We Sold Our House!

[More on the title later :-)]

I feel like I've been on a long ride. Are we there yet?It has been six weeks of living between houses; we were supposed to have just one more week but (for some reason this is not a surprise) our new house has been delayed. So, instead, we are looking at October 8th. :( (Which means this isn't my last long post after all -- there will be ONE more.)

We were on schedule until last week -- our realtor called and said that on the day they had planned to install our kitchen cabinets, the cabinets didn't arrive. So our builder called the company and found out that they hadn't even started MAKING them yet! Somewhere our order got lost :( That put a halt to the progress of our house.

On the bright side, we are adapting. It's amazing how living in my dad's basement has become "normal." It hasn't been as bad as I had thought, most days I can see the "fun" in it and every day there ARE pros. . .but at the same time, I am always glad this is temporary. There are days I think I can't stand it a moment longer. I don't like walking on egg shells, worried we're going to destroy something at my dad's house. I felt like on Tuesday that I was starting to get an ulcer! My back is sore from sleeping on a futon for six weeks. I am not a bug person - I kill at around three spiders per day. But, it's been nice to only have to clean a very small area rather than a 3-4,000 sq ft house!

In my last post I had said that Bella had had a couple of accidents, well now make that six. At our house all I had to worry about was my dogs barking, but living in a basement where they don't see or hear anyone outside has made them quiet dogs. However, Bella has just decided that she will go to the bathroom whenever she pleases. Like I wrote last time, we have been keeping them in the storage closet every time we leave, as well as to sleep at night so that it happens on an unfinished floor -- but one of the six carpet accidents was in my dad's bedroom while he was there!!! So her peeing has definitely been embarrassing considering she is six-and-a-half years old. At least my dad reacted better than I had imagined.It seems like I always broke something when I was a child and visited my dad. Ironically, I can't remember breaking anything at my mom's (where I lived the majority of my life) but I'd go to my dad's for one weekend a month and a catastrophe would happen -- and my dad was not a person I wanted to be near when that happened. So the thought did occur to me after we'd planned on staying here, "I need to pray that we don't burn the house down."

It took my dad a little while to adjust to Logan's temper tantrums (my dad didn't have to witness the three's on a daily basis with my brother or me since my parents separated when I was two and he & Jacob's mom divorced when he was one), but now he doesn't act bothered by them so that's good, too.

There were a couple of times I wondered if we'd get along, like during our first week when he yelled at me for coming home later than I usually did from my mom's because he hadn't done anything due to watching my dogs all day (I informed him that it was not necessary to watch my dogs and he could still do anything he wanted to do) -- but we have gotten along all other moments, he seems (and says) that he enjoys having us around so I think staying here has made us a little closer. For those who read my autobiography blog (which I plan on returning to as soon as we get settled into our new house!), you know that I've had some questions. . .I'm thinking of asking him during these final weeks.

Anyway, since My Two Feathers, we got together with Joe's twenty-three-year-old niece, Hannah (from CO), as planned that evening - Friday, September 2nd. (She was visiting Joe's mom/her grandma and her other grandparents who also live here.) I really enjoyed talking to her. She brought her boyfriend so we met him while they met Krissa! (Her twin sister, Kendyll, got married the beginning of August.) The pizza place that we ate at was really good as well.

On Saturday, September 3rd I began wearing my wedding ring again for the first time since my first month of pregnancy! As of today (Sept. 16 - Krissa had her official two month birthday yesterday, and today turns nine weeks old!), I've lost the remaining of my 35 lbs gained in pregnancy.Also on Sept 3rd, ISU (the college Joe & I went to) had their first football game of the season and won! It was fun to dress up Krissa in her first Cyclones shirt :-) (A hand-me-down from Logan.)That evening we met my mom & stepdad and my maternal grandmother at an Italian restaurant. My parents had brought my grandma up from Kansas City so that she could meet Krissa. It was wonderful to see her -- it had been a year (since last August when we last went down there). We went to lunch with them on Sunday, September 4th, before they took Grandma back home. She was also able to see our new house while here.

Meanwhile, my dad went down to Grant City, MO (where my paternal grandmother lived before she passed away) because he and his brother/my uncle Jim have been working on her house to get it ready for the market.

