Lets Make a Deal

I haven't written much about the process of trying to sell our house because it was a pseudo-secret for much of the time it was on the market the first time around... that's right, first time around which was a big discouraging fail. We're officially on Round II now and feel much better about it time around. We have a new realtor who seems to be aggressive about helping us sell this house. The whole process has been pretty bittersweet because we truly love our house and our huge yard, but it's unfortunately not in the preferred state, and my heart remains in Colorado. Honestly the best case scenario would be if we could just pick up our house (I'm super strong so it shouldn't be a problem) and move it to the mountains. Not so possible as it turns out so we'll be traditional if we must and try to sell it.

There are about fifty things that have been making this difficult... none of the least of the hurdles is the Ohio house market blows and it's practically impossible to sell your house to break even, let alone make money. We understand that what we may lose here, we can make up for when we buy our next house... but I'm a recent SAHM and we're just not in a place to lose money on the forefront. We decided to list the house for less this time around to garner more attention and the right buyers, but we will literally have extremely minimal wiggle room which makes me nervous that we may actually make it to a place where we get offers but nothing will come of it when they low ball us and we go back to them with basically the same amount we're asking for.

Truly though, not just saying it, in the back of my mind a song my Mother-in-Law sings the babies "My God is so big, so strong and so mighty, there's nothing my God cannot do" rattles around in the back of my mind. I know with 100% certainty that if it's God's will we be able to move home we will. I'm equally fearful that His will is that we stay longer and my heart won't be changed to accept the direction for our family. "My God is so big, so strong and so mighty, there's nothing my God cannot do."

Our realtor sent over a stager to help us prepare the house to re-list and she had some pretty fantastic and overwhelming suggestions. Mostly a lot of painting in the main three rooms you see when you walk in our house. I really like her suggestions too, just makes me want to uproot the house to Colorful Colorado all the more. Conveniently I'm not going to be able to help with any painting since I'm pregnant so, once again, it all falls on Justin's shoulders. ((sorry J!)) Instead I'm going to drive down to Nashville this weekend with the babies to get out of the house and give Justin free reign and four days to get the painting done. I'm really excited for the excuse to visit Emily and am confident the change of scenery will help eliminate our cabin fever.

So, for now, I remain overwhelmed but encouraged.

catching up with bullets

• My sister and I are thinking of starting an online store on etsy to sell rag quilts. They've become a sort of hobby of ours (and awesome gifts that we get to make) and I'm obsessed with etsy, but a quick search showed really not many people are selling them. They make awesome gifts so hopefully we can be successful with it... but we can't come up with a name for our store or the time to make some for stock that aren't already predetermined as gifts.
• With the exciting news of our pregnancy comes the sad realization that I'll miss out on pomegranate margaritas this summer... a small price to pay I'm aware, but since our weekend in Chicago last September I've oh so been looking forward to sharing a pitcher of margs and some chips and dip on the patio with anyone willing to throw a few back. meh.
• Although I love winter, my recent SAHM status is giving me serious cabin fever and I'm ready to get out with the babies to enjoy a little sunshine, should Cleveland ever provide it. We went on a walk around the block yesterday and Bella was completely in her element pedaling her little heart out on the tricycle my parents gave her last year. I think she'll be more well behaved when she can spend her extra energy outside... and I need a better behaved toddler. (I'm well aware of the irony of that statement - but a girl can dream)
• I don't regret my decision to quit my job and be home with the babies, in every way it was the best decision for our family, but I can't pretend to have rose colored glasses and say this hasn't been really hard. My mommy dating has been a bust so no play dates for this mama. We get out of the house plenty going to the gym, story time at the library or just running errands, but J just started tutoring after work (surprisingly good money, and a huge blessing) so I'm home alone even longer each day. I just need to figure a way to have a better heart about this - I understand it's a fleeting time in my life where life is simply not about me - but it's a challenge all the same. Some days just feels like my day is meant to keep babies from crying and clean up the same mess over and over. I can't say I've had an entire good day, but I've had enough of the moments from them that melt my heart.
• I absolutely love hearing Justin play with the babies... Bella has this deep belly laugh that is guarenteed to come out when they play, and Austin laughs in delight to just be a small part of whatever their little adventure or game is. It is literally the sweetest sound I can think of and I'm hooked.
• I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to continue going to the gym with my pregnancy (or at least how long it will be worth the cost since I can only get my heart rate so high and am not supposed to lift more than 15 pounds) but I've enjoyed it for the time being. I can't say that Zumba is my favorite class, but it is the class I attend most. It is the most embarrassing thing ever. I always thought I had an ounce of rhythm in me (I'm a quarter Puerto Rican for goodness sake, it has to be in me somewhere) but it turns out, not so much. I've set a few rules in place for reach time I go: avoid looking in the mirror at all cost, find someone who knows less what they're doing than you do, never ever go with anyone you know, don't take yourself too seriously and laugh freely, openly and with no abandon. I would go ahead and take that last one to heart and apply it to all aspects of life... I'm going to go back to that, finding joy in the little things.

