ACCOMPLISH

This is my one little word (inspired by Ali Edwards), my goal, my mantra for 2010.

As you can see, I've been absent from my blog for awhile. I've been busy living life, trying to keep up. I've written down several stories about Nathaniel, happenings in my life, but they didn't make it to my blog. Rather than trying to go backwards and adding those things now, I'm going to move forward...into the new year.

In 2010, I have so much that I want to accomplish. I want to achieve the goals I have set for myself. I want to stop procrastinating. I want to cross things off of my "to do" list. I want to be proud of myself. I want to live the life I've always imagined.

As each new year approaches, I usually identify a few general goals that I want to accomplish, such as to lose weight and to scrapbook more. Soon I become overwhelmed by my goals and give up hope that I'll ever achieve them. This year is going to be different. Over the past few months, I've set some large goals, but I've also set some smaller, monthly goals and have done a fairly good job of accomplishing them. I want this to continue in 2010.

Last year was tough for me on a personal level. I had to learn a "new normal" of being a working mom trying to balance my job, time with my family, and time for myself. Now that I feel like a have a fairly good handle on this new normal, there is so much more that I want to accomplish! In the next day or two, I'll post my goals for 2010 along with my plan for accomplishing them. I have a feeling that 2010 is going to be a very productive year!

Where Does the Time Go?

September is half over already, and I feel like I’m drowning again. Actually, I guess I’m treading water. I’m stuck where I was at the beginning of the month and haven’t even come close to meeting my goals. I’m so frustrated with myself! But the month is not over yet. I have to take one day at a time and not let the setbacks knock me off of my feet.

I have made progress in some areas. I’m reading again, and I’m working on some scrapbooking projects. I’m so happy about that! It feels good to take some time for myself again. I love being a wife and mother, but I have to keep being ME as well.

One setback on the scrapbooking front is that we had water in our basement last week. The cold water supply line to the sink in Del’s bathroom broke sometime in the wee hours of the morning on Wednesday, September 9 (and people said that 09-09-09 would be a lucky day). Actually, we were quite lucky in that the damage was minimal. Although boxes in my scrapbooking room were wet, the contents were all still dry! Praise God! We lost a couple of boxes in the garage that we were planning to sort through and likely get rid of anyway, so all in all things are ok. We still are cleaning up the mess, but insurance money will help a little with that. It’s just one more thing to keep me busy and make the month seem to fly by.

Nathaniel @ 20 months

Nathaniel turned 20 months old on September 9. These are some of the things I want to remember about him at this age:

Has been trying to put on his socks and shoes himself.

Is starting to say compound words: washcloth, bathroom.

Is saying simple sentences: I blow bubble, I have balloon, I want down.

Plays independently more often (letting Mommy and Daddy get some work done around the house!).

Becoming more adventurous in trying new foods, such as eating several bites of a chicken patty with cheese and spaghetti sauce, and trying bites of a lemon, a dill pickle chip, lettuce with ranch dressing.

Likes to sit in regular chair at table (we put the high chair/booster away) and use a plate and silverware at meals.

Plays with stuffed animals, giving them kisses often – so cute!

Still loves the outdoors and balls of all types.

A New Month, A New Start

I began this year with the resolution that I would eat healthier, exercise, and lose weight. Although I did well for a few months, I started gaining weight again. Aggghhhhhh! It seems like a never-ending cycle, but I have to break it. So as today is the first day of a new month, I am giving myself a new start. I have set goals for the month, and I hereby solemnly swear to work hard to meet these goals!

1. Eat only when I am hungry. (That is, don’t snack at work or at home just because I’m bored.)
2. Eat at least 1 fruit and 1 vegetable per day.
3. Exercise for 30 minutes each day at least 5 days per week.

Although there are many other things that I want to accomplish, I’m going to start here. After I master these three goals this month, then I can change these and add new goals. Here I go! Let the changes begin!

Where Did August Go?

I can’t believe it’s August 31st already! It was another busy month, so it seems to have flown by. A couple of highlights from August were our family vacation and my birthday!

Family Vacation

On Thursday, August 20, we (Del, Nathaniel, and I) drove to Spirit Lake, Iowa, with my parents and sister for an extended weekend getaway through Sunday, August 23. We stayed in a condo that backed to the lake, and although the weather and water were too cool to get in, it was still wonderful to look out on the water and hear the waves lapping the shore.

It was a full yet relaxing trip! We had some things in mind that we wanted to do, and we fit in those activities but also spent time at the condo for meals, visiting, playing games, reading, etc. On the trip up to Spirit Lake, we stopped in Sioux City and toured the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center and the Sergeant Floyd museum. In Spirit Lake/Okoboji, we went to a drive-in theater and saw The Proposal and The Ugly Truth; toured the Iowa Rock ‘n Roll museum, Maritime Museum, and Abbie Gardner cabin/memorial; played mini golf; went on a boat tour of Lake Okoboji; went parasailing (Kelly and Dad only); did some geocaching; and played in the sand at the condo and at a couple of local parks. On the trip home, we stopped in Le Mars, the Ice Cream Capital of the World, and toured the museum and ate ice cream.

