The Crazies

We spent yesterday house-hunting, and big surprise we had no luck. One would think that I'd be used to wasting my time by now, but I actually had high hopes before yesterday's outing because we had an appointment for a 2nd look at a house that we saw a few weeks ago. I liked this house the first time we saw it, but ruled it out because it was a 3-bedroom, and we need 4 minimum. It's in my favorite neighborhood though, and it really is pretty much everything we want. I thought it would be worth our while to go back for a 2nd look to see if there was space to add on, if needed, down the road.

Yesterday was actually our 2nd attempt to schedule another tour of this property. We tried to look at the house a week after we initially saw it, but the owner's refused to let us come by. In a week's time, he had decided to let the house go into foreclosure. Our realtor is the listing agent for the property, and she was unable to convince him that this was a horrible decision. He made her remove the key lockbox and take down the for sale sign in the front yard. He was deadset on letting the house go. Evidently, they built the house when the market peaked and paid top dollar. Now he owes the bank more than the house is worth, a situation a lot of homeowners find themselves in right now.

Rather than just staying put in the house until the market has a chance to somewhat recover, they have already purchased and moved into a new house and are now sick of carrying 2 mortgages. So rather than sell the house for what they owe or slightly less, they'd rather ruin their credit and my chances at finally finding a house! When he had his meltdown and refused the 2nd showing we began referring to them as the Crazies.

Well, I guess Crazy came to his senses because he agreed to let us in for a 2nd look yesterday. Since he had made our realtor return the house key, he said he would meet us at 5pm to unlock the door, but when our appointment time came and went, we realized he had flip-flopped once again. He refused to answer his cell when our realtor called to check on his whereabouts. Obviously, we were all annoyed. He had completely wasted everyone's time. I guess this one just wasn't meant to be, but it's so frustrating because it was the absolute closest thing to perfect that we've found.

The one positive from yesterday is that my boys were extremely well-behaved. It's a bit of a hassel dragging them around with us because we're in and out of the car so much, but they were both real troopers.

Confusion

Baylor was quite fussy last night, and as a result, Anh and I are both completely exhausted today. So this morning we were quite lazy about getting out of bed. Jax eventually wandered into our room to see why we weren't up yet, and after seeing that we weren't in any real hurry to leave our bed, crawled in between us to chat. Conversation with Jax is always interesting. His thoughts are all over the place which is entertaining and worrisome at the same time.

One of the more humorous parts of this morning's chat was when Jax brought up Baby Baylor being in Mommy's tummy. I told Jax, "You know, you were in Mommy's tummy too." He smiled and responded, "Yeah. Baby Jax was in Mommy's tummy. Then he came out." Then things got a little confusing because Jax pointed to Anh and said, "Daddy was in Mommy's belly too." I laughed and said, "No. Daddy was in Ba Ba's belly." Jax's expression was that of complete confusion and he blurted out, "What?!" I told him, "Yes, Daddy was in Ba Ba's belly because Ba Ba is Daddy's Mommy. You understand that, right? Ba Ba is Daddy's Mommy, and Grandma is Mommy's Mommy." He looked at me like I was a complete fool, and said, "No." I guess we'll need to do a better job of explaining the family tree to Jax.

More Fun

We ended our 4th of July celebration by gathering with thousands of others on one of the Intercoastal bridges to watch the city's fireworks display. Originally, we had planned to light fireworks in the backyard, like we did for New Year's, but there's currently a burn ban in place because of the dry conditions. So our only "legal" option was to attend the city's display.

It was a fun street party atmosphere with food vendors and a band. We made our way through the crowd and managed to score a great spot on the bridge. The weather was great. A nice breeze created the perfect temperature. Much better than last year when it was really windy. So windy that the city's display was actually cancelled because they had planned to launch the fireworks off a barge anchored out at sea, and the high winds sent a wave crashing onto the barge ruining the fireworks. I guess the city wasn't going to be outsmarted by Mother Nature 2 years in a row and moved the celebration to the Intercoastal waterfront park.

The highlight of the experience wasn't watching the fireworks rocket into the sky and explode into a multitude of brilliantly colored patterns while enjoying the patriotic tunes played by the band. Nope, it was Baylor's perfectly timed "explosion." There we were on the bridge enjoying the show and the moment, and our kid decides that is the prime opportunity to set off his own "fireworks." So Anh was forced to change his diaper right there on the bridge. There really wasn't anywhere to go for privacy at that point. Those standing around us were treated to an extra special display. Kids! Ya' gotta' love 'em!

