The one-eyed [two]-horned [crawling blue brownie] eater

Title: Special liberties taken from the original classic: Bopper Big, Flying Purple People Eater lyrics *Caleb LOVES brownies by the way.

We got Caleb a cute blue monster costume this year from Old Navy (with the goings-on with our move, I am glad I bought it well in advance or else we may have totally overlooked Halloween this year-and that would have been such a shame since I love it!) ...anyway I definitely didn't have the time, energy or motivation to make a costume again this year. We were planning on going downtown to visit Justin at work and participate in his work-sponsored family activities but with Hurricane Sandy wrecking havoc on the East coast and causing problems with GS's servers, it also created problems at Justin's SLC office. So the activities were cancelled, bummer.

So instead we packed up and headed to the Living Planet Aquarium for their Halloween festivities. Caleb loves looking through the displays and tanks at the colorful fish. He wasn't such a fan of wearing his costume while in his stroller but I can't blame him, for it to be the last day of October it was really warm out. After the aquarium we came home and made pumpkin jello jigglers and mummified hot dogs and passed out candy to the kids that came by.

Caleb and his cousin, Emma. 

The front of our home! We have quite a bit to do in the whole curb appeal department!

I think, or I know (in my opinion), it really isn't worth getting a costume for a child that doesn't walk or talk and especially if you aren't going out in public on Halloween. But it is worth it for pictures-sake and the memories. But I am looking forward to next year when Caleb is walking and hopefully can say "Trick or Treat"-it will definitely make the holiday more fun for the whole family.

And just as a quick update on Caleb... ever since we moved into our home he has been taking off developmentally. He can move around however he pleases, although most of the time that means scooting on his bum. But he can transition from laying to sitting to crawling and he does it frequently. He tries crawling up the stairs but has only made it past the first step once. He is pulling himself up to standing in his crib constantly now and that is much easier for him since he has learned to get into the kneeling position. We had some genetic testing on him which took 4 weeks and we got the results back this Monday that everything is normal! That was a relief. We transferred his Kids on the Move file to the Jordan School district program (Jordan Child Development Center). They come out on the 14th to begin physical therapy with him again. I think our goal now is just to get him walking! Or at least that is the only goal left on our original IFSP that he hasn't achieved. I can't get over how big he is getting either. I love seeing his progress and how he is figuring out things on his own.

10.11.12

We are finally getting settled into our home! We got the keys (after several more delays and kinks in the process...even after we'd already signed all the papers!) on October 11th, at 4:30pm. And by "got the keys" I mean they gave us the code to the lock box on the front door....which we already knew....oh well. No grand exchanging of the keys like we see on House Hunters. We had been crashing in my sister's basement in between the time we moved out of our condo (Oct. 6th) and when we got the keys to our home. So when we they called us to give us the lock box code we scrambled to pick up all our over night bags and hauled the uhaul to our new home! Surprisingly the move in went very fast, even with only 4 or 5 men helping. The next day, Friday, was a "clean every surface possible" kind of day. Thank you Amanda and Heather for all your help in cleaning! I was able to get my kitchen somewhat in order and unpack just enough to feel like we weren't completely living out of boxes.

Since we moved in... we had our contractor start work the Monday after we moved in. We enlisted his help in opening the wall that separated the den from the kitchen. The den felt more like a basement before, completely closed off from all other living areas. We are pretty happy with the results, now we just need to paint the banister they installed and paint the walls the drywall guy had to patch. The construction lasted longer than expected (why were we surprised?), the finally finished on the 23rd. While the construction was happening Justin and I were painting maniacs. We wanted to get Caleb's bedroom, our bedroom and the den ceiling painted before the new carpet was installed. We were able to get both rooms and the den finished (and love them!) by the 24th, when the carpet was installed.

Here's a lovely unexpected home ownership situation we've encountered...
...Yellow jackets. We knew we had a problem with a yellow jackets nest hive on the backside of our home and had seen a few dead ones inside the home. We had a pest control technician spray a "slow kill" formula on them outside. The next morning we had hundreds of dead yellow jackets...inside our home! They mysteriously came in during the night and died everywhere. On our couches, floor, window sill, pillows. Gross. Justin said at least they were getting to die in comfort. We sucked them up in our vacuum and continued sucking up both dead and the nearly dead yellow jackets for the following week. The pest control guy came back another time to spray inside. And as of this morning, two more quasi-living yellow jackets were spotted in our den. So I called and they are coming out again tomorrow. I just wish we could find the hive and remove it altogether and be done with it all. If we keep finding them inside we just might take more drastic measures.

