I hope this post comes across more as "keeping it real" than being negative. Life has been a little crazy lately. All of the details with the house have been pretty stressful and time consuming, Paul has been gone a lot with soccer and we've had a rough few weeks with Walker.
As far as the house goes...we got our inspection report on Thursday night and it's 38 pages. There are over 60 items on there but the inspector was extremely thorough and many of the things are little and either don't need to be fixed or Paul can fix them. We really weren't surprised with the lengthy list knowing it's an older house. My friend Renna's dad is a builder and is meeting us out there today to give us his opinion on what things need to be fixed asap and give us an estimate a few things we want done that Paul can't do himself. We have to give a list of things we want fixed to the seller by tonight. We only have three days left in our due diligence period, which allows us to back out of the house without losing any money. We sure hope the negotiation regarding the inspection list doesn't cause us to have to walk away. After we settle up with that the appraisal will be ordered. It's not looking like we will be able close on August 12th but we hopefully it won't be too long after that. We will have the house painted and a few other things done before we even move in. We still don't have any serious bites on our house as far as a buyer but we have a few options as renters whenever we give the "go ahead" for that. We haven't packed one single box and I really have no idea when or how that will happen.
Soccer season is in full swing and Paul has been gone a lot. Thank the good Lord my mom or Gram have been able to come in the evenings to help me out during the rough witching hours. Walker usually cries from 5:00-9:00/10:00 every night which makes dinner, bath and bed with Gray a nightmare if I'm doing it solo. Daddy has a slow week this week and then no more down time until November and he will be gone overnight three nights again next week.
We went to the beach for four nights last week. Minus feeding Walker was great and Gray had so much fun. Maybe one of these days in my spare time (ha!) I'll post about our little vacay.
It's been a rough few weeks with Walker. He has a few good days here and there but has overall been very fussy. He is rarely awake and happy but thankfully sleeps good during the day. Nights have been so inconsistent; one night he gives us a six hour stretch and the next he's up every two-three hours. He switched to Prevacid for his reflux there weeks ago. Within a week we could tell a huge difference but shortly after took a turn for the worse. There were five days in a row that he screamed through every. single. feeding! It's pitiful and also very frustrating for both of us. Our pediatrician told us to add rice cereal to his bottles because thicker milk usually goes down better for reflux babies. It definitely helps so we've been giving a lot of bottles. Walker is also scheduled for a swallowing test at Brenner's next week because his doctor thinks there might be more going on. If he does have a swallowing dysfunction I will most likely have to exclusively pump. It makes me sad to think about not being able to nurse him and I'm really not sure how I'll find the time to pump for every bottle. I reckon we will cross that bridge when we get there. He has nursed pretty well the past few days so maybe, just maybe, things will start to get better for good. Our sweet chunky boy is two months old today but goes for his well visit on Friday so I will post after that.
Until then I'm off to soak in some time with all three of my boys!
Saturday, July 26, 2014
Monday, July 14, 2014
Big news for the Hicksters!
Surely you didn't think that meant we were announcing that number three was on the way! ;)
After waiting several years our time has finally come to buy a house! We've had Paul's townhouse on the market five and a half years now and have been living here waiting for it to sell for three and a half. We've been praying that whole time for God to sell it or tell us it was ok to rent it and move on. I can't tell you how many times we've heard "God's timing is perfect" and we know it to be true but at the same time struggled with that reality a lot of days. We've watched countless friends and family members sell their homes and move on, often making us wonder "why not us?". But we remained faithful because we knew He is faithful. We have questioned the long timing so much. Was there something we were doing wrong in God's eyes? About a year or so ago we both finally felt like we knew the reason-God had something better for us than we could imagine and it (the house) just wasn't ready yet.
Fast forward a year. A little over a month ago we met with our realtor to discuss some strategies for our home. Unfortunately the condo and townhouse market hasn't seen much improvement and especially our neighborhood. There is foreclosure after foreclosure and it's hard to compete with that. We are priced to sell and have been for years but we still can't compete with a foreclosure. Our feedback from showings is almost always something like this, "beautiful, clean and well kept townhouse, best one in the neighborhood. Buyers have decided to buy a single family home for the same price/buyers have found a foreclosure with more square feet for ten-twenty thousand less." It's been so frustrating because we can't change those things. We've put quite a bit of money into our house over the years doing upgrades so ours would stand out amongst the many others, but it still hasn't been enough.
