Monday, July 31, 2006
Well, sadly, all good things must come to an end. After a wonderful, two-week visit, Noah needed to get back to
his PA home.
Our trip North was slightly delayed by a home inspection from our buyer. Russ, Noah and Liam went to breakfast,
as Jaxson and I packed for the weekend trip and steered the dogs clear of the inspector. Luckily, the "fix-it"
list was short and quite agreeable, however we wonder if the buyer is REALLY going to want us to install a handrail up the
stairway. When it comes time to move in, it may be a bit of a hinderance. However, it's a minor request, and one
that can easily be accomplished if desired.
We hit the road just a bit before noon on Friday. The trip wasn't too bad, although we had to stop a couple of
times to take care of baby Jaxson. We arrived in Doylestown around 5:00 and dropped off Noah had his house. We
were sad to see him go (especially LIAM!) but we knew that he wanted to see his girlfriend and was eager to get to his friends.
He was a big help during his visit, and it was beautiful to see him bond with his new baby brother.
That evening we got some dandy cheesesteak sandwiches at "The Little Store." Marcie enjoyed seeing her new grandson,
and Liam was just super glad to be out of his carseat! Russ's cousin, David, stopped by for a visit too, so it was nice
to see family who we hadn't seen in years. Russ and his mom stayed up into the wee hours of the morning visiting, but
the boys and I hit the bed around 11:00. I was amazed that Liam was awake and ready to play at 5:00am!
So, Liam and I amused ourselves quietly Saturday morning, while we waited for Marcie and Daddy to wake up. Fortunatley,
the didn't sleep too late, and Liam was thrilled to be able to play with Grandmom.
Saturday we ran a few errands before returning back to the apartment for a much needed nap. Saturday evening, we
visited our friends Sue and Perry in Quakertown. A few more old friends came by too, and we had a nice time playing
pool, and catching up on gossip. I did corral the family around 11:00 to get home though, and we all enjoyed a really
good night's sleep.
Marcie treated us to a wonderful breakfast on Sunday morning, and then we began gathering our gear up for the trip home.
We wanted to swing by IKEA too, to just scout out some possible furniture for the new house. It was a usual long trip
home, but we arrived right around 6:30pm.
It was nice to see friends and family, but we are all already missing Noah. We hope to make the trip again come
October.
Monday, July 24, 2006
July22nd-23rd, 2006
Well it was another hectic week as the townhouse was shown a few times. We did sign off on a contract for full price
on our house. We enjoyed having all the kids around and enjoyed movies during the evenings when Erin and I were not meeting
with the realtor. During the week we were also finishing up signing off on the house we are going to buy on the inspection
paperwork. This has now been ironed out so the shoe will be on the other foot this coming Friday as our place will be inspected.
The Sunday before last we enjoyed some playground time as the Mom's Group met over at Lancaster Park with the Kids. Steve
Davis. Noah, and I also went along and hung out while watching the kids play.
Like I said Erin, Noah, and the dogs had to escape the house a few times for Real Estate Agents to show the place. Liam
has been back to daycare. Somedays he went without a fuss and others he cried for mom but it has been hit and miss. Erin treated
Noah to a Thai restuarant for lunch which they both enjoyed taking the opportunity when finicky me was at work. We watched
a couple of funny movies in the week called
Fun With Dick and Jane and
Grandma's Boy.
On Saturday Lorrie, our agent, stopped by and put the Sold sign on the house. The Open House was scheduled in the
paper but Lorrie put the sign up to deter the Open House.
We all went to the library after that and lo and behold we ran into our buyer Lori. We all had a great conversation and
she certainly is excited by our townhouse. Erin also picked up some books (as if we need anymore) at the booksale. I also
checked out some WWII books with Noah for research. Liam got a could and some DVDs . The Library has been a lifeline for me
while all my books are packed in storage.
Erin was not feeling great after lunch so she laid down with the little ones while Noah and I did yard work. After everyone
was up I enjoyed some time with my boys.
Jaxson is growing like a weed and eating very well. He seems to be a good baby. He likes to be cuddled by all of us and
knows when we are not around. Noah and I also obssessed on Age of teh Empires all weekend creating different WWII scenarios
and testing them on the PC. His girlfriend Kayla and him keep in contact by their lifeline, the cell phones.
On Sunday I decided to take Noah and Liam (his return visit) to see Cars at the base theater. We left early as I thought
it may be busy. We got there a half hour early and the parking lot was full and their were probably 100 people in line already.
Liam did not cry as we turned around and left. Noah and I felt really bad for Liam. Noah so much so that he bought Liam the
Cars video gane at Walmart. We finished up some grocery shopping and headed home for steaks. Mom had some one on one time
with Jaxson while we were out.
We all settled in and watched a movie called
Thunderstruck from the library that was okay.
