Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day, friends!  I kicked off the holiday by returning at midnight from pulling quarter-round off every baseboard on the first floor of the new house.  The floors have all been completely sanded upstairs and the guys are already half-way done sanding the downstairs. Not too shabby for their first day.   I think we have settled on a floor stain which we'll test out tomorrow. I wish I had time to finish removing the quarter-round upstairs, but this mama hit her limit tonight. 

Today I had my 15 week check-up and everything seems to be going as it should at this stage.  After we got P tucked into bed, Tom and I finally told him that I had a baby in my belly.  He smiled his sheepish smile and seemed excited.  He was rather curious about how the baby was going to come out.  He is also fairly certain it is a boy, and has named the baby Oscar.  As I left the room, he said, "Don't forget mom, don't lose Oscar".  Thank goodness God does tuck our babies neatly inside or I probably would misplace the kid several times in the course of a week. 

A New Chapter (Or Two)

As of 4:00 today, Tom and I had the keys to our new home in hand.  We headed over to the house after the closing, just the two of us, to walk through the home where the next chapter of our lives will be lived.

Chapter 1:  Lots of late night unpacking and working on a host of new projects

Chapter 2:  Lots of  late nights up with the baby.

  I know, I know, I am already 14 weeks and I kept meaning to come up with a really creative way to announce on the blog, but we have just been so busy.

Here is what you need to know about Baby #3:

Baby is due the first week of August, but since I have already had two c-sections, this baby will also be delivered via a scheduled c-section at the end of July.  I have had a bit more queasiness this round, but not to the point where I have been sick.  Lots of exhaustion, but I think most of that can be chalked up to putting a house on the market. Otherwise, this pregnancy is pretty identical to my other two.  So yes, I think it is a boy.

Will we find out the sex?  Probably.  Initially I did not want to find out, but Tom does, and frankly it only works if both mom and dad don't know.  That won't happen until March though. 

We haven't really told P yet.  I mean, we talk about with him in the room, but when I mention that my belly is getting bigger, he just says it is because I am growing.  Ahhh.  I have a check-up Wednesday, and if everything goes well, we plan on sitting him down and spelling it out for him. 

Is that enough news for one blog post?

P's School Valentine's

This year, I saw the cutest idea for a valentine in a parenting magazine (I can't recall which one).  I of course headed to my favorite website, Etsy.com, to see if I could find some creative person offering the idea up for sale (I've been a little busy).  Found exactly what I needed at PBJandJ's shop, http://www.etsy.com/listing/92157145/printable-valentines-cards-swedish-fish?  For $5, you get the digital file and can print away. 

To complete the project, here is all you need:

• White card stock to print on
• Bubble shaped bags from Michael's (about $4 for 100)
• Ribbon to top off the bags once they are filled
• 4 bags of Swedish Fish (3 if you can control yourself and not eat them during the entire project).  Yep, turns out I needed4 bags.
• I also added a cute photo of P that I hole punched to each bag since he needs about a foot long piece of paper to write his name.

It took about 25 minutes to cut out the 32 fishbowls which print 4 to a page, and another 45 minutes to assemble them all.  Well worth it.  Highly recommend you head over to PBJand J at Etsy to get the instant download if you don't have your V-Day card idea yet. And just buy the extra bag of fish. You'll be glad you did.

Going, Going...

Gone!  We started showings on Sunday in conjunction with the agent's open house, the house hit online Tuesday afternoon, and as of this evening, we have a signed contract for our home!  I have heard great things about the new buyers, a young married couple, and I think they will love living here as much as we have.  I have had some bouts of sadness when I think about leaving this house and our neighbors, but God clearly has a new plan for us.  Tom pointed out this evening that this will be P's fourth residence in  his 3 1/2 years.  Yikes.  That is a lot of packing and unpacking. 

So overly thankful that this exhausting period is coming to an end so we can begin the exhausting period of making our new house feel like home.  I just scheduled the floor re-finisher to begin on the hardwoods Wednesday morning, and we will get some painting estimates before we even start to think about moving things over. 

Thanks to everyone who has heard me whine and complain, and offered us shelter during the multitude of showings. 
(Boy, have the kids been great about the whole thing)

Grand Central Station

That's right, after officially hitting the market yesterday afternoon, our house has been getting a ton of traffic.  Feeling very optimistic about things right now.  I also feel like we have hardly been home since yesterday to accommodate all the showings.  Thanks goodness for gracious neighbors who have taken us in, and the fact that Baba's house is just around the corner.  The For Sale sign was put in place in the yard this morning, so there is no going back.

The Meticulously Maintained House

Exactly how long can I keep up with the nearly perfect state of my house?  About as long as you keep can keep a labrador out of the water once you get to the beach (for those who have never had or known a lab, it isn't long).   We haven't gotten any feedback from our showing yesterday, but we already have another showing lined up for tomorrow evening.  Tomorrow at some point our house should hit the MLS and finally be online.  There is a mini-open house scheduled for Thursday.  Sell house, sell. 

The housing situation has consumed us all.  Cleaning and little projects are all we do.  I am not a very fun mom right now and I know I am short with the kids more than they deserve.  Our closing is one week from today!

Saturday

Snow is starting to gently fall this Saturday morning.  Tom and Patrick are off to Home Depot for a few supplies and should also return with a Valentine's Card Holder (today's kid's craft).  I just vacuumed bugs out of every window sill in the house.  Exciting, huh?  Although are house won't be listed until this coming Thursday, we actually had an agent request a showing for their client this Sunday, as in tomorrow.  Yikes.  It will be a day of scrubbing off all signs of the kids from doors, windows and appliances.  All painting here is officially DONE.  A few more bins of stuff will be moved out of the house in one final attempt to de-clutter.

In other words, I think we have the house looking pretty good.  Okay, the toilet is no longer in the front yard.  We thought that gave the wrong first impression.