My Old Friend

I don't know what made me think about my old friend...the pager. Maybe it was driving by a tanning salon which is-of course-where I purchased my pager junior year of high school. I had a friend that worked at the salon and I think she got me a 'deal.' I was so pumped. It was black-they were completely sold out of the colored clear ones and although I was disappointed, I was just so excited to have my new accessory. My parents totally told me I couldn't get one-so I went out and purchased one behind their backs because I was a child rebel like that. I mean, I had just met Gary and he totally had a pager too so they must have been cool right? This was before the standard days of cell phones and what better way to stay connected then to send love notes via page? What was the point of these things anyways?? I mean, if you got a page you still had to call the person back. Why didn't we just skip this whole technology and move right onto the phones??!! Not going to lie, though, when I got a page from the BF at night I thought I was pretty awesome. I miss my pager. How cool would I look at the park with my pager attached to my spandex black pants-mental image is amazing. Do you think they still sell them at tanning salons? I wouldn't know as I haven't walked through their doors in years. Let me know. What other items did we all have in our 'youngster' years? Hypercolor t-shirts? Swatches? Any hot little number purchased from 5 7 9? Do you miss them?? God knows I do...

Pics, Pics and a few more Pics

It's been just too long for some adorable pictures of Miss Caroline. I would have loved to include more of Brooke, however, she has decided to not like to have pictures taken of herself anymore :( You really have to catch her at the right time and this weekend she wasn't having it! So...Caroline pictures it is!!

Obsessed-seriously obsessed with standing.
If kids could walk at four months-she would walk.
Brooke walked at 10 months old (I walked at 9 months...not that it is a competition right??!!).
If I were placing bets, I think Caroline will walk before Brooke-obsessed I tell you.

Rolling over....

...and then wanting to stand up again!

She cannot get enough of Brooke.
Whatever Brooke is playing with-she wants in on the fun.

A show of hands for who is loving the baby rolls that start at the shoulders...

Gorgeous...yes I think so.

Brooke ~ Circa 4-5 months old
I am also coming to the conclusion that while I think that the girls look like sisters, they are growing more and more into their own little people...both in looks and in personality.

Caroline's eyes are set a bit farther apart and her hair (and eye brows) are remaining quite dark. Caroline is so laid back and Brooke is still so 'intense.'
It looks like Caroline is more like dad and Brooke more like mom...we will see how they continue to grow :)

Roll Over

Rolling over all day would wear you out too

She did it! Caroline rolled over. I was so excited. I had been on the phone all morning talking to different 'home' companies and when I walked back into the family room she had flipped (back to tummy). The rest of the day this is all she wanted to do. She would roll over, push up on her hands, play and the roll back to her side. After doing this a few times, she was exhausted. I would have to hold her so she could nap a bit and when she was up....she was at it again. So proud of her-it was my St. Patrick's Day treat :)

Side Note: In case any of you are wondering, we have not finalized the house yet. We are still waiting to hear back on our inspection and are hoping to have more info by the end of the week. Where are we going to live you ask? Well, we are in the process of negotiating a home, but I am too nervous to talk about it until we know that ours is good to go and that the new one is also confirmed. So much going on-and (if all goes according to plan) the move will be completed in only 36 days. Scary.

Helpfullness

What ever happened to neighborly friendliness or simply wanting to help out those around you? Has everyone become so self absorbed that they have tunnel vision or do they just not care?

I went to the grocery store today with both kids in tow-that is what you have to do when your spouse is working you have two (adorable) children and are out of grocery's. The first 'incident' that made me on edge was two women who blatantly stared at me as they were doing their shopping. It wasn't a glance. It wasn't a 'gosh-good for her' but it was a dirty look that conveyed...'sucks to be her.' Really? Yes, I realize that my two year old is attempting to stand in the stroller and yes, I do know that the box of crackers is open in my cart, but seriously...do you need to stop you cart and just stare at me?

What really put me over the edge, though, was when we were leaving the store. The bagger was not one of their regulars. Usually if I have both kiddos with me, they offer to help me to the car with another cart and you know I take them up on that offer (it is a bit difficult to fit bags around a pumpkin seat and Brooke). So fine, he bagged up my items and put them underneath the cart on the rack. As I am exiting the store, all of my groceries fall out of the bags and onto the pavement. Of course it was right where cars are driving by and people are walking in and out of the store. Now-picture this-a mom with two young children, groceries strewn about lying in the street...what do you do?? If it were me, I would stop to help this (stressed) mom and pick up her items and even inquire as to if she needed help to her car. I think that you know what happened though. Nothing. Nothing happened. People looked, walked around, and walked on by. The drivers even gave me a dirty look because I was in their way of getting the next closest spot to the entrance!!

