Nap Time

Most days I try to put the boys down for a nap at the same time. When successful, I'm guaranteed anywhere from an hour to possibly even two hours of child-free time. That's usually the only productive part of my day. Today, both boys went to sleep without issues or so I thought. About an hour had gone by when I decided to go up to check on my sleeping "angels."

When I went to quietly open Baylor's bedroom door, I realized it was locked. I had a moment of panic because, unlike our old house, this house didn't come with handy little keys to open locked doors. As I was standing there freaking out for all of half of a second, but what felt like forever, I heard a little voice behind the door say, "Who is it?" Well, Baylor's advanced, but not that advanced so my response in a hushed but stern voice was, "Jax, open this door right now!"

Jax opened the door, and I quickly glanced over at the crib. All was fine. Jax had decided to make his little brother more "comfortable" by giving him a pillow to cuddle, covering him with a blanket, and giving him some toys to play with when he woke up. Nice huh? I explained to Jax that while it was very sweet of him to "check" on his baby brother, he can't lock the door. This kid!

Members

We are officially members, card-carrying members to be exact, of the club or the cult as Anh calls it jokingly...I think. Our little resort community is like a country club except you become a member just by living in the neighborhood. The neighborhood association fees cover the amenities, and they are HEFTY for all of the owners, but renters, like us, get the same benefits without the dues. Yeah! Score for us!

With our card, we can access 3 different pools (a lap pool, the family pool, and the waterslide pool) and a fitness center with child-care for little kids and classes for everyone over age 4. As soon as he's old enough (in just a few months), I'm going to sign Jax up for karate, and just as soon as I motivate myself, Baylor is going to visit the fitness center playroom while I work off some baby weight. As members, we're also included in all of the neighborhood functions. They seem to have quite an active community here too, lots of parties, but it could just be the holiday season (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years).

Anh and I have already discussed the fact that we could find it very hard to leave all of these great things behind when it's time to move again. Maybe we'll look a little more closely at the listings in here when we resume our search in 6-8 months. Oh, we also seem to be lacking the required golf cart for scooting around the neighborhood. The adults use them for getting to and from the course and clubhouse, and the underage kids use them as their primary form of transportation to and from their friends' houses. Whatever happened to bikes?

Folded

That's what our bank did today. Not to worry though, we fall under (well under, "not even close" under) the FDIC insured amount. This might be the one day where I'm glad I'm not a millionaire. Of course, I guess if I was a millionaire, I'd have an advisor telling what I need to do to protect my hoards of cash. Okay, I still wish I was a millionaire, even today. ; )

He Moves on Fast

It would seem that Jax is adjusting quite well. Not only has he made a new little friend, Aiden, who has been labeled by the office ladies as "quite a personality," but Jax already has a new girlfriend. Sorry, Sophie. Yes, the office ladies shared with me this morning that Jax's girlfriend, Rosie, is quite taken with him. Jax, evidently, tolerates her and sometimes even seems to enjoy her attention. Interesting. Very interesting.

OCD

Grandfather, where are you? You know we've moved which means that everything has been taken apart, packed in boxes, and now is being unpacked and placed in a new location. That includes the Cars table, and your obsessive-compulsive Grandson is quite upset that Mommy can't manage to reassemble Radiator Springs in the exact way that Grandfather designed.

Not only that, but Mommy is not parking the individual characters in their assigned locations, the locations that they don't dare even think about straying from. I was told, "No, no, no. (Fill in the Character) doesn't go there. He/she goes over here." After OCD Grandson had repeated that phrase for the 100th time, I was simply told, "Mommy go away." Next time, I'll know that I need to take a picture of the table before packing to insure that the reassembly process goes more smoothly and doesn't send the OCD Grandson into freak-out mode.

Competition

Uh oh, Grandfather. It appears you have some competition. And, Uncle Robert, it appears you have a loyal admirer. The other day, Jax walked up to Anh and said, "Daddy, I have to get 2 toy dozers and 2 backhoes." Anh asked, "Why two, Buddy?" "Because I need one dozer and one backhoe for me and one dozer and one backhoe for Uncle Robert," was Jax's matter-of-fact response. Anh paused and said, "But, doesn't Uncle Robert already have a backhoe?" Jax looked at Anh like he was clueless and, while demonstrating a scooping motion with his arm, said, "No, he has a tractor with a scoop on it."

