mauter.com

On Sunday, someone wanted to come by and look at our house first thing in the morning.  I wasn’t planning on leaving the house since we were on Day 5 of the potty training.  But, here goes.  We went to early mass, and Samantha did great!  We made one unnecessary trip out to the Yukon, but the other trip was successful!  I was so proud of her!  We went to Krispy Kreme afterwards for a treat.

Later, when we got home, (she’s still in the exact same clothes, by the way – hooray!), she wanted to sit with Brian in the recliner.  Which, for those of you who know Sam, that is something special.  She’s not the cuddly sort.  She was saying “we’re together” over and over.  She even had to go get some covers from her room so that she and Daddy could cuddle.  (And by the way, this handmade pink crocheted blanket – made by Carol, and the white one underneath – crocheted by our friend Kris, are her favorite blankets.  I love that she likes the handmade ones the best!)  I think she had a great weekend hanging out at the house.

(And sorry for the yucky photos – they were shot with my phone!)

We had a good week last week.

We spent last weekend at MamaLinda and Pop’s house. I think Sam really enjoyed the weekend. She also enjoyed Jolie’s baptism after party. She took a great nap every day and had fun playing in the garden, watering plants, feeding the cat, and looking at birds’ nests.

Sam took a good nap several days last week and had tons of laughs.

Brian’s grandfather got out of the hospital on Friday! He had a rough 3+ weeks, but is doing much better.

My dad’s finger is slowly healing, and it doesn’t look like he’ll have to have surgery. He has yet to show anyone (except my mom) because it ALWAYS has a bandage and I know it’s still very sore. I hope it continues to improve.

Brian and I spent this past weekend in Nashville while Sam stayed at MamaLinda and Pop’s house. From the pictures, it looks like they had a great time at the Botanical Gardens.

I had a work thing (mostly social) but we did get the chance to go to The Big Bang, which I’ve been wanting to do for a while now. It was lots of fun. I felt a little like Amy Poehler (except for the getting hit on part).  (I can’t find the video, but the link shows some pictures which might spark your memory.)

I bought some Crocs for Sam for this summer, and she liked them immediately. However, she always wanted to kick them off. It didn’t matter whether we were inside or outside, she wanted them off. I know she liked them, she just likes to go barefoot. Needless to say, one got lost. Now I’m trying to find a summer pair of tennis shoes that maybe she’ll keep on her feet and will still allow those toes to breathe. So far, I’ve bought 6 pairs of shoes and either they don’t fit, or she doesn’t like them (same as before – refuses to walk when wearing).

Since she doesn’t nap in the afternoons anymore, I’m considering just giving up and running my errands then. I wouldn’t have to wait until 8pm to do it, and then she can pick out her own shoes. I would finally get to those stores that close at 5 or 6 – the ones that I normally have to wait for the weekends. So when we’re out of town on the weekends, my errands just don’t get done.

We got an offer on our house last week. After we turned around our counteroffer, the buyer said we weren’t willing enough to work with her and withdrew her offer. Fine then. Be that way. I don’t want her in my house or near my neighbors if she’s going to be like that. The contract on the house we’d like to buy expires on May 1. Frankly, I can’t wait. I’m so eager to be finished with all this house stuff. Just let me get back to my junky counters and dirty floors. I’ll get 20 minutes of my morning back because I’m not picking up, in the off chance that someone will stop by. Maybe we’ll move in 2011.

And as if I didn’t have enough going on already, I’ve decided to get Sam potty trained for real.  I know she’s ready, but I needed a commitment from our babysitter to help out before I could totally go along with it.  Now that we’re all ready, we’re just going to hang around the house for a few weeks.  Hopefully, by the time baby arrives, we won’t have any more diapers.  Well, I guess we’ll still have diapers, but they’ll be the itty-bitty size, not the big size!  Today is Day 1.  We’ve been home for 2 hours and I’ve already changed her clothes 3 times.  (And yes, she’s supposed to be taking a nap.)

We recently changed our house from For Sale By Owner to listed with a realtor.  The photographer came out on Monday, so I went searching for our house online to check out the pictures that he took.  I pulled up the website, and did a search for our zip.  It was the only search criteria.  The first result that came back was THIS. 

I’m amazed.  And shocked.  And confused.  This is in my zip code. 

Did you see the ceilings?  The paintings (of who, might I add)?  The murals?  And the property tax amount?  The stable?  I could go on.  I mean, who lives here?  And who needs a place like this?  I just…I just don’t understand.

Samantha has done fairly well in her bed all week.  Some days she takes a nap and some days she doesn’t.  Last night, Brian and I were headed to bed and she comes waltzing out of her room!  What on earth is she still doing up at 10PM?!?!  I know she’s not getting nearly as much sleep as she used to, so hopefully, we can work our way back up over the course of the next weeks and months.

I do have a funny story to share about our first Saturday morning in the big bed.  Early in the morning, I heard some scratching/shuffling noises.  I hadn’t opened my eyes, but I wondered what the cats were doing.  They tend to “paw” at the carpet in a playful mode and sometimes it’s during times when humans are sleeping.  I felt around on the bed and noted that Molly was next to me, where she normally sleeps, but Maddie was gone.  So I thought, that’s weird that Maddie would be pawing at the carpet by herself.  At this point, I roll over a little bit, or lift my head, or something – I don’t quite remember.  I see a little blond head bobbing around the bed.  Samantha must have noticed that I was awake, so she came over to my side of the bed.  The first thing she sees is Molly, so she proceeds to meow and try to pet her.  Molly proceeds to get up and move to the other side of the bed.  I look at the clock (6:32AM) and whisper to Sam, “go back to bed.”  Amazingly, she walked off.  I have no idea where she went or what she did, but she didn’t come back into our room.  I know she must have spent some time in her room and some time in the living room based on the various noises I heard.  I finally got up at 7 and she was very interested to tell me about her morning.  Silly girl.

It was a beautiful day, so we stayed out for a good portion.  Running errands, going to the park (more on that later), and playing with sidewalk chalk.  Sunday was yucky and cold, so we stayed in.  I sewed a little.  Lettie introduced me to Jill’s blog, so I made the converted tee with 2 of my tshirts.  They needed some help.  I know I’ll be able to wear them post-prego too.  And I must say, Lettie has a way with picking great blogs!  And great snacks!  Just what she wanted to be known for.  :)  I also decided to make a little jacket for Sam.  I bought a pattern and made a dress last summer.  The pattern had a matching jacket, so I also bought fabric but never made it because it was too warm already.  Now that it’s springy, I figured it would be a great time to make the jacket.  BONUS – she still fits into the dress so I can use it for 2 seasons!  I started to cut out the pattern pieces, but we are showing the house tonight, so I’ll have to put it all away.  And along those lines, we have officially entered into contract (well, verbally at least, officially official maybe later today) on a house we’d like to buy.  I’m not getting my hopes up because we still have to sell ours.  Ours will be listed with a realtor soon.

We are not weekend warrior type people.  I don’t have the energy level for that.  My ideal Saturday is spending the day in my pajamas.  But who has time for that?

This weekend, we picked up Samantha’s new bed, looked at another house, had lots of potty success, went to the symphony, filled out paperwork to list our house with a realtor, filled out paperwork to make an offer on another house, picked up Samantha’s new mattresses and pads, dismantled the crib, and set up her new room.  Putting it in a list like that doesn’t make it sound like much, but combine that with pregnancy-lack-of-sleep syndrome, and I’m exhausted.  I was supposed to go to work this weekend, but it didn’t fit into the schedule.