Part 1: Saying Goodbye To Our 1st Home

Since this will be a very long post I'm going to divide it into several parts.

Spring 2008, B and I purchased our first home after renting for almost 2 years of our marriage.  We searched all over Wilmington for several months before finding our first home.  Just under 1,700 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 2 bath, a bonus room above the 2 car garage and a fenced in backyard.  A great home for a young married couple and their dog.

After being here for almost 7 years, we made grey squirrel dr "our home."

We renovated by doing most of the work ourselves.  Minus installing the tile, wood floor and silestone counter tops. When we purchased the house I was in-between jobs which means renovating the house became my full-time job.  I ripped up all the carpet, floor tacks, took up the linoleum, painted, was B's helper installing the appliances (that was a pain).  It made the house all more special with all the sweat and energy I put in.    

  
  We've shared lots of meals.  Lots of good ones and maybe more bad ones.

Brody's many different Halloween costumes.  His least favorite holiday. 

Celebrating Brody's birthday, 7 to be exact. I went from being into my 20s into my 30s in this house.  B spent all of his 30s here.   

Went through a few hurricanes and tropical storms.

Hurricane Irene, 2011

Hurricane Irene

  Snow days at the beach.

February 2010

Christmas decorating.

New Year's Eve shenanigans.

January 1, 2010

Lazy days.

Every spring, birds build a nest on our front porch wreath to lay eggs.  Will miss seeing this.

And we've celebrated 7 wedding anniversaries here.

6 year wedding anniversary 

So many memories in our first home until our greatest memory of all, Miss Vivian Rose! 

A Day of Good News

Yesterday turned out to be a great day.  Not only was it over 70 degees, but we heard back from our home appraisal and our home thankfully appraised at selling price.  For those that have sold your home before, knows the stress of it all.

The buyer, who apparently is a contactor, didn't think our house would appraise on what he offered.  He said if it didn't appraise that amount then he wouldn't go through with the sell.  After we found our my dream home, I've been stressed that our sell would fall through and we could say, 'goodbye' to the perfect house. So so happy we can move forward with the new home.

Then as I was getting in bed, I checked my email and received my lab results from my glucose test.  I PASSED!!!  I was so afraid I was going to be diagnosed with gestastional diabetes again. This was my 3rd time taking the test during this pregnancy.  I failed the 1 hour after finding out I was pregnant and then passed the 2 hour.  When I met with Dr. Wright for Joanna's choriod plexus cyst, he said he would be seeing me back because I would be diagnosed again.  So glad he was wrong. I knew I wouldn't be able to control it as well as I did with Vivian.  One less thing I have to worry about.

Here's a pic from yesterday since I can't make a post without a picture :)

Tips For Selling Your House Quickly With A Toddler

Finding out the news we were expecting baby #2 in May, we decided it was time to put our house on the market and find something larger. Our house isn't super small...under 1,700 square feet...but we want something we can grow into and stay in for many years to come.  

This was a great starter home for us.  I know I will cry when we move.  This was our first home purchase and more importantly, Vivian's first home.  I'm sad she won't remember her time here, but we certainly will!

We made the decision just before Christmas to sell and went live mid-January. January isn't the 'ideal' time to sell, but you gotta do whatcha gotta do.

Now, when you have a toddler on your hands...in my case, an 18 month old, it can be very challenging. You want your house SPOTLESS and DE-CLUTTERED.

Before meeting with our realtors, I deep cleaned the entire house.  I cleaned ALL the base boards, light fixtures (amazing how much brighter it makes your home when you do this), rented a carpet cleaner from Home Depot and cleaned all the rugs and carpet,  cleaned all the scuffs off the walls, scrubbed every door removing the dust, scrubbed the kitchen and bathroom cabinets inside and out, cleaned under the top cabinets removing food splatter, made the stove and oven look brand new by getting the 'gunk' out from around the knobs and around the stove top and cleaned the food from inside the oven, cleaned the tile grout in the kitchen.

It was an EXHAUSTING JOB.  Especially after caring for Vivian all day and cleaning at night.  Totally worth it though!

When our realtors came to our house they could not believe how great our little home looked.  They said it would sell itself.  There was nothing we needed to do.

Our house was on the market just under 5 weeks when we got an offer that we accepted.  Our house was like a revolving door with potential buyers.  It was shown to someone almost everyday, which means you have to clean EVERYDAY!!!  

