Gina's Ramblings

I just need a vacation now. Seems bad after just moving here doesn't it?

I am overwhelmed by boxes and just stuff. So much to do.

Not to mention the constant parade of people. Not friends, they are a WELCOME break but contractors. Today alone by 9 am the landscapers and the builder were here. I am now waiting on the drywall guy. Next week the builder and painter and the window guy UGH BUT it will all soon be done right?

Anyway I am doing my darndest to make this place livable and well walk throughable hehe.

Grady has been at the end of his patience as far as me throwing off his schedule (he set his own) So now he is not sleeping through the night like he was and is SUPER clingy. But I understand his feeling secure was compromised and he is doing what he needs to feel secure again.

The boys are doing wonderful! Alex has had no night terrors. The bedroom facing the backyard and just trees has helped a lot. Little Gary has been wonderful too and he is planning out his bike rides hehe

Hubby... well he is at the end of his stress rope. He is VERY done. I do not blame him. He has shouldered the bulk of the responsibility and work. His birthday was Tuesday and we were unable to do anything for him. But he was able to wake up on his 35th birthday in his own home.
First time homeowners we are giddy about every first lol You should have seen the first time we got mail!

OK off to lug more stuff upstairs. Wonder how much weight I will lose doing the stair thing? lol

We are all moved in!!!
A few more things to get at the old place. But most everything is here... EVERYWHERE

OMG it is a disaster ...as most move ins are. With moving ourselves and the new baby well I am 15 steps behinds and running backwards!

But I love the house. L-O-V-E it. Our builder is wonderful. The kids like the house and my husband was able to wake up on his 35th birthday in HIS house. Home ownership scary as heck I tell ya but worth it!

OK mini man calls that is it for the update

Well after a very long hair pulling fiasco getting the sale recorded with the county clerk... they had our new place listed as a mobile home They wouldn't record the sale without everything matching... We got our keys this evening an hour after the builder got his check. But here I still sit in our rental...why??? because dh screwed up. Well not necesarily him but who he talked to. We have no truck to move with!!! lol yup U-haul roally bent us over UGH. We had a reservation and everything... And dh did not do what I say all the time get names call back numbers check and recheck things etc. BUT we have different ways of doing things I must accept that. so no truck to move and on a weekend good luck getting one...anywhere....
So today it has been one thing after another just little things snowballing into big ol fat stressors! Had we not had this place for another 9 days I may have panicked...ok not may.. would have.
DH is taking OUR truck and taking a small load of stuff over to the new house. We may run a few of those loads this weekend and then get the big truck Monday (we hope).Dang good thing that dh took some leave huh?
I have cried I have yelled I have done my deep breathing... In the scheme of things this is small right?

pure torture....

We now have no phone here lol so I cannot even get the call saying come and get the keys.

Yup the Island county clerk's office is the only thing holding us up :( We would have had our keys tonight. Funding is at the escrow office....sigh.

The county has the lot listed without a house do they cannot record this sale as it is written even though everything has been filed properly (on the builders end)Blech Oh well we will have the keys tomorrow Hopefully first thing in the am after the builder takes care of things in the clerks office on Whidbey.

Minor bumps on the road

Dh tells me all pessimistic that just wait today we would get a phone call saying something happened and we didn't get the house.

Today the phone rings....it is the title company who is handling our escrow. My heart skipped a beat. If dh was right I would be so mad.

I picked up the phone it was Cindy... she said she had just talked to our financing company...thanks to hubby my heart is in my throat now waiting for the worst. Turns out that they have wired the check!! Our builder will have the check in his hands shortly :) Which means we will have the KEYS in our hands by the morning!!! OMG!!!!!!!!!!! (I think that is enough !'s)

Oh happy day!

I may just cry when we get those keys in hand!

Grady turned 8 weeks Tuesday! of course we celebrated that withhis 2 month dr appointment.

He weighs in at 12 pounds 10 ounces and is 23 inches long. His head circumference is 15 1/2.

He is looking great very healthy and ahead on the milestones.

He was put on vitamins because breastmilk does not contain enough Vitamin D and the Pacific Northwest is not known for its glorious sunshine hehe

He also got his shots. Oh man it broke my heart it hurt him so much poor baby! He was super fussy all day and in obvious discomfort. He was attached to me that whole day and night

Things are going great with him. Loving his milestones. Smiling, pushing up on his arms when he is on his stomach, he is cooing and 'talking' and is giggling hehe

That is about it :)

to be a pro-choice type of woman. Knowing that myself I could never kill one of my babies.
Yet I was upset by something someone said on one of my message boards. She has 3 children and is pregnant. She wants an amnio because having "an unhealthy" child would be unfair to her other children. So I asked if that meant she would abort if something were 'wrong' with her child. She said YES! That so upset me. So if her child isn't perfectit doesn't deserve to live? Then why get pregnant? We all take a chance when we get pregnant that things will not be perfect.