I am loving our home more each day  because it progressively is starting to feel more and more like home. We have met most everyone on our street and have been warmly welcomed to the neighborhood. Its great living in a cul-de-sac, its super quiet and I feel like we are able to interact with our  neighbors more.  Just about every family on our street has children, though the youngest we've met so far is 3 years old so Caleb doesn't have any buddies just yet. I can't wait for him to want to play in the yard and ride his bike in our cul-de-sac. I think he'll love this home and area when he gets older.

Anyway, we have tons of projects and "to-do's" still on our list. I am excited to continually work and make home improvements but I think our bank account would like a break from it all. In the short term future (next couple months) we are going to put in wood floor on the main level (front room, dining area, kitchen) then that should be our last major renovation for a while. Its hard to plan out my days with normal, routine activities since I've been so focused on the home the last couple weeks. But Halloween in is two days and I don't have a single piece of candy in my home! I guess since we are going to have tons of trick-or-treaters this year it might be a good thing to load up.

Hope you all have a great Halloween and please come visit! :-)

Pictures to come btw.

Down & Out (The reality of buying a home)

Justin and I have been trying to close on a home for nearly a month now. a MONTH. Doesn't sound that bad but it. is. TORTURE. We found this home in South Jordan that was a foreclosure. It came on the market August 22nd (I think). Here's our timeline so far:

August 22nd: View home, put offer in on home
August 23rd: We are told there are multiple offers (ugh!) and we need to give our best and highest offer. So we submit our highest offer.
August 24th: All offers were due this day by 1pm. We were told after this period there would be 48 hours then the bank would have their selected buyer.
August 25-29: We wait. Well past 48 hours. Excrutiating.
August 30th: I attended the foreclosure auction for the condo we are living in now. It was sold back to Fannie Mae. After the auction I come home and we find out we were the selected buyers! Finally!
August 30-September 10: We have a our due diligence time period. September 6th we had our home inspection, the home is in great shape. September 7th the appraiser was sent to our home and conducted the appraisal.  September 9th we attended Sacrament meeting at our new ward. It is a much older ward that's for sure. I think the woman who looked most similar in age to me was actually in Young Womens (meaning she wasn't any older than 18). But hopefully it means plenty of babysitters for Caleb!
September 10: Our realtor confirms with us that we do want to continue with the purchase since it was the end of our due diligence period.
September 14th: The appraisal comes back $6,000 less than our offer price. We wait for the banks response.
September 18th: Bank responds that they'll lower the price of the house but will not cover all the closing costs. :-(
September 19th: We put in our new amendment to the bank that includes the new cost of the house and the amount of closing costs we will be paying (We just agreed to the bank's offer).
September 20-21: We are still. stinkin'. waiting. I HATE the wait!

Basically all that needs to happen at this point is the bank signs the contract, we send everything to the title company and they need to look at things for 48 hours then everything goes to Provident Funding (our loan company) and they have to look at everything for 48 hours, THEN everything has to be officially recorded which take 24 hours... and where does that put us? Most likely not getting the keys until October 1st or 2nd. Which means we will have 3 or 4 short days to demo a wall, put in new railing, clean the house top to bottom, put in new carpet and paint. Because we, of course, have signed a contract to be out of our condo by October 7th. Each day that passes my stress level rises significantly. I know after all is said and done things will work out. I just can't understand why all the involved parties have to be SO SLOW with their reviews/approvals of things. And I'm sure the fact that we are purchasing a foreclosed home is causing more headaches then if we were buying a home from a normal seller. But such is life.