Nathaniel was a great traveler! Between our planned stops on the drives there and home and his naps in the car, Nathaniel did a good job riding in the car, listening to his music, and amusing himself. He also did a great job in Spirit Lake, catching naps in the car each day and then going to bed close to his normal bedtime of 8:30 p.m. The exception was when he stayed awake until 9:45 at the drive-in movie! After we returned home from vacation, he did a good job getting back into his routine as well.

My 35th Birthday

This year, my birthday was on a Saturday, so it felt as though I got an extended celebration! Del and Nathaniel gave me their gifts on Thursday evening, which included the movie 27 Dresses, a digital photo frame for my desk at work, and a gift card to Archiver’s!

On Saturday, my parents came to Omaha and my sister came over, and we went to lunch at Olive Garden. Then, everyone came over to our house for gifts, dessert, and a game of dominoes. I received a teak shower bench from my parents and Mary Kay satin hands gift set from Kelly. Then my parents babysat Nathaniel so that Del and I could go out! We saw the movie Funny People with Adam Sandler. It was a little slow in places, but it was good overall.

On Sunday, Del’s parents came to Omaha, and we met them and Sherry and Alexander at The Durham Museum to see a behind the scenes sneak peak of Disney’s A Christmas Carol. It took 2 hours to stand in line and go through the train cars with the exhibits, but it was really interesting to see. Then we had lunch at Old Chicago, where I opened my gifts. I received two shells for my Miche purse from Del and Sandy and a Michaels gift card from Sherry, John, and Alexander. After lunch, we went back to our house, where we played outside and then visited inside.

All in all, it was a great birthday! I got to spend time with all of our family and received a lot of very nice gifts.

Nathaniel’s Surgery

Nathaniel has had several ear infections over his first 18 months of life, so his doctor recommended that he have tubes put in his ears. Nathaniel had surgery on July 20, 2009, almost 2 weeks ago, and everything went as smoothly as could be expected. We took him in his pajamas because we had to be there at 6:30 a.m. to get checked in, fill out paperwork, and get prepped for the procedure. After Nathaniel took medicine (Tylenol plus something else) to make him sleepy, he was a little spacey and off-balance. It slowed him down, including his speech, and Del and I heard Nathaniel say things we hadn’t heard before, such as “want down.” This was the first two-word phrase that we heard him say! Maybe he is saying more that we realize, but he talks so fast that we don’t hear actual words very often.

The surgery was scheduled for 8:00 a.m., and it ended up taking place around 8:30 a.m. We were able to go back and see Nathaniel in the recovery room by 8:45 or 9:00 a.m., and he woke up crying and screaming, as the doctor and nurses said he would. They say that the medicine makes confuses them so they don’t know where they are. That must be scary for anyone, let alone a toddler!

Once Nathaniel calmed down a little and drank some juice, we took him home. On the way home, Nathaniel got sick, but I think that helped him feel better. We sat on the couch and watch SpongeBob for awhile, and then Nathaniel wanted to get down and play. He was still a little off-balance though, so he kept falling down! That wore off in a couple of hours, and by noon, he was running around outside on the driveway.

Nathaniel was exhausted and could have used a nap mid-morning, but he was fighting sleep. I’m guessing that he didn’t want to fall asleep for fear that he would wake up and not know where he was again. Grandpa and Grandma Gust were with us, and Grandma finally got Nathaniel to fall asleep around 1:00 p.m. by swinging with him on our glider in the backyard. When Nathaniel woke up, he was back to normal, and he enjoyed playing the rest of the day and went to sleep easily that night.

Over the next week, we had to put drops in Nathaniel’s ears, and he didn’t mind them too much. For the first couple of days, he wanted us to put the drops in, and he held the bottle of eardrops on the way to daycare. By the end of the week, he had had enough.

Following the surgery, we didn’t notice much difference in Nathaniel at first. After a couple of days, though, we noticed that Nathaniel was talking a lot more than he had been. He was taking more often and was saying words and phrases that we hadn’t heard (or understood) before! It seems that the tubes have helped his hearing, and therefore his speech! We have yet to determine if they have helped his ear infections, though.

Nathaniel @ 18 months

My baby boy is a 1 ½ years old! Here’s what he’s up to at 18 months:


Weighs 26 pounds, 10 ounces and is 35 inches tall (off the charts in terms of percentile!).

Cries when I leave him at daycare in the morning but isn’t ready go leave when I pick him up in the afternoon.

Has some fussy days when he cries a lot and is clingy and some happy days when he is content and plays well on his own and with others.

Will be getting tubes in his ears on July 20.

Crawls down the stairs backwards, but also likes to straighten out his legs and slide down on his belly.

Recognizes baseballs, baseball on TV, and the baseball diamond on his play rug in his bedroom.

Calls all balls “buh-bah” (for baseball and basketball).