Here are my tips:

1.  Deep clean before meeting with a realtor to list your home.  Make small repairs if need-be.

2.  De-Clutter, De-clutter, De-clutter!!!  Rent a storage unit to clean out your closets and toys that your little one doesn't play with. Potential buyers want to see the size of your closets, not all your belongings. You also don't want toys everywhere.  We also have a FROG (a room above the garage) that we had an inflatable mattress on a bed frame for guests that we took down.  Wanted to show the potential buyer how large the space was.

3.  Remove as many family photos as possible.  Buyers want to imagine themselves living there and not focused on the family that currently lives in their potential home.  We only left a few pictures of Vivian up, table framed pics only...which was only two.  I hated putting hers and our pics away, but I wanted to make a quick sale.  Leaving non-family portraits on the walls are fine.  We have a few professional photos and paintings of our historic town we live in that we left hanging.

4.  Windex, Pledge, Clorox Wipes, Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, Stainless Steel Appliance Cleaner, Tile and Hardwood Floor Cleaner will be your best friend during this process. 

5. Dust, vacuum, sweep, make sure your kitchen and bathrooms are spotless when you know you have a showing. The kitchen and bath are the two rooms that really sell your home.  

6.  If you have any decals on your child's wall, take them down.  Very easy to do.  I had one over Vivian's crib that I removed.  Buyers may think it would be something difficult to remove.  

7.  If your little one naps, make sure your realtor knows when his/her nap time is so they can block that time for showings.  

8.  Have as many open houses that you can.  We had 3 open houses in 1 month!  You want as much traffic as possible.  

9.  If you have dog, take him with you or have a neighbor or doggie day care watch him.  If the water and food bowl is inside, put it where no one will see it.  We tucked Brody's away in the garage.  We looked at homes where there dog was in the garage or in crates. It may be a pain, but buyers don't want to hear a barking dog while touring your home.  If you have cats, make sure the litter box is outside and cats aren't roaming around the house.  We looked at two houses that had cats and you all you could do was smell cat.  Opening the closets, cat smell.  Walking into each room, cat smell.  Walk into the front door, cat smell.  Horrible.  Pet owners, make sure your house is smelling fresh and clean and not smelling like animal.

10. Buy new bath mats and hand towels to use only for showings.  After a showing, put them up until your next showing.  Don't use them for yourself.  Speaking of your bathroom, hide your shampoo, body wash, loofa, bath cloth, toothbrush, face wash, toothpaste  underneath your sink.  Hide your trash can as well.

Make sure all bath toys are put away and not hanging out in the tub.

11.  Organize your linen closet.  I made sure towel colors where organized.  I also put all meds, nail polish, etc in a basket and left it in the back of my car.  Again, I wanted buyers to see the space they would have.   

12.  Get down and clean around the base of your toilets.  It gets nasty down there!  I also cloroxed the entire toilets to make them white as possible.  You want to remove all the dust and hair.

13.  Clean all of your windows.  Amazing how dirty they get.

14.  When you have a showing, open all of your blinds and turn on every single light in your house.  You want it bright as possible! 

15.  Make sure your yard is well maintained.  Hedges trimmed, pine cones picked up, pine straw racked, fallen limbs are thrown away, front porch, back patio and garage swept clean.

16.  If your little one is still in diapers, don't put the diaper in a diaper pale.  Throw it away in the outside garbage.  You don't want dirty diaper smell in the room.  

17.  By keeping your home tighty each day, it will leave you less stress when you have a showing request the same day it was requested.  Clean after little one goes to bed and deal with the little pick-ups the next day.  

18.  Have snacks, drinks, diapers, wipes ready to take with you when you have to leave your house. 

Every single comment we had from each showing was how immaculate our house was and so well maintained.  It was great hearing, especially being a stay-at-home-mom to little miss Tasmanian Devil.  

It was the BIGGEST PAIN IN THE BUTT, but totally worth the constant cleaning. So happy we are under contract and we have made an offer on our 'forever' home that the seller accepted.   

Happy Selling!!!!  

  

     

Snow Day

Wilmington got a little treat Tuesday morning.  Snow!  It wasn't a lot, but enough to lightly cover the ground and make one little girl happy.  

It was gone by the afternoon leaving only ice in the trees.  It was a great excuse to stay in pj's all day long. 

Thank you for the nice scenery, Heavenly Father!

