To cut or not to cut

Elsa has developed a mullet, a rat tail, a crazy patch of hair. You be the judge. Some say we should cut it because she looks like a redneck little boy. Steve is against it, I am on the fence. Votes?

Merry Christmas 2013

Just wanted to say Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of our friends and family.

Counting

I have been trying to get a video of Elsa counting to six for about 3 weeks now. Tonight I finally got one!

Where's My Baby?

That moment when it hits you like a ton of bricks that your baby is no longer a baby but a full blown toddler. 

Generational Change

It was bound to happen. We were bound to become adults, parents, old. You know how I know? Because they are using "my" songs to sell me stuff on tv. What are "my" songs you ask? Bust A Move (thank Old Navy for that one). Push It to sell school supplies. I could go on. 

Old. 

What birthday money?

One crappy thing about having my birthday so close to Christmas, is that all my birthday cash goes straight to buying Christmas gifts for other people. Boo!

Uuummmm….NO!

After seeing Santa on Sunday we went to a store to do some shopping for Christmas. Elsa found a toy that was a phone. It looked like an office phone with a cordless handset as well. It has TONS of buttons. She carried the box around with her all over the store. Occasionally she would sit down on the floor and push away at the buttons. One button triggers a message that says something like "This is the operator can I help you?" Every single time Elsa would say "Uuuummmm…NO!" I knew exactly where she was in the store with her daddy and her mormor because I would just listen for "Uuuuummmm…NO!" It was super cute. Needless to say she will be getting that phone from her mormor for Christmas.

Seeing santa

Sunday was my birthday, but it was also Santa Day. Sunday's are great for Santa Day. You don't have to get up too early to get in line, since they don't open until 11am. And if you are there slightly before opening, you can get in and out fairly fast. I got some cute photos as we were waiting in line.

                                              

This is what we ended up with. She wasn't so sure about Santa. She would give him a high five, but she did not want to let go of me. I finally was able to hand her over, but she started crying. Her dress was all messed up so he put her on the floor then picked her up. She loved that and gave us big smiles. So he did that about 3 times and this was the best one. She kind of looks like a rag doll, but she is smiling and that's the important thing right?

Boy stuff Girl stuff

Sitting in the dermatologists waiting room is a sweet little boy about 2 and his mom. To keep him busy they start looking through the Toys-R-Us catalog. As he points to things he likes the mom responds "no you don't. You don't like girly stuff."  And then says "you like boy stuff." And I want to yell "dang it lady he says he likes it let him like it!!!" Who cares if it's "girly stuff" or "boy stuff?" 

And yes if I ever have a boy he can like whatever he wants. Whatever makes him happy. Besides anything he would get would be an Elsa hand me down anyways. 

Why do kids toys have to be gender specific? Ugh!!

School Days

We have been so fortunate to have had the best sitter for Elsa. She was originally recommended to me by a board member of the Museum. Come to find out she had worked with my bestie's mom at St. Patricks school, was my bestie's sister's kindergarten teacher, and is close friends with one of my co-workers. It all fell into place beautifully. We have felt so comfortable with her care, her home, and her family. And most importantly, Elsa adores her.

Alas, all good things must come to an end. She will be moving to Atlanta in the foreseeable future. Her house is currently for sale and once she sells it, she will be off to her new adventure as grandma extraordinaire. In the back of my mind I knew it was coming. Her granddaughter is the same age as Elsa. She has been up there a few times, as has her other daughters, to help take care of her. It was only a matter of time.

Elsa will transition into a more structured school setting. I knew we would do this eventually, but I just hoped we would get at least one more year with her sitter first. I have visited the daycare right at the end of our street and I am comfortable with their facilities and administrators. I have yet to meet the woman that will be her teacher, but we will before we make the final transition. The bonus is we will be able to walk Elsa to and from school everyday. Saves time and gas. We still aren't sure exactly when this will take place, but sometime after the holidays.

I am not too concerned about her ability to adapt. She is such an outgoing and laid-back kid. I do worry she will be sad about not seeing her sitter, but we will deal with that as it comes. She will have a MUCH more structured day. And in some ways that is very good.

It is bitter sweet that our munchkin is growing up and transitioning to a "big girl" school, while leaving her only other caretaker she has known since practically birth. Wish us luck!

Beebo

Beebo is Brisco the dog's new name courtesy of Elsa.