Says “up” when he wants to be held.

Sings along with his “toddler tunes” CD in the car: says “hurray” to If You’re Happy and You Know It, says “hurrah” to The Ants Go Marching, and says “down” to Ring Around the Rosie.

Is talking a lot, but not much is understandable yet.

Playing Catch-up

So what have I been doing over the past month? In addition to the daily whirlwind, there has been a lot going on.

Nathaniel is growing up so fast! He’s in the “twos” room at daycare now, and he LOVES it! He gets to eat breakfast and lunch with the big kids and to play outside. He has new kids and new toys to play with and is challenged by being with two-year-olds. At the end of each day, he’s never ready to leave daycare, but he’s also tired, both physically and mentally, from such a busy day. Since the last week of May (the weekend following Memorial Day), he’s been using his paci only at night! He’s talking more now, saying dada, mama, ball, ba-ball (basketball or baseball), wock (rock), wawa (water), up, down, and the ever-present yeah. He doesn’t say no yet, but he does shake his head no. He’s definitely getting a mind of his own!

We’ve gone to a graduation party, a surprise party for a friend from high school, a birthday party for the son of friends, and a wedding of two members of our church. We’ve celebrated Father’s Day with both our families, going geocaching with the Schiermeyers and to Railroad Days at Lauritzen Gardens and the Historic Dodge House with the Gusts. We’ve attended church meetings, and Del is attending class at Midland and taking another class online.

We’ve also tried to spend more time working on our house. We picked out trim for our mantle and now have it assembled, stained, and poly-ed. We’re putting out pictures and other personal/décor items. But we still have boxes to unpack, items to organize, and cardboard and newspaper to recycle. We’re getting there, though!

So that’s what we’ve been up to in June, and there’s much more to come!

If I Could Have One Superpower…

Have you ever been asked what superpower you would choose if you could have one? I have, and I finally figured out what mine would be – the ability to stop time. Remember the show “Out of this World,” where Evie could stop time by putting her two index fingers together? I so wish I could do that right now!

As you can see, it’s been awhile since I’ve posted. The time goes by so fast these days! I’m busy, yet I feel that I don’t accomplish anything. It’s so frustrating!

I feel as though my schedule is spiraling out of control, and I want to shout STOP!!! I need a few days to catch up on things – picking up around the house, unpacking (yes, we’re still unpacking), doing daily chores, planning and preparing meals, exercising, catching up on TV shows that I want to watch but don’t have time for, reading, scrapbooking. I could go on and on.

Every morning, I wake up, get ready for work, get Nathaniel ready for daycare, take Nathaniel to daycare, work 8 to 4, pick up Nathaniel, run a few errands or take Nathaniel to the park, go home, play with Nathaniel outside (he LOVES to be outside), make supper, eat, play with Nathaniel again, give Nathaniel a bath and get him ready for bed, put Nathaniel to bed, pick up around the house a little, collapse on the couch and watch TV or play on the internet, and go to bed. Then I wake up the next morning and do it all again!

I am very grateful for the blessings that I have, such as a son to take care of, a house to clean, food to prepare, etc. I just need to find a way to manage my time better so that I don’t feel so out of control!

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a great Memorial Day weekend spending time as a family and working around the house, both indoors and outdoors!

I was kind of dreading doing the yard work, but I actually enjoyed it! I liked raking the vagrant leaves from last fall and cleaning up the beds of plants around the house. It was fun doing projects with Del, and maybe pride of ownership in our new house has something to do with it as well.

It was great to spend so much time with Nathaniel, too! He is growing up so fast. He loves to be outside, and he played and helped out as we worked in the yard. He’s such a good helper, too! We would ask him to bring us tools or the ball he was playing with, and he would follow our directions. I even asked him to pick up the brown leaves from the grass and put them in the trash can, and he did so for a few minutes! He was easily distracted by birds in the common space behind our house, though. He loves to watch the birds, just like his Grandpa Schiermeyer.

Nathaniel did well without his pacifier for much of the weekend, and he practiced using a spoon at mealtimes. He’s getting pretty good! He uses his left hand most of the time, but he tries using his right hand, too. Now that’s Nathaniel is nearing a year and a half, I want to wean him from the paci and bedtime bottles. I think he’ll be fine without them; I’m the one who will have to cope without a simple solution to Nathaniel’s fussiness!

All in all, it was a wonderful holiday weekend! We got quite a bit of work done and spent a lot of quality time just the three of us.

Happy Mother's Day!

It was indeed a happy Mother’s Day! On Friday, Nathaniel (actually Ms. Kim and Ms. Bailey at daycare) gave me a flower planted in a cup. Then on Saturday, Del made up an excuse to go to Bakers and came home with flowers for me! On Sunday, Del made cinnamon rolls (from scratch) for breakfast, and then we spent the afternoon at the zoo with Del’s family. It was Nathaniel’s first trip to the zoo, and he loved it! It was so fun to watch him looking at all of the animals, taking everything in. When we got home last night, Nathaniel played with me, throwing balls and tackling me. It was such much fun to laugh and play with my little boy!

