A Bad Idea

Since I’m at home with Collin everyday, Devin suggested that we go with him to Orlando this week while he teaches a class. Why not? I can feed Collin, watch TLC and HGTV and be on the internet the same as I can at home, just with a different view. So, that’s what we did. Devin and I packed up a plethora of stuff (taking a baby on a road trip required a lot of stuff!) and came to Orlando.

I actually do more than surf the internet and watch TV when I’m at home, but here in the Orlando hotel room (which is really nice, we have a full kitchen, two rooms, two bathrooms, and a living room with a rollout couch) there isn’t much more to do when Collin is sleeping.

So I got tired of watching TLC (I can only watch so many wedding dresses 4 years after my wedding, and I’ve never been one for the baby shows) and switched to HGTV. I can watch decorating shows all day long! Unfortunately for me, the decorating shows weren’t on, it was the house hunting and house selling shows. This is where the bad idea happened. This week as I’m sitting with the TV and computer on, I have been visiting web sites that aren’t normally on my list of sites I go to. (Meaning, more than Facebook and Woot). Since the computer was on and these house selling shows were on I though, “hmm, I wonder what our house is worth.” Considering we bought our house at the worst possible time right before the housing market crashed, we paid top dollar for our little house, and needless to say with the market as crappy as it is right now, it’s not worth near what we paid for it. 

That’s not the end of the bad idea. So not only did I depress myself with what our house is not worth, I decided since I was already on Zillow.com that I would look for houses that we would want to buy. Devin and I knew when we bought our house that it wasn’t going to be permanent and that within five or six years we would want to move. Preferably before our kids we didn’t have yet started school because I wanted to be in Clay County by that time. We also knew that we liked the area we are in, and if we cross Argyle Forest, we are in Clay County. So like a dummy I started looking for bigger houses in Oakleaf.

It really stinks that we could get a 4 bedroom 2 bathroom house that’s 500-600 square feet bigger than our 1,180 for the same price, or less in some cases, that what we paid for ours.

Here are three that I found:

	3570 Waterford Oaks Drive, Orange Park Price: $137,750 Bed/Bath: 4/2 Sq Ft: 1,768
	3412 Crane Hill Ct, Orange Park Price: $140,000 Bed/Bath: 4/2 Sq Ft: 1,768
	760 Bellshire Dr, Orange Park Price: $133,000 Bed/Bath: 4/2 Sq Ft: 1,762

Remember what our house looked like when we bought it and what it looks like now?

Then: $139,000 and now $124,000

It just makes me sad :(

Conversation Evolution

Angela sent me a text message this morning, and it got me thinking about how our conversations have changed over the last five years.  Lets take a look, shall we?

2005- Devin and I got married in July and started hanging out with Dustin and Angela a lot. Since they got married in December, our conversations consisted of wedding dresses, rehearsal dinners, decorations, bridal showers, and the wedding night.

After we got married conversations went from weddings to, well, wedding night activities. Then Angela started working at my rival bank so we had a plethora of stupid customer stories to share all-the-time. (Both of our husbands were glad when she started working for the city and we didn’t talk bank anymore) We also bought our houses this year so we did a lot of discussing different aspects of the home buying process. Every month we would talk about who would be hosting “The last Saturday of the moth Game Night.” The New Year’s Eve tradition also started this year.

When Angela started working for the city it seemed she became obsessed with People.com, and my work would have on HLN which would have celebrity gossip. Since I would only catch bits and pieces of what was being said, I would have to text Angela to find out what was really going on. New Year’s Eve tradition take 2. (Chris and Ashley were unable to attend because Anekah was just a month old, foreshadowing of things to come maybe?) 

The baby talk begins. We both knew we wanted to have kids and we had been married for several years (which is something we still couldn’t believe) and our friends were having babies. Since we knew our turns were going to be coming soon, we did some traveling. For a while it seemed like I only talked to Angela because her and Dustin were gone most weekends doing something and visiting someone out of town, and Devin and I took our last cruise. Little did we know that our last Hoo-Rahs would be the trip we took to Sea World and of course New Year’s Eve!

