I'm Still Here

Has it really been over month since my last post?!

I'm blaming it on my new computer, which I love. :) I got a netbook and I have been using it 99% of the time instead of my big laptop. The only catch is that all of my pictures are stored on my big laptop, which means I don't have photos at the ready to stick up on my blog. And, what fun is a post with no photos?

Anyhow, to catch you all up on our life:

Patrick is growing like crazy lately, both in height and developmentally. He's become very independent in the last couple of weeks. He now dresses himself, uses the restroom independently, gets out his own breakfast, and even puts away his clean socks and underwear without being asked. He's also been offering to help out more with house chores. I could definitely get used to this. He also has started to draw pictures of actual things rather than just scribbling. It is so much fun to see his thoughts come out on paper. He calls it "drawloring". Which makes perfect sense because he first draws the pictures and then he colors in the different sections. I'll have to take some photos of his artwork and do a post about them sometime. His imagination is in full swing right now, so dress up and role playing is huge. His latest love is being a pirate.

Kimberly is talking in full sentences now and verbally quite good at keeping up with Patrick. She can definitely hold her own when he tries to persuade her to do/choose something she doesn't want to. You should hear them trying to agree on a movie to watch! Let's just say that many times I get to pick because neither will concede. Kimberly is really into jumping off of things lately. It worries me when I hear her call from the other room, "Watch me jump, Mommy!" I wouldn't worry except that she has no fear and I often come into the room to find her on top of her dresser, the bookshelf, the table, etc. She argues with me that she's not going to hurt herself and after doing it will tell me, "See, Mommy, I not hurt myself. I not cry and cry and cry."

Baby Boy has a name. We told the kids his name a few weeks ago. My family tried to get Patrick to tell them the name, but he would say the baby's name was Tree, Leaf, or some other made-up name. Heehee. But, then they got smart and asked Kimberly who can very clearly say Ryan. Ryan is of Irish origin and means "Little King". We're still keeping the middle name a secret though since both kids have forgotten it already. :) I'll be 27 weeks tomorrow. The pregnancy seems to be flying by at this point and I'm showing quite a bit now. I finally made the switch to maternity jeans on Sunday when none of my jeans would fit anymore. :( I need to buy some more maternity ones because I only have one pair of long jeans and one pair of capris and the weather is getting chilly really fast.

I've been crazy busy lately with house stuff. We've been working hard getting our current house ready to rent out (painting, updating, cleaning, repairing, packing, etc.) and getting all the loan details worked out for a non-owner occupied refinance so that we can get another owner occupied loan to buy a new place. All the new federal regulations on the lending industry make it near impossible to try to keep a house and make it a rental and buy up. I guess so many people have bought while the market is low and then let their first home go to foreclosure. It makes it difficult for those who want to legitimately buy while the market is low and actually keep their home as an investment property. It's been quite a rollercoaster already and we don't even have an accepted offer on the house we want yet. We just put an offer in on it tonight though. Now, we wait to see if the sellers will accept. If they do, we'll be moving by December 31st!