I am loved!

Last night, Del made a quick trip to the store while I put Nathaniel to bed. When he got home, not only had he bought me ice cream sandwiches and filled my car up with gas, but he also brought me a bouquet of roses! He hasn’t given me flowers since we’ve been married because our cat will eat them. What a nice surprise! After I’ve had a few bad days, it feels wonderful to know that I am loved!

Derailed

I was all set to work hard at losing a pound a week…and then life got hectic and I lost focus. I feel so heavy now, even though I’ve only gained a pound back and have manage to maintain that, even though I haven’t been paying attention to what I put in my mouth. I need to get my head back in the game! I need to refocus and to take two steps forward after my step back this past week.

Proud of Myself & Ready for the Next Step

I feel like I’m finally making some progress on the weight-loss front! While I admit that I’m not doing everything that I can to lose weight, I have made some positive strides over the last month. I’ve been eating out quite a bit because of the move, but I’ve been trying to make healthy choices (though I do break down and have a vanilla shake once in a while!) and to control my portions by planning ahead to eat only half of my sandwich and to take the other half home for another meal.

Over the last two weeks, I’ve felt a difference in my body, and my mom and a gal from church both commented that it looked as though I was losing weight! It feels so good. This week, I haven’t always made good choices, and I can feel it now. I feel bigger and heavier today, and I don’t like it! Now that’s motivation!

Now that I feel I have a handle on eating out, I am ready to move on to preparing healthy meals at home and to beginning to exercise.

My kitchen is almost in working order again after the move, so now I need to set aside time to plan menus and to actually cook the meals I plan. I think this will be challenging at first, because I’ve never really done this before. In the past, I’ve been on my own and haven’t felt the need to cook for only one person. Even though I’ve been married for over 3 years now, I’ve rarely cooked a meal for my husband. I almost feel ashamed, but it worked for us to just put something in the oven or microwave at the last minute when we got home from work. Now that my son is eating table foods, I really want to start cooking meals. I know that it doesn’t work for me to come home from work and put together a meal then, so I have to put my organizational skills to work and plan ahead!

As far as exercise goes, I think my son may actually help me with that. He loves to be outside, and twice this past week, we’ve gone for a walk in our neighborhood after work/daycare! I hope that I can fit regular walks into my schedule…. Correction: I intend to fit regular walks into my schedule as well as to start exercising every morning.

In looking at the weight-loss goals that I set at the beginning of the year, I’m a little behind. I need to lose about a pound a week until Memorial Day to meet my goal. It’s time that I really focus on losing weight so that I can feel confident in my own skin (and less clothing) this summer!

Easter 2009

Easter with Nathaniel was so much fun this year! He became a pro at hunting eggs after five different Easter egg hunts in just over a week.

We kicked off our Easter celebration with an Easter egg hunt in our new neighborhood on Saturday, April 4! The day was cool and windy, but children and parents throughout the neighborhood gathered at the soccer field a block away from our house. This was Nathaniel’s first egg hunt, and he wasn’t sure what was going on. The field was bumpy, so Nathaniel didn’t want to walk around much. In addition, Nathaniel was afraid of the Easter Bunny, clinging onto Daddy’s leg when he came near. Nathaniel did manage to pick up two eggs, though!

At church the next day, the Sunday School teachers held an Easter egg hunt for all of the kids. They separated the youngest ones, so Nathaniel got to hunt for eggs in the preschool room along with his cousin, Alexander. (It’s becoming a tradition to have Sherry, John, and Alexander join us at church for the Easter egg hunt each year.) With more familiar surroundings, Nathaniel seemed to enjoy picking up eggs off of the floor, tables, chairs, and toys. We’re not quite sure if Nathaniel wanted the eggs or if he was just trying to get to the trucks underneath! He had quite a haul of candy, but I’m sure Daddy will be eating most of it.

On Friday, April 10, we went to a birthday party for Evan and Adam Rice (sons of Del’s cousin, Melodie), and with birthdays so close to Easter, an egg hunt was the perfect party game! Nathaniel ventured out onto the grass this time, and he picked up all of the eggs he saw. There were a few pennies in each egg, and Nathaniel liked playing with them as much as the eggs.

On Saturday, April 11, we had Easter with Nathaniel’s Grandpa and Grandma Gust. He got to hunt eggs again, and he was really getting the hang of it by now. He spotted eggs “hidden” on the patio and put them right in his basket. Again, there was money (pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters) inside the eggs, and Nathaniel enjoyed playing with the coins as well as the eggs.

