House shopping

Since January I've been trolling realtor dot com for housing. Folks, stuff was (is...) kind of bleak. Just nothing. So T and discussed it (I think my exact phrasing was, "The housing market is POOP.") then and we thought, "Hey! What about building a house?"

Now it's important to note that T has opinions. When we were planning our wedding he was there with his opinions. As we've bought things for our house, opinions. So when we bought our house 10 years ago, there is no way on God's green earth that we could have built for surely it would have meant divorce due to these ever present opinions. And, like, an ugly divorce too.

Plus we didn't know how we lived or used space, how many or even if we'd have children, nor what we liked in neighborhoods. But now we know all of those things, so building seems less fraught with a broken marriage. 

We've been assigned an agent in New Town and she is great. She and I have been emailing every day for the last few months and I pepper her with questions and she sends me (T is "cc"ed--he's got spreadsheets to handle) listings and details and answers to my questions.

On Saturday we drove over to New Town and left the small fries with my parents. We left at 7:30am full of promise and hope and excitement. We had ten houses plus one development to look at. We had three developments in consideration originally, but T drove through them and took video (the video is like bad surveillance footage from that show "Cheaters") to show me and we eliminated two of the three for their cruddy lots and cookie cutter look.

Anyway, on Saturday we only ended up seeing seven houses plus the development. What is happening as spring approaches is that more houses are going up on the market and if they are even remotely non-creepy, or even nice, then they are going under contract within days of listing. This has happened a few times to us--homes that we want to see being snagglepussed from viewings--but none of them have been ones I've been crushed about so, eh?

What Saturday did give us, though, was the opportunity to see practically the entire spectrum of homes: 

• a ginormous house that is a foreclosure
• a ranch in a different town
• a 1920s colonial that needed a lot of work but was right in town but on a busy road
• a 1950s ranch in town that was super wee
• a home in a subdivision with township taxes
• old historical home in a town with not nice schools
• nice newer home in a town with not nice schools
• model home in the development we like

So it was a ton of information and we were able to rule things out--living in town because decent homes cost twice what we want to spend and are barely 1100 square feet. Also, having to worry about not nice schools--really effectively. 

The two hour meeting with the sales manager of the development told us a lot (oh my gosh T was a drooling mouthbreather by the end while I was invigorated--if that tells you anything about our personalities). What our next steps are to secure a floor plan and lot we like, timeframe for building, and the exact upgrades we are interested in (see also: many). 

What T and I kind of figured out is that our current home is one we wanted to stay in forever, and that is something we'd like to set our sights on in New Town. I'd rather not find something and fear we'd outgrow it if there are other options.

Our plan is to go over one more time next week while the kids are in school and scout out a few more homes in a close-ish town to New Town and also look at a development in that area. After that, we're going to make a decision. T leaves for Europe for a large part of May, I start teaching a lot, and our house will be on the market. 

Time to get crack a lackin'!

Otherwise this will be me with our belongings.

Moving!

Those strange things that were afoot at the Circle K? They are because we're moving!

Talks with T's boss started in the fall and then due to the holidays and the all consuming Auto Show, quieted down. Then they resumed in February and we've been quietly finalizing details ever since. 

In the fall and then early January is when I felt the most sadness, and it fell into three camps: our house, Ezra's school, Iris' school.

Our house. The one we've been in for almost ten years and then one I thought my children would be able to call their childhood home. The one I thought T and I could retire in. Our neighborhood has families like this, and it's what I wanted, too. The home that is around the block from Ezra's school and the one we've put so much time and love and money into. It is not perfect, but it fits us wonderfully.

Ezra's school. Oh, how he has been loved and cared for and taught so much at this school. It is the perfect combination of faith and competitive academics that we love. It is a neighborhood school. It was one we were committed to through high school. 

Iris' school. You already know how much I adore them, and how they have loved my children. I've trusted these teachers for 40 hours a week for almost six years now. That is some trust right there.

But it's what we need to do for our family. For the last three years, 80% of T's travel is due to working on the other side of the state. It started off years ago as meetings once or twice a week and now it's him sleeping there 4 nights a week, home on the weekends. His role has evolved and changed in so many ways with this company in the twenty-five years he's worked for them, and they value him so much. So this move will have him home more during the week and it will be wonderful. I will miss so much about where we live, but I'm tired of missing my husband and feeling bored and lonely during the week when he's gone. The rest of T's travel will still happen overseas, but that'll feel like chump change.

As for my job, that is a tidgy bit up in the air. Two options, really: 1) I quit and am done in early to mid-June. 2) I take the summer off and am able to work at a campus library in our new locale in the fall. Option #2 is the decision of someone higher up the food chain at work, so we'll see what comes down. I'm not sweating it.

