We're Slacking But...

... I swear there are some videos and pictures coming soon. I know it's only been like, what, a week?!?! That's like a bizillion weeks for us... And we have totally cute pictures of Emersyn wearing Aunt Shannon's outfit that she got for Christmas (yeah, she's just now getting into that size - not around to wearing a new outfit!) and in the outfit Daddy picked out before was even born! Things have just been a little crazy and allergies are completely insane so I'm pretty much miserable... plus, we think Emersyn might have allergies too, so that's not helping anything. Still, we have a quick kind-of-update on the new house... Johnny talked to the selling agent and we are (now) definitely and officially settling on 25 May! The sellers might need a rent back, but we said they have to let us know on/by 8 May so that we can plan accordingly. After all, we're not going to rush around getting the house packed up, only to have to live out of boxes with our infant for a month; but, at the same time, we aren't going to take our time packing if they're not going to need a rent back or only rent back for a week. We need to know. Anyways, that's the latest and greatest on the house front. More updates and pictures and videos are coming... soon...

Kisses

For quite a while now, Emersyn's been giving kisses. Well, ok, so it's more like she tries to put your whole head in her mouth, but it's a start... and they're seriously the best kisses I've ever gotten... Anyways, it's super cute when she grabs your face and plants a big, slobbery one you. That is, it's cute when she does it to Mommy or Daddy, Maw Maw, Pop, Cameron... even Cuya or Dobie. I don't know that it's all the cute when she does it to another little girl at daycare though. Yeah, I said a little girl. Apparently, Emersyn and Julia (who really needs some sort of hair thing to hold the Little Rascals 'do from stray bats flying into it) follow each other around the room giving each other kisses. I personally think that my little Bird is being bullied into it by a much bigger baby, especially since Julia can crawl and Emersyn can't... Chris on the other hand, just thinks it's funny and cute that Emersyn is making friends. Those friends she can do without until she's 25, I say!! (Not that I care if she's kissing girls or boys... I only care that she's kissing babies at all! No kissing is allowed until Emersyn's at least in her 20's... and at least started on the PhD...)

Pull-Upper

Emersyn pulled herself up for the first time today!!!! She was in her crib and we were playing, wasting time before Chris came upstairs and took over so I could jump in the shower... So Emersyn kept pulling up just enough to peek over the edge (we still have the bumper up since she doesn't actually use her crib yet - and, no I don't want to hear any opinions about that). Anyways, I put my hands over hers to give Bird a little better grip, and she did it! She just stood right up! I was so excited and proud that I kind of made her cry... then she wouldn't do anything close to it again... Yeah, way to go Mommy, you dumbass... But Emersyn pulled up all by herself!! And, even if my delighted squealing did make her cry this time, she's going to do it again. Next time, I'm not going to make a noise... other than that whole snapping of the camera noise that is totally allowed! :)

No Use Fighting It

... Emersyn is getting big... and, despite the little heartbreak I go through every time, we are switching out her clothes for the bigger size. She's still ok in Gymboree size 3-6 months, but pretty much everything else is now either 6-9 or 6-12 months... Old Navy and Children's Place were the first to move over, but I thought we still had time for everything else. No such luck. The sleepers are the worst; the 6 months sizes are a defnite no-go there. I know we're not long for the Gymboree stuff too... but all these new clothes in the bigger size look soooo huge... Oh, and the diapers?!?! Yeah, we finally gave in and she's now in size 3 Cruisers... and, *tear*, they really aren't that big on Emersyn!

And don't judge... I am so happy that my baby is growing and is healthy and strong and developing and everything. I am. I just wish it would go slower!! I was just preggo. I just brought her home from the hospital and she was just sooo tiny. Now, Emersyn is nonstop-dancing-talking-standing-CHILD! A child wearing size 3 Cruisers and 6+ month clothing. Seriously, she's going to be complaining about not getting a new car or not being allowed to go to the mall unattended or the new outfit that she's not allowed to get...

Oh... the JCP pictures for April on our snapfish. I know I posted a couple before, but here's a couple to refresh your memory since Emersyn's just that fabulous!! I mean, really, have you ever seen anything as incredible as this?!?!?! Uh, I think not!! http://www2.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=3731841009/a=77264276_77264276/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Yay - Inspection News!

The inspection was today for the new new house... Chris met the inspector (the same one who did the Spring Plow house) this morning at 8:30 and, after almost 2 full hours, called to tell me we had really great news!

