Life Updates

Life for the Neeleys is going pretty well; we're just plugging along.  I'm starting to slowly pack things for our big move.  The weather is cooling down, and the leaves are turning beautiful colors. Here's a few updates ...

Munchkin likes to read to Papoose while I make dinner; so sweet!

Papoose is excited to find her feet! How did they get so big???

Playing with blocks

House
This has been filled with drama since the last update, but we're still getting our dream house.  Maybe just a couple weeks later than we had hoped.  We had the inspection; and some things weren't up-to-par.
1)a Federal Pacific breaker box needed to be replaced.  Apparently they should have been recalled and are illegal now because they are a major fire hazard (more info here if you are curious: http://ismypanelsafe.com/)
2)we looked at utility costs, and they were ridiculously high... like over $400/month in the winter.  One of the culprets-- a 47 year old furnace.  yes, a furnace the same age as my father!  So we're going to replace it with a brand new high efficiency furnace.
3)the attic only had 6 inches of insulation (it's recommended to have about 16-19inches), and it was installed upside down. Along with some air sealing issues.  So were getting new insulation and air sealing.
So we worked some negotiating magic and the sellers were going to give us money to fix it ourselves (since they live out of state and couldn't come do it).  Well, we found out that's considered unethical in real estate sales... so we did some more negotiating magic and just offered less the cost of repairs, and are getting a 203K (loan that helps pay for home repairs that's rolled into the mortgage) to fix the repairs.  So in the end, our loan amount is the same, and the work still gets done, and the sellers still have the same amount of money after all is said and done that they would have if we had done the "unethical" first option. This way just involves a lot more paperwork.  boo paperwork! And we have to hire certified professionals; we can't do the work ourselves.

Don't they just look exasperated?

The drama extends when there was some miscommunication in getting the appraisal of the house.  Apparently we needed to get contracts from people to do the repair work before the appraisal could be done (but we didn't know this til after we thought the appraisal had been finished). So we frantically started trying to get quotes for the work, but September is the "busy month" for contractors, who don't seem to understand the urgency of we-need-this quote-asap-so-we-don't-lose-our-house-contract! (I forgive them. I do know they are busy; and I was being a bit crazy at the time.)  After 3 weeks of calling people EVERYDAY, we finally got quotes for all the work and got it to our loan officer.  Now things are moving forward again, but we are 3-4 weeks behind due to some lack of communication and really busy contractors.  Luckily, our buyers agent said there shouldn't be any problem with getting a two week extension, and our loan officer said we can expect to close in late October.

Girl talk time :-)

We are praying we close before the end of October, or we may be homeless for awhile because our apartment lease ends Oct. 31, and it's already rented out to someone else.  We know the Lord is watching out for us and things will work out for the best. I sometimes wish I could understand why, but that's the beauty of faith.  We don't get the answers until after we act in faith.  But I do know that things will work out better for having gone through this.

Munchkin

She thought my mascara was lipstick...

Munchkin is learning new things everyday; it amazes me how quickly she learns.  She's started to learn to count and her alphabet! More interesting, is to see how much like me she is becoming...
1)things she says: :"ummm, ... no!," "Let's get out of here, now!" (when it's time to go somewhere, especially church on sunday), "have fun!" (when saying goodbye)
2)little OCD tendencies: like lining things up in a neat line, starting to color in the lines (and getting mad if she messes up and then scribbles the whole thing and goes onto a new picture), things matching, etc.
3) trying to put on make up, brush her own hair, and help clean the house

Munchkin loves music and especially singing.  I think she gets it from her Nana. ;-) She sings Disney songs often.  Some of her favorites are "Hakuna Matata"  from The Lion King and "Keep Swimming" from Finding Nemo.  She also sings songs from nursery all the time.  Her favorites are "Popcorn Popping" and "The Wise Man and the Foolish Man." Other classic favorites are "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," "The Wheels on the Bus," and "Happy Birthday."  Only her version of "Happy Birthday goes like this:
"Birthday Cake you!
Birthday Cake you!
Happy Birthday Cake [grammsie, An' Mana (aunt amanda), mommy, etc]!
Birthday Cake you!"