Finally, on Easter Sunday, we celebrated with Nathaniel’s Grandpa and Grandma Schiermeyer and Aunt Kelly. We hid a few eggs for Nathaniel in the basement, but that wasn’t enough for him. When he had collected all of the eggs, he kept looking around for more! It was so cute! So after lunch, we hid more eggs for Nathaniel to find. He was so good that he would have a hand on one egg while scanning the room to locate the next one! Again, he wanted more, so we took him upstairs and re-hid the eggs. After he gathered all of the eggs this time, he started to crawl up the stairs. I started laughing and asked him if he thought that the eggs would be hidden for him again if he went back upstairs. Of course, they were, so he had one final Easter egg hunt! Nathaniel found all of the eggs again, even when we made the hunt more challenging. It was so fun to watch his little mind at work!

Nathaniel @ 15 months

My baby is 15 months old today! Time goes by way too quickly. Here's a little bit about Nathaniel at 15 months:


Likes to brush his teeth (hooray for edible toothpaste!), and Mommy’s too!

Has started playing with others at daycare (rather than parallel play).

Likes corn dogs, pancakes, chicken nuggets (sometimes), watermelon, applesauce, Cheerios, crackers, cookies, and ice cream.

Points to indicate what he wants or where he wants to go.

Doesn’t say mama or dada much.

Says “uh oh,” “ah gog [all gone],” and “yeah.”

Says many other things in his own babbling language.

Is scared of the Easter Bunny.

Likes playing with balls, blocks, cars, and books.

Still uses his paci, but does well without it if he can’t see it (out of sight, out of mind).

Still drinks a bottle at bedtime and before naps on the weekends.

Likes chasing and “petting” Yoda, his kitty.

Waves bye-bye sometimes, but not consistently.

Likes to take lids/caps off of things and put them back on.

Walks all over the place, and almost runs at times.

Is learning to walk while holding onto someone’s hand.

Likes to go outside from the front door and back inside through the garage so he can put the button to close the garage door.

Likes to “get” Daddy when Daddy’s lying on the floor by hitting and crawling across Daddy’s stomach.

Plays with the phone, pushing buttons and holding it up to his ear, though at an awkward angle.

Sticks his tongue out and giggles like he’s the funniest boy ever (which he is!).

Getting Settled In

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind! We’ve been packing, moving, and now unpacking. I’m so excited to be a homeowner and to be in our new house!

Everyone made the transition really well. We shed some tears on our last morning at the duplex because we made a lot of great memories there, but I know that we’ll make even more memories in our new house! I was a little worried about Nathaniel, but he slept through the night on the first night in his new room, and he loves having so much more space to walk around and explore (8 rooms on one floor in the new house versus 2 rooms on one floor at the duplex). Even Yoda (our cat) has been doing well. I think the car ride over was the most difficult for him, and he slunk around the new house for awhile, but now he’s making himself at home.

I was a little worried that we still wouldn’t have enough room for all of our “stuff.” But so far, I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how much room we have. I love it! We’re still unpacking, so that could change, but for now, our furniture fits well with room to spare.

While unpacking can be a pain at times, I really enjoy it overall. I like to organize things, so now I get to find a new place for everything in our new house. Packing and unpacking also force me…I mean, allow me…to evaluate what I have and to get rid of things that I no longer need, use, or love.

After we get settled in, I’m going to tacking reorganizing my schedule. I NEED to make time for exercise, reading, and scrapbooking as well as time for working and being a mom. Things feel so unbalanced and chaotic right now, so once I get all of the physical things in their places after moving, then I’m looking forward to getting my priorities in their places as well.

Inspired

This morning, I was reading the blogs that I check regularly, and I was inspired by Donna Downey, scrapbooker, artist extraordinaire, and creator of the Inspired Artist Workshop. She shared her weight loss story (she has lost almost 50 pounds since January 2008 and has begun running 5k and 10k races) and though I had read pieces of it before, the thing that struck me today was that she said “i like that i only compete with myself and enjoy the time spent challenging my body to perform.”

“I only compete with myself…” That’s what I need to do. I am competing with so many images in my head: actresses, models, coworkers, everyone who is thinner than me. I need to stop thinking about other people and think of myself. Yes, I want to lose weight and be healthy for my husband and my son, for my doctor who said she’d like me to lose 10 pounds, for others who I feel look at me and see me as overweight. But they key is that I need to do it for myself. I need to want to be healthy and to lose weight, or it will never happen.

I am inspired to compete with myself and to see what this body can do. God created this body, so I know that it can do great things!

Why does moving have to be so emotional?

Packing is in full swing, and there are boxes everywhere! There is a lot of work to do, but I have also had some time to think about this move. Moving is exciting and scary at the same time.

It hit me a few days after we signed the purchase agreement that we had legally agreed to buy this house. I felt sick for a minute as I thought of all of the negative things about the house (not that there are many): the small yard, the small master bathroom, the outdated kitchen. Of course, I felt that same way after I had signed the lease for my first apartment, too, and I ended up loving that apartment. I know I'll love our new house, too.

I also got teary eyed when I thought of the duplex being Nathaniel's only home so far. He's just starting to know his room and points to it when he wants to crawl up the stairs to go play with his toys up there. In the new house, there won't be stairs to crawl up to get to his room, and he loves crawling up stairs! There are stairs from the basement to the main floor, but that doesn't seem quite the same to me. I really will miss the duplex. It was our home when Del and I got married and the home we brought our newborn baby to.

