House Hunt Part II

So we were hoping for the house near the college pictured before, but it has completely fell through about 3 weeks ago. Here's the play by play, we bid on the house, won the bid, bid was wrong so we had to cancel it. Waited a week and a half to bid again, won the bid again, sent in contract, contract was sent back because we didn't initial something about mold on the property when there isn't any mold on the property and above where we were "supposed" to initial said "initial where applicable" so we didn't initial...STUPID HUD PEOPLE!, sent in another contract signed the stupid mold place (we were quite irritated by this point but it's all part of the process right??? no), then they tell us that there is lead base paint on the outside of the property. Not listed anywhere on the property details where they should be online...STUPID HUD PEOPLE! AND... a STUPID HUD CONTRACTOR bids $18,000.00, yes $18,000 to repaint and seal the exterior of a 750 sq ft home. So the moral of the story is: NEVER BID ON A HUD HOME! This may not sound so bad because that doesn't mean that we would have had to pay the rediculous amount of $18,000 to fix it, but we were getting the FHA financing because of the new $100 down if you give the full asking price. And since the $18,000 bid was more than 15% of the homes value we would have had to go for an uninsured loan. So we would have had to come up with a significant down and fix the paint within 10 days of closing. Therefore, we are back where we started. Renting a unit below Mellow Yellow sleeping on an air mattress, no other furniture in the apartment, and using a laundromat. We have to have all of our stuff in a storage unit because we cant fit it down the little hallway and we don't want to be here for very long. I could hack it if I didn't have a baby to haul to the laudromat and a baby to get my clothes dirty within hours of putting it on. Life was much easier living here without a baby, but I would much rather have Rodney than living here easily so it is worth it. Anyway, that is my long and frustrating last couple of months, hope it made sense to you in all my rambling...

2 month checkup

We braved the storm today and ventured to the the doctors office. Rodney has been a little sick these last couple of days, but we took him into urgent care on Monday just to be sure that there wasn't something seriously wrong. He checked out just fine. In our appointment today they said that he was just fine again. He is now weighing in at 11 lbs. 15 oz. and 23 3/4 inches long. They say that he is right on track and seems perfectly healthy. A couple of weeks ago we took him into the Childrens Hospital in Denver to meet with a Retinol Blastoma specialist, Dr. Albano. She said that she wants to do genetic testing on Mark before they put Rodney through a blood draw. If they determine that Mark has the bad gene then we will have to test Rodney. If Mark doesn't have the gene then we don't have to worry about any of our kids having the cancer. The meeting was very informative in that she explained a lot about Retinol Blastoma that we didn't know and the difference in treatments from 20 years ago when Mandy had treatment. It was very interesting and we are excited to get the results even though they will take 3 months. We will let you know when we get the testing and then later get the results.

Learning Fast

Rodney is quickly learning:

• How to pee right after the diaper is off.



• It is much better to be held than not...and I will cry if I am not.



• If I cry right when she puts me down, I shall be held again



• The binky does not give me food



• Being cold is miserable and how to let people know it.



• That drinking out of a bottle is much better. Fast food has a new meaning.



• How to hold my head up almost all of the time



• Looking out and around is a lot more fun



• I like to bounce, and sometimes stand up with help of course



• How to cry louder without squealing, although I still like to squeal sometimes



• I already know sounds for a piglet and a goat cry, were still working on getting them on demand though.



• And this just in.... I hate it when Mom eats chocolate.

Katie is learning:

• How to avoid two and three-a-day showers by keeping the diaper on as long as possible and how to change a diaper dangerously fast!



• I probably shouldn't have held him 24 hours a day...this could be a hard habit to break for both of us, after all I have to get things done sometime!



• I love the binky!



• How to keep the baby warm for bath-time. Warmer water than the hospital suggested, closed bathroom door, towel covering the bottom of the sink, shower on all the way warm to get the steamroom effect, and move!



• Baby wants food... and now! Don't even think about trying to stop to make him burp. And if I pump and feed him from the botle all the better! Less spit up and fast food! however it is a bit more painful.



• That a strong neck means less snuggle time.



• Although bouncing calms him down almost immediately, not a good idea for about a half an hour after he eats.



• How to do mulitple tasks with one hand, including blogging and you should see me make pancakes!



• That a happy baby is worth not enjoying my almost addictive daily serving of chocolate. Although extremely hard!

