Thursday, May 29, 2008

The Countdown Begins


2 Year Check-up

My little girl isn't so little anymore! She's still in the 90th percentile for height at 35 1/2 inches tall and she's average weight at 27.5 lbs. She didn't receive any immunizations today but did have some blood drawn which she was not happy about and screamed bloody murder!!! We stopped at the grocery store to get her a donut for being such a good girl. Dr. Orton is happy with her progress and even said that we can get her a tricycle which I'm excited about and we'll probably get her that for her birthday!

Today we're packing for our vacation. So, so, so happy to get away from here and the stress of everything going on. We're leaving at 2 am Saturday morning in hopes that Lillian will sleep for a good portion of the trip. It takes around 8 hours to get there so we'll probably stop for breakfast along the way and then pick up our groceries for the cabin before our check-in time at 1. After we get there we're planning on getting our weekly car pass for Acadia National Park and do the loop around the whole park. We'll be making our own breakfast and lunch for each day and eating out for dinner and ice cream each night! With gas at the current prices, we're pretty much planning on staying on the island......not that we ever really need to go off of the island! We're going to go biking a couple of days, hike a mountain ( a small mountain.....I'm REALLY out of shape.....and I have asthma!!!) I'm not too sure what the plan is with Lillian and her naps. She'll probably only sleep in the car so we'll see what happens. She slept in bed with us the other night so I'm sure everything will be fine in the king size. Anyways, we'll come back from our trip refreshed and hopefully with some great photos to share!!!

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Couple more days.....

until we head off for Maine. I'm so excited to get away from everything, especially our next door neighbors! They are so loud and so rude that it's really stressing me out. They've woken up Lillian a couple of times in the middle of the night this past week because they're playing their surround sound way too loud. A whole week of peace and quite.....CAN'T WAIT!!!! And then when we get back we'll be closing in 12 days!!!! It's still hard to believe that it's finally happening, probably because we're so ready for it to happen.

Anyways, I've been knitting again. I always start a project and never finish. I went to Greenwich this past weekend to buy some good yarn but then when I nearly finished the hat I realized that I had misplaced some of my double point needles to finish it off. So yesterday we went to Manchester and they had such an amazing selection of yarns. She said that they have knitting groups each month so I'm thinking that once things settle down after the move that I'll start going. So here's a pic of Lilly in the finished product....
And then just a sweet one of her with her sweet little smile!!

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

A photo tells a story....

and for me, it opened my eyes. Last night, I sat down at my desk and put a memory card in my camera and uploaded the photos from my niece Marianna's baptism in which me and Dan were the godparents. I started going through the images and there it was, in plain sight, a picture of me. I wanted to cry, but I didn't. Actually now thinking about it is bringing tears to my eyes! Basically, I look like crap and that's putting it nicely!!! How did I let myself get to this point?! I'm sure being a SAHM has played some role in it, but it certainly isn't an excuse. I was active in high school and stayed relatively thin......too think that I thought a size 6 meant that I was fat makes me cringe now!! I stayed pretty thin until I got an office job and then it all went down hill from then. And then I got pregnant. I lost 38 pounds throughout most of the pregnancy but gained 10 of it back the week before Lillian was born because of my blood pressure. And now here I am. I hate the way I look and I just can't do this anymore. I want to be proud of what I see in the mirror. And most importantly I want to be around to watch my daughter grow up, and if I stay the way I am I may not have that opportunity. Plus I want to have another child, and it certainly isn't a safe decision to make at this weight. So, you may be asking, what are you going to do to change your current situation.

