We now live in our forever home!

Part of the reason for my lack of posting is we finally moved into our forever home!  It was a bit crazy there in the very end, everyday was all maybe we can close today, maybe xyz will be done and the bank will call and.... and lots of xyz taking three more days than everyone said it would.  But in the end?  In the end we are still in.  We closed a week ago yesterday (Monday afternoon, which btw not ideal at all but do-able).

I'd been packing slowly but surely every night a box or seven depending on my mood and energy level.  I packed a crap ton of small boxes since I'd been saving diaper and wipe boxes for....ever.  But that kinda worked out too, it made unpacking (which also has been a little every night) much easier.  V and I took last Tuesday off and did a vast majority of the moving our selves while Liam was at daycare.  When my in-laws got off work that night they brought the big furniture over in one trip with the use of a giant truck from V's work.

One thing I didn't fully grasp was how stressful this whole thing would be on Liam.  We had visited the house once or twice a week for the last four months, in the last 4-6 weeks he knew where we were going and clapped every time we pulled up.  Each time we came into the house he ran around and laughed with amazing joy....  On Tuesday about 3:30pm I hit a wall, I could not move one more box, I went and picked Liam up early and went to the house just he and I.  (I had made his room priority #1 that morning so it was completely set up upon his arrival).  The moment we walked through the door he was ultra clingy I thought ut oh, this is not typical.  Something about seeing all his things in this new place stressed him out.  He started to whine and I said something I've said to him countless times (at the old house) show me what you want Liam.  And the tears started, he couldn't show me what he wanted, he had no idea where anything was....my heart broke.  We spent the next ~2 hours just us walking around, I'd let him explore and point out where things were but he wouldn't let me get too far away from him (which was fine by me).  I asked V's mom to watch Liam at our house for the next two days so he could get used to it here, she said he was pretty clingy the first day but each day has gotten better and now you'd have no idea it was stressful at all.

I'm so in love with our house, I feel like I can breathe here.  We have so much storage and space to spread out.  One huge thing that we couldn't do at the rental was eat dinner together, just the layout of the kitchen only allowed one of us to sit at the table while Liam ate in his highchair (typically V or I would stand off to the side so we sorta ate together).  Now family dinners are a nightly event!  It's the simple things in life that really matter!

Much Love,
Jen

So Much Change

Since I've been a bad blogger I've neglected to share that Nanna, the woman who has watched Liam since he was 7 weeks old, is retiring from being a childcare provider.  I cried and then my type-A kicked in and I found a new and formal daycare/pre-school for Liam.  He loves it there but the transition was hard.  V's mom will be retiring and watching Liam 3 days per week but until that officially happens he goes to daycare Mon-Tues, Nanna's Weds-Thrus and G'ma on Fridays.  Thankfully next week will be the last week we have to do this before V's mom has Weds-Fri off to watch Liam.  (We intentionally chose to have Liam in a daycare/pre-school two days a week for a lot of reasons I may someday write about)

Oh yeah and we are about to move so our lives are in boxes.  I swear each morning Liam counts his toys!

And Liam is cutting a molar or molars.

And Liam and I have been sharing the same cold back and forth for about 5 weeks (but who's counting).


Poor little Liam just hasn't been himself and understandably so, there has been so much going on in his life, way too much change at once.  I just can't wait to close on the house, get in there and all settled in so that his life can return to normal.

Tick Tock Tick Tock

I'm officially 30!

Today I entered a whole new decade in my life (and age category in running as my bestie noted).  I wasn't weirded out last night nor this morning, although Liam is cutting a back tooth and didn't sleep well so I was a bit too tired to be too concerned with my age.

V and Liam surprised me with two charms for my Pandora bracelet, Liam was especially excited to present me a gift which was super cute!  V has been giving me these charms our entire marriage but since they are a bit pricey the frequency has gone way down with the addition of Mr Liam. I was totally surprised since we had agreed to no gifts with the finish of the house so close! V told me he tried to find a house charm which I thought was super sweet.  After some hugs and kisses we all succuried to get ready and out the door.

At work I received many kind emails, facebook has been a flood of kind words and my bestie surprised me with flowers for my desk! They have found a prime spot to get any possible sunlight!  My sweet co-workers took me to lunch at one of my favorite places, we ate and laughed until we thought we'd explode! (Bosslady is traveling so that is a nice little break too.) Tonight Liam gets a sleepover with Grandma & Grandpa while V and I go on a rare date night!