The House Hunt

Finding the house wasn't the hard part like I thought it would be. We found two very good options the first couple of days. We decided to put a bid on this house right next to UNC on 17th avenue only a few houses away from the best sledding hill in town! How fun would that be with Rodney. A definate fixer-upper with original kitchen from 1955 and a very old bathroom possibly original too, but all in extremely good shape. Call it vintage I guess. Detached garage and big beautiful trees on a large lot. Mark is especially excited so we put in a bid. Well my realtor didn't realize that she had to include the closing costs in the original bid for a HUD home, so we had to back out of the bid that we had won. So at this point we don't know when it will be up for auction again to bid and hopefully win...again... but if it is supposed to be it will work out in our favor. We are most excited about a house because with the price this one and the other one are going for we would be able to live for much less than renting. Even with utilities. Pray for our house please!

Our Little Piglet

Rodney is now 3 weeks old and we have been having so much fun. It has been an incredibly eventful 3 weeks, but fun nonetheless. I should start from the beginning. Rodney was born on Jan. 12th at 7:52 pm; 8 pounds 9 ounces and 19 3/4 inches long. Labor was much better and easier than I expected. That goes for nursing as well. I don't know if it is just because I was so nervous about both and expected the worst or if I just got lucky. I guess I will never know. While we were in the hospital and only for a few short days after Rodney had the cutest cry. I guess it wouldn't really be called a cry more like a squeal on its' way to a full on scream. All of the nurses that would take him to the nursery for his checkups would bring him back saying that he had a set of lungs. Since then he has learned how to cry. I am sad about this but Mark doesn't seem to think that it is a bad thing. Anyway, we came home from the hospital on Wednesday morning and Mom came and Mark left that afternoon. He had to go back to work. Mom and I went up to Greeley that weekend to see Mark because he was on call and couldn't come home. Mom helped me pack a ton of stuff that Monday and Tuesday after we made the plan to move our move to Greeley up by a few weeks. I am so happy that she was able to come and spend time with me and so blessed that it was for a whole week! The next weekend Mark, Mandy and I went to pueblo and packed everything up with plans to come back the next weekend and clean the place. The landlord came by and our plans changed once again. We were now leaving pueblo for good that weekend. Crazy, but we did it and were out of pueblo by 3 on Sunday. Our stuff is now in storage and we are temporarily staying at a house that Mandy, Marks sister, has been housesitting.

Last Monday we had the appointment with a retina specialist for Rodney's eyes. They didn't see anything but they are wanting to monitor him for the next couple of months just to be sure.

Rodney has such a strong neck that he can lift it to almost 90 degrees when he is laying down. He is spoiled rotten because I hold him all the time and don't want to put him down, so when I do he crys and snorts like little pig (aka piglet) and he had his longest sleep stretch Saturday night of 6 hours!

Where to start?

Ok, so it has been too long. Sorry Amy! I am not even going to try and include the last 2 months worth of happenings.

The biggest news is that Mark and I are heading to the hospital first thing on Monday morning. I mean first thing... like 3-5 am. They are going to induce me so we can be sure that Mark will be there. I am getting really excited. Yesterday was my last day at work. A little sad but not too bad. My team at work had a little goodbye party for me and gave me this basket full of stuff. One girl even crocheted me a blanket that is so beautiful it is unbelievable. A complete shock. Today on my first and one of my last days of freedom I am finishing getting the house ready. Mom is coming in on Wednesday. I am so excited I can't contain myself. Today I vacuumed and set up her bed and everything. She is going to stay with me for a full week, such a relief! For the hospital I have been wanting a robe to go over the hospital gowns when I have to get up but they have been way to expensive. So I went to JCPennys and found one that was no clearance for only $10. You better believe I grabbed that baby off of the rack as soon as I saw the price tag. The thing I love about shopping there is that if it is on clearance if you like the price tag on the rack you will love the price at the register. It is always cheaper once it rings up. I wonder why they do that. I won't complain.

Mark is on his way home this afternoon. I am so excited to see him. We have a lot to do this weekend to finish getting ready. I haven't been sleeping very well at all this week. I don't know if it is because he is gone or if I am just too excited about the baby. Probably both, but I wake up at least 3 times in the night and I am up for at least a half hour everyday. Quite irritating, oh well, preview of coming attractions....

Ok here is room for input: What was the one must have for the hospital that you had or wished you had? Comfort or necessity, either one.