Finally!

Nathan, Eleanor and I have lived in our house for about I week now.. I think. Anyway we FINALLY have internet access. I'm loving my house and will send pictures when it's tidier. So maybe next year. d: I'm tired and catching up on a LOT of email, so I will have more to say later.

Happy Birthday Eleanor. (:

So.. I kind of owe you an apology. We closed on our house yesterday. (: We love our new house and can't wait to paint it and move in!!

Today was Eleanor's 2nd birthday, so we had the pleasure of throwing her a big ol' party at OUR HOUSE. That was nice. She had a great time. She got cranky a couple of times, but moments later she was always running gleefully around with her cousins or doing something terribly fun. She got fat lootz. She actually blew out one of her own candles. Her uncle Zack said, "She's cool. Other two year olds aren't like that." I was so proud. Here's some birthday funtime pics.






But, really I have to tell you the present that really was the show stopper. Nathan and I didn't have time to wrap it, but we wanted it to be a surprise for everyone, so we just hid it in the laundry room. It was very exciting. Wanna see?

That's what I get for wanting this to be over..

So.. It the make believe world where everything runs smoothly, and we get to keep out 5% interest rate, today would have been closing day. *Sigh*

Here's what happened: In the process of our appraisal it was discovered that the house was purchased at a Sheriff's sale about 10ish days before we put an offer on it. We actually saw it a few days before, so the current owner didn't own it for an entire week before putting it on the market for a flip. Really, is that such a big deal? As far as our still wanting the house, no. We had the inspection, and we're comfortable with the results. The house isn't any different than before we had that information. However, it makes a great deal of difference to our bank. We've been applying for an FHA loan, and with an FHA loan the previous owner had to have owned the house 90 days before the beginning of the contract, to prevent flipping. Grr! So, okay, no FHA loan, what about a conventional loan? We have the 5% required to put down on it now. No? No conventional loan either, because you have to have had the 5% for at least 2 months prior to applying for the loan, which we did not. GRR! Okay, what's left to us? Rural Development loan? Well, it's a lesser known loan that allows 100% financing. There is a maximum income requirement, which we meet, and the house has to be "rural." Well, the house qualifies, and in this case "rural" means "about 1/4 a mile outside the city limit." Or something. So it's good, right? Well, it's not that simple. Since the Rural Development loan is run by the USDA it has to be approved by some government authority. That process lately has been taking about two and a half weeks. Oh, and it requires a second appraisal. GRRR!!! We'll deal with the waiting, we're relatively sure it will be approved. We'll deal with the appraisal, that falls under "closing costs, which the seller agreed to pay up to $5,000 of anyway. But we're waiting on the approval before getting the appraisal, since there's no point in an appraisal if it's not approved. Also, unlike the FHA loan, there's no mortgage insurance, which helps keep it affordable for us, even at a higher interest rate.

So we are relatively certain we're still getting the house and that it will be totally affordable. I don't want to be relatively certain we're getting the house, I want the keys! But really, if we're just patient, we will get those keys. Someday. *sigh*

I want this to be over.

We've just started the process and I can tell already, I'm not having fun. We had the inspection today and it turns out that the air conditioner is about Nathan's age. It's broken right now. I don't know if we're going to get them to fix it or replace it or what. I don't think they'll be all smiles about the idea of ponying up the money to replace the thing, so we may have to meet in the middle on that. But where's the middle? Are we going to spend all of our money and not be able to get a new washer and dryer to get to the middle? The AC wasn't the only thing, but it was definitely the big thing on the list. Also, we apparently lost all of our tax information for 2007. so now we're having to request our W2s from work and get a copy of our tax papers from the IRS, which could take several weeks. We only have our rate locked in until August 3rd. I like our rate, I don't want to lose it, but it may just end up expiring while we wait on the mail. Good news though, no termites. So that's something.

So, are we real life adults yet?

Welp, we have a house under contract. It's a small house, but we like it, and so we put an offer, and they countered, and we accepted. Now we need a home inspection, pest inspection, appraisal, to turn in our check stubs and W2s to the lender, and to close. And then.. we will be homeowners!!