As the houses stand we signed off on a rejection of a thorough inspection of the underground oil tanks after conferring
with others. It is a minimal risk but with the money the owners of our new house are doing we felt it okay. So the contract
on that house should be complete and our paperwork for the loan was express mailed last week. On the sale front of our house
the inspection will be this coming Friday. Erin and Noah are doing a few last minute things such as staining and working on
the windows. I will be installing a couple more GFI outlets and getting the smoke detectors in order.
We head to Pennsylvania this coming weekend to take Noah home and also let Grandmom meet her new Grandson so that should
be exciting.
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Major Update July 1st - July 16th
Wow where do we start ... oh yes we had a BABY!!!!!!!
Jaxson Garrett Cole was born Saturday July 1st at 12:02 PM.
He had brown hair and what looks like it may be brown eyes.
We actually went to the hospital on Friday night after dropping Liam off with the Hoffman's. Erin was definitely in labor
but we chose to go back home and labor. At 6:30 Saturday Erin roused me and we headed back taking pitstops for the contractions
as it hurt when the van was moving. Contractions progressed the labor all morning and Erin took advantage of the whirlpool
but she was very tired. She was almost ready to consider some pain relief when she found out she was 8cm dilated. After that
she started to focus and really concentrate on her Bradley method and I did too. An hour later Jaxson graced us with his presence.
The next day Liam got to meet his little brother. I went in with Jaxson when he got circumsized which I handled
better than when Liam had it done. After lunch Jaxson and Mommy were cleared for home. Pretty remarkable!
On the fourth Grandpa and Gramma arrived and were excited to see both of their Grandboys and us too! In between playing
with their Grandboys they were a lot of help with us as Mom Day cleaned up various parts of the house and Dad Day tightened
up the storm door, did a haul to St. Andrews Landfill with me, and put dead man weights on both sides of the gates on the
fence.
Erin and I took a night off and went to see
Nacho Libre. Erin thought it was really funny and I thought it was okay. Jaxson and Liam did great with the Grandparents. On Friday we
all packed up and went down the Summer River Concert Series at St. Mary's as the night was very pleasant.
On Saturday they headed back to Pennsylvania and we spent most of the weekend just looking at Jaxson and playing with
Liam. On Monday I could not drag myself away from them so I switched my compressed Friday to Monday. On Tuesday I got back
to work and Erin got busy back on the house deal.
We went back and forth on a couple of offers on the house on Spruce and made final preparations to put ours
on the market. On Friday I ran home and got the lawn done and Lorrie Garner, our agent from Re/Max, put the sign in the
yard and took interior photos. Wouldn't you know I went to get Liam and there was someone already looking the house
over. The house was not to go on the market until Monday.
On Saturday the firedrills started immediately. We got a call that someone wanted to see the house. We loaded up the
van with kids and dogs and left for a while. When we arrived Cinda arrived with Noah who is staying down for a few weeks to
meet Jaxson and play with Liam. He had a bunch of gifts for Liam and Jaxson. Grammy and Dixie bought the baby some nice outfits
and Grammy got Noah a duck clock.
Right about the time we were getting settled a realtor came to the door. So I begged off fifteen minutes to contact our
realtor and abandon the house. It is quite the firedrill to get all the kids and dogs loaded up. On Sunday Lorrie stopped
by with a 210k offer for our house. The catch was they wanted 9k in closing costs and we were all concerned that the house
may not appraise that high. We decided to let Lorrie touch base with the buyers realtor, who we almost interviewed to be ours,
and knew our house was coming up.
Later Sunday night the owners of the house on Spruce rejected our counteroffer Lorrie presented them via email. Lorrie
had said that one of them orally agreed to the commision split of our counteroffer. We were surprised as we thought their
counteroffer earlier in the week before was fair but Lorrie wanted to counteroffer one more time. Well we intervened this
time and emailed directly back and said their offer the week before was fair and we agreed. Lorrie came down Sunday evening
and we all signed off on that offer by both parties.
This time in our life is just this side of crazy. Noah is really helping out with Jaxson and keeping the flowers from
dying in this heat. That brings me to Monday the 17th. Katie, our frend and teh owner on Spruce, and Erin set up Inspections
and Septic pumping for Tuesday. We also had another realtor come by the house with a client. I met Erin at Greenview Knolls
Elementary as she was waiting for the tour to go through. When we got the all clear by Erin driving by I headed towards the
house. Lo and behold I passed the client and we know her. We used to do dog rescue together for the Animal Relief Fund. Small
world!
So late last night Lorrie emails that the offer from Sunday has been withdrawn as the lady just found out she is pregnant.
On the flipside it sounds like the lady we know Lori who toured last night will be making an offer in a couple of days. So
onward we press through this crazy time. Luckily I have all three sons around me to keep things at least a little fun. So
that I believe catches our blog up!