So we talked about some promotions and things we could offer to spark more interested buyers online. And then she brought up renting, something we had never even let our other realtors talk to us about because we knew it wasn't even an option. This time we both felt different. We heard her out, talked for over an hour about the pros and cons, got a lot of information and told her we would pray about it. We have come to the realization that with where the market is, we could easily be here another five years and at some point (for us it would be when God told us it was ok) we want to move on and be in a house a little better suited for raising a family-especially one of two boys!
After talking and praying about it over the next week, Paul and I both felt like God was telling us it was ok to move on. We told our realtor we wanted to make a big push for the rest of June and July to sell but if it didn't by then we would try the renting route. Several realtors and other people in the related business have told us we would have no problems renting our place. Of course there are risks involved and with where we are financially, those risks are scary. But after waiting for over five years, we have to trust that God will take care of us. If we have to rent, we will be able to make a little money each month to save up to make our mortgage payment if we don't have a renter for a month or two and/or for carpet cleaning, repairs, etc. It's not enough to consider an investment but we shouldn't lose any money as long as we can keep a renter and that is all we cared about. We have an interested buyer right now who says our house is in their top two so we are praying hard for an acceptable offer from her or someone else in the next several weeks. Of course the best case scenario is to sell.
Now on to the fun part...
Once we told our realtor we were ok going the renting route if our house didn't sell, she told us that we needed to start looking for a house because we would have a renter as soon as we marketed it that way. We began to wonder if there even would be a house we would be interested in that was in our price range. We looked at a lot of houses online and when we saw one we might be interested in, we drove out to see it to decide if it was worth a showing with our realtor. We toted up the boys one Sunday afternoon and went to look at a house in that sparked our interest online. The house was vacant so we peeked in all the windows and walked around the yard for a while. When we left I told Paul "this is the one!" We got a showing the next day with our realtor, went back again that Wednesday and made an offer on Thursday. After a long eight days of negotiating back and forth with the sellers our offer was accepted and we were under contract by the following Friday evening. More about the house...it's an old house, built in the 50s so there are A LOT of home improvement and renovations in our future, which we are actually looking forward to. The house is in an awesome location in Clemmons. There are three bedrooms, two of which are pretty small but big enough for boys and two full baths, which are first on our big list of projects (try to picture lavender tile, maroon counter tops and flowers painted INSIDE of the sink, just to name a few). There is a large, beautiful sunroom added on to the back of the house off of the kitchen. And the best parts-a finished basement and a big, fenced in backyard for our boys to play in. I will share more details and pictures of the house sometime soon and I'm sure there will be many before and after blog posts once we move in and start on some projects.
We are so very excited! Excited to have more space, excited to have all main living space on the one level, excited for a basement playroom and a backyard for our boys to run and play in, excited for something that feels like HOME, especially excited to be done with showings and the stress, headache and disappointment that comes along with it. I really could go on and on and on :)
We are scheduled to close on August 12th but our lender and realtor have both said it probably won't be able to happen that soon for several reasons. The timing of this all this is so crazy-Paul will be right in the middle of his busiest time with soccer, not to mention we have a six week old. BUT, if God waited this long for it to be our time then we know He will get us through the craziness of it. We are so excited and can't wait to share more soon.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
After waiting several years our time has finally come to buy a house! We've had Paul's townhouse on the market five and a half years now and have been living here waiting for it to sell for three and a half. We've been praying that whole time for God to sell it or tell us it was ok to rent it and move on. I can't tell you how many times we've heard "God's timing is perfect" and we know it to be true but at the same time struggled with that reality a lot of days. We've watched countless friends and family members sell their homes and move on, often making us wonder "why not us?". But we remained faithful because we knew He is faithful. We have questioned the long timing so much. Was there something we were doing wrong in God's eyes? About a year or so ago we both finally felt like we knew the reason-God had something better for us than we could imagine and it (the house) just wasn't ready yet.
