Update On Our House

After meeting with two different realtors last Friday, Chris and I aren't exactly sure that we will be selling our house. I've tried not to think about it too often until we have some answers, because it just makes me angry.

It turns out that even though we have kept up with our house payments, and worked hard to stay out of debt (still working on Chris' student loans, but that's it), that after all that hard work it doesn't matter so much what we have done, but what our neighbors are doing.

In the past year, almost all of the houses sold in our neighborhood have been foreclosures or short sales, which hurts the market. So even though we aren't a foreclosure, the value of our home is brought down because of what everyone else is doing. The realtor doesn't even think we could get $95K for our house, and we need to sell it for $110K to pay all realtor fees, etc, so there goes any equity that we were trying to use to get a new house. 

We have an appraiser coming out to the house this week, and we'll see what she has to say before we can make a decision on what to do next. Also, we might be able to turn to my Grandmother for advice (she is a realtor). 

Please keep us in your prayers that God's will would be made clear and plain for us because we are not sure what to do next. It seems that He wants us to stay here, and maybe where we live is more a desire of ours instead of where he wants us to be. But maybe He wants us to use this opportunity to lean on Him and trust Him to take care of us while we go forward with this. Our house is just such a large asset, and we don't know anything about selling a house, that we are very conservative. Please just pray that we would know more after the appraiser sees the house on Wednesday and that it would make our decision clear on what to do.

It's A Girl!

Ok, I've been meaning to post this since we told our family on Saturday, but it's been a busy weekend and I'm just now getting the chance to sit down for a few seconds and write this down. Haha, as it is, Evan is talking to me through the baby monitor saying, "Mama...mama?!" 

We went to see Dr. Scott on Thursday afternoon, and had our ultrasound at around 3:30pm. The ultrasound technician kept moving the machine around, which was a little bit annoying because we just wanted to watch the baby move. But, it turns out that the baby was moving so much that the technician had to keep moving around with her to get her measurements! I then felt a little guilty, because I'd had a glass of coke about 1.5 hours before the appointment so that she would wiggle a little bit for us on the screen! Guess it was too much! We finally got to the part where we would find out the gender, but she had her legs crossed! I told Chris that at least we have a little lady on our hands! She finally let us see just enough to confirm that she was indeed a girl, and we were ecstatic! 

Then came the hard part...we had to wait a day and a half to tell anybody! Well, we told Evan, so that helped get it out of our system. Earlier in the day before the appointment, I had "asked" Evan if he wanted a brother or sister. I looked at him and held out one hand for brother and the other hand for sister. He stared at me for a second like I was crazy, and then gave me a high five on the hand for sister! So, I guess he got what he wanted!!!!

To tell our family, we invited everyone to our favorite place to eat, Wings 'N' Things...yummmmm!!! Everyone was able to make it except for my brother and his wife, who were working. We made everyone wait until the end of the meal to tell them (aren't we bad?!). It was fun to keep everyone in suspense the entire meal and see what everyone was thinking. Chris and I actually wore blue shirts to maybe throw everyone off; it worked on my Mom, but my sister seemed to figure out the reverse psychology and guessed girl just because of our shirts! 

After everyone was full and happy from a delicious meal of wings, we pulled out a cake from Grimes bakery that said "It's A Girl!" and we all enjoyed the best cake in the world while celebrating. I mean, if there is any occasion for a Grimes cake, this was it! 

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I can't wait to meet our little baby girl! I'm having the same feeling I did when we found out Evan was a boy...what do I do with a girl?! But I'm already envisioning buying the headbands with big bows and matching outfits! And I can't wait to go look for baby bedding, because there is a cute ladybug set at Babies R Us that we liked last time. Please pray that I don't spend all of our money on cute baby girl clothes and items, and that I can stay practical in the face of all of the cute stuff out there! 

(PS~I'll post some pictures once I think to email everyone for them. We were so busy pulling out the cake and enjoying everyone's company, that we didn't take many pictures.)

Evan's 2nd Astros Game

Last night, Chris, Evan, Mama D, and I went to the Astros game and had a blast! Chris was able to get the tickets for FREE! from Twin Creeks because they were donated to the school. 

