??!!?? Her response to me was "Well, my boss just told me this morning at 10:00...

AHHHHH!!!!!