Jennifer bought our old house.

Jennifer came over to the house before we moved out to get a tour.  Weird, right?  She was a first-time home buyer, but even still, she wanted to walk around and look at things like speakers, ethernet plugs and sprinkler system valve boxes.  Oh, and how do you turn on the fireplace?  Try that random switch right by the fireplace.  Anyway, Samantha was at home and met Jennifer and all of Jennifer’s entourage.  Again, weird, right?

Sam didn’t walk around with me while I showed Jennifer the very normal things about our house.  I don’t recall what she did during that time, but it wasn’t hanging around Jennifer.

When we first moved over to the new house, Samantha was very excited about her new room and new closet.  The new backyard, the new bath tub, the new driveway.  It was all very exciting.  However, in the time since, she has started talking increasingly about Jennifer and the old house.  She pretend calls Jennifer on the phone and says things like “I want to come over but my mommy won’t let me.”  Which is of course true.  Today, during her pretend call, she told Jennifer that she loved her.

Her brain is doing some weird stuff to make sense of the move.

Samantha loves it!  She has so much space in her room (and oh, what a fun closet) and the backyard is endless enjoyment.  She has already fallen down the stairs once.  Maybe we’ve gotten that out of the way.  She makes “chocolate milk” outside which consists of lots and lots of dirt thrown into water.  She picks up big sticks and bangs around with them.  She finds giant leaves, and they really are big!

I see signs of spring and I’m loving being in the trees!

We closed on our house (selling) this morning, and we’re closing on our house (buying) this afternoon. We’ll be moving all week, so if anyone wants to stop by, feel free! We’d love the extra help!

Some good news though: we got a contract on our house last week!  It’s contingent on the sale of the buyer’s house (and she has a contract contingent on the sale of her buyer’s house).  So, I’m not holding my breath for a closing date, but we’re moving in the right direction.  We lost the contract on the house that we wanted to buy.  However, to make a long story short, it’s now back on the market again.  It’s still my favorite house, but we are currently looking into others to see what else is on the market.  Brian found one that he likes better.  My gut says No on that one.

We are becoming a coffee drinking household.  Brian started drinking coffee a while back in order to cut out sugary sodas.  He still drinks a soda about half the time.  After my maternity leave, I started drinking caffeine because Ellie was not sleeping through the night yet.  I really try not to drink it because it’s so horrible for you.  At any rate, I got started on Diet Dr. Pepper, but now drink coffee at home on the weekends.  Ellie is still not sleeping through the night, but I’d sure love to cut my caffeine habit.  I had a headache by 8:55AM one morning because I hadn’t had my drink yet.  Too much dependence for me!!!

I finally got a ticket out to Denver!  I’ve been watching ticket prices for a year now.  Whenever I find a good deal (which isn’t often) I can’t go for one reason or another (like Labor & Delivery!).  However, a deal came up this past week and I decided enough was enough and I booked a flight for February.  I’m excited.  And nervous because Ellie will have to come with me.  Merry Christmas to me!  See you soon Lizzie and Guillaume!

Happy Halloween!

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 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.)

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.

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.

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.

Last weekend on a whim, I bought some Hello Kitty panties at Target.  I had a few extra minutes, and I knew we’d need them one day.  To my surprise, she really likes them.  She wants to wear them.  So, we had LOTS of cleaning up last weekend.  We stayed mostly in the bathroom, so it wasn’t horrible, but we went through 4 pairs in 1 hour.  I guess it’s all that water…  I know she just wants to wear them because they’re new and different, but she hasn’t put it together what happens when she doesn’t wear a diaper.  I know she’ll understand soon enough.  Speaking of such:  she’s in her crib right now (supposedly sleeping) saying “change diaper change diaper.”  I’ll have to check that out.

We showed the house twice this week and once last week!

I made the Buttercup Bag a few weekends ago, as introduced to me by Lettie.  It’s too small for me though.  I chose a fabric that was a bit thick so it wouldn’t be too flimsy, but it’s still pretty flimsy.  It’s a red houndstooth, so how cool is that?  It was fun to make.

I’m still in the market for a new diaper bag.  However, I have seen several diaper clutches recently.  I think I’ll try to make one.  I definitely have the diaper clutch itch.  And on top of that, I’ve started baby #2′s stocking.  That’s right.  I’m seriously not motivated though.  I thought by starting it in January, I’d have a full year to complete it.  Although that’s true, it doesn’t mean that I have any desire to sit down and work on it for a year (even though I know that is what it’s going to take).  I worked on Samantha’s a lot during the last Olympics, so I thought this would be a good time.  However, I think I had put most of the effort into it already, so I was in the final stretch and was actually pushing to get it finished.  I pulled out my work-on-it-bag so I could store all my stuff without it being all over the living room.  A cross-stitch work-in-progress was in there (forgive the foreign language, I couldn’t find it anywhere else).  I knew it was there, but I hadn’t looked at it in a couple of years.  I was surprised at actually how far I’d gotten on it!  I thought about picking it back up too, but again, no motivation.  I had stored it in the hoop, so now it’s all creased, but I think it should be ok.

So, that’s what’s new.  No pictures.  I think I took some on my phone this week, but haven’t transferred them to the computer yet.  Sorry.  Gotta go get Squirt up since she has decided not to take a nap today.  Fun.

Finally, Happy Birthday, Alex!

Brian had the idea to write the date on the filter so you can always see when you changed it last. With the cheaper filters, we changed it about every 3 months. They were gross after 3 months, but not horrible. After a few weeks, the new expensive filter was disgusting. Really. I waited until a month had gone by, and then I went ahead and changed it. I can’t tell you the grossness that it had become. Ew. Just. Ew.

After having changed it, I looked at the new one that afternoon, and within an hour, it too had already turned from white to gray. It wasn’t severely gross yet, but definitely on its way.

So my question is: are we (Brian, me, Samantha, Molly and Maddie) THAT disgusting? Do I not dust frequently enough? Do I open the back porch door too often? Is the new filter just that good? What’s the deal? Should I use the new filters and change weekly until we get the house to a decent level of dustiness?

Our first tomato is *almost* ready to be picked. It’s very close. Maybe I’ll pick it tomorrow. Anyone have any suggestions for what I can do with ONE, SMALL tomato?

We’ve only had 1 looker for our house. Sigh.