My Boys

One of the best things about Saturdays, is watching Josh and Pete play together. I know that Josh loves getting to spend time with his little boy. Today, I put out a comforter from the guest bedroom out on the patio to finish drying. Pete immediately crawled under it, and it became his tent. He pulled Daddy down to enjoy it with him.

I am so thankful that the weather is warmer. Pete loves it too. He likes to go between the 2 patios and watching the birds and cars go by.

We have looked at a few more homes, but none were ones that we could see ourselves in. One had foundation issues plus a lot of repairs to be made to it, and the other two were nice and ready to move in, but way too small. We will keep looking. We'll be in our current place through July. At that point we will reevaluate what we want to do, if we haven't found a home to buy.

Waiting

A good word for today.

³Trust in the LORD and do good;
Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.
⁴Delight yourself in the LORD;
And He will give you the desires of your heart.
⁵Commit your way to the LORD,
Trust also in Him, and He will do it.
⁶He will bring forth your righteousness as the light
And your judgment as the noonday.
⁷Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him;

Psalm 37:3-7a

The Eve Effect

Last night I lay wondering about the first woman on earth. Have you ever thought of her? We are in a society that has books, advice columns, cook books, etc on most facets of life, she didn't.

She didn't have a midwife when her children were born. Other than knowing she would have pain in childbirth, she had no one to turn to when Cain was born. Did she realize she was in labor? How did she know what to do with the umbilical cord? Did Adam really freak out over the first birth? Was it instinct that had her bring her babe to her breast to nurse?

In a way without having all the help we do, she had a lot to figure out. But she didn't have to face the cultural norms or expectations that society places on us today. It is so natural, that when her babies cried that she brought them to her breast whether it be day or night. She had never heard of the cry-it-out method. Sleeping through the night? Probably not for a few years- most likely many years, as she gave birth to many sons and daughters.

It took Pete almost year before he really sleep consistently through the night. There are times that he has relapses, which many times revolves around teething, growth spurts, not feeling well or his schedule being interrupted. Most times I don't mind getting up with Pete, especially if I can offer him some comfort. I know it won't be forever. I do enjoy the midnight cuddling I get with Pete, one day he is going to be too big to be cuddled by mommy.

Little Brothers and Aunts

This past week has been full of events. Thursday afternoon, we found out that we are having another little boy. Oh! so much fun! I know Pete will love it when his brother gets big enough to play with him.

The same day I found out that my Aunt Vonnie was brought to the hospital on Wednesday night, at the time they thought it was heart related. A blood test showed that she had a heart attack, however none of the other tests showed the same result. It was eventually seen that she had a blood clot in her lung, which can present the same symptoms as a heart attack. She was put on blood thinners. During her stay, her heart went into arthemia (which she has had issues with for a while). The cardiologist put in a pace maker on Friday, she was been kept at the hospital to do more tests. She finally came home yesterday and happy not have to be poked and prodded every hour.

The other big event in our lives this past week, was putting an offer down on a house. I got home on Sunday from my business seminar, and went to look at a home that Josh and his dad saw on Saturday. We put in an offer Sunday afternoon, which we knew was the second offer to go on the house. Monday afternoon, our real estate agent let us know the owner was going with the first offer. Wednesday afternoon rolls around and we get a call from our real estate agent letting us know the first offer was rejected by the bank. So our offer was put in on Thursday morning. We are now in the waiting game to hear from the bank whether or not they will accept our offer.

On the Hunt

For those wondering, how for the past two months, we have barely been able to make ends meet and relying on the generosity of those around us, can we afford to buy a house. Let me first acknowledge the struggle within me as I have debated this very thing. There are times I feel like we are being presumptuous with this decision, and other times very humbled by God's provision.

So, in answer to that question, it is not by our own ability that we are in this current position. We found out within the last week, that there was money set aside for Josh quite a few years ago, for the very purpose of using it for a down payment. Without this blessing, Josh and I would not be looking to be homeowners for many, many years to come.

We know that we are not looking for our dream home, but a home that will allow us to get the rest of our debt down quickly, so we don't find ourselves in this position ever again. That means that we are looking at a very low price range for here in North Texas, and houses are limited if we want to be in a neighborhood that is good. We have been looking at a lot of foreclosed homes, the biggest issue we are running into here is foundation problems. We have seen a few homes that we like, but because the foundation is in need of repair, we are not be able to get a loan for the house. Kind of a catch 22-22.

This is a bummer as I saw a house yesterday with loads of potential, had the best kitchen out of all the houses I've seen. BUT it had foundation issues, and unless we had the cash up front-there is no use even trying to put in a offer.

I did see another house yesterday that is in short sale. It is priced on our high end of what we are wanting to pay. It was doable, the bedrooms were nice and spacious, however the kitchen left much to be desired. I think it could be worked out where the kitchen can be redone to open up more into the dinning room, making it bigger and more usable. The downside to this house was that the closing period was 120 days. We are now at 59 days before our lease is up. I had to put in our intention for leaving by yesterday. So, I haven't had a chance to talk to our management to see if there would be a possibility of renting for another 3 months. I am not sure how I feel about that as by that time, we will have a newborn in the mix. I would rather find a home that we can move into sooner, rather than later.

So, we wait and pray that another few houses come on the market that would suit our needs.

The Boys

My parents were here at the beginning of this month. We played in the snow and had lots of fun. One of the things that Pete picked up while Grandpa was here was the sign for "please". It is nice to have him sign please before asking to go somewhere, be picked up, or get more.

He also found out how much fun is was to look out our dinning room window. Every morning, we go to the window. He sits on the chair watching the cars go by in between drawing on a large piece of paper that I have the table just for him.
We are almost to the half way point with baby number 2. We find out in a couple of weeks what we are having. In a lot of ways it does feel real that we are expecting again, aside from the exhaustion, growing tummy, and wonderful heart burn.

In between then, we have to figure out what we are going to do about housing. We love the place we are in now, but the rent is going up and it is only a 2 bedroom. Which for the 3 (4) of us, wouldn't be too bad, but when family comes, it is a bit of a squeeze. We are going this weekend to look at a couple of homes. If we don't like what we see, we'll start looking at other apartments.

Josh has healed from his seizure last month. He has 2 scars on his head from the gashes, but they aren't really visible under all his hair. We have gone down to 1 car, since he can't drive. Thankfully, he is still part of the carpool he was in after his first seizure. We are looking for places near here and close to public transportation, as well as closer to his work.

My goal is to be better about posting (I've said that before, I know).

It's Christmas time again!

Already in the throws of December, I can't believe how fast this year has gone by. Pete is almost 15 months old (wow) and is growing bigger everyday. I weighed him this morning, and he was almost 22 pounds.

We finally got our Christmas tree up this past weekend. It will probably one of the only inside decorations this year. After many sleepless nights and Josh's back out of commission, I don't have much energy to really decorate. We'll see if I go further. Pete really likes the tree. We came up with a clever solution to it. It is on one of the end tables. I tied it to the table, in case Pete was able to grab and try to pull it over. For the most part it is out of his reach. He'll go over to it an point and jabber about it. Then walk over to either Josh or I, with a gleam in his eye and jabber more about it.

This year we are staying home to start our own traditions. One of which is going to our Christmas Eve service. I am still figuring out what Christmas day is going to look like. Granni comes that day hopefully in time for dinner. She be with us for a few days, then my parents are flying down to stay with us for a little bit.