And.....no more limbo

Hooray! Allelujah! Amen!  Thank you everyone for all your prayers and positive vibes.  I know they made all the difference in the world.

We repaired the sewer.  It cost $8800.  After the crew did the initial repair, relining the side sewer, they re-scoped out to the street.  They completely disagreed with the Mr. $40K sewer repair guy.  Huge deep sigh of relief.  I swear I almost kissed the guy when he told me.

We listed the house on Friday and had an offer by the end of the night.  Another offer came in Saturday.  Sunday was an all day bidding war.  I feel so bad for the couple who lost.  I think it was emotionally exhausting for everyone involved.  Inspection was Tuesday.  The buyers did not run away after inspection, and merely asked for a credit back to address some repairs.  Awesome. Yes. Absolutely. 

I can't believe I have agreed to leave my beloved Seattle.  I will miss being able to walk to everything or being a 5 minute drive away. It was extremely hard to leave the kids' school. We are moving to Lake Forest Park.  It is a beautiful home with a giant backyard with a treehouse and a shop for Dave!  There is a driveway for the kids to play in, a large gorgeous kitchen for me that looks out to the backyard so I will be able to actually monitor the kids, and best of all, a fireplace in the master bedroom.  I am so excited I can hardly contain myself.  There is nothing I would change about the house except may some paint in the room that will be Eileen's.

Of course there is the little matter of what propelled us to suddenly put our house on the market.  My parents are moving in with us.  My husband is a saint.  That is all there is to it.  We are hoping to build them a backyard cottage.  Anyone got some connections or helpful advice on that one? 

If anyone had told me when I was younger that my parents would live with me, I would have drug tested them because they must have been smoking a lot of crack.  Things change.  I'm trying to focus on the benefits of having my parents living with me: free childcare, date nights, learn to bake bread, less destinations to go during the holidays, free childcare/chance to maybe substitute teach a little or expand my tutoring hours.

The kids are enrolled in a new Catholic school.  The uniforms are purchased.  We won't move until after school starts but that is not the end of the world.  I am so glad to know where things are headed.  The house will be sorely lacking in furniture for a while, but that just means we have a chance to make intentional decorating decisions.  Pinterest will be my friend. I look forward to figuring out exactly how lodging my parents will go, but wow, I am excited.

Living in Real Estate Limbo

It all started out so well......

We listed our house, had 3 offers in less than 48 hours.  We took the offer that was $30K above asking.  We house hunted, found our dream home, made an offer, it was accepted.  So much happiness, so much excitement all in the span of 5 days.

And then it happened.  Everything fell apart.

They buyers backed out during inspection.  Did you know that having a sewer scope done is now the hip thing to do as part of inspection these days?  We've never had sewer problems and the buyers wouldn't let us see their video.  We payed to get our own scope done.  Sewer needed fixing.   A sewer company gave us a bid based on the video of the scope that was done by another company.  Friday a plumbing company came and did his own scope (which went out further) and said he estimated the cost to be close to $40k.  Jaw dropped.  Tears were shed.

Now we are in limbo.  The sewer company is coming some time this week to do their own sewer scope and make the repair.  Meanwhile, we sit in limbo.  I had already started the process of taking the kids out of their current school and enrolling them in a new one.  I'm not quite sure what to do now, but I know I don't want to pay tuition to a school they are possibly not going to attend.  If the cost to fix the sewer really is $40k, then moving is off the table. If I pull them out of their current school, their spots will be gone immediately.  School starts in 3-4 weeks.  I need to know what school uniform to buy.

The plan is to re-list the house Thursday or Friday.  Lots of prayers, finger crossing, positive vibes are welcome this way.  In the meantime, I must continue to keep the house immaculate and staged, unsure of what path our lives will take, and live in limbo. 

10 Months

Amidst utter craziness and a trip to Nebraska where I lost my photo ID, this handsome fellow turned 10 months.