I have no deep thoughts on turning 30, I'm slightly glad my 20s are behind me but only because of my excitement for the years to come.  The bombings in Boston have taken up a lot of my mental space lately but mostly because of the pride in a community I consider myself part of; the running community has stepped up in big and heartfelt ways...My bestie (and Liam if the weather is good) will do a organized run on Monday night with all the proceeds going to the The One Fund and I can't think of a better thing to do at the start of this decade!

And if anyone is counting approx. 8 days until we close on our house.....tick tock tick tock!

Much Love,
Jen

No Rock N Roll Half Marathon for Me

*blows dust off little blog*



This post could easily get long and whiny fast so I'm just going to spill it...I'm not doing the 2013 Rock and Roll Half Marathon in Portland as planned, and I'm about as bummed out about it as you can get. 

My kiddo got this nasty cold that has been going around here and then shared with Momma, as luck would have it that cold turned into a nasty sinus infection/chest cold that I am still fighting nearly four weeks later.  I haven't run in a solid month, not once...in fact I did yoga yesterday and it kicked my butt.  No fun. I had worked my way up to 7 miles but right now that feels impossible...heck 3 miles sounds painful!  The RnR half is little over a month away, I know I could force myself to train SUPER hard at the cost of free time with my family (and perhaps much of my sanity), I could still take the time off work and spend all the money to travel there only to be disappointed with my performance. Not worth it, especially when I'm still coughing like crazy at night (and thus not sleeping through the night).

There is a wonderful Marathon (Half and Full) in our city every July but unfortunately we will be out of state for a family reunion.  So I've been searching and searching for another race, I flat out lost my reregistration fee for RnR Portland (which I simultaneously understand and loth) so part of the search has been that I don't have to travel, let's try and keep cost down, shall we?

I have a race or two that I am eye-balling, both are in later fall which will be beautiful and give me lots and lots of time to train.  I'm super tempted to attempt a full since I'll have the entire summer to train but the husband thinks that is a bad idea (he can be the logical one sometimes). 


The part of my life that doesn't revolve around running (you know marriage, kiddo, work and that whole house thing) is good but crazy busy, perhaps why I got so sick?  The house is supposedly going to be done by May 1, I'm excited and nervous....I've been using this extra energy to start packing which is surreal.

Someday I'll write a post about all that, maybe even include pics...someday!

Much Love,
Jen

Countdown

Yesterday we had another appointment with the developer of the subdivision our home will be built in.  V and I both expected this to be a "pick out your finishes" appointment.  Not so much, we reviewed the blueprints (again), asked for one small change that won't affect the blueprints really and basically gave our approval.  Ugh.  Two weeks wasted.  You see the developer didn't put in a request for our permits yet, he'll do that now and it will be 2-4 (or more) weeks before they break ground.  As it pours rain right now.  It's a miracle it hasn't snowed yet and there is no frost to break so I'm anxious (to say the least) for them to break ground.  So far this *shouldn't* effect our move in date which is now a firm March 29th 2013.

I know this process is going be a big test in patience for me but right in this very moment it's just adding to the enormous amount of stress I'm already under. For the last week I've been right on the verge of throwing up.  I would love nothing more than a long hot bath right now, something that is not an option in our current home.  I'm counting the days until I can at least start packing and truly day dreaming of settling into our forever home.

The countdown is on, even if I spend more than a few days stuck at some numbers.

Much Love,
Jen

The Difference Between Men & Women

Last night as our little family was eating dinner V says "I have something to talk to you about".  When he prefaces things this way it's not usually a great thing (for me anyway, it usually has something to do with him playing more video games or hunting/fishing more).  I have to admit I gave him the side eye before asking him to go on.

Since officially signing on to build our first ever home we've been thinking and planning much more into the future than usual.  Currently we're scheduled to move into our home two weeks after our 5th wedding anniversary, which is also two weeks before my 30th birthday and just less than 6 weeks before a half marathon I'm hoping to do out of state.....the timing is interesting.  It feels like we have a lot of balls in the air (hehe I just got a horrible mental picture, not those kind of balls!!!!)

