Sold!!!

I'm a little apprehensive about writing this because I still feel unsure about everything seeing as it's our first time selling a house. We came to an agreement with the couple buying our house on Saturday! We close and give possession April 29th!!! Today marks 1 month of our house being on the market, wow! We had an offer in 3 wks, and a contract in 4.
So, we ordered our POD, it was delivered today and Jason has spent the afternoon loading everything that was ready to go. We basically have opposite days off, which is going to leave little room for play the next 3 weeks. We close on a Thursday but because of work schedules will have to actually move the weekend before, less than 3 weeks from now!
I am sad to say goodbye to our humble little home. It was my home alone first, I bought it when I was 21 all by myself, just like a big girl, made me feel so grown up :)
In the 5 years since I bought the house, I got a dog, a husband, another dog and a baby (in that order;0) It's been a good 5 years :)
As bitter sweet as it is to say goodbye, we are so excited about the future and it's possibilities. We are looking for our next home to be an investment, we don't know exactly what kind of package that will come in yet. Our plan is to find something that we can stay in for ~2 years while we fix-up and then sell and maybe do it again. But like I said, that's our "plan". In the meantime we are moving in the 'rents, yee-haw!
Keep us in your thoughts and prayers the next few weeks that there won't be any glitches, that closing will go smoothly and that we won't be too stressed out with moving.
Muah,
Jenni

To Be Sold or Not to Be Sold

We put our house on the market March 4th We were told that 60-90 days is totally normal for a house to sell right now.
The first weekend we didn't have any shows, but as soon as the weekend was over we got our first call! Ahhhh, the anxiety! I had to run home from work grab the dogs, make sure everything was picked up and spotless. From that point on we've had about 3-4 showings a week. Pretty good traffic from what we've heard.
Friday the 25th we had our 1st 2ND showing! How exciting, the couple that was looking said our house was in their top 3. Ok, well I guess you have to make top 3 before you can make #1. Well, Sunday evening we got an offer!! It wasn't a fantastic offer, but it was an offer! We just countered today and we don't know what to expect. We don't know whether we will be moving in 4 weeks or not. But the reality of all of it just hit me. Ahhhhhh, we could be moving in 4 weeks!!! Where are we going to store all of our stuff? I don't know the first thing about storage options out there to purchase, like self-storage or pods. And how much stuff do we have? How much storage do we need? Not to mention that we haven't even started looking at a new place for us to live!
Aye aye aye, my head is spinning right now.

I Feel You Underestimate My Sneakiness

Jason worked off-duty at the Snake Saturday Parade in North Kansas City this weekend. He came home for a few hours before heading off to some more off -duty work. Before he left he handed me his money he made from the earlier off-duty. I remember looking at it, surpised by the amount and then sitting it on the coffee table. Jason left for off-duty about 9:30, I had Enza in bed about 10p and I followed shortly after.
Fast forward to the next afternoon, after church I get to thinking that I hadn't seen the money this morning but yet I didn't remember putting it in my purse. I checked my purse right away, no money. Uh oh, what happened to it? Jason and I start frantically looking everywhere. Coat pockets, pants pockets, etc. Where could it have gone, I don't remember doing anything with it after he handed it to me. And he was sure he hadn't picked it back up after giving it to me. There was only one other culprit in the house......she's about 2.5 ft tall, blonde hair blue eyes and sneaky as ever! So we start looking anywhere and everywhere Enza could have stuck the money, it was folded up so that meant she could have stuck it anywhere. We were looking in the floor registers, trash cans, under the couch, Enza's toy box, we even took apart the sub-woofer in the living room that she so frequently puts paper in. Nothing. We finally gave up, hoping it would turn up somewhere.
Monday rolls around, still no money. I go to work, Jason is home with Enza, still keeping his eye open for the money. He looks through the bathroom trash one more time, no money. He did find his mouth piece that he sleeps with though! Enza had snatched it off of his nightstand and thrown it away without him ever noticing. That would have been another fun scavenger hunt :)
I get home from work and we are STILL thinking about the money and where it could be. We decide that maybe the people who buy our house will find it, or maybe we'll find it when we move. A little while later I ask Jason if he looked inside any of Enza's toys when he emptied her toy box. He hadn't, so I opened up her toy box and pull out her little barn that you sort letters & shapes into. I opened the barn door.....nothing but letters. Sigh, there really isn't any other toys that she could put money into. A minute later Jason looks too, he grabs a sports bottle she has in there and looks inside.....MONEY! He turns it upside down and we hear the money fall against the plastic. He reaches in and pulls out the missing money! Thank God!
So the moral of the story, Enza is a sneaky little sh*t! We never saw her with the money, she must not have played with it. She probably picked it up and put it in the bottle, couldn't get it back out and so went on to something else. I wonder what else she has thrown away or stashed somewhere we don't know about.....

