First Snow

They "threatened" snow and snow it did. I don't know why they say "we'll be lucky" if the storm passes us. I say, we're lucky we got all this white stuff! I mean really, who doesn't like snow?! Who doesn't want an excuse to stay inside in their PJ's all day?! Who?! We got around 4" or 5" and it's beautiful.

We had a great time in the snow too. We, meaning Mommy & Daddy. Nathan wasn't so thrilled with keeping his mittens and hat on. Those little hands hitting the fresh cold snow was so cute but so not fun for Nathan. I told him so - but he didn't listen. Needless to say, our first trip outside lasted about a quarter of the time it took us to get outside to begin with. But our second visit outside went much better. We happen to live on a very busy street - when it snows. We have a great hill and lots of fun people who come out to enjoy it. The kids are back out there right now playing on the new coat that came last night. It's a great street we hope we won't be living too far from.

As for news with the house, there isn't much to tell. Ours is completely staged and ready for viewing (except this weekend since Raleigh shuts down with weather of course) and we have put an offer in on the potential new one. And now we wait. We wait for phone calls to kick us out of ours when people want to come see it. And we wait for news from our Realtor on the other one. More to come when things start happening.

In Nathan News, I did not forget to take his 10 month picture, I just haven't had a lot of time to post. He is sporting his crazy hair as usual. Yesterday we spent time with him on his feet. You stand him up and let go and he can pretty much stand on his own for a while. It's adorable. He's been starting to take steps and we agreed that yesterday will officially count for his first day of stepping on his own. He uses his push toy that he got from Nonni to stand/ hang on to and walk! We have it on video and will share soon. It's so cool to see him so mobile on his own. He continues to babble and point and play hide and seek. He's so much fun to be around. This weekend has been a pleasure to be house-bound to enjoy it all without interruption.

This coming week will be busy once again. Between work, keeping things clean and a little trip to NY, I will be busy. Yes, Nathan and I are taking a long weekend trip to NY. Hopefully he will do as well on the plane this time as he did when he was 11 weeks old. He does get restless at times but usually he likes to take it all in and observe. He went to church with Gigi and Grandpa Ed last weekend and didn't make a peep, so we'll see how he does on a plane. Since he likes to look at new faces, hopefully the faces around us won't mind being stared at for an hour.

One more thing, congrats to Geraldine & Kieran and the birth of their son Liam! (Irish - can you tell?) I can't wait to meet the new little one - this trip to NY truly came at the perfect time!

It's Official . . .

. . . we're on the market. Our Realtor came today and put a sign in our yard and flyers in a plastic stand so people can come by and take a peak at what we're offering. Scary. Exciting. That's all I can say. Those two emotions stand out right now. We had our kitchen, bathroom and hallway painted, we hauled extra stuff and many, many boxes into the garage. Our windows are clean. Our mirrors. Everything! And now we have to find a balance between living in it and not making a mess. Well, in case you didn't know - life is messy! So it will be an interesting couple of weeks/ months (?!) where we learn to keep the place pristine and what to do with our time when we have to leave for showings. Oh boy. We are officially available to be shown starting tomorrrow. Wish us luck!

Some Place New

A little over a week ago I was casually looking on-line at houses. I found a site that has a good search feature and, hey, we all know we are growing out of these walls already. When I looked that particular day I found something that made me stop in my tracks and run to Leo to show him. The price was good. Really good. Especially for the size. And that location, location, location couldn't be better. I said to Leo, "I want to see it." Leo said "I want to buy it." I called the realtor to see if we could walk through it. Sunday we walked down the road (yes, down the road) and walked into our next home.

There are many details to share about the home and the whole situation, but the short story is that in order to put an offer on the house we need to put ours on the market. And so today we had a stager come in and tell us what we ned to do to make it show-able (pretty much pack the house and make it devoid of details and personality), we have a painter coming this weekend and I'm scouting the area for boxes. Woah. We have much to do. But if all works out we will be making a great move - and so close by!

I won't tell you too much now - I have things to do people! When more happens on our end we will keep you posted. And when we can, we'll post pictures as well. Wish us luck as we venture into something, and some place, new as a family.

Perfect Day

Today was a perfect day. After the busy week of holiday excitement, visitors, parties, food and STUFF, today was a day of calm. Nathan joined us for some mid-morning napping, we had a nice breakfast together and then went to explore a new activity. Friends had been telling me about the Life and Science Museum in Durham so we decided to go and explore. It was so much fun. Nathan of course can't do too much to participate but I think he still had fun observing his new surroundings. I like to watch him look around. He actually likes to watch people more than anything - even if there is movement and lights. He's always got his eye on people. And he is always moving to the music as well. He's my tiny dancer.