Then, Anh being the instigator that he is asked, "What about Grandfather? Don't you want to get Grandfather a dozer and backhoe too?" Jax smiled and said, "No, just Uncle Robert." Uh oh! If it's any consolation, Grandfather, Jax does still walk around the with toy cars he bought for you in Houston. He walks around staring at them and says, "These are for Grandfather. I'm just looking at them." Although, I do worry that "looking at them" would result in torn packaging if I wasn't nearby.

4 Months

I'm a little late with Baylor's 4 month report, but at least now I can also share his updated stats. Hold onto your hats, folks. Baylor weighs 18 lbs, 10oz and is 25 5/8 inches tall. Holy moly! Sadly, he also received another round of shots today.

We won't dwell on the bad though. Here's what our little guy can now do.

• Baylor can polish off an 8oz bottle in a matter of minutes, and then he looks at you with an expression that plainly reads, "Is that it? No more?" Yes, son, that's it.


• He easily rolls from his back to his stomach and is already attempting to do the belly/army crawl. So far all he's managed to accomplish is spinning himself in circles though. As a consequence of this new skill, Baylor gets quite frustrated when it's nap time and at bedtime. He likes to sleep on his back or on his side, but as a reflex now, he'll just roll himself over onto his belly. Then he gets mad because he's not in his sleeping position. When you head in to correct the situation, he looks at you like, "Why did you put me down like this?"
  
• We broke out the Jumper, and Baylor seems determined to launch himself right out of it. I had to raise it slightly higher so he can't get as much momentum.


• Handy Manny mesmerizes him. Jax also seems quite captivated by Handy Manny. I guess it's a boy thing. Men and their tools!


• I'm pretty sure that Baylor is working on his first tooth. The drooling is out of control and occasionally he'll spike a brief fever. He's also kind of irritable which isn't like him. He's our laid back little dude. I've run my finger along his gums and something definitely feels like it's trying to come through. We'll see how long it takes to surface. Dr. N thinks it's unlikely to show up within the next 6 weeks. I don't know though. He's a fountain of drool which was a good indicator with Jax.
  
  

First Day Jitters

Jax didn't have any, but his Mommy was slightly nervous about him being the "new kid" at his new school. So nervous that she made Daddy take him because she didn't want to risk putting her issues onto her son. When they arrived and walked through the front door, the school's director, Ms. Jill, greeted them with a big smile and exclaimed, "Jax! We've been wondering when you were going to show up. Everyone has been expecting you!" Since the school day was about to officially begin, they made their way down to Jax's classroom where he was greeted at the door by his teacher, Ms. Susan, the classroom assistant, Stephanie, and the entire class of 3-year olds.

All the kids had to come over to size up the new kid. Jax smiled at all the kids and did this nervous little dance/shuffle that he does sometimes. Weird, I know. He shuffled right out the classroom door, but he was only gone for a second. He made his way back into the room, put his things away in his assigned cubby and headed over to play with the other kids.

Everyone was playing with cars and trucks on the floor. Jax picked up a car, but it was promptly snatched away by one of the other kids. Jax looked up at Anh and said, "I know, Daddy. Share." His teachers seemed quite amused.

At the end of the day, Jax had a lot to report. He had pizza for lunch, but he didn't eat all of it. They took a nap, but he didn't sleep. "I just laid down quietly. Ms. Susan said we have to talk quietly." He made a new friend, Aiden. Like the old school, this school also seems to have a "mean girl" that was mad at him even though "he didn't do anything," and she took his cars twice. "She doesn't know how to share." He got to play outside on the playground two times, and he "wants to go back Wednesday and Friday."

I guess it's safe to say that he's adjusting pretty well to the move and his new surroundings. Thank goodness!

Our Crib

Hey, Aunt Kelly, here's a little preview for the execs at MTV. Let them know that we'll need some advance notice. I'll need some time to stock the fridge with Cristal!

View of the Front with Entry Gate

View of the Front Door from the Entry Gate

Side View

Rear ViewNeighborhood Playground

I'll try to post some interior photos in a few days. Right now, it looks like a moving truck blew up in here.

Daddy's Home

Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that Anh has been out of town all week? He hasn't even seen the rental house that we're moving into tomorrow. Nope, when he left we both believed we were moving into a different rental, and not until this weekend our even early next week. So since he left, I found us a new house and had our current house packed to move.

Anh was supposed to drive home tomorrow, but I told him it would be best to just meet us at the new place. He suggested he just drive home early and get in late Thursday night (tonight), but I told him to just rest up and meet us at the new house. Well, obviously, he didn't listen.

He says he missed us and was anxious to get home to help, but I think he was worried that we were trying to give him the slip. His wife finds a new place to live, hires movers, packs up the entire house, and wants him to just meet her at some unknown address. I guess it does sound a little suspicious.