I Must've Slept Funny or Something

Have you ever woken up in the morning and you're neck is stiff and you just feel all out of whack? Like you must have slept funny or something? Wondered what you've been doing?

Sunday School

Enza went to Sunday school for the first time a week ago. She had stayed overnight with Grandma & Grandpa and they actually get to church early enough for Sunday school! This was only the second time that Enza has every stayed overnight somewhere but it was a special occasion. We had a 30th Birthday/Going Away Party for Nathan. If you don't know, Nathan is Jason's childhood best-friend and brother from another mother ;) He has taken a job in San Jose CA and is leaving us this weekend :(
So, Enza had such a good time in Sunday school, that this week Jason & I made the extra effort of get to church early enough for all of us to go to Sunday school. But here are a few pics from her first time.

When It Will Stop No One Knows

Today Jason asked me "When are you going to quit breastfeeding?" I didn't really know how to answer him nor did I actually have an answer for him. "I don't know" I said, "when one of us wants to?" I said kind've guessing myself. When Enza was born I never put a time frame on how long I was going to nurse, I knew I wanted to make it to atleast a year. Now here I am at 17mo+ and I don't know when we'll stop.
Jason asked because he finds it a little disturbing that Enza pulls out my shirt touches my boob and says "Num num!" She gets all excited and lays down just waiting for me to oblige. She nurses 3-4 times a day right now. I was a little bothered after Jason's comment, mainly because we are in the stage when most people wonder why we are still nursing, the stage where some people might think I'm weird or whatever. Before I had Enza I might have even thought it a little weird to nurse a toddler.
At my last La Leche League meeting I borrowed a book from the library,Mothering Your Nursing Toddler. I opened it up to read a little today and immediately felt some comfort and confidence in its pages. The first page of the first chapter says, "

It may seem strange at first that a child who sits at the family table at mealtimes and is into the refrigerator many times in between would also ask his mother for nursing......Yet anyone who looks lovingly at a child at the breast can see that satisfying hunger or thirst is only a part of nursing. After a minute or two of nursing, the entire little body relaxes with contectment and pleasure. A child who is hurt begins to feel better. A child who has become overexcited calms down.........Nursing has all the restorative powers of a morning cup of coffee without the "caffeine jitters." It is as relaxing as an evening cocktail, with no bleary aftereffects.

And so on it goes and when it will stop no one knows.

Bradley Reunion #2

As a forenote, you may have realized by now that I'm a procrastinor/crammer. I put off posting for awhile and then I cram a bunch in!
We had our second Bradley Reunion last month. It was so hard to get everyone together, so there ended up only being 4 our of 6 of us. But, we still got together out at Eric & Carols house and had fun watching the 1 yr olds run around.

Holiday Dress

Jason bought me a sewing machine for my birthday in July. It took me a month or two to get it out of the box because I was slightly intimidated. Since I got the nerve to get it out and learn how to use this paticular machine, I'm hooked!
I started with an apron I made from a cotton nightie that I upcycled. Then I started making accessories for my sewing machine, a mat for it to sit on, a scrap/thread bag that velcros to the mat and holds all my trash. I made a ruffly scarf for me. Finally I decided to attempt my first garment! I made Enza a holiday dress! It all started when my mom gave me some dark green velvety type material from a dress she had and no longer liked. What a perfect little dress this could make! I found a plaid material at Hobby Lobby and used my 40% coupon to buy it.
I cut it all out one day, and started sewing the next weekend. It went better than I expected. The puff sleeves were the scariest part, I prayed the whole time I was sewing that they would look ok when I flipped them right side out! I'm pleased to post a pic of it now, I still have to 'finish' the hems and attach the bow, but I'm thrilled with it. Now that I've got this under my belt I'm more confident to start making more clothes!!

Pigtails

I adore pigtails and cute little ponytails on little girls and I've just been dying waiting for Enza to have enough hair pull it off. Guess what, We've got PIGTAILS! Isn't she the cutest little girl you've ever seen?

Pumpkin Patch

In October we made our first trek to the pumpkin patch as a family. It wasn't exactly what we expected, there wasn't a patch to pick a pumpkin, more like a lot next to a barn. And all of the activities were a little to big for Enza and there were too many big kids running around crazy, it was a little dangerous for our little one to get down and really explore. All in all though we had fun, next year we'll probably check out a different pumpkin patch in the area. Here are some picks from our trip, enjoy!

