five on friday!

ONE
I finally made a to-do list for baby. We seriously haven't done a thing yet, and I'm 8 months pregnant!  To say I'm a bit overwhelmed is an understatement.  The time is flying this time around, can't believe we are having a baby so soon!  Here are some things on my list....

• Get out the carseat, bases, rock n'play, swing, bouncy seat, etc - clean!
• Prep the nursery (Hadley's old room)
• Wash NB and 0-3 month clothing
• Wash blankets, sheets and other linens
• Pack hospital bag
• PICK A NAME
• Buy new parts for my breast pump (and hopefully the thing still works)
• Get out all the bottles and sterilize
• Make freezer meals (more on this in #2)
• Notify pediatrician
• Attend breastfeeding class (scheduled for next week)
• Get a cute coming home outfit

TWO
I definitely want to make some meals to have on hand for when baby girl arrives. I've pinned some freezer meal recipes on Pinterest, but never actually took the plunge. Last week I was invited to a Wildtree Freezer Meal Workshop ('get your grill on' was the theme) and it was SO MUCH FUN!  You can read more about Wildtree here. It was hosted by a girl from my barre studio and she had about 12 girls attend. We purchased and prepped our meat and veggies before the party and brought our freezer bags (filled with the meat/veggies) and added all the Wildtree seasonings/spices/labels at the party. I left with 7 meals (herb grilled chicken, savory grilled tilapia, rodeo blue cheese burgers, grilled shrimp skewers, hickory grilled chicken, and Asian ginger chicken skewers). It was so easy and I'm looking forward to pulling these out this summer. I have a few more things I want to make in June and now I feel like I can actually do it!

THREE
In case I didn't have enough to do (see #1 above), we decided to repaint the interior of our house before baby girl arrives. Like, the whole enchilada, every room. Picking paint is seriously ridiculously hard.  I mean, I can't even commit to one type of ice cream lately.....



pregnancy problems - bought all 3

I have a small fortune invested in Benjamin Moore paint samples, and I've also painted random squares of paint throughout the living room, dining room, kitchen, and halls. But, we have finally picked our colors with the help of our sweet OP Jenkins friend that helped us with our furniture last year.  Painter is coming first week in June. I cannot wait!  Out with the beige/gold, and in with the greige!

 

FOUR
Hadley is getting promoted to her new classroom at Nanny's in a couple weeks. Just another reminder how quickly she is growing up.  She is 3.5 years old now, and I swear she gets sweeter every day. I asked her the other day how she got so sweet and she told me the bees made her sweet (they've been learning about bees and birds at school recently :) )  I just absolutely love her to pieces and can't imagine how I could love another little girl as much as I love her....but everyone says it just happens....your love multiplies.  I am trying to savor each hug, each bedtime story, each conversation with her right now before our family grows!

FIVE
I ran across this article on facebook last week and I was literally in tears at my desk from laughing so hard.  If you have a baby, or are expecting, you must read it. After-birth: 10 surprises from those first days after delivery

 

 

TGIF FRIENDS!

Spring has sprung

We are loving seeing all the flowers in bloom at our casa this month - we didn't move in until mid-May last year so it's very exciting seeing this all for the first time!

 

 

Our veggie/herb garden is coming right along, somethings are already sprouting.  We had to put a fence around it because we noticed a little critter had already dug a few things out!

I told Brandon last week I had noticed a bird hanging out in the door bucket on the front door.  He looked in there on Sunday and found this nest, filled with eggs....

 

 

Saturday din din at Chuy's!

 

 

Push Pop lover

Goodbye March, Hello April!

We had a fun weekend saying goodbye to March and hello to April!

Saturday we hit up Stride Rite and bought the Hadster some new kicks....2 pairs actually.  The girl loves her shoes and I was excited to get her some summery sandals!

Then we headed to over to the Plummers' to celebrate Gabe's first birthday!  It was an animal themed birthday party - so, so cute!  There were tons of kiddies at the party and they all loved helping Gabe open his presents.

I had to take this picture of Hadley's hair at the party - look at the curls she is getting!

Sunday we had an open house at our house....our realtor said there were 2 groups that seemed interested in our house.  Praying that the Lord will bring the right buyers to our house soon.  We close in 45 days on the new house!  Speaking of the new house, we drove by there today during our open house :)

Then we had lunch with my mom and drove over to McFee Park and let Hadley play on the playground...she loved going down the slide with daddy!

Ready for another week to begin!  Have a wonderful week all!

March fun...

March has been pretty good thus far...

• Hadley is almost 18 months and each day is better than the last with her.  She's really getting such a fun personality and is up for anything (most of the time).  
• The weather has been phenomenal lately!  Perfect for zoo days, playground visits, and nightly runs - all of which I partook in this weekend.
• Our contract on the new house is going smoothly and we are still set to close on May 15th.  Still waiting for someone to buy ours though....minor detail.
• I had to buy new pants because most of my pre-pregnancy are too big.  I'll take it!
• Love my new job and the people I work with.  As an added bonus I get to see my favorite KPMG'ers quarterly too :)
• I can play pandora radio through my iPhone in my car. A-maz-ing!
• Hadley did so well with the time change.  I really don't think she noticed at all!
• Excited for some of our besties kids 1st birthdays that are coming up!