Boxes

They're everywhere, as far as the eye can see. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating just a tad, but there are a lot of boxes. Every time we move, I'm overwhelmed by the volume of things that we've (really that should say "I've") collected over the years. Every time, I swear that we're (I'm) going to part ways with the things that we (I) don't need. And every time, we (I) do actually part with some things, but yet there's still just so much stuff.

It's hard to let things go when there's nothing wrong with them. Our various possessions were brought into the house at some point over the last 8 years to serve some purpose. Every thing is still in perfect condition. and even though we (I) don't necessarily "need" it anymore, why should we (I) have to get rid of it. That's just wasteful. What if we (I) part ways with it, and then need it again. We'd (I'd) have to go out and buy it all over again. Again, wasteful.

So once again, we pack it all up and move it to the new address. Landfill, you better be thanking me!

Overdrive

Overdrive, that's the mode we're in here. The moving company came out to give me an estimate today, and in my mind it would be a 2-day process. One day to load the truck, another day to unload. Wrong. I forgot to figure in a day to pack the boxes. No big deal. What's an extra day?

As far as when to schedule the move, I figured the packers would come out Saturday which would mean loading on Sunday, and then unloading on Monday. What I didn't realize was that they charge extra for weekends. So to avoid the ridiculous surcharge, we're now packing TOMORROW, loading Friday, and unloading Saturday. Looks like this evening will be spent packing up personal items that we don't want lost in the endless boxes.

Let the fun begin!

Approved

We've been approved for the rental home, and then we decided to pass. Not because we want to be homeless, but because we found an even better option. Same resort-style neighborhood, just a different section. Oh, and this place is I-M-P-R-E-S-S-I-V-E. I've already submitted it for an upcoming episode of MTV Cribs. Just kidding, but it's really, really nice. There's even a freakin' theatre room!

What ever will we do with a theatre room since we don't have theatre room furniture or equipment? This is what I've been pondering all day. Here's what I've come up with. I'm going to take every single pop-up tent/playhouse that Jax has (at least 3) and build a little village complete with the inflatable ball pit and every other toy that has made me scream, "Where am I supposed to put this?" Okay, now that I've figured out the theatre room, what will I do with the playroom? All of the toys are now in the theatre room!

We're planning to start moving in over the weekend. I'll try to share some pictures then. I'm sure they won't do the place justice. We'll just have to wait for MTV to come to town. Hey, Aunt Kelly, can you make that happen?

A Report From Texas

Considering others' dire situations, my Texas family was relatively lucky. I say relatively because a tree did fall on a portion of their home causing some damage and a lot of mess. It doesn't appear to have compromised the integrity of the structure which is something to be thankful for. They are without power though and are hearing reports that it will take weeks, not days, to restore. Not good news. Maybe they'll load up the car (pets and all) and take a little trip to Florida to see us.

Address

I believe I know our new address. Saturday we found a rental house that will work for us, but due to the application process, I can't "officially" state that we have a place to live. One would think that if you've been approved to buy a ridiculously priced house that you could easily get approved to rent, but with our crazy luck, I'll just wait to breathe that sigh of relief once I get the call saying we've been approved. Seriously though, I can't imagine we wouldn't be approved.

The house itself is nice enough. It's only 2 years old, and I think we're the 2nd family to live there. There are five bedrooms and 4 bathrooms, enough space for all of our visiting family and friends. To me, one of the best things is that we don't have a "lake" view like our current house. In Florida, a lake view almost always means that you look out over a man-made drainage pond. Although they do try to make them attractive with fountains and lights, the bugs that breed in those things are ridiculous. Oh, we'll also have a screened patio this time. Can you tell, I hate bugs?

Jax should also be thrilled with the new neighborhood. The house is located in a large planned community with a massive pool area that includes a family pool with a water slide and an additional lap pool, a huge pirate ship themed playground near the entrance, and several smaller playgrounds scattered throughout the complex. There are also bike and jogging paths and sports complexes for just about everything (tennis, soccer, baseball/softball, basketball, etc).

Then for Anh there's the golf course and club house, assuming he ever finds time to sneak off for a couple of hours. That doesn't happen much (ever) around here. It kind of seems like we'll be living at a vacation resort. I sure hope that's what it's like. After all our recent drama, I sure could use a vacation.