Well.....at this point, I have a lot of stress, although there's really nothing to be stressed about. But for me, buying our first home and not knowing what to expect is very stressful on me. I go to bed with Dan now around 10 p.m. and get up with Lillian around 7:30, which is certainly more than enough sleep, but I still don't feel rested even though I'm not waking up throughout the night. So, I've decided that the first night that we spend in the house, is the day that I start changing my life. For me I know the biggest thing missing is the activity factor. We'll be living across the street from a great park and I plan on taking full advantage of it. And I also plan on getting Dan in on the action too because we both need a good kick in the butt. I'm just ready to look in the mirror again and be happy with my reflection. Anyways, I knew that if I spoke outloud, that I'd have to hold myself accountable.......so we'll see how this summer goes!!!!

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Scrapping....

isn't something that I have a lot of time for anymore! I'm only on one creative team thankfully and it's been hard enough just meeting my minimums, so I've been trying to do a little better....even with all that's going on this month!


Dan brought down the large boxes from the attic last night and I'm going to start going through them today. I know that I need to get rid of a lot of clothing, stuff that I simply don't fit into anymore. Even if I did lose enough weight to fit back into them I'd still want to get new stuff. I'm hoping to lose a lot of weight when we move into the house. I can't wait till we can enjoy being in our own lawn and having a great park right across the street. Me and Lilly are going to wait to start going to the playgroups at the library until we move.....too much going on right now! Anyways, we'll be spending this beautiful day indoors throwing stuff out and putting stuff together for our first yard sale!!!!

Monday, May 19, 2008

She makes me laugh....

and she really makes my day!! Lillian has been walking up and down the stairs by herself for the past couple of months. Everything upstairs is just as safe downstairs so she's able to roam freely and play where she likes. So this morning we came downstairs as usual and she got her morning milk and watched a little Noggin. I decided to start the laundry a little earlier than normal (yes I am the worst when it comes to laundry as Dan likes to point out!) and Lilly decided she wanted to go upstairs. Typically she'll turn on her radio and dance or turn on the water in the bathroom sink and brush her teeth. Welllllll.......she was being REALLY quite and that can only mean one thing......she got into something. So I walk upstairs and she's in our bedroom......and her head is COMPLETELY COVERED with Dan's hair gel!!!! I just started laughing hysterically and couldn't help but grab the camera........

Friday, May 16, 2008

answered prayers

Well, the big man up above was listening to our prayers!! We finally got word back from the bank today and they took a closer look at the flood zone and verified that the house isn't in the flood zone! To say that this has been weighing heavily on our minds the last couple of days would be an understatement. The thought of having to pay that much a year in insurance was doable, but certainly not something that we were looking forward too. I'm really glad that I didn't cancel our vacation......and that we questioned where the flood zone actually was....could you imagine if we didn't! So now the countdown begins....34 days until we close.....WOOHOO!!!!

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Life wouldn't be the same....

without a little bit of drama!! On Tuesday I received an email from the bank.....about something that we didn't want to hear. The appraisal said that the house was in a flood zone. Keep in mind that we were told that the current owner doesn't have flood insurance and that there was paperwork stating that the house wasn't. To make matters worse, we were extremely nervous about the septic inspection. I didn't really sleep Tuesday night and I was a wreck all the way to the inspection. Luck was on our side though. The septic is in great condition and it's been pumped so at least we don't have to worry about it for 4-5 years! We also had the opportunity to meet the seller. You can tell that he really loves the house and is sad to see it go. He lives out on Cape Cod and his daughter just finished her first year of college so he needs the money for that reason. So last night I received a call from our attorney. He received paperwork from 2005 from a private survey that was done on the house that it isn't in a flood zone. The paperwork that the bank uses to determine in the flood zone isn't done on each individual property and it hasn't been updated in quite some time. The backyard is in the flood zone, but the house isn't. We were told by the homeowner that the people that had lived in the house previously were in the house from 1940-2005 and that the house had water in the basement once when the old bridge that spanned the river caused the ice to jam and the water flowed down the street. Since then, the bridge was raised and replaced and the house has never flooded. These are the type's of things that we want to hear. Obviously, with it being on the river, it's always a possibility. But we're hopeful that the bank will accept this paperwork and we won't need the flood insurance. Either way we still want the house, no matter what.