The museum will be so much fun to return to when Nathan is bigger. So many things to learn and play with! Even the outside has a great park, a section of animals, a train, and a butterfly house among other things. The weather was cold today and will be for the next week or so but it was nice and clear. And in the sun it didn't seem too bad. Next time we will get to enjoy the outdoor part a bit more I hope.

Tomorrow is Sunday. Aahhhhhh . . . I'm so glad to have another day of just us. Days like today are what I have always wanted. How lucky am I to not only have what I want, but want what I have!

Something New

Whenever I find something new I like to share it and this new discovery is definitely worth sharing . . .

If you know me at all you know I am very organized. I like things neat and clean and I like my stuff accessible. And I hate having junk around that I don't need. This has become more of a thing for me lately since we have had to make room for Nathan's stuff. And so I have been on a mission to get rid of it and make room for toys and just space in general. Last year or so I found Paperbackswap.com. You post books you want to get rid of and when someone else wants it you send it along. You pay media mail postage for it and get a credit for each book. When you have credits in your "account" you can then request what you want from other members and you get it free! This is awesome for me as I love to read and pass along books to others. They have one for DVD's too and you can do this with audio books.

The thing I found most recently is freecycle.org. I knew about it but never looked into until I got into this new kick of cleaning out the junk. This is way cool. You post stuff you don't want but someone else can use. Like my old vacuum. I got a new one for Christmas (thanks Truck!) and the old one works but is not needed. I probably couldn't sell it so I offered it on the Wake Freecycle boards. Not a day later and it will be taken this afternoon. I think I got around 5-7 messages from people that wanted it! I put all my CD's in a carrying case and wanted to get rid of the jewel cases. Instead of tossing them in the trash I posted them and - viola! - these too will be taken by someone this afternoon. I have more space and I feel good about recycling stuff! You can also go on there and see what is up for grabs. You can request stuff too. How cool is the internet?!

And so the mission to reduce, reuse, recycle continues. I wouldn't consider myself "green" or anything, but the more I think about how much junk we put into the world the more I want to make less of it. Especially if I can make more closet space for myself. Next stop . . . the kitchen drawers and the hall closet. Blankets anyone?!

PS - If you were hungry for Nathan stuff, here is a pic for you to enjoy.

Christmas

We're having a great Christmas. See the Picasa Album for more pics! Here's the 9 Month pic . . .

Mid-December Relaxing

It is finally mid-December. A time when the house is decorated, presents are bought /wrapped/ shipped/ tucked under the appropriate trees, cookies are made. . . much has been accomplished and now we can relax a bit. I was hoping we could do so with snow on the ground. The storm hit us just a little bit Friday night. We had snow on and off and we got a nice covering even. But we went out that night for a holiday party and returned to mostly rain. By morning the white stuff was wet stuff. Boo . . . Hopefully we'll get another chance at it this winter.

Our holiday party was fun. We get together with the same group of people and bring food and silly gifts to exchange. The food was amazing and plentiful. For me anyway. Leo has waffles. No really. There wasn't anything he was interested in so our host offered waffles. What good friends we have. We also seem to have been talked into having a New Years party. Leo is happy about this since he seemed a little disappointed we hadn't made plans yet. But we will probably have a small gathering and have a low key celebration. I guess Nathan had better get used to the noise of our parties!

Speaking of the little boy - have you gotten our holiday postcard yet? He was too cute looking out that window, I had to share it with everyone. I had been searching for a smile to capture - but what came out was even better I think.

I hope you also saw the video of Nathan dancing. He's the cutest thing shakin' his bon-bon to Cypress Hill. I watch it often to get a giggle. I hope you have too. If not, you can see it here. The kid is adorable. He dances all the time, everywhere. I hope he continues to have a free spirit and dance as he gets older. I love it!

What else . . . we (as in me of course) have been building a fort in the dining room. With large boxes that have been collecting in the garage I rigged up a nice little place for us to play. It has windows and doors and the start of a nice interior as well. Daddy drew him an entertainment system and I plan to add some furniture. Hey, I have to entertain myself somehow. A nine-month old can't exactly interact a whole lot right now.

Oh yes, we also had a surprise this week. I was on my way out to the store when there was a knock at the door. I opened it to find myself speechless. A friend of mine who has moved to WA from Raleigh was standing there with her husband. She was here for a short visit and on her way to the airport back to WA. It was so unexpected and awesome. Thanks Meredith - it was so good to see you!

And now it's close to bath time. Nathan was sick last week and he still has some left over runny nose stuff going on. Poor thing has boogers crusting up all over the place (and so do I!). GROSS! Hopefully I'll have time to update everyone on the celebrations here but if not - have a Happy & Merry everyone!