Just for Fun

 My friend D asked me to take some maternity pictures for her and I happily obliged.  I'm not a pro by any stretch of the imagination, but some of them turned out pretty cute :)  I can't wait to meet baby B!

Out of Office

In 10 days I leave for a trade show and I'm kinda sorta super nervous about it.  Not about the trade show part, but about being away from the Hubs and Munchie for four whole days.  I know the Hubs and Munchie will be fine, but being so far away from them makes me so anxious.  For some reason, I feel if they trade show was closer, I wouldn't have so much anxiety about the trip.  


Even though I will miss my little family like crazy, there are a few things I'm looking forward too, like reading a book, watching a movie or perhaps a solo visit to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. 

  

Le Bebe 2.0

The year I was pregnant with the Munch, about 9 other girls from my high school class were also pregnant - almost everyone with their first baby.  It was fun reading the updates and commiserating over tales of morning sickness, endless doctor appointments and also to share in the joy of bringing a little person into this world.  One by one we all had our babies and we gushed over each others' adorable offspring. 

Sometime early last year some of the same girls started announcing their second pregnancies.  I was super excited for them, but a tiny sense of panic started to creep in. I wasn't close to even thinking about a 2nd baby and they already had a bun in the oven!  

Last week, the 4th maybe 5th girl of the bunch announce her August arrival and I can't stop thinking about it. I found out I was pregnant right around this time two years ago and if I got pregnant right now, Munchie and Le Bebe 2.0 would be almost exactly two years apart. 

I've also said I wanted our kids to be about 2 years part and with every month that passes from this point forward, the less likely that will be.  We have a lot of things in the air, buying a house, the Hubs' job, my sister's wedding, so getting pregnant in the middle of all this is not ideal.  

Also, had horrible morning sickness and was practically bedridden for the first four months of the pregnancy and to be honest, I'm terrified of going through that again.  It was easier before because I didn't have anyone depending on me, but now I have to take care of the Munch.  How am I supposed to take care of her when I'm spending half my time throwing up in the bathroom? 

I'm starting to feel the pressure from Mumchie, too!  When we were out last night running errands at Target, she walked up to every.single.kid. she saw and proceeded to following them all around the store.  I'm pretty sure she was letting us know she is ready to be a big sister.  :) 

Baby Make Up?

{via} 

Lately, Miss Clingy aka the Munch sits on top of the bathroom counter while I get ready for work (the Hubs or my mom is in the bathroom with us making sure Munchie doesn't tumble down) and I'm always amused at how much she as picked up.  This week she grabbed one of my lip liners, removed the cap and proceeded to "line" her lips.  She had lip liner all over her chin, BUT I was so proud because she figured out the lip liner goes around the mouth.  She also picks up my foundation brushes and sweeps it across her cheeks.  So cute, but it gives me a glimpse into the future and I'm not ready for my little girl to grow up so fast. 

I always tell her that she's beautiful and she doesn't need any make up, but then I look down at my multiple bottles of foundation and palette after palette and eyeshadow and cringe for being hypocritical.  I ran across this article from Fashionetc.com this week and started to slightly panic.  Make up for a 7 year old?  Cha right!  

It will be interesting raising a girl in our hyper-everything world, but all we can really do is to hopefully instill a strong sense of self, confidence guidelines and hope she makes the right choices.  
 


 

No Go

Our realtor advised us today of what our offer for the house should come in at and it's about 30K above what we're comfortable paying based on our research of recent sold comps.  We have a pretty intense spreadsheet factoring all sorts of things like upgrades, lot size and all that fun stuff.   So we're going to pass on the house. 

Home buying and selling is probably the most emotional transaction a person makes.  We're used to seeing people price their homes above comps - "Well, this house has hardwood floors, this house has ." I know short sales are a pain, but banks don't have an emotional attachment to their assets, they just want to lose the least money possible.  The search continues! 