The "issues" are ::
-no switch cover on the light switch in the attic
-the little switchy-thing on the faucet in the tub to make it go from bath to shower in the hall bathroom upstairs takes a few seconds to actually make the switch
-in the master bathroom, the pin under the stopper in one of the (double) sinks needs to be replaced
-the dining room window doesn't stay open very well
-the caulk on the outside of the living room windows need to be touched up
-one end of the shingles (sp?) on the vent cap is loose

Yeah, that's it. The inspector said our basement is in incredible shape and there's very little, if any, chance that it would ever leak. He also said that although the vent cap shingle(s) might be a little loose, we still have 10 years plus on our roof! Chris said the guy made several comments about how lucky we were to get out of the Spring Plow house and that if we're getting this one for $350 (or less), this one is a way better deal... Chris told him a generalized number of what we're buying this house for, and the inspector now thinks we're professional "house stealers"! LOL! Ugh, what a nice feeling that there's no real issues!!!

Oh, it also looks like we're going to be settling on 15 June... So, seriously, be ready for us to start begging for any help you can give us!! I'm not kidding...

To A Special 3 Year Old

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUDREY!!!
You are, by far, the coolest 3 year old that we know... and, of course, in a league all your own! ;)

Self Feeding

Emersyn's hit that mark where we're officially allowed to let her try feeding herself... We are also allowed to start giving her slices/pieces of soft fruits, so Sunday at my parents' house we did just that. Emersyn got some banana pieces while we all ate dinner. We've been trying to have her at the table with everyone as much as possible, so this was really great for more than just Bird trying to feed herself for the first time! Anyways, it was really cute. I have video, but of course it's going to take me a while to get that uploaded... I'm pretty sure you can tell what she thought by the pictures though! Oh, we also have moved on up to the second foods. We stayed simple this week with a sweet potato and corn combo, but are going to be doing chicken next week... Since this "new food" is essentially the same ol' thing she's had before, we really didn't expect any reaction to it. Still, here's a couple pictures of our big eater! :) As always, all our pictures are on snapfish :: http://www2.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=3731841009/a=77264276_77264276/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

Audrey's Party

It was kind of a rough weekend... Emersyn is apparently teething again and either has a cold or has allergies (like Mommy) so she's basically been miserable all weekend long. The poor thing will be laughing and playing all happy like one second and then just tears streaming the next... and believe me when I say that it's all day and night! Still, we made our way up to Audrey's birthday party on Saturday with Cameron in tow... I personally learned two valuable lessons - 1. don't let a kid try something unless you actually know what it is because you may actually end up letting a 5 year old taste hot sauce by accident 2. one pack of sweet tarts/smarties is probably enough, two is pushing your luck and anything more than that is just a mistake - but all in all it was a good time.

Friday...

Friday, Friday, Friday!! We'll have our settlement date on Friday... Right now, it looks like we'll be settling on our new house 15 May, but we'll have the specifics tomorrow!! We're setting up appointments for the inspection and VA appraisal, so that as soon as they have a date we can get everything taken care of sooner than later. Aaahhhhh!!! WE GOT THE HOUSE!! =P I still just can't believe that we're getting this house!! Seriously, have I mentioned that we're pretty excited about it?!?!?!

Anyways, on an un-house-related note, we've finally got caught up on the Emersyn videos... This one is the first time she tries pears. Yeah, as always, Bird acts like a little pro that's been eating pears since before you born. Hopefully the first foods get more of a reaction now that we're able to start with really new things like meat. We'll see, but for now you just get a pretty boring clip of Emersyn tasting pears.

Ratified!

We did it - we signed the contract and soon as Johnny gets it this morning, we officially have a ratified contract on our new house!! Ugh, I still can't believe it. I can't believe we found such a wonderful house, I can't believe they took our offer, I can't believe we're really really getting our new house!!! The settlement date is still not definite though. Our sellers apparently haven't totally decided which house they want between 2 that they have offers in with, so our settlement is one of two dates to be decided soon... Apparently one of the houses is new construction, so they might not be able to move until around June 15-ish but they have already said if they go with that house and it's not ready, we'll be doing a "rent back". Yeah, for you normal people who don't know all the real estate lingo (like me), that means that we would settle on the house and they would continue to live there while paying our mortgage for us until their house was ready. We don't want to do that, but we aren't entirely opposed to it either if that's what we have to do to get our house... Thier other house would settle about May 15-ish. (Don't worry Shannon!! If they go with the new construction, both agents already know we'd need the date adjusted so that we can still come to Ohio for Kennadi's Baptism!! We wouldn't miss that for the world!) We're pulling for the May settlement date since we're just really ready to have our new house... I already have so many plans and Mr. Don't Make Plans We Still Have Some Things To Come is already designing the deck complete with under storage and a dog house/shelter!!

