Transitions

For those of you who didn't know, I used to be a real estate agent. I did it for about 2 years with my last closing being about 3 weeks before Evan was born. I tried to get back into it when he was about 4 months old, but it was just too much to handle. Since we weren't crunched for income, I decided to give it up.

We've been in our house for 5 years now and knew it wouldn't be the house that we grew old in. We decided that this was the year for a change. Now that we have 2 kids, and with Jack self employed and working from home we have grown into the house. We don't have a guest room now, but have several guests during the year. And we don't really have a back yard but we have a very active Evan, and Liam will be next year!

So in mid-May we started a hunt for a 4-bedroom +office with a back yard. Seems like an easy enough request, right? Well the first house we looked at, we fell in love with. I had been following it online for 3 months while we were getting our own house ready for the market. Wouldn't you know it got a contract on it the same day we saw it. 12 more houses and nothing seemed quite right for us. Then there was Lucky #14 (last time we house hunted when we bought our house, we looked at 14 houses). It was way overpriced and new on the market so if we had any hope of getting it for a decent price, we had to wait until we had an offer on our house. So we waited, and waited. We got a contingent offer (our buyers had a house to sell) but in the meantime, so did Lucky #14. Their agent didn't seem too confident in the salability of the other buyers' house, so we decided to keep waiting until we had a non-contingent contract before we tried to compete. (these contingency contracts leave the house open to secondary offers)

In the midst of all this house hunting, we listed our own home For Sale By Owner (FSBO or as we agents call it Fizbo). I was an agent for 2 years but I actually never had my own listing before. I had only worked with buyers. So a lot of this was new to me and I was thrown into the deep end without an office full of agents to turn to. Aside from the incompetency of Housepad (the company that gets FSBO's up on the MLS - Multiple Listing Service so that agents can find it), it really wasn't too overwhelming to take on ourselves. 7 weeks, 38 showings, 100+ flyers, a contingent offer and a non-contingent offer and while the details are still being sorted by the attorneys at the moment it looks like we finally have our buyer.

We were so excited to move forward on buying our house, but were heartbroken to find out that the other buyers' house had indeed gotten a contract and was set to close today. There was no way we could beat that when our contracts are still being sorted by the attorneys.

So here we are, selling our house with a closing date of September 14 and no where to move to yet. I know we won't be homeless and I'm trusting God that neither of the houses we fell in love with we're the right ones for us, and He has the perfect one out there. I know we have family and friends we can turn to, and we can always get a short term rental if necessary. While not ideal, we will at least have a roof over our heads and warm beds for our kids. So if you think of it, please pray for our anxiety and that God would line up the perfect living arrangement for us, however it will work out!

Here is our listing

He's here!

Liam Patrick McDade finally arrived! Though the labor and tardiness were not as dramatic as his older brother (41 hour labor and one week late), Liam was 3 days late and a 26 hour labor!

Contractions started around noon on Thursday 4/5. They would get regular if I stayed still but once I got up and moving they'd space out and get less intense, so I just tried to relax and help them along. We sent Evan to sleep over at Jack's parents' house just in case we needed to leave in the middle of the night. I went to bed for about an hour and a half and then couldn't get back to sleep. They finally picked up in intensity and were about 4 minutes apart by 2am. I called the midwife and she said to head on in. So I woke up Jack, we had a quick bowl of cereal and headed to the hospital around 2:30am.

They observed me for a bit and the contractions got stronger. I was 3-4cm and 50% effaced at the time. After about an hour and a half they admitted me and we moved to our LDRP (labor, delivery, recovery, post partum) room, where we spent the entire hospital stay. It was spacious and new with a gorgeous soaking jacuzzi tub, which I never ended up using! I got asked a thousand questions and signed a bunch of consent forms (didn't I pre-register?) but fortunately my labor was progressing slowly and I wasn't at the point of chewing their heads off yet! I not-so-subtly hinted at my desire for an epidural but was told I should progress more first so I got a shot of nubane to help take the edge off and sleep a little. I was halfway between sleep and awake the whole time but I think it helped me rest a bit. And Jack was able to get some sleep.