Monday, September 5th was Labor Day. I was going to get together with my college friend Christy (who I hadn't seen since last September), so Joe took Logan to his mom's house -- but Christy ended up having to reschedule, so Krissa and I just had a relaxing, peaceful day watching Lifetime Movie Network and reading on my dad's deck. :-) Both of his neighbors have pools, it would have been a great day to lay out or swim.Tuesday, September 6th (the one year anniversary of when I started this blogsite!) my good friend Melissa, who lives in AZ, had her baby girl!!! Ten days before her due date she went into labor and 4.5 hrs later Nya Rose Hammerly entered the world, weighing 7 lbs, 11 oz, and was 21 inches long. Nya has been just like Krissa -- content during the day and a terrific sleeper at night (Melissa has a son, Axton, born exactly a year-minus a week-after Logan who was the complete opposite). So it has been fun talking to someone who's just 7.5 weeks after me!

I forgot to mention in my last post that the daughter of my mom's friend who was due the last week of August/first week of September (Jenny) had her baby girl, Molly, on August 30th. She weighed 7 lbs, 13 oz, and was 19 inches long. There are only two remaining due this year who I blogged about in the past -- my college friends Kathy & Joel are due in October and Joe's oldest nephew & his wife are due in November. I also was excited to be one of the first to learn in August that I have a friend due in April ;).

That afternoon we went over to my mom's for Logan's nap. I attempted to go to the grocery store but Krissa is still sensitive to my absence (I'm really glad I didn't/don't have to work outside the home!) so I came back again after 15 min. I took her with me to my dad's house to put away the groceries, and then my parents brought Logan over to my dad's at 8 pm.Joe and I saw that our ONLY competition house had lowered their price to our price, so we decided to lower our house by $10K (which was $5K more than what we paid 4 yrs ago). It had been on the market for three weeks at that time with only two showings. It officially was "reduced" on Wednesday, and by Monday (five days later which was four weeks on the market) had had four more showings; that day we learned that our competition house sold, so we were glad not to have anymore competition.

Wednesday, September 7th I hit my breaking point. I wrote the following:

I'd been doing so well until today, but this summer finally got to me (Summer being, May: Found out we were moving; found out Grandma was going to die. June: Joe moved, I stayed. Grandma died. We started building a house. July: I had a baby. Continued to be a single mom to a three year old. August: Put our house on the market, had only two showings. Moved with Joe, Logan, and Krissa to my dad's basement. My hope for October: Move into our house and all of the stress finally ends.)

As I wrote about in Whew and My Two Feathers, this has been the part of the summer that is the hardest for me. I pray that "my hope for October" IS accurate, but I will still have a three year old which I'm sorry to say this is an age I don't want to repeat. Before I was pregnant, I had blogged that I didn't know if I was ready for baby #2 because Logan still had "baby" in him. Well I guess I timed everything right because he has grown up. He's a kid. Full of smart alleck talk and rebelliousness.What makes me sad is that I should be able to identify with this. I was the same way at three years old. While he's having his life upturned for the first time, I did, too. This was the age my parents were divorcing and I was acting out, too. But instead of giving him the benefit of the doubt, I find myself too stressed and instead I've been yelling at him, pulling him across the floor by his arms when he won't come with me when called, and not talking to him the best. I haven't spanked him because the word HYPOCRITE yells itself in my mind (I've blogged several times that I'm very against it and therefore have never done it -- nor will I ever), but being as I was spanked as a kid that is what I was taught to do, for example, when Logan got ball point pen all over my dad's couch and then when I told him to look at what he did, he laughed. So I thought I was doing good by not spanking him like my parents would have done to me (since it was tempting), but then Joe (who was there) made me feel like a terrible mother anyway because I was yelling at him. Well what was I supposed to do? Talk to him in a quiet voice? Dangle meat in front of him in order to get him to walk to time-out rather than have me drag him? Anyone have any books to recommend? Because I seriously don't know what is the "proper" way. . .later on that day they were out and Logan said, "I don't want to go back to Grandpa Joe's because Mom is mean."

So now I'm the mean mom. This is not how I want Logan to remember me or our days from now on, especially since who knows if he'll even remember anything up until now (and our days together for his first three years make me very proud of my job as a mother). So, I sure hope I can get myself together. Especially since Krissa had her first day in her life of crying off and on all day - me not knowing why or being able to stop her. I don't want my stress to change my mellow baby girl into a colicky one!
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(Logan's still ideal with Krissa at least)
The good news is that I did get myself together. That was the evening that my college friend Christy rescheduled our get-together, so I took Krissa and met her at The Olive Garden for dinner (Joe had his own date with Logan at Buffalo Wild Wings; meanwhile, my dad returned home that night).

It was amazing how much just catching up with her put me out of my funk. Krissa was good at the restaurant and at Christy's house afterward - but very active and squirmy - so I thought something was up since, as I had written, she'd had her first day of crying without me being able to help/stop. It turned out to be constipation :( She went two days without going (until then she'd gone several times every day of her life) and then had a HUGE mess but went three more days without going before thankfully getting back on track. She was not herself during those non-pooping days :( I tell you, I've had my share of constipated kids this past month!!!!