I know that we will make this new house ours and that we all will love it! I'm looking foward to having more space, having Nathaniel's room on the main floor so that he can go play whenever he wants, having a dedicated scrapbook space, having a two-car garage.... It will be a great house, and though it will be the first home we will own, the duplex will always be our first home.

Let the Packing Begin!

We just had our inspection and signed the purchase agreement for the house!!! I'm so excited! A part of me won't completely believe it until I have the keys in my hand, but I think it's all going to work out. The inspector identified a few things that need to be fixed, but nothing major.

Now the real work begins. Sorting, packing, sorting, and more packing! I'm looking forward to it, though. I know that I/we have too much "stuff," and I can't wait to go through everything and purge. I've already started a moving/packing to do list, and I think we'll get started on it tonight!

Thank you, Lord, for giving us patience and for helping us through this process! Amen!

We Got It!

Pending inspection, of course. The clause in the letter from the bank is that we buy the house "as is," but it sounds like (I haven't ready the letter myself, yet) we can have an inspection and make a decision from there. If the inspector identifies anything major, we can still reject the house. Yea! I'm so excited! Now we have to schedule the inspection and keep praying. The other condition from the bank is that we close by March 24. That's later than the date in our original contract--March 13--but still less than 30 days. It looks like we may have a few BUSY weeks ahead! This is such an exciting time! And we do have a back-up plan, so to speak: five more houses on our "to see" list in case this one still falls through.

Waiting a Little Longer

So we're still waiting for news on the house. On Monday, we learned that we had verbal approval from the bank doing the foreclosure, and we were told that we would receive a letter on Tuesday. It's Wednesday now, and we haven't received a letter. Our realtor said that the seller's agent wasn't able to get ahold of the bank yesterday, so we're still waiting. We're anxious to see what this letter says because we're wondering if we'll be allowed to have an inspection. If not, then we'll drop this house and move on. We're not going to buy a house "as is." While this house looks like it is in good condition, you never know what's on the inside: mold, termite damage, etc. We're still holding out hope, but our patience is wearing thin. Lord, please help us to be patient and to know your will.

Still Waiting

We're still waiting for news on the house. The deadline that we gave the seller/bank is tomorrow at 1:00 p.m., but today our realtor called and said that she doesn't expect to hear anything for a week or a week and a half. I guess that the paperwork at the bank has to go through three departments, so that's why it takes so long. It's so frustrating! Our realtor said that people who can wait for the bank's decision generally get the house, but the longer we wait, the longer the house stays on the market for someone else to make an offer on it, too. We plan to leave our offer on the table, but we're also going to resume looking. We really want that house, but we don't want to sit around doing nothing in case our offer isn't accepted. Please have your perfect will, Lord!

Another House Update

Well, here's the latest in the continuing saga.... Yesterday, our realtor was finally able to contact the seller's agent, who had finally met with the owner of the house. They had a "small counter" to our offer. Apparently, this is a standard for a house in foreclosure, but the counter was that the house would remain on the market and the seller could accept any other offers until we are approved by the bank. Our initial reaction was anger. If they want a better offer, then they should reject our offer and raise the asking price! But as we talked about it, this is the condition we've been operating under already. We put it our offer almost two weeks ago, and the house has remained on the market but no other offers have come in (as far as we know, anyway). Our realtor said that he's seen the bank take anywhere from three days to three weeks to approve a buyer. While we're okay with the house remaining on the market (as I said, that's the way things are now), we want a deadline. We can't wait indefinitely for the bank to make a decision. We need to start packing, to give our "landlords" (my parents-in-law) notice that we're moving, etc. We went to see the house again last night and agreed that we are still very interested in it. So we signed the counter but put an exiparation date on our offer of Wednesday, February 18 at 1:00 p.m. We'll continue waiting and see what happens! We figure that if the bank still hasn't approved us by next Wednesday, we'll leave our offer on the table but will resume looking at houses to see if we can find something else that we like. Maybe we'll be approved before we find something else. Or maybe we'll find another house and will withdraw our offer on this house. So, to make a long story short (too late!), the waiting continues....

Waiting, food journal, and other miscellaneous thoughts

We're still waiting to hear about the house. The owner was supposed to be back in the country on Sunday, but as of yesterday at noon, the seller's agent hadn't been able to get ahold of her. She went ahead and sent our information (and the information of the other bidder?) to the bank holding the mortgage to get approval prior to the seller selecting an offer to accept, but I don't know when we'll know anything. I hope it's not too much longer! Thank you, Jesus, for giving me patience. It looks like I'm going to need a little more....

