Much too fast!

This past week came a day I never gave much thought about. I started clearing out and selling the baby "stuff". Eric and I always knew 2 kids was all we wanted. Regardless of gender we said 2 kids was our limit. First I got my sassy little girl and then I got my sweet little guy. We are very blessed to have 2 happy, healthy babies. So as Luke has started outgrowing much of the "baby baby" items they have started collecting dust just sitting around. I see them as just part of our house. Eric sees them as giant nuisances and as we had to move all this "stuff" he has been asking me "when are you going to start getting rid of all this stuff we are no longer using"? I have held on to EVERYTHING thinking maybe it will be used just one more time. I've held on to all of Claire's clothes and bows so it's not just the stuff Luke has been using. Ignoring the question worked for a while, but they day came when I could no longer ignore it. The time came to sort through it and sell/give stuff away. Ouch! Doing so has hurt my heart more than I thought it would. It somehow solidified for me that there will be no more babies in the house soon.

As hard as a baby is there is something sweet about having one in the house. All the new things that come along with them. Not just the clothes, toys, and diapers, but watching them learn and discover all the things we take for granted. We get excited when they start holding up their head, start "talking" and smiling at us. We cheer for them when they learn to sit up on their own and eventually crawl and walk. As our children grow up milestones grow further apart. Maybe I'm strange, but some nights when I know my little one is on the verge of accomplishing a new milestone I am almost like a kid at Christmas. Anxiously awaiting the new day to come to see if today will be the day they figure it out. So not only did I bite the bullet and start sorting and clearing out stuff, but then my little guy decided to accomplish not one, but TWO milestones this past week.  My littlest one sprouted his first 2 teeth! Since he turned 6 months I had already decided that I needed to get some sort of pictures taken of him. With Claire I was diligent about taking pictures every 3 months. Poor guy hasn't had a professional picture taken since he was born. I didn't go anywhere fancy and just did a cheap portrait package in the mall, but as soon as I felt those 2 teeth come in I wanted one last picture of his sweet gummy grin.

For awhile little man showed an interest in crawling. Getting his knees under him and doing some inch worming. He still inch worms all over his crib, but on the floor it's like he gave up. All he has wanted to do is stand. He will wear you out wanting to hold hands and pull up and down up and down. So proud of himself every time he stands. Well, all last week he would try and try to pull up without holding hands onto something, but just wasn't strong enough. One night as I was cooking dinner and Eric was playing on the floor with the kids Luke figured out how to stand up bracing himself on Eric's legs. I was fortunate enough to get the 2nd time on video (although I'm not sure why the quality is so terrible).

So even though in my heart of hearts I know my family is complete. I know deep down I will always long for "just one more" little one. I dread the day when the kids are grown, but I know no matter how many kids I have they will all eventually grow up. It's just a weird place to be in I think. I dreamed all my life of being pregnant and being a Mommy, that I just can't believe I am actually old enough to be a Mommy and to have completed my family. I look forward to watching my sweet family grow now. The sweet giggles of my little ones when they are in the bath tub together melt my heart. The mornings when Claire has snuck into Luke's room and climbed in his crib and I hear them talking on the monitor. Even Claire gets excited about milestones and I have to closely supervisor her trying to "walk' with Luke holding his hands (he is going to be one tough little boy by the time he survives his well meaning sister). Oh I blessed I am.

Big Changes!

Holy cow I suck at updating this thing! Well, life has been quite crazy the past few months and only getting crazier! We put our house on the market the first of May and were fortunate enough to get an offer in 4 short days. We accepted the offer and things have been a crazy roller coaster ever since!

We didn't "have" to sell and move. We had been debating for about a year when the right time might be. We knew we wanted to be closer to Eric's job, closer to our doctors and places we frequent, and needed more space, the kids and the toys had over taken us! One night after the kids had went to bed Eric casually said "I think we should try and sell". I had been feeling the same way for a while and asked God that if it was the right thing to do to let it be clear to Eric as well. Within 2 weeks we had found a realtor and it was on the market. With Eric's job being in Conroe we initially thought we would move to Conroe. We like the feel of the area, a little more casual and "slower" with a small town feel like back home. What we didn't realize when we listed our home, even though the realtor warned us of this, is that home inventory in the Houston market is low and the demand for homes is high. Meaning it is a seller's market. Good for us selling, not so good for us looking. Most of the area's we liked we could either get a house in fabulous neighborhood for the same size or smaller than we had within our price range or we had to sacrifice location for size. In the end the home we bought we totally where God wanted us to be. It cuts Eric's drive time to work in half and I'm 5 minutes from The Woodlands where our doctors are and all the good shopping places. Plus we are still only 20 minutes from our church. Not as close as 1 mile away like the old house, but still within reasonable and doable driving distance. Long story short on the old house, after closing being pushed back 3 times by the buyer who was having difficulty obtaining financing and a 4th request we terminated the contract and as of last weekend put it back on the market. Terrifying to own 2 homes for the time being, but remembering God wouldn't have worked out everything the way he did if we weren't meant to move. With the crazy way the market is right now things are even selling above asking price. While the home we bought we originally got for slightly under asking, the appraisal came back short, like really short. Since we didn't have that kind of cash on hand we were going to terminate the contract and try and just build a home. In the end it worked in our favor and we were able to purchase the home for 16K less than we originally thought.

There are a ton of more crazy details in this whole buy/sell process that has given me quite a few gray hairs in the process, but I won't go into detail of those. All I will say is through everything that has happened God has been orchestrating EVERYTHING for our good. I am continually reminded of this when I start to stress over getting the old house sold quickly.

The kids have had a blast moving and being in the new house. Claire has been so excited about the new house. I was very nervous of how she would react moving. She isn't fond of change and really likes her routine and comforts she knows. Even the day we closed on the new house as we drove to it she was saying she wanted to go "home" meaning the old house. The instant we walked into the new house she lit up and has been in love ever since. Any time we got o the old house for something she refused to get out of the car and screams "no, go new house". I have to assure her she is still sleeping at the new house. Luke must like it too as he has slept 6-8 hours straight every night we have been here. He has been up every 2-3 hours for the past 2 months. Some sleep has been nice for the very very sleep deprived Momma, although the late nights spent unpacking haven't helped me catch too much.

Front of the new house

 

 

One of the last mornings at the old house

 

Claire immediately set up a gold fish picnic within minutes of walking into the new house.