Fast forward a year. A little over a month ago we met with our realtor to discuss some strategies for our home. Unfortunately the condo and townhouse market hasn't seen much improvement and especially our neighborhood. There is foreclosure after foreclosure and it's hard to compete with that. We are priced to sell and have been for years but we still can't compete with a foreclosure. Our feedback from showings is almost always something like this, "beautiful, clean and well kept townhouse, best one in the neighborhood. Buyers have decided to buy a single family home for the same price/buyers have found a foreclosure with more square feet for ten-twenty thousand less." It's been so frustrating because we can't change those things. We've put quite a bit of money into our house over the years doing upgrades so ours would stand out amongst the many others, but it still hasn't been enough.
So we talked about some promotions and things we could offer to spark more interested buyers online. And then she brought up renting, something we had never even let our other realtors talk to us about because we knew it wasn't even an option. This time we both felt different. We heard her out, talked for over an hour about the pros and cons, got a lot of information and told her we would pray about it. We have come to the realization that with where the market is, we could easily be here another five years and at some point (for us it would be when God told us it was ok) we want to move on and be in a house a little better suited for raising a family-especially one of two boys!
After talking and praying about it over the next week, Paul and I both felt like God was telling us it was ok to move on. We told our realtor we wanted to make a big push for the rest of June and July to sell but if it didn't by then we would try the renting route. Several realtors and other people in the related business have told us we would have no problems renting our place. Of course there are risks involved and with where we are financially, those risks are scary. But after waiting for over five years, we have to trust that God will take care of us. If we have to rent, we will be able to make a little money each month to save up to make our mortgage payment if we don't have a renter for a month or two and/or for carpet cleaning, repairs, etc. It's not enough to consider an investment but we shouldn't lose any money as long as we can keep a renter and that is all we cared about. We have an interested buyer right now who says our house is in their top two so we are praying hard for an acceptable offer from her or someone else in the next several weeks. Of course the best case scenario is to sell.
Now on to the fun part...
Once we told our realtor we were ok going the renting route if our house didn't sell, she told us that we needed to start looking for a house because we would have a renter as soon as we marketed it that way. We began to wonder if there even would be a house we would be interested in that was in our price range. We looked at a lot of houses online and when we saw one we might be interested in, we drove out to see it to decide if it was worth a showing with our realtor. We toted up the boys one Sunday afternoon and went to look at a house in that sparked our interest online. The house was vacant so we peeked in all the windows and walked around the yard for a while. When we left I told Paul "this is the one!" We got a showing the next day with our realtor, went back again that Wednesday and made an offer on Thursday. After a long eight days of negotiating back and forth with the sellers our offer was accepted and we were under contract by the following Friday evening. More about the house...it's an old house, built in the 50s so there are A LOT of home improvement and renovations in our future, which we are actually looking forward to. The house is in an awesome location in Clemmons. There are three bedrooms, two of which are pretty small but big enough for boys and two full baths, which are first on our big list of projects (try to picture lavender tile, maroon counter tops and flowers painted INSIDE of the sink, just to name a few). There is a large, beautiful sunroom added on to the back of the house off of the kitchen. And the best parts-a finished basement and a big, fenced in backyard for our boys to play in. I will share more details and pictures of the house sometime soon and I'm sure there will be many before and after blog posts once we move in and start on some projects.
We are so very excited! Excited to have more space, excited to have all main living space on the one level, excited for a basement playroom and a backyard for our boys to run and play in, excited for something that feels like HOME, especially excited to be done with showings and the stress, headache and disappointment that comes along with it. I really could go on and on and on :)
We are scheduled to close on August 12th but our lender and realtor have both said it probably won't be able to happen that soon for several reasons. The timing of this all this is so crazy-Paul will be right in the middle of his busiest time with soccer, not to mention we have a six week old. BUT, if God waited this long for it to be our time then we know He will get us through the craziness of it. We are so excited and can't wait to share more soon.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Friday, July 4, 2014
Walker-One month
Our sweet Walker was one month old on Sunday. In a way the first month has flown by and then again it seems like forever ago that we were in the hospital.
Here are a few tidbits about Walker man at one month...
Weighs 10 pounds, 12 ounces (on 6/26)-80th percentile.