my eggs are like vaccuums

We were blessed, excited, nervous, overjoyed, overwhelmed and SURPRISED when we found out six weeks ago that we are expanding the family once again and "Baby Gump" will make an arrival around September 10th!

In every way our cup runneth over.

live, laugh, dance.

We had just finished Mulan for our weekly movie night and she was loving the song that played during credits so, not entirely uncommon for Bella and I, we stopped everything for a quick dance party! She is such a nut, I love this girl!

for your viewing pleasure, there's this one showing off her 1/8 Puerto Rican passion!

you've got a friend in me... please.

I'm entirely aware of the necessity of finding other moms in the area to network with. As it stands I'm sincerely happy with the decision I've made to stay at home with the babies but if I'm not speaking in baby-talk I'm alone in my thoughts all. day. long. Turns out I'm not entirely all that interesting and I'm bored with myself. SO I've started mommy-dating.

I kind of thought it wouldn't be all that hard to meet other moms since I'm relatively outgoing and am willing to start a conversation with a stranger even if the thought that they wouldn't like me, or will be a teacher-sweater, still makes me want to throw up. Knowing I needed to be on the prowl and meet some mamas, I took advantage of an opportunity when I was at Starbucks a couple months ago and there was a woman who commented a few times on how cute Bella and Austin are (please know you can absolutely buy my love) and she mentioned she had a son about Austin's age at home. On a closer nonchalant look I saw she was doing a bible study and my gaze drifted to her side to notice, to my delight, she had a really cute purse... this, I thought, could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Justin and I have been together for over nine years (we dated for four years before we got married five years ago) so it's been awhile since I've been in the dating game so I was ridic nervous when, as I was leaving, I stopped by and gave her my phone number. and then I peed myself. so nervous. With good reason beause a week passed and nothing. I reminded myself it was the week before Thanksgiving - who calls a newbie in the midst of holiday fun? Then, the week after Thanksgiving my phone rang with a call from my new maybe-friend to meet for coffee and a play date at the mall. It was as awkward as a first date is supposed to be, but we did manage to have good conversation, she was really nice and by all accounts she seems to be a relatable mom. Thumbs up!

Until I never saw her again. I think it was my turn to call to initiate another play date but the days got away from me and a couple weeks after coffee it was Christmas, then New Years, then no legitimate excuse other than it had been too long and I was embarrassed and feeling sheepish for not calling. On my drive home from the gym today I saw the church she mentioned she attends so I figured that was a good enough reason for a random text to say that I think I saw where she attends since it took nearly five minutes of our conversation at coffee explaining where it was. I didn't say we should get together again, there was something about leaving the ball in the other person's court rattling around in my head. When she wrote back she was consistantly nice and equally noncommital about making plans soon... frickin ball in my court! ...I think I'm supposed to wait 24 hours before texting back. I don't want to appear over-eager and scare her off. Dating is harder than I remember!

There was one other mom I hoped had promise that I met at Gymboree Play and Learn with Bella... her hair was styled and cute, they were dressed cute - sans poms or appliqued animal shapes - and our girls naturally played together so I thought maybe something. Until I saw her put her Uggs on (not knockin' Uggs, love 'em!) but when she slipped the baby Uggs on her daughter I figured we were on the verge of snooty and I wouldn't be able to keep up. The baby Uggs were enough to keep from talking after class, the nerd alert was ringing from high school, and I figured I'd wait until after the next class to see how it went. She never came back so that pretty well settled it.