We've Got the Itch!

...To have another baby? Well, yes ...we have that itch too...but I meant we have the itch to move! Will and I have been talking over the past couple weeks that we saw our family moving out of this house in the next year or so. Since we want to build, we decided that it would be a good idea to start researching builders and seeing different neighborhoods to get an idea of where we wanted to move. We thought we would ideally want to move after Christmas next year (or Will did anyway, I wanted to move this spring all along!) We agreed that if the right house at the right price came along, we would consider moving earlier. We have been looking all over the metroplex. Allen...McKinney...Lantana...Frisco...Well, after about only 2 weeks of looking, we think we are pretty close to already building a house! We found a couple floor plans we like in a neighborhood that we really like :) We have some upgrades to negotiate and a couple structural changes we want made, but we almost have them to a price we can live with! Very exciting, but very time consuming as well!

Here is a sketch of our possible new home...

15 Months

Drew will be 15 months old on Saturday but had his 15 month appt yesterday. He is now 31 1/2 in. tall, which is the 50th percentile, and he weighs 23 lbs, which is the 30th percentile. I thought he was going to weigh more, but his doctor said everything looks good and that he wouldn't expect him to weigh more than about 25 lbs. at 2 years old, I guess their growth starts to really slow after the first year. Drew is so much fun lately! Even with the mess we have going on downstairs, he has been so easy during the day. I leave the gate open to his playroom and he goes in and out of there getting toys and coming back out to the living room. When Steve and Rachael came over to watch the Patriots game on Sunday, Drew just played the whole time and we were actually able to enjoy the game (read: win)!! He is still sleeping 12 hours at night and still takes 2 naps. He goes to bed by 7pm and wakes about 7:15am each day. He still naps at 9am and 1pm. I think he will go to only 1 nap soon and that will make getting out for the day a little easier, although I will miss the 2 breaks during the day. Drew plays with Guinness all day long, she is such a good dog with him. I think they are going to be best buds!

Happy Birthday Hubby!

January 13th, Will turns another year older! I met Will before he turned 18, we had a big ole' bash at my parents house for his 18th...yes, they were out of town!! I just, in the last couple years, spilled the whole can of worms to my mom about all the details of that out of control night!
I let him sleep in this morning, but he got up at 0830 on his own! I guess that is sleeping in to us these days. We went out to lunch at Prince Bistro, a new place down the road. Drew did really well eating at lunch and it was good to get out of the house. We came home and Will opened his presents before Drew needed to nap. A new North Face backpack for the gym to work out with, a picture of Drew and him framed for his office, and a new leather valet for the dresser for his rings, watch, etc.
After we fed Drew dinner, we sang "Happy Birthday" and had some cake. I am the worst cake decorator and froster...but it did taste really good!
We were so stuffed from lunch that we heated up left overs and didn't even cook the steaks or have the wine we bought!
Happy Birthday Will, I love you!

Holy SH**

Today started off ok. Drew and I went to a friend's house so we could work out and each take turns watching the boys. Drew napped like a CHAMP in Austin's crib, he really IS such a good baby.
We got home, he napped, I had lunch and tried to do more of my Christmas scrapping (Christmas 2006 that is.) He woke from his nap, we came downstairs for a snack, cookies and milk (Tom Thumb organic mini chocolate chip cookies...SO good I ate the rest of the bag and had to go buy Drew more tonight...when I was making a beer/pizza run...NO, I was not cooking after what I am about to tell you...) I go upstairs to shower....that was the last good moment of the day...

I look over the banister for what ever reason...and I notice that there is water ALL over the carpet outside our downstairs bathroom. I grab Drew, who is only in a diaper and t-shirt, run downstairs to see the toilet overflowing, the bathroom floor filled with water and waste and the carpets soaked! For those of you who remember, this happened to us in December 2005 right before Will's 30th birthday party to be held at our house. Normally I would go into freak mode, but I bought some black plastic, and decorated our non-carpeted, concrete floor with glittery 30's and made the best of it. I just CAN NOT believe this has happened to us again.

Luckily Will was just about home from work, so I got to have him do all the clean up. hee hee.

So we called the insurance company ( we love you USAA, please don't drop us!). The crew cut up half the carpet in the living room, hallway, closet and Drew's playroom (same rooms that were damaged last round) While they were here, I did dishes and it backed up in the bathroom all over again, ugh! The plumber is here now, and said that it is tree roots that are growing into our pipes outside and causing the back up.

So, now we get to deal with the 4 commercial size fans and 2 dehumidifiers that are downstairs for the next few days while our walls dry out. I don't even know how Drew has SLEPT through this entire ordeal and the fans that are practically blowing the walls down directly below his bedroom! Then we get to shop for carpet AGAIN! Have the baseboards and door trim painted that are now peeling and try to keep Drew upstairs until this is all taken care of. what friggin fun! This time we will NOT be spending more of our own money to upgrade carpets, I want to put in some cheap shit and move!

