Changes, Changes



Headed to School!

We closed on the new house on Tuesday night! Yay! It was a few months in the making and took a lot of pushing to get it to finally close, but we did it. We got a great deal and ultimately settled for $16,000 less than we initially contracted. For those that don't know, it is a two bedroom/1 1/2 bath condo here in the same neighborhood that we currently live in. It was a foreclosure property, but was in surprisingly good condition! Everything is in working order and all of the appliances are there (which is saying a lot considering some of the properties we looked at!), and it is move-in ready, for the most part. The previous owners took good care of the house, which makes me sad to think that they lost it to foreclosure...It has a security system, which is great for me since I am such a nervous nelly and have such unwarranted fears of someone breaking in. The kitchen is a galley kitchen like you'd find in an apartment. It doesn't have a pantry (ouch!) so we'll have to find some creative storage ideas. Also, the new house has the small washer/dryer combo - which we used to have until we did some counter-cutting to make a full size fit. That means we will have to make due with a small washer/dryer and go from 4 loads a week to 10 until we can afford to do some remodeling. On a positive note, the kitchen looks out into the dining room/living room and it is all pretty open, unlike at our house now. I'm looking forward to having more open space! Upstairs are the two bedrooms, one in the front and one in the back, with the bathroom in the middle. Overall, I think we are losing 300 square feet, which is actually a lot. We have a lot of stuff that we're going to have to find new homes for. We are currently working with a Realtor to get Josh's house listed on the market and his bank is willing to accept a short sale offer. We know we have a long, hard road ahead of us on that, but we are doing our best to stay positive.

Earrings



Merry Christmas



Audrey is sick. Poor thing came home from daycare last Wednesday with a runny nose, watery eyes, coughing, sneezing, the whole nine. I did some research and learned that an infant cold is nothing to be concerned with unless it is accompanied by a fever and to hold off on calling the doc until a week has passed. So that's what I did. Her runny nose quickly turned into a stuffy nose and she has had a hard time sleeping for the past week. Monday and Tuesday night were so bad that she woke EVERY HOUR because she was uncomfortable and wanted to nurse. That leads to a very tired baby and a very tired Mama. I stayed home from work yesterday because I was so exhausted and so that I could take her to the doctor. They said its fine - no RSV, Flu, or ear infection - just that cold has to run its course which takes longer in babies since they cannot blow their noses. So I'm just using a saline mist on her nose and trying to suck anything out that I can. Last night was better, she only woke twice from 11-5am. She wasn't a good sleeper in the first place so I'm kind of used to this. Joshua is also sick and was pretty miserable all day yesterday, but he pushed through and made it to work today, despite many bouts of nausea last night and this morning. I'm hoping that all of us are back to our normal, rejuvenated selves by Monday. Audrey is getting so big - she was 16 pounds 9 oz at her appointment yesterday and she's a week and a half shy of being 4 months old. Almost double her birth weight already! She is "talking" so much and loves interaction. She demands it. We put her in the highchair when we eat dinner and she will fuss if we aren't talking to her/playing with her. Same thing when she's on her play mat. She'll play and have fun if we are down there with her, but if we turn to watch tv or get up to go do something, she will protest loudly! She is quickly becoming the queen bee in our little hive.

sneakin a peek at the tv

The animals are all doing well. I haven't reported on them in a while because they've kind of been put on the back burner since Audrey arrived. Frank has a small growth on the side of his face which the vet says is nothing - just a growth. I'm not sure what that means, really, but I think it has gotten bigger (or maybe I just forgot how big it was) so I'm going to take him in for follow up appointment soon. Dora is doing ok. We stopped crating her up when we leave the house and that was going great up until last week. Every day that we came home we saw that she had eaten out of the litter box. Josh cleans the litter box every morning so there wasn't much for her to get into, but she did anyways. So now we are back to crating her when we aren't home. I hate that she has to be in that little room all day, but for the time being that is just how it has to be. I can't wait for the weather to get warm again so that we can all go on walks and Dora can get the exercise she needs. Pussycat is her usual quiet self. She cuddles with us anytime we are sitting down and she usually sleeps with us too.



Spit Bubbles!!

Well that is about it for now! There is more to write but I need to tend to my sick little babies! Love you all! xoxoxo