2009- I’m pretty sure that we didn’t talk about anything but preparing for babies this year. Since we were both pregnant it was a lot of “I pee all the time!” and “my clothes don’t fit” and “I have a doctors appointment today.” We talked about what to register for and how much stuff a baby needs. We had to find furniture, enter Angela’s obsession with Craig’s List, which Angela found for both of us :) Then Dallas and Collin came and conversations shifted to labor and delivery and lack of sleep. Which leads me to the text that started this whole epiphany. Without being too descriptive, we are both breastfeeding and essentially feel like cows. At which point I said to Angela, “Wow…Our conversations have gone from crappy work stories and People magazine, to milk and breast pumps… Does this mean we are old?”

 

Our Wedding

Dustin and Angela’s Wedding

Working on Our House

Working on Dustin and Angela’s House

Game Nights

New Year’s Eve ‘06, ‘07, and ‘08

Pregnancies

and finally… Dallas and Collin

 

A Family Photo Shoot

Yesterday our little family had our first official family pictures done. We went to Portrait Innovations at the Town Center. Collin did so good, I was so proud of him! He didn’t fuss or cry at all. We spent more than we originally intended (of course) but I’m SO HAPPY  with what we got, that I almost don’t even care.

Collin with his Daddy

Collin with his Mommy

     

Collin bein’ Cute Little Collin

 

One Whole Month

I can’t believe that Halloween and Thanksgiving have come and gone and Collin was here for both of them, and he’s a month old already! I’ve posted just about ever picture we’ve taken to my Facebook account but what good is a blog about my little boy’s one month birthday without pictures? I’m going to make that one easy for you, the answer is none. :)

I’m curious, I’m the one that is up, what seems like, all night long, with him, so why does he look happier when Daddy is holding him? I don’t really care, I love both of these guys more than anyone could ever know.

So, what has happened this past month? Well, we’ve been to the doctor four times. One for his first check-up, the day after we brought him home. One to have him circumcised (that was a ROUGH day, thank goodness my mommy loves me and went with me!), and one for his two week check-up. Yes, I am well aware that this is only three trips to the doctor. The forth was just four days after his two week check-up, because we were all in a car accident. The first day we took him out (to a early lunch on Sunday to Moe’s) we were heading to Lake Asbury. Collin and I were going to hang out with my mom while Devin watched the football game with his brother. However, as we are sitting at the stoplight on Argyle Forest at Rampart (yes, the intersection where we live) some moron in a ginormous Avalanche decided he just wasn’t going to pay attention and slammed into the back of us. Under normal car accident circumstances I probably wouldn’t have been too hysterical, but he screwed with a really emotional woman and her two week old! (Devin is currently without the Civic and driving a rental until  at least December 10th.)   In addition to car accidents and doctors appointments, Collin made it though his first Thanksgiving, twice. Once with Devin’s family and once with mine. This in itself is a big deal. Especially if you know our families. Unfortunately, I’m an idiot and left the camera in the car the entire day, so I have to rely on other people to get me pictures of Collin’s first Thanksgiving. He’s been to church, well, Sunday school too. It’s going to be a few more weeks, most likely until after the new year when we make it back. I’m that paranoid first time mom that is afraid to take him around a lot of people in close quarters  before he gets his shots on the 29th. Maybe if it were the summer I wouldn’t be as bad, but seriously I don’t want my baby around a bunch of snot-nosed people who won’t stay home when they are sick. It’s flu season and all the hype about the swine flu, excuse me, H1N1, has freaked me out a little.

   

So what have I learned this last month?

I will never sleep through the night again.

No matter how much little sleep I get, I can look at Collin and smile, even if I am crying because I’m so tired.

I will get peed on frequently, and I will use my hand, without hesitation, to block it.

I will struggle to get anywhere on time (this is REALLY rough for me!).

Just because Collin was awake for three hours in the evening after Devin got home from work, does NOT mean that he will sleep for more than two hours. Two hours is the max. Always.

NB, 0-3, 3-6. All mean CRAP.

I have to eat more to lose weight. (A paradox!)

I used to layer my clothes and wear form fitting things. I now look at an article of clothing and think, “how easy will it be for me to feed Collin in this?”

I no longer have control. Collin does. For now.

 

I LOVE this Chunky Monkey!!!! He’s ALL MINE!!! (and Devin’s) :)