WE BOUGHT A HOUSE

I've probably been an exceedingly confusing social media friend in regards to our living situation but our house finally closed this week and I finally feel comfortable talking about it.

A general outline of this crap-fest:
-Sold Rialto in the beginning of April
-Moved into Apartment while searching for new place
-Bid on Dobson in June (and had a baby, nbd)
-Lost Dobson to some dude making a business deal
-Dude turns Dobson back over to the market immediately
-Bid again on Dobson and go under contract, closing July 30
-Dude has a massive IRS tax lien filed against him
-Extend closing to September 30
-Closing comes and goes
-Appraisal expires
-Reappraise, resign all our title papers, expect closing beginning of November.
-ANOTHER TAX LIEN. Lose all faith in humanity.
-Close November 3rd anyway and shout praises to the heavens.

It was a hot mess, guys. We nearly bailed probably five or so times. The insane part was finding out about the tax liens the SAME DAY both times we had gone in to sign the title papers, essentially meaning we should get the house.
The silver lining in all of this is that we were able to live in it for the duration of the crap-fest, not to mention the a/c unit went out (whilst I had a tiny newborn in July/August, mind you) and since we were renting that fell upon the seller to fix. We agreed to pay half of a new unit in escrow so as to not get swindled. So now our new place has a shiny new a/c! Just in time for winter! Heh.

But enough of the drama! It is ours, we own it, we love it, let's talk about how cute and lovely it is. I took some before shots waaaay back in June, while I was still pregnant! We had the carpets professionally cleaned, but other than that nothing really needed a lot of work. Also, forgive the warping, I had to use the panoramic setting on my phone to get even somewhat comprehensive shots of the rooms.
Firstly, the front living room. The "front" door is on the left of the picture, however it opens up directly onto Dobson, with maybe 15 feet to the sidewalk, so we mostly use the south door where we actually park the cars.

The previous owners had closed in both the porch area and the carport. This next photo is what we now use as the "movie room" and was the porch. It's on the north side of the house so it stays nice and cool and relatively dim. One downside to these remodels is that they were pretty sub-par quality work. The foundation of this room in particular is off so when it got to monsoon season, we ended up with some minor flooding in that first corner you see. This was also the cockroach room. /shudder

The hall bath. Miniscule and the bathtub is on a bizarrely steep incline. Like, we can't put shampoo bottles on the edge because they'll topple over it's that lopsided.

The master bedroom. All it had to do was fit the bedframe Mark made for us and it duly sufficeth!
There is also a bathroom attached but I didn't get any photos of that at the time.

The second bedroom, now the nursery, is about what you could expect of a spare bedroom.

And the den/office with the only door out to the backyard, where the obvious daylight is pouring in.

Here's a view out that back door/window into the yard. We have many plans for this yard-space, as it is about as bare minimum as it gets at the moment. 

And with a screaming babe, that's all we have time for today. Tune in next time, folks, for the After shots! (aka my excuse for barraging you with pictures of Andy's adorable nursery.)

Andy's Fourth Month

I will never understand how it can both feel like my baby was born last year as well as last week. I think back over 2015 and cannot fathom that far gone era of pregnancy. But, like....it was just in June. I was still pregnant in June. What?
Thankfully, it seems as though his digestive system has evened out and things are mostly good. He has intermittent constipation that royally sucks, but we get through it with lots of pain/sympathy tears. Granted, we essentially switched it out for reflux. His blankets and nursery smells perpetually of spitup, and I don't remember the last time I myself didn't reek as well. We have his four-month appointment this coming Thursday and I'm hoping to get a perscription for an antacid of some sort. Poor little heartburn baby.
He's a rockstar night sleeper, daytime naps have kind of fallen by the wayside for the time being. He gets tired and I put him down successfully, yet without fail, within 30 minutes to an hour he's back up again and screaming. I think we didn't even have a full two hours of napping through all of yesterday. I try to stick to a routine, we go on walks around the same time nearly every day and that's about the most consistent nap we ever get. He sleeps better/longer in his carseat, presumably because of the inclined position.
Mark and I have a bet going on regarding his current weight. I'm assuming he's bound to slow down sometime and have bet that he's going to be around 17 pounds, but Mark is convinced he's gotta be over 18. Guess we'll just have to see.

This last month, we've spent a lot of time at the Grandparents'. They're too good to always hold and cuddle and snuggle him whenever he's even remotely fussy. Pretty soon he may even start to recognize the house when we go.

We enjoyed a rejuvenating, uplifting weekend of General Conference culminating in a glorious setting sun just outside our front door.