At the zoo today with daddy...

Eating wings at Wild Wings with some of mom's work peeps...

Watching some basketball with Aiden, Reese, and Sophie...

Have a wonderful week!

     

A few quick updates!

I've been slacking on the blogging lately.  Here's what we've been up to lately.

Hadley turned 17 months this week.  She is getting SO fun and SO big!  She's about 26 pounds, happy most of the time, "talking" more these days, and loves Elmo (or "Melmo" as she calls him).  She thinks he lives in our iPad because whenever she sees the iPad, she saids "Melmo?!"  Its precious!  She is still very much into books and loves to color in her coloring books.  We had great weather last weekend and took her to the zoo and she seemed to really enjoy it.  We bought a membership so we can enjoy the zoo anytime we want which I'm really excited about!  I think we have a great zoo here in Knoxville!

I've started running at night since I can't work out at lunch anymore, and I try to go to Zumba twice a week as well.  I've never been a runner, but I've actually really started to enjoy it.  The weather has been mild here so that has definitely helped!  I have noticed knee pain with all the running, so I think I need to get some new kicks.

We've been at houses again for the past month or two.  I know.  We get the itch this time every year to move!  Well, we found an amazing house about a month ago and put an offer on it around the 3rd day it was on the market.  We were not the only people that loved the house - 3 other offers rolled in THE SAME DAY.  Long story short, we didn't get the house, and we were crushed.  I cried.  On more than one occasion about losing this house.

We started looking again and found another wonderful home this past weekend and we have a contract on this house!  We are putting our house on the market early next week and are praying that God will bring the right buyers to our house and that we can sell our house fairly quickly.  We close on the new place May 15th!

Eventful Week!

We had such a busy and great week last week! House showings, full week of work, sick baby, meet 2 newborns, and a great birthday party for Cooper!

We meet Cara and Justin's little boy, Gabe, on Tuesday - he is such a sweet, tiny little thing! I couldn't believe how alert he was during our visit. He's got the most awesome head of hair I've ever seen on a newborn :) Hadley looked gigantic compared to 6 lb 14 ounce Gabe! I'm hoping for a family vacay with the Plummers one summer!

On Sunday, we met Craig and Alee's little boy, Aiden - he was one tuckered out baby during our visit! He too looked SO small compared to Hadley weighing in around 7 lbs! It's crazy to see the different 6 months can make! So excited to see these babies play once they are all mobile.

Hadley loved the little babies! I know they all will be best of buddies one day!

Daycare called us Thursday and said Hadley was running a temperature and was really fussy. My mom was nice enough to go get her and take her home that afternoon. I couldn't get a doctor appointment until Friday morning though. She did not sleep well at all Thursday night. I felt so bad for my little baby! Friday, my Aunt Rita took care of Hadley and took her to the pediatrician. She had a really bad cold, but no fever thankfully. They checked her ears and her earwax was compacted really close to her ear drum and so they had to irrigate her ears. How traumatizing! She did not like this procedure at all, and I'm sort of glad I didn't witness it. I can barely watch her get her shots. She is taking benadryl and sleeping with a cool mist humidifier - she was MUCH better on Saturday. She's such a little trooper :)

On Saturday we went to Cooper's 1st Birthday party. Brandon used to play golf at UT with Andrew, Cooper's dad. Sara Buff did a fantastic job with the golf theme! Everything was perfect and Cooper really enjoyed his cake :)

House Saga

Last Thursday, after going back and forth with the potential buyers of our house, we decided to reject their requests for items to fix at our house. It's a very long story, but their realtor went behind our backs and gave them documentation from a roof repair company that we had not even seen before. In addition, we started having second thoughts about the house we had a contract on. Since the purchase of the new home was contingent on the sale of our current home, both contracts were basically void. We are fine with staying here and just couldn't believe how fast everything happened. We had a nice weekend, free of thinking about houses, inspections, moving, etc.

Tuesday, the managing broker of Coldwell Bankers (the agency both we were using, as well as the potential buyers of our house were using) called me. Apparently the potential buyers of our house really want our house and believe we terminated the contract because we changed our mind about selling our home (and not due to the repair issues). I believe this is based on what their realtor, Gina, told them, even though she is the one that actually broke the contract by going behind our backs and getting her own estimate and giving to them. The broker told me that if we don't sell the house to them, they are going to get their attorney involved. Really??!! I was totally shocked at this development.

Brandon and I eventually decided we would consider selling to them under a few stipulations (reduced commission from selling our home, later closing date, a small lump sum for repairs they want to make, and that they are told the truth about what their agent did). So we should hear back from them tomorrow. What an emotional roller coaster this has been!

We are leaving for the beach on Saturday...yay!! Going to Ocean Isle in NC for a week. I'm so excited for Hadley's first beach trip! I've made a list of everything I need for her, which is alot! Here's hoping it all fits in the car :)

House Update #5

We got the house!!! We are SO excited! We close April 8th....sure have alot to do before then, but we will get it done! I can't wait to take Hadley swimming in the neighborhood pool this summer!