The relocation package T was given has us not sweating selling our house (we have a guaranteed buy-out after 30 days on the market) or packing (we have a full pack/load/unpack) or worrying about immediate housing (furnished housing for a length of time), so in the meantime I've been making a spreadsheet about new preschools for Muffin, looking into public and private schools for Ezra in our new area and handling the umpteen calls between the relocation manager, agents in town, agent out of town, insurance people, title companies, appraisals, and the plaster man coming to fix the crack in our ceiling that perpetually freaks Ezra out. And trying to anticipate what the heck our lives will look like come mid-June. 

This summer will be a new one for us. Kind of like of the summer of 2008 when I was home with a new baby Ezra and not really knowing what I'd gotten myself into. And kind of like the summer of 2010 when Iris came home and she and I got to know one another at home, not at the hospital. I can't anticipate at all where we'll be eating, sleeping or playing. I've gotten better with the unknown--I think I have Iris to thank for this--as I no longer need a paper bag to breathe into.

Adventures are good!

It feels right

Soon after I found out that we were having twins, T and I ordered two cribs. I thought we might as well since, shoot, even though we won't need them for awhile, we eventually will. 

Hrmmm.

Iris' room obviously sat empty for a length of time and we moved the extra crib box down into our basement. I called Babies R' Us to see about returning it, but since 90 days had passed and I could no longer find the receipt, accepting it as a return was special needs. I didn't have the energy to deal with that.

My mom offered to pick it up and ship it back to Babies R' Us since we ordered it online, but again--too much energy, too much thought. 

And so it sat unopened in our basement. The fog in my head eventually lifted and I decided that we would keep it and donate it. Donate it to a cause or group or individual where I felt good and at peace about where it was going. 

There was a drive at church for baby items and I contemplated donating it then, but it didn't feel quite right.

T cleaned out our basement a few weeks ago and we put a crapton of things out in the garage for Salvation Army to pick-up and even more things out on the curb with a "Free!" sign on them. "Should I move that box out?" he asked. "No. I'm keeping it and going to donate it when it feels right." "Okay," he said.

A few weeks ago I and one of Iris' beloved teachers at school were talking about weekend plans. She shared that she and her boyfriend might go shopping for a bed for the sweet boy that stays with them; hopefully soon staying overnight.

"I have a bed! I mean, it's a crib, but it's a 4-in-1 and new in the box and you're more than welcome to have it. Really. It's white, so hopefully that doesn't feel too girly, but it's never been used. No pressure, though, if you decide it's not for you. Truly."

It came out of my mouth before I even realized it.

And so she is going to take it to their home for their little boy.

I didn't tell her how or why we happen to have an extra crib in a box in our basement. I was worried--and am even still a bit apprehensive--that it would or will be seen as the Crib for the Baby That Died. 

But this woman, Iris' teacher, means the world to us and so I'm happy that the bed is finding its perfect home.

Animals, I tell you

I am not naturally assertive. 

In fact, I remember my mom buying me a book shortly after she and my dad were married that was written for kids to help them understand how to be assertive versus aggressive. Not that I'm naturally aggressive either. Probably the only physically aggressive thing I've done is push down this one boy from junior high youth group who always teased me (and now I can't even remember about what). So I pushed him down and, of all things, stomped on his chest with my winter-booted foot. I probably had crazy eyes, too. At any rate, he never teased me again and my crush at the time witnessed it and I could see my esteem go up in his eyes. Alas, he still never asked me out.

Anyway, I am finding that while I still don't really have assertiveness in spades, levels are rising as I'm getting older--especially as it relates to Ezra and Iris and other ill-mannered children.

When we were at Great Wolf Lodge a month or so ago, Iris and I were walking around and scoping out the lay of the land. In the middle of the indoor swimming area is this:



And on the side, up about 14 feet, are water squirt guns. Some prepubescent rat weasel was up there squirting people and as Iris and I neared walking under it, I gave him The Mom Look.

Listen, I get that getting wet and splashed is par for the course and I wasn't there to be uptight and harsh his mellow. But we were dry, Iris is little and I could see the glint in his eye, so I shot him the look and a strongly worded "DON'T." before he could decide otherwise. I also maybe stared at him as we walked by to make sure he knew that I meant business. 

He got the message.

Me having to address some pint-sized squirrely behavior also happened at the indoor trampoline place I took the kids to yesterday. I understand that kids lose their fool minds in places like this (coughEZRAcough), but if your spaziness starts to impact my children, I will speak up. 

The main rule while trampolining is to stay on your own rectangle; don't bounce on someone else's. It's not a difficult rule, yet there was a little boy maybe Ezra's age who was running apeshit everywhere; on everyone's rectangle. Ezra stared at me pointedly because he knows the rectangle rule, but aside from being irritating and causing me to wonder where the hell this kid's parents were--it wasn't really impacting us. And then he bounced on Iris' rectangle and she toppled over and landed weird. Iris didn't cry and she got up and kept bouncing and was fiiiine, but, little boy?, knock it off. 

So he came raring around again and I shouted at him (shouting due to loud music; not me being scary and het up), "Hey! Stay off her trampoline." I even narrowed my eyes. He didn't bounce on her rectangle again.

