New House/New Baby

Coordinating the sale of a home and the purchase of another was way more involved and complicated than I imagined. We have had lots of ups and downs in the last several months but it all finally came to and end. We signed the sale papers to our old house and found a new house just in the nick of time.

Our bank was awesome to work with. We were able to close on the new house in 3 weeks! Everything went so smooth.  The sellers were moving out of state for work so they were motivated to get the deal closed too.

We had lots of help from family and friends. My Mom came up one weekend so she could help us pack. Kim and Loren came up another weekend to help with the move.  Our friends Cam, Kramer and Rachael showed up with their muscles on moving day too! 

I don't even think Hanley realized we moved.  He walked into the new house and acted like nothing changed and same with Roxy. Maxi on the other hand has been traumatized by the move. She hid under our bed for the first 24 hours. She then ventured into the master bathroom and walk in closet and hid there for another 24 hours.  It took her about a week to even cautiously make it down the stairs. She would come down in the evening after Hanley went to bed and it was quiet downstairs. She still doesn't feel very comfortable in the new house but I am sure she will in time. 

There are so many things I love about the new house:

-A level driveway, backyard and street... all which are Hanley friendly!

-Our street dead ends to farmland.  Hanley loves to walk down the street to see the horses and chickens!

-The neighborhood is so quiet!

-My kitchen and all the cupboard space! My Fiestaware looks great! 

-Cody loves the built in sprinkler system and A/C.  I am unsure about the A/C. We have already had a domestic dispute over it when I have asked him to turn it down. I told him one night that I never thought I would get in trouble for trying to save him a few bucks! Haha. 

-Our laundry room is amazing.  We are pretty sure there is more cupboard space in our new laundry room than there was in our old kitchen! My new washer and dryer are an added bonus in the laundry room!

-There are so many little details I love: The recessed ceiling in the formal dining room and the office, the wainscoting in the formal dining room, the french doors going into the master bedroom and master bathroom, the built-ins in all the closets, the fire place and the classy look of the wrought iron fixtures. 

It's almost like this house was built for us.  It's the perfect family home for our growing family.  Yes, I said GROWING family...

As of March 2015, our family will be complete when Hanley becomes a BIG brother!

21 MONTHS!

Hanley is almost 22 months old and I am just now posting his 21 month post.  Life has been busier than ever around here with packing and moving, work, friends Wedding's and busy weekends. It's pretty sad that it took Cody and I getting sick for us to actually slow down.

At 21 Months...

-I recently mentioned how much I love our bedtime routine before we tuck him in for bed.  Well, Hanley has switched things up and started tucking us in! It is so funny. He forcefully demands that we lay on our belly so he can place a 'baby' over each of us. Then he pats us on the back and says "Night Night Mommy. Night Night Daddy." Then as soon as we close our eyes and pretend to snore, he takes the babies away from us, lays down himself and pretends to snore.  I can't even describe how cute it is.

-Our neighbor girl gave Hanley a bunch of her old toy dinosaurs.  He loves them. So, of course we had to take him to Discover the Dinosaurs at the Portland Expo Center last weekend.  We were certain he would love it but we had some reservations when we walked in and heard how loud was inside.  Cody reluctantly paid the parking fee and the inflated ticket fee and we entered. There were about 10 scenes, each dinosaur scene was complete with a backdrop, sound effects (LOUD sound effects), motion, special lighting and even a fog machine. I packed Hanley around in the Ergo and we made a couple loops around making sure to look at each exhibit closely and read up on each species (I learned a lot about dinosaurs!). Hanley seemed to enjoy it but we had other plans the rest of the day so we decided it was time to go. As soon as we walked out the doors, Hanley pointed toward the doors and said "in".  Apparently, he wasn't ready to go. So, we went back in.  I explained to him that we would go around "1 more time then go bye-bye". This time, he directed us around.  He pointed to each exhibit in the order he wanted to see them.  So, we saw each exhibit one last time then headed out (which Hanley was okay with because we prepared him in advance that we were going bye-bye).  Cody was underwhelmed with the experience but we both agreed that Hanley really enjoyed it....and thats all that matters.

-The next day we met up with my cousin Melissa and her family for a fun day! We went out to lunch and then to Rosse Posse Acres. It was our first time so Melissa showed us the ropes. She scheduled the tour where we got to learn a lot about the elk farm then meet the elk themselves. After the tour, the kids got to check out the petting zoo then play on the playground.

-My brother Mark bought his first home! So, Hanley and I made a quick trip to Eugene to check it out.  It's a perfect house for him.

-Cody was in Quincy, WA for work the day that Hanley and I drove down to Eugene to check out Marks house.  Earlier that week, Cody said "Watch....watch our dream house come on the market the day both of us are out of town." And....that is exactly what happened! I got a text from Cody at 9 am Friday morning when I was half way to Eugene.  "THE" house popped up on the market first thing Friday morning.  As soon as I got to Eugene, I called our Realtor. Cody and I both rushed home Friday evening to look at the house and place our offer right away. There was no messing around. We were going to get this house....and we did! So, the packing began...

-Hanley has been Daddy's little buddy lately.  Whether Cody is mowing the lawn, pulling weeds or fixing something, Hanley is right there next to him and the action.