Correction

I posted a couple of weeks ago about the ultimate rejection. Well, I stand corrected. Last night as we were getting Noah to bed he gave me a big hug and then also wanted to say goodnight to "Mr. 'Tatos," his 3 little Mr. Potatohead friends (the mini versions - one potato, one corn on the cob, one carrot). They were all put away in their plastic suitcase but he gave the suitcase a big hug and then said, "Love you, Mr. 'Tatos!" So that is the ultimate rejection - when toys get an "I love you" while Mommy merely gets a "thanks." Nevermind that I'm the one who feeds him, clothes him, plays with him, cuddles him, kisses his boo-boos, takes care of him all day long, grew him in my body and gave him life. I guess to get an "I love you" requires plastic body parts that can be taken off and on. I just can't compete with that.

Escrow

It's only been a week since we entered in a contract for our home and, while I'm still really excited, I am already SO done with the whole house-buying process. Between getting through the purchase process and the actual moving, I feel like my head is spinning with everything that has to be done and phone calls that need to be made and papers that need to be read/signed. We had our inspection on Monday, which went pretty well (despite the inspectors being a full hour late and then taking 3 full hours - at least they were thorough) and now we're back in negotiations with the sellers. They're really nice people fortunately, but in general I can't stand negotiating. I feel like you walk the line between making sure you get what you should and nickle & diming. You know what I mean? I just find it all so uncomfortable. It's like bartering with street vendors or something - I would so just rather pay what they tell you to, just to avoid the back & forth. But I guess that would be pretty stupid in this case - it is a house we're talking about, not a fake turquoise necklace.

Anyway, another thing I'm becoming painfully aware of is how much home ownership actually costs. The home itself is one thing - I've never made a six-figured purchase before and it's pretty daunting to think about. But then there's the homeowner's insurance, the property taxes, the survey, the appraisal, the inspection, the appliances, and on and on it seems. And that's before any of the fun stuff like furniture (will we ever get to that part??).

All in all, I can't wait for a month from now when we will be finished with the purchase process and be all moved into our new home.

Baby Laughs

Here is a picture I took yesterday morning of Noah jumping in some leftover rain puddles.

And here is a picture of Sam's reaction (he was watching from the stroller - we had just gotten back from walking on the trail by our apartment).

He would just start cracking up every single time Noah jumped. I challenge anyone to come up with a more delightful sound than a baby laughing. So freaking cute.

Bedtime

The last several nights have been a bit of a pain in the bedtime department. Noah goes to bed willingly after reading stories, but after a few minutes of laying in bed he'll call us in for some reason or another. And then he'll call us in again. And again. And again. Sometimes the requests are legitimate (he wants his blankets on) and sometimes they're not (he wants a kleenex even though there are no traces of snot anywhere). And now he's not even trying to make up excuses - he just called me in because he "need[s] something else." I say, "okay, what else do you need?" He thinks for a moment, then "I need something else." Hmmm.

The thing I find frustrating is that I've just spent all day long being such a nice mommy to the boy and then I end the day having to get all stern with him so he'll finally go to sleep. I hate that! As a special bonus tonight, after I got the kids in bed I went into the office and found chocolate all melted and ground into the carpet. Noah had helped himself to one of my Valentine's chocolates while I was putting Sam to bed. When I saw him with chocolate smeared on his face I suspected that I might find a mess at some point tonight. Oh well, I was able to tell that it was the cherry-filled one and I don't like those that much anyway. And we're still in our apartment and not our new house so I guess it's okay.

P.S. I checked the MLS listing for our house just for fun and saw that it is now listed as "INACTIVE." Know why? Cause I bought it. :)

Wal-Mart's Gross

So I just got back from Wal-Mart, where I had gone to get the oil changed in my car. I don't normally care for Wal-Mart but I figured they would have my car in and out and while I was waiting I could do some shopping. An hour and a half later I was painfully reminded why I hate that store so much. On the way home I was discussing this hatred on the phone with my mom. Well, apparantly Noah was paying close attention to my end of the conversation because after we got home Noah was playing with his toys and suddenly looked up at me and exclaimed very emphatically, "Wal-Mart's GROSS!" I just laughed and agreed.