Robin is moving away from babyhood very slowly but surely.  He now has three words: mama, dada, and mum mum (food, or sometimes more specifically mum mum rice crackers).  When he sees something yummy like ice cream, he starts growling and then proceeds to make a sound similar to the Knights Who Say Nee from Monty Python.  He recognizes signs, but refuses to participate.

His very sharp teeth are now capable of leaving marks and drawing blood.  He likes to smack his lips and smile as sort of an acknowledgement like, "Hey, look what I can do, isn't this great? Let's do it together."  It may be time to go through the baby toys.  He now prefers the activity block and all the Green Toy trucks.  While visiting our friends in Nebraska, he could not get enough of their noise making and interactive toys.

Robin is still not mobile, pulling himself up, or even getting into a seated position from lying down.  He just likes to sit in a spot and not move.  However, if we place him on his tummy (because he refuses to do it on his own), he will cry while moving backwards until he gets stuck.  So I guess that is progress.

Robin still loves to snuggle, nurse, and roll his wrists and ankles.  He is very very wary of strangers/anyone not his immediate family, but it seems to be getting better over the past week.  He has proved himself to be an great traveler.  I look forward to him sleeping through the night.  In case I haven't said it enough, I love this baby,

From the Mouths of Babes in July

Linus:  Can girls be in the army?
Me: Yes.
Eileen: Am I part of the army?
Me:  No, but you can be when you are a grown up.
Eileen: (very concerned) Can I still be Eileen?

Eileen:  (wearing a large bucket)  Look we have exoskeletons!

Eileen:  I have a water balloon. Boom boom boom.

Linus: (broom hoisted in air) Look mom, I'm an angry villager!

It's On!

OMG.  We are really going to do this.  Our house goes on the market today.  Dave and I have been working nonstop on the house for the last two weeks getting it ready.  Our efforts have really paid off.  The house is practically glistening.

Our agent is great.  She used to have a staging business on the side.  We didn't really stage our previous house in Mukilteo, just decluttered.  Our agent, Erica, has taken our house to an entirely new level.  If I didn't know we needed a larger house, it might be a little too easy to fall in love with it all over again.

I'm also ready to pass out from exhaustion.  Scrubbing walls, baseboards, and ceilings while trying to take care of three kids is hard.  Then telling them not to touch anything makes life nearly impossible.  My morning now consists of getting the house back into the staged look and running an entire load of laundry all before 9:30 am when Robin wakes up from his nap and we leave the house for the day until 8 pm.

It's amazing how much house buying and selling has changed in the 7 years since we bought our current house.  Redfin and Zillow allow us to no longer solely rely on the agent to find houses that interest us and we have lots of information about the houses at our fingertips.  No more big stacks of papers to sign.  Just an email inviting us to e-sign.  When we bought our first house in Mukilteo, we pulled over in a church parking lot to put together the offer and sign.  I prefer this technological advancement.

I'm interested to see how quickly our house sells.  I'm grateful I'm flying to Nebraska with the kids (minus Linus who is staying with grandparents in Tacoma) next week so I don't drive myself crazy trying to keep the house clean and children from touching everything.  I firmly believe in Dave's ability to not mess up the house too much in my absence.

In the meantime, I happen to know about an super cute house in the highly desirable Phinney Ridge/Ballard neighborhood of Seattle.  It has lots of storage, a workshop, three bedrooms with a large master suite. Built in hutches in the dining room.  You could not ask for a more walkable neighborhood or friendlier neighbors, neighbors who throw block parties.  Plenty of kids of the street.  Kids who literally hop over and through fences to play in each others' backyards.  I know I know.  It's an amazing house and will make someone very happy.  Sad to leave but excited for the next adventure.

Everything is cool when you're part of a team

"Everything is awesome
Everything is cool when you're part of a team
Everything is awesome when we're living our dream" --The Lego Movie

This song is often running through my head.  These days it is also becoming more of a mantra.  Life is C-R-A-Z-Y here.  Why you ask?  Because we decided to put our house on the market.  I'll just let that sink in for a moment.

