We've Moved. Again.

When we moved to Savannah five months ago we moved into a rental house knowing that we would be keeping an eye out for a home to buy. Even though we will only be here a couple more years, it's a good rental market (knock on wood), so we decided we would buy a home if we found one we liked enough. And we did and we were all set to close, and the night before closing we found mold around the vents in one of the rooms. This was understandably frustrating for the sellers, but for us as well as Miles' had some time off work that was coming to an end, our rental lease was soon to expire, utilities transfers had already been set up, oh and our home looked like this:

But mold is scary and we weren't going to mess around with it so we delayed closing for a week pending the results of a mold test. The AC guy had come out and said he was confident it was a problem with poor insulation around the vents. They cleaned and fixed it and we waited for the results of the mold inspection to come in. In the meantime, the rate we had locked in for the home loan expired on the original date of closing, so to extend it a week, we had to suck down $75 a day. In the long run, that's the end of the world and well worth it to ensure we get the lower rate (as they have since gone up) but was still another frustrating factor in an already frustrating situation.

Fortunately the results of the inspection were good and no mold was found anywhere else in the house, so this past Friday morning we closed on the home and promptly proceeded to pick up a UHaul and begin moving in to our new home:

My in laws were in town for a bit which was a huge help, but Miles had to return to work today so the productively level has dropped significantly. I love the new neighborhood and while I'm very, very happy with the home, the interior does need some work. Nothing significant, but it needs paint pretty much everywhere and after spending two days to paint the family room we now are searching for reasonably priced painters to just come in and do it for us. I seriously thought that I would just paint it all myself room by room, but after doing one room I was singing a different tune. It went from, "oh it won't be that bad - I'll just take my time" to "OH MY GAWD my hand is cramping and I still have one more coat to go, I will pay someone a MILLION DOLLARS to do this!" I still will do a few (smaller) rooms, but am happy to hire out the bulk of the work!

Sneak Peek of my new Sea Salt walls
(with the sun coming in through the windows - I swear they don't look blotchy in person -
 they look pretty and happy and most importantly done!)

 We also have plans to rip up the carpet in the family room and stairs and extend the hard wood floors, add a pergola to the back and brick in a larger patio, and maybe create a faux wainscoting look in the dinning room. We shall see, but I'm excited to go all Young House Love on this home. Which reminds me - I also want to paint the front door. Miles vetoed red, but I also like mustard yellow, a fun blue/aqua, or maybe salmon? Miles thinks it's fine as is and I think it's cute when he thinks his opinion on such things matter.

So that's what we've been up to of late. It's total chaos and has made for some really long days (I went grocery shopping at midnight the other night!), but we are gradually working out way out of the mess:

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Nine Months

My friends Veronica and Brandy took cute side by sides of the last week of their pregnancy and then when their baby hit that same week. I meant to do the same when Mary hit 38 weeks, but forgot. She is now 40 weeks so I figured I would just make a monthly picture. 

Kinda blows my mind to have had her two weeks longer on the outside than on the inside. It takes nine long and scary and wonderful months to get a baby here (if you're lucky) and then the months just fly by once they are here. It's not really fair how time works like that. But what a fun nine months it's been!

All In Their Own Time

I had always assumed if we were lucky enough to have two living children, the younger one would do things quicker than the older one did. Finn was sitting up by seven months and crawling by seven and a half. I foolishly assumed Mary would be on a similar or quicker timeline. But sister is on her own timeline and I'm grateful for the reminder that you just can't compare kids and to just slow down and savor whatever moment they're in.

Until recently the only sitting up Mary did was in the tripod position. She was like a little bulldog slouched forward and I'd be lying if I said it didn't concern me for a bit.

I do think she was (is) little delayed in her gross motor development, but I think it's just that - a little delay. The pediatrician at her nine month appointment was very reassuring and not worried. He used the words "perfectly healthy" and "just fine" which definitely helped me chill out a little.

And now Mary is sitting up much better. She still reverts to the bulldog or eventually topples over, but each day she has longer and longer stretches of sitting up independently.

And yesterday our little girl started low crawling. It's not quick and she favors one arm more than the other, but she's already getting better and better. Finn is very encouraging which is precious. He will put a toy or something out in front of her and say "Go get it Mary, you can do it. Good girl" (sounds similar to how we praise Roscoe). And honestly I hope she doesn't become proficient too fast - hopefully those chubby little legs of hers will buy me a bit more time before we need to bust out with the baby gates. Probably not though. As she's reminded me - you just can't assume to know what timeline they will be on as it's theirs and theirs alone.

Tunnel to Towers Run

Today we participated in the Tunnel to Towers 5K through the Stephen Siller Foundation. Stephen Siller was a NYC firefighter who had just gotten off shift when the first plane hit the twin towers on September 11th. He went back to get his gear and when the roads were closed he parked his car and put 60lbs of gear on and made his way back to the Twin Towers via the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. He died helping others.

The Rangers and the local Firefighters who ran in today's race did so in full kit to honor Stephen's actions and sacrifice. His older brother spoke about him and along the route, local boyscouts and girlscouts held up pictures of the 343 firefighters and paramedics who were killed on September 11th. It was one of the most powerful and awesome races I've ever done and I look forward to doing it again next year.

Please note that I didn't make him push the stroller and volunteered several times to do it. But some Rangers are stubborn Rangers and well, I married one of that variety.

 

The good news is that for the first time in the nine years we have been together, I could keep up with him on a run. Maybe all future family runs will involve a uniform and body armor for Miles. Ya know, to be fair.

Mary is eyeing Daddy's beer

The Tunnel to Towers runs are held all over the country, so if you are interested in participating, you can search for events here. Or you can come to Savannah and join us for next years' run. I'll even let you push the stroller :)

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Finn's First Day of School

 A few weeks ago Finn attended summer camp at his new school. I'm glad he went as it helped prepare the both of us for when he would start school on a regular basis (he goes Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays from 9-1). He had a great time at summer camp, and has been itching to go back to school since. It made today's transition really easy - maybe a little too easy, I mean I had to ask him twice to give me a kiss goodbye - he was just so ready to get in there and play!

The morning was a bit chaotic, as I figured it would be (most mornings are for me), but we had waffles, snapped a few pictures, and made it to school on time - victory is mine!

Pajama Cuties

This kid could have waffles for EVERY meal

This is his "smile" face

Backpack wearing three year olds make me swoon

Roscoe had his game face on today and didn't shed a single tear when Finn left for school

Mary couldn't hang during my workout.

But she was chatty and delightful while waiting on an oil change

Then we went back and picked up brother who said he had a great day and told me about his new friends and how he said, "no thank you" when offered a snack and he went downstairs to go potty and said hi to his friend who was walking, and and and . . .

I think it's safe to say this sweet kid will have no problems going back to school come Friday.

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