12 Stone

On my way to church!

So yesterday we had our first visit to a local church here in Lawrenceville. I had done some research and had a feeling this is one we would like. It's called 12 Stone, click here to check it out. It's contemporary, which is what we really like. Our churches in both Austin and New Jersey were very similar. A young crowd, LOTS of children, casual environment, accepting, and best of all...you can get your free coffee right there before you walk in and it's only 10 minutes from our house.

The children's area is precious. Full of life, color, the kids love it, as did Bo. While we were waiting for the children's area to open he was running up trying to "talk" to the other kids, one little girl in particular, he's such a flirt! He did great when we left him.

The service was great. Great praise and worship band and we both really liked the pastor. He's young, has teenage sons and delivers the message where you can actually understand what he's talking about!! We'll definitely be going back. The only thing we would change is instead of attending the 11:00am service we'll probably shoot for the 9:00am. By the time we got out Bo was so hungry and tired, but other than that we really enjoyed it.

Hilton Head '09

Last week we had our annual Hilton Head trip with some of our dear friends. We had so much fun! We had a house right on the beach in Sea Pines Resort . I wasn't exactly sure how Bo would do on the beach...I knew he loved sand and water so I had a good idea he'd be just fine. I was right, he LOVED it!!! A lot of kids his age either hate the sand or are scared of the water...not mine! As soon as you put him down he would dart right for the ocean.

We had 9 adults and 6 children, with the oldest being 5! Needless to say it was one very loud house and complete chaos the entire time, but we loved every minute of it. Bo had so much fun with all of the other kids, he wanted so badly to be a "big kid", I guess that'll come next year. Our house was right on the beach with a pool, the set up was wonderful you could walk right out the back door and have everything you needed. While we were there we also visited Lawton Stables inside of Sea Pines where the kids can ride ponies and see farm animals. Another first for Bo was a bike ride, he had a great time and actually fell asleep on the way back to the house. We had a wonderful time and hated to come home, especially since right now "home" means coming back to a ton of unpacked boxes.

I had to laugh on the way home...two year ago we headed home with a plus sign on a stick and we were completely dazed and confused about the fact we had just found out we had a little one on the way. This year...we headed home in a minivan that we rented because our cars can't carry near what is required for a week at the beach with a toddler, and listening to Elmo playing in the back seat! Oh how times have changed!

Finally...we're in a house!

Well we are officially in our new home. Our things were delivered Friday and we have been busy bees ever since! Moving has to be one of the hardest, most stressful things...moving with a toddler...an entirely different story! Luckily for us, Jarrod's parents came into town for a few days and were able to help with Bo some during the day while I unpacked. Jarrod has been busy getting furniture put together, child proofing the house (that's another post...who knew trying to child proof stairs would be so hard, these gates are impossible), plus trying to get out of town for work. I hope to get some pictures up soon. We are so excited about our new house and can't wait to get settled. Unfortunately Jarrod had to leave this afternoon and will be gone all week for work, then we leave Saturday for a week in Hilton Head! Maybe we'll have things ready in a month or so!

15 months

So as we are closely approaching 16 months in a few weeks I realized I didn't post anything about Bo at 15 months!

The biggest thing I have to report is the fact I get to hear "ma ma" MANY times a day!! I absolutely LOVE it! Of course daddy feels differently. It's funny to watch Jarrod say "say da da" and Bo answers with "ma ma".

You can definitely tell that he is "getting it" so to speak. I can say "bring that to mommy" or "let's get in your chair" for dinner and he comes running over. He's absolutely obsessed with opening and closing doors and cabinets he could do it for hours.

He's still a great eater, although I'm still having a hard time with veggies. However, I think he makes up for it with fruit. He LOVES fruit, any and all kinds, could eat it all day long.

He's growing big and tall and he's also getting some of mommy's curls in the back! I think he got the fine hair from dad, but the curls from mom so he has interesting hair dos at times. The funniest is when he's hot from playing outside and he gets tight little ringlets on the back of his head!!

He loves to mock us. For instance if we are with other adults having a conversation and everyone starts laughing he mocks us with a fake laugh as if he knows exactly what we are talking about, it's adorable. He also has picked up on us "fussing" at the dog. If we get on to Maddie, he is quickly running behind us waving his arm and doing what we call his "caveman" talk.

