My little Ella took her first steps today! I went to pick her up after work and Yolanda told me about some of the progress Ella had made toward walking during the day and so we decided to have her try again. We pulled out a little toy and had Ella try to walk to it. She started taking a few steps and I almost started to cry. I felt silly, but I was just so happy for my baby girl.
Back in December Gustavo decided we should put our house on the market so we could take advantage of low interest rates and house prices. There are so many condos and town homes for sale in our area (61 in our price range to be exact) that we weren't counting on anything. We looked at homes a little, no showings though because we didn't want to get attached to something that we wouldn't end up being able to get. On Wednesday night my agent sent me the details of an offer we received. The buyers wanted our response by 5 o'clock Thursday. The offer was $6,800 under our asking price. We were hoping to stay within $5,000 so I was considering a counter offer. I couldn't talk to Gustavo because as you all know he is out of the country. I e-mailed him and he didn't respond until 5:20 Thursday night. He didn't hesitate at all and wanted us to accept the offer. I wanted to talk about it more, but was on my way out the door for an appointment. At 7 I got home and we were able to talk on the phone (we talk on the phone about 2 times a week.) I filled him in on more details and he was very excited. Neither of us love to see the bottom line after giving our agent his commission, but we are still in a good position and will have enough equity to cover at least 20% down on our new home. The buyers have been pre qualified for the loan amount we are just waiting for all of the financing to go through. We feel excited and have definitely started looking and picking out homes we'd like to go see when Gustavo gets back. I figure next weekend we'll drive through the neighborhoods of our favorites and then schedule showings for the first week of April. While I'm sad to say goodbye to this house that I love and have made exactly what I want, I'm excited for a real home with a yard and more space. The best news is that Gustavo gets home in only 6 more days!!! We'll keep you posted on this exciting process.
Gustavo has been gone for 24 days so only 11 more days until he is back. Still awhile, but we're making progress. He keeps telling me to take videos of Ella, but I'm not good at it and have no idea how to edit the movies so here are my attempts. You are welcome to watch her sign and look adorable while I sound silly:) Gotta love home videos. The first video is Ella signing, then her barking like a dog, more signs, and the last video is Ella blowing kisses to daddy.
Ella must be going through a growth spurt because she has quite an appetite. She loves eating and is really trying a lot more foods. Of course not as much as I'd love, but some of her new favorites include strawberries, grapes, and hummus. She still doesn't eat many veggies. Only peas and carrots. If you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them.
Ella is very cautious. She is getting closer to walking, but isn't quite ready yet. She loves to walk with anything she can. She prefers when we hold both hands to support her, but she will walk when we only hold one. Just this week Ella has started standing by herself, but it makes her nervous so she reaches out for me quickly. If she falls then she cries even though I'm sure it doesn't hurt.
Ella hasn't attempted to climb up the stairs before today. She usually climbs up one step and then hangs out there for a second, slides down, and goes up again. Today while I was vacuuming the stairs she got daring and continued climbing up. When she got half way to the top, I brought her back down because I was nervous about her falling and instead of stopping the vacuum and going behind her, I finished vacuuming with her at the base of the stairs. I'm worried about this new skill because Ella has already fallen down the stairs. It was one of the worst moments of motherhood so I don't want to retell the story (let's just say I shed a lot more tears than she did and I cried for quite a few hours total). I don't want it to happen again.
Ella LOVES signing. I wish she would try saying more words, but signing is great. She only verbalizes "mama" and "dada." Ella makes more sounds and is trying to mimic some phrases. When I say "I love you" she copies my intonation and repeats some of the sounds. She gets so proud of herself when she signs. The other day I taught her the sign for diaper. The next morning when I was changing her she was complaining as usual. When I told her I was just changing her diaper, she signed diaper and then had a huge smile on her face as if she was saying "I know that one!" It was adorable. Some of her latest signs include car, diaper, baby (for baby signing time), sleep, and brushing teeth. During the third hour of church on Sunday she kept signing car. What a cutie! I love being able to communicate more and love to see how happy she gets when she signs.
Ella still only has her two bottom teeth, but I think she was such a stinker the other week because she is working on at least one of her top teeth. The corner of the tooth is visible, but none of it has broken through yet.
Ella has always given some mean looks. Even as a baby people would comment on her serious looks. We just joked that she was just like her daddy (you always know what Gustavo is thinking). Now she is always giving people "the look." My friend posted a picture of her little girl giving the same look which she has named "the stink eye." I think that is a good description. We'll have to get pictures soon. It is so funny, but it makes me feel bad when she makes it at other people. What a stinker.
