Ellie is 9 months old!

Well, actually she is 9 months and 1 week old. I was waiting to post this until after we went to her 9mo well check.

Ellie is growing up so fast! She is 17lbs. 11ozs. and 27" long. This puts her in the 30th percentile for her height and weight (so she's a little smaller than your average 9 month old). The peditrician said she is meeting all her developmental milestones and looks just great!

She is crawling all over the place and has recently started pulling up in her crib, on her play kitchen and the ottoman. She babbles alot...she makes the sounds of dada, mama, and baba.

She has just about outgrown her infant carrier so I am going to transition her into Rett's carseat (the Britax Roundabout) this week. I went to BuyBuy Baby on Wednesday and bought Rett this new car/booster seat. I chose this one because the back is removeable. He still falls asleep in the car often and needs some sort of headrest.

My new favorite SPOT

This weekend we tried out a new casual restaurant that a neighbor told us about. It's right around the corner from our new house and it's delicious. Burger Spot is a new restaurant located at 9090 Skillman in Lake Highlands that serves all natural, grass fed, no-antibiotics Angus beef from Harris ranch. I'm not one to usually go on and on about beef but their burgers are SOOOOOOO good and I credit the all-natural beef.

We came with hearty appetites and noticed they have bags of popcorn on the counter to eat while you wait for your meal. We did not have the kids with us...but I thought that would be a great treat to occupy Rett while we were waiting. We ordered beer-battered onion rings and had an order of S'mores for dessert. Mmmmmm-mmmmmmm!!!! I can't wait to go back.

The one downfall is that they do not serve beer. :(

Another Surprise!

Today I worked at the new house from 8am-6pm. Troy became really sick last night and stayed in bed at home all day long. The kids went to my in-laws because the house was full of painters AND wet paint. We(my parents and I) did a little bit of this and a little bit of that. We started out trimming some hedges and meeting alot of neighbors. Since I was working outside many people made their way over to introduce themselves and get the scoop. One neighbor even asked if we were "house flippers" because that was the rumor that was going around. Everyone seemed really nice and told me how great the neighborhood was. :) I worked my way around the back and cleaned up some crepe myrtles that had ivy growing throughout them. Later we removed the carpet in the middle bedroom (Rett's room) and uncovered more lineleoum like the one in the corner bedroom (Ellie's room). The only difference was that this flooring had blues and greens that looked like a boys bedroom. I was just tickled by this because it made me feel like I had picked rooms for the kids that they were meant to be in. Rett in the original "boys" room and Ellie in the original "girls" room. We are going to carpet over this flooring...but don't worry....I removed pieces from both rooms today so that I can display them somewhere later. The painters are getting things done fast! They have 90% of the work complete. My favorite transformation thus far are the cabinets we had painted a dark brown color called "French Roast". You really have to see it in person...it looks very rich and lustrous.
Below are a few pictures:

Rett's matching flooring:


Troy's new red office:


Freshly painted cabinets:

A playdate

This morning I hosted our Thursday "rotating" playgroup. We added 2 new kids this rotation so we host a total of six two year olds every Thursday at a different house each week. Melissa offered to stay and help with potty breaks, lunch, etc. It got pretty chaotic. We started playing outside and after about 30 mins we came inside. There were a few episodes of everyone screaming and running around the house in circles...but once we brought out lunch everyone calmed right down. I am so happy I hosted this morning because it means the next five Thursday's I will have a break from 9:30-11:30. Whoo-hoo!!!!

Here's a pic of lunchtime:

