Spring has sprung!

This is our first official spring on our home and it is lovely. The tulips are in full bloom, daffodils ushered them in and the sweet scent of Hyacinth wafts as you open the front door. Its such a wonderful way to end our first full year in our home, we get the delight of waking up and seeing what else has shown up in our yard. I LOVE it. Before here I never really delighted in seeing the things bloom in my yard. I guess I never really had time to "stop and smell the flowers". Having kids changes all of that. My boys love to stop and smell flowers, pick them...crush them....feed them to the dog. Yea what can I say they are boys. One of the BEST things about our new home is our ability to grow our own food. I am totally and completely in LOVE with our little patch of community garden. I'm going to have to post pictures. Its a wonderful place. We take the boys, spend hours in the sunshine and they get really REALLY dirty. Absolute perfection. This year I did most everything from seeds. I have grown all my own tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, radishes, carrots, spinach, (lettuce died). I have yet to plant my corn, beans and squash...its too early. I'm prepping our melon patch, strawberries are in the front yard and cucumbers will go into Pete's garden soon. He is also planting mammoth Sunflowers.I love the fact that he is so excited about it. We did raised beds with cabbage and romanesco also grown from seeds. I think the beets are finally coming up too. Peas went in a week or so ago and I haven't seen anything sprout there. There are so many things to see and be excited about in the coming months. I feel like the only thing we are lacking is chickens.. I would LOVE to have 3 hens but alas...no chicken are aloud in this city. but I remain ever hopeful. But I am hoping for a bountiful harvest and endless hours of fun in the sun. Even as both kids are sick with some oh so icky virus..it still feels good to be here...spring has sprung.

Raw

Raw. That is the best description of how I feel today. The past 3 weeks have been one drama to the next with no sign of letting up. We got a tummy bug which landed our baby in the hospital for a total of 6 days. Long story short, super fancy little guy hospital released our kid twice for him to go home and get sicker. Finally 3 days in another hospital Jack was really healthy enough to go home. I am disgusted at the special hospital, I use to take patients there. I use to have a good amount of respect for that establishment. I was wrong. If I had not been so pushy my kid could have died. Bottom line truth. Could you imagine if I had been a mother with a communication problem, or a mom without the courage to stick her 2 cents in?
Well Jack is finally back to being his oh so charming teething, about to turn one cranky little bugger. Did I mention we have a tough day? These days I wonder how I am going to make it through 8 hours. Sleep is not happening. I am starting to resent nursing. How sad is that? I just want my bed back. I want some sleep. I want my family to be healthy. Adorable husband spiked 102.0 tonight. I was supposed to go get my hair done tomorrow. I canceled. *sigh* Jack's birthday is Wednesday. I wanted to make is special and fun. My ability to be charming left about a week ago. Right now I sit here typing to have 10 minutes alone while sick husband has the screaming baby. I feel horrible.
I am about to turn the big 3-0. I feel lost today. I feel like I am someone's chew toy, someone's personal behind wiper, someone's cook, maid, chauffeur, nurse, secretary, accountant, personal shopper, memory and laundromat. I don't feel like me. I don't feel like I know me.
No one tells you this part of motherhood before you join the club. If they did, there would be less mothers.

Real Estate Smeal Estate...

I did exactly what they tell you not to do when looking at buying a house. In my mind I had the entire house mapped out stuff and new colors on the walls. I even redesigned the kitchen and laundry room. Did I mention the fabulous new PVC recycled deck on the back? I trapped myself through my imagination into thinking the house was ours. It certainly isn't quite..is it?
We got the offer back from the bank's agent. Who by all accounts ( and I have seen the man's emails) is an idiot. Not the garden variety either. The kind who gets offended when asked by us( after several days of waiting) for an answer by the end of business on Friday of a holiday weekend. Yea, he did. We got an answer back. Honestly I took it well considering how ridiculous it was. Frankly the waiting to find out the counter offer was far worse than hearing they came back at us wit a number so crazy it was a joke. Actually our agent's words exactly were "this is a joke".
So now we play ping-pong as I like to call it. We fling a few more bucks at them they fling a few less at us. Hopefully we can come to an agreement. I have not lost all hope yet I think. SO the game continues. We can go at this for a while so I will not bore people with this situation any more until it is finally over. I think this has taught me a lot.
Well at least I have better perspective, I haven't started moving my furniture in.