With all that said V and I have been talking about our paid time off schedules, both of us accumulate a good amount each year but both of our employers have a "use it or lose it" policy.  I have carefully scheduled the hours I am required to use and I will hoard the rest for: the move, our get away (aka anniversary/my bday celebration/ half marathon trip) and heaven forbid one of us gets sick.  Then there is V, I love him-I really do.....but he doesn't see things anything in the same manner as I do.  He's decided to go almost broke on paid time off and start fresh at the beginning of the year.  Sigh.  While in some ways this is good, we'll save over a week in daycare cost BUT should Liam get sick (or the woman who watches him) it will all rest on me to take time off....me, the one who is hoarding my time off for other scheduled events.  Oh men.

I just couldn't help but laugh a little, we see things so differently.  And I get it, I do.  V just took a day off recently because work was so slow and spent the day with Liam, both of them had a blast!  I can see where V is coming from wanting to spend that time with Liam again, I just wish he'd carry over a little safety net.

Can I get an Amen?
Much Love,
Jen 

Building Our Home: Earnest Monies & Decor

We officially accepted the builder/developers counter offer on Friday afternoon.  Our realtor emailed us a big congratulations and asked when he could get our earnest money.  Wow that made it real, the money is already being handed out, at least these dollars go to the house.  Well I guess it all goes to the house but I have a running tally in my head of the things we have to buy and are planning on upgrading, ek!  Not an easy task for this saver!

Some of the items we are looking at: (from both my pinterest accounts ect)

• PAINT!
• Livingroom
• Master (mostly the color to the far left)
• Liam
• Familyroom
• Headboard for Master
• I've thought about building one
• Or I like this one
•  Dinning Table
• I like this style but haven't found one I love
• Decals!
• Liam's Room 
• (Or this one)
• Master
• Kitchen
• Family Room
• Fridge
• I like this one

Building Our Home: Offer Accepted

Oh my tummy turned a little as I type that, in a good way of course.  I literally just received an email from our realtor that our offer will be countered in the morning, the developer will pay 70% of our closing, good enough for us!  I called V and we agreed we would accept his counter......holy cow, we are really building our first home!

So it begins, I can not wait for all the things we get to pick out, I know it will be totally overwhelming at times but I think I'm ready!!!   I know I'm more than ready for Liam to have more room to run and play!

Building a House: The Waiting Game

Perhaps God is using this experience as another opportunity to teach me to be patient.  I wonder how that is going.....cuz I'm not a patient person.

Something I didn't expect about building a house; because we are building in a subdivision we picked a model and some upgrades and I thought you just paid the listed price, like buying boots at Target. 

Apparently not, the developer even told us "let me know what your offer is".  Later in the conversation he also mentioned the builder wanted permission to build a spec. home through the winter to keep his crew busy.  Two key things that led us to believe there was some wiggle room on the price.  Here's the thing though, I don't want to offend this guy, he seems very on the straight and narrow.  After speaking to our realtor he suggested that we ask him to pay our closing costs and use that money to purchase upgrades to our home (we planned on the upgrades anyway)....so we did.  We officially placed our offer this morning....so the waiting begins.  The developer has until Thursday to get back to us, I wish he'd just accept the offer as is so we can break ground!!

I'm so ready for this whole process to get rolling!!!

Building a Home: Selecting Our Lot

Last night after work V and I scurried over to a meeting with the developer of the subdivision where we plan to build our home.  Our realtor is out of town so one of his associates went with us, unfortunately we arrived before her.  BUT fortunately the developer was waiting for us and one of the nicest people I have ever encountered! He even shared with us a story about how he came up with the names of a few of the floor plans, the cheapest one was for his father and when he told his father about that he said "that was alright" with a smile....the floor plan we like is after his mother because she would have liked all the storage and the vaulted ceilings!

Once our stand-in-realtor arrived we began discussing all of our options.  V and I already knew what floor plan we want because it's the same as the home we made the unaccepted offer on.  We  will make a few changes to differentiate our home from that one.  Then we reviewed the upgrade options and were given a list of options for our lot.  We all agreed that V and I would drive out over the weekend and select our lot then we'd write up our buy-sell with a closing date roughly 120 days out.

