We Bought A(nother) House!

  So, most of you probably know we have been trying to rent out our townhome and find a new "forever" home since October. If you didn't know this, that's what we've been up to for the last 5 months! We couldn't decide if we wanted to try and sell and take a loss or find renters and keep the townhome. After deciding it's best to rent it out so we could move into our "forever dream home" sooner, we packed up, moved to Lake Zurich to stay with my in laws, had the whole house cleaned and painted, and put up on the market. It only took about 5 weeks to find tenants, so after that, we started looking at the homes that I had marked that we were interested in in our "favorites" folder. We looked at 6 homes in December, one of which we loved, and had another 5 lined up to see in January. The first house we saw was amazing, better than the one we loved in Dec! We instantly fell in love with the 5 bedrooms (one downstairs for Matt to use as an office when he's working from home, and to use as a game room), finished partial basement, looooots of storage space, huge laundry room with counters and cabinets, 3 car garage, fenced in back yard with a nice deck and swing set, open floor plan with vaulted ceilings in the formal living room and foyer area, open kitchen/family room, and soaking tub in the master bath. We saw 2 more homes that day that we liked, one of those being our second choice, but nothing compared to the first house. Our realtor told us he got a call from their realtor saying they were going to lower the price in the next few days. Not wanting to seem over eager, even though we wanted to go back that day and see it, we decided to wait a few days, and went home. That night we got an email saying if we made an aggressive offer, they'd likely take it. We were a little apprehensive since we only saw it once, but it was over an hour away from where we are currently, and couldn't go back for a few days. So, we thought about it, and made an offer the next evening, after they reduced the price. They counter offered, and we accepted. It was that easy! Took about an hour and a half before we were almost owners of our dream home! We had the inspection 2 days later, and everything went really well, they sellers had to fix a few very small things, and that was it! I can't decide what I'm most excited about, but I think it's the yard. In our last house (the one car garage, 2 bedroom townhome), we didn't really have a yard. We had a small patio with enough room for a small table and chairs and our grill, and we had the shared yard space, but it gradually got smaller once Jack was mobile and was all over the place. It'll be nice to set up his pool in the yard and just let him play and have a great time with the dog and his friends this summer! It is a bit weird to think about another family living in our home, I won't ever forget how excited we were to move in, but with us wanting more kids soon, we just outgrew it. I know Matt is excited to have his own space since he was using the small space in the hallway at the top of the stairs as his office in the last house haha. And I'm excited for that, too. For now, our 2 extra bedrooms will serve as guest rooms. I know my mom will be coming up to stay (she had to sleep in the couch at the last house), and I'm sure my grandma will come up too, and maybe some friends will make the trip up to party and have a good time this summer. I really want to have a house warming party, but I'm not sure about the details of that yet.

   Another reason I'm so excited to finally have our forever home is hosting play dates. We plan to use the formal living room as a play area for the kids til they're old enough to send down to the basement to play by themselves.  For the time being, I'd prefer to have Jack on the main level, and this is the perfect place to host play dates.  Lake Zurich, where we are now, is an additional hour away from our friends (which were about an hour away from where we were before), so we haven't gotten to be too social the past few months, which is especially hard during the winter months! Needless to say, we're excited to get back and be able to hang with our friends again! Some of you readers are mommies and you know how hard it can be when you can't get outta the house to socialize and let the kids play together often. It definitely takes its toll on you and your kids.  We've been to a few play dates and met with Jacks friend Ava a few times since Ava's grandparents live close, but we're so happy to be moving back, and even closer to where our social network is! The house is in Oswego, which is about 20min away from where we used to live in Aurora/Naperville area. One cool part is we're just down the street (maybe an 8min walk) from Jack's cousin Rylie! I know Matt is pumped about playing his nerdy board games with Chris! It'll be great living close to them, the cousins will get to grow up together and go to the same schools, and it'll make date nights and hanging out much easier!

  Since I last wrote, Jack has grown up so much! He's obviously walking, he started that at 15months old in October. It didn't take him long, once he started to try. It was like one day he was taking 2 or 3 steps and a couple days later he was off and running! He's 23.5lbs and 31.5in tall, coming in at 25th percentile for both. Okay so maybe he hasn't grown *that* much haha. He's still my little munchkin, but his personality is coming out stronger by day.  Most of the time, he's a sweet and calm guy who will play with you, or play by himself for awhile. He does have a temper that's coming out though! He gets frustrated easily (like mommy....), and throws fits. I've had to do time outs with him twice, mostly for throwing his cup off the table b/c he's mad about whatever he's mad about. The first time was incredibly hard on him and me, but the second time was much better. He definitely understood he wasn't to get up, and once he calmed down, we hugged and talked it out (or, I did) and went about our day. His fits have definitely gotten shorter, he's understanding that they're not going to work.  He's not eating much, he mostly eats yogurt, crackers, and fruit. Sometimes I can get some mac and cheese in him, but that's pretty much it. Eating is the second most frustrating thing (aside from his crying for hours upon hours when he was an infant), and I know it's normal, but maaaaaaan it's hard! I'm hoping that once we're back in the area his eating habits will get a little better when he sees his friends eat, as well as his language. He's got between 15-20 words, some being 2 word phrases, so he's right where he needs to be, but I'm sure it'll pick up even more once he's around his peers more. He's so funny when he talks on the phone, he says hi or hello, mumbles a bunch like he's actually having a conversation, then usually nods and says bye. He loves it when you chase him around the house, hide from him, and pop out and scare him. He loves anything electronic....ipods, phones, cameras, computers, etc. As I type, he's behind me typing on a broken computer keyboard that we gave him. He loves stacking and dumping, legos, books, and especially closing doors, drawers, and cabinets. He loooves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Pocoyo, and choo choos. He will literally walk around for 5mins asking "what's this", and when you ask him if he wants to go night night or take a bath, he'll walk around and give everyone kisses, including the dogs. I really hope bed time is always this wonderful b/c it's perfect, and I know a lot of mommies are having trouble with it right now. Jack will occasionally wake up at night, but unless he's sick, I'll leave him alone and he goes right back to sleep. And, lately, I can keep him busy with play dough for 20-30mins! He loves tearing it into tiiiiny little pieces and putting it back into the container. I'm glad I got him all those little play doughs for Christmas!

  In other exciting news, one of my bestfriends Jen is having a baby boy in June, and my brother and sister in law are expecting a boy in June as well! It seems like a lot of babies are coming this summer! I can't wait to cuddle them! :-)  Matt and I were planning to try again soon, but with everything going on right now, I don't feel quite ready yet. I'd like to get into the new house, get settled, celebrate all our birthdays this summer, and then think about baby #2. But, who knows what'll happen, only time will tell ;-) Anyway, we're moving Feb 15th, I've got a P!NK concert in Chicago the second weekend in March with some fun ladies, and a book signing by my fave author Jodi Picoult the following weekend. In April we've got a wedding in Lafayette and I'm co-hosting a sprinkle shower for Jen. May has my birthday (the big 3-0!), memorial day, and Mothers Day. Both babies are due in June, Matt's birthday is in June as well as Fathers Day, and Matt's Vegas trip for his brothers bachelor party. July brings the holiday weekend and my baby boy turns 2! So, our summer is quickly filling up, which is always fun! I can't wait to have cook outs and have people over to our new home!

  I promise to do better with updating this in the upcoming months, as you can see I'll have some fun stuff to write about :0)