Old house new house

Yesterday afternoon (around 4:30) we finally received a list of items discovered at inspection that the buyers want repaired. There were only six things and they were all pretty minor, but it extends their right to "walk away" until March 12. UGH.

Also yesterday afternoon I received a call from our builders telling us that they were needing to push back our closing from the end of March to April 10. That wasn't really a problem until I contacted our loan officer to double check our expiration date on the interest rate we locked in on Friday. Our great rate expires on April 4! Figures. So I call the builder to let them know and to see if there was any way we could close by the 4th, so he agreed to shoot for April 3rd. If we can't close by the 4th we'll have to settle for the rate at that time, and who knows what that will be?!

I received our final price addendum over the weekend and it was off by $48,000 dollars. Not to mention that one of my deposits was missing. I kindly sent it back with the correct figures and told them to review it again. I think I need to be medicated. This mess is stressing me out!!

Making up for lost time

Since we were sick last week and had to cancel most of our activities, we certainly made up for it this week.

On Tuesday I took the cubs to register for PRESCHOOL. I have heard that this preschool can be difficult to get into. The doors opened at 8am, you were given a number, and then registration would start promptly at 9am. I was number 14. We waited for over an hour before our number was called. Emily was fussy, Zach was noisy, and I figured they would take one look at us and send us on our way. I sat down, the Director asked me what classes I was needing, and I held my breath. They offer two programs. The half-day program which is from 8:45 - 11:45 and the full-day program from 8:45 - 2:30. Both programs are two days per week. I wanted the half-day program simply so I wouldn't have to worry about someone trying to feed Zach. My preference was Monday/Wednesday, but would obviously take Tuesday/Thursday if it were the only class still open. When I told the Director my preference, she opened her book, and said the magic words "you got the last two spots". WHEW!!! We got the last two spots for the entire two-year old class....and we got the days I wanted. Thank goodness, because if she would have told me that there was only one spot left or no spots at all, I think I would have broken down into tears right there at her table. My second choice preschool had already had their registration a few weeks prior so I gambled a little by waiting. For once things went my way.

Tuesday night was my last board meeting with my MOMs group at Buca di Beppos. I had volunteered to do the secretary duties that night since Jennifer was unable to attend. Note to self: never volunteer to do things that I already know I'm not good at. I felt a little like being back in college, 1.5 hours of note-taking. I was starving and wanted to eat and by the time I finished my Italian Margarita, who knows what I was writing. Poor Jennifer is going to have to type up my notes and submit them for approval. I sure hope she can muddle through them and make sense out of it all.

I took my muddled mess of notes to Jennifer on Wednesday and the cubs had a play date with her twin boys. It was a pretty morning and we spent some time with the foursome in the backyard. Her boys are so cute and they are talking so well...we need to hang out with them more so the cubs will learn to talk too. Nothing like a little peer pressure.

Thursday morning the inspector came out to inspect the house. We accepted an offer and now have a contract pending. WOO HOO! They have until midnight tomorrow (Monday) night to submit their request for additional repairs or back out of the contract completely. I am holding my breath and watching the clock. So far we haven't heard anything, so hopefully no news is good news. I talked to our realtor on Friday and she agreed that the best thing would be to hear nothing at all and then we will push forward to closing on March 25. So today Steve is emptying out the garage and the attic and moving everything out to storage so the house will be completely empty and ready to transfer to its new owners. Part of me is a little sad. It was the house we first brought the cubs home to, and I'll miss their nursery. It was my favorite room! Now they will have their own rooms at the new house with much more space to play, but you never forget bringing them home the first time.

Thursday morning was also Zach's first feeding therapy appointment. Our copay is $40 per visit, each session lasts 30 minutes, so I paid over $1.00 per minute to listen to Zach scream. All I could think of was that I could do this at home for free. Needless to say, his first session did not go well. He HATES the little booster chair and he screamed almost the entire time. Plus I had to take Emily, so she was a huge distraction. She wanted to be in the middle of everything, she wanted to play, she wanted to eat, and she stuck her fingers in Zach's food. That was thirty minutes of my life that I don't care to repeat. I ushered the cubs to the car, finished feeding Zach, who by the way eats like a champ in his car seat, and took them to Paradise Pond for some fun time. They played for an hour and half and took a nice long nap after we returned home.