Andy has blossomed into quite the wiggle worm. He swings around in circles, inches across the floor using just his feet and neck, jigs and dances, and all around grooves. He's so curious about so many things, I'm afraid we've got a rude awakening coming with how un-baby-proofed our place is. Oh boy.

The week of the 16th my mom and I packed up and headed to Utah for my childhood best friend's wedding. My uncle and his family were kind enough to let us crash at their place for the night and that morning we meandered around their beautiful farm and took some photos.

Diaper change on the roadside! Andy had a rough time with all the car travel, but I blame it partly on his transitioning nap schedule. He didn't sleep nearly as much as I expected him to, nor I imagine as much as he needed to. He was enamored with the soft, luscious grass however. Can't say I blame the kid.

He got his first haircut! Momma was sick of looking at his gross, mullety rattail and took a few swipes with Daddy's buzzer and voila! It turned out pretty slick. We saved a tiny lock in a ziploc baggy.

I'll be uploading another post fully about Halloween but I just had to include a quick shot of the costume I [mostly] made for Andy. The onesie came from Hobby Lobby, but I created the stencils and painted the front, as well as sewing the cape on the back. We used velcro so that it's removable. We went to a rockin' vintage themed party this past weekend and on the day of Halloween our ward is throwing their annual block party and it's supposed to be pretty legit. I'm very excited to dress up again and get to know more people.

Due to his bounding energy, it has become quite difficult to take good photos of Andy that don't turn out absurdly blurry. We plan on purchasing a more professional camera so that I'm not left to fumble with my camera phone, so hopefully the quality of these monthly photoshoots will begin rising.

This little nutjob is the craziest roller coaster I've yet to ride. He fulfills me, he destroys me, he makes me laugh and cry and everything in between. I'm still figuring out this new person that is my mom self, but I feel far more capable and ready to take on each new day than I did even just a week ago. Sometimes I fall into the trap of thinking, "crap, he's old enough now that I should have everything down and be a pro, I have no excuses," and I try to force myself to slog through all my chores and responsibilities. I often forget that it's okay for me to prioritize napping over laundry and dishes. Speaking of which, Andy is asleep for the moment so I'm gonna run and jump in bed like the floor is made of lava!

Ander's Third Month

Any other moms have to peruse their Instagram to get a reminder of what even happened the last month because you were too not-on-top-of-your-game to draft little bits for the blog post as they happened? Yeah, me too.

During Andy's third month of this earthly life, we firstly had his baby blessing! We opted to have it done at home and invited mostly family and a few dear, close friends. Mark was slightly more than jittery and anxious, but did a beautiful job and returned the sweet babe right back to me when he was done and I just snuggled him and paraded him around the room in his mightily dapper get-up.

I kept expecting him to break out into

a rousing rendition of

"Seize the Day"

#newsie4lyfe

We spent a good minute trying to get a smile from Andy as he sat on my 97 year old grandmother's knee. She's such a good sport to allow that hefty baby to crush her poor little lap. Although, there aren't many stronger women than my Grandma Pearl.

We finally braved the perils of painting with baby hands and headed to As You Wish with our best buds Allie and Izzy. One of the workers was kind enough to offer their helping hand and I honestly don't think we could have done it without them. He was slightly groggy from his nap but definitely wanted to clench his hand around the gloopy paint instead of splay his fingers properly. Then of course proceeded to stuff his smurfy fist in his mouth and try to poison himself.

I took the quote from a favorite Owl City number, "Honey and the Bee" if you'd like a listen. It's adorable and lovely and gives me the honey-glows (pun-ish intended).

We've started walking to the Riverview Park more often and jogging around the beautiful scenery. We had most of the entire park to ourselves and the overcast morning and slight drizzle made for a very refreshed and happy momma.
And then, in true Arizona fashion, the weather boiled up into the hundreds again and we haven't left the house unless direly necessary. So boo.

Every Tuesday we give Daddy a quiet, empty house for the evening and hang out at Grandma and Grandpa Andersen's. Grandma gets to walk the baby around while Mommy and Grandpa do the weekly ad crossword puzzle. This particular Tuesday sported a fantastic light-show in the form of a powerful rainstorm, so we snuggled and took in the rain smell on the back porch. Aunt Tasha was kind enough to act as photographer.

Speaking of which, naturally, it was time for another glam photo sesh!

Our good friend, Haley, brought this stinkin' adorable crocheted rabbit outfit to the baby shower and I had visions of rotund baby bellies and napping angels for weeks. During our multitude of moves this summer I, for a panicked moment, thought perhaps it was lost and that we wouldn't be able to find it before he outstretched the knitted fabric, but we caught it just in the nick of time!
Although, I had planned to use the rabbit "costume" for his four month October pictures, since then it would be so close to Halloween, but it definitely ain't making it a whole 'nother month.