Fun on the 4th

The crowds are in town for the Coke Zero 400. Since Jax is a HUGE Nascar fan (Thanks, Grandfather!), we decided to take him to the exhibits they have setup outside the Speedway. We spent most of the morning hunting for the Jimmie Johnson exhibit, Jax's current favorite driver, but we didn't have any luck. Regardless, Jax had a great time. There was so much to see and do. Baylor, however, slept through the whole outing. Oh well, maybe next year he'll be more into it.

Part of the TeamGrandfather's Favorite, Jeff Gordon

Jax Still Likes Tony Stewart (Keep working on him, Grandfather!)

Still Looking for Jimmie Johnson

Daddy's Current Favorite, Dale Jr.
Mommy's New Favorite Car
Testing His Skills (All those hours on the Wii might pay off!)

Settling for the Old Favorite, Kyle Busch

Water Works

So we're getting ready to head out to hopefully find our future home. The duties have been divided. My job was to pack the diaper bag. Anh's job was to change and dress the baby. As I'm gathering all the necessities for an outing with Baylor, I'm "supervising" Anh changing Baylor's diaper. I must supervise because for some reason my husband seems to be challenged in this area. When I change Baylor's diaper it goes down without incident. When Anh does it something always seems to go wrong. Today was no exception.

First, Baylor decides right as Anh undoes the velcro of the diaper that he must poo. No big deal. Anh handles this well, and just waits for him to finish. BUT, as soon as Baylor finishes and Anh begins the clean-up, I hear, "Oh no!" Given the activity I come rushing over expecting the worst and discover the OPEN dirty diaper has fallen to the floor! GREAT! Now we have to clean the carpet! As we're standing there looking at the mess, Baylor decides to conclude the show with a grand finale. He pees and the stream arches over him right onto Anh's cell that was strategically placed just above Baylor's head. This was no little tinkle either. The kid had obviously been holding it for quite a while.

So what does the genius Daddy do? Not what I've told him I do. Yes, this happens somewhat regularly. He's a little boy and for whatever reason unfastening the diaper seems to be a trigger. I usually prevent any diaper-change drama by placing a wipe over Baylor's pee pee as I'm changing him. This won't stop him from peeing, but it does prevent a mess. No, genius doesn't grab a wipe and cover the stream. Nope, he stands there laughing, amazed at the distance of the shot. Well at least until he realized that the shot was landing right on his precious cell phone. One would think that at that point he would cover the stream, but no, he just grabs his cell and runs for a towel to dry it off, leaving the baby whose still peeing everywhere. I guess he figured since I was standing there that I'd take over, and I did because clearly someone with a brain cell needed to handle the situation.

That dramatic 30-45 seconds results in about a 20 minute delay. I guess we'll have Daddy pack the diaper bag next time and see what results from that. Oh, and for those that also value their cell phones more than their carpet, the phone works fine!

Busy Day

I've been busy so far today and there's still more in store. I started the day with an 8am dentist appointment, immediately followed by my 6 week post-op appointment with my OBGYN. I received good reviews from both the dentist and the doc. A+ for me! I was almost talked into signing up for the $650 Zoom tooth whitening session, but decided that the more rational impulse buy was a new spiffy $99 Sonicare toothbrush. We're big fans of Sonicare and since ours died last week, it wasn't too hard to convince me to replace it. I had plans to do so anyway. The dentist just got my money instead of Target.

My doctor and her staff were disappointed that I didn't bring Baylor to the appointment. I explained that they were my second stop of the day, and he probably wouldn't have waited patiently for my 2 hour dentist visit. They agreed to forgive me after I promised to stop in sometime over the next few weeks to show him off. I guess that is kind of the highlight of their jobs, seeing the babies. I mean, they see us for months and months, listening to our problems and complaints. I guess it's not asking too much to see the end result once or twice. Especially since he wasn't exactly in the best mood during his first visit. That's when he was circumcised.

This afternoon we'll be heading out on another house-hunting expedition. I don't expect anything to come of our efforts. We've been looking at properties for over a year and a half now and have yet to find our dream home. By now, we would have settled for something less than perfect, but homeowners here are still in denial about the current real estate market and refuse to lower their prices. Actually, a lot of the sellers argue that they can't lower their prices because they bought their homes during the height of the market and would lose money if they listed any lower. So their houses just sit there because buyers know the properties aren't worth that anymore. It's a bad situation down here.