Potential

Our home tours this weekend were fairly successful.  There's one that has a lot of potential and we're hoping to make an offer this week.  Eep!  It's a standard sale and the seller is motivated, so we'll see what happens.  


The first home we saw was a TOTAL dud.  It's an older home and everything about it screamed 1970.  I mean, carpet in the bathroom?!?!  WUT.  Why did people ever think that was a good idea?!  The Hubs remarked to the listing agent that everything looked original i.e. freaking old and she kept saying, "But it's so well maintained."  The Hubs rolled his eyes and replied, "Well maintained is updating your appliances every 40 years or so."  I mean, take a look at the ovens:

Ugh, the floors and counter tops were terrible. Blerg. The listing agent kept going on and on about how clean it was.  Er, dude, just because it's clean, doesn't mean it's 40+ years on it doesn't show. 


The 2nd house was MUCH better.  It's kind of move in ready, except for the bathrooms.  We would have to gut and totally redo one bathroom before moving in because both of the bathrooms in there now are just gross.  Other than the bathrooms, but house is fab with a super open floor plan AND potential for a huge master walk in closet with is something I thought I'd have to forgo with an older home.  


I'm started to get really excited, even if we don't get this home, more and more keep popping up on the market as Spring nears.  This is probably cheesy, but I really feel like we'll end up in the house that's meant to be, so we'll have to wait and see what's in store for us!

Catching Up

At almost every daycare drop off this week, Munchie has cried, which is not like her.  Usually, she leaps from my arms into her teacher's and barely even glances at me when I say bye.  Another mom was walking out with me Wednesday and I mentioned how unusual it is for Munchie to cry when I drop her off and she said she's probably a developmental thing and she's might just be more clingy at this age.  

I suddenly realized that I don't know much about the toddler age at all which shocked me.  Before Munchie came, I read everything I could get my hands on and I perused multiple parenting message boards soaking in all the information I could.  Ask me about breastfeeding, co-sleeping, introducing solids, first vaccines and I could give you all the multiple theories on each topic.  


I only read up to 1 year and haven't read much for this next stage for Munchie.  I felt so prepared before Munchie came and the first 12 months of her life, but now I feel so behind. Anyhow, dropping her off at school and trying to get ready for work is more a challenge because Munchie is so clingy, but I'll take it.  She's not really much of a cuddler and that's all she wants to do right now and I'll take it because I'd deal with her wanting to hang out with me all the time instead of complaining she's totally over me. ;)

I'll just have to catch up on my reading when she's asleep.

 

Strings

My parents are generously helping us with the down payment for our future casa, which is awesome, but doesn't come without a few caveats. 

I sent my mom a link one of the homes we're checking out this weekend and immediately she was full of questions.  

"Is it a good school district?"
"When did they do the upgrades?"
"Is it a good deal?"

The kicker came when we were discussing the price and I said I thought their asking price was fair, but we would negotiate.  My mom went on to declare, "I don't want to pay market value, I want to pay below market value." Er, ok, but you're not the one buying a house, we are.

My parents are the quintessential Asian parents who have yet to realize their adult children can make adult decisions.   

I know they are very anxious about us leaving the nest, actually scratch that, they are anxious about Munchie leaving the nest.  My parents are always bragging to their friends that they just have to go down the hallway to see their grand kid anytime they fancy a visit.

We'll see how things go, but I'm SO READY to be in our own place that I'll deal with whatever I need to.

  

Showings

This weekend we're going to check out a couple of potentials homes and I'm so excited.  I don't want to get my hopes up too high, but there is one home in particular that I love!  Well, so far from the MLS listing. We're getting all of our financing in order and even though we've been looking for so long, it feels much more real now because we're on the cusp of finally graduation from our boomerang kid status.  


 I know my mom is going to be very sad about not having access to Munchie all the time, but she also knows we need to move into our own space.  


Spring is quickly approaching and more and more homes keep popping up on the market, so let's hope we make it to our goal of moving out by June 30th!