my little artist concentrating really hard on making perfect 'nakes

re-hydrating after chasing the cross country team

Also, she wants to join the track team.  The high school boys cross-country team to be exact.  When we walk to the park in the afternoon, the boys' cross country team is usually practicing around the park.  She always runs after them and yells, "I wanna run! I run! I run!"  The boys think it's hilarious to be chased by a screaming toddler ... one of them may or may not have completely biffed it on a rock or tree root while chuckling to himself about it.

she loves puzzles!

Papoose

don't you love the hair?!

we love her crazy hair!

Papoose is possibly the happiest baby EVER! She is always happy and smiling and laughing. And growing so much!  She already wearing size 9 month clothes, at only 4 months old.  What happened to my little baby?!

playing with her favorite blocks from Gramsie and Papa Bear

The cutest smile I have EVER seen.

 She has gotten into an AWESOME sleep schedule.  She goes down for the night about 8 or 8:30pm.  Wakes at 11-ish to eat, then  goes right back to sleep until 4 or 5 am.  Eats and either goes back to sleep til 8am, or happily amuses herself while mommy gets a couple more hours of sleep. She's amazing.  I could brag about this baby all day!

Love this little girl! She is so much fun! (And I made that shirt.  Awesome, yes?) 

Mommy
 I'm going to turn a quarter of a century old next week. I will finally be able to rent a car on my own! Not that I will, or need to.  It's just one of the last passages into full-blown adulthood. Next year I will no longer qualify to be on my parent's health insurance, and then no one can tell me I'm still a "kid."  Right?  I mean, I'm married, have 2 babies of my own, have graduated college, and am buying a house.  When do I get to be considered "grown up" by society?  I've given up thinking that at some magical age about 5 years ago, I was supposed to have it all together and know all the answers like I thought my parents, grandparents, teachers, and other respected adults did.  Turns out, no body really has it all figured out. I just hope my kids think I do. ;-)

I've started getting allergy shots; grass hates me and wants me to die. the nurse had to dilute the grass test 3 times before I had an "acceptable" reaction (aka, one small enough to measure). I'm also allergic to anything that has pollen or fur. the nurse recommended i wear a respirator mask if i go outside in the spring. dr said i should never take up gardening; it could be considered a suicide attempt. i am NOT allergic to cockroaches or basement mold. :-)

see the HUGE red area? grass. it wants to kill me.

Daddy
Daddy is plugging along.  He enjoys his job as a web developer. We enjoy the paycheck he brings home. ;-)  The girls LOVE when he comes home from work.  Munchkin yells, "Daddy's home!" and tries to open the door for him. Papoose gives an ear-to-ear grin and squeals with delight while wildly "swimming" on her tummy on the floor.  Mommy gives him a kiss and says, "i'm SO glad you're home!" to which Daddy gives a sheepish grin and tells me it's ok.  He's the best.  Really, he is the BEST!
He misses playing hockey. He's sacrificing playing golf so we can buy our home. He plays racquetball 2-3 times per week before work with friends from work.
He's playing the piano more, and I love having music in our home.

this picture is from munchkin's birthday 5 months ago... i need more pictures of Brad.

We love to play games after the girls go to bed.  Our favorites lately have been Ticket to Ride: Europe, and Dominion.  We put the girls to bed between 8-9pm, and then tidy the house/kitchen and play games til 10pm or midnight, depending on when he has to wake up the next day.

Yep, we're loving life.  We feel so grateful to the Lord for our incredible blessings this past year!  When we decided last August that we needed to leave school and Utah and move across the country to live in Brad's parents' basement, we never imagined the blessings that would come from that leap of faith.  One year later, we have been blessed with another happy baby girl, a great job, great new friends, and are buying our first home.  The Lord has been SO good to our family.  Thank You, Lord, for our abundant blessings and teaching us what it really means to act in faith to receive the blessings of heaven raining down on us.

