day 4 on the market

Our first full day of (6) showings has come and gone, with one outright rejection and no offers. It was pretty initially devastating for me, who has been working on this house for the last 6 months especially, because I started second guessing myself...was my paint job not good enough? Did they get distracted by all the handprint stains all over our white couches? Today I felt like I was on pins and needles, constantly checking my phone, waiting for something to come through.

And then I thought back to 2013. I remembered seeing our current house that was originally listed at 10k over what we considered to be the top of our price range back in September, and by some miracle we didn't find it till it fell into our price range right before we came out to house hunt. We put in what we thought was a fair offer and they countered, still too high. So we placed a final offer and were planning on walking away. I am relieved to say that they accepted it, and we absolutely ended up where we needed to be.

I am so glad I was reminded of that today. It has been easy to get caught up in "how much money can we possibly make from this house?" (thank you, realtor) and not think about how we really do want and need to make sure this home goes to the right family. And it will. We will pray them into it! I just hope it's sooner than later, because I really thought this selling buisness was going to be the easy part... finding a good house in Utah that isn't snatched up within 24 hours is seeming like it's going to be quite a feat.

I am blessed to have my parents close by. I have no idea how I would do this without them. Wait, I do know... I would move us into a hotel room every weekend till the house sold. This way is definitely more fun and hopefully I can just not think too much about Ruth's Plan and remember there is a bigger plan out there, and I need to be patient and wait and see what happens.

and in the meantime, enjoy my time (that doesn't invovle cleaning!) with Mr. D, little d, and these crazies:

And....an update on the rest of the house since we moved in

So.... Between yesterday and today I have officially cleaned and (re) organized my entire house.  If this isn't psycho nesting I don't know what is. The nice part however about having the downstairs as one giant room is that it makes cleaning it that much easier. I've gone through quite a few different phases  in moving stuff around the rooms in my house (sort of a hobby, sort of OCD, and sort of a more fun way to clean the house when it looks a little different!). I'm sure it will continue to go through changes but for the most part I am extremely happy with every room's setup. All I have left to do in the great room is buy an ottoman that we should get sometime this week.

And most of this happened when the kids were awake! They have been so awesome when it comes to the game of "pick everything off the floor and put it on a couch or table because mom can't" and sometimes I even kick the toys and clothes around into a pile for them to clean up which they find hysterical.

After an awful trip to the store to buy birthday gifts for friends (where I swore up and down I would never go shopping with them ever again), we had a good dinner and then settled into watching the snow continue to fall. Little d moved his chair this way, and his sister requested to follow suit... I was just thinking it reminded me of the cat in the hat book with "Sally and I just sat there that cold cold wet day..." When Kevs came over to join them. It was so idyllic and adorable I could help but sneak a quick picture as little d explained to his sister that there weren't snowflakes falling, rather chunks of snow.

Now to settle in And give my cankles a little rest! For someone who always had rediculously tiny ankles, I always forget how much bigger they get the last month of pregnancy and the first month postpartum. Ah the glamorous life.

The master bedroom is finally done (!!!), completing the home decor project of the last 15 months

It only took me 15 months (an eternity in my book) to figure out exactly what I wanted to do with our master bedroom... Configuring where we wanted the bed and our little desk and then everything inbetween took a ton of time before I finally felt satisfied with it (today, as of five minutes ago). 

Concessa's quilt has been front and center in this room since the beginning, mostly because the previous owners completely destroyed the painted wall space behind it. Thankfully, I finally got to liking to put the bed there (I only moved it around about a dozen times in the last year! Poor drew, coming home from just about every big trip at night and needing to figure out where I put the bed this week) because it maximized the amount of space we have in the room. The only two items of furniture we purchased were the glider before little d was born, and the side table I bought to put next to it once we moved it (both originally started out in little a's room, now the nursery). Since I won't be able to use it nursing two babies (and the littles kept attempting acrobatic feats on it in their room!), I figured I would get good use out of it by being able to read there and it is just about my favorite corner of the house, probably because it's the only place I can comfortably prop my feet up (for now).