Silver Linings=

Thank you lord that this didn't happen before Drew's 1st birthday party.

Thank you lord that we got through the holidays this time before this happened.

and to think that I keep saying that in the next house I want lots of TREES in the backyard...hmmm, do I really?

wet carpet outside bathroom

loud, loud fans!

clogged pipe outside

roots that were in the pipes.

Happy New Year!

Happy 2008! I am happy to ring in a new year and look forward to all the great possibilities that this year will bring. Although 2007 was one of the best years of my life. My first child was born in October 2006, which means 2007 was the first full year that I had him in my life. I have a healthy, happy boy and I could not be happier. Will and I rang in the New Year in quiet style this year. Our days of partying with friends, drinking too much and not feeling good the next day are just over for us. We put Drew to bed at 7 and then ordered some chinese for take out. We wanted Pei Wei but thought we would try Empress of China (used to be our favorite). Dinner was good, but next time...Pei Wei for sure! We rented a movie, had a couple beers, watched the DVD slideshow of Drew's first year that I made for his 1st birthday party in October and then watched the ball drop with Dick Clark (please ABC, replace him next year!) We spent all of New Year's Day over Steve & Rachael's house. We had fun just hanging out all day watching football, chatting & staying for dinner. Will and I had fun discussing what we thought future New Year's Eves would be like when our kid(s) got older. We want to make it a fun family night. We think we will stick with chinese take out. We can't stand to have to cook and clean up one.more.time after the holidays! (how did the chinese food on New Year's tradition start anyway? was it because everything else used to be closed? anyway, I digress.) When we were at the grocery store picking up ice cream and snack food, I saw people getting fun New Year's balloons, champagne, etc. I just think it will be fun to start New Year's traditions with our kids too. Maybe making s'mores too. (maybe we will have a real fire place or at least a fire pit by then!).
Life is good...and it just keeps getting better.

2007: Our Favorite Memories:

Rachael: Drew's first birthday. Hearing Drew say "mama"

Will: Getting 1st hug from Drew.


2008: Hopes for this year & Resolutions

Rachael: Hopes for 2008: to get pregnant with our 2nd child. Resolution: to work on my sailor trash mouth.

Will: Hopes for 2008: to add to our family. Resolution: to be a better husband and father (always room for improvement he says)

14 Months & Counting

The days are sometimes long, but WOW these months fly by... Drew was 14 months on the 26th and he is growing up SO much this month! He is officially off formula...for GOOD! We took him off just after his 1st birthday but then the milk allergy/reflux issue came back and he went back on it instead of whole milk. He is now off formula and doing great with soy milk. He drinks it out of his straw sippy cup during the day and a couple nights ago it was his first night bottle with all milk. The night time bottle is the only one he is getting now and that will most likely continue for another month or so. He is doing a great job walking, he walks/runs faster than we do! He is not crawling at all anymore. He is getting 3 molars right now. We noticed 1 bottom one a couple weeks ago and when tickling him last week, we noticed 2 more on the top! We think he says about 8 words now. They are not perfectly pronounced but he makes the same sound for them and we can understand what he needs/wants. He says dog, duck, mama, dada, juice, shoe, ball & brush (for toothbrush). He also makes the "ruff, ruff" sound for dog, the "quack, quack" sound for duck and the "vroom, vroom" sound when a truck is driving by us on the road. It is amazing watching him grow and learn!

A Magical Christmas!

It truly was a magical Christmas for us this year. Drew has just been so much fun! He is really enjoying some of the toys Santa brought, mostly the learning house and his new cell phone. Go figure, the $10 stocking stuffer would be one of his favorites! We started some of our own family traditions this year and have had some great quality time together this past week. Christmas Eve, we went to church and then came home to give Drew his late nap. We had a prime rib dinner and then each opened a present. I picked a pair of Skechers for Will to open, he chose a Harry Connick Jr. Christmas CD for me to open and we let Drew open the learning house from Grandma & Grandpa and then we put it together so he could have it to play with on Christmas morning. We read "T'was the Night Before Christmas" in our Christmas PJ's before Drew went to bed. It was a wonderful night.

Christmas morning we woke up to come down to the learning house, his rocking horse and his new red anywhere chair. He immediately started playing with the house. We all had breakfast and then continued to open our presents. It took us a long time to get through them all! We had Will's Italian family's traditional Christmas meal consisting of ravioli's, wedding soup and rice balls. We just relaxed at home today and had so much fun watching Drew play with all his new toys! We had an amazing holiday together.