By about 8am I had progressed to 6cm and they called in for the epidural. The anesthesiologist was in surgery so I had to wait a bit for the epidural. We watched Scrubs and I enjoyed it in between contractions. Around 10am, the anesthesiologist finally arrived. I am SO glad I got it. It was way stronger than my epi with Evan and I could only move my toes about half a centimeter. With Evan I still had control of my legs. I was completely numb but could still feel the slight pressure of contractions. I thought it was too much but the nurse talked me out of asking them to turn it down and I'm so glad she did!

I drifted in and out for a few hours and by about 12:30 I was at 9cm. The midwife had to head in to help with a c-section so we prayed that Liam would hold out for her return! I labored down with the epidural, which is why I'm so glad I didn't ask them to turn it down. My contractions did most of the pushing work for me! When the midwife came back at almost 2, she prepared me for pushing. I was gearing up for it to take a while but 2 contractions later, he was out at 1:58pm! And I barely felt it from the very strong epidural! Thank the Lord!! When they told me he was out, I said "Seriously!? That's it?!"

They cleaned him up and tucked him in my gown to snuggle, and snuggle we did for over an hour! It was so wonderful and amazing. He didn't seem that much bigger than Evan when he was born, but he weighed in at a shocking 8lbs 14.5oz! Evan was 7lbs 11oz! They measured his length at 18.5 inches, which we didn't believe because he was so wiggly. At his first doctor appointment a few days later he measured 21 inches. That's more like it!

He's been a very chill baby for the most part and very sleepy. We had a rough night a couple nights ago but we're still getting used to it all! He can really shriek when he's not happy but fortunately that seems to only be when he's got a dirty diaper or hungry.

Evan has adjusted very well. He's had to learn to be flexible about certain routines, like sometimes Daddy has to read bedtime books instead of Mommy, but he's learning to deal with it and we're trying not to change too much for him! He really loves Liam and loves giving him several kisses and snuggles all the time. He can't wait for Liam to be able to play with him. He asked Liam to chase him yesterday.

We love our family!

My growing belly

Sorry I haven't blogged, to anyone who might still check in and see if I post anything! Life and this pregnancy are pretty routine and when I think of how long it's been since I've blogged, it leaves me even less motivated to sit down and blog when something out of the ordinary does happen. But I find myself before the computer with some time on my hands and access to my belly pictures, so here goes an update on the pregnancy.

It has been so completely different from my pregnancy with Evan. It has it's own challenges, but overall I think I feel much better this time around. I had and still have some occasional morning sickness which I think is a result of dehydration and too-hot showers. I haven't had many cravings. The only significant ones being hot tamales (the candy, not the mexican food), Oreos, and Moe's. I've been eating much healthier this time, since Jack is counting his calories (and has lost 12ish lbs so far!) so I haven't gained crazy weight this time. I think chasing Evan helps too! I'm still about 20 lbs under what my final weight was with Evan, so even though I have 6 weeks to go, I should be under the crazy weight gain of last time which I know has contributed to feeling much better this time around. I don't have much hip pain (last time it was excruciating), but I do get sciatic pain if I try to do too much. No swelling (yet).

Baby boy seems to be growing out faster than up. He still hasn't reached my ribs yet and is always pushing out right above my belly button. But according to the ultrasounds, he's right on with growth, so he's just taking up different real estate than Evan, I guess! He's crazy active, especially when I'm going to bed or not ready to wake up in the morning, of course. I guess it's all practice for when he's here! He's way more active than Evan ever was in there. We got a video of Evan moving a lot once and "happened to catch it at the right time". I could record this one every evening. He puts on a show and gets hiccups several times a day.

My midwife practice has changed a bit. They left the practice I've been going to for years after a multi-hospital merge took place in the area. Not sure of their exact reasons, but they left and started their own midwifery (sounds ancient, right?). I loved their care so much that I decided to follow them there. It was bittersweet though, because I had gotten to know the nursing and reception staff at my old practice and it was sad to leave them. Their new office is in a sweet historic home in Troy and I've started going there for the last few visits.