Holiday projects 2013

Holiday decorating has started with two crafty projects. Both were inspired by Pinterest and I'm so happy with how they turned out!

First a tree holiday card holder. Made from 1x2's and a 1x3, some acrylic paint, and mini clothespins.  

The second project was an advent calendar for Elsa. I used mini galvanized buckets (originally wedding favors from Michaels), stencil for the numbers, acrylic paint and ribbon. 

Thanksgiving 2013

This year I am thankful for my beautiful family, my new spacious home, a steady job and wonderful friends!

I Looove YOU!

I am declaring this Elsa's first sentence. I am ignoring "nite nite" and "uh oh."

Our Little Pond

More new house posting....

We have a pond! Not just any pond, but one with live koi and a waterfall. Photos of this from the listing is what got us out to look at the house to begin with. The rest of the photos of the house were just awful and really didn't represent the house well.  So it's a good thing we wanted to see the pond!

Waterfall, with greenhouse in the background

Our Yard

Our new house has he most amazing yard. Every time I am out there I find a new fabulous plant. It has been full of surprises.

Here is a list of what we have found so far:
shrimp plant, amazon lily, hydrangeas, oak leaf hydrangeas, Glorybower, yellow cestrum, bottle brush, chinese fringe bush, orange tree, pear tree, azaleas, thai plant, mexican heather, white sage, canna lily, variegated fern, elephant ears, fire spike, 4 o'clocks, beautyberry, camellia, chenille plant, bromeliads, persian shield, variegated legustrum, crepe myrtle, wandering jew, cigar plant, necklace pod, roses, jasmine, mondo grass, walking iris, trumpet tree, lariope, coleus, caladiums, variegated holly fern, and a ton of gingers (butterfly ginger blue ginger, peacock ginger, variegated ginger, curcuma petulata).

These are actual photos from our yard.

Shrimp Plant

Ginger

Bromeliad

Butterfly Ginger

Roses

Amazon Lily

Yellow Cestrum

As yet to be identified

Apple

The english language is something I hear everyday, since the day I was born. It amazes me how unique and cool it sounds as Elsa adds words to her vocabulary. Something so simple as "apple" becomes the MOST AMAZING thing ever! It's just a word, but as she learns to say it and learns what it means it makes me so happy.

Who's that snoring?

This is a photo of my sweet little faker. She crawled up on the ottoman, laid down, said nite nite and began to fake snore! It was too funny.
I told her sitter about and she died laughing. She thinks Elsa sees he mother (affectionately called "Mimi") falling asleep and snoring and has started copying it.

The funny things kids do.

Slacker with a capital "S"

I realize that I haven't posted since August. Since we moved into the new house. I figure that might give me a little leeway, maybe?

So much has been going on I am not sure where to begin. So how about with the house?

We LOVE it. We are slowly getting settled. A week after we moved in I had to go away for 5 days for a conference. So there was some added stress there (I'll fill you in on my first time away from Elsa in another post). We managed to get the storage unit emptied. Right into the new den. How can two people collect so much crap. then you add Elsa's infant stuff on top of that, and it is slightly overwhelming. I have lots of stuff to donate to Gainesville Pet Rescue for their yard sale fundraisers. At least I know what we don't need or want will go to good use for a good cause.
We are also trying to get the yard under control. The house was vacant for about 2 months and the previous owner did a good job with maintenance of the big stuff, like the lawn and the pond. But a lot of the beds got overrun with weeds and the bushes covered in a pesky evil vine called skunk vine. Seriously, that stuff is a royal pain. Steve got his American Dream in the form of a John Deer riding lawn mower....with a cup holder for his beer.
We have a long list of projects for the house, including but not limited to, getting the inside painted (living room too tall for us to do it), mount and run new electrical for the tv, setting up the man cave (aka den), furnishing the spare bedroom so we can start having guests. Etc Etc.

Moving Day

I wish I had taken photos on moving day, but I did not. We had signed a pre-occupancy agreement so we could move in on the 28th prior to our closing date (which at that time had ben scheduled for the 30th). I read over the agreement and found it funny that we had 10 days to vacate if the sales fell through for any reason. Oh and we had to do it in an agreeable manner. Lol. I guess we had to be nice about it and not cause any trouble. Of course as weird things popped up with our buyer I got crazy nervous that we would have to move back to the old house.