This huge wall was the hardest to decorate in the entire house. I wanted to showcase my marathon shadow box but that was about the only thing that really stuck. 5000 ideas later, I came up with the idea to not completely bombard this space with pictures and to instead add a little chalkboard I could keep track of monthly to dos and notes to remember. 

This is our very first dresser ever! We never really needed one, either using built in closet space type storage or hanging stuff up. And awesome donation to our family from Linda's, who gave little d his bed and also gave us the side table on Drew's side of the bed. There's not much in it so far, but I love having a vanity mirror!! The framed DIY magnet board is something I had downstairs for awhile and then moved up here, where I get to collect little drawings and my pictures I get from groovebook each month. And yes that little boys duffel is my hospital bag, all packed and ready to go! The two lists on my vanity dresser are for myself and the littles to add to our packs in case they need to do an overnight as well!

This is the only untouched wall of the room, and I am intentionally leaving it that way until I can manage to get some photos of my babies and probably do a black and white photo of each little in a square format.

So that's it! I'm done. My house finally feels complete with each room in the house done to my liking. Now to enjoy the fruits of my labor...

One year in our new house

One year is about the time it takes me to feel settled in a new place. D is thriving at his preschool and the kids have some amazing friends with the neighbors (pictured here with gifts for them!). Seriously so blessed.

Flashback to one year (and a month) ago....

And just think, my only goal for the first year was to decorate the whole house, which I mostly did, getting the kids bedrooms and playroom and bathrooms "done" pretty quickly (and get a grill, which we did) :)well this second year since we will be adding two more, the goal is to really finish the house decor to my liking (ie nursery, master bedroom) and get everything organized in the basement storage, especially before those sweet babies come and I have much more important things to worry about! On to another wild and crazy year, happy 365 days in our "new home" to us. I think I'll celebrate with a nap...

one month in our new home... time for a tour!

Per popular request (okay, just my mom's), here is a little peek into our new place. It still has some tweaking and decorating to do, especially in the office and kid's room, but for now I am content with it.

Our living room is usually just filled with toys, so I suppose it is nice to have a chimney to make it feel a little more like an adult (or two) lives here...

 and the other side of the living room 

(where we spend most mornings watching the 7am Curious George on PBS)

 Living room is connected to the bathroom/laundry room

 It's so classy these days to have a dryer in between your toilet and shower, right?

 Our front entryway. Also known as the mudroom, indoor porch, or in our case, the basketball arena, hockey rink, bike riding racetrack, etc. Little d has been making very good use of this room and it will be fun come springtime when we can open up all those windows and get some lovely sunshine.

 the other side of the playroom/basketball court/hockey rink

Living room's also connected to the kitchen

That little table was the one we three sat around for a few weeks before we finally got our kitchen table, and now serves as Kevin's spy roost where he stares out at the backyard all day.

 hooray for our first kitchen table! It gets a lot of good use.

 And the black bookshelf was supposed to be for an extra pantry but has since turned into a storage for winter accessories, activities/crafts for little d, and everything else, sort of like a coat closet we never had.

 To the right of the little white kitchen table is the back door, which leads out to the back porch, which I cannot believe how much I love. I have access (right to left) to the main trash can (thank goodness for not having to have a diaper pail and getting to leave it all outside!), the recycling which gets picked up every other week and actually reduces a lot of bulky waste that would otherwise be taking up space in our trash can (blue containers), and the compost bin (coming out of the ground just behind the picnic table. The compost is the newest and most interesting thing I have had to deal with ever. We don't have a garbage disposal, so any leftover food, eggshells or vegetable cores/peels/etc go in a bin that I can easily access by just reaching over the railing of the porch and opening a little hutch. The best part about the trash, compost and recycling is that although it is outside, since it is a covered porch, most of the time I can just hop out for a minute in my slippers and not have to change my shoes every time I have to go out there (which is at least 6 times a day, depending on someone's pooping habits).

 Speaking of a little pooper...here is his half of the room. Still needs a few things to be put up (like the quilt Concessa made him), but we have all his essentials: the big kid bed (that he has not fallen out of since we put the cushions to the side of his bed, but we kept them there for the sake of my knees during bedtime routine), and his little reading nook...all his books next to a little beanbag borrowed from my inlaws that he calls his reading chair. And of course, the enormous closet that the three of us share.

