Such a Big Boy!

Our Little One is such a big boy.  We took him to the doctor last week for his 4-month well visit and they measured him of course.  He's in the 83% in weight and 97% in height!  He's now fitting into his 6-9 month clothing.  I'm glad he has a lot of clothes given to us by people, because he's growing so much and so fast (and he also still spits up a lot, so the extra clothes are a must!).

He likes to observe people and things, and he's become interested in the books Baby Girl reads.  He loves to watch her.  She makes him smile and he makes her laugh.  We still have to keep her away from his soft little head but she is learning to be gentle and she really wants to play with him.

We're so happy that our kids get along, and we love them both.  When I've gotten caught up on sleep I can see that spending time with our kids is worth the sleep deprivation.  Don't get me wrong, I still need sleep and I'm still not getting enough, but that's what hubbies and weekends are for!  :D

Here are some photos of the recent goings on in our house.

Found a House!

We found a house, put in an offer, and it was accepted! (it's the house we went to see that time I left my purse on the hood of our car).  I'm excited about the house.  It's big enough for our family to grow into; the backyard is big so there will be plenty of room for the kids to play as well as a garden area for me.  The neighborhood is fine; we're a block away from the kids' future elementary school and we are literally behind the junior high.  We're a mile away from church so it'll take us about 5 minutes to get there as opposed to the 15 minutes it takes us now.  It's close to downtown/historic Gilbert where there are shops and a museum and a live theater, and a farmer's market every weekend.

This house was a flip and the guys have had it on their hands for a few months with no offers, so they will be glad to sell it to us.  After we get the inspection and the appraisal completed and pay more money and fill out more paperwork, we should have the house within a month.  Woohoo!

Baby-Brain and More House Hunting

I've had major baby-brain twice these past few weeks, both times involving my purse.

Three weeks ago on Saturday, Mc and I were looking at two houses in our house hunt.  Right before seeing the first one, I accidentally locked Mc's set of keys in the car.  I didn't have my set with me because I thought, "I won't need my purse, we're only going to be gone a little while," so I left it at home. We still saw the first house but then the locksmith guy took over half an hour to get to where we were and that put us all behind schedule.  That, and I think the guy over-charged us.  I felt stupid.

The second time was this past Friday.  We were going to see another house and the realtor was late.  I fed Little One in the car and then made sure that I had my purse and keys with me before I locked the car.  Our realtor arrived and we went into the house and looked around, and when we came back out I saw my purse on the hood of our car.  This time I didn't feel stupid, I just felt like my brain had skipped town.  Mc joked and said, "Hey, this was a test to see if the neighborhood is safe, and I guess it is."

I usually double check important things like if we have our keys with us before locking the car, and if we bring back with us all the things we left the house with, but lately it's harder to remember to check those things.  At least I've never forgotten the kids.

*****

Our house hunt has had me on an emotional rollercoaster.  On the 1st we had arranged to see 5 houses the next day, and by the next day we could only see 2 houses because the other 3 already had offers accepted.  Then the day after that and a few days later we put in offers on two different houses and we were outbid both times.  Both houses (the first of which was the one I wrote about in my last post) had cash offers, and sellers will always take cash offers over conventional offers, even if the cash offers are for less money than the conventional ones.  People are doing that a lot around here: they offer cash for a place so they are sure to get it, but then they take the house and "invest" in it, either to flip it or to rent it out; either way it's to make money.  That ticks me off because there are people like us out there who want to buy a house to live in it.

I'm tired of getting my hopes up on houses I like and then being disappointed, either by being outbid on a house or having it go off the market before we've even gotten a chance to see it.  Going back to researching the listings and comparing houses and all that stuff has cost me a lot of sleep.  That makes me irritable and tired and I don't like being that way.  Plus, this apartment still isn't working for us and I'm reminded of that every time I try to put Little One down for a nap or to bed for the night.  I really want to be in a place of our own where we can spread out and have at least one room in the house that can be dark and quiet for our baby boy.  A few days ago I broke down crying because I felt like we were going to have to settle for something that was just OK if we wanted to get a house at all.  Mc reassured me that we will find something we like but it may take time.

Well the house we saw this past Friday was a good size-- both the house and the lot-- and the location is good as well.  We put in an offer on it yesterday and we'll see how things go.  So far we're the only ones who have put in an offer, so I'm hopeful.

House Hunting

About 3 weeks ago Mc and I started our house hunting process.  We found a realtor and he's showed us 7 or 8 houses, and on Saturday we found one that I absolutely love.  It's a large house to accommodate our growing family and my need for lots of kitchen counter space  :)  and it has a good sized backyard for the kids to run around and to have fruit trees and a garden.  It's in a nice neighborhood with schools close by and the house is within our price range.  We sent in our offer last night and we'll know in the next couple of days if it was accepted or not.  There were at least a dozen viewings of that house on Saturday and I'm sure there were just as many yesterday, so we'll see how everything goes.

If we don't get the house I'll be so disappointed but we'll keep looking.  Now is the time for us to buy a house; the housing market is pretty much rock bottom right now; Mc has a good job that's in the same location every day as opposed to the public accounting firm he was with before which sent him to different clients all over the place.  Plus, the 2 bed/2 bath apartment we're currently in is no longer working for our family.  Our computers are in our bedroom so that Baby Girl can't get to them and so the living room is "family space".  But that means that when we're on our computers at night Little One can't sleep soundly; he needs his own room that we can keep dark and quiet for him.

It'll be nice when we finally get a house so I can get some sleep.  Between kids' different sleeping schedules and my thinking about the things we have to do for this house hunt, I am so tired but my mind can't shut off at night.  I need sleep!  Thankfully Mc's mother is here for the week and I've already gotten to catch up a little bit on sleep.  It's amazing how much of a difference just a little more sleep can make!

**UPDATE: at this time the house we're interested in has 15 offers!  :(  We'll see how it goes.**