There is so much I'm looking forward to. I want my dishes. I want my furniture. I want to wander around the house in my underwear looking for my left shoe. I want to let Eleanor make a mess and know that the only people it really affects are her parents. I find that in our crazy experimental household (my parents, my sister, her husband, her child, me, my husband, and my child) there isn't a whole lot that the others do that irritates me.. sure maybe a little, but nothing worth worrying about generally. The hard part for me is knowing that there are things Eleanor and I do that others find irritating. I'm tired of worrying about Eleanor being too loud and messy. She's almost 2. No matter how cramped the house is and how respectful of other people's needs we need to be, she's still almost 2. When I don't feel like following her around all day picking up after her (which is most days) I'm tired of feeling like an enormous burden. I know I could do a lot better than I do, and still not be totally un-lazy, but I'm tired of worrying about it. Nathan is just as non-irritating as he is non-irritated. It's like a superpower. While I know everyone here loves both Eleanor and I very much, it' will be very nice to have a place where we don't bother anyone ever. I think I might even be a different kind of parent when it's just me and my husband and my kid. I'm not sure about that, but I do wonder sometimes.

You should come see the house. I think we're going to be happy there. It's small, but it's so homey. It's nice just like it is, but it would benefit from a little sprucing up over time, which I'm very much looking forward to. Heck, I bet I'd be happy if we never did anything to it. I could just sit there and plan and know that it's ours and I don't have to ask some other authority if I want to repaint a room or widen the driveway. I'll finally really be able to unpack. Not just my stuff, but myself. That's exciting. I feel like I've been packed since high school.

I hope Kelley and Chris get to feel this way soon. They deserve it.

Queue triumphant music..

Eleanor used the POTTY!

It was slow going. She's still really little for potty training. I'm not really trying to push it, but she started showing signs that potty training might be a good idea a couple of months ago, when I saw Eleanor holding her crotch and doing a potty dance. So we bought a potty. I got the cheap, hard plastic one because I didn't think it would really matter. But for some reason they built the thing so the place were her legs would hang over was extra big so they couldn't hang over. It was really dumb and uncomfortable. So we got one of those cushy ones and it was shaped better in general, and she enjoyed sitting on that one. So Tuesday night after I had gotten her undressed for her bath, she sat down and used the potty!!! Yesterday she wasn't remotely interested. But then today she tried twice. The first time she got so involved with flipping over the cushion (she has to place it just so) that she peed squatting on the floor in front of the potty. The second time, she was sitting on it and then stood up to pee on the floor.. It's a work in progress.

Just some updates.

We went on our big trip last week. Woot! Definitely had the feel of a practice run. A great time was had by all, and we'll do it better next time. First we went to Nathan's grandmother's in Maryland. Eleanor charmed everyone present. She loved the stairs and got comfortable at Grandma Judy's and Papa Scott's right away. Amy came over and got to spend the night. (Sleepover!! woohoo!) Nathan's Dad surprised us all by driving up on his motorcycle unexpectedly. That was really nice. Thus ends the relaxing part of the trip.

Then we flew to Massachusetts, and on the way the plane got struck by lightning. Right on the engine. Lightning? That really noisy bright flashy thing that destroys? Apparently planes, including their engines, have an immunity. Totally no big deal. In Massachusetts we spent the remainder of the week running around seeing as much of Nathan's Grandfather, Aunt Nancy, and Fuzz (the dog); Shanna, Randi, Ryan, Ms. Loraine, and Evie; Sarah, Bob, and their little boy Isaac; Auntie Alice; Ms. Ellie; Aunt Karen; Gail, Matt, Jason, Manny, Manny (yes, two of them), and Smokey (the dog); and my cousin Nathan, and his wife, Sarah as we could. In the process, Eleanor pretty much got over her fear of dogs. Fuzz and Smokey are both big friendly, but docile black labs, and she loved them so much. (: Her vocabulary also had a growth spurt. She now says milk, book, Ashton, Ella (what she calls pictures of herself), good dog, baby, nap, bed, bath, circle, oval, ready (as in Nathan's Dad: "Ready?" Her: "Ready!") and several others that I'm just too tired to think about.

The daycare called me today at 4:15. I get off of work at 4:30. Eleanor had a fever of 101.2, and as you can imagine, they aren't taking any chances with sick kids at this time. So I bring her to the emergency room, since the Dr's office is closed. No flu. She has a double ear infection. This is her first ear infection since she got her tubes, but we know they fell out about a month ago. I REALLY hope this isn't the rebirth of Eleanor's chronic ear infections. She had 8 by the time she was about 7 months old. She had an ear infection anytime we brought her to the doctor for anything, including vaccinations. I don't want to go through that again.

At least it's not the swine flu.