Random Emersyn

Now that we're practically all caught up and can finally relax a little from all the craziness, here's some random Emersyn...

First Time Having Peaches ::

http://www.youtube.com/watch_private?v=x_sqhSEt4SU&sharing_token=HExNlrZkmYlO-uyP32c3gw

Pushing the Handle on One of Her Favorite Toys... It's basically the first time that she intentionally did it and did it more than once. Normally Bird just flips the thing over so she can get the balls out from the top. Smartie Bird!

http://www.youtube.com/watch_private?v=iNuLX52EoOk&sharing_token=1_d_y9FMxOIRf5HMXDLyXw

First Time Having Pears (this video is the last we have to upload!)

Loving on Her Cameron

Going for a Walk in the Sun

Playing in Her Exersaucer

Getting Ready for Daycare

Having Lunch Outside for the First Time in the Gorgeous Weather

"What? I like Sweet Potatoes!!"

You know how sometimes you kick the blanket off when you're sleeping, but then you might get a little chilly again so just pull it back on you? Yeah, we don't get to do that because we have Blanket Snatchers that steal the blanket(s) as soon as you aren't "looking"...

Happy Birthday Patrick!!

Happy 23rd Birthday Patrick!!

(My baby brother is getting old...)

8 Months Old

*tear* Emerysn is sooo big. Today, she's a whooping 8 months old! I know I say it every month (or more) but I just can't believe Bird's so big... On one hand, it's hard to believe that she hasn't always been here, that we actually had a life that didn't include her at any point, that we've only had the blessing of Emersyn for 8 months. On the other hand though, I just had her! I was just pregnant and impatiently waiting to meet our little girl, she just came home from the hospital and how could 8 whole months possibly have gone by soooo fast?!?!

We went to JCPenney's yesterday and got (more) fabulous pictures of Emersyn for her 8 month mark... They turned out soooo great, that we ended up just getting the cd. Unfortunately, the studio doesn't have the ablity to do anything there so we still have to wait to get the cd. It's sooo worth it though. The girl doing the pictures this time was great (again) and she was able to get 3 adorable pictures of Emersyn standing up with a little box. I can pick the cd up on the 22nd, so you'll get to see Bird in all of her 8 month glory then... well, besides the little (maybe blurry) thumbnails and the pictures from this morning. :)

JCP Pictures
my little splurge... a "delight" picture, which is just a 4 x 10 collage basically the first picture ever to really "capture" Emersyn's eyes how you see them in real life yup ~ she's standing without any help... only the 2nd (and 3rd) time ever!
8 Months Old Todayas always, you can check out all this months pictures on snapfish... ((minus the studio pictures since we haven't gotten the cd yet so they're on JCP's website but email me if you want that info to see all of those pictures.)) http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=3731841009/a=77264276_77264276/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

WE GOT THE HOUSE!!!!!

WE GOT THE HOUSE!! WE GOT THE HOUSE!! WE GOT THE HOUSE!! WE GOT THE HOUSE!! WE GOT THE HOUSE!! WE GOT THE HOUSE!! WE GOT THE HOUSE!!

We were on our way to meet Johnny at the first townhouse (in Fox Chase) when he called and said to turn around... go home because they accepted our offer!!! AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!! We got the house!

They're still negotiating a settlement date with their sellers, but we're all in major agreement that we'll be settled by 30 June at the absolute latest so we can all (at least our sellers and us) can get the tax credits... But WE GOT IT!!

Chris and I are totally shocked that they accepted our offer... I mean, this is a house that is sooo out of our price range, in a neighborhood that's totally out of our price range... The house was originally listed in September for $364900, and we are getting it for $330 even with $9600 closing help!! Granted it's a little higher than we really wanted, but we're both ready to make the extra budget cuts to make it happen... Especially for this house!!

Seriously, this house is soooo move in ready! I mean, the master bedroom is already blue and so is the bathroom, one bedroom is pink (with stripes!), one is green (with pink decor), and one is just all white... Ahahahaha!!! I just can't believe that we got the house!!!!!!

We're Waiting, but Emersyn's Making 'History'

Johnny told us that he hoped to have an answer to us first thing this morning about the house... but we're still waiting. He touched base with us, and basically, our sellers are still working with their sellers. We do know that they are meeting today at 2:30 to hash things out, so either way, when they're done at 3:30 we'll know if we're getting our house or not. Since we're not sure though, Johnny is setting up some viewings for us at 4 today. It's just some townhouses in the area and one house in Pasadena that's super inexpensive, but we want to be able to rule out those massively cheaper houses... We're all hoping to cancel those viewings though.