Even if the testing came up normal, who is to say there was not something wrong anyway? A birth injury? A mental illness? An accident later in life? Would you then ship the child off because it is too much trouble?

I know I know to each their own. But it still bugs me

We signed the final papers today. I got a handcramp from signing I swear....sign here initial there sign and initial there and here.... ouch!

But it is don. Could you tell me something though.... closing on a house??? When in the heck did we become grown-ups?? hehe

I now dream of what window coverings we will buy, think about fencing entirely too much, will Lowes and Home Depot become my favorite place to go and drool over the latest and greatest? A free weekend woohoo lets work on the house lol. Pathetic! but GREAT

I cannot wait to be in OUR home. I cannot wait to have an evening to lounge infront of the fireplace playing with the kids


Maybe cooking my first meal in our new kitchen



I tell you I cannot wait... so many first so much to be experienced... Life is good.

I will be adding some more pictures after our walk through tomorrow... I should get one with our driveway poured :)

Well we drove by the house today. Drove by hoping to catch a glimpse of the new driveway and step they poured. Well the one our agent was told was poured last week. Yeah well it isn't done! The back is supposed to be landscaped and that hasn't been touched either!Our walkthrough is Tuesday lets up they sep up the progress a little

LOL I forgot WE GOT THE HOUSE! hehe

We close in a week. We have our walkthrough Tuesday and Thursday sign the final papers Wednesday, and get the keys Friday. Amazing isn't it???

Well Today DH picked up a refridgerator from freecycle. I posted a wanted for a garage fridge since we got so used to having two of them here. Perfect for the overflow from when I stock up, soda pop, snack for the boys and waters etc... Someone responded with an offer of theirs since they are moving so we got a good quality nice fridge for the garage in the new place now. They also had a freezer an upright one. dh and I were already talking about getting another one here soon....well the lady said make her an offer dh said $75 she said no....$35. So tada we have a new freezer now too! Our garage is going to be flippin appliance central LOL And then throw in my big industrial stainless steel shelves for canned goods... We are set... three boys I know we will need to room for food, now we have it, LOTS of it ;)

She also has a couch too which I will look at tomorrow. The boys will have a gaming area in the new house, tv, playstation and gamecube...Well it is technically the formal living room but when have we EVER been conventional? lol If I like the couch I will take it for the boys for that room. dh said he thinks it pretty closely matches the chair we have for that room as it is.

about all the posts being one huge friggin paragraph... dh "fixed it" and I think he ummmm over fixed something LOL

Letter From Baby:


Hi Mom, sorry that I have kept you up all week. I know you are tired and truth be known so am I, but I just felt I needed you. A lot is going on right now with me and I feel so much better when you pick me up, sing to me, rock me, and feed me. I know it doesnt seem like I could be hungry when I cry every 20 minutes and guess what....I'm not, but when you pull me close and try to feed me it feel so nice. I used to be with you all the time in your tummy and sometimes I feel cold and lonely and I just need to feel close to you again. I am sorry that the book on helping me sleep didnt work but I dont feel ready yet, I promise when I am bigger I'll sleep better, maybe even through the night.... then again I've heard about that whole potty thing and I bet that might keep me up too. You really are doing a great job mom. I love you.


Oh, and dont worry about your milk. It's great! I know at times I confuse you by not eating one day and then eating soooo much the next but its just my mood, sorry to confuse things. Im sure you know how I feel though, some days I am more hungry than the next but it only takes a day and your milk becomes exactly what I need. Cool hey?


I know sometimes I eat a lot, but I'm growing right now, I know the books dont say I should be having a growth spurt right now, but I am not like all other kids, I am special....isn't that what you always tell me? So please, please, pretty please dont get too upset with me. everything is just so overwhelming at times and I need you. You know what??? I have ears!! I just found them. I know its only 3am but I wanted to tell you, I am so excited. I know I only woke you up 45 minutes ago to tell you my legs hurt but I am a growing kid and I think just seeing you makes me feel better. You are so pretty mom especially at this hour! I'll make you a deal...if you can be patient with me when I wake up at night ( it'll only last a year or so, and I hear in the big picture a year isn't really that long) and hold me, hug me and feed me my favorite yummy milk, then I'll stop complaining about that stupid mobile you make me stare at for hours at a time.

P.S. I am not the only one waking people up...you keep on waking me up to put on that annoying snow suit. No one asked me if I wanted to go out in that crazy weather. Your loving child, and again thanks for being so patient with me I love you sooo very much.