Steve and I worked on loading and unloading boxes and other random, lighter furniture earlier in the day. Then I had to go to my first official Cultural Affairs Board meeting and orientation. So I had to take a shower and run out. Some of his buddies came over to help load and move the furniture. I can't thank them enough (Carter, Brittany, James,  and Tim, you guys and gal rock!!). Lindsey picked up some pizza that we ordered from Pomodoros so we could feed everyone.

It was exhausting, but it all got done and we slept in our new house for the first time on wed. Elsa had adjusted fairly well. She cried a bit and finally got quiet, then we realized that we forgot to set up her monitor, so Steve went back in there to set it up. That of course stirred her and she cried a little bit more before falling asleep. On Thurs. night Steve said she fell asleep early. So much going on.  The animals are also adjusting just fine.

Catching Up

The last few weeks have been a roller coaster. Selling a house and buying a house simultaneously was way more stressful than I had ever imagined. But we have survived, and are settling into our new spacious home.

A little recap,...
Selling:
Everything went pretty smooth with this until the very end. Our buyer mentioned to his lender that he was starting a new job on Monday the 19th. We were scheduled to close on Fri the 23rd. His lender put a hold on everything until he could produce this first paycheck which wasn't available until Aug 28th. So our closing got pushed a week. Then on the 28th we found out that the lender needed more proof that the buyer sold a boat. The person who bought the boat had not transferred the title into their name, so they had to produce a bill of sale and a copy of the original title to show they owned the boat and sold the boat. That finally got done and we ended up closing on the morning of the 29th.

Buying:
Everything went really smooth on this. We had our inspection, and our appraisal. We already have about $7-8k in equity. Yay! Some work had to be done on the house to fix some things, like rotted siding and a leaky window. The pump on the pond broke, but the seller bought and replaced the pump before we closed. That was super nice of him. In fact, he was super nice about a lot of things. He even left us dollys to move with. Great guy! We closed at 4pm on the 29th. Right after that I had to go straight to work for an event. Luckily Brittany was able to handle everything all day while I was closing. I didn't really get a chance to just stop and contemplate the purchase I had just made. This was the first house I've bought and I really wanted to relish in the process.  At our closing, the sellers agent handed the keys to me so I could have that experience.

Next post....moving.

Rooooaarrr!

Elsa was growling all weekend last week. So I asked her sitter if she was copying someone else. Well it turns out they have been working on animal sounds and that is a lion. It is pretty hilarious to hear her roar. If only we could catch it on video! 

A bit behind

I've been neglecting the blog a little bit lately. We are moving next week and we have been running around trying to get everything ready. This isn't the easiest with a toddler. But we are managing. 

We are excited about getting settled into our new house. We have gotten permission to move in 2 days prior to closing, so we are out of our house when we close on it Thursday. It's going to be an exhausting few days. We move wed, I have my first Gainesville/Alachua County cultural affairs board meeting at 5:30 on wed, then I have an event at the museum on thurs night. That's a 14 hour day at least. I'll be glad when Saturday comes! 

Anyone want to help on wed we will gladly accept it. :-)

Thankful for 10 and 2

This was a topic I had saved as a draft some time ago. I just found it and realized I never posted on it. So here it goes.

In an effort to get Elsa on a legit schedule we started laying her down at 10 am and 2 pm for naps. Instead of just waiting until she is so tired and grumpy and then putting her down to sleep for who knows how long, we gave this a try. It was a miracle. Why didn't we do this earlier? I was trying to "follow her cues." But seriously, sometimes a schedule can be heavenly. I now know I will have some me time at 10 am and 2 pm. Me time might consist of doing dishes or laundry, or reading a book. No matter what though I am thankful for it! I'm sure we should by now be transitioning to 1 nap a day, but I'm ok hanging onto 2 for now.

Backwards is ok too

Over the weekend I noticed Elsa started walking backwards. I was very surprised that I was shocked by this behavior. Of course she would eventually have to learn to walk backwards, but it wasn't on my radar as a milestone...at all. She is so funny doing it too. Just cracks me up!

New Digs

I've been holding off posting anything about our new house until I was a little more confident that we are getting it. The first thing that had to happen, our house had to appraise out for the new owners to get their financing. Check! The next thing, the inspection on the new house had to go well. Check! The last thing that has to happen is that the new house has to appraise out. I don't want to jinx that, so lets just say we are crossing our fingers for now.