Appreciate how hard I (we) had to work for 

these good photos.

And finally, I have no pictures to document the occasion, but on the eve of his third month "birthday"/anniversary/meh? we took him out to my parents, dropped him off and said buh-bye for the next twelve hours or so. Andy had his first sleepover and it went beautifully! Everyone was happy the next morning and no one was dead, so we're calling it a resounding success.
Mark and I utilized the free evening in true, boring, adult fashion. We got sushi to-go, went home and watched a Studio Ghibli, played video games, had fun-times and slept. It was glorious and exactly the reprieve we both needed to rejuvenate our parenting wells. We were running a little dry there, for a spell.

I'm actually beginning to feel like my baby is aging. For the longest time, everyone would comment, "He looks so grown up! He's gotten so big! My, how he's changed!" and I would just look at him and shrug because I could swear he looked exactly as he had when they handed him to me in the hospital. We've always said, "He was born three months old."
Well, now that he actually is three months, we've caught up and all of a sudden I look at the photos of him now next to our hospital pictures and get a little panicky because oh my gosh I have a toddler. My baby looks like a little boy and it's scary.
Luckily, he's playing the lazy chubster card and procrastinating on the rolling over, sitting up, and crawling milestones so my panic is generally unfounded.

Babes, you're my little nutcase.
I love the way you grip my fingers like you'll never let go when I'm feeding you your bottle, and I love to stare at your beautiful, long eyelashes (which you definitely got from your lucky father who doesn't appreciate his enough) while you guzzle.
I love your roll-y thighs and big belly.
I love your grins that you so freely give, but I also love your stern faces and srsbsns moods.
I may not exactly love your newfound voice and the realization that you are, in fact, in control of the volume and so currently you have it set to "banshee screech" whether you're happy, sad, angry, or usually just confused, but it occasionally makes me laugh. Perhaps you'll be a broadway belter once you can start singing and momma can accompany you.
You love your puppies, and any other animals that happen to cross your field of vision. You love bright colors and natural sunlight. You gaze happily at the array of books nestled in your room, so I'm hoping you'll be a bookworm just like momma.
You're wonderful and I love you so, Andy.

Little Big Thoughts

As obvious as it may be, my journaling has been a whole lot of nonexistent lately. Thankfully, my dear friend Allora gave me probably one of my favorite gifts from my baby shower in the form of Mom's One Line a Day.
This tiny pink book has been the lifesaver to my journal efforts. The small entry blocks save me from feeling daunted by a huge empty book and also encourage me to choose my words carefully. I have to ruminate back on my day and prioritize what I want to record.
A few days ago, I scrawled a comment that hasn't left my brain and I thought I'd share here.
I won't quote directly (mostly cuz it's in the other room by my bed and I wanna blast this post out before baby wakes), but the general idea was my gratitude to Motherhood and it's effect on my psychological well-being. Granted, it's left me a bit of a mess as well, but if parenthood has given me anything, it's a blessedly blase attitude about others' opinions.
Side-eye at the store for the stained sweats and third-or-fourth-day hair? Meh.
Formula fed? Really? Yup. Really.
Dirty dishes in the sink? Laundry piled up? Sticky floors? Avert thine eyes, cuz that's what I'm doing.
Don't get me wrong, I still think about it and remind myself, "Ah, gotta do that!" Blips of guilt flit through my mind when I see someone doing a seemingly "better" job than me. But no longer are the days where I cry in the shower because of some supermom's instagram post with the homemade cake and DIY laundry detergent and flawsome hair and pristine clothes and cute cozy home #straightouttapinterest. And honestly it's because I'm crying in the shower from being unable to help my baby instead. If I can't find a minute to feed myself, I'm certainly not setting aside any minutes to compare myself and dwell on it. Ain't nobody got time for that.
Because the honest to goodness truth is that I'm doing the very best that I can.
Motherhood has been so different than what I expected. I thought I would be overcome with this glowing, bubbly, shiny kind of love that just burst from every cell and I wouldn't be able to contain it. I thought I would be one of those mothers with the rainbow unicorn instagram captions.
But I literally cannot find the words to describe the love I feel for this kid.
It's hard.
It's so very, very hard.
Being a parent is, truthfully, pretty sucky.
We brought our little potato spud home and I didn't feel glowy. I didn't feel like a little burning sun of love and happiness. I felt tired, and worn to the core, and a little like I made a mistake. Glimmering moments of true joy saved me, and it's only recently that I'm finally feeling like perhaps maybe me and this munch-nugget can actually be buds.
I didn't recognize the love. When compared with the ideals I had gleaned from the comments of others, it seemed that I had a missing piece. But there's no question that I love him. I would not hesitate to put his life before mine. Fixing his hurt and being the cause of his smiles or breathy giggles feeds my very soul. My struggle has been more with finding out who I am as a mother and what changes it has wrought in me rather than loving him or not.

