HOME

The long weekend is winding down, my newly THREE year old (as of today!) is sound asleep by 6:30, bless his heart and the house is very very quiet. In this room, its just me and SuperGirl (that's the baby girl swimming around in my tummy) wondering at the the peace that can be found in the white noise of the blowing heater and whirring computer. I'm exhausted, but for all good reasons.

We signed papers on the house today. It is big and lovely and open and airy... all the things a new house ought to be (in California anyway). I couldn't be happier, and yet for reasons I can attribute only to emotional overload and pregnancy hormones, I'm a bit of a teary wreck today.

Nevertheless -- it is our home. I can feel it. The bedrooms are cozy (read: small) but there are four of them, and the downstairs living area is decidedly not small, which is really where we'll spend the most of our time anyway. My especially favorite part is the kitchen and its bay windows, island, and openness, and the back yard, while small, is overflowing with potential in my imagination. The back yard is facing North, so it will be nice and shady when its hot outside. Halfway up the staircase it turns and there is a landing that has two sides facing out bordered with railing that Little Boy Blue has already stood upon and christened "The Tower" and so the tower it shall be.

So now the business of escrow and appraisals and inspections and papers, papers, papers to sign. But on Valentine's day, we'll have our new home. What could be more romantic?

A Long-Delayed Update...

Long time no see...

I was flipping through my mom's lovely blog this morning and suddenly realized I haven't posted since November. The truth is, my head is so full of baby and house hunting and birthday parties and nesting that it's rarely even occurred to me to put virtual pen to paper. For the loyal few that might be wondering just why my head is so full, I found it in me today to write a little update, though please forgive the lack of flowery prose.

Simply put, I've been the very best kind of busy, and my mind is hardly even wrapped around all the wonderful developments in our life.

First of all, we found out last week that we're (pretty sure, more than likely) having a girl! So every time I close my eyes, I see a sweet little beribboned blond head, ballet slippers, a pink little baby curled up cozy in a creamy bassinet, and my beautiful little boy holding hands and leading his wobbly baby sister through the garden of our new home. Which brings me to the next big item occupying my time.

We're house shopping yet again. We have made five offers on homes this week. One has accepted another offer, so we're down to four, but the options are still quite good. Each home is beautiful in a unique way, and every one has at least a little back yard. No patio homes for us! I'm desperate for a yard I can tend myself and lay out a quilt on the pokey lawn to sun and picnic with my husband and babies. I don't need much, but a little soil, greenery and sun are enough to make me breath a little easier. And each of these houses has a little bit - just enough - of what I need. The reality of the situation is that we may not get any of these homes, as the market for bank-owned homes is still pretty competitive, but we have a dedicated realtor who is moving heaven and earth to have us moved into our new place before the baby arrives.

Last but not least, my little boy has a birthday coming up next week, and so as the preparation for Christmas transitions swiftly into the preparation for birthday, my days are as full as ever. With all the expenses we're anticipating of buying a home and moving, this is a birthday on a shoestring, but I've been preparing my whole life for that. As I've said before, one of the most valuable lesson I learned from my parents is How To Do a Lot With a Little, and that's exactly what I intend to do.

With that in mind, I must sign off to return to party planning, birthday shopping, baby-dreaming and mentally decorating an unknown home. But its been nice to share with you little piece of my bliss.