As for names, well we thought we had one and after sharing it with family, we started having second thoughts. It's looking like we're going to have to go to the hospital with a short list and try them all out on him before we land on one! Makes me a little nervous that we won't have the right name, but I'm trusting God will bring it to us!

So the nursery is a disaster right now. After moving Evan to his new room and taking on some house projects, it became a storage room of sorts. Once we get that room cleaned up I will be READY for this baby! I'm so excited! :) 6ish more weeks!!






Sabina and I at Christmas, due a month apart. Sabina is 31ish weeks, and I'm 26ish weeks. Our babies will be... first cousins once removed I think is the correct term? We'll probably just stick to "cousin".

It's a.....

I know, 3 blog posts in one night, right? Who am I? Well, Jack went to bed early, and I have plenty of time to kill and the computer all to myself.

Oh right, it's a.... BOY! We had an ultrasound this morning and the tech was able to tell right away that it's a boy! I was trying not to get fixated on one or the other. I was really truly happy with either. We'd have a buddy for Evan, or one of each. But I must admit that I entertained thoughts of a baby girl a little more because this pregnancy has been soooo different! So I was quite surprised when the tech said it was a boy! We are soooo excited though! All day we've kept saying to each other "2 boys!". Evan will be a great big brother, and I'm sure will pass on his antics to little brother. Everything he did today, I now imagine him doing with a little brother. Dancing to the Glee version of Bust a Move, running back and forth with his Moe's balloon, playing football. It'll be chaos, but so much fun!

So I'm 18 weeks now, and still kind of in disbelief that I'm pregnant! I'm so distracted by Evan and life so often that I don't stop and think about it as much as when I was pregnant with Evan. I don't have a huge belly, although it has finally popped which gives me a reminder now! But I haven't really had any cravings, and baby boy is much more chill than I remember Evan being at this stage so I don't feel him as much. I realize this is when most people only start to feel tiny flutters, but I was feeling Evan swirl all over the place from 16+ weeks. I do feel tiny taps now and then, which I treasure. I've missed that feeling!

Well, I hope to keep up with blogging more often now, we'll see how that goes!




(I would love to post the ultrasound pic we got today, but our new printer doesn't have a scanner :( Maybe I can do the old school way and take a picture of the picture!)

Harvest Party

I wasn't sure if I wanted to bring Evan to our church's Harvest Party this year. We went last year so Jack could be a photographer, and I seemed to remember it being more ages 4+ appropriate, and thought Evan would be overwhelmed. Well, when I was shopping for Evan's birthday presents, I saw a little monkey costume that looked like Curious George. Given Evan's obsession with the little character (probably because he's so much like him!) I couldn't resist buying it, and at only $11 it wasn't a huge investment for a one night wear.

He really didn't want to wear it and it took a few days of just showing him the costume before we could attempt to get him into it. I admit, I had to bribe him with cookies. But we snapped up a bunch of pictures in case that was the only chance we had.



We brought him that Saturday and hoped for the best. As soon as we walked in the door, Evan got freaked out by a dinosaur costume (turned out to be my junior high English teacher, Mrs Bellamy!) and ran for the door crying. She pulled up the hood to show him it was just a person, and he stopped crying but told her "bye bye!". Off to a rough start, and we still had to get him into the costume! There were a lot of tears as we were getting him into it, that no amount of cookies could console. He wouldn't even entertain the idea of a cookie. But he eventually came to terms with it, somehow.

I'm so glad I brought him. Almost all of the activities, save the trivia and chess, were perfect for him. Bean bag toss, golf putting, basketball, throwing a football through the hoop, and many other carnival type games. He had a blast. And in future years, maybe we'll let him keep the candy!

My 2 year old

So Evan turned two on October 21! I made sure to give him lots of kisses and hugs, and grabbed him and attempted to put him on my chest at 4:30 (his time of birth), just like I did last year, and just like the midwife did 2 years ago! Well, I was trying to reminisce to myself because I knew he wouldn't understand what I was talking about and as I was, he pinched my lips as if to say "enough, Mom! I don't want to hear my birth story!".