Yesterday, I started a food journal. I joined SparkPeople, a free website that offers information about nutrition, exercise, and healthy living as well as support from other members through blog posts and emails, a few months ago, but I hadn't really done anything with the tools on the website yet. Yesterday, I read an article from SparkPeople that said that the key to successful weight loss is keeping a journal of everything you eat each day. The idea is that you become aware of what and how much you are eating as well as when and why you may be eating. SparkPeople has a nutrition tracker, so I tried it out yesterday. I must admit that it worked! I knew how many calories I had eaten so far and what my goal was for the day, so when I had the munchies last night, I knew that I had only about 100 calories left, and I didn't eat anything! Whoever said that knowledge is power was right! I'm going to try to stick with this and see what happens. I think it may just be what I need to kick my butt in gear and start living a healthier life!

I'm also working on developing a schedule for each day, planning in time for running errands, cooking supper, reading, scrapbooking, etc. I've been looking at my newest scrapbooking magazine for the last two days, and I really want to get back into making layouts! I can't wait to be able to sit down and scrapbook in the evenings after Nathaniel is in bed!

So that's what's been going on in my life over the last few days. I hope to be back soon with news about the house!

House Update

Though I have been trying not to worry about whether we'll get this house, I haven't been doing a very good job. I know that it's in God's hands, but I hadn't given it completely to Him yet. However, yesterday morning, God asked me if I trust Him. My answer was yes. And then I instantly relaxed. While I still feel a few nervous jitters, I do trust God and know that He has our best interests at heart.

When I got home from work yesterday, there was a message from our realtor on our answering machine. She said that the bank needs to see our last two pay stubs, so we got that to her to send to the bank today. She also told us that ours is the better offer right now! I pray that it stays that way! The owner of the house will be back in the country (I don't know where she's been) on Sunday, and the agent is hoping that she'll make a decision on Sunday or Monday. Then the bank has to approve it as well. I'm hoping that we'll know something early next week!

Praying for God's Will

Yesterday, I took the day off from work to take Nathaniel to the doctor to have his ears rechecked (he has had an ear infection) and to look at more houses with Del. We wanted to see the last few on our list that are within our price range. We saw a couple of houses for a second time and then saw one house for the first time. That last house was the one! I know that they say that it is the last one because you stop looking after that, but this really was the LAST one. Other than new listings we receive each day, we've looked at everything we can afford that matches our search criteria (at least three bedrooms, two bathrooms, etc.).

The last house was perfect, or near perfect anyway. It has all of the space we want at a price we can afford! However, it is in foreclosure, and there is already one bid on it. We put in a bid anyway, and we hope that we will win the house. Now it is in God's hands. I know that everything happens for a reason. Maybe we didn't see this house sooner because it's not meant to be. Or maybe we didn't see the house sooner because being the second bid puts us in a better position to win the house. I don't know right now. God will reveal that in time. We hope to hear from the bank handling the foreclosure by the end of the week, but the bank may not respond that quickly. Regardless, I know that God is in control, and I am trying hard to let Him be. I don't want to get my hopes up, to make any plans yet, but I really, really, really want this house!

Please have your perfect will, Lord! And help me to understand if this house isn't part of Your will. Amen

House Hunting

That's what has been keeping me busy lately...my excuse for not blogging. It has been both fun and frustrating looking for a house. We started looking a bit earlier that we had intented because we drove by a house that looked interesting. We contacted a realtor and toured the house out of curiosity. We loved it! Okay, it was actually more like a crush. We were really interested in it, saw it three times (including taking our parents to see it), and ended up deciding to wait a couple of months until we had a little more money in the bank. A couple of weeks later, it sold. I guess it wasn't meant to be.

We've continued our search and have seen some great houses and some not-so-great houses. We found one that we wanted to go back and see a second time, but it sold that night. We found one that looked great online, but it sold before we could see it. That's what has been frustrating. I guess I didn't think so many people would be in the market for a house right now with the economy the way it is. But if we can afford to buy a house now, it makes sense that others can, too.

So we've searched online again and have another list of houses that we're hoping to see this weekend. It looks like there are some great possibilities, and I'm very hopeful! I know that God has the perfect house planned for us at the perfect time, so I'm praying for patience, wisdom, and understanding, asking that God guide us in our search to the house that's perfect for us.

Proud Mama

Nathaniel is growing up so fast these days! Last weekend, he decided that he didn't want baby food anymore, he had his last night-night bottle last night (he's still on the bottle at daycare), and he will be trying Vitamin D milk in a sippy cup tonight. He's walking more and more, too. This morning, when I dropped him off at daycare, Nathaniel showed off for his buddy Roman's mom and walked from me to Ms. Kim, who was about 4 feet away. Roman's mom said "Are you kidding me!" She was so excited for Nathaniel! Roman is a month older than Nathaniel but isn't walking yet, so she told Nathaniel that he's going to have to teach Roman. Although I know it's not a competition to see who can meet which milestones first, I was beaming with pride at Nathaniel for his accomplishments. I'm so proud of you, sweet boy!

Motivation!

I have been lazy. That's all there is to it. I realized that this past weekend when I was complaining about someone else being lazy.