Now to the home... I love it. I couldn't imagine us moving into a newly constructed home (the kind where the finishes are all perfect, the flooring is brand new, the kitchen is great)... yeah a newly constructed home sounds ideal pretty much but something about that idea didn't sit well with me. I think I really want to start with a home where we can add value and equity and I can make it my own. I grew up painting rooms in our home and always wanting to taking on a home improvement project so I think that must be at the root of my thoughts. But this home was built in 1998 so it isn't a total fixer upper. By painting, putting in new flooring, changing out the finishes on the hardware, things like that, I think the home will look great. But that is the fun thing about the home, I know we won't be doing all these changes right away so we are going to have a project to do probably all the time, which for some reason makes me really happy. The location is perfect. We are minutes away from Jordan Landing, probably 2 minutes away (or less) from the Trax station and 2 miles away from my sister and her family. AND our neighborhood is probably the best we have seen while house hunting. Everyone maintains their yards and home and the neighborhood is centered around this great park (probably a 5-10 minute walk from our house) and there are sidewalks everywhere. AND our church building is probably a 5 minute walk from our house. And we are in a cul-de-sac and its super quiet (so happy to not have people living below and beside us finally!).

As soon as we get the keys things are going to be in mad-dash mode. So I guess maybe I should try and enjoy this weekend and next week since they'll be the most calm we'll have in a while. But I am so looking forward to mayhem if it means we'll be in our home! I'll post pictures as soon as we get the keys and move in!

15 months

Caleb turned 15 months yesterday, can't believe he is already so old! We had his 15 month check up on Wednesday, here are his stats:
-Height: 29 1/2 " (5th percentile)
-Weight: 21.4 lbs (27th percentile)
-Head circumference: 45 1/4" (12th percentile)

The doctor was impressed with his weight gain, I thought he would weigh more more! He seems like a solid brick to carry around these days and he eats like its always his last meal. I am so grateful he hasn't become a picky eater (yet, at least).

Caleb is still working with the physical therapist from Kids on the Move. She has been coming usually every other week and working with him on getting onto all fours and crawling around, standing at surfaces and shifting his weight back and forth and overall just getting him more comfortable and confident with moving in different positions. He has been making improvements, which are more obvious to our therapist but he is now getting around by scooting on his bum. It takes so much more effort to move this way than crawling but silly man doesn't understand that. He loves walking around when we hold onto his hands. He loves to stand at surfaces and is beginning to take a few steps around a table or our recliner. I think he has the strength to do whatever he wants to do, its more a confidence thing. He seems to be afraid of falling and unsure of what to do sometimes.

This picture was taken several days ago but is the most recent we've taken. (It was for my sister's birthday card)

C's pediatrician isn't worried with his development. He has 3 of his 4 daughters that he always references, as they were slow developers and didn't crawl until after they were 15 months. The main thing that indicates learning development, says pediatrician, is the speech development. Right now Caleb says "Dad" and "Mom" all the time but other than that he repeats vowels over and over.  We'll see how his speech develops. I have my days where I really worry about him, I just want him to be happy and healthy now and in the future. But then more often than those down days, I just feel so grateful for him. He is so incredibly sweet and silly and a joy! I love being able to stay home and spend so much time with him.

Kids On The Move

Our sweet Caleb is starting physical therapy next week for his gross motor development. Although he sits up great and even rotates 360' on his bum, he hasn't got the hang of crawling or cruising yet. Our pediatrician mentioned KOTM, an early intervention program that works with the Alpine school district, at Caleb's 12 month check up. I gave them a call, they came out to assess Caleb, and due to his low percentages in the gross motor assessment he is eligible for their services. So basically a physical therapist is going to come to our home twice a month to work with Caleb and the goals we set for him. Over the next six months we set goals for Caleb to be able to transition into/out of siting position, into/out of standing position, crawl (in some form or another), and begin to walk with assistance. I am really excited to get Caleb started with this program and have high hopes for his development. His diagnosis at this point is slightly low muscle tone through his arms and back. Which could just be attributed to the fact that I wasn't diligent with Caleb's tummy time in his early months or it may be linked to another issue that will manifest itself further down the road. Time will tell!