At least the ride to and from the store was amusing. There's some construction going on near the store so Noah had a fabulous time pointing out the various trucks he saw. Concrete mixer trucks, diggers, excavators, pick-up trucks. He knows them all (thanks to My Big Truck Book, which he has fully memorized - it's very entertaining to listen to him identify all the trucks). As I type this, I'm listening to him read his truck book, saying things like "Concrete mixer truck - (gasp!) Just like the concrete mixer truck we saw!!" I love this boy.

Look What We Bought Today!

Our first house!! I am SO excited right now!! We just got the call from our realtor tonight that the sellers had signed and executed our contract. We first saw this house in person on Saturday (after falling in love with the pictures online) and put an offer on it yesterday morning. After working out a couple of minor details we reached a verbal agreement with the sellers this morning. So I've been excited about it all day, but I was trying to hold back a little since we didn't have the signed contract yet and they still could have entertained other offers. But now it's official!!! And our realtor learned just tonight that there were multiple offers on it today but they still chose ours and I'm so happy!!! Sorry this post is so full of exclamation points, but I'm obviously super excited right now. I've already decorated all the rooms of the house in my head. Noah said that he's excited about the backyard (which he was particularly fond of when we viewed the home this weekend - he stepped out the back door and said, without prompting, "Hey! I like this backyard!").

It's a little weird to not be house hunters anymore. It's very nice though - I was starting to get pretty discouraged with the whole thing. We first started looking at MLS listings over a year ago when moving to Houston first became a possibility. Last summer, before moving here, we even put an offer on a home that we had seen online (Ben had flown down to see it in person) but didn't get it since we couldn't close as fast as the sellers wanted. We were really really bummed about losing that house (but now I'm not!). Once we actually moved here we started house hunting more intensely, to the point where we literally recognized every listing in our target areas. There was actually another home that we had gotten really excited about recently but when our realtor called to set up an appoitment their agent told him that it was being taken off the market because they discovered that the foundation was 7 inches uneven. Yikes. Coincidentally, an almost identical home was on the market 1/2 mile away and that's the one we bought. YAY!!!! Hopefully our inspection will find a perfectly level foundation. :)

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is my 28th birthday. The above sign on my door was curtesy of my friends, Joy and Scott, who came over last night bearing Chinese food (so we could simultaneously celebrate Chinese New Year). Imagine my dismay when I found out today that Joy's birthday is tomorrow - so we celebrated my birthday and didn't say a darn thing about hers! Embarassing! Anyway, I had a great day hanging out with my hubby and my boys, opening presents, and talking to family & friends on the phone. Now I'm going to go eat a little bit of the chocolate cake that Ben and Noah made for me. Well, let's be honest, I'm going to go eat a lot of it.

Yum

Don't these look delicious??? Ben knows that chocolate is a fool-proof way to my heart. :) I've already eaten several pieces. I love Valentine's Day (and hubby's who really know how to make it great)! Now that we have two little ones our V-day celebrations are pretty simple but I still love it. We exchanged cards (including one Ben got me from Noah & Sam - so cute) and goodies (chocolate for me, cookies for Ben) and had a candlelit dinner after putting the boys to bed.

I wanted to include a picture of me and my valentine - but, again, now that we have two little ones we don't seem to have very many pictures of just us so here's a picture of me and Ben from last summer in Mexico. Actually, this picture isn't technically of just us since Sam is in utero. Oh well, here are the three of us.

I love you, Babe!
Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day!