I don't understand. I don't get people. What I do know is that if it were any of my family and friends, I know that they would have stopped and helped. It wouldn't even cross their minds not to. I am trying to teach my children to be the same way and I think that they are off to a great start.......even if it is just feeding your baby sister a bottle so that mom can do the dishes :)

Mr. Inspector Himself

Talk about a day. I have never been more stressed or had a worse stomach ache. I left the house for the requested 2-3 hours to let Mr. "I" do his thing. Well he did-for 3.5 hours. Is that good, bad, normal? I don't know, but it has me worried. Did I mention that he reprimanded me? Yeah. They had dropped of a radon test Saturday. When I got home from work, there were three door knob signs reminding me that their was a radon test in progress-thanks. Well, try and tell a two year old not to remove those signs. So, I took the paper signs and tossed them. Bad move.

Enter today-Mr. "I" asks me where is signs are. I let him know that my two year old was overly interested in them so I took them off and threw them away. He just stood there staring at me-awkward silence ensued. He then asked me if they were his 'good' ones. What? How the heck would I know! What makes door knob signs nice? They weren't anything special buddy.

Mr Inspector-"Did your daughter rip them?"

Me-"no"

Mr Inspector-"Were they laminated?"

Me-"no, just paper"

Mr Inspector-"Did the trash already get taken away or can you go find them"

Me-"no...it's gone!"

(*Yes, I did still have the trash out in the back but if you seriously think that I am going to go through the garbage and hand over some signs that have been sitting next to dirty diapers in the garbage can you are In.Sane.)

More...and more...and more awkward silence.

Then nothing. He just moved away, thanked me for my time and left. Did I mention that he said that me had some that were home made?

So, I am sure he was really nice regarding our inspection. He and I really didn't hit it off.

I was in the middle of making the kids dinner and giving Gary the dealio on the phone when I noticed that they were all just standing outside the house.....talking....and talking....and Mr. I using lots and lots of hand gestures. Then the agent left. Yet Mr. I stayed to talk....and talk....and talk...and 45 minutes later I could breathe again.

The nerves have sense settled and I think that I will be able to sleep tonight. Tomorrow will bring its own excitement of hearing what needs to be fixed, changed, etc. Wish us luck!

Inspection

I think that I am almost more nervous today then I was when we just had 'potential' buyers coming through the house. It is not like there is anything wrong which our home. The thought of a professional coming through the house, though, with the new buyers checking out every.little.thing makes me a little weirded out. I am sure that they will find some items that they are going to want us to fix which is not a big deal. I just don't want to scare them off for any reason and have to start the entire process over again! Ever try to get a toddler, a newborn and a psycho dog out of the house (after scrambling to clean it) on a weekly basis? Yeah, not fun.

We are also still homeless. We looked at 4 houses on Friday and were not able to make a decision. We found a new house that we wanted to look at last night and are going to check that one out this morning. I am sure that we are driving our real estate agent insane, but I am not going to buy a new house that I don't think I can live with the next ten years-deal. Our goal is to get a contract on a house by the end of the day-I will let you know. Our tentative closing date on our home is April 28th...that is really not a far off. We are still going to have to pack up our whole house while taking care of the kiddos and working those pesky full time jobs :) Did I mention that I think that we have something going on every weekend in April? Shouldn't be a problem.

The stress level is going through the roof.
Good thing I have these girls to keep me laughing...

Step One-Check

So, we did it. We sold our house-and in record time! At the official 30 day mark, we received a signed contract. We can check one item off of our to-do list. Now, onto the inspection and that little detail of finding a place (that Gary and I can agree upon) to live. We have about four houses that we have narrowed it down to and are going to go and look at them this weekend. Hopefully by Sunday we will have put in a contract on one of these homes.

Let the packing begin. I may have moved six times in my life (not including college, apartments or this first home with Gary) but I have never had to do this myself-my mom always ran the show. It was a process-an organized process that would leave her physically ill for days. While I don't think that it will leave me physically ill, I KNOW that it will leave me incredibly stressed out and cranky-so there is for warning.

Our inspection is this Monday. In the meantime, we will be looking at these homes and more negotiations will begin. How happy I will be when all paper conversations are complete and we are un-packing at our new home. This next home we are staying in-for a long, long time. Let the fun/crazy/stressful/intense/exciting time begin!