We're willing to pay for our dream home, but as a result, we expect it to be perfect or listed for a price that will allow us to make it perfect down the road. Instead, what we find are houses that aren't worth their asking prices that need work and usually have a floor plan that was designed by a crackhead. Seriously, men (on crack) must be designing the houses down here without any thought about how a woman will run the show within the household. The flow just makes no sense, but then they'll attach some insanely large garage to make up for it. Makes sense, huh?

So for now, we just torture realtors. I'm sure if the market was booming we'd have been labeled a waste of time and the realtors wouldn't return our calls, but given that things are DEAD here, they're all scrambling for the chance to land our sale. If we ever do find the house, it will be a nice commission for someone, and I'm sure that will make up for our picky personalities...maybe.

We're Baaaaaack

I can happily report that we had a nice drama-free extended weekend. Both boys behaved really well on the flights to and from Atlanta. Jax was a big help. I can't believe how much stuff you have to take for 4-day trip with two kids! We checked 3 suitcases, and then carried on a stroller, an infant car seat, the diaper bag, a small suitcase with the kids' clothes, my purse, and Jax's backpack. Plus, technically, Baylor could kind of count as a carry-on since we didn't buy him a seat. Without kids, Anh and I would have had 2 carry-on suitcases. Anyway, Jax was in charge of his backpack and the suitcase which he proudly dragged through the airports. Everyone kept pointing to him and commenting on how cute he was and what a great helper he was. We agreed that he made a great pack mule.

We were a nice source of entertainment while everyone was waiting to board the planes, but all the nice comments on the kids stopped when we started the actual boarding process. You could see the look of dread on people's faces, especially the ones seated in our immediate area. No one talked to us. Heck, no one really made eye contact with us once we were on the plane. Obviously, everyone expected the boys to cry and act up during the flight torturing everyone on board. Well, they were all pleasantly surprised when Baylor slept peacefully both ways, and Jax colored with his Color Wonder Cars kit and enjoyed his snack of apple juice and peanuts. Jax was always a good flyer with the exception on one flight while he was teething, and thank goodness Baylor is off to a good start. Once we landed, everyone began acknowledging us again and praising the boys good behavior.

Luckily, both boys continued their good behavior in Atlanta. Baylor enjoyed being the center of attention, but as a consequence, now believes he should be held 24/7. Sorry, kid, that's going to end. Mommy and Daddy aren't as nice as Ba Ba and Ong Noi. Uncle Al made it up to meet his new nephew, and seemed more than willing to hold and feed him, but abruptly handed him off whenever his diaper needed changing. Not surprising though considering that when he'd babysit for Jax, the poor kid would usually have to wait for us to return to get a fresh diaper. Uncle Kyle seemed indifferent to the baby, but was thrilled to have Jax around to play video games with. I'm sure he'll be more interested in Baylor once he can do more.

The trip home was just as smooth as the trip up with the exception of the security screening at the airport. Like I said before, by this point, Baylor believed he should be in someone's arms at at all times. So he was refusing to ride in his infant seat that was mounted to the stroller. Seeing an opportunity, Jax decided that he wanted to ride which meant that the infant seat would have to be carried in addition to everything else that we were already lugging around. Plus, we had lost our pack mule and now had to carry the backpack and suitcase. Thank goodness Jax has gained some weight. I just loaded down the stroller handles and then pushed with one hand while dragging the suitcase with the other. Anh got the easy job of holding Baylor.

Well, after loading all of the gear onto the x-ray machine conveyor belt including the stroller and car seat, Baylor decided that he absolutely needed his bottle right that very second. If you've met Baylor, then you know that he gives ZERO warning that he's hungry. He goes from content to a hunger induced panicked screaming fit in .25 seconds. Oh well, kid, you'll just have to scream until we're reunited with the bottle on the other side. Then, I realized that Jax and I didn't have our boarding passes. I had forgotten to take them out of the backpack. That backed up the line a little bit much to Baylor's delight. Oh well, rookie mistake. All was good again once we unloaded the gear on the other end. Baylor feasted while I once again loaded down the stroller, and then we were off on what turned out to be a thankfully uneventful return trip.

All in all, it was a good family get-together. Anh and I enjoyed 4 nights of uninterrupted sleep. What else can you ask for? Well, 5 I guess.