Near death experience

My sweet husband has had an interesting habit since we were married. He is constantly talking in his sleep, most of the time in Spanish; caring on phone conversations with "clients", singing or other very interesting things.

A few weeks ago after I took Livy in for her 18 month Well-Baby check and receiving two immunizations, she was having a hard time sleeping. She was running a slight fever from the shots and simply didn't sleep well. This is not like her. She has always been a great sleeper, currently sleeping for 12 hours straight at night and taking a 90 minute nap in the afternoon. I've been spoiled.

Before I tell the "near death experience" let me make a note that Eduardo has always gotten up in the night with me when Livy was feeding, sick, etc. He would come in and see if either of us need anything before he heads back to bed.

On one particular night, Livy woke at midnight running a fever. I got up out of bed to comfort my upset little girl. I heard Eduardo get up and I figured that he would come in to check on Livy. I waited in her room for him so I could send him on an errand to the kitchen to get some fever-reducer. I waited and waited and while I waited I could heard Eduardo in the kitchen. My first thought was that he was hungry and simply getting something to eat. Then I heard him washing the counters followed with sweeping the floor. I'm getting a little upset at this point that he is making so much noise and obviously a mess for me to clean up in the morning.

Then quiet. He heads back to the bedroom and I decide to get the fever-reducer myself. I head into the kitchen to find one of my houseplants sitting in the kitchen sink. No pot, just the plant with its exposed roots. I follow the trail of potting soil through the playroom to our bedroom door. With Livy in hand, I opened the bedroom door to see Eduardo standing in our room holding the pot that once housed my plant. The look of shock on his face! He had no recollection of ever tearing the plant from its pot or the mess he created in the kitchen.

I could do only one thing at this point. I laughed and laughed and laughed until my sides ached. Eduardo spend the next hour vacuuming the dirt out of the carpets (we had a house showing the next morning so it needed to get done), repotting the plant that nearly died and trying to get a wound up toddler off to bed.

I could use a little less excitement in the middle of the night.

The plant that is no longer in my bedroom.

Quick house update

I am so beyond stressed out! What comes after stress? Near depression...think I'm about there. Of course no one said selling a house would be fun. In all the houses we have sold/selling (3), I've never had luck in the house department. Each and every time I feel that I am getting screwed over. If my agent happens to read this, yes I feel this way now!

You might ask what has been happening. Well, we have had 3 offers on our house in the past 6 weeks. That is really good except when each one thinks they are getting the deal of the century and will only offer 30k plus below what we are asking. Then they get offended if we try to counter their poor offer. It is my understanding that there are a lot of desperate people out there who have to sell their house for one reason or another. Many of these people will not get a single penny once they sell. I fortunately am not in this boat. I am not forced to sell and the main reason why I am selling is to take the HUGE check with me in the end. That check will mean financial freedom. It means we will be completely debt free with savings and a complete two year supply of food storage. So I am a little hesitant at giving away my hard earned money to an offer that thinks they can purchase the "sun, moon and stars" at one low price. I have news for you....WRONG! You want my house, you have to pay what is fair in today's market. (A few years ago I probably could have gotten 20k more. The house is currently fairly priced.) And I will not include my new washer, dryer, fridge and pay for your down payment and 10k in closing costs. Seriously!

So 3 failed offers. First one couldn't get the loan, second asked 30k under asking and laughed when we countered and the third one wanted us to give her too much. So we have been back to square one, again, for the past week.

Are we making any progress? Yes! If you say 7 showings in one week progress. Three of those showings were on the same day and on Sunday we had a second showing for someone who came through on Saturday.

Do we have offer number four? Don't know.

Besides that, we have 1 1/2 days to have a decent offer or the builder will be selling "our" house to another couple who wants it. The builder "forgot" to take the house off of the mls. We won't be able to close by the end of October on the new house if we don't have an offer by the end of September. This make me feel lousy!

Wordless Wednesday: Growing up too fast

September 10 2008, 18 month pictures. Livy with her favorite baby doll. Got to love the smile behind the thumb.

Creating good habits

I have felt from the time that Livy was born (or even before that since I was addicted to parenting books years before she was born) that I want my children to have some pretty good habits under their belts. I have always felt that if we "train" our children or give them the knowledge that they need, they will grow to include these things in their daily lives. Sure, right now it is doing these future habits with mom, but I honestly feel that in the future when Livy is older, she will be able to do these things on her own.

I have also learned that if children see mom and dad doing things, they will most likely mimic. This goes for the good and the bad whether it is the kind of language we use, how we eat meals, whether we watch a lot of TV or read books. So if I want Livy to be a good reader, that means that I need to read to her daily and she needs to see me and Eduardo reading. Super easy, we are all book-worms. Or if I want Livy to eat a balanced diet I not only need to feed her healthy foods, but I also have to eat them myself.

So what habits are we working on?

Washing Faces--Since Livy was born (she is now 18 months) I try to wash her face with a damp wash cloth in the morning and at night, all in hopes that this will be a life long habit for her. I have always struggled with this myself and my skin shows it. I don't want this to be a battle with her when she is a teenager.

Brushing teeth at least twice a day--She still likes to bite down on the tooth brush, but it is a start.

Sunscreen--After reading a book that mentions the importance of using sunscreen on our faces daily, we've all heard it before, I want to start this habit with Livy now. I think that if I had been better with sunscreen as a child and teenager, that my skin would be in better condition. I do apply it to Livy whenever we head outside to play, but I think of the many times that I don't when we are running errands or a quick walk to grandma's. Perhaps this should be a part of our morning routine.

Praying before bed--we are a religious family and I want her to make this a part of her daily life. We are working on our evening prayers and hopefully can add on morning prayers as well.

What kinds of habits are you working on together as a family or with your children?

Livy, Sept 10 2008--in her U of U cheerleader outfit

Pictures from Wheeler Farm

Me and Olivia at the Farm. Sept 13 2008

Irritated and every right to be so.

Someday my blog will be more interesting then the happenings of selling my house. I should probably get over it, move on (ha ha) and actually do something more then clean. I did a little more today then the usual. I made homemade Zucchini bread. The aroma has seeped into every pore of my house and it smells delicious.

It has been a hard weekend in the house department. By Friday evening we had received two offers on our house and the bidding war began. I was excited and nervous that in three weeks I would be moving to our new house. I couldn't wait to finally start "living" life again verses pretending to live in my house. (I keep a clean house, but trying to keep a showroom or model home is driving me CrAzY!) I was also dreading having to pack everything but that happens when you sell.

On Saturday we took Eduardo's parents up to house. I think it is great that the builder has given us a key. Can't move in, but we can check out the house whenever we want. We noticed a few major problems (Just remembered that I forgot to call the builder! arg!) like the sprinklers are leaking into the basement. Also, the landscaper must have forgotten to measure correctly because half of my special order sod is missing. He also needs to adjust the sprinklers so they hit everything. Half of the half of my drought tolerant sod is like the desert that surrounds it.

On Monday morning when we should have been finalizing the double offers we find out that one offer has backed out and the other can't get approved for a loan. So we are back to square one and I am irritated with it. I should have known that 1 1/2 weeks on the market, 4 showings and 2 offers later we would still be here. We did have two more showings and hopefully something good comes from that.

Today my thoughts are wondering if and when we will sell, when will I be moving and for which holiday do I get to celebrate there (Halloween, Thanksgiving or Christmas) and if I leave the house every day will it remain spotless?

On a lighter note, the pictures that I promised from the beautiful model house are not going to happen. Eduardo has not found the cord to release the captive photos and says they shall forever remain on his phone. At least until he deletes them.