Saturday was "Girl Day". Kelli and I spent the entire day together doing what girls do best. Mani/pedis, lunch and shopping. Dad kept the cubs, and I left right after breakfast and came home right before bedtime. I had a ton of fun and it was so good to do things without my two shadows in tow.

This morning I am trying to adjust to this ridiculous time change. Not my favorite time of year, I hate giving up an hour of sleep.

We have landscaping and it includes a SOLD sign!

The builder has finally put up the SOLD sign. All this time there has been an 'available' sign posted.

We also have landscaping. Unfortunately it is a standard package so we didn't have any say in what they planted, but I don't think it looks too bad.




The master bath...not yet painted, but the shower has been installed.


We now have appliances and granite countertops.

Summing up the week with one word.

One word can sum up last week here at Cub Central: SICK. What a week. Zach came down with an upper respiratory infection, which he so kindly shared with me, and we were both miserable. I'm not sure how I managed. Steve came home early on Wednesday to take little man to the Doctor for me. Unfortunately there are no antibiotics for this mess, so we just have to let it run it's course. I know little man probably felt as poorly as I did. It was such a roller coaster, I felt horrible in the morning but by the evening I would feel better. The next morning I would feel worse with yet another issue. I think it pretty much attacked everything from my shoulders up. Sore throat one day, earache the next day, then a dizzying headache the day after that. Finally, it ended up with a sneezing fit that seems to have lasted for days. It was DREADFUL. New day, new pain. Thank heavens we are feeling better now. Poor little Emily almost escaped the dreaded germ-monster, but I'm afraid she wasn't so lucky either. She started coughing yesterday afternoon, and then I think she handed it off again to Zach. So the cycle repeats. Because of the dreaded germ-monster, all events last week were cancelled. I was supposed to have a GNO (girls' night out) on Wednesday and Zach was supposed to have his first feeding therapy session on Thursday....I had to cancel it all. Hopefully this week will be much better.

Update from the weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Bear

Last Friday afternoon we loaded up the cubs and drove to visit Grandma and Grandpa Bear. The road trip went pretty well but after two and a half hours in the car I was just ready to get there. We played inside for a while (it was too windy to play outside), ate dinner, and put the cubs to bed. On Saturday Grandma and Grandpa Bear cub-sat for us while Steve and I ran some errands. We went to an Estate sale for my Grandparents, had our taxes done (so exciting), and went to lunch at a Chinese restaurant. It was nice to have some time without the cubs tagging along. I think they had a fun time without Mommy and Daddy too. Grandpa Bear let Emily play with a keyboard and I'm sure that entertained her for quite some time. She's quite the little pianist. On Sunday we drove home. It never seems like our visits are long enough. We were really impressed that the cubs slept pretty well in their pack and plays. Much better than our previous visits. Unfortunately they won't be able to sleep in them much longer, the cubs are just growing too fast.

A weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's -- in pictures

Road trip:


Emily, totally relaxed with her snacks:


Future pianist:


Taking a moment to smile at her audience:


Relaxing with her feet up:


Don't squeeze the balloon too hard:


Zach, giving the future pianist a little advice:


Intermission. Emily finally let Zach have a turn:


Empty boxes are the BEST!:


Our cute little man:


The obligatory Baxter photo:


Night-night time in the pack and plays:


On the way home, exhausted from the weekend:

Cub Central -- in pictures

Look Mom, no hands! Zach is a lazy drinker:


Emily - decorating her bib with her yogurt:


Our girl has curls (good thing since we cut all of Zach's off):


Profile of the cutest little girl ever:


Sitting Indian-style:


Mom loves those captivating blue eyes and those long eyelashes...I think he was mad that we made him get out of the bathtub:


The cutest little guy ever:


Puzzle time:


Our cubs working together: