Homeowners!

Sometimes I just can't believe how crazy/busy/grown-up my life is. :)

Wednesday, Emily came over in the afternoon and we took Lila for a walk to one of the parks by the lake we live by.  Probably the only nice thing about living in this apartment is the easy access to the walking trail and the parks.  Lila seemed to enjoy walking around the park and exploring, and we had fun taking pictures and playing on the playground too.  I can't believe that I have a kid that I can take to the park now. :)  It's so much fun.  Em didn't stay too long in the afternoon.  Jake had been in Warsaw, IN for the second Wednesday in a row.  He got back to Kalamazoo around 4:30, but instead of coming home, went to a vigil volunteer training for hospice.  A vigil volunteer is someone who stays with the family/patient as they are dying.  He didn't get home from that till 6:30 or so, and was supposed to go on splits with the missionaries at 7.  By the time he was on his way home, I was in tears, lol.  I was so worn-out from the past three days (he hadn't been around much to help, and Lila has been so much more cranky than usual lately).  But, the appointments with the missionaries had fallen through so he ended up not having to go on splits, and I was so, so relieved and grateful.  I took a nice, hot shower by myself and that was very relaxing.  We went for a little walk outside with Lila before bed.  As Lila was falling asleep, I could have fallen asleep too.  I was so tired and relaxed.  But Jake suggested watching our Netflix movie, Temple Grandin.  It was so good, we both really enjoyed it, but we didn't get to bed till after midnight, I think, and I was so tired.

Thursday afternoon, Lila and I ran errands.  We went to Old Navy; I had a $10 gift card.  She had a blast walking around the store.  I bought a cardigan and a skirt, but I'm going to return the skirt.  I've been doing that so often lately, buying things I really like but don't really need, and then feeling guilty and returning them. lol.  Oh well.  We then went to Marshall Music to pick up an A string for my violin; my old one broke.  And we also went to Home Depot to pick up Martha Steward paint samples.  When Jake got up, we started getting Lila ready to go so that we could go to Menards to pick up some things for repairs Jake wanted to make immediately on Friday after we closed, when there was a knock at the door.  I opened it, didn't see anyone, and then I see Brady, Kelsey, and Cooper hiding off to the side! :)  It was pretty funny and really awesome!  They were in town for the weekend for Kelsey's grandpa's funeral.  They had just gotten into town.  So that was really fun, getting to visit with them.  After that, we did go to Menard's.  Lila was in bed in time for Jake and I to watch The Office.  Lila had a rough night.  She woke up in the middle of the night with a little fever, so I took them off and she slept in just her diaper pretty well after that.  It was really adorable, having her little (chubby) naked body cuddled up next to me.  She's so sweet. 

Friday (I can't believe it was just yesterday, it feels like it was so much longer ago) was a big day!  At 11:00 we had our final walk-through of the house.  I picked Jake up and we, obviously, walked through the house.  I hadn't seen Rich in a long time.  He said everything was all set for closing.  He gave us some tips, like to seal the cement floor in the storage rooms.  It was so nice seeing the place empty of all the owners' furniture, but they sure left it dirty for us. :\  After that, we drove around while Lila was sleeping.  We went to the bank to get a cashier's check for our closing money, got lunch, stopped to get infant Tylenol for Lila.  She didn't feel good on Friday. :(  Her eyes were kind of glazed over all day, it was really sad.  Dropped Jake off at work and then went home, read with Lila a little, and she took another nap.  After she had fallen asleep, she turned on her side and I spooned her, it was adorable.  I could feel myself falling asleep, and I was so grateful that I woke up when I did, at 2:20, because closing was at 3.  I rushed around and got everything ready and as I was walking out to the car (lugging both Lila and the pac-n-play) Mike was walking towards us!  Woohoo!  He followed me to the real estate office to watch Lila while we were signing papers.  (I thought she'd be a terror, seeing as she didn't feel well.)  The signing went well and didn't feel nearly as monumental as I thought it would.  Lila actually did great, she was in the best mood she'd been in all day.  It was nice having Mike there to help though.  Sharon Waldecki, our loan officer, came and brought us an Easter lilly, which I thought was nice.  Closing took an hour, and then we all headed to the house and got right to work.

I got there a little before Jake did and pulled into my garage :)  Lila just loves the house.  She walks around and laughs and talks to herself.  Jake got there and I happily got to welcome him "home" for the first time.  He and Mike went onto the roof to seal the vents with caulk and then replaced the wax seal under the guest bath toilet.  I spent the next few hours vacuuming all of the carpets.  It's just really disgusting how filthy the previous owners were.  I had to empty the vacuum 5-6 times and I'm sure if I re-vacuumed the rooms I'd get even more (I love that Dyson!).  I didn't even attempt to tackle to kitchen... all of the appliances are filthy.  Brady, Kelsey, and Cooper stopped by to see the place.  I'm glad that it worked out for them to see it while they were here!  Finally, at around 7 we headed home to put Lila to bed. We had a rough time putting her to bed though.  She cried and cried and eventually puked all over the floor.  And then she had diarrhea.  Poor girl.  She finally got to sleep at around 9:20.

I forget what caused us to head in this direction, but once we were home realized that it might be best to just replace all of the carpets instead of just getting them steamed.  While we were there we noticed some stains from cat urine, some of them pretty bad.  So Jake did some research and decided that this was pretty much what we needed to do.  Brady, Kelsey, and Cooper came over and Cooper was already asleep.  Brady and Jake headed off to the house do some inspecting.  They picked up a black light from Walmart and marked all the spots on the carpet where there was pee with spray paint (and Brady accidentally sprayed a door in the master bedroom, which I think is funny), but they eventually stopped because there was stuff everywhere.  The worst was in the master bedroom and in the basement.  In the master, it's so bad that the wood underneath is rotting and the tack-board is rusted.  They tore it up.  And it smells so bad.  It's really bad in the basement too, but there is cement floor underneath.  So, yup. 

Kelsey and I got to visit while they were gone and that was nice.  Talked about pregnancy and babies, mostly. :)  Lila woke up crying inconsolably, sounded like she was in pain.  I wasn't able to soothe her (which is really strange!) so I took her out to the living room and she calmed down well.  She looked so, so miserable though.  I was afraid to give her more Tylenol because I didn't want her to throw it up again and her tummy was making weird noises.  It was so sad to see her that sick; she's never been like that before.  Once she was calmed down, she did get back to sleep quickly and slept well for the rest of the night.  Brady and Jake returned eventually with milkshakes and burgers from McDonald's. :)  It is so much fun hanging out with B&K, just like old times.  We always laugh a lot.  I miss them so much and wish they lived closer.  They're just like family.  They didn't leave till almost 1, I think, and then Jake and I stayed up for a while talking about the carpet and how we couldn't believe it but it made so much sense that it would happen this way, but that we were still excited about the house and were going to have a positive attitude and just enjoy it.  It stinks that we'll have such a big expense right off the bat, but hopefully this will take care of most of the smell and make this an overall much better experience than it otherwise would be. 

So we didn't get to bed till 1:30 or later and then woke up at 7.  Lila slept till 8.  Jake and I got up and researched carpet stuff and then by 9 we were on the road.  We stopped at a small carpet store that was super expensive, and then headed to Home Depot, which looked a little more promising.  Stopped at the mall to return a skirt.  Ooh, something happy and exciting: Desiree had her baby last night!!!  They had to induce her (and it took a whole day and a half to get her going) because of high blood pressure so she had him (Jarom David Neil) a week early.  He is so beautiful, looks perfectly sweet and precious.  He has Desiree's nose.  I am so, so, so excited and happy for them.  Lila fell asleep as we drove to LFI to pick up Cooper to watch him during the funeral service.  We took the kids to Lowe's to look at carpet and they had fun walking around the store, although Lila cried and hated it when Cooper pushed her stroller around.  She was happy to push him in the stroller though :)  It actually worked out really well to have Cooper because the two of them kept each other company. 

We went to the house and Jake started ripping out carpet in the basement and I started cleaning the dreaded kitchen.  I scrubbed the stove for a while, but there's still a lot to do.  Lots of cracks and crevices.  The oven needs to be cleaned too (there's cat hair in it... I do not understand how people live like that!!).  Then for a "break" I pulled out the stove and fridge to vacuum and there was a TON of cat hair behind both.  Yuck.  I tried laying Lila down in the guest room for a nap, but she just cried and cried so I just let her out to play with Cooper some more.  Mike stopped by for a while before he had to pick Cassandra up for a date.  She's here for a whole week.  Jake got all the carpet pulled up in the basement.

We left to meet B&K at Culver's and had a little food there.  From there we headed to Menard's.  Lila thankfully fell asleep on the way there and so Jake ran in without me.  Then we drove over to the other Lowe's to look at carpet and picked out two that we like (one for the main floor and one for the basement).  We're going to wait till Monday to place an order though because we have Empire coming in to give an estimate.  I think we'll probably go with Lowe's though.  It'll be around $3400 for the carpet.  Plus an extra ~$200 to seal all the sub-floors.

We got home and played with Lila a bit.  I showered and then washed up Lila.  Putting her to bed was awful though.  Jake left after scriptures and prayer.  Lila cried for a long time in bed, so we went to the living room for a while and she happily played with toys.  She eventually pooped a nasty one and calmed down after that so I tried putting her to bed again.  She screamed and cried and was inconsolable, which NEVER happens... I wonder what's wrong.  I know her teeth are hurting her, but her breath smells really bad too so I wonder if it's a sore throat or possibly strep?  Or maybe an ear infection?  She doesn't really have a runny nose though.  So finally I took her to her room and rocked her and she very quickly fell right to sleep without fussing at all.  She was so exhausted.  Poor thing.  I think she was asleep before 8:30. 

So now I've been writing in my journal and half-heartedly cleaning the apartment.  I'm just so excited to be done with this place.  Oh, we decided that we're going to move April 30th instead of the 23rd, to give us more time with the carpet and cleaning.  We have to be out of our apartment on the 30th, so we're down to the wire.  Just touched base with Jake.  Jim and Angela miraculously volunteered to come help Jake tear out carpet--they were driving through town or something.  Jake had prayed for someone to help him tonight :)  They have all of the carpet and padding out of the basement now and Angela was cleaning my fridge!!!  I love Angela!!! :)  The fridge was pretty gross.  Jake said he'll stay for as long as Jim and Angela do, so I suspect he'll be late.  I'm going to make sure I have things in order for church tomorrow and head to bed.  Feeling a little stressed out with everything going on with the house, but I'm trying to also just relax and enjoy the process and be excited about everything.  It'll just be great when the carpet is in and we're moved in. :)