The last thing would be we have completely hit the "mommy phase"!!! He wants to know where I am at all times. We were in MS a few weeks ago and he absolutely loves and adores my parents, but this time when I would leave even the room he was quickly running after me and sometimes there would be tears. He's even doing this with Jarrod too. He still loves to give hugs and kisses. He's become much more affectionate. He used to be too busy to snuggle, but now a lot of times he'll come curl up in my lap and watch Elmo. He'll even snuggle in the "big bed" with mommy before naps or bedtime. He's growing into such a wonderful, sweet, loving little boy!

Good things come to those who wait...

So I only have a minute to write a quick update because Jarrod has to work, but I know there are some readers out there who want to know what's going on! Bo and I spent last week in MS with "Pop & Bebe". After everything surrounding the house hunt, the disappointing appraisal, having to start looking again, and still being stuck in this tiny apartment I HAD to get away!

While I was gone we put an offer on another home that Jarrod and I had found. It was a great home, but I didn't care too much for the neighborhood. It wasn't near as pretty or have the great amenities that the first neighborhood did. When the home owner was stubborn and let us walk away I knew it wasn't meant to be. I continued to have a strong feeling about the first house, it just felt like "our home". After reviewing the first appraisal report we knew it was not accurate, it didn't even have the square footage correct, left out a bathroom, etc... so we were able to get another appraisal done by someone local who knew the area. Next thing I know Jarrod calls with the news that it appraised much higher than the first one and we were going to go back and make another offer to the home owner. Sure enough...everything came together and we will get the keys to the house this week! We are so, so excited. It just goes to show if you have a gut feeling go with it...I always do and things always seem to work out. It has been a long, stressful, emotional, exhausting journey, but good things truly do come to those who wait!

We'll be busy this week, but I'll post as soon as I have some updates or pictures!

Around this town

The past month I haven't been able to post as often as I would like. I've also had problems posting and moving pictures around on my blog post. I think this has to do with using Jarrod's laptop. I have so many cute pictures so I decided to make a slide show so you could see them all.

Since we have spent the past month in a small apartment we try to find every reason to get out. Bo and I have done a lot of exploring! We spend a lot of time at the park. Bo absolutely loves to play outside. We usually go to the park in the mornings and walk the 3 mile path around the perimeter of Chastain Park, which is a beautiful park in Buckhead. We also usually go back after Bo's nap for him to play on the playground! A few weeks ago we also visited the Atlanta's Children's Museum, which is absolutely fabulous. Bo had a blast and cried when we had to leave.

Last weekend Jarrod and I took Bo to Stone Mountain. It brought back a lot of childhood memories for me. Growing up our summer vacation was always to Atlanta to visit family and every summer we always visited Stone Mountain. Althought it's changed so much over the past 20 years and unfortunately become very commercialized, it was still fun to take my own child!

Unfortunately it looks like we are still going to be in the apartment for a little while longer while we continue looking for another house. I'm sure we'll make the best of it and be exploring much more of the city! Enjoy the pictures!

Bad News...

Well we were 6 days away from moving into our home here in Atlanta when we received some bad news this afternoon. The appraisal came back $15K less than our contracted price. We were all...Jarrod, myself, our agent, the homeowner, the homeowner's agent...shocked!!! The problem is that the lender took their time getting the appraisal done. They've have weeks to do this and they waited until today! Midnight tonight was our cutoff to get our earnest money back. Unfortunately we didn't get the call until 5pm this afternoon so anyone we needed to contact to discuss the report had already left the office. We've had a few "issues" with the homeowner in regards to getting paperwork signed and back to us in a timely manner, closing date, etc... so we decided the best thing to do at this point is to terminate the contract. We hope to get a copy of the report in the next few days and see what exactly this person was looking at and comparing to, however we feel like this is a sign. I am so upset, but I'm trying to remember that EVERYTHING happens for a reason and that God's plan and timing are always right! I know that we will find our home, it's just frustrating considering this means more time in this tiny apartment, we have new furniture that was scheduled to be delivered next Wednesday and the movers were coming with our things on Friday. Again, that's a small inconvience if it means not making a huge mistake. I'll be sure to keep everyone posted as we move forward.