We had a little McDade celebration on his actual birthday which was a Friday. We had homemade ice cream cake, presents from Papa and GG, and kept him up way too late! Then the next day, we had a little family party with both sides. A nice pizza party (and Evan was too busy playing with cousins to stop and eat!), cookie cake and leftover ice cream cake. We did more presents, and Evan loved unwrapping but was still a little overwhelmed with the whole ordeal. He seemed to love playing with everything though! We got him a little table with 2 chairs and GG made him some playdough and got some playdough toys, and that turned out to be the hit of the party! For all ages!

I'm sure this coming year will bring challenges, as I've already seen Evan adopt the Terrible Two phase, but he's also becoming more and more adorable every day.

Jamaica!

We just got back from a week long trip to Jamaica. We celebrated our 5th anniversary and enjoyed a second babymoon and Evan tagged along pretty much for free because he doesn't turn 2 for another week! We originally booked our stay with Beaches Sandy Bay in Negril, but after 2 nights we switched over to their neighbor and sister resort Beaches Negril which had a lot more activity and bigger pools, and was nicer. Yes it cost a little more, but it was way more on par with what we were expecting and we had an amazing time. There was some rain the first couple days but it cleared up in the afternoon, and we had a couple spotty storms later in the week, but other than that the weather was beautiful! It was plenty hot which made the pool and ocean wonderful. Plenty sunny which made us appreciate the shade and avoid getting burned for the most part! The evenings were very comfortable and the cloudy horizons led to some amazing sunsets.

The resort is a sponsor of Sesame Street so there are characters in costume that wander every day. We signed up for a character breakfast before we left but quickly realized when we got there that Evan would be terrified so we cancelled that. He enjoyed the shows, but from a comfortable distance and would cry every time they came too close! But he would always ask about all of them when they weren't around. My favorite was when he asked for "Ernie and Burped".

They had a nursery program which allowed us to drop Evan off now and then to get some time to ourselves. We had some free time on the beach and had a few kidless dinners. Evan loved the nursery and the workers there were so great with him. While we were at dinner, they even took him over to the nightly Sesame Street show so he didn't have to miss it!

After the first Sesame Street show we went to, they had a steel drum band come and perform (and Jack and I even recognized some of the performers from a show on our honeymoon!). Evan grimaced his way through Sesame Street, but he danced his little heart out to the steel drum music, doing his best to imitate what they were doing. After the show, they played some dance music and Evan actually danced along to the cha cha slide! Of course he was a step behind the whole time, but that's where he and Jermaine became dancing buddies for the week!

Evan placed his first order by himself. He went up to the bar and said "Hello", and the bartender turned around and said "Hey mon. What can I get you?" and Evan said "um, apple juice?". When he got his apple juice he said "deetoo" (thank you) without being prompted! I was so proud! My family always tells me the story of when I was about Evan's age, maybe even younger and I placed my first order at a restaurant... and it was in Jamaica! I ordered "boogoo, feyes, and wahwoo" (burger, fries and water).

We wrapped the amazing week up with a Reggae Beach Party the last night we were there and we were expecting entertainment in the form of a fire dancer, limbo dude, and others. What we got was a fire dancer and a DANCE PARTY. And Evan had a blast. Jermaine quickly picked up on Evan's favorite move (the run and jump) and did it with him for about 15 minutes straight until they were both pouring with sweat. Then Jermaine brought him up on stage with the rest of the entertainment crew and Evan let lose. He pulled out all his moves (mostly jumping and a little running with the "Evan one arm pump") and he even attempted some of the reggae moves that the entertainment crew was doing, all under the close supervision of Jermaine! He probably danced up there for at least 15 minutes until some of the dancing got a little too crazy and he might have been trampled. As soon as Jermaine brought him back to the rest of the dancing guests out front, he cried and pointed at the stage. So back he went! Jermaine was so great and the two of them had such a great time. Jermaine even came to see us off in the morning!

Jack seems to be planning our next trip already. Whenever it is, I know we'll have a blast!