May 14th

We put in another house offer.  This has absolutely got to be it!  It's done, no need to pull out carpet or redo kitchen floors.  No need to paint - anything.  And the yard is simple enough that it doesn't need any work unless you were looking for a project.  Which we may be, because the more I day-dream the more ideas I have for a patio with a campfire and some front-yard landscaping that would make the house standout from the rest on the block.  Also, the yard is completely fenced in with an opening on both sides and it's not falling apart.  It's the best, most well-priced house we've seen.  It amazes me that I think the last house that was on the market was the last one for us and yet they still seem to stay in our price-range but get better and better.

There's a house about every other  week that we can actually think about going and looking at and putting an offer on.  A house a week is optimistic but it has been done, they're just not always what we're looking for even if they're in our price range.

It's been on the market for a day and already has two offers on it.  We made our offer extra cushy by wrapping up the closing costs into the total payment rather than giving them their asking price and having them pay closing costs.  I really hope we get it.

Alaska and I have been enjoying our last days together as mommy/daughter.  Lots of shopping, lots of treats and a little bit of potty training that goes well so long as I can remember to have her sit on the toilet.  It's really too bad since when we first started by the end of the day on the first day she was telling me when she needed to go.  But then we got interrupted by women's conference and an emergency trip to Idaho for the funeral of Steven's grandpa.  I am finding it takes a lot to keep life at bay while we try to potty-train and it's much easier to do all in one, hard shot than to drag it out.  Also, my patience can only last about a week.  Any longer than that and I could care less if she's still in diapers in first grade.  But I kid, of course.  We will do this.

"Things are going to be different"

I have been spared the, "boys are so much different than girls" speech for the most part during this pregnancy.  Or if I haven't, it hasn't bothered me because I admit it straight up and confess how nervous I am.  Seriously.  Alaska is super awesome but it's taken us a long time to get to the point of her to be content reading books, drawing or coloring.  She's always on the move and never really making messes.  Not the kind you see with the flour dumped all over the floor or the toilet paper unrolled through the whole house.  Not that kind.  Just busy messes.  And I like to think that's me, keeping everything messy out of reach, but I know it's partly her, too.  And I can't stand the thought of cleaning up messes.

What I haven't been spared is the, "Things are going to be different."  No der.  But we'll glide gracefully into whatever it is that will be different and if we can't, we'll cannon-ball the heck out of it.

But for right now we're just enjoying the 'now'.  The parts where I can re-do Alaska's hair if her pigtails are lopsided because we have the time.  The parts where I can slide her Sunday clothes on and tie a perfect bow.  The parts where we have all day together, just the two of us, and we fill it with potty training and reading books and painting toenails.  The parts where we make messes in her room and leave it until its time to run a vacuum through there again.  We're piling those on, breathing them in deep, and knowing that things will change.  They undoubtedly will.