How To Sell Your House in a Buyer's Market

1. Have pretty much zero interest the first couple of months on the market.
2. All the sudden have a bazillion showings when you are 400 years pregnant and can barely bend over to pick up toys.
3.  Get an offer (YAY!)
4.  Realize that they want to close in 30 days.
5.  Realize that closing in 30 days puts you at February 22nd....Two days before you are scheduled to give birth.
6.  Scramble like crazy to find a new place to live.
7.  Find a new place to live (YAY!)
8.  Get in a bidding war (so much for a Buyer's Market).
9.  Win the bidding war!
10. Get all your affairs in order to purchase house, including scheduling various inspections.
11. Inspection results:   House tests positive for Meth.....REALLY positive.  Like, 10 times what is considered "safe" to live in positive.
12.  Oh yeah, this happens when I am less than two weeks away from giving birth.
13.  Give up and surrender to being homeless for awhile (and by homeless, I mean freeloading off my parents while they cook for me and watch my kids.)

So there's the story for those of you who have been lucky enough to not have heard me complain about it (some of you have heard it several times over, as I tend to complain loudly and often).
The good news is, we are now free of our condo and ready to start the madness all over again.  Wish us luck!

Evicted

This little one was evicted from the womb on Friday, February 24th at 8:28 AM.

Her name is Harper Olivia, named such because we were not expecting her to have hair and the other names we were considering seemed more fitting for a bald baby.

Due to a couple of minor complications, what was supposed to be a quick and dirty procedure took slightly longer than expected (but was probably still plenty dirty), but we all came out the other side no worse for the wear.

She weighed 8 pounds and was 20 inches long.  She then proceeded to lose more than a pound in the hospital, making a liar out of me for all the times I scoffed at teeny tiny newborn clothes saying that there was no way any baby of mine would be small enough to wear them.  9 days later they are still a little loose.

Here she is being quite annoyed that even her smallest headband is about to turn into a necklace any second.

This one is not quite sure what to think of the new addition.  His emotions range from adoration, to indifference, to giving her the nickname of Frazzle-Toe, so he is still pretty hard to read.

Here is baby Harper getting ready to go on one of her first outings (to the doctor).

She has been on several outings since then.  One of the perks of being the neglected second child is that you get to do lots of things earlier.  For instance, if you'll remember, Holden went to his first movie in December, when he was 3.  Harper went to her first movie when she was a week old.  What can I say, Holden had a desperate need to see The Lorax.  I may have plugged Harper's ears the entire movie.

Over all I would say we are adjusting well and hovering just above survival mode.  This means that we all have clean socks, but my Google Reader has 400 unread items.  Totally worth it, because instead I spend my time taking pictures at the perfect moment to make it look like my newborn can already give cheesy smiles.

Sometimes I am still a little shocked that we got to take her home from the hospital, no questions asked, and that we are now a legitimate family of four, but I feel like we are all learning lots.
 
Holden has learned (is learning?) that yes, he is still required to use the potty even though baby sister is here now.
I have learned that "please be soft" is going to be tied with "do you have to go potty?" for words I say to Holden most often.
Harper has learned (thankfully) that mom does not appreciate staying up all.night.long with an inconsolable baby.
Reo has learned (remembered?) that his wife becomes a crazy person when she stays up all.night.long with an inconsolable baby.

Efficient

Holden managed to "pack" about 10 boxes in the time it took me to pack one this morning.  There was no stopping this kid.  I expect it to take me about an hour to undo the damage of his "packing", but it was totally worth it.  

Normally, the organized person in me would be having an aneurysm at watching him distribute Legos one by one into various boxes, but not so much today.  The reason for this is twofold.
1)  That organized person has pretty much been in hiding since the beginning of this pregnancy.
2)  Earlier today Holden informed me that he is "growing bigger and bigger each day."  Yes you are, my child.    Yes you are...

Be Mine

Reo is going to clean my house for me.

My sister brought over cherry hearts and cookies.

Holden was extra sweet and cuddly.

The most Valentine's Day enthusiasm I could muster was looking at Pinterest to see if I had pinned anything that I could accomplish without leaving the house (turns out no).

So, I requested a do-over.  Sometime this Spring my family is entitled to a make-up Valentine's Day, where I do crafts, heart shaped food, love letters, the whole shebang.   This should appease all the Valentine's Day haters out there who say we should be showing love all year, not just one one day.  I couldn't agree more.

So really, I didn't fail....I am just spreading the love.

My Thoughts On Being Pregnant

* That's my view of my belly.  I assume I still have toes, okay, even feet,  but it's unclear.  I'll let you know in about 12 days.

* For a brief couple of weeks, people kept telling me how small I was.  No one says that anymore.  Which is good, because they would be lying, and I would know it.

* 3rd trimester morning sickness is no joke.  Unless it is some kind of cruel joke.  Which it must be because it has been taking me DOWN these last couple of weeks.

* Between my two pregnancies, I feel as though I have experienced pretty much every pregnancy symptom in the book.  Except one.  Apparently there is this thing called Nesting...Heard of it?  Supposedly it is pretty common.  It is nowhere in sight for this pregnant girl.  Too bad I have a to do list 14 miles long, because nothing much is happening outside of the basics these days.  For instance, if the dishes get done and Holden and I both get dressed before lunch, the day is a success.

* On a positive note, my sweet husband (who must have been pretty tired of hearing me complain) scheduled a mother to be massage for me, and I actually WENT!  So there is one to do list in my life that is getting some progress.  Verdict?  Not so bad,  I guess I can see how people enjoy it.  But I had a hard time relaxing because I was spending so much time feeling badly that this poor person's job was to have to touch me.  I have the same problem with pedicures.

*Finally, baby girl will be here in less than two weeks.  And we are ready.  Well, as ready as we can be considering that as of now she is both nameless and soon to be homeless (Oh, did I not mention that?  More to come).

 Ready or not, here she comes!

One of the Reasons I Am Enemies With Snow

Twice in the last three days, my plans to go grocery shopping have been foiled by impromptu blizzards that make it onto YouTube.    That means food is getting a little scarce around these parts.  Scarce meaning that my fridge is pretty much down to condiments and Diet Coke (because I would never run out of that, that is just crazy).
Last night,  while the snow was coming down in droves while I was supposed to be at Costco, I had to get creative.  I dug back to my Snow College roots and we had cheese fries for dinner.

Holden was not entirely convinced, so I brought out some carrots and pineapple to help me sleep at night.

P.S.  I just realized my last three posts have included pictures of Holden sitting at the table.  I promise we do things besides eat...Well, Reo and Holden do.  I am 14 and a half months pregnant.  All I do is eat.

The Trickiest Part of Parenting my 3 Year Old

All of the sudden, the kid is on to me when I try to throw his stuff away.  You know, important stuff, like his coloring pages, broken toys, half eaten apples...Stuff like that.   He seems to have a sixth sense about when one of these "treasures" has made it into the trash and gives me the third degree about why I could have possibly thought it was a good idea to throw away what was apparently his most prized possession.  It's like the garbage police live here. 

Sorry kid, our house is on the market.  Only the necessities make it out alive.  If I can live without a microwave, you can live without the hair covered gooey hand you got out of the quarter machine at the grocery store.  

He's cute though, right?