It's not my m.o. to go around correcting the questionable behavior of other children. For the most part, I don't even care. I figure that's on the parents for when the children turn 16 and are possibly sneaking out of bedroom windows and huffing gasoline (I don't know). But I'm not going to stand by and let some kid squirt Iris needlessly or knock her down on her face.

I want Ezra and Iris to know that it's okay to speak up if someone is doing something they don't like. And I want them to know their mom was willing to do it when needed.

Random useless tidbits

Iris had her follow-up appointment and weight check at the feeding clinic last week and all is well.

She is down a tidgy bit of weight, but also grew two inches since December. Yeah. So that explains why her dresses and pants are short. 

The doctor and dietician thought she was a-okay to be done with her purees and to continue to be patient with her growth as a eater. She is still considered a "new eater" (it's been less than a year of chewing), so coughs and tiring are normal. But her strength will continue grow, just as it has been.

****

Our snow has finally melted. 



Aaaaaand then we were left with the cootie yard nonsense buried since November.

So we spent all day Saturday raking and tidying up and cleaning out the garage and the kids were happy because they were finally old enough to putter about and we were happy that they had enough sense to not run into the road. It's a good age for finally being able to have both T and I outside doing things together, and not have one person outside doing the yard work and one person inside tending to small people. It's been five and a half years. Dang.

Anyway. Lots of fresh air and walks and playground time was glorious.

Pictures!

Iris is pro-swing.
Ezra is consistently distrusting of their
structural integrity and swingy-ness.

****

Ezra is on spring break this week and, my lands, does it make for an easier schedule for all of us.

No weekly worksheets to do (Ezra) or daily snacks to pack (me). No driving him to school and then driving Iris to school--I'm taking them both to preschool/school age care at the same facility. No art projects to discuss or intentional questions to ask about what he learned and what he did while we sit at dinner. And then there's one easy pick-up at the end of the day which gives us about twenty to thirty extra minutes once home. He is going on fun field trips and swimming and things. It's win-win. Plus Ezra and Iris LOVE seeing each other throughout the day and it's wonderful.

Ezra isn't at home lounging all day, but it's still a vacation for him; for all of us.

****

I am wearing this shirt today and ohhhhhh I recommend.



It's super soft. Drapey, but not too thin. Nice coral color. Wide neckline, but one that doesn't make for tricky bra strap action. Did I mention soft? Soft.

****
I just want to say that T is a very good teammate to have.

Sure, sometimes he jacks his pajama pants up and then calls my name so that I turned around and am accosted with the sight of the toe of the camel. And, sure, sometimes he gives me hassle and then plays dumb. But overall he is good stuff.

****

What is random with you?

Newb 2.0

So!

An update!

Thank you so much for all of your app tips last week--they helped. I downloaded:

The Weather Channel app
My lands is this thing better than the iPhone weather app. I love it and my ability to stalk spring weather.

Period Tracker 
T asked if it had a bobcat feature that would rawr when things were about to turn tetchy. It does not.

Amazon Instant Video
Best thing ever! While I was doing weekly food prep in the kitchen this past weekend, I put on a movie, propped my phone up and went to town while watching The Thomas Crowne Affair. I think all of this goes back to my intense love for Amazon Prime. I was but a shell of a person before that came into my life.

PBS Kids
I know I said "no kids apps," but I love this one. It has, like, three buttons to push and you can scroll through all of the PBS shows along the right. That's it. No games or other whatnot. Just shows. Iris would love to be on a steady diet of Curious George, so this is perfect.

Wikipedia
I like reading the daily featured articles.

Etsy
I love looking at some really nice and some really ridiculous crafts. That is all.

I forgot to mention that I'd already been using my bank's site and Starbucks, so now I feel flush with techy fabulousness.

Oh! And I delved into music last night and listened to Apple Radio and, oh my lands, it's handy. 

I feel so fancy, guys.

Newb

As you may be aware, I was loyal to the AABerry for a long time. It had a keyboard! I didn't need it for video or music or other new fangled things! It was small!

Well, then the Berry pulled a disappearing act (did I tell you I actually found it in my car about three months later?) (derp) (I swear on all that's holy I turned the car upside down looking for it--even having Iris and her little raccoon paws looking under the seats) and that same day I joined 2013 and got an iPhone. A co-worker gave me a tutorial and I was rollin'. Kind of. Like remedial rollin'.

My upgrade date finally rolled around in March, so last week I got an iPhone 5. The camera is noice and it's a 16GB, but I'm still only really using it for:

1. Email
2. Instagram
3. Pinterest
4. Twitter
5. Text messages
6. Checking the weather to see how many sweaters I need to dress the children in
7. Calling my mom and dad

I feel like it is probable that I'm not using it for all that I could. Thing is, I'm not entirely sure what "that" is.

So I need your help. What else should I be using for phone for? Apps for me? (side note: no apps for children) Um, I can use it to listen to music, right?, when I workout? 

Please don't laugh.

Just help.