First thing: Clear out, Haul off

After we left the title company this morning Troy headed to work and I rode with my dad to get some new keys made. My mom took off work today and watched Rett and Ellie. After getting keys made we picked up my mom and the kids and headed to my new home. After a picnic lunch on a quilt it was time to get to work. The previous owner left alot of junk in the house. It literally looked like he just woke up and left one morning, never to return. There were dirty clothes in clothes hampers, old food in the pantry, framed pictures on the walls, and a raggedy queen sized mattress in the master-bedroom. Part of our contract was that we would accept the house "as-is", therefore we had the burden of clearing out all this junk. We each got black trash bags and began filling them with as much as we could and taking them outside. We made two piles: one pile of potential garage sale items, one pile of trash. We also began pulling back the carpet so that the painters can paint the entire baseboard since we are replacing the carpet anyways. When my dad pulled back the carpet in the corner bedroom we had quite a surprise. Pink, Orange and Yellow linoleum straight out of 1972! This was the only room with this type of flooring which leads me to believe this was originally a girls bedroom. This is also going to be Ellie's bedroom so I was happy to learn it was originally intended for a girl! Troy said he thinks we should leave a little bit of it exposed in the closet to display some of the homes original features (I'm thinking lets just carpet over all of it again). Troy came back after work just in time to load the pickup truck with all the trash.
Rett and Ellie were FANTASTIC today. Rett really did help...we kept handing him items to walk to the trash pile and he kept making trips. Ellie took a 2.5 hr nap in the pack in play and then I put her in the Ergo where she stayed for about another 2 hrs without any fussing. Below are a few pictures of the junk we cleared out and that "gorgeous" flooring we discovered.

The trash we hauled off:


The garage sale pile:


The retro original floor:

On the eve of the closing

Tomorrow we will go to the closing for the new house we are buying in Lake Highlands. It sure has been a long road getting to this point. A "short sale" is anything but easy. I can see now why most of them don't go through. It has taken 4 months of processing paperwork, sending emails, negotiating, inspecting, appraising, etc. to finally purchase this home from the bank it is owned by. Luckily my dad's morgage/real estate expertise steered us clear of any "short sale" pitfalls and we are ready to close tomorrow.
It is a little bittersweet. I am so extrememly excited about all the new house has to offer. Space, most importantly. Closet space, countertop space, garage space and tons of storage space, oh my! I can hardly wait to see the transformation that is about to take place.
On the other hand we have alot of memories in this house. It's the first home Troy and I lived in together. Troy proposed in the backyard. I brought home both my babies from the hospital to this house. I still love this house...it's just time to move on and make new memories. Because that's all they are, memories. It does make me a little sad that Rett and Ellie will never remember living here. Rett will never remember swinging in the swing in the front yard or riding his tractor all over the backyard. We will make new memories and make the new house feel like home soon. :)

So, tomorrow the landscapers show up and begin the transformation. Here are a few pictures of what the before looks like. Tonight is the last night this yard will ever look like this.

Overloaded

Noticed I haven't blogged lately? I haven't forgotten to blog....I have been too busy to even set aside 20 mins in my day to log what we've been doing into cyberspace. ALL of my time has been spent on preparing our new house for us to move in.

Here's a short summary of what you've missed since I last blogged. Sorry there are no pictures....the only reason I am even getting this entry done is because I am substitute teaching today and have a few moments to myself.

Ellie started CRAWLING!! On April 4th (she was 8 mo and 3 weeks old). It's gonna be an easy date to remember because it was Easter AND my brother's birthday. She can get around really fast now. If I put her down in her room, she has crawled out of it within a few moments. **I really need to put up my baby gates again**. She puts EVERYTHING in her mouth and mobility only increases her chances of getting her hands on something she could choke on.

Troy and I are set to close on our new house on Tuesday, April 13th. We have landscapers, arborists, interior painters, and carpet installation set up to start on Wednesday, April 14th. In addition we also have to tear out an entire shower and re-build it before we move in. Luckily, my dad and a friend are going to complete that work for us. Troy might help in some of the tear-out(that is the fun part). We will have new stainless appliances delivered and are planning on installing some new windows and a new 9 ft. sliding glass door. I have been calling, meeting, negotiating contracts with all of these companies and more to find the best value. Much of this happens once the kids are in bed or taking a nap(when I would usually blog). Understand why I haven't blogged now? By the time I am done researching, emailing and discussing plans with Troy I am too whipped to even watch TV. I haven't watched a single tv show in over a week!!!

I have also been going to Jazzercise every morning at 8:15. Sounds easy enough but getting two kids up, dressed, fed, packed and transported before 8:15am is a workout in itself.

Now that we have most of the decisions made I should have a bit more time to document what we're doing. My next big undertaking is to move all of our utilities, services, and correspondence to our new address.