Shorts

Today, like every day, I told Jaxon to run upstairs and pick out some clothes. He likes being able to pick out his own attire, and I make things easy by purchasing tops and bottoms that will match no matter what the combination. Besides helping him with the occasional difficult button, he completely dresses himself. Today though, something seemed off. Hours went by and I just couldn't place it. Then, it dawned on me that Jax had gone through a growth spurt and his shorts were entirely too small now. Okay, mental note, buy Jaxon new shorts. Then much later during dinner (as Jax pranced around the table doing everything except eating his food), I realized that Jax had not suddenly grown a few inches. Nope, he was wearing Baylor's shorts! Baylor's 9 month shorts! The sad thing is that the waist fit perfectly. It was only the length that gave it away. There's just something tragically wrong with the fact that my 3 1/2 year old has the same waist size as my 3 month old. But, what's also pretty funny is that it wasn't Jax's fault. Anh did the laundry this week, and apparently he has trouble distinguishing the 2 boys' clothes. Way to go, Daddy!

Final Word

The contract to buy is DEAD, DEAD, DEAD. We decided to walk away from the deal. Even though I really wanted the house, there was just too much drama involved. It's entirely too late to pursue the other house we considered buying. We now have less than 20 days to find a rental house and move. Not a good situation. All of the available houses cost more than our current rental and aren't even as nice. Just what you want when you realize that you're going to probably be living in one for the next few years because the real estate market is more jacked up than you ever even imagined.

I'm not having a good day, but given that it's Sept 11th, some people are going through much worse.

Speaking of "The New House"

We still have no idea what's going to happen, but it's looking more and more like the deal is going to fall apart. The new bank is more than willing to give us the loan, but they've flat out told us that they believe we are paying too much for this house. So now we've had 2 banks tell us that the house isn't worth the contract price.

So that raises the question, just because we want the house and can buy the house, does that mean we should? I think we're both coming to the conclusion that we shouldn't. This is very hard for me to admit because I really want this house. We've looked at EVERYTHING on the market, and I really believe that the price we agreed upon is fair. It's on the high end, but it's fair. It's really hard to push forward though when one bank passed on the loan, and the second is telling us they'll provide the financing, but they believe we should wait a year because home prices are going to continue to drop.

What to do? What to do? The one little plus to the scenario is that the rental house we missed out on is once again available, or it will be. The family that moved in last week is being evicted because their check for the first and last month's rent plus security deposit bounced. The owner called us to see if we're still interested. Which it's now looking like we will be. He's supposed to let us know when they'll be out. At least we might have our plan B back in place.

A Tale from Texas

On the way to Houston, Jax missed his opportunity to nap because of our flight time. He was just too excited on the plane to sleep. He didn't want to miss a thing, and that included his free drink and snack tray. There was no chance to nap once we landed because then he was caught up in the excitement of seeing family and being in a new place. Once we were in the car and headed towards the hotel, he finally dozed off in the backseat. We loaded him into a stroller during the check-in process, and when we were finally in the room, we tucked him into bed.

About an hour later, Jax woke up, and I immediately handed him the gift bag that his Aunt had put together. Talk about waking up to a surprise. He and Baylor received t-shirts (including the Texan football shirts in the picture), homemade cookies, drinks and snacks, and some toy cars. Excited about his presents and still somewhat dazed from his nap, he eventually looked around the room. After a long pause, he looked at me and asked, "Is this my new house?" Anh and I burst into laughter and then explained that we were in the hotel.

I guess we could have played a cruel joke on him and answered "yes," to the question. Wonder what his reaction would have been?

One More Thing

Oh, I forgot to mention that while at Aunt Glenda's house, Baylor set a new sleeping record. He went down about 8:30pm and slept until after 10:00am. Unbelievable, but completely true. I guess he was comfortable with his surroundings!

Texas

We arrived home late last night from our weekend in Houston, and I think it's pretty safe to say that we all wish we could have spent a few more days there. We just weren't able to accomplish all that we set out to do in 4 short days, but we know we can always go back, and next time we'll probably have a few more family members along for the ride because some seemed to be quite jealous of all the fun that Jax and Baylor had.

Aunt Glenda and Uncle Robert picked the boys up from the hotel on Friday morning so we could spend some time with Diane. The original plan involved a day and possibly 1 night of fun, but we actually didn't end up getting the boys back until Sunday. They didn't mind a bit, however, because they had an incredible time with their Great Aunt and Uncle. They spent Friday at the Houston Zoo where Jax got see a baby elephant and giraffe, in addition to all of the other animals. Jax seemed to be most impressed by the tiger though. Evidently, he wasn't the only one impressed by the animals. Aunt Glenda reported that Baylor was quite fascinated by the brightly colored fish in the aquarium exhibit.