This morning V let me sneak away for a workout, I got home just in time for Liam to snuggle and go down for a 3hr nap.   Once Liam finally woke up we all ate lunch and headed out to look at lots.  Since we had reviewed them the night before I *thought* I knew which one I liked but we both wanted to look and make sure.  I am SO glad we did!  We drove up and down the street, through the ally, parked and looked at the homes surrounding each lot and took into consideration distance to the park.....and we BOTH agreed on one.  Can we just take a minute to soak up the fact that we both agreed on something with ease?!  Whew!  I have a lot of peace about it, I really (REALLY) like our lot.

So now we just need our realtor to get home and write up our buy-sell agreement so they can break land!  Good thing he gets home tomorrow because it's snowing as we speak!

After that we'll have a million decisions to make on decor, so far V says it's all in my hands but I don't buy that for a minute, he's too opinionated! 

Juggling

Some days I think I rock at this whole super-wife, rockstar-working-mom gig.  Then there are weeks like this one.  Oy vey!   I'm sitting at work sipping a much needed latte and I could easily fall fast asleep right here, right now.

Some weeks I can rock out five or six healthy dinners, get lots of quality time in with Liam, have the whole house fairly well organized, all the bills paid early and even get a workout or two in.  Not this week, it's Friday morning and I haven't gotten a single workout in, there is hope for tomorrow...kinda.  The bills that are due this week are paid but I'm not ahead of the game like I want to be.  Some of the house is clean and I made....one healthy dinner.  In all fairness with Liam's fever that lasted Monday-Thursday morning I was just making him things I knew he would eat so he would eat something (homemade mac and cheese with peas).  I haven't skimped on the quality time with Liam because it's always at the top of my priority list. I only straightened my hair today because we have a meeting with the builder right after work, otherwise I'd be rocking wet-hair-pulled-into-a-ponytail style.

I'm exhausted.  I feel like I'm just barely keeping up and no where near getting ahead.  I feel like I'm juggling but I keep dropping all the balls.  I don't feel like a failure though because I'm still trying, you only fail if you give up.  All I can do is make a list and start checking things off one-by-one.

I'm sure all moms feel this way at times, maybe we put too much pressure on ourselves, who knows.  I don't think I'll ever be a "whatever" kind of mom, I'm always going to want to have it all; tons of quality time with Liam, clean house, healthy dinners, finances in check, happy family, career....I want it all and damn it I'm going to bust my ass until I have as much of this dream as I can.

Not entirely sure if there is a point in there, just a healthy dose of honesty about this week.  I'm just glad the election is over, we all know the result know so maybe people will keep a few more opinions to themselves, one can hope!

On House Hunting and {Potentially} Building

The house hunt has been.....interesting.  A few weeks ago we went out with our realtor and saw four homes, three of which were foreclosures.  It was slightly depressing to see these homes and know that someone had lived in them, loved them and lost them.  But if we found the right one we were ready to do some work and love it ourselves.

Unfortunately we didn't find one that was love worthy.  I must admit there was one I really wanted V to love, the backyard was to die for!  This was nearly twice the size we'd get with any new(er) construction and backed to undevelopable property (simply because of location).  But the house needed more love than either V or I was really willing to give.  The other homes weren't really worth mentioning here.

So a few weeks have gone on, V and I have been doing a lot of research and have been looking at every real estate site under the sun.  But nothing new popped up, nothing worth looking at anyway.  There are only a couple of subdivision here, one of which that you can build in....but V and I are using his Veteran loan and bank in our area aren't doing VA construction loans.  We felt stuck, at least for the Winter, maybe something would come on the market in the Spring? We hoped.  On a whim V emailed the developer of the subdivision where we put an offer in on a house that wasn't accepted, he explained our situation and asked simply if they planned to build any more houses of the layout we liked.  One hour later the developer emailed us back to tell us that they have worked with VA loan people before and will carry all the building cost until the house is built then we can buy it!  We can even pick out several variables, we'd sign a contract before they break ground with a closing date of about 120 days out.  V and I spoke with our realtor to make sure he'd be paid (yes, through the developer like the sale of a already built home) and discusses some other concerns and everything came up roses!  It's almost too good to be true!

So that is where we are, we meet with the builder this week.  It's pretty likely that we will sign our contract this week and break ground next week.  It's hard to believe that we will likely be building our first home, the home Liam will grow up in.  I'm totally in shock!

Has anyone else out there built?  Advice?!