Ella is really starting to demonstrate her sense of humor. She tries to get me to laugh throughout the day by doing silly things. When she thinks she is funny she bursts out in this fake laugh that always gets me. When other people start laughing on TV or when she is around them, like at church, she bursts out in a fake laugh. I love to see her personality devolop more and more. I love my little Ella and I know Gustavo is so excited to get home to see her. We're half way done with the deployment!
I would post more pictures of my big girl, but Gustavo took the camera so you'll have to wait a few more weeks to see recent photos.
I just read The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin and strongly recommend it to everyone. It was a very thought provoking book that has definitely inspired me to make small changes in my own life in order to become happier. I believe as Robert Louis Stevenson said, "There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy." This book is all about Gretchen Rubin's year long project full of resolutions to really be true to herself and enjoy her life. It is full of research findings that affected her project along with her personal experience. I loved it and will definitly read it again at least once in my life. I don't think I'll start an extensive project at this time, maybe in the fall, but I will definitely start tackling some small resolutions of my own. Reading this book has caused me to think about what really makes me happy and changes I'd like to make.
Ever since I signed the letter terminating my contract I can't stop thinking about what I've done. Being alone gives me a lot of time to think. A LOT of time. I talked to my sister. I talked to friends at school. I did a lot of talking along with my thinking. I was sad, worried, scared, and even wondered if I was feeling regret. I played out a lot of things in my mind while I was in the shower last night. Then today I went and talked to Kristin. While I was there I put a lot of things together. I realized that I'm just sad. I'm sad to leave a job that is perfect. I'm sad to leave friends who I love. I'm sad to lose something that brings me satisfaction and a great sense of accomplishment. I'm sad to completely close this big chapter in my life. I'm sad to lose something I love. I realize that by ending this contract I may possibly never have a job like this again. If I do it won't be for at least 15 years (as long as things go as planned with our family and Gustavo's career). Kristin helped me realize that it is okay to be sad about this. I know that I didn't make the wrong decision. How could following the council of my church leaders, helping out a friend, and putting my daughter first be wrong? It can't. So I'm sad, but confident that I did the right thing.
I get Ella all to myself every Monday. Unfortunatly that turns into our running errands day more often than not. Today I took the day off and Ella and I had a wonderful day together- we didn't run any errands (well, okay one store.) After getting things ready for the substitute at school and taking a morning nap, we went down to the Provo City Library for story time. My friend Hillary told me about this a month ago and I was excited to take Ella. She wasn't engaged the entire time, but there were definite moments of joy. We danced and sang together and had fun. Then we stopped by to visit my sister Emily and play with their dog Princess. Ella is so in love with dogs that I thought she would really love this. We didn't stay long because we wanted to go visit Kristin, Jonah and baby Beckham. It was really great to visit with Kristin. She had lots of good input on my decision to stay home next year because she has been in the same situation, teaching and all. After our visit Ella took another nap while I had a good conversation with my sister Erin. Then to end the night Ella and I went and got pizza, cookies, and a movie (all for me, but she's okay with it). It has been a good day.
Have you ever tried to sell a home? It is such an annoying process! When we first listed the house it was right in the middle of the holidays and we didn't have anyone but realtors call. About mid January we started having one showing a week. In February we started having people look twice a week. Even though we've had consistent traffic we haven't had any offers. Lots of possitive feedback, but no offers. Last month we decided to finish the third bedroom (I'll post pictures when it is completely finished). Along with the anticipation of wondering if we'll sell our house and move comes the shear annoyance of showing the place. Sometimes we only get an hours notice which sets me in a panic because I want everything to be as perfect as possible. Other times people want to come in the middle of naps, or right when I should get home from work, or other really inconvenient times. Here are examples from this week. Monday night our realtor called and told us someone wanted to look at the house between 12 and 1. I thought that would be perfect because I'd be at school so I wouldn't have to find somewhere to go (I try to be out when people come). Unfortunately that day I got really sick and ended up coming home early- right at noon. I couldn't go home and rest because the showing was planned. I was so tired and so naucious that I didn't know what to do. I ended up resting in the car until 1 o'clock and then drove around for 20 minutes when the family came. Needless to say, it wasn't comfortable. Yesterday my realtor called when Ella was down for her nap saying that a realtor wanted to come preview the home within 15 minutes to an hour. I quickly started straightening up and inevitable woke Ella. She was cranky and irratable as a result. I was extra annoyed because the realtor didn't show up until 6 o'clock (3 hours after my realtor called). Then she quickly ran through, told me she loved it and said she'd call my realtor this morning to block out a time for the showing. It is 3 pm and she still hasn't called. I just hate this process because it drives me crazy. I want the house to be perfect and if I know someone is coming I feel like I can't make any sort of messes (no cooking) and I notice anything that is even slightly out of order. In other words, it makes me really anal. Not my favorite thing. Not at all.