After a full day with the animals, they headed home. Jax had no idea what fun toys awaited him there. No battery powered vehicles at Uncle Robert's house. Nope, he has the real deal. Jax was in heaven! I guess there's nothing more exciting to a 3-year old than digging dirt with heavy equipment.


In addition to all the other firsts (zoo, driving/operating heavy equipment), Jax got to go fishing for the first time. His only fishing experience involves a toy rod and battery operated fish that he plays with in the tub. I guess the tub practice didn't prepare him for the real experience because lunch that day was corn dogs, not fish.
It would seem that Jax thought he'd have better luck fishing for Baylors.
So happily, I can report that the trip to Texas resulted in some great memories for the boys. I'm sure Jax will be asking to go back. I guess I'd better get out the calendar to see when we can make that happen. After hearing the activity report from the weekend, I was actually worried that he wouldn't want to leave all the excitement behind. Luckily, Jax didn't get to see Uncle Robert's newest toy. Then, I'm certain I would have had to drag him kicking and screaming back to Florida.
Thank you so much for everything, Aunt Glenda & Uncle Robert!

Just So You Don't Think I've Had a Nervous Breakdown

I thought I'd better share the news that we're heading out of town. Given our current housing drama, I worried some of you would think that I'd succumb to the madness and decided to just take off for the hills. Well, have no fear. I am still relatively sane, but we're heading to Houston to visit our good friend, Diane, and my Aunt Glenda and Uncle Robert. I'm sure the visit will serve as an excellent distraction from our current situation. Surely we'll have some fun pictures and stories to share when we return on Sunday.

A Last Ditch Effort

Yesterday, after telling us the low value of their field appraiser's report, the loan officer "gave" us the "opportunity" to pay for a second field review. She said ordinarily the field appraisal would have to stand, but since the appraiser isn't familiar with the area (they used someone from a bank branch in a nearby metro area rather than using someone from one of the local branches) and the value came in so much lower than the appraiser we hired from the area, they were willing to accept a 2nd field appraisal and take the average. Gee thanks!

First, you expect us to pay for a field appraisal that sabotaged our entire deal. Two, we're supposed to pay for our own appraisal and inspection that would never have been conducted if we had been told about the huge discrepancy between the 2 appraisals. Three, now you want us to pay for a 2nd field appraisal using an agent that's actually familiar with the area and may be able to provide an accurate appraisal of the home's worth. Ummmmm, NO! We told her that not only should we not be responsible for paying a poorly chosen field appraiser from outside the area, but that the least they could do to help rectify the situation is to arrange a 2nd field appraisal free-of-charge, especially since they stand to make a huge amount of money off of us if we close on the house.

The loan officer is meeting with the underwriter and the bank president to see what can be done. Meanwhile, our realtor has told all of the other realtors at her firm about our crazy predicament, and no one has ever heard of something like this happening. Yeah, just our luck! All of the realtors are up in arms and screaming that this is "unethical." I don't know whether it's unethical, but it's certainly a nightmare.

Our realtor also put us in touch with a loan officer from another local bank, and they are fast-tracking a loan package for us. They are willing to match all of the conditions that we negotiated with our current bank, but in the 5 weeks since we started this process, the interest rates have crept up. We're now looking at paying significantly more. Not good. We probably won't pursue a 2nd loan based on this increase. In our minds, we had already agreed to the absolute max that we were willing to pay for this house.

So we'll see what happens. In our mind, the deal is dead, but I guess everyone else seems to think it can be revived. We'll see.

Unexpected Change of Plans

We're still moving, but as of 4 o'clock this afternoon, I have no idea where. The contract on our house fell through. As required by the bank, we had the house appraised and inspected by bank approved firms. Both reports came back with good news. So we were pretty surprised when the bank told us that they would be conducting their own field appraisal. Their appraiser came in with a much lower number, and the bank has decided the discrepancy is just too great. They are not going to approve the loan.

The rug was just ripped out from under us. We thought everything was squared away, and we were just counting the days until closing. The bank has been telling us all along, "everything looks good." It wasn't until last Friday that the loan officer said the underwriter had asked for "additional information." We weren't informed of what the problem was. In fact, the loan officer did her best to avoid us all together. Of course, this set off warning bells in our minds, and we spent the holiday weekend worried about whether the deal was about to fall through, only to discover today that it had.

To make matters worse, our "plan B" rental house was rented to another family yesterday. In fact, many of the homes that were once for rent have now been rented, and we currently have no idea where we will move. We've got until the end of the month to be out of this house, but all of our plans (work, school, etc) require us to be up there in less than 2 weeks. Needless to say, we're just a bit disappointed and stressed.