First Bath Together

In the midst of everything else, David’s been growing up, almost without Mommy and Daddy having a chance to notice! He’ll be six months old tomorrow and he’s started sitting up on his own! (That’s remaining in a seated position, by the way; he’s not getting into a seated position, just yet.)

Thus armed with his latest trick, Mommy and Daddy decided it’s about time we implement a time saver and bathe the babes together. They both loved it so much, laughing and splashing away. It’s so cool that our beautiful little kids are such great little buddies! ☺

(more pics)

Busy Days

Another quick entry here…. Not much to say except that Grandma and Pop came out from New Jersey to tow the U-Haul trailer Daddy was renting, up to the new house. We figured we’d get a whole bunch up there in one or two trips and make next week’s Friday night “moving party” easy. No such luck. The electrical system in Pop’s minivan—the wires that the blinkers on the U-Haul were supposed to hook into—was broken. He’s never even used it, but it’s already broken. Niiiiice.

Anyway, we took the van up to the new house three times and the car twice (following the van, of course). It wasn’t nearly as good as a U-Haul, but at least we got something done. Plus, Grandma and Pop got to spend time with the kids while Mommy and Daddy got some extra time to pack, so it wasn’t a total loss. ☺

We Got It!

Just a quick entry to let everybody know that we got the house! The story is frankly long and protracted—the sellers didn’t want to fix anything—but their Realtor® took care of some stuff and convinced them to give us an extra $1,000 to cover the rest. Bottom line: it’s all good.

Anyway, we move on the 28th, so we’d better get back to packing. (It’s going to be a very long two weeks, but we want to make sure we’re back in Lafayette before Daddy goes to his annual developers’ conference in Florida. Mommy + two little kids + three days with virtually no help = unhappy Mommy.) ;-)

(P.S. The above pic is the kids in the new house; there’s a few more in the Photos section.)

Inspector’s Gadgets

Well, yesterday was the big home inspection. Mommy and Daddy brought the kids up to Lafayette and left them with Mawmaw while they headed over the house to meet Inspector Don. What we weren’t expecting was for the inspection to take four hours! Don is apparently nothing if not thorough, and man, was he thorough! Of course, a few things couldn’t be missed.

First of all, the roof: it’s not even up to code! Apparently the manufacturer’s requirements specify a maximum ⅜″ overlap and the builder had overlapped them by as much as 1½″! There was also a missing shingle and a loose one, so those obviously need to be fixed. The denouement of this issue, however, seems to not be so dire: our Realtor® had a roofer go out to the property yesterday, and the roofer claims that although Don was right about all of the problems, they don’t actually constitute a code violation. Don says that’s fine, that he’s going to confirm who the manufacturer is and what code specifies, and if he’s right, the roofer is then liable for any repairs (since he put the bill of health in writing). We shall see….

Secondly, the air conditioner wasn’t working. I mean, it was blowing like crazy, but it wasn’t actually doing anything to speak of. When we got to the house at 10:30 a.m., it was 80˚F in there; when we left at 2:30 p.m., it was 79˚F. That’s not a good sign. Bottom line: an HVAC specialist went out to the property yesterday and, among other things, changed the filter. Between that and whatever else he did, it was 74˚F by the time he left—a much better result, to say the least.

The third big thing is that the top eighth or so of the garage door is literally bent in half, and the tracks it runs on are likewise bent. On the bright side, the sellers knew about this one, so they’re fixing it.

The list goes on and on—we gave them thirteen “action items” to respond to within 24 hours (not to fix within 24 hours, mind you; to respond to), but the rest are fairly minor. What’s probably going to happen is that they’ll sign a contract to fix x, y, z, etc. within t days and escrow the money to do it, so if they don’t actually get it done, we get the money. The selling Realtor® still thinks we can close on Friday, so we’ll see what happens!