Is 22 inches long-80th percentile
Wears size one diapers and 0-3 month clothes.
Has acid reflux and takes Zantac twice a day. We have seen some improvement with this but still having quite a bit of screaming out in pain due to gas pains and/or when he is having a bowl movement and some difficult nursing sessions due to the reflux. I am still dairy free along with avoiding anything spicy and recently cut out tomatoes and really acidic fruits. Pretty soon I'll be living off of bread and water ;) But I'll do whatever it takes to keep our boy out of pain and the screaming to a minimal!
Loves to be swaddled. We try to leave him out of his swaddle for one or two naps a day but he won't stay asleep long without it.
Nurses every 2-4 hours during the day. When getting a pumped bottle he takes 4 ounces.
Nights are inconsistent. He will have several good nights in a row with 3-5 hour stretches and then some bad nights here and there two where he is up a lot and even if he isn't eating seems to be awake and fussy. Last night he had a five and a half hour stretch but that was after two really rough nights that just about led me to the crazy house.
Naps in his swing most of the time, sleeps in his bouncy seat at night unless things are rough and we come downstairs to the swing. We've started trying to put him in his crib some during the day in hopes that the transition to his bed can happen soon and be a smooth one.
Usually loves tummy time
Notices lights and ceiling fans
Doesn't like the car...big sad face here!
In general his mood is pretty fussy when he's awake. We definitely don't have one of those "only cries when he's hungry" babies, but hoping that is better by next month's post!
They are both perfect in their own special way but I love comparing pictures and stats of our two boys. Walker weighed 6 ounces more than Gray and birth but was a half inch shorter. At one month, Gray weighed 9 pounds, 12 ounces and Walker weighed 10 pounds, 12 ounces. Both grew a half inch in their first month of life-Gray was 22.5 inches, Walker was 22 inches. Sometimes we think Walker looks a lot like Gray but most of the time we think he looks a lot different and even more so the older he gets. Here's a comparison of them at one month...
 |
| I think he looks pretty similar to Gray here. |
 |
| And nothing like Gray here. |
 |
| Being one month old sure is exhausting! |
Weighs 10 pounds, 12 ounces (on 6/26)-80th percentile.
Is 22 inches long-80th percentile
Wears size one diapers and 0-3 month clothes.
Has acid reflux and takes Zantac twice a day. We have seen some improvement with this but still having quite a bit of screaming out in pain due to gas pains and/or when he is having a bowl movement and some difficult nursing sessions due to the reflux. I am still dairy free along with avoiding anything spicy and recently cut out tomatoes and really acidic fruits. Pretty soon I'll be living off of bread and water ;) But I'll do whatever it takes to keep our boy out of pain and the screaming to a minimal!
Loves to be swaddled. We try to leave him out of his swaddle for one or two naps a day but he won't stay asleep long without it.
Nurses every 2-4 hours during the day. When getting a pumped bottle he takes 4 ounces.
Nights are inconsistent. He will have several good nights in a row with 3-5 hour stretches and then some bad nights here and there two where he is up a lot and even if he isn't eating seems to be awake and fussy. Last night he had a five and a half hour stretch but that was after two really rough nights that just about led me to the crazy house.
Naps in his swing most of the time, sleeps in his bouncy seat at night unless things are rough and we come downstairs to the swing. We've started trying to put him in his crib some during the day in hopes that the transition to his bed can happen soon and be a smooth one.
Usually loves tummy time
Notices lights and ceiling fans
Doesn't like the car...big sad face here!
In general his mood is pretty fussy when he's awake. We definitely don't have one of those "only cries when he's hungry" babies, but hoping that is better by next month's post!
They are both perfect in their own special way but I love comparing pictures and stats of our two boys. Walker weighed 6 ounces more than Gray and birth but was a half inch shorter. At one month, Gray weighed 9 pounds, 12 ounces and Walker weighed 10 pounds, 12 ounces. Both grew a half inch in their first month of life-Gray was 22.5 inches, Walker was 22 inches. Sometimes we think Walker looks a lot like Gray but most of the time we think he looks a lot different and even more so the older he gets. Here's a comparison of them at one month...
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