Why haven't I crossed things off of my to do list? Why haven't I started eating healthy foods and exercising? Why haven't I cleaned off my kitchen table? Why haven't I put all of the Christmas decorations away? Why haven't I started reading a book or doing some scrapbooking? It's not because I don't have time, as I have been telling myself. It's because I've been too lazy to make the time. And that stops right now!

I was sick on Friday with a stomach bug, and I lost 5 pounds. Yes, 5 pounds! That movitated me. I felt as though my system had been purged from all of the unhealthy things I had been eating, my weight was at my goal for Valentine's Day, and I was excited about the possibilities. I have been starting to eat healthier and to eat less, but I haven't started the exercise yet. My weight has been slowly creeping back up over the last few days, and it really hit me that it's not necessarily how much I eat but what I eat that's important. Last night, I didn't eat supper because I was busy with Nathaniel, but I did have an ice cream cone before bed. I thought that my weight might be down today, but it was up a little. Duh! Ice cream (and the two cookies I ate at work) will do that.

Now I am truly motivated! I am done being lazy. I am done putting off what I need to get done and what I want to get done. I want to clean my house, cook healthy meals, exercise, and get back into my hobbies of reading and scrapbooking. I want to lose weight so that I can feel comfortable in my body this spring/summer. And I want to begin now!

Making Time for Me

I'm not sure how I can be so busy all of the time. Although I no longer have certain committments, such as teaching or church council, I still seem to be busy from morning until night and have no time to do the things that I want to do. I need to learn how to make time for myself, to make these things priorities.

Each day, I want to make time to exercise, plan and cook healthy meals, read for pleasure, and scrapbook. I'm just not sure how all of that can fit into the day along with work, taking Nathaniel to and from daycare, playing with Nathaniel, and taking care of Nathaniel's needs (food, diaper changes, baths, etc.). And notice that there's no mention of my husband here. I want to have quality time to spend with him as well. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed right now. If only I didn't need to sleep....

I guess I need to take a deep breath and figure out where to start. Maybe I can't do everything at once, but I can start now and slowly incorporate everything I want to do into my day. Wish me luck!

First Birthday Party

Yesterday, we had the boy's first birthday party! We had a great turnout, and Nathaniel was spoiled rotten with all of the wonderful gifts he received. Unfortunately, the day is somewhat of a blur to me. I got a migraine in the morning as we arrived at church, and I was sick all morning. I still wasn't feeling that well when we left to get things set up for the party, but I wasn't about to miss my son's very first birthday party! I felt increasingly better throughout the day, and I'm so thankful for that.

At the party, Nathaniel had fun ripping through the paper on his birthday gifts, and he even got to taste his first birthday cake! He very delicately picked at the icing and put it in his mouth, and it was so cute! He had a very nice red goatee and red hands when all was said and done, but the floor beneath his high chair was spotless!

Thanks to all of our family and friends who made Nathaniel's special day so wonderful! And special thanks to my husband who checked everything off our to do list before the party while I was sick in bed. I am blessed to have two very wonderful boys!

One year ago today...

...my world was forever changed! I was supposed to have three more weeks to prepare myself, the house, and the nursery, but you just couldn't wait. Actually, your early arrival was my doing. I slipped and fell at the mall, my water broke, and Daddy took me to the hospital to make sure we were both okay. We were just fine, and 18 hours of labor later, you were born via C-section. You were perfect and beautiful and so tiny. It was love at first sight! I couldn't imagine my life without you. I love you, Nathaniel. Happy 1st Birthday, sweet boy!

Goals for 2009

There are many things that I want to accomplish this year. In the past, I have set goals and made resolutions, but I haven't followed through. I want this year to be different! My word for this year (inspired by Ali Edwards) is DEVOTE. I want to take control of my busy life, slow down, and devote more time to my husband and son, to myself, and to the things that make me happy. Here are my specific goals, in no particular order:

- Devote more time to my husband and son
- Live a healthier lifestyle (eat healthier foods and exercise more)
- Make time to read for pleasure
- Scrapbook, scrapbook, scrapbook
- Cook supper each night
- Eat as a family at the kitchen table (rather than in front of the tv)
- Clean my house on a regular basis
- Pray each night before bed

I'm sure that I'll think of others, but this is a good start.

A New Year, A New Blog

The new year began a week ago, but I am still trying to catch up from the busy fall and holiday season. I have many goals (aka resolutions) in mind for the new year, and I decided that a blog would be the perfect way for me to document those things...to hold myself accountable.

Each day, I spend time reading several blogs, primarily those of scrapbookers such as Ali Edwards, Becky Higgins, Lisa Bearnson, Heidi Swapp, and Elsie Flannigan. This afternoon at work, while I was waiting to receive a document to edit, I was surfing through blogland and thinking of the million things that I need to do. It was then that recognized that I need to stop spending so much time reading about other's lives and start focusing on my own life.

So here I am. And I intend to come back each day to share bits and pieces of myself, to focus on my life, my family, and my goals for the new year.