House Update #4

So we submitted our offer on the house on Friday. Since the house is owned by a relocation company that was closed over the weekend, we were to hear back on Monday. Yesterday our agent called us and said that the relocation company received 2 offers (our offer and one other person's offer). They requested that both parties submit their best and final offer by 5p yesterday. So we increased our offer a tad and had yet another sleepless night!

Today we heard that the company did take the other person's offer off the table (apparently it was a low offer) and is reviewing our offer today and will let us know something by tomorrow at the latest. Our agent also let us know that someone else was going to put in an offer by 5p yesterday, but didn't get it to the relocation company in time.

FINGERS CROSSED!

House Update #3

What a whirlwind of a week! House listed Monday, under contract Tuesday (closing date of April 15th), and trying to find houses to look at the rest of the week! We love the house in The Woods at West Valley, but want to look at others to be certain there aren't any others we like better. We want to make an informed decision since we will NOT be doing this again for a looooong time! The couple that bought our house work for the FBI...both of them!

The inspection on our house is this coming Monday. We were planning on going with our realtor to look and other houses this weekend, get the results of our home inspection Monday, and then make an offer on a new home early next week.

Today Melissa (our realtor) called and said that a man was going to make a cash offer on the home in The Woods at West Valley today. Soooo, our original plans changed and we went and looked at 3 other houses this afternoon and decided to go ahead and make an offer for the house that started all of this madness :) We proposed a close date of April 8th (a week before we close on our house).

That home is currently owned by a relocation company (the family moved with a job and a relocation company purchased it when they moved). Melissa said it's usually easier dealing with a relocation company because they will negotiate more and aren't attached to the property like the former homeowners would be, so it's easier to get a better deal. They closed at 5p today and won't be back till Monday. We asked to know about our offer by 5p on Monday (2/28/11), so right now it's a waiting game. We do have some back up houses we liked, but are really hoping we get this house. It is definitely a home I can picture us living in for a long time!

Tomorrow I've got a Willow House party and then Sunday we are hosting another baby shower. Never a dull moment!

House update #2

SOLD!!!

So we are officially in the market for a new home! We LOVE the house in The Woods at West Valley, but we want to be sure that's the best house for us, so we are going to look at some others before we put an offer on it. We are thrilled and can't believe our house sold this quickly, especially since there are 8 other houses in our neighborhood for sale!

House Update #1

So about 5 minutes after my blog this morning, our realtor called and said the couple that came and looked at our house last night wanted to come and see it again today between 12-1. I was SOOOO excited! So me and Hadley went Krogering and came back right at 1. Their cars were in the driveway so I drove around the neighborhood. By 1:20p they were gone.

At 2:45p our realtor called and said we had an offer on the house!! It's a pretty clean offer (no contingencies, no closing costs, just want our fridge which we planned on them asking for). We will counter tonight so wish us luck!

5 months!

Yesterday Hadley turned 5 months old....I seriously can't believe it. Time is flying!! Hadley is such an easy baby and is so very sweet. She really has spoiled us! We don't go back to the pediatrician till she is 6 months so I don't know her stats, but I would guess she is 15 lbs or so.







Her appetite has really decreased this month. Between 3-4 months, she was going through a major growth spurt and was eating every 3-4 hours. By 4 months I stretched her to eating every 4 hours. The past few weeks she has gone 5 hours between feedings, which is awesome!! And the past 2 days she has eaten 3 times a day (7a, 1p, 7p).

She is still sleeping through the night - yay! Nap times are rough though. About 90% of the time, she wakes up after being down for 30 minutes. I had been rocking her back to sleep, but tried to stop doing that about 1 month ago. She will cry and can never get herself back to sleep during nap time. I don't know what to do, but I've gotta figure it out soon!

She loves grabbing things now (toys, cords, Riley's ears, jewelry, etc). I've definitely mean more careful with what is in her reach!


Brandon and I spent the weekend cleaning, mulching, and getting some of the clutter into a storage unit (i.e. our entire office which was more of a storage room). My mom was a huge help over the weekend - helped clean/organize and watch Hadley while we did some yardwork.

We had such a crazy day yesterday and I am thankful Brandon had the day off for President's Day (gotta love the federal holidays)! Our realtor called at 2:30 and said she just got the listing online and was going to come over and put up the "for sale" sign in our yard and that we already had someone that wanted to come for a showing between 4-5! We were ecstatic to say the least! She called us back around 6 and let us know the people that looks at the house loved it, but not our backyard neighbors. If you have been to our house, you probably know what we are talking about. If not, I'll fill you in. There is an 'interesting' house that backs up to ours (not a home in our neighborhood though). Let's just say there is a giant rebel flag tied to their chimney. Yesterday was super windy so it was a' flying! This is definitely going to be the hardest part of selling our house. When the leaves start growing back this spring, it won't be noticeable, but right now the trees are bare and it is definitely an eye sore.

I feel certain that if this is the right time for us to move, God will bring the right buyers to our home and He will lead us to the right house.