In the meantime, we're out running some errands before we house hunt again. Plus, it keeps us (well, me) from counting the seconds until we hear something... So we went to Babies 'R Us and got some summer clothes for Emersyn for cheap, and then headed to Petsmart. It's always really easy to waste time there, since there's just soooo many puppies to play with. Being a true child of mine, Emersyn is just as happy to see all the animals as I am! We went to look at the birds first, since we didn't see any puppies when we came in. Emersyn was so excited at all the birds, I had to put her down because she was just so hard to hold onto... She's getting really good at standing with minimal help when she can hold onto something sturdy, and she had her little shoes on and they have some grippers which always help her too. I kid you not, Emersyn totally stood without any help from me!! I wish I had a camera, because it's the very first time she's totally stood on her own... well, she was holding on to the little trim stuff around the cage, but normally she still needs a little extra support!!! Ugh, she's such a big girl!! Then, we saw two little Boston's and when we went to pet them, Emersyn stood again all by herself with just a hand on my knees. I was totally squatting around her, so even if she did get a little wobbly, she was only going to fall into my lap, but she just used one hand to pet the puppies and the other hand to hold herself steady. This time it didn't last long since she was so excited at the dogs and the dogs were so excited at her, but she stood!!

Even if nothing else happens today, that one small little acheivement by Emersyn just made this one of the best days ever!! (But still keep your fingers crossed for the house!)

They Countered & We Countered... Again

Quick recap - Chris and I found a really great house in an even better neighborhood. The place is literally turn key and doesn't even need paint... Monday we did another walk through, my mom came over (with Cameron) to give us her opinion, and we put an offer in. Upon receiving our offer, the sellers immediately put an offer in on a house they were interested in. From what their agent (the wife's mom) was telling Johnny, they are really ready to sell and are going to base their response to our offer off of what thier sellers come back to them with.

Last night, they got back to us. The house is listed at $338,900. We offered $320,000 with 3% closing help. They paid $203,something in 2001 for the house as new construction so we knew they had a lot of equity... So, last night they countered with $335,000 and 3% closing help. It's technically do-able for us, but it's a little higher than we'd like to be and don't want to totally strap ourselves. After doing some number crunching and talking with Mark Hines (seriously the best mortgage broker ever!!), we countered their offer with $330,000 and 3% closing. From what we can tell, that little bit will make more of a difference on our end without really affecting their future mortgage much at all. And we're hoping that they see it that way too. Per Johnny's advice, we're giving them until tonight (5 or 9 pm) to respond. Johnny says that way they don't have the weekend to try to get any other offers that might be better than ours, but also that we'll have the weekend to go out looking at more houses if we need too.

Our fingers are majorly crossed.

Teeth & House Update

First, we have a really great house update... It's not the greatest news we could hear, so don't get too excited just yet. Johnny called last night and said that he agreed to let the sellers have until Friday for official word back to us, but they think they still might be able to meet the Thursday night deadline. Apparently, our sellers had a short list of houses they were interested in buying, so upon getting our offer, they made their own offer on a new house. They gave their sellers 24 hours to respond, so that they could still meet our deadline... From what he was told, Johnny said it sounds like they bid a little low which is really great for us because that leads him to believe they are not only taking our offer very seriously, but they are also trying to get their bottom line as low as they can so that they can get as close to our offer as possible, if not accept it outright! Our sellers should hear something by 5 pm today, so we might have an answer of some sort by 9 pm tonight, but realistically probably tomorrow!!! We are sooooo excited!! I love dealing with real people!!!

Ok, enough house talk... for now... Emersyn has her first teeth! She got 2 at the same time and they're the center bottom ones. They broke through about a week ago, but now they're getting to the point where you can actually see them when she does certain things. I've been trying to get a picture of them for a while though... Here are my attempts ::You have to look closely, but you can actually see a little piece of both teeth in this picture! Haha - success! And here are some extra pictures of Birdzilla at play... She's really getting into her toys now. The little Elmo figure from the Easter egg is her favorite now. Shona got her a truck that she likes too, but normally the Taz truck takes Elmo on in a battle of sheer brawn. Emersyn also really loves this one toy from Cameron; it was his favorite as a baby, and she loves pusing the handle to make the balls drop down and the lights go... but when she just wants the balls, Birdzilla goes into full effect and just flips the whole thing over! Last night, she actually picked the whole thing up with a hand at each end (top and bottom) and tried to lift it over her head... These and tons more on snapfish :: http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=3731841009/a=77264276_77264276/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