David’s Cereal

Well, it’s official: David has eaten a little bit of solid food! Granted, his oatmeal didn’t go down that well: unaccustomed to such an intrusion into his little system, he gleefully spit out a lot of it. Still, for a first effort, he did a great job!

(more pics)

A Lesson Learned

This rather long entry is copied from Daddy’s personal journal.

First of all, a moment of silence for my beloved grandfather, “Cort” Drake, who passed away twelve years ago today.

Now… you’re probably wondering what the heck I’m doing up at 2:30 in the morning, writing in my journal. Well, my daughter just taught me a very important lesson, and I wanted to record it for always:

A little while ago, Leah woke up and was calling for me, as she generally does when she wakes up: Daaaa-ddy! Daaaa-ddy! Daaaa-ddy! (She’s so freaking cute!) Anyway, I went into her room to find her standing there (as usual). What I usually do, in such a situation, is part the curtains, part the blinds, and show her that it’s dark outside, encouraging her by saying something to the effect of “See? It’s dark outside. Sleepy time.” This time, however, it didn’t work: “Drink,” she told me (although it’s actually just “kə,” but we know what it means. We have started trying to get her to say the full word, though, and she is learning).

Now, everybody knows that when a child wants to stay up a little later, they stereotypically ask for a drink, so I picked her up, kissed her, rocked her a little, and tucked her back into bed. As per usual, I told her, “I love you. Get some sleep. See you in the morning” on my way out, but as I closed the door, she was immediately standing up and crying. It occurred to me that I, myself, had been very thirsty before bed—Mommy, Leah, and I had shared a black cherry shake at Steak ’n’ Shake, the sugar content of which may account for this—but I dismissed the thought, went back into her room, repeated the routine, and all seemed well. Still, I couldn’t shake the thought that maybe, just maybe, Leah really was just thirsty, just as I had been before downing a couple of glasses of water, right before bed. I went downstairs, washed a sippy cup, filled it about halfway with fresh water, and brought it back up with me, placing it on the ledge for easy access. After a quick trip to the bathroom, I was about to get back into bed when I heard her crying again.

Now, at this point, I had set myself up for what I obviously needed to do. I picked up the sippy, opened her door, and walked around to the side of her crib. I handed her the drink, which she immediately grabbed and started sucking it down. I leaned over, both forearms on the side of the crib, and apologized to her: “I’m so sorry, Sweetie. I’m sorry I didn’t bring you a drink, the first time.”

The look on her face was not to be forgotten. It’s amazing to see a look of shocked comprehension and compassion on the face of a 19-month-old, but that’s exactly what it was. It’s not like I’ve never apologized to Leah before—I do, whenever the situation warrants—but this time, there was an understanding in her eyes that I’ve never seen before. She lowered her sippy, walked across the crib to where I was leaning, and planted a kiss right on my lips. With the pure innocence only a little child can muster, my daughter had immediately and completely forgiven me.

So wherein lies the lesson? Well, we hear the words of Christ many, many times: “[Y]e must … become as a little child, or ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God” (3 Nephi 11:38). While most people have at least a logical understanding of what that means, it takes on a new intensity of understanding when you see a little child, in all her innocence, express pure love and forgiveness toward an errant, imperfect parent. My sweet, little Leah is growing up, and she’s teaching me, every step of the way.

Room to Move

Okay, never mind the weeds in the front yard; that happens when a home’s been empty for a couple of months. What you’re seeing here is one of the first shots of our new home in Lafayette! To be frank, we were actually planning on getting a different house—a new build, one block over from this one. However, Heavenly Father has different plans for us, and even though we’d already put down our earnest money and signed a contract to hold that one, He made Himself very clear that this—a two-year-old, nearly identical floor plan that’s missing a few of the nicer upgrades but has extra storage, a fifth bedroom, and a $20,000 lower price tag(!)—is definitely the one we should buy. Our offer has been accepted, we expect to close in the next couple of weeks, and we plan to make the big move back to Lafayette, on July 28th.

(more pics)