Weighing the Options

Okay, I've just been thinking about these two houses. These are our favorites and I need some advice.

Each have pros and cons. And for those of you who are homeowners and/or know more about the whole house-buying process than we do, I'd like your input please!

One of the houses is located in our ideal location with the ideal yard and acreage. It's a newish house with an okay-floorplan. I don't love the floorplan, but I could deal with it if we remodeled the kitchen and maybe knocked out a wall. It also costs $30,000 more than the other house we're looking at. Even though it is our ideal location, the elementary school is not so great.

The other one is older but in "okay" shape. It's HUGE and is on a HUGE lot. The location is not our favorite but we could probably deal with it. It does need some work but with the price-tag it has, more money over the long haul would make it into an AWESOME house. But would that extra money to fix it up be worth it? Is the low price worth not being in the "ideal" location but still one we could live with? And with this one the elementary school is awesome.

We've also heard that you want a house that faces south or west to avoid major snow/ice on the driveway in the winter and have shade during the summer. Any thoughts on this? Do any of you live in a north or east facing house and is that a problem you deal with/does it bother you?

Ah, decisions, decisions! At least they're fun decisions right?!

Life as of Now

Guess who's walking!? Crawling is still the preferred method of transportation to get around quick, but she gets so excited and proud of herself when she does walk. Oh she makes us laugh. :) And man is she fast! I don't know how many times I've almost tripped on her 'cuz I leave her in the next room, turn around and she's right there!

Our house hunting days have officially begun. We seriously looked into building for about a month but we couldn't find a lot that worked with the house plan we loved in our price range. And looking at the market, we can get a whole lot more square footage and land with an existing house. So that's that. We have a list of about 8 houses we've narrowed it down to so we'll see what happens!

Not working has been an easier adjustment than I thought it would be. And the funny thing is I feel busier than I did before. Now I can actually watch ward member's kids, go to institute twice a week, play more with my sisters, go visit family, and do sewing projects I've been putting off.

And it's feeling like spring around here!

Life is good!

Changes

I feel a little... not sure what to call it... discombobulated? I quit my job on Friday. I've been thinking about it for awhile and was so torn about what to do. It was nice feeling needed and important outside of home. I liked being able to tell people that "yes, I do work in the biotechnology industry."

But it was interesting as soon as my job was not necessary to keep us afloat financially how the feelings toward it changed. I still liked feeling needed there, but instead of looking forward to getting out of the house for awhile, I would hurry so I could get back home to my baby.

In institute awhile back we were having a discussion about working mothers. One mom made the comment that she felt selfish that she wanted to work because she liked the praise and awe she got from people when they found out she was a mom AND worked. I've been feeling more like that. I was beginning to feel that I kept working just for a self-esteem boost. But I figure I need to feel good about myself doing the best job in the world, being a mom: because that's what I want most.

So although this job has been a great blessing to us. It has been awesome and I've learned alot. I will still be able to go in and help when needed once in a blue moon. It's time to be a full-time mommy. And I feel good about that. Like Elder Oaks said, we must sometimes give up what is good for something better.

So even though I am a little sad and it will take some adjustment, I feel at peace with the decision and Lauren's giggles and grins make it all worth it. :)

Look...

Look who can climb stairs...

walk a little...

give dirty looks...

bat those long eyelashes...

open cupboards...

crawl everywhere...

make HUGE messes...

and just melt your heart?



Lauren can! :)

The Rear to Front Dilemma

Lauren is getting fairly big, in baby terms. Thus she is almost too tall for her rear-facing infant carseat. I don't want to spend money on another bigger rear-facing carseat since she will legally be able to switch to forward in 2 months, although it's not advised.

What do all of you with kids do? Should I shell out more money for a bigger rear-facing one so her little legs will have some wiggle room? Or just go for a high-back front-facing when she turns one? Oh it would be nice to have her turned around so she can see us!

And what kinds of carseats do you have? Do you like them or not? I was thinking about the Evenflo Chase LX Booster Seat. What do you think?

9 Months

Lauren seems to have grown up a ton just in the last few weeks since Christmas.

Last week at her doctor's appointment he said she was getting to be a big girl! Literally! She is 91% in both height and weight! I was shocked, I didn't think she was THAT big! Guess I should have suspected that when she's already wearing 18 to 24 month old clothes.

She also got her first tooth on Sunday! I've been wondering if it would show up sooner or later and it finally came through. I felt bad though, that she might be teething didn't cross my mind when she had been a little grouchy for a few days. Her poor little mouth hurt!

She is now army crawling all over the place. She realized she can actually move rooms now and follow me around. It's pretty fun.

She's starting to pull herself up on things as long as she can get a good handhold and finding every single little piece of lint or crumb that I missed vacuuming.

She started giving her stuffed animals and blankets hugs now. She will hold them up to her face and hug them tight. It's really cute.

Man! All I can say is that these last nine months went a whole lot faster than being pregnant for 9 months!

Organization

Just been thinking about organization... mostly because there are a TON of pins about organization on Pinterest right now with it being a new year and all. I find them kind of funny. Not because they don't have good ideas, but I find them ironic in that organization is supposed to reduce stress; but I think in alot of cases the idea of becoming more organized stresses people out more.

I'm not a crazy organized person. But I do like order to things. And organizing our house is not that hard because we set it up like my parent's house/what I grew up with. I always know that the baking soda is against the wall in the cupboard next to the stove. I always know that extra shoelaces and batteries are in the linen closet, becuase that's where my mom put them. It just makes sense to me.

As soon as I try to become more "organized" and mess this "system" up we can never find anything which just stresses me out 'cuz I can't find the baking soda at the exact moment I need it! (No it really doesn't cause me that much stress, it's just annoying.)

At one point I tried making all of those perfectly labeled bins that had a perfect spot to keep it's designated thing. Frustration ensued when they did not turn out the way I wanted and everything just ended up mixed up anyway because I had taken them out of their "spot" to put them in the bin. Now we just have random JJ cole and diaper box bins strewn around to house stuff. Works for us.

So I don't really know what I'm trying to say, but organization another person's way may not necessarily be "your organization" so don't stress out about "getting organized!"

picture from here