I don't have a solid reason for sharing this. And I don't have time to care about whether or not you'll enjoy it or think it's crap. My "care" meter is maxed out from being preoccupied by the cutest, snuggiest, loviest love-bug in my life. #sorrynotsorry

Just a Quickie

Surely I'm not the only parent whose mornings go something like; 

Wake up and feed the baby, 

nod off while feeding the baby, 

make more food for when the baby gets hungry later (or rather, sooner), 

change the baby and babble with him for a good minute, 

take advantage of a content baby and sneak in a quick shower, 

notice you're hungry, 

head to the kitchen only to realize you could be proactive 

and get a load of laundry going before eating, 

but on the way back from the laundry room you stop 

to clean up the mess of scattered magnets 

from when the magnet board fell off the wall the other day, 

forget that you were hungry, 

get the baby down for a nap, 

start roaming the house armed with paper towels 

and some windex to eradicate the dust 

from off all the pictures and mirrors adorning your walls, 

remember the hunger and now thirst, 

the thought of water reminds you of your poor dogs

 shriveling in the desert heat, 

let them inside and give treats for tricks, 

switch the wet laundry over to the dryer, 

might as well get another load going--make it a complete laundry day, 

and suddenly you're struck with the fact that it's been four hours since you thought you should probably eat something.

It strikes you as comical.

"I should write a blog post."

And you still haven't eaten.

Ander's Second Month

Who was put in charge of deciding how the year was divided up? Cuz the whole pregnancy was measured in weeks and now all of a sudden my baby is nine weeks and five days yet somehow counted as exactly two months old. Because it's the 25th of the month and he was born on the 25th? #yestologic

This year has been a crazy whirlwind. I was due in June, we sold our house the first of April (a point of much mirth between Mark and I), and we didn't get into our new place till after Andy was born. And I won't even get into the festering yuck pile of that whole experience. Maybe someday. When I have more than the allotted time that the bottle Baby is chugging down at the moment gives me.

So let's see, during Ander's second month of life we made it back to church! We are thrilled with our new ward and look forward to getting to know the members. It certainly helps that our good friends Taylor and Thomas are already in the ward! Automatic friends, for the win.

 We took a risk and tried out going to the lake. Turns out July is still way too blazing hot for a whole lot of fun with a two month old. We managed to get by without much sunburning and hardly any fussing, but mama sure needed a nap by 3 o'clock. Being on the boat knocked Andy right into nap mode, and as always he loved the water. Mor'du was thrilled to be on such a wild adventure and was basically a floormat for the next three days afterwards.

We took the opportunity to have my parents babysit while we attended a session at the Gilbert temple and it was spectacular. I hadn't thought about accommodating my new mom-bod until the night before but luckily the Deseret Book right across the freeway had a beautiful (and stretchy) dress in my size so we were golden! Grandma and Grandpa had been implicit in their desires for us to take our sweet time so as to give them more time with the Bud, so we went to lunch at Mod Pizza afterwards and stuffed ourselves silly with delicious pizzas and homemade lemonade. Seriously, it's amazing. I live literally five miles away from the Mesa temple now but I will make the trip down to Gilbert every time if it means we get to have Mod Pizza after.

Bug-a-boo has grown to love bathtime. It calms him right down and certainly seems to help him get prepared for bedtime.

As for our furbabes, they couldn't be more pleased with the backyard setup. Well, that's a lie. Shade could definitely be more abundant, but the size is definitely a far cry from the maybe ten square feet they had back at the apartment.

Seeing my buddy grow more and more into the little person he's to become has been such a treat. The random stranger in the Walgreen's parking lot said it perfectly when he noted that Andy has quite the stern demeanor:

"But when he does smile, you know you've earned it."

24 inches long

14 lbs, 15 oz

Head circumference 98%

Special note-of-interest: those letter blocks were made from scratch by my own mom back when I was a wee little one and I've dreamed of having them for my kids for as long as I can remember. I thought for the longest time that they had gotten lost or trashed during one of the many moves our family made throughout the years but then I happened to see them tucked away in a corner of my parents house during their latest move and about cried. Snatched those up real quick before they were lost again!