Happy Birthday x 3

Today is a big day in my family. Besides Valentine's Day, it's also the birthday of three of our family members - my dad, my sister-in-law Laurel, and my niece Alex.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

I wish we could get the whole family together for a huge, triple-birthday party. One of these years we'll have to do that. I love you all so much!

The Birthday Boy

(with Noah when he was 10 months)
The Birthday Girl

(with her adorable kids - Ethan, Emma and Adam)

The Birthday Baby

Seven Months

Here are Sam's 7-month froggy pictures (one day late). He was so excited about the frog that it was basically impossible to get a shot of him just sitting nicely next to it. Such a little rascal!

As you can see, Noah joined Sam for his last picture. As soon as Noah climbed up on the chair, he pointed at Sam and said, "He needs a shirt."

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Today is my parents' 37th wedding anniversary. Congratulations, Mom and Dad! Thanks for getting married and making our family. You are the best parents (and grandparents) in the world.

I love you!

I Heart Wellies

Today was a very rainy day. I didn't used to enjoy being out in wet weather, but ever since I purchased my fun wellies last year, I actually look forward to the rain. The last time I wore my wellies an old lady stopped me and said, "Well, those are some craaaaaazy boots!" Anyway, I find I can enjoy rainy weather even more since I bought Noah a pair of wellies - now I can find it adorable and funny when he runs around jumping in every puddle he sees.

So we had fun in the rain today. Well, for the most part. There was the incident at Target when we exited the store during a really heavy downpour. I had Sam strapped to me, I was pushing the cart with one hand, holding the umbrella with the other, and trying desperately to keep my puddle-jumping Noah from running in the middle of the road. I was about to breathe a sigh of relief upon getting him in the car when I noticed that I had accidentally shoplifted some mascara. About the last thing I wanted to do was trace back to the store, but you know, in the name of honesty or something... So back we all went to pay the stinking $4. The karma hander-outers better have been paying attention!

The Ultimate Rejection

Me: Goodnight Noah, I love you!

Noah: Thanks.

Little Four-Eyes

Noah loves to wear glasses. He has some sunglasses that he asks to wear every time we go outside. Well, this morning we were getting ready to go mail some letters when he said he needed his glasses. But he didn't want his normal sunglasses. No, today he wanted to wear Mr. Potatohead's glasses. I thought it was weird of course but didn't see why he couldn't wear them if he wanted to. So I said okay and he wore them for a good hour - while we walked to the leasing office to mail our letters, while we walked to the playground, while Noah played at the park, and while we walked home. Sometimes I wonder where this kid came from.

Well Baby Visit

Have you ever seen a cuter face?


This morning I took Sam to the pediatrician for his 6 month well-baby visit (although he'll be 7 months old next week). Here are his stats:

Height: 26 1/2 inches (50th percentile)

Weight: 16 lbs 12 oz (25th percentile)

Head: 17 inches (25th percentile)

So I'm a little bit worried because up until now he's been in the 50th-75th percentiles and now he's in the 25th-50th all of a sudden. I worry that he's not growing as much as he should be - especially since he seems to have no interest in starting solids at all so he's still 100% breastfed. Is he not getting enough calories? Hmmmm. I keep trying to give him cereal and baby food but he pulls his bottom lip way in and clamps his mouth shut! The pedicatrician told me not to worry about it but I still do. Although my friend Audrey did say the other day that he was the perfect density. So that's something. :) Still, I guess I won't bemoan his 3 night-time feedings anymore. Apparantly he really does need them!

In other well-baby visit news, poor Sam had to have more immunizations today - 4 shots in his little legs. It was so sad - I feel like since Sam is such a mellow and happy baby, it's even more pathetic when he does cry. He rebounded quickly though, the little love. And then Noah got a sticker (where's the justice in that?).