Evan was the BEST baby while we were at the game! I was a little worried that he might have a "meltdown" because he's been teething on some front molars and really cranky for the last few days. But he was sitting quietly when other people wanted to hold him, and was into watching the game and everything else that was going on. He even got into the wave! I held his hands up when it came around to us, and then he kept raising my hands up and saying, "Yeah!" So cute!

We had a great time, and were glad that we had the opportunity to go! 

Evan kept turning his head when I'd try to take a picture :( But doesn't he look so big standing and looking over the seats?!

Evan and Grandma Mary

Thank you, Sonic, for adding these nifty drink holders! 

Be quiet, Mom!

Be quiet, Dad!

I thought this picture was funny. Doesn't it look like Biggio is going to spank him with the bat?

All together at the game!

Here are some pics from Evan's 1st Astros game (3 months old):

Almost There

Lynne Campbell came over again today to take pictures of our house to give to a realtor, and they turned out great! We still have some fancy work to do on curtains in the kitchen, so she is going to take those pictures tomorrow, and we still have to do some trim work on the yard, but I think we will be able to call the realtor by Thursday or Friday! FINALLY, YEAH!!!!!!!!

Here are the pictures that Lynne took today:

guest bedroom

dining room/our music room looking into kitchen

living room

living room

downstairs bathroom

living room

master bathroom

master bedroom

guest bathroom

Evan's bedroom

Family Pays Off $106,000 in Debt

Haha, not our family! I'm glad we've never owed that much! All we owe is about $20K for Chris' student loans, plus our mortgage. We've paid off about $42K in debt since getting married in 2004, but it's nothing like this family!

This family isn't on the Dave Ramsey plan, but it sounds a lot like his plan. It is amazing what one can do when they are willing to work hard and sacrifice to make it happen! Read this article if you want to be inspired!

http://customsites.yahoo.com/financiallyfit/finance/article-107752-2691-0-how-one-family-shed-106000-in-debt?ywaad=ad0035

Baby G #2

I feel a little bit guilty for not writing much about this pregnancy so far, at least compared to Evan's pregnancy. I don't want this baby to think that I don't think of "it" as much, even though I know that sounds silly. It's just that Evan does keep us busy, especially now that he's walking all over the place, and my mind is on what to do with him most of the time. 

I have felt much better after being sick those 2 weeks or so, which was almost 2 months ago. I have gone back and forth about whether I think this baby is a boy or girl. We were leaning towards girl when it seemed like the pregnancies were so different, but then I started feeling better almost right away, so now I feel like it is a boy. We shall see next Thursday! Hopefully Baby G #2 will cooperate for the camera and show us the "goods!' We have kind of put off planning much for this baby until we go for our appointment next week. Once we know what sex the baby is, we can look at whether or not we need more baby clothes, a new bed set, what to do with the nursery, etc. 

All of our energy right now has gone into the house. So once we find out the gender of the baby, and see how our house will do on the market, we will put more energy into working on new baby stuff. It is nice to already have a lot of the basic baby needs that we used with Evan. All we have to do is figure out whether we want another crib or just move Evan to a big boy bed, find out whether we need girl clothes, look at a double stroller of some sort, and mentally prepare for how to deal with two babies rather than one! Easy, right?!

I can feel the baby move more and more, which is very exciting! It still feels like popcorn, but I can now feel a stretching feeling when lying on my side if the baby is moving. I can't wait to be able to interact with the baby more and more. That is one thing that I missed first when Evan was born. By the way, babycenter says that our baby is the size of a bell pepper this week!

The heartburn started again a few days ago. It is not bad yet, but I know what I'm in for this time around. I guess it started around 3 or 4 months with Evan as well, so it's not much different this time. 

As far as names go, we have a few girl names picked out, but are not definite about any of them. We have no boy names picked out (even though I think it's a boy!). It's hard to think of a name in the first place, as well as one that sounds good with a sibling. Once we find out the gender, we can narrow the list down; I mean, we have 5 more months to think, right?! (That will go by soooo fast!).