In other news, we decided to go on our vacation. When we received word from the bank about the flood insurance, my first instinct was to cancel. But.....we both need a break. We haven't been on a vacation since our honeymoon and we really want to take Lillian to Maine. We weren't planning on spending a lot of money when we first booked anyways, so we'll just stick to that plan. We don't need to bring back a bunch of crap with us, just a lot of great memories, and those tend to be free! We're going to make our own breakfast and lunch each day and eat out for dinner.....probably pizza a couple of nights at our favorite pizza place on the whole entire earth....Rosalie's......yum!

Anyways, I'm going to think positive about this whole flood insurance deal......what will be, will be!!!

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Don't be like mommy....

when it comes to what she eats! I'm the worst, really I am! I hardly eat any green veggies and I tend to stick to what I know and don't venture off very often. Heck, I only started eating mashed potatoes in the past few years. Corn on the cob is one of my favorites and I could eat it all day long. Lilly's never had it on the cob before so we thought we'd give it a try.....
She really seemed to enjoy it and kept making silly faces as Dan wiped her face. Today we're going to spend time packing the upstairs. Then when Dan gets home I'm going to have him take some of the boxes out of the attic that still have stuff in them downstairs so I can start going through those this week. We could use some positive vibes for tomorrow.....Dan's a bit nervous. We're having the septic inspected and pumped. We're hoping that all is well and that nothing has to be replaced. After that we'll be all set to go!!!

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Step back in time!

It's hard to believe that Lillian is going to be 2 in a few weeks!! Time has flown by way too quickly and it still seems like it was just yesterday when we were taking her home from the NICU. She really is such an amazing little girl. Since I haven't taken any pics of her this week (bad mommy!) I thought I'd post this old video......I still crack up everytime I see it.....she's just so darn cute....

Thursday, May 01, 2008

It's

official now.....he signed the papers!!!

Well....

unofficially, we're soon to be homeowners! I'm so excited I can't talk.....literally!!! I lost my voice early this morning because of a cold that I have and it's slowly starting to come back. Anyways....long story short we started looking at houses earlier this week. And when I say houses, I mean we only actually walked through two and peeked through the windows of one! So we went to the one that we're buying first. I've been looking at this house for awhile and thought that it was cute and what not. So we walk in and it has this beautiful staircase, wide wood floors and a lot of charm. It has a great backyard that has river frontage on the Battenkill and it's just outside of town, but basically still in town at the same time! So then we go look at the other house. Although it's cheaper and it's been updated, it didn't have the charm that I was looking for. For me, I like it when you walk into a house and you know that the house has so many stories to tell. Basically, I like really old homes!

So fast forward to yesterday, a lot of phone calls and further straining on my voice ends with a call from our realtor that the seller approved our bid. I dropped off the contract today and we're just waiting for the official signing of the papers on his side so we can go ahead and get the inspection done.

I'm not going to sugar-coat the house......it needs work! The kitchen needs to be completely gutted and walls torn down to open it up to the backyard. Both bathrooms need to be done as well. We're also going to sand and re-stain all of the hardwood throughout the house. But, I like the thought of making it our own which is why I probably didn't like the second house. The kitchen and bathrooms are totally liveable now, just not very appealing to the eye. I kind of like the thought that we're restoring the house........kinda like that tv show This Old House!!! Anyways, if you can't tell, I'm happy........we found a great house with lots of potential in a great village with a great school......and a great park right across the street......and outlet shopping 10 miles away.......and a great fly-fishing river in our backyard...........what more could a girl ask for?!!! So here's a couple of pics (not mine!).....
Front of house.....we plan on re-painting the whole house and garage eventually.

Love the staircase and built-in bookcase......charming I tell ya!!


This is the view of the back of the house from the river. The back of the house has upper and lower screened in porch.....and the upper one off of the master bedroom has a vaulted ceiling.....love it!!