So so long!!

Wow!! It has been a crazy few weeks and it shows in how long it has been since I have updated the ole' blog. We were supposed to close on our house on March 26th. However, on March 24th, we were told that they had just learned of a lien that had been put on the house by the HOA and they were trying to work that out before closing. I went to work on Thursday (March 26th) and told my very understanding boss that I may have to leave early for the closing. Unfortunately, we weren't able to close that day---apparently the attorney that the HOA used to put the lien on the house was charging $1800 for doing so and he wasn't willing to reduce his fee so that we could go ahead and close. After much back and forth, we were finally able to close on March 31st. I don't even really know how--the listing agent just said he worked it out with the HOA...and here we are!! We started painting and cleaning right away! I hired someone to have the carpets professionally cleaned (after 4 college guys living here, I don't even want to think about what was on these carpets), but Bryan and I were planning to do all of the rest of cleaning ourselves. Miracle of all miracles, my sister-in-law, Johanna's, mom won a spring cleaning at an auction and gave it to us as a house-warming present!! It was one of the best gifts ever! We then moved in on Saturday, April 4th. Currently, we still have lots of boxes everywhere, lots of painting still do to. We've only discovered 2 issues we didn't already know about--a rotten outside window sill and that we get TERRIBLE cell phone reception here. My parents came in town last weekend and were our life-savers. They helped us organize and unpack--I can actually park in the garage--a feat it took me a good 6 months to accomplish in Mississippi! My mom and I put the kitchen stuff away, which always overwhelms me the most. Hopefully, we'll continue making good progress and be "done" before long--I say that knowing we will never be done. Even in our turn-key house in Mississippi, I had a to-do list 3 pages long.

Lily is getting so much bigger and cuter every day! She says "love you" now without prompting and is VERY into her babies. She kisses them and pushes them in the doll swing. She pretends to feed them and changes their diapers. She is a very good mommy. I can't even begin to list everything that she is saying now. Her latest is that she says "yes" correctly, which we think is super cute. She frequently yells at Sammy now--"Sammy, come here!!!", which Sammy politely ignores. She also likes to say who is being funny--"Daddy funny!". She remembers notable things to report back--for example, today we were leaving Walmart and right across from it is a new restaurant which frequently has blow-up things on the roof to call attention to it. Right now, they have what we call a "wobbly-man"--one of those long tube men that fold and straighten all crazy-like because of air being blown into them--she LOVES him. When we got home, I told Lily to tell Daddy what we saw in the car and she said "wobbly-man". I was very proud. She is sleeping well at night now and these 2 year molars don't seem to be bothering her compared to those pesky eye teeth. Of course, as I type that, she is crying on the monitor, so I may have just cursed myself!! She seems to be adjusting well to the move, despite my anxiety about it all. She is such a trooper! She is, however, very much a 2 year old right now and we have whole days of boundary-testing, which is super tiring for mommy. Sometimes we are in time-out 5 times just in the course of getting dressed. It's also a tough time right now as Bryan and I are facing decisions as parents--Do we care about this? Does this warrant a time-out? Do we let her do this? It definitely gets harder as they get older! My mom also tells me "Just wait until she is driving!" I can't think about that yet! She is still very much into dancing and singing. She will dance just about anywhere and doesn't really care if there is music or not. She sings a lot as well--she frequently combines the alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle or sings the Barney song. She loves to sing 5 Little Monkeys as well!