Anyway, Thursday, September 8th I took Logan to the library near my parents' house because I realized that I had not been doing "my plan" of spending enough one-on-one time with Logan lately. I always put him down for his nap at my mom's (read him a book, lay down next to him and chat, and give him water/hug/kiss) but as you probably remember, he was used to doing something "fun" every day back in Omaha! So we read a book at the library and put a couple of puzzles together before returning to Krissa and my mom.

Then on Friday, September 9th we went to the park by my parents' house. I don't know if it was a coincidence or not, but just with these simple things, his behavior has improved and he's been SO much nicer to be around since then! He's been showing the GOOD parts about being three (saying things like "If you need my help, I'll be in the other room" or singing, "The farmer ate the wife, the farmer ate the wife, hi ho the dairy-oh the farmer ate the wife." LOL). His energy these days is still insane -- he's acting hyper, talks loudly non-stop, and has moments of rudeness throughout the day, but I'll take "moments" compared to all day, every day. He had been seeming angry lately but this week has been happy for the most part, so I hope that if I keep up our "one on one time" we can survive the three's. :pJoe and I also went out to eat on both of those evenings -- Thurs we picked Logan up from my parents' house after we were done at a Mexican restaurant, and on Friday Logan came with us to Macaroni's -- previously my all-time favorite restaurant that left Omaha in 2008 but ironically now that I'm near one again I have decided I have a NEW favorite! Of course Macaroni's will always hold a special place in my heart because the actual one that we went to on Friday was the restaurant we went to for the very first time the night Joe proposed, but I went to an Italian restaurant over the weekend that gave me the to-die-for reaction that Macaroni's used to give me (more on that in a minute). After we were done eating we went to look at our new house, then returned to my dad's.

On Saturday, September 10 we watched what has now been labeled as "the most exciting game in Iowa State Cyclones/Iowa Hawkeyes history!" The Hawks were expected by everyone to win. I didn't even watch the first half because I was tired of seeing my team (ISU) lose for the past three years and didn't want to care this year. (I have enough to care about right now, lol.) But that changed. . .the game went into THREE overtimes with the Cyclones winning! It was a great "welcome back" to Iowa for us :-) We couldn't refuse -- we went out and bought Krissa an ISU cheerleader uniform!After the game, we went over to Joe's HS friend's house who'd had the baby boy 9 days before. He was the tiniest baby I have ever held!!! I couldn't believe how little he was. He was born at 6 lbs, 10 oz but had dropped to 6 lbs, 3 oz. Krissa looked HUGE compared to Cooper. My little girl isn't a newborn anymore. . .her first two months went WAY faster than Logan's :( :( :(From there we went out for pizza, then back to my dad's house. He left the following day -- Sunday, September 11th -- for my stepmom's in Michigan.

I feel bad, but I didn't watch, listen, or read a bit of the ten year anniversary 9/11 stuff. It's like the few months after Logan was born -- whenever there is a huge news event that I've never heard of I ask, "Was it around April 2008?" And it always is! Life was simply too chaotic to turn on the TV or radio, etc. It's the same thing since Krissa's been born (especially without regular internet access. . .oh how I miss my computer!). Maybe by December I will know what's going on in the world again. :p But, I did say a prayer of remembrance when I realized what day it was.

It was Joe's mom's birthday so he went to her house to watch the Chicago Bears game (it was a good weekend -- not only did our favorite college team win the day before, but our favorite NFL team won that day! They beat the Falcons 30 to 12 -- woo hoo)! I wasn't able to go with Joe because my step grandparents and uncle, aunt, and cousin drove over from Eastern Iowa that day to meet Krissa. It had been my grandma's birthday the day before, so I was glad to be able to celebrate with her and see that side of my family for the first time since I first announced my pregnancy last Thanksgiving! (I'm Pregnant) We went to Bravo's which is the restaurant I was referring to earlier when announcing my new favorite place! That's where I want to go for special occasions now (and it's just 10 min from our new house). I had an amazing Lobster Ravioli alla Vodka.