How could I have forgotten this?

Little man is very centered on money and saving and how investments work etc. I guess us getting our buts on track finacially is rubbing off on him who knows.

Well I brought up stocks once with him. How in essence you "own" a part of that company. And everytime someone goes there they are paying YOU by making the company worth more. How they are listed in the paper and stocks splitting etc etc.

Well we have created a monster! What did he request for his birthday? LEGOS? A bionicle? A video game? NOPE he wants to buy stock in Costco!! Of all the things... he says they are always full and he will make money with stock from there... good thinking hehe. So every day these past few days.... he has asked for the business section of the newspaper so he can see how the stocks he is interested in are doing!

Our 6 year old is loving saving and the thought of investing! He got his bank statement and earned 3 cents and was so excited! He said 3 cents? Wow it is THEIR money they gave me for doing nothing! I am not going to complain about that! HAHAHA his mind is cute in the way it works.

I want dh and I to be in the position when we are older to help our our children with their first homes like we have been helped. However if Gary continues we may be going to him for a loan!!!

I am doing the whole cloth diaper thing at home. I think I mentioned that in the turing into a Pacific Northwest hippy slacker post LOL.

What impresses me is my husband. He is so supportive of it, heck I could say I was going to join the circus as a fire eater and he would support that I think LOL. But seriously he is great. Tonight he was looking for the right size to put Grady in :) I didn't even ask :) I think he sees how well they work for Grady and since they are so much easier than the cloth diapers of yesteryear hehe No more leaky covers no more pins... He doesn't even mind throwing them in the washer. HA But the fact that he is not grossed out by something different and something not 'easy' like take the diaper off and throw it away... impressive.

OK rethinking this here.... I may need to get out more if I see that as impressive! LOL

A chef, a housekeeper, a repairman, mover and a massuse. Do you think that is asking too much?

Geesh. OK do yourself a favor. If you ever go out of state and find a chain restaurant that is NOT in your state. Do not go. There is a chance you will like it. Sonic. I LOVE me some Cherry Limeaids!!! Or ooooh Strawberry limeaid! Is there one in the entire state of Washington? Nope.

And yet here on our cable they repeatedly run commercials for Sonic just making us want it more. Heck my middle son gets mad when they come on now saying they are teasing us!

I would say Road trip just for Sonic... But I think that is a bit extreme hahahaha

Well you know I do not consider myself one of "those" moms. The self referred to 'crunchy' moms. I am not into everything organic and having to be one with nature to raise a harmonious child (yes I heard this recently lol).

But I look at myself... I breastfeed, I use cloth diapers (while at home when we go out we use disposables), I wear my baby in a sling..... What has happened?.... while I was sleeping did the Pacific Northwest slacker, hippy mentality take me over? Will I stop shaving and wear bierkenstock sandals with black socks soon?? noooooo hehehe

Honestly though I feel much more at ease with mini man. very easy going baby makes a very relaxed momma. I have found what works with him and so far this is what is working. With my oldest man I tell ya I barely muddled through sane hehe my second was much easier now heck bring it on! I know a lot has to do with a great husband who helps out a lot too.

Ok Taking my conservative/hippyish (HA) self to pack

Well we went through our inspection today. A guy from hubbys work is licensed to do house inpections and is a civil engineer. We got a GREAT deal on the inspection too hehe... if anyone up here needs a referal for an inpector let me know ;)
Anyway he found a couple of minor things that needed done. Concrete poured in 2 or 3 areas and something else very small. He was actually impressed with the construction and likes the area a lot and has said if we do not buy the empty lot on the other side of us he wants to buy it lol. In a year or so who knows we could afford it but not now.
Met some of the neighbors. Accross the street is another Navy family. She is in too but a reservist. Learned more about the schools the neighborhood kids and all. So it was a good productive day all in all.
Our real estate guy has been awesome. His wife works at the exchange and she has got us a TON of boxes for packing. He brought them over after she threw them in his truck lol.
And wouldn't you know AGAIN I forgot my camera so no pictures! BUT we have the walkthrough coming up soon.
Oh I forgot the appraiser went Thursday and we are also waiting on word from him... Can we say frazzeled? hehe that is how I feel I tell ya.
OK done spewing for now

