*Catching Up* Welcome Home--June 25,2008

Our first time in the house after it became ours!

Our realtor, Sarah, left us this beautiful plant!

Tessa is testing out the floor.

Sarah also left us some fun by the fireplace! Ooo, la, la!

She didn't forget the kiddos either! They loved these fake teeth and other toys she had placed in their bedrooms!

Thanks Sarah! Such an exciting day!

Updates

This is the home we were supposed to move into in December. Alas, the time for our contingency has expired, and we have not sold our current home, so we had to cancel our contract today. I am still hopeful that we may be able to come back in a couple of months and buy it (or one like it) as a spec. It is a little depressing, if for nothing else, how much effort had been put into this purchase so far (picking carpet and tile was stress, enough!), but in this crazy market there was no way that we could gamble that the home would sell before we were obligated to purchase the new one. In the meantime, I really need to have the house off of the market for the rest of Oct., since I this little one could make her debut anytime, and we will have company for most of the month.


Which brings me to my other update. I am officially due on Oct. 16, but have been told since my midwife appt. on Sept. 25, that things are progressing and this baby could come anytime. I was thinking more in terms of Oct. 20th since Trenton was 4 days late. It was good to be warned, because with all of the other chaos (house, other kids, Barry's busy work schedule), we have not been ready. My sister, Shanda, got here yesterday and that takes away a huge logistical burden (what to do with the kids when I go into labor). But Barry says he still needs a few more days to get on top of things at work. This picture was taken a little more than a week ago. We went on a date and I was having lots of contractions, so I asked Barry to take a quick belly shot, incase we had to go to the hospital that night, and hadn't documented the belly.

When there is something concrete to post, we will let you all know. In the meantime, we are getting a little more prepared (and excited) each day!

FOR SALE!

If someone had told me a month ago that my home would be on the market today, I would have told them that they were crazy and that that would be impossible. Impossible things are happening everyday, thanks largely to angels who mascarade as family members and drop their lives to come to the rescue.

A couple of weeks ago, Barry and I put down earnest money to buy a new home a few miles from here that will be bigger and better for our growing family. The builders were offering some incentives that weekend only, that made this become a realistic option for us. I nearly backed out when the salesman said we would only have a week or two to get our home on the market. In fact, my words to him were something like, "you don't understand, I haven't done housework since I got pregnant!" (Which might be funny if it weren't mostly the truth). Barry thought we could make it happen, and with a tremendous amount of help from his family and some good friends, our house is now listed on the MLS (# 2799699--if anyone is interested). As part of our program, we are having to sell it at a lower price than we had hoped, but hopefully that will ensure a sale in time to satisfy the new builder. Though we have definately outgrown it, I have loved and put a lot of myself into this home. It is kind of bittersweet to sell.

So this is why I haven't posted any of my fun pictures from my Utah trip or the 4th of July, etc. I have posted pictures of most of the rooms in my house. Mostly because they have never all been this clean at the same time before, and I am sure, that some people (like my Mom who was just here during our Hawaii trip) would never believe it is this clean now, with out some photographic evidence. Also for those who have questioned my design taste, you can finally see what the rooms were mostly meant to look like with out all of the clutter.

Downstairs

Kitchen/Dining Room

Living Room

I couldn't get a very good shot of this room with all of the windows, but you get the idea.

Entry/Stairway

(The Nauvoo brick is not supposed to be there) I have read that for staging, it is good to take down a lot of personal pictures, but I wasn't ready to take down my gallery. Hopefully they see it as decor, not just our stuff.

Guest Bathroom

It is hard to take good pictures in such a small space. I bought new white towels for showing this room, so I have to make the kids go upstairs to wash their hands so they don't mess it up. (It is hard to be a nice Mom when you are trying to sell a home).

Backyard
I like what we did with our small backyard. If you are wondering what that structure is in the picture that shows the grass, it is Barry's attempt to give our little garden some partial shade in this infernal summer heat.

Upstairs

The Loft (my nemesis of the whole week). It actually made the MLS listing. Oops, how did that sippy cup get there?




















Master Bedroom (those lights photograph pretty yellow :-/.)





















Master bath (hard to get a good shot in front of the windows)

Kids Room (if I could just get Kira to straighten the pillow on her bed...and yes, she is still in a toddler bed and very content to be there even though she touches head and foot of the bed when she lays straight. That will change in the new house.