While we've thought about it not seriously off and on, about a week and a half ago we decided we were going to the sell the house.  Never to do things half-heartedly, Dave and I have attacked the process.  We are an awesome team.  We have done more on our house in 4 days than in the whole past year.  While Dave works like a man possessed on all the small home improvement projects, I have been cleaning/packing/decluttering and calling/arranging all outside help.  Linus asked us why I was making Daddy do all the work.  I was not impressed.  The Port-a-boxes arrived yesterday, announcing our plans to the neighbors. They are already filled and ready to go.

My days are now filled with deep deep cleaning the house, scrubbing baseboards and so forth.  If you ever have tried to move/take on massive cleaning projects with small children under foot, then you know that it is nearly impossible.  I feel like I am losing my mind.

Eileen is very good at undoing my work, as evidenced by a peanut butter and jelly covered railing.  Once we get the house on the market, I'm going to have to get extra creative on keeping the kids out of the house all day and into the early evening. 

Now to answer your big question.  Why move?

With 3 kids, the house has gotten a little crowded.  We have a small kitchen which was tricky to use before kids.  I yearn for a driveway the kids can play in and a larger backyard.  We looked at the looming projects/dreams for the house and decided we would rather just move into a house that was a little more turnkey.

It's is hard to say goodbye to our house.  It is so cute and has a wonderful vibe.  I love love love my bedroom.  It's my own personal refuge.  We are surrounded by amazing neighbors.  I love that Linus plays with the neighbor boys behind us all the time.  We will never find a house in a more walkable neighborhood or with more storage.

We're hoping we will be able to keep the kids in the same school.  We've really built a life there and within the larger NW region of Seattle.  The goal is to stay in NW Seattle.  That may be easier said than done.  We may have to venture to the eastside of I-5.  I think Maple Leaf would be okay.  I'm willing to go as far north as Shoreline.  I don't care if I could buy a giant house with a giant yard, I'm not moving to Everett or Snohomish (no offense to people who live there).  I love Seattle. I'm a stay-at-home mom who needs to be able to get out of the house.  I need activities, coffeeshops, like minded people.

So really, our house hunt may become our own great white whale.  We hope to put the house on the market very soon which may be problematic in terms of having a place to live after selling.  The housing market where we live is red hot (another impetus to sell).  It would be amazing to find a place that better fit our needs and also gave us a lower mortgage.  I'm trying to stay positive and not worry.  Meanwhile, I just psychotically sing to myself, "Everything is awesome....."

9 Months

I must say that Robin's 9 months outside the womb has gone much faster than the 9 months he spent gestating.

He has had a bit of a checkered past.

Robin got to go to his 9 month check up today.  He and I were both relieved that it was a shot-free visit.  Robin has a ton of stranger/you are not my immediate family anxiety these days, but he was kind enough to only give the doctor a furrowed brow versus the tears and crumpled face most people get.

Here are the stats:
Weight:  17 pounds 10 ounces, 15th percentile
Length:  27 inches, 5th percentile
Head Circumference:  17.8 inches, 51st percentile

So he is a little on the small size, but he is still the biggest of the big boys to us.

When he isn't scared of everybody, he is a super happy baby who loves life.  Things he especially enjoys are:
Playing with blocks.  He squeals with an evil glee when you knock them over and say "Oh no!"
Being tickled
Kicking in the bathtub, splashing in water
Chewing on zippers and buttons
Rolling his wrists and ankles
Eating mum mums and puffs.  Ice cream is probably his new favorite food.  He likes you better if you are willing to share yours.

Robin is cutting lots of teeth, so watch out!  He now has two on bottom, two cutting through on top.  With another 4 close behind.

Robin's most endearing quirk these days is his head waggle.  He does it when he feels like being silly or he likes something.

We love our baby Robin bird, even if he still won't sleep through the night.