Oakland Zoo

I'm very lucky that some really good friends of ours from Chicago now live in California, just 15 minutes from my parents. They moved out there to open a DELICIOUS sandwich shop in San Francisco - The Toaster Oven (the best sandwiches you'll ever have - so if you live in the Bay Area, get yourself down there pronto!). Anyway, so now when I go there to visit my family I get to see Mitch and Libby too. We saw them a few times while we were there (including one night for dinner, which inspired this post - sorry guys, thanks for dinner and for putting up with us!). One day the boys and I met Libby and her two boys (Sam and Nate) at the Oakland Zoo. We had a great time. Here are several pictures from the day.

The Animals

The Humans

California Pictures

Here are some pictures I took while in Cali. You'll notice they're bascially all of Sam. Don't read any parental favortism into this - I tried my darndest to take pictures of Noah but he was always having too much fun with his cousins to stop for any photo shoots.

My dad and Sam

My mom and Sam

Ryan and Sam

Alexis and Sam

Sam

Leftover Funnies

I meant to post these little stories last week but didn't get around to it. It's hard to keep up with blogging from out of town! So here are a couple of leftover Noah funnies.

One night Noah really wanted to sit in my dad's chair. For some reason, the empty chair right next to my dad was not good enough. So he said he wanted to sit in it and I just said "ok" because I figured he meant the empty chair. But Noah was undeterred and said, very politely, "Can Noah have a turn?" It was so cute I just wanted to eat him up. Of course, my dad immediately relinquished his chair.

One day Noah pointed to the space heater and said "That's hot. We should blow on it."

While we were visiting, my parents got some new garage doors. In the days before they were installed Noah was very interested in the broken garage doors and repeatedly talked about their need for a screwdriver (he thinks anything can be fixed with a screwdriver, batteries, or a trip to Target).

Movie Reviews

I'm back to Texas and back to blogging (finally!). The boys and I had such a great time in California with my family. It's always so sad to leave, but it's made easier by the fact that we miss Ben so much and are so happy to be going home to him. My hubby's a trooper for living without his family for so long when we go out on these trips.

One of the FABULOUS things about visiting my family is the abundance of willing babysitters I have all around me. An extra pair of hands (or two or three) is so helpful with two little boys! Plus, while I was there I was able to do many things with one or two less kids with me. I went to the gym, went shopping, went out to lunch, ran errands, and hung out at my sister's house after putting the boys to bed for the night. It was especially nice to do things during naps. And Noah was in heaven getting to go to the park with Grampie so much.

The best treat of all was going to not one, not two, but THREE movies. Here are a few movie reviews for you:

1) Dreamgirls - I saw this with my mom and we both really liked it. We're both musical lovers though, so if you're not you may not like it as much. But I'm a sucker for singing and dancing and all that so I thought it was great. And a good plotline too. Of course, my mom came straight home and did some research on The Supremes (which the movie was supposedly based on).

2) Night at the Museum - I saw this with my sister, brother-in-law, nieces, and Sam (Noah was napping at home with Grammie and Grampie, but he can't do long movies yet anyway). ADORABLE. It's based on a great children's book of the same name. This movie was seriously so good I would have seen it even without kids with me. Really cute, really funny. Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson were both great.

3) The Queen - Sooooo good. This one was my favorite. The movie itself is really excellent and should win Best Picture, but the experience was so fun too. I saw it with my mom and my sister (thanks, Dad, for watching all the kids!). We brought Chipotle into the theatre with us (no one seemed to care for some reason) and ate lunch while we watched the movie which was so fun. We decided when I live near them someday we're going to do this once a week. Another reason I think I liked the movie so much was that my late grandmother (my mom's mom) looked exactly like Queen Elizabeth. Seriously, she did. It's really weird but they could literally pass for twins. If I had a digital picture of my grandma I would show you to prove it but I don't so you'll just have to take my word for it. So watching this movie was kind of like seeing Grandma act her little heart out on the big screen, which was fun (although she looked even more like Queen Elizabeth than Helen Mirren all made-up did).

Well, I hope you enjoyed my movie reviews. I doubt you'll get another one for several months!