Good morning

Ahh. It's been a great morning. First, Emma slept in until 8:30! She's starting to sleep longer and longer and that is amazing. I haven't slept pass 6:30-7 in forever. Kevin went to play frisbee golf this morning and I sat around in my house robe until noon. Actually, it's noon now and I don't plan on changing out of my robe any time soon. We kept the curtains drawn and watched Mona Lisa Smile and drank coffee. Emma played with a new toy and took a long nap in her swing. I love days with no agenda...

Cramming

So, I plan on cramming lots of info into this post (in a condensed manner.) Sorry it has been so long since I have posted but we have been busy!

On May 16th Kevin graduated with his BSN!!!! yay!!!! I'm so proud of him and so excited as he starts this new endeavor. Tommorow is his first day of work as a nurse. He accepted a job at Cox South's emergency department. A nice perk is that he'll get to work with a good friend ours, Dr. Lee, that we go to church with.

We had lots of family in town for graduation (Kev's brother also graduated with his MSW). Kev's sister Mae came to visit from Charlotte. She is expecting her first baby in December. We're all betting that it will be a little boy. She's starting to get a little baby-bump and we had a lot of fun shopping for maternity clothes.

Also that weekend, Emma hit a lot of milestones. She learned how to clap her hands, she learned how to make kissing noises AND..........she learned how to crawl!!! It's more of an army crawl than a hands and knees crawl but that's okay. The whole family was standing around her as she made her first lunge. It was such an awesome thing for all of us to witness. My next project is to do some baby-proofing (I've put this off too long.)

Kevin's older brother Joe and his wife Jill came to visit for Memorial Day weekend. Joe is in the Army physician assistant program and will be finished this January. They are currently stationed at Ft. Campbell but we are hoping there's a chance they can move closer after he graduates.

Are house is still on the market for sale. We've actually had an offer from a buyer but it was a really horrible one so we turned it down. We've shown the house 5 or 6 times now and are hopeful the right buyer will come along before the end of summer.

For Sale!

We officially listed our house on the market today. It was a fairly lengthy process with lots of papers to sign. I'm glad to finally have it done, though and now we can relax a little bit. Kinda.

Part of me is naive and thinks the house will sell in a month or two. The other side of me is playing worse-case-scenarios and thinks that with the market being so cruddy it will be a year before it sells. Hopefully reality will fall some where in the middle.

Turns out realtors jump on new listing pretty quickly. The first 4 weeks a house is on the market are the most important. Everyone wants to see the "new listing" and so we should expect high traffic over the next month. Our realtor said we have to make sure that we keep the house in "showing condition" and be prepared to start fielding phone calls from other agents who want to show the house. We picked a pretty dumb month to finally move forward with things. This weekend we have family in town for Mother's Day, next weekend family is in for Kevin and Dave's graduation and the following weekend we have family for Memorial Day. Figures.

I'll keep you posted on our progress. Hopefully we'll have a SOLD sign in our front yard soon!

Emerging from the cave

That's what I felt like this morning. I woke up with no headache. At lunch, no headache. Tonight, no headache. Praise God Amen! Woo-hoo. Thank you for your prayers.

My day wasn't all smiles and rainbows. My cell phone was stolen today at work. The biggest bummer of it all is that I've always been one to have cheapie, bottom-of-the-line phones. But on this past Saturday, Kevin got me a new Katana II from Sprint as my Mother's Day gift. It was fabulous. It was sleak and light and had some pretty cool features. But now it's gone. I'm very sad. We have insurance on our plan so I have a replacement on the way but we had to pay a $50 deductible. It's partially my fault for leaving it on my desk. That will teach me.

The girl was great today. Kevin brought her by my work at the end of the day and she was quite charming for everyone. I meant to weigh her but forgot. Maybe later this week...

Another tidbit of news, we are meeting with a realtor on Wednesday afternoon. We have decided to sell our house. The truth is, we really love our house but we hate our neighborhood. After 2 years of dealing with all-night parties, bickering, disputes, frequent police visits, and questionable behaviors of our neighbors- we're leaving. At least, we hope we are. I am praying that our house will sell quickly in this crummy market. It makes me sad to give up our house but we're confident that it's the right decision for our family.

Prayer Request

I could use some prayers. I have had a migraine every day for over a week and it is really starting to wear on me. Some days the medicine works, some days it doesn't. I stayed home from church today because of it, which really has me bumming.

I've had migraines since I was 16 but it's rare that I have one that drags on for days and days like this. I'm kinda thinking an adjustment to my braces has triggered it. Hopefully, I'll feel better tomorrow.

Emma was SO good this morning and let me lie on the couch for a few hours so my medicine could take the edge off (kevin was at work.) She was being so cute, I had to grab the camera for a quick picture!

Happy Birthday Lindsey and Eric!

My brother and sister turned 12 this past Sunday. We were able to go to Farmington for their party and it was lots of fun. Eric, my brother, kept yelling, "Cake! Cake!" He was not at all interested in candles, presents or singing songs. Eric has spastic type cerebral palsy. He is our little miracle baby and such a blessing to every life he encounters. Eric is always happy and always friendly. He never complains about anything; not even when he must endure painful surgeries and therapy treatments. He is an inspiration in my life.

Lindsey is your typical tween; she L-O-V-E-S Hannah Montana, she has posters of cute boys all over her room and her earrings always match her shirt. But, she's so special, too. Lindsey has a heart of gold and is full of love. She is my snuggle baby. Even now, she will curl up beside me or on my lap and rest her head on my shoulder. She still wants to hold my hand and gives lots of hugs. She wants to help with everything. Cleaning, cooking, folding laundry, changing a diaper. She doesn't mind, she just wants to help.

I love them both so very much and it breaks my heart that I can't see them as often as I would like. I hope they had a really happy birthday and that they feel surrounded in love.