We went with.... House A!!!

After looking at about 20+ houses, we finally bought House A!!! It's the one that has the fenced in yard and is right across the street from the elementary school. We'll still be in Port Washington so that'll keep us close to stores, church, the library, and stay in the Port/Saukville school district!

Here's a picture of our new home:

For those of you that participated in my little survey a few posts back, House B decided to take theirs off the market on the same day that we were going to put an offer on it. We actually looked at 3 or 4 more houses after that because we were so disappointed and didn't even want to look at House A anymore. Well, after a lot of praying, God kept pushing us towards House A. :-) 

As long as everything falls into place with the home inspection and funding our loan, we'll close on May 17th! 

Pulling out my hair at times

Parenting is not always easy. Sure, the kids can be very sweet at times, almost angelic. Yet, they have their moments where they like to push your buttons and see how far you'll go. Empty threats of discipline followed by sitting in the corner on the "naughty chair," being put on yellow or even red light, losing special privileges.... I just need to find something that works. Yes, I'm talking about my little boy. Lately, he has been a lot more sassy and has either lost his sense of hearing or is choosing not to listen to mommy and daddy. He's even been teasing a kid at school and doesn't always listen to his teachers. This is not the same kid I placed in 4K at the beginning of the school year. I'm hoping it's just a phase that will pass by.

The other day, I felt like a failure of a mother. I can't control my own kid! But... I have to remember that he has a mind of his own and I won't always be able to control his behavior or the words he says. It was easier when he was littler and acted so sweet and innocent almost all of the time. I'm not ready to be a parent of a 4 and 1/2 year old! Well, I'm ready, but apparently not very well prepared. I guess Caleb will just have to be the guinea pig like all first-borns. I'll probably make some mistakes along the way. (Hopefully nothing too serious! haha) Someone reminded me that Caleb is a pretty good kid most of the time so I must be doing something right. He just seems to act up so much when I'm around that I tend to see the not so angelic side of my little guy.

I've been trying to pray a lot more for my children and also for my parenting. It seems to help a little, but at the end of the day, I still feel like pulling out my hair!

Does anyone have some good ideas to reinforce positive behavior / discipline? I feel like I've tried everything. Maybe I'm lacking consistency with enforcing our current "policies". Either that or I need to try something new and start from scratch.

Well, that's my rant for the moment. Sonya has been teething lately and just whines a lot throughout the day so that probably doesn't help my sanity much. Thank goodness she is taking a morning nap today! I better get a few things done while she's sleeping! Over and out!

Bridesmaid Dress :-)

In September, my best friend from college is getting married!!! I've known for a while, but she just decided on the bridesmaid dresses and I'm pretty excited because I'll get to wear one! :-)  I'm a little nervous because I've only been in a wedding once -- my own! I feel so inexperienced, but am honored that I get to stand up in my friend's wedding. I know she'll make a beautiful bride! Here's the dress in royal purple.... praying that I can pull it off when the time comes!

House Poll

Which house do you think is worth more?

House A:
- 3 bed, 1.5 bath
- fenced in yard
- located across the street from an elementary school
- new roof
- half-finished basement = rec room/computer room

House B:
- 3 bed, 1.5 bath (plus 3/4 bath in lower level)
- new windows
- new furnace
- remodeled kitchen and bathrooms
- ceiling fans and big closets in bedrooms
- near Interurban Bike Trail

Tough decision....
When there are at least 5 responses, I'll reveal which one has the higher asking price. Have fun!

Cute as a Ladybug!

One year ago, I was at Columbia St. Mary's giving birth to my baby girl. Since then, she has grown so much!!!! She loves to look at books and play pretend with her toy food. She started carrying her baby doll everywhere and has pretty much mastered walking. It's when she tries to run that she has troubles. She gives me hugs and kisses and waves buh-bye. She's eating table food and trying to mimic words that we use. My baby isn't a baby anymore. She's officially a ONE year old!

A few days old to 1 year old!!

We had a birthday party yesterday with a few friends and family. Of course we had to document it with pictures!

Sonya loved her little ladybug smash cake

I also made a larger ladybug cake for the rest of us

Guests and gifts!