I will try to write things down about this pregnancy more often, even if it's just to remember details 20 years from now. 

Evan's Baph

I was talking with my friend Judy today, and telling her this story, and her reaction made me want to write the story down so that I wouldn't forget it.

Last night, Chris was working for the Spring High School MS Region Night (the HS kids get together with all of the MS kids going to region and help them, along with playing games and eating junk food for hours). So Evan and I had a night to ourselves just having fun. Right before taking Evan to get ready for his night night routine, we were sitting on the floor, Evan cuddled up and sitting on my lap, and we were watching Barney. I was enjoying the moment snuggled with him, and he turns to look at me and says, "Baph?!"

I thought it was so cute that he was thinking independently and thought a bath would be fun! Of course we went to take a bath!

So I woke up to find this...

A HUGE wolf spider just sitting on one of Evan's toys...yikes! If you know me, then you know I'm not the biggest fan of spiders, especially big ones. I just stared at it for a second, then went for a fly swatter. Then I stared at it again while I contemplated how I could do this without making it mad and jumping at me if I missed! It was kind of precariously perched on the side of the ball, and I didn't want to try to kill it an miss...So, I went to get Chris, which, let's face it, is an even bigger baby about bugs than me! (I can say this because he knows it's true! Especially roaches!). But I needed his help for this one! I'm just glad that Evan didn't find the spider while playing with his toys! Yuck.

Another cool thing that I found again this morning was a hummingbird sitting on our back patio. I put out my feeder about a week ago, and we have had a few hummingbirds visit it. This morning one was just perched on our gazebo, just fluffed up and looking around. Evan and I actually braved the wasps yesterday afternoon and sat out on the deck watching 2 of them fight. He thought it was quite cool, and would whisper like me when one was around. Once, the 2 fighting birds came very close to our heads as they flew around, and he made the cutest face! It was a very nice afternoon to sit outside; the breeze felt wonderful, and it was fun to sit and watch the hummingbirds together!

Evan's 1st Playdate

Our Sunday School class seems to have so many couples with young children, that they have started a play-date group that meets on Friday mornings. When I decided to be a stay-at-home Mom last year, I was really excited about being able to participate in this! We went to a place called Monkey Bizness, located on the Beltway past West Rd., and was full of inflatable moonwalks. It was only $5 before 11am for Evan, and parents are free with a child! I think it's only $7.50 per child after 11am. If your child likes to bounce, then this is the place for you!

http://www.monkeybizness.com/02open.html

(first thing he noticed was the ball...not the huge moonwalks surrounding us!)

(they all started to cry at the same time!)

I knew that Evan wasn't really into moonwalks from a past birthday party experience, but I thought he might have outgrown his fear. Not true! Well, not totally true. It took a while for him to get inside one of the inflatables, and I had to basically wear him like a scarf to even get him to try it! He clung to me the entire time! He would eventually jump while holding onto my shoulders, but would not let go of me. He was actually more interested in the rock wall and blow-up balls that were scattered around the place. He did have fun once we were in an open area away from the moonwalks, though! If I set him down anywhere near a group of them, he would say, "Uh-uh!" and grab my shoulders again. But if we were far enough away, then I could set him down and let him explore the place on his own terms. I hope that I can be the kind of Mom that is there for her kids, but also give them the courage to try new things without being afraid. 

Even if he didn't enjoy actually jumping, I enjoyed watching him play with the other kids who showed up (Ellie, Jackson, & Latham). I think he also enjoyed being around kids his own age and watching them play. Maybe seeing that will give him the courage to try it himself one day? Who knows; but I do know that I'm glad that he knows that we are there for him, even if he is very reserved right now.

We can't wait for many more awesome play-dates! 

(If you want to keep track of what some of our play-dates include, you can check out our Sunday School Momsense Blog here).