But Caleb is still growing and developing... here are some of his latest feats:
...We have been walking with Caleb much more now, letting him hold onto both of our hands. At first he didn't understand how to move his feet but now he walks great. He loves when we go walking with him! Along with walking, he loves standing at furniture and playing with a toy. He does it mostly at our death-trap of a coffee table, so I have to stay very close to him especially since his balance isn't all the way on par just yet.
...When we were in North Carolina Caleb was forced to overcome his attachment-prone behavior he had developed. Since I couldn't hold him much, it was my mom, sister or a relative holding him. At first Caleb was shy but by the middle of our trip he was loving it and putting his arms out to anyone! On our flight back to SLC he actually reached over and started hugging a stranger sitting next to me. Silly boy!
...Caleb also got his first top front tooth in NC. It's slowly making its way down and I can see his other top front tooth is not far behind.
...Caleb is a great eater all of a sudden! He eats everything and in large quantities. I didn't realize just how much he could eat until we had lots of food to choose from in NC. Apparently my 1/2 PB&Js weren't quite enough for him, unbeknownst to me!
...Caleb is blabbering a lot these days. This week he's really honed in on "mamama". Especially when he's upset and wanting me, which makes me think he's starting to make a connection with the word and me, hooray!
...He is such a smiley  and happy boy. All I have to do is look at him and he gives me the cutest, toothy smile. We love him so much!

Lately, part 1: ER to OR

The last couple of weeks have been wild. Amidst packing for a trip East I surprisingly found out I was pregnant. Since we aren't proactively trying to expand our family just yet, Justin and I were in shock. I'm not sure if I've written on my blog before about our experiences with trying to start our family but it took longer than expected. October 2010 I had a nasty experience with an ectopic pregnancy that was resolved with a methotrexate shot. Then nearly a year later, August 2011, I had what I thought was another ectopic pregnancy that dissolved on its own but I'm still not sure if it was that or a miscarriage. Both pregnancies ended around the 6-7 week mark. However when I got pregnant successfully with Caleb the following month I didn't feel any of the sharp, stabing pains on my right side as I had with the other pregnancies and things were smooth sailing. Anyway, I found out this month on the 19th that I was pregnant and almost immediately started to feel the pains on my right side. They weren't severe but given my history I called my doctor and wanted to have an ultrasound before we were flying to Virginia (morning of the 21st).

The doctor was able to squeeze me in around lunch time for an ultrasound. I packed up Caleb and went to my doctor, waited in the cold ultrasound room for a while, then after two different types of ultrasounds we were unable to see any signs of pregnancy in my uterus. I totally expected that. Again, given my history, I am not extremely emotional or hopeful at the beginning of a pregnancy-especially one that was a surprise! All along I am thinking, it's an ecoptic pregnancy, just go ahead and give me the shot and call it good, please! Instead the doctor orders an ultrasound be done at the hospital and quants be taken and assessed of my HCG levels. Thankfully my sister was able to come down to be with me at the hospital and her sweet husband took off work to come watch Caleb at my apartment-that was such a blessing! After waiting for a while and having two other unpleasant ultrasounds, the radiologist presumed I had a hemorrhagic cyst on my right ovary. I had my blood drawn then went home and rested.

On the 20th I had to go back for my 2nd blood testing. Oddly enough the pain on my right side subsided completely on this day and I felt back to normal, albeit rather tired. I continued packing for the trip I was taking the next morning. The results came back from my blood work and my HCG levels had nearly doubled in 24 hours. Typically the levels will double every 48 hours, so my doctor considered this a strong sign for a normal pregnancy with a cyst causing problems and I should just keep an eye on things. So on the 20th I thought things were normal.

Early in the morning on the 21st (around 2am) I woke up with the pains on my right side. I had a small amount of panic inside of me that I wasn't going to be traveling that morning at 10am and I hated the idea of missing my flight, changing my flight, missing my trip etc.  But after I called the doctor on call, he told me to head to the ER for another ultrasound. So at 3am I headed into the ER. They suit you up well in the ER, without reason from what I could tell they hooked me up to an IV almost immediately and then I waited for the ultrasound technician to come. After two other very unpleasant ultrasounds, they still couldn't find my pregnancy. Not in the tube, not in the uterus and so they were perplexed. The ER doctor came in and said they were most likely going to give it more time to see if the pregnancy would manifest itself somewhere and give me some pain medication so traveling could be bearable. So at 5am I was thinking I would make my flight after all. Then a few minutes later one of my ob/gyn doctors came in and delivered the news that it was an ectopic pregnancy on my right side and they would actually need to remove my right fallopian tube via laparoscopic surgery. Devastation! Not only was I crushed about having to have surgery that morning and missing my flight I was crushed because I thought I could have another shot and call it good, I desperately didn't want to lose a tube from this situation. My doctor explained that since it was my 2nd ectopic they have to remove the malfunctioning tube as to prevent future ectopic pregnancies since they are so life-threatening. After the initial let down of the news, I came to accept it and move on in my mind. Better to have it removed than risk the pain and complications in the future. So I called my family and told them, I called Justin and he headed over to the hospital to be with me through surgery. Our good friends in the ward were able to watch Caleb that morning.