Parent Moments

had a few parent moments lately...

on monday, the girls and i were at the park when another mother pulled up and let her kids out of the car while she continued to sit in her car and smoke and listen to her ipod and ignore her children.  the boy (about 7? seemed roughly same age as the kids in my primary class at church)  was running around without a shirt on, and the girl (maybe 10?) was wearing shorts so small i could see her underwear.  the boy was singing over and over something disgustingly sexually explicit... i don't even want to repeat it.  i've never heard the song, and i never want to.  but he kept saying something about legs, kissing, and wetting the bed... ugh.  it was so gross!!!

this same boy was also horribly rude to his sister and called her names i won't repeat.  and on one occasion she tried to play a game with him-- who can swing higher on the swings-- and he flat out told her that because she was a girl it didn't matter what she did because she was ugly.  WHAT THE?!?!?! (for a more eloquent expression of my feeling on what he said, go check out http://www.beautyredefined.net/)

and just when i thought i could have any more disdain for this child who had NO RESPECT for women... he calls for my little munchkin to play with him on a pirate ship structure on the playground.  i don't stop her, but i do watch very carefully because i do NOT trust this kid or his mother who isn't paying any attention to her kids at all.   he takes her to the top of the ship and says, "hey, watch me. Don't do this!" and then shows my little 2 1/2 year old munchkin how to jump down this hole in the top of the structure into the bottom (about a 4-5 foot drop, and mind you, this drop-hole is hidden inside a smaller compartment that munchkin has never shown interest in, thankfully!  i didn't even know this hole existed until monday. i guess there used to be a fireman's pole from the top to the bottom, but it's missing now).  then from the bottom of the ship,  the boy yells, "you can't get me! Come and try to get me, %*##&!"
i had HAD IT!  I quickly put papoose back in the stroller, ran up this little playground to stop my munchkin just as she was about to crawl into this compartment and fall down the hole, and told her to NEVER go in there because I don't want her to get hurt.
perhaps i should have just left it at that... perhaps mamma bear was so frustrated at this boy's complete lack of respect for women or morals or safety that i lost it... but i screamed at someone else's child.  yes... i did.  i screamed at someone else's child, "Do NOT ever do that to my child again!  you do NOT show a small child how to do something that they shouldn't do. EVER!" at that moment, i guess the boy's mother wasn't ignoring her kids, because she got out of her car immediately and demanded to know why i was yelling at her kids. In a still outraged and raised voice, i explained what i had seen and said, "i don't appreciate what your son just taught my daughter because it could get her seriously hurt. i think you'd do the same for your own child in my postion."  and then she told her kids to get in the car and it was time to leave.

on another note-- today, i was listening and dancing to the wii game Just Dance 3 with my munchkin, and suddenly was hit with how... trashy and perverse the lyrics were in those songs.  we're getting rid of it.  we don't need sexually explicit "entertainment" in our home.  apparently my kids can get enough of that just going to the park...

( a less mature part of me congratulated myself on not criticizing this boy or his mother's morals to their face, and just sticking to the "safety issue"... but that's not the point i'm realizing right now... ugh... i even want to call myself a judgemental jerk right now; i sound like a self-righteous ninny. please don't judge me.  i know i shouldn't have yelled at someone else's kid.  i shouldn't have lost it on a complete stranger.  i feel terrible and am judging myself enough, so please.  i'm working on becoming a better person, and if i get the chance, i want to apologize to that mother.  i don't know what she's struggling with right now.  maybe she had a bad relationship with the kids' father, maybe she's trying to quit smoking, and the world's crashing in on her. maybe she stayed in her car for a moment's peace and some crazy self-righteous mother just slapped her in the face with what a terrible mom she already feels like.  i'm sorry other mother.  i shouldn't judge you, i'm sorry i did.  i pray that you have the strength to teach your kids the best you know how.)

what is it about being a mom that makes you hyper-aware/sensitive to things you believe 

are morally wrong? have any other moms had a similar experience?