I forgot to take a six week photo... so here is one from today

As of this moment, dh and I are debt free. Let me back up and explain. I will be the FIRST to admit in the past hubby and I were STUPID when it came to our credit and being responsible with it. We let things go to collections didn't keep an eye on our credit report etc. Last year this interfered with our buying a house. Well better to say completely prevented us from doing it. We had a loan and paid off everything on our report. However 2 items were not listed that popped up this time when we went to apply for a home loan this time (items sold to another company) . However with calls made cashiers checks mailed and official letters faxed back to us... We are paid off. No derrogatory things on our credit report. One thing that was paid of last year was still listed however I even got THAT taken care of!
Our Credit scores were in the dirt. I mean I am amazed we were even allowed a VISA DEBIT card haha. From getting the bulk paid of last year to this year it immensely helped out our credit scores. Our credit score goal?? 720. We want that 'golden' status. Yes we have learned a lot about credit and scores and the like.
Even our two open credit accounts which we were already paying down are completely paid OFF. It is nice to know that it is done there is nothing holding us back. Our debt to income ratio with the car payment (we are not completely free if you count that I suppose lol) and the mortgage payment is at 43% JUST what the VA is looking for!! Whew. We got our credit scores up enough for VA standards also.
But knowing that our credit report is clear is an awesome feeling. Chalking a lot up to a very pricey lesson learned and a mistake that will NEVER be repeated.
So at this moment our package is in front of the underwriter. The person that is currently holding our future in their hands. We have done all we can, humbled ourselves and kicked ourselves in the arse. Our loan guy says he says he thinks we have an excellent chance of getting the final stamp of approval. He is a no nonsense to the point heck can be considered abrasive type. But he will NOT BS you ever. We should definitively know by Monday. My stomach is in knots, I know I am getting grey hairs lol
Our VA appraisal is tomorrow! We do not have to be present for that though. Lets hope they got the front step built!!!
Our inspector is out on leave and we need to get that done too and we need to have that done by Monday. Which I also need to get the letter to the property management folks regarding our vacating this property. But I do not want to jump the gun and end up with no loan and no place to live. I can certainly see how home buying is one of the top stressors ever in your life.

So what am I doing now? Praying. Tying up the scant few loose ends and praying some more.

Well I am officially past the post Partum phase. Officially realesed back to almost full duty hehe. I have a limit of lifting no more than 30 pounds. THAT will make moving (crossing my fingers it happens) VERY interesting!

Grady is doing wonderful. He is honestly a great baby. He is not a shrieker, not a screamer. He rarely really cries. He is a very content little man. He is starting to social smile more :) It totally melts your heart when he gives you his elvis lip grin.

I wonder what he is dreaming of, what he is remembering (from whenever past life...who knows) when he giggles in his sleep.
He is so alert. He will watch you very intently when you talk to him. He looks as if he understands every last bit of your ramblings and that he gives a rats behind about the flood of junk you are talking about.

Grady is still co-sleeping with us. As of yet we have had no problems. When he starts sleeping through the night he will move into his bedsideco-sleeper full time and then his crib. We are getting better averaging 5-7 hours of sleep at a stretch at night :)

He is losing some of his hair. We are wondering if he will be a blonde or a redhead... his hair has a lot of both colors in it.

His favorite nighttime routine....you would think a bath...but NO, he loves to take a shower! On a fussy night I thought the warmth and the steam would do him some good so I took him into the shower with me. You have never seen a happier baby when we got out of the shower. He was so content and all smiles after the shower. I think it is a little warm hydromassage for him. Heck one night he dang near fell asleep in the shower with me lol. After his shower I dry him off and he gets a little baby massage with the bedtime lotion. After that he nurses and he is off to dreamland. He goes to sleep quite happy and content.

Dad still feels like Grady doesn't like him. Well I guess it would be more accurate to say he feels unneeded by Grady at this point. It is harder for him to calm Grady and obviously he does not come equipped to feed him. But as time goes on Grady will become more and more social with others.
Grady is totally enamored by hisolder brother. DS#2 talked to the baby while I was pregnant every day now just the sound of DS#2's voice grabs Gradys attention immediately .

I could gush for a long time about my kiddos but I will stop now hehehe

Well The house listing number is officially listed as inactive :) WOOHOOOOO!!!! Officially off the market!

We have a few loose ends to tie up faxes sent papers signed an insurance binder done. But if all goes well we will be in OUR new house in 19 days!!!

I am praying that this does NOT fall through. It would break my heart. I feel that this was so meant to be. The house I found accidentily, the seller paying some of the closing, the name of the street, the same school district, DS#1 will actually STILL be going to the same school as his classmates from his current school.. meant to be. I want to have people come to MY house hehe Oh man I swear being a real grown up is stressful sometimes LOL

You know though I swore I would never move myself again. And moving with a newborn??? What are we thinking??? But the benefits... our house, our yard, the kids having their own rooms..... more elbow room bigger than this place, not to mention the equity we will build. A place for our family. True we are a family wherever we go but a place to put down roots....

OK enough rambling for right now