The Waiting Game

We are now into day 2 of the waiting game. I have had 2 more sleepless nights. The seller agent is presenting the contract to the bank today. I am trying to hard not to freak out but inside I look like Britney in the back of that ambulance. I am officially going crazy with anticipation and fear. OH the uncertainty! AHHHHHHHHH

Monday Monday Monday...

Sleep seems to be a thing of the past. I keep waking up thinking about this house, "are we going to get is" and "you think they will take the offer" all night. I swear it is like having a newborn again. It is making me crazy, totally and completely I-need-a-straight-jacket crazy.
I have been praying for this, really I am not joking. Every Friday night after lighting candles I ask for guidance on where our family is going to live. I just wasn't sure how this was going to work out with finding a house here.
Tonight, we are getting together with our fantastic agent. I went to HS with him, his older brother was in my class. He is so savvy, I'll bet he is going to make a fortune in real estate here. He is a fantastic agent and an even better person. Last night he was so kind to give me the occasional email of reality. You know the emails that brings your mind out of the fog where you are planning the perfect kitchen. We have all been there haven't we? As of right now the one in my head has white cabinets, duel fuel range, black granite with flecks of blue and a checkerboard floor in navy and white. So classic, so clean, with a farmhouse porcelain sink. OK back from the cloud...
I have to admit my fantasy kitchen is far more appealing as I sit here in my 2 bedroom apartment with a kitchen so small you can't open the fridge door the whole way.
For most people they hate Mondays. I love them. Monday is my older son's long day at school. So for 6 hours I only have 1 baby to deal with. Jack can be a force to be reckoned with but at least can work around him and get things done. OK he is awake....back to mommying...

2 Dirty Martinis later...

It was a long day. A very long day. We decided we are going ahead an putting an offer on this house we saw yesterday. I am totally freaked out. We are way under bidding it, but since it is a foreclosure we might be OK. Besides that my grandparents surprised me with a visit with only 2 hours notice today. So with 2 screaming kids I managed to get the rooms clean, the bathroom scoured clean and a room made up for them after cleaning the boys room to make space. All while the baby Jack screeched at the top of his lungs that I am sure had the neighbors freaking. He screamed when not held for a straight 8 hours. I swear I thought I would jump out the window if I didn't have so much to do.
How do they know how to hit just the right tone to shatter your inner ear? Its remarkable that these little buggers know instinctively how to make you completely crazy. While the younger one screamed the older one basically did everything in his power not to listen to me.
This evening after spending time with my beloved grandparents and seeing the house we came home and I had 2 martinis. So right now as I sit here a little hazy my sweet husband is dealing with the kids and I am rambling on hoping we get this house.
We just want a place of our own. Nothing huge, just ours. I don't know is it too much to ask? I guess we'll just wait and see.

A Glimer of Hope

There is is. Just a glimmer, a small glimmer of hope that we will again be homeowners. As I felt my dream of staying here wash away from me in a sea of moving out to the burbs, I came across a glimmer of hope. This glimmer needs work, its a foreclosure. No one was displaced which is good. I feel thats bad Karma. It is 3 blocks from the private school we are considering for our boys. It's 1.5 miles from the house of worship we would like to attend. My husband could have a take home car. Thats right, a take home car! This lovely 3br 2 1/2 bathroom house is (dare I say) in this city!!!!!!!
We went to see it today and I honestly feel this puppy is a diamond in the rough. At first we were looking for a fixer-upper. Heck, we knew that is all we could afford. But this, this hit all the major points for us. It has all the bare bones we need, the bedrooms, the bathrooms, the living dining room, the working wood burning fire place, the family room, the kitchen with breakfast room. The postage stamp yard, the garage...it's endless. OK so the kitchen hasn't ever been updated, the second floor needs to be COMPLETELY redone to make it 3 functional bedrooms, the basement has some water issues (this we are pros at after our first house). The front is south facing, so good sun! Most people would run from this. We like the challenge. I love the idea of designing my own kitchen, actually I wanted that. Then I get what is good for us not what someone else wanted. Our boys could have rooms of their own. We could have our own bathroom ( do I hear a hallalujah!). We could keep our living room set ( ahh bliss!). We would have to get the work done before moving in which might work out as our lease isn't up until April 1st. SO if anyone feels the need to send a prayer our way that this works out for our family, I would greatly appreciate it. Hey If we get it I might even post a picture :D Cheese!