It is 3/2 w/den on an acre of land. It comes with a koi pond and waterfall, a pole bar with workshop, shed, greenhouse and beautiful landscaping.

So without further ado, a sneak peek of the new house.

I love Jimmy Fallon

Here is a couple reasons why....

Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke with classroom instruments.



History or Rap 4 with Justin TImberlake.

The High and Mary Mac's

I finally got to go to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. The Girl with Pearl Earring was there. Awesome! I always whine to Steve that we always go up there and never go see anything in Atlanta. I still have some places on my bucket list though, Fernbank, the zoo, and the Botanical Gardens. We made the trip with my sis and brother in laws, and Steve's cousins Brett and Kristal. We met up with Karen and Will at the Museum.  After that e went to Mary Mac's Tearoom.  The food was amazing. Luckily we had a nice long walk after lunch. Can you call it lunch at 4pm? :-)

I need to edit Ms. Thang out of this photo. She wouldn't move.

Moving on

Right before we left for Georgia I got a call from our realtor that we had previously had our house listed with. She wanted to know if we were still in our house, and if we are still interested in selling it. I of course said yes. She asked if she could show it, and I of course said yes. She showed it to a very nice couple who are looking for a home for their son on Monday. They liked it enough to come back the next day with the son. Then we didn't hear anything until Friday. We got an offer! We went back a couple of times but agreed to a price. As of July 11th we are officially under contract. Out closing date is August 30th. They are taking the house as is, knowing it needs a new roof, and with a conventional loan. So it's a perfect situation for us.

This has been a whirlwind. We had no plan, because we thought we would be staying in the house for a while. So we are scrambling to find something new. We will either find the perfect house and buy, or rent until we do.

It is also somewhat bittersweet. This is the only house we have ever lived in together so far. We got engaged in this house. This is Elsa's first home, and Keegan's last home. So although I will relish some new space, with more room, I will also miss this little house.

July 4th, 2013

We made our annual trek to Georgia for July 4th. The last couple of years we have gone up to the mountains, but we decided it was too hot this year. There is talk of possibly going to the mountains at Thanksgiving. Then again, it might be too cold then. :-/

It was great seeing everyone, and fun to watch cousin Blake and Elsa play together. The big girls, Emily and Allison, took great care of the babies and Austin was such a sweetie.

Way behind

I realize I have a lot of catching up to do on the blog. But for now I'm sitting in a steamy bathroom with my munchkin rocking her to sleep. Croup sucks!

Greeeezy

On our way home from the inlaws we stopped for lunch at the Cracker Barrel in Cordele, Ga. It was Elsa's first, and probably last, time eating there. Until she can use utensils. The veggies were so greasy and Elsa rubbed it all over her face and hair. I have a before photo but I was too grossed out and concerned with getting her cleaned to take an after. 

Last Hurrah!

This weekend Steve will be orchestrating a final bachelor excursion for our dear friend Carter! This requires a trip to Tampa, a baseball game, a fancy restaurant, a brewery tour and debauchery I am sure. Definitely some drinking. I hope they stay safe and have tons of fun!!

Never do what you want when you want.

Elsa has been shaking her head "no" to EVERY question we ask. Never yes, just no. So she was exceptionally negative the other day and I decided to video this behavior. THis is what happened:

Silliness

I really am loving this goofy kid we have. Always laughing over the simplest things.

Happy Father's Day

Elsa has the most amazing daddy! He plays with her, bathes her, feeds  her, changes her diapers, and teaches her all kinds of cool things. Who couldn't ask for a better daddy?

My Little Fishy- Part Deaux

So I guess day one was a total fluke! Maybe it was because I wasn't there or something. The rest of the lessons so far have been a solid 10 minutes of crying and screaming. On a positive note, she is learning and doing very well. :-)

My Little Fishy

Elsa started her ISR drown survival classes yesterday. We were supposed to start on Monday but a thunderstorm prevented that. I unfortunately, couldn't be there because I was at a Gainesville Pet Rescue board meeting. But daddy took some photos for momma. What a good daddy!

I'm so happy she was happy. She whined a tiny bit when she first started assisted floating, but after that she was good. Big girl!!

Fun with Friends

We had a wonderful day yesterday. Tiffany, Anthony, Courtney and Kanaan all came to visit us for the day. The babies got to play and have some fun pool time. And we all got to catch up with each other. I love when can have special times like this!