 And the other side of little d's room... currently pretty barren (his stuff is off to the right of the picture), but hopefully we will be filling that up before April comes around. And yes, I am afraid the grinch will be sticking around with us until he falls off because little d is so in love with it.

 The only carpet in the entire house is on the stairs, or at the top of Mt. Kevs, since that is his domain. The only two rooms up here are our bedroom (door pictured) and off to the right of the picture is a skinny little hallway that leads to our 1/2 room, or office and storage space.

 Our backyard after a 60 degree day on Monday that melted all the snow to reveal... our complete lack of grass. Boo. At least you don't need grass to play baseball.

 And our lovely ghetto driveway, that I can barely manage to get through without nearly losing at least one of my heels (even more reason to just wear sneakers, right?).

 Oh right I forgot about our bedroom... this is pretty much all we can fit into it. A king sized IKEA bed with matching dressers.

 and on the opposite side, what will become a bit of a baby station in a few months but for now is just a makeshift closet of sorts (don't look too closely, I know it's super messy).

 And the view of the road and then just beyond it the lake from our only bedroom window. Lovely in the morning!

Then there's the skinny hallway that leads to the office, which is still a work in progress. I'm super grateful I don't get wide in the belly and only grow forward because even now I can barely fit though here! I'll post picture of the office once I can get around to doing anything with it aside from putting that desk in there for Mr. D so he doesn't have to work from our bed.

And on a final note, what our living room usually looks like at least three times a day... when the cushions turn into the bases for little d's baseball games. Lately, with a talking baseball. More on that later.

24 weeks pregnant with #2 and the big move!!

In the last two weeks, we have moved into the most lovely home of our very own and got me my one year gym membership with childcare that rivals Utah in cheapness ($40 a month!) but still has awesome classes.

Other than a lot of movement (and this week marking my entry into braxton hicks Contractions, thanks to moving day) from baby A, there's nothing much to report. I'm up to 15 pounds baby weight, although to be honest it feels more like 30! Still working out, running, lifting weights and just listening to my body... Some days are better than others but overall my body recovers from workouts rather well and quickly.

Little d is content to walk instead of having me carry him or going in the stroller, and if this move has taught me anything it's that two year olds LOVE to help out. While putting his toddler bed together (a $20 Craigslist find, so without instructions it was a bit frustrating), he kept walking into his room where mr. D and I were attempting the put-together, and asking "need some help boys? I can help you!" Exasperated, we both told him that we just needed him to eat his dinner, which he dutifully did after some initial protests. I feel terrible for getting upset at him a few times during our move when he would not listen to me, but truth be told it has been a big adjustment and he has been adjusting beautifully. He fell out of the bed two of the last three nights, and last night told me he would sleep closer to the wall so he wouldn't fall down again. Brave kid. He loves his "own room", "own house" and his big boy bed. We are so lucky to have him.

I was worried in moving at almost 6. Months pregnant with a 2.5 year old that I wouldn't have the time or energy to put the house together to my liking as quickly as I would like. Heavenly father has blessed me a hundredfold and within 24 hours of moving in, the house was perfect and organized. Each day I have found new things that get brought in from my inlaws or something else to organize but each night I go to bed content. I haven't been so undeniably happy since I don't know when... Mr. D got his dealersocket job? We got our pleasant grove apartment? Little d was born?

There's a wonderful feeling and sense of relief that accompanies being a happy little family of 3 in a home and community that fits us perfectly, with room to grow and add our little baby A in a few months. I am less stressed and more relaxed than I have been in months, possibly even years. Being a stay at home mom suits me and I know I am so blessed to have a husband who allows me to do so. While I loved teaching, home is where my heart is.

We have a lovely little yard with a swing set for little d (and friends), and what we did not realize is we are only minutes (walking) from the most beautiful lake. Now all we have to do is keep kevs from being eaten by a coyote. :/

And as an added bonus to a home we are completely in love with, Our closest grocery store has Graeters ice cream. While I haven't had any strong cravings (or aversions thank goodness), I am thinking this could be the start of a beautiful relationship. And yes it is currently the only thing in our freezer.