Enza 1st Birthday!

September 25, 2008 9:02 am Enza Jeanne Lomonte was born into this world. I can hardly believe it's been a year since I went into labor and birthed our wonderful little girl.
We celebrated with a party at our house on our back deck. I made two crockpots full of chili, regular chili and white chili served with corn muffins and my mom's homemade bread. For cake, my mom made Pumpkin Spice cupcakes with honey creamcheese frosting. Yummm....

Enza and a Race Car

While we were at my dads we had to check out the race car! All of you who know my husband know that he spent much time in the garage checking everything out. He is a gear head and he fit in a little too well at my dad's ;)
Of course while we were there were had to get Enza's picure in Grandpa's race car. Since she's not old enough to drive yet so Mommy took her for a spin......not really :)

MI Trip (LP part)

After we left Shane's we took my nephew Casey with us and headed down to Rockford to my dad's. I hadn't seen my dad since I moved to MO more than 7 years ago, a visit a little overdue :)
We were supposed to go to the races Sat night but they were cancelled due to the rain, so my big brothers John & Jason came over to Dads and we all hung out for the evening. It was really nice having all of us together! We watched old home videos and told old funny stories, I about peed my pants on several occasions.

Sunday afternoon we took in a West Michigan WhiteCaps game with John, Jason & Casey, good times. Enza loves her Uncle John and Uncle Jason!



We all spent the evening back at Dad's again, had a bonfire and spent time with family.





Monday morning we got up and made the trek back home, it was nice to be home. We had a great time in Michigan, we hadn't been back since 2004! Hopefully we will be able to make more trips with our schedules now :)

MI Trip (UP part)

At the end of August we drove to MI to see my family. We drove thru Wisconsin to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We stayed with the Blamers in Pickford. We always have fun with Shane, she is so silly :) Oh yeah, Casey and Robert are great too...love you guys!
Btw, the bottle I'm holding is Boone's Farm, it goes WAY back for Shane and I...it's a joke, we don't drink the stuff for fun anymore ;)

Bradley Method of Natural Childbirth

I found out today that I received my provisional status with The Bradley Method (R)!!! This means I can start teaching childbirth classes as soon as I get the workbooks! I am so pumped!
We took the Bradley classes for Enza's birth and it was awesome, I mean it worked so what more can I say!
At the Bradley training workshop in Orlando, one of the teachers ended our first night with some words....he wondered why we were there, what made us come there? He said that he thinks we were called to be there because someone needs us, needs us to teach them. This struck me, Enza's birth had such an impact on me, while challenging it was an amazing experience that was so empowering. If I can help more women experience that, to embrace birth and be active in the process. I believe God created our bodies with the ability to give birth, and to birth naturally (with a few medical exceptions of course). I hope that I can reach as many Mommy's as possible and change or enforce their perspective on childbirth :)

Enza & Ethan

We spent some time with some old friends last weekend. They have a little boy who is 5 days younger than Enza. Here is a few pics of them going after the doggy bell>

Diaper Sprayer

Here is our Diaper sprayer!! Jason installed for me last week. It is just a kitchen sink sprayer attached to the water line of the toilet, works like a charm! It's like power washing the diapers :)

My little Jackie O

Playing in the toilet

Yes, Enza has discovered the toilet and the water therein also! Usually not a big deal, I close the lid and move her to another room, problem solved.
Well, last week Enza finally really took to solids, so much so I had my first poopy diaper that I had to clean the poo off into the toilet (we cloth diaper). Of course this kind of stuff always happens when I'm home alone! So, I take the poopy dipe to the bathroom, pull on my rubber gloves and proceed to wipe poop off of diaper into toilet. Heeeere comes Enza, crawling just as fast as her little arms & legs will carry her. Pulls herself up on the toilet, I'm using my elbows to get her back away from the poop in and on the toilet. So, then almost in defiance she grabs the toilet paper, pulls it down off the roll and sticks it right in her mouth. It was literally like she was saying, "oh yeah, well than I'll just have THIS!" So now she has toilet paper in her mouth and I've got poop all over my hands! Note, I don't care if she were to just get a bite of toilet paper, but she gags and vomits when she gets these kinds of things in her mouth. I AM NOT cleaning up poop AND vomit! So I whip off one glove, swipe the tp from her mouth and proceed with my swishing dunking and massaging poo from the diaper. I'm sure it was a site to see, I've got the yellow rubber gloves up to my elbows, standing on one foot because I'm using the other to hold Enza back out of the bathroom!
Ah, these are the times of our lives :)
ps-Jason is installing me a diaper sprayer this week :)

Enza and an officer