We waited for an appendectomy to finish up then I was given the anesthesia and wheeled into the OR. I don't remember much, I passed out pretty quickly. The doctor spoke to Justin afterwards though and told him my right tube was swollen and they could tell the pregnancy was in it. But my left tube looked great. (They had told me from the beginning that having this tube removed would in no way affect my fertility. In fact the left tube is able to stretch itself over to my right ovary during the months I ovulate on my right side...we'll see how it goes with getting pregnant in the future). The worst part after surgery was how sore my throat was from the intubation and how intense the pain was in my shoulders from the air they had pumped into my body. Apparently the air bubbles stay encased inside your body until they naturally are released, but it was insane how much it hurt. The surgery was just laparoscopic, with three small incisions. One in my belly button, one at my bikini line and one on my lower left abdomen. The incisions weren't all that sore but overall the surgery just made my body feel sore and tired. We stayed at the hospital for a few hours then were discharged around 4pm. I went home that evening and rested.

Meanwhile my sister and her two kids had made that morning's flight into Virginia. I hated I missed it and that she had to travel by herself. But quickly after surgery we started making plans on how I was going to get back to Virginia for the trip we had been planning all along. Logically it made the most sense that I still went back to be with family through my recovery. Justin isn't quite yet comfortable taking work off at Goldman so I would have been home by myself through my recovery, trying to follow the post-op instructions to not do any heavy lifting for two weeks is nearly impossible with a 13 month old. My parents were extremely generous and decided to fly my mom out Sunday, the 22nd, to help me fly on the 23rd back to Virginia.

Lately, part 2: VA to NC

Getting out to Virginia on Monday morning was interesting. Walking wasn't all the easy at this point so I had to be wheeled through the airport & security by an airport employee. My mom was pushing Caleb in his stroller. It almost felt like VIP treatment, bypassing lines and having someone else take care of me, however it was also slightly mortifying being wheeled through the SLC and Atlanta airports. Caleb did great on the flights and with traveling though and my mom was very attentive to both me and him. We landed in Virginia around 7pm on the 23rd.

We spent the 23-26 in Virginia. We made a few trips to the beach, did some shopping and enjoyed some yummy seafood. Between my sister, mom and dad I didn't have to worry about picking up or carrying Caleb during the rougher days of recovery. Caleb got his first introduction to sand and being in the ocean. He wasn't too sure about the texture of the sand but he loved kicking the waves.

On the 27th we drove down to my hometown of Gastonia, NC. Heather and I hadn't been home in 3 years because my parents moved to Virginia, so whenever we go to visit them we just stay in Virginia. It had been three  years since we have seen relatives and our home we grew up in. We had a lot to do in the short time we were there. We visited the essential places to eat, RO's bbq, Tonys Ice Cream, Sake Express and drove around town to see all the changes that had been made. We had a wonderful family cookout on Saturday night, we were able to visit with our sweet cousins and aunts, we haven't seen them in forever it felt like. We spent a lot of time at my Aunt Betty's, she took great care of us while we were there and even had bought so many cute toys for our kids to enjoy. We visited our home ward on Sunday and saw old friends. Then on Monday we went downtown Charlotte to Discovery Place for the kids to play. That night we had ice cream with family then played putt-putt. We crammed so much into our short visit but it was awesome! I hope we can get back there more often, I miss my relatives!

Caleb was a champion eater this trip. He never stopped wanting food, I think he had to gain a few pounds at least!

my beautiful cousin, Kelsey

Carolina blue through and through!

 

 

See you later, Queen City!

It was a great trip and even better, it offered the time for recovery I needed from surgery. I can't express my appreciation enough to my parents for their generosity in getting me to Virginia and helping me with Caleb!