... and babies make four: Our life with twins. : July 2017

I have a valid reason for not giving my avid reader(s?) an update in the last month – in the immortal words of Will Smith our life has been “flip turned upside down.” So, “just sit right there” and I will tell you all about it….

It all started when I mentioned to The Hubby that I had invited our friend/realtor over to the house as I wanted her opinion on what projects we needed to accomplish around the house before we could go on the market. Our intent was to go on the market within a year and I wanted plenty of time to get the work done. She took a quick look around and said “Nothing.” After I picked up my jaw, she explained that the market is hot and there are not a lot of homes out there for sale under $200,000. She indicated that it was likely we could be under contract with only a few days on the market. The Hubby and I looked at each other wide-eyed and subliminally thought “holy crap, can we do this?” We spent that weekend looking around to neighborhoods in the area we thought we wanted to live and finding out that indeed the market is hot – for sellers. Houses within our price range that meet our desires (4 bedroom, 2 car garage, room for the kids to play) were being snapped up within hours of us getting an email that they were available. During the drive we visited a neighborhood in Mount Holly that was under construction with True Homes. We walked in the model house and looked at each other and the same subliminal thought came back, “holy crap, can we do this?” Over the next week we saw a few more model homes to get an idea of their work and concluded that building our home is the route we wanted to take….now time to sell. We went on the market officially at 6am on Saturday July 1^st and we had our first showing at 8am. We had a total of 18 showings that first weekend and 6 offers! It was intense to say the least. We went under contract with the highest bid on Monday and signed paperwork to start the building of our next home on Friday. (Cue the dramatic music) Our potential buyers backed out 10 days later – we really don’t know why, but it was a stressful couple of days waiting on word from them and deciding what to do next. We went back under contract with another one of the initial offers a few days later and now we wait – and pray- and wait – and hope that the rest of this process goes well. We now have a closing date of August 29^th. (Personally I will be out next week if it just means we can close this part of the stress). Building a house is a slow process and we are told that it will be 7-9 months from the signing date – in our case July 7^th. We are going to live in an apartment during the build and while that may seem like a stressful time for some, I am actually excited for an apartment – pool access, no yard work, less to clean… now I just have to wait – and pray- and wait.

Now, for the kids – the real reason you are here. 😊 During this eventful month, they turned 4! I can’t believe it has been four years since they turned my life upside down. Some kind of switch was flipped when they turned 4 though and they have become aggressive little monsters with each other! (I am afraid my added stress might be rubbing off on them a bit so I am trying to get it under control) They now fight and hit each other and Riley is the queen of the epic IMMEDIATE meltdown when she even thinks she is not going to get what she wants. Needless to say the Time Out rugs have been busy lately. In all honesty, they have done really well with the added stress and time we have had to spend out of the house. The house has been rearranged and things put away and they have just rolled with all of it. We have been trying to explain it all to them and there is a level of understanding. They are excited to have their own rooms and to have a playset in the backyard. (On a side note: the 4 year old level of understanding is entertaining. We explained to them that Rocky went to Heaven and they have interpreted that as “Kevin’s” and now tell everyone that Rocky got sick and went to Kevin’s house)

Pretty sure Riley is getting taller every day. She was in the 60^th percentile at their 4 year check up. No major health issues and she did pretty good with the hearing and eye tests – she didn’t respond well to the hearing, but pretty sure she was just playing around as SHE HEARS EVERYTHING! She dances all around the house and currently prefers to wear a pink tutu everywhere. She also sings all day– today I am pretty sure I caught her singing “Knock three times on the ceiling” so we may need to adjust her radio stations. She still loves animals and gained a few “pets” from her birthday including a bird that repeats everything and a mouse that can run around the house. She likes to color and draw and writes on every scrap of paper she can find. She loves to swim – that was her favorite part of our trip to the mountains.

Landon has become a bit of a challenge lately. His tantrums tend to come around when he doesn’t want to do something himself – like put on his socks. We have had to hold fast and walk away several times so that he will do things on his own. The other day we went as far as going to the garage and the three of us starting to get in the car before he put his shoes on. He can do all of these things and I have just babied him too long using the hypotonia excuse, so now I need to reel it back in. (Sidenote: I still do think some things are hard for him as a result of his muscle tone, but I also know he needs to try) Landon is a bit on the small side for his age, but he is healthy. He likes to read and play with his cars/toys/animals. He has an active imagination and sets everything up and talks for all the different animals. He can keep himself entertained, but prefers to have someone to play with. He introduces himself to everyone we meet and says “Hi, I’m Landon. I am 4 years old. This is my sister Riwee” He has not been as big of a fan when it comes to swimming and prefers when there is “short water” so he can stand up and play. He requested we find an apartment with “short water” and that has not been an easy task. 😊

I will admit we have not done as many fun activities since the last time I wrote, but I feel like I have been cleaning the house/keeping the house clean for a month. We have also needed to get Jasper out of the house and there aren’t many places you can take a dog and the kids- other than the brewery. We tried to get a few fun things in and I am hoping that things will settle after the move into the apartment and I can focus on spending time with them again – I will also be done with my summer class then, which has been a HUGE added stressor. For now, some pictures -