(Both Bravo's and Macaroni's had a chair in the handicap stall just for nursing! Yeay them, for getting with the times! By the way, in the spring I had written about the nursing shirts and pjs that I purchased through Motherwear. . .I have to say I was disappointed. I returned one of my two short-sleeve shirts because it shrunk before I even wore it - just after the first wash - as well as one of my two pajamas. The other short sleeve shirt, nightgown, and two long-sleeve tops are fine but mainly I've been wearing my usual shirts and just lifting them up. Nursing bras are the main thing -- and I still love the one I blogged about from Motherhood Maternity which I have for every day of the week. I also am still getting used to my hands free pump because it's different from the advanced pump in style which I used with Logan. Since I don't have much time to pump AND Krissa doesn't often take bottles, I only pump once a week but hopefully in a few months it'll be easy.)After that I showed my extended family our new house, then we chatted at my mom & stepdad's house before saying goodbye to my step uncle, aunt, and cousin. The rest of us met Joe at Chips restaurant for supper and then told my grandparents goodbye as well. (They had been impressed with how strong Krissa was for an 8 week old/how well she could sit on our laps.)

On Monday, September 12 I took Krissa to Target with me while Logan napped at my parents' house -- and she had her second crying episode in public :( It was worse than her one at Hy-Vee (my first day solo with two kids, as written in Whew). Due to that being her final day of constipation, she was clearly uncomfortable so I had to hold her while pushing the cart with her carseat and groceries. Even that wasn't always enough, though, so I hurried through looking like the stereotypical mother of two -- I had dried spit up all over me, stickers on my arm from Logan earlier, my hair was a mess, I was sweating, and carrying a crying baby. I'm glad this happened with baby #2 and not my first because I think I would have been in tears had Logan ever cried like that in public at 8 weeks old. (I would have been worried everyone would have thought I was doing something wrong; now I know that's not the case.) With Krissa I was still approachable. . .I had people stopping to ask how old Krissa was and tell me she was precious. (Here she is this past Wednesday -- she fell asleep in the bumbo chair!)Everyone has been real friendly when I've been out, but I do have to say they have an "edge" that people in Nebraska don't have. I remember this from when I moved from Iowa TO Nebraska -- back then I had said I thought strangers in Nebraska were just a touch friendlier than Iowa. They are also more relaxed driving in Nebraska. They drive slower, let anyone in front of them on the road -- are courteous on the road. In Iowa they're WAY better than New York or Minneapolis or Chicago or L.A., but compared to Nebraska they are faster and not as courteous. But, like I said, the difference is pretty little -- both are great places to live!

Another difference is the radio stations. I plan on joining the 21st Century this Christmas and get an ipod. I forgot that I don't like the music stations around here as much as in Omaha.

Anyway, Joe picked Logan up from my mom's for me that day so that I could get Krissa calmed down. Although, she still cries whenever we're in the car (ever since my last Omaha trip three weeks ago when I had to pull over 4 times)! It doesn't matter when, where, or how long we go -- she hates the car! Once again, this is opposite of Logan who ALWAYS slept in (and loved) the car his first 7 months. I hope that this is just a phase -- and not the next three years. :p It makes driving such a sad time for this mommy. :( On Tuesday, September 13 I took Logan and Krissa for my first walk by myself around my dad's lake in the Sit N Stand stroller before naptime at my mom's. Since I had rushed through Target the day before, I took Krissa to Hy-Vee where thankfully she was happy as I got my remaining groceries. Then I sat out on my dad's deck and WROTE. Not in the kids' journals like my first time. Or this blog like my second time. Nor did I read like my third time on the deck. I wrote MY NOVEL! It went fast, as it always does (I never get much accomplished in a short amount of time) -- before I knew it my parents brought Logan over to my dad's at 8 pm. But at least now I can say I did it!

Wednesday, September 14 felt like fall -- my favorite season has arrived!!!! We went to McDonald's PlayPlace again since our first attempt didn't work out (as written in my post My Two Feathers). This time we went from 2:45-3:30 so it wasn't crowded and I remembered Logan's socks so he enjoyed playing there. It was cute to watch him with the other kids since it's been awhile since we were at a place where random children were racing to play on the same things -- he still just lets them all go ahead of him before taking his turn with everything, staying so patient and calm. I don't think that will ever change about his personality now that he's made it to almost three-and-a-half and I've never seen him budge, grab, or act the slightest aggressive toward another child (which usually happens at one or two).

By the time we got to my mom's and I put him down for his nap it was after 4 pm so he never went sleep; we left at 5 pm. (Back at my dad's house I took this picture of Krissa in Joe's hands)TV shows started premiering this past week and I chose Up All Night to watch that evening (Wednesdays at 9pm CST on NBC). Watching a sitcom about a couple with a baby is enjoyable at this point in my life, LOL.

