Sick and Tired

Apparently you should not take your baby to those kids gymnastics places. All I'm saying is that we went to one last Wednesday and then on Thursday Luke was magically sick. That was a week ago. He's still sick. So much for trying to get out of the house to meet other moms and let my child socialize.

Sick baby is the worst, by the way. I got a small dose with vomitapalooza over Christmas, but that was really just one night of real sickness. This has been seven nights of runny nose and phlegmy cough. It sucks because neither of us is getting any sleep and there is nothing I can do to help him (we have baby Vicks on his chest, put on a steamy shower while we bathe him, spray baby saline up his nose and suck it out with the dreaded sucky, and have the humidifier on while he sleeps. Any other suggestions are welcome.). Last night I had a melt down and woke Matt up to take over. Then, I was so wracked with guilt that I couldn't sleep and just ended up taking over again and sending Matt back to bed. Mom guilt is heavy.

Matt has been fighting this cold, too. I have been flirting with it, but have so far not let it get past first base. Part of the reason I am so adamant about staying well is that my evening jaunts to the gym or yoga are my only time out of the house. Luke and I are in the apartment all day, and have been since last Friday. I took him to the grocery store yesterday and all hell broke loose when we got home. Suddenly today he has a fever to go along with the cold. Apparently we will be staying indoors for a while longer. I must remain well to keep my daily taste of freedom!

The Little General just woke from his nap and is now shouting orders. I'm armed with the nose sucky and ready for a fight. Wish me luck.

9 Months and Rain

Luke and I braved "Storm Watch 2010" to get to his 9 month check-up on Wednesday. He is 28" and just under 20lbs. I think maybe he secretly removed a limb or something while he was being weighed because my arms and back would swear he weighs more than that. I talked with the doctor about Luke's separation anxiety since it has been in full effect for a solid two months. He said that it's perfectly normal and IT MAY JUST BE PART OF HIS PERSONALITY. That makes me a little nervous. I really wish he would have just stopped at "It's perfectly normal..." and then added, "and it should be over tomorrow." I'm still hopeful that one day he will willingly go to other people, but I'm trying to appreciate all the attention I'm getting right now. I know I'll just be sad and want it back again once it stops.

The craziest part of the check-up was when the Dr. said he wanted to see us in three months when Luke is one year. ONE YEAR!! Holy cow. I'm not prepared to think about that right now. Moving on.

So, thanks to this whole "weather" thing we have discovered that Luke loves walking in the rain. He laughs and helps me hold the umbrella and has reminded me how fun the rain can be. But how hard is it to get the kid out of the car seat and hold the umbrella at the same time when it's pouring outside? Yeah, it's impossible. I have to run and jump in the backseat and close the door, get the kid out of the seat, put up his hood, grab the umbrella, and rush to open the door and umbrella at the same time to avoid soaking myself and the inside of the car. Luke always stays nice and dry, but I've basically been sopping wet all week. But his sweet little giggles make it worth the soggy jeans.

I keep forgetting to get pictures of him in his cute red raincoat. (That was supposed to be posted here.) Instead, here's what Luke looks like when he's playing with a balloon.

Anyway, Luke is all kinds of happy and healthy and sweet and cute and we love him so much. We Johnsons are a lucky little family.

Happy weekend everyone!

Escrow, Baby!

Yup. We are on our way! Keep those happy thoughts coming people! Now is when the fun starts.

Play by Play

The sellers countered us (and only us! Go J3!) last night in regards to renting back the property to them for a certain amount of time after escrow. We adjusted the time and confirmed it with them, and today we meet with our loan agent to hopefully ensure a 30 day escrow. If that is secured then they will accept our counter and the next step begins. Holy cow. We may have potentially found our home!

(Don't you love all these "may" and "potentially" and "hopefully" kind of words I'm using? It's to keep me from getting my hopes up. How do you think it's working?)

The Ramblings of a Tired But Hopeful Potential Homeowner-To-Be

On Sunday afternoon we headed south to San Juan Capistrano to drive by some potential properties and to hit one open house that looked promising. Most of the drive-by's were uneventful. One property would be called an...ahem...doody hole. Then we went to the open house.

While not our first choice on the outside, the inside was perfect for us. It had that feeling of "I'm home" that I have rarely experienced in our 1+ year of searching. So much so that I cried. That has never happened. We made a very aggressive offer, as you must do in the So Cal housing market, and now we wait. This is the part that stinks and has made it impossible to sleep. That has also never happened.

Matt and I have made offers on multiple handfuls of homes, and have considered (ran the numbers on) over 100, so that means we have seen well over 100 properties. Some were beautiful and well-maintained and immediately purchased IN CASH by investors. One had blood on the entryway walls (I did not view the remaining walls to see if this was the norm). Many had been converted to "apartment-style living" with a tenant in each room and a lock on each door. And one was so thoroughly trashed that we believe the living room was used as a parking space for the family car. Needless to say, it's been a long road.

I don't think I've ever blogged about the house hunt because it's such a frustrating issue that I don't want to waste the little Luke-free time I have focusing on the topic. But today, it's all I can think about. I was up with Luke for a feeding -- we're still working on that -- at 1:30am, and then could not go back to sleep. My mind was full of concerns and questions and what-ifs. I finally got out of bed at 3am to go check the California sex offenders registry and the crime rate statistics for San Juan Capistrano. This was what was keeping me awake. How could I have never considered this resource in the house hunting process? Turns out, there are only 5 offenders in all of SJC (and none within a 1 mile radius) and the crime rate is one of the lowest in Orange County. Then I re-checked the local elementary school and viewed their API scores, just to make sure. I emailed my mom to tell her a little about the house. Then I checked MLS to see if the house was still listed as active, just in case. It was. I tried to go back to bed and make myself stop thinking about the house, then Luke decided at 5am that he was done sleeping. No amount of coaxing would convince him otherwise, so we got up before the sun. Needless to say, I'm tired. Please blame any rambling on that.

So now we wait to see if the offer on the house in the registered sex offender-free, low crime, California Distinguished School winning district will be accepted. My fingers will be crossed until Tuesday at 5pm when our offer expires. But, my hope is that they call me riiiiight....NOW! Nope. How abooooouuuuut.....NOW? Still nope. **sigh** I hate waiting. Thanks for listening.

Good Morning

I woke up to a lovely original song performed by my little soloist this morning. The lyrics were not what I would call "genius" as he only knows three words: Mama, Dada, and hi. However, those three words were randomly sung with gusto for 35 minutes until he convinced Mama it was time to get up. Did I mention this all started before 6am? Yeah. Good Morning.