 

 

27 Weeks Pregnant and Vivian is 20 Months Old Today

Today Vivian and I share something special with baby Joanna, 4 months away from Vivian turning 2 and we'll meet Joanna in 3 months.

Vivian I cannot believe you're going to be a big sister soon!!!  You are going to love your sister to pieces I know.  Mommy is ready for you to have a playmate : )

Vivian at 20 months, you weigh 21.3 lbs, you are 31-1/4 inches tall and your peanut head is 44 cm (3rd percentile).  You are a dainty thing.

Your vocabulary has sky rocketed over the last month.  The CUTEST thing you are doing is when you call for your daddy.  You go, "daaaad."  I love it and so does your daddy.  You also love saying, "apple," "nana (for banana)," "bubbles," "bye bye."  

You love to color and already know some of your colors.  You still love your books as well which makes mommy happy.  You know most of your body parts when we ask you to show us where they are.  For some reason when we ask you where your knees are, you squeeze your eyes tight.  It's hilarious and we have no clue why or where that came from.     

You love to slide.  There's no slide too big for you.  You have turned into a daredevil!  You also love to climb.  Your favorite thing climb on is the kitchen table.  You are constantly climbing up there and we've even let you sit there while you eat.

Speaking of eating, you are so random.  One day you'll eat all day long and other days you barely eat at all.  You do love fruit thankfully, and breakfast!  

You love to run.  You'll just run around the house yelling.  It is so funny!!  You go even wilder when you are wearing only a disper.

You are back to loving baths.  We had a rough month when it was pure torture for you.  So happy you love them again, especially back to loving bubble baths.  

You love giving hugs and kisses...I can never get enough.  You are the sweetest little girl in the whole entire world.  Don't think you don't have tantrums because you do.  You get frustrated very easily.  Mommy is ready for you to be able to vocally tell me what you want and don't want.  

I love you on all the good and bad days little girl!!!

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 How Far along are you: 27 weeks

Weight Gain:  18 lbs.

Maternity Clothes: Maternity tops, but I'm thinking I need to break down and purchase some bottoms.

Food Craving:  No cravings lately

Food Aversion:  Nope.

How Are You Feeling:  Good but tired.

How Are You Sleeping:  So so.  I have a hard time breathing at night.  Feel like I have 10 lb weights on each of my lungs.

Miss Anything:  Nope.

Any Discomforts:  I have occasional "growing pains"

Any Movement: She's little miss dancing queen.

Symptoms:  Just my oh so fun nose bleeds in the mornings.

Labor Signs:  No

Gender:  Girl!

Mood:  Happy and tired

Excited For Anything:  We are currently house hunting.  Praying we will find something soon since our house is currently under contract.  Not excited for this, but I have my glucose test on Wednesday.  Ready to see if I'll be diagnosed again.       

Valentine's Day

What a wonderful second Valentine we had with our little lady.  Even though she's a complete handful, she's the sweetest girl.  I can't believe last year she was just over 7 months old.  Just a tiny peanut! 

Little girl woke up to her Valentine happies.  A book, reusable stickers and a teddy bear.

She loves The Little People books.  They really are cute!

After B woke up we went for a late breakfast which turned into lunch at Crepes and More.  The line and waiting for your food was ridiculous.  I think we were there for 2 hours.  When we were standing in line, the French owner talked to us saying we could cut the line if we wanted.  We go there often, ha.  We didn't, but was nice that he offered.   B and I both got the ham, egg and cheese croissant.  So buttery and flaky.  Definitely worth the wait.  Vivian got the egg and cheese croissant which she ended up eating half of it.  She thought it was yummy!  Before we left, the owner came to us saying he had a Valentine's gift for us.  He gave us a chocolate croissant to go.  So very nice of him!

After our late breakfast/lunch we headed home in which Vivian fell asleep in the car.  We napped on the couch.

  

B made reservations at the Osteria Cicchetti  for dinner.   Vivian looked so cute in her little Valentine's dress!

I ordered the tortellini michalangelo with a spinach salad, B had the chicken parmesan and Vivian ate bread.   

We skipped dessert.  If I hadn't gobbled up the chocolate croissant an hour before leaving dinner, I probably would have ordered something.

We got home and started Vivian's bath.  B went to a basketball game and I crawled into bed after Vivian went to bed and watched tv.  My kind of Valentine's day!!    

Next Valentine's we'll be sharing it with two little ladies!  Still can't believe that one :)