Yesterday -- Thursday, September 15 WE SOLD OUR HOUSE!!!! (Finally getting to the title of this post.) They want to move in on October 14th which is a week after we close on our new house so it's perfect. (No two house payments!) The downside is that we bought the house for $235K four years ago, we first listed it at $249K, brought it down to $239K last week after three weeks on the market -- and a week after that they offered $230K, plus for us to pay $7K closing costs, and asked for all curtains, fridge, and the washer and dryer. We counter offered with letting them have the curtains and fridge, and paying that closing cost amount, but only bringing the price down to $238K. They came back with either $234K no washer and dryer or $235K with washer and dryer. We countered again with giving them the washer and dryer but for $236K. They said, no, either their previous offer or they walk. We knew it'd be dumb to walk over a thousand dollars so we agreed on the $235K with our washer and dryer (we were thinking we'd buy a new set in a few years anyway since we've had ours for 8 yrs. I really like my dad's front loaders that we've been using while here so we'll probably buy the same ones he has).

I've decided 15 should be my new number: Krissa was born on July 15th, we put our house on the market August 15th, and we got the offer exactly a month later on September 15th! I was not expecting to sell this house in the same time-frame as our last house, but both houses got their offers at exactly a month!

After Logan woke up from his nap at my mom's, he said he REALLY wanted to go to a restaurant, so Joe, Krissa, and I went to Olive Garden. I had shrimp and crab tortellini which was super good.

The plan for next week. . .Krissa has her two month pediatrician appt. on Wednesday. I have no idea how much she weighs. She's outgrown three of her outfits so I think she's going to be around where Logan was - 13 lbs, 6.5 oz and 23 inches long. She only vomits once a week now, and she seems to be spitting up less (but still chokes every feeding; still nurses for only 5 min, 8 times a day).Logan's first pediatric dentist appt. is on his three-and-a-half-year birthday (October 18th).

I'm glad Krissa doesn't have cradle cap like Logan did at this age.

Her baby acne seems to be getting better.

She's sleeping 9 hrs+3 hrs at night these day (10 pm to 7 am, nurses, and then goes back to sleep until 10 am) -- I put two diapers on her which has been preventing the bet-wetting. Joe has been shocked at her sleeping so well, too. It's kind of funny -- but she actually gets MAD when she has to nurse before she is up for good at 10 am! The 7 am feeding is the only one where she cries at my breast because she wants to keep sleeping and not work. (She did this when she used to wake up at 6, 5, and 4 to eat, too.) Her sleeping schedule has been a Godsend, considering we've all been in the same room, there is really nowhere I could go if she was crying/up at night that wouldn't bother Joe and Logan. It's crazy that she just zonks out suddenly, because ever since my last post when she turned 7 weeks old, she has completely stopped napping during the day. She won't sleep for more than 5 minutes at a time. I shouldn't be surprised. . .since she's the opposite of Logan who has always been a great napper, I am guessing she won't be :p But I don't mind yet. . .oh how I love babies. . .I wish they could stay about 6 weeks old for an entire year!

She's starting to refuse the pacifier again so I'm wondering if that will be ONE similarity that she and Logan have -- giving it up by 4 months. We'll see. . .

She loves the play gyms now! It is fun to watch her look at herself in the mirror and kick and squeal. She loves to "talk" already, it's so cute!

I'm slow -- had anyone else noticed that during all of my blogging about how Logan was all about food and Krissa is all about being held that I have the stereotypical male and female?! I know there are plenty of people who are the opposite, but I'm sure that's where the stereotype came from. . .we simply come into this world with "the way to a man's heart is through his stomach" and "women want affection." LOL. As I've been talking to people who have both boys and girls, they all say their girls ARE more needy than their boys. Fascinating.

Finally, I don't think that was my period at 4 weeks post partum after all! I told my doctor about it at my 6 week check up and she said "anything is possible" but that she was going to bet my body was just trying to regulate itself but that I wouldn't have a "real" period for a few more months since I'm breastfeeding. Sure enough, I haven't had another one and this would have been the week that I would have had it, so I'm hoping she was right!

Disney adjusted their schedule after Labor Day so that Phineas & Ferb aren't on all day anymore, whew :-) My dad actually gets 3 different Disney channels so I think that's why I never heard of it/saw it in Omaha -- we got the only one that didn't play it. The other two took turns all day during the first four weeks that we were here! I also saw Yo Gabba Gabba for the first time and am glad Logan didn't want to add that to his list -- I think that one is worse that Phineas & Ferb as it's just plain WEIRD!

I'll end with the post I wrote at this point with Logan: First Weekend By Myself With Baby.Joe's hands, Krissa's feet

*I've also decided to stop doing tags as of today.