All Night Long

Emersyn has slept "through the night" before, but it was really only like a 7 hour block where she fell asleep (and/or had her last bottle) at like 10-ish and woke up to eat again around 5-ish... not bad considering. But last night, last night she feel asleep a little after 8 (about 2 singers in on American Idol) and Chris woke her up this morning to eat and get ready for daycare at 5:45!! That's pretty damn huge if I do say so myself! We've been trying, admist all the craziness and totally rearranging of schedules to house hunt, to get into a solid routine. Obviously, she's still hitting growth spurts and teething, so her feeding schedule can vary from day to day. But her "dinner" feeding is usually sometime between 4:30 and 6, so we've started skipping the bottle with that meal and just doing her food with 2-ish tablespoons of cereal... then, after a little play time (if she'll have it) we either do a bottle or take a bath and then the bottle, and then it's bed time.

We really thought last night was going to be rough though. We're so anxious about our offer on the house that we knew we probably weren't going to get much sleep ourselves. Add that to the strange heat wave that we're having, making our un-central-air-conditioned house an oven that 2 energetic puppies and a baby have to sleep in, and we were sure that was a recipe for a sleepless night. The puppies were up a lot because of the heat (since this is only supposed to be a couple days, we aren't fighting the window units just yet and the ceiling fan isn't much help) but Emersyn was sound asleep aaallll night. Since we were supposed to be moved into our new house, and then we found a couple houses that we liked and that were move in ready, we've agreed that Emersyn doesn't have to go into her room until we're in our new house... well, depending on when we get to be in the new house. So, anyways, she's still in the playpen in our room. Last night, she went in bed and did her (now) usual routine of rocking from side to side until she got comfortable on one side and twisted so either her toes or finger tips were touching one of the sides. Then she scraped the mesh part, which made a noise, and she was wide awake instantly. Silly Bird that she is, Emersyn kept "playing" wiht the sides until she pushed herself up enough to see Mommy and Daddy in bed, which then caused her to laugh hysterically and play peek-a-boo for a few minutes. Needless to say, we have absolutely no self control and just fell out laughing at her! (Don't judge us, you'd do it too if you saw that little face pop up and go "haah-hhaaa" then laugh!!)

After about 10 minutes though, Emersyn did laugh herself to sleep and slept soundly all night long... well, minus a little stirring because of the heat. Mommy and Daddy, on the other hand, were up a lot either to check on Emersyn because she was soooo crashed out or because of the dogs. I'm sure it didn't help that our 9:00 text from Johnny said that he hadn't heard anything yet. Chris thinks this is a good thing though. He thinks that the lack of any news means the sellers are taking our offer seriously and are really calculationg a good counter offer. I hope he's right. We're both super anxious and excited and nervous... We need to take a cue from Emersyn and just relax! :)

Peaches and... Offers

Well we did it... again. We put an offer in on a house that we just absolutely love! Chris, Emersyn and I went over to do another walk through and look around with Johnny yesterday afternoon. My mom met us there (with Cameron which made Emersyn happier than in pig in ---) to give us another set of eyes and to critize everything that we didn't think about or notice. The shocker is that my mom only said something about the windows being a little lower to the floor so we'll have to take extra care with our little mover. Other than that, she even loved the place! Cameron wants to live in the basement, but agreed that he could take one of the rooms upstairs as long as the people really were going to take the funiture with them. At 5 years old, Cameron's still learning about the whole moving thing! LOL! So anyways, the sellers and their agent know that our offer is coming and Johnny said that he made things very clear that we are totally flexible with their schedule as far as settling on the house and moving, if we get to that point. He's hoping that makes our offer more desirable and the sellers more willing to work with us for a little lower price... Fingers crossed!! Since these are "real people" instead of a bank, we get to hear something much sooner. Although he doesn't think it'll take that long, Johnny put the intial response date in the offer at 9 pm on Thursday (8th). He's guessing we'll get a verbal counter, and then we can verbally counter back if we want. Ugh, we really want this house!!!

Ok, so on a totally different note... After playing with Cameron at what is hopefully our new house, Emersyn got to try a new food yesterday! Want to venture a guess? Peaches it is... a nice summery food, don't you think?!?! Of course there was no reaction to the new food, and Emersyn acted like she just always gets peaches... We thought there might be some reaction though. With all the craziness, it's been a few weeks since we've been able to introduce a new food to her. Peaches were a huge hit though. I have a couple Easter video clips to upload, and then I'll be able to post the (pretty boring) clip from Emersyn's first taste of peaches. For now, here's a couple pictures. Everything is on snapfish, as always :: http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=3731841009/a=77264276_77264276/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/