Hugging Grandma good-bye

On the road to buy a home

Everything is slowly falling into place for us to buy our first home. I'm so glad that God is allowing me to be patient during this process. While it's a little nerve-wracking to wait, I'm content in our apartment right now and in no real rush to just buy whatever looks like the best deal from an outsider perspective. God's timing is amazing and I know He'll show us which one is the right one. A few houses that we were interested in have either had accepted offers on them or are turning into short sales so we'll see what becomes of them. That's probably God's way of gently telling us that it wasn't meant for our family. 

Where we're at right now:

• We signed on our real estate agent so she officially works for us now. 
• All of our loan application paperwork is done and we've been pre-approved/approved for a loan of $XXX,444.00. I think for the official approval, the house has to fit certain criteria, but we're pretty much approved. We have a meeting to speak with a woman in 2 weeks to discuss the details on the particular loan that we're using.
• We had our first homebuyer education course last night. Only 2 more to go! The first session was about budgets and credit reports. It was pretty basic, but there was still some good information. We pay off all our credit cards every month so we didn't have to worry about any of the scenarios she gave, but there was one where you buy a $10 pizza and it ends up becoming a $40 pizza if you put it on your credit card and don't pay it off right away. Crazy!! We're looking forward to the other classes because they'll have people come in that are part of the homebuying processes (ie. Loan officer, Real Estate Agent, Home Insurance Agent, and an Inspector.)

That's all for now. We're hoping to look at a few more houses that have come on the market and also ones that have been on, but don't have any pictures to really go off of. Who knows? Maybe we'll have a house by next month!

Sick Baby + Funny Caleb

I've been trying to think of something to post about, but haven't felt fully inspired or motivated enough I guess. I'll randomly get a thought here or there when I'm away from my computer. So, I decided to just write about family life for now.

Yesterday, Sonya wasn't quite herself. She was pretty content for the most part, but very tired and worn out. Green globs of gook were stuck on the inside corners of her eyes. Her dinner remained untouched. Normally she loves her carbs. We had waffles and she wanted nothing to do with them. At snack time, I tried to give her some applesauce and goldfish. Sonya just swatted the spoon away from her face and took a little nibble of the goldfish. When she didn't want that, I knew she wasn't feeling good. As I began to unbuckle her high chair, she puked all over herself. Tim helped clean her up while I finished tucking Caleb into bed.

Once we got new pajamas on her, I told Tim to find a bucket in case Sonya needed to puke again. He was skeptical, thinking we'd never get her to do it in there. Well, good thing I went with my instincts! I heard that gurgling in her stomach and held her over the pail as she puked yet again. She only got a little on herself this time, but still needed a new set of pajamas. My poor little girl! We got the bucket cleaned out and clean clothes on her so I tried nursing her. She dozed off for a little bit and then woke up suddenly as she puked once more into the bucket. I just cuddled her and rocked her until she fell asleep and knew she wasn't going to get sick again. Then, I put her to bed.

This was my first time really dealing with puke as a mother. Caleb has thrown up like twice since he's been born; once in his bed and once in the toilet since he was old enough to walk/run to the bathroom. For my little girl (almost one year old) to be sick like this, I feel so helpless.

Luckily, I only had to get up with her once during the night. I wasn't sure if she'd puke again, but nursed her anyway since she seemed a little hungry. Thank goodness she fell right back to sleep for me and slept until morning. I chose to keep Caleb home from school today so as not to disturb Sonya's sleep and to keep the flu germs from spreading. He was pretty disappointed and wanted to go! In fact, he got dressed right away and then the next thing I knew was that he had his jacket, mittens, and backpack on all ready to go. He said, “I’m just going to walk to school because I don’t know how to drive yet. I’ll stay on the sidewalks and will be careful crossing the street so I don’t get hit by any cars.” Let’s just say that he was so adamant on going, I had to bribe him with a Pop Tart so he wouldn't go out in the snow and start the 3 mile trek on his own. Such a funny little dude.

Well, I'm glad we decided to play hooky. Sonya puked one more time this morning and has been on and off sleeping all day. She did eat a little yogurt for lunch though so that was a bit of an improvement. Caleb and I worked on predictions today since his class was studying groundhogs and shadows. We set up the halogen light in a dark area and found different options to make shadows on the wall. Caleb predicts that the groundhog will see his shadow tomorrow. :-)

Hope everyone out there is able to stay healthy... and warm!!! I'm so glad we have lots of movies and plenty of food so we don't have to go out for the next couple of days.