Ingredients of a Twinkie

I found this website the other day, and thought it was pretty funny. Read on, especially if you like to eat Twinkies! I think you'll be surprised (if it's true!)! Apparently some of the ingredients are jet fuel and rocks...

http://www.divinecaroline.com/22107/35281-twinkie--ingredients-revealed

Justice for Jennifer

Our friend Jennifer, whose story was on the news a few weeks ago about being abducted from her apartment when 8 years old, will have a story on America's Most Wanted, TONIGHT at 8 pm. You can catch it on Fox (channel 26).

http://www.amw.com/

Evan's New Words

Evan has added a few words to his vocabulary, and I wanted to jot them down before I forgot.

Nigh Nigh (night night)

Fish (Fss)

Birds (bds)

Spoon (boon)

Poo (he will tell us when he uses his diaper!)

Bula (baloon, of course!)

Baph (bath)

Do (door)

Go Go!

Down (dow)

No

Mine

Hi

I think that is it. He seems to copy everything we do lately, and surprises us daily with something new that he does or says, so I might be missing some! Love that little man!

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PS~He is walking all the way now! He has been for about the past week. No more crawling, unless it's to get away from Daddy chasing him on the floor! He's not running or anything yet, and still catches his balance sometimes, but he's definitely gotten the hang of it!

Drummer in the House?

I think Evan likes visiting his Daddy at work, what do you think?!

Evan playing with Dovey, Chris' co-worker's daughter

Evan, go for the bassoon! College scholarship!

Labor Day Weekend

We had such a great weekend! The weather was great, Chris had a 3 day weekend, and we were able to work on the house but still had time to relax together as a family! 

I hope that the weather stays the way it was this weekend, because it was beautiful! I mean, we do live in Houston, so we can't totally get away from the humidity, but overall it has been really nice. I absolutely LOVE fall weather, so I'm really excited about that season finally coming around. It is just so hard to get anything done when the weather is 110 degrees outside! We all felt so energized this weekend simply because the weather was nice!

As you can see, we finally went to buy Evan some new shoes. He was wearing size 3 shoes, and they were just getting too tight. So I go to Walmart to look for a pair or two, and came home with 3...because I couldn't resist these boots! Aren't they adorable?! I guess that is the country girl in me, I just love a man in boots! I mean, you have to admit that the t-shirt, diaper, and boots is a good look!!!

We absolutely LOVED getting to hang out as a family this weekend. There was plenty of work to be done, and I've already posted about how amazing my husband is for working on our house this weekend. I really think that the end is in sight and that we might be able to call the realtor by the end of the week! (Side note: The house that Chris and I fell in love with a few weeks ago, which we thought had an Option Pending (without showing the house anymore), now simply says Pending Continue to Show... I don't know if that means it will stay on the market longer and will be around if our house sells quickly, but it's a good sign at least!).

Evan dancing to Barney (so cute!)

Evan and Chris were watching football, and it's amazing what kids will pick up on! Evan started squatting down, and would jump up when Chris said Hut! I had a longer video that wouldn't fit on the blog, where Evan did this over and over!

Since we hadn't planned to go South to visit family due to not realizing it was a 3 day weekend (which is a nice surprise!!), we invited family to our house for hamburgers and time together. Mama D, Nick, Alia, and Aiden were able to make it over for a great time! Of course, since we hadn't used our grill in a WHILE due to wasps in our deck which never seem to go away, we found out that it was totally rusted through and unusable! Guess I should add a new grill to a gift list sometime soon! So, we "grilled" burgers on our stove, but they still tasted great! And there seems to be no pictures of us hanging out, because our time was definitely devoted to the handsome babies that were with us. 

Aiden, almost 2 months old

Evan decided that it was time to give his cousin a nice, big, wet kiss! Aiden wasn't exactly sure what was going on, but went with the flow pretty well! It was so cute to see them interacting, because we can't wait to see them play together and grow close as they get older!

This is Aiden right after Evan's kiss... I'm not sure he knew what was happening!

We also decided that we should take a picture of the boys' feet together since they look so much alike (features, not coloring!). Can you tell whose feet belong to whom??!! It's just a mass of feet!

I'm sorry that I didn't take more pictures of everyone else, but we were all there and had a fantastic time getting to spend time together. We hope that all of you had a wonderful Labor Day weekend, and are refreshed to start a new week!