Hi!

Hi!
Just thought I'd let you know we are still here. :)
I haven't blogged in so long it's taking me a few minutes to think of everything that has happened since my last entry.

We sold our current house! Yay! I'm nervous to say too much about it selling because we haven't had the closing yet. We are supposed to close on April 18th, but the buyer has requested an earlier close. I called the realtor to let her know that we can do it earlier, but I haven't heard back from her yet. Therefore, the closing date on our current house is somewhat in the air at this time.

We closed on our new house March 27th. So exciting!! Fortunately my Mom was able to watch N while D and I closed. She even stayed the majority of the day so D and I could work on the house. We finished the cubbies/lockers with mail sorting bins and hooks, we started baby proofing, I cleaned, and we went to town to buy N a new furniture set. The one that he has been using is a hand me down from my sister (Thanks again, sis) which I think she bought off a former coworker. We'll just say it's definitely gotten its use, but it's not sturdy enough to handle N any more. He's a pretty solid boy and he's very strong. The search for a new crib turned into a trek across the earth. D and I fell in love with a set at Target. The set is beautifully displayed on an end cap in the baby section for all the world to see. It might as well have a spot light and fancy music playing over it... but do you think they have any in stock?? No. They couldn't even locate one piece of the set in the entire state! After much searching and store hopping (we don't bar hop anymore, we store hop...for baby stuff. ha!) we settled on a set that was in stock. It's cute and it works, but it doesn't quite live up to the gorgeous set we had picked out originally.

Anyway...back to house stuff.
We had our final inspection (on old house) a couple weeks ago. N and I had to be out of the house for two hours for the "examination" (for lack of a better word) to take place. And wouldn't you know it they insisted on coming smack dab in the middle of nap time! Don't these people understand the importance of nap time? So N and I packed up and hung out at the new house for lunch, nap time, and snack time. It turned out to be a better experience than I thought it would be. N took a pretty good nap and I was able to get a few things done while he slept. The worst part of the whole deal??? The inspector had to test the outlets in the house and in doing so he reset our clocks, my kitchen radio, and the microwave. I still don't have the kitchen radio reset. Urgh.. But, if that's the worst of it I'd say we're doing pretty good.

We have been packing to prepare for the move. It didn't take me long to figure out that packing with a todller around is a major challenge. N is into to EVERYTHING!! I lay a box out to fill, he sits in it and says "we ride, we ride." I put items in the box, he pulls them out. I set boxes by the back door to load in the car, he climbs on them and says "Sit Down" in a very familiar tone... So, by the end of packing N has gone for a ride in a box, has removed (and added) item to boxes and he's climbing on top of them. Can't wait to see what's in the boxes when I unpack them and it anything is broken. I actually am a little excited to see what "treats" he has put in the boxes for me. I try to remind myself that any little bonus items I find are treasures. Some day I will look back at this move and N will be all grown up and I will give anything to hear his little voice and see him walking towards me saying "hug, hug, hug" or "We watch Elmo, we watch Elmo, we watch Elmo." He's very into repeating himself these days. :)

The hardest part of this move in the confusion it is causing N. For the most part he has done pretty well with it. He is familiar with the new house but he doesn't recognize it as ours. He has no idea that we are going to be living there soon. We talk to him about it, but how much can he truely understand at his age?? When we visit he plays with his toys, climbs the steps, looks at the fans (and potties). Then when he's ready to leave, he heads to the back door, reaches for the handle and says "Bye, bye house... Home please, home please, home please." I hope it doesn't take him too long to adapt. I hope we can do the right things to make our new place feel like home for him.

We are moving into our new house this Saturday April 5th. We'll have a couple of weeks to visit our old house before we have to give it up. I haven't made the mental leap that there will come a day when we cannot come into this house at our own leisure. I might just be putting up a mental block on that concept. Like I said before. It's going to be really hard for me to leave this house. We have finished the basement, built the deck, painted the walls. This was our first house together. We had cook outs, birthdays, anniversaries and holidays in this house. We brought our first baby home to this house... Ahh, the memories.... As I get choked up thinking about leaving this home I remind myself that I am able to figuratively visit this house in my memories and in my pictures/videos. I will take a moment to walk through the house when it stands empty of our belongings. I will relive special moments.... I will pack those moments into my memory, close the door and move on. As they say... "When one door closes, another opens."

(New pictures to come soon... Where did I put the camera?? Oops.)