Thoughts on Selling a House....

Though our house has only been on the market for 3 weeks, it somehow feels like it's been for sale forever to us. We had nearly unstoppable showings the first week it was on the market, but things have really slowed down since then. Everyone says that it's because of the snow and cold wintry weather...but we're thinking it probably has more to do with all the houses that are for sale right now, especially in our area and our price range. Hopefully we'll start to get more calls for showings as it gets warmer & closer to spring.

For those of you who might also have your house on the market, I thought I'd share some of my "best tips" for getting your house ready for a showing FAST...such as when the realtors call less than an hour before they want to come, your sink is full of dishes (not that mine ever is!), and your baby is still in his pjs.

--Put all your dirty dishes straight into the top rack of the dishwasher--don't rinse them or try to "load" them into the dishwasher correctly...and if the top rack of your dishwasher is full, stuff all your dirty dishes into the oven. No one ever really looks in the oven, right? (By the way, this also works when you have unexpected company coming....and I confess that I have done this before.)

--Throw your basket(s) full of dirty laundry into the shower and close the shower curtain. No one ever looks in there either, right?

--Run through the house spraying Febreeze or Glade air freshner (preferably apple cinnamon)

--Don't have ANY dirty cloth diapers in the nursery...possibly stuff them into your diaper bag and take them with you...or better yet, just throw them in the washing machine and start the load (only works if the washing machine is currently empty). No potential home buyer wants to think that the nursery really smells like that!

(Obviously, the moral of this post is to never look in my oven or the shower when you're over visiting my house!) Does anybody have any other tips that would help for last-minute showings? And, if you know anybody looking for a house in Park Glen with a gorgeous gazebo, have them give us a call! ;)

Isaac: 4 Months

I know that we say this every month...but I can't believe how fast Isaac is growing! It seems too fast for this Mama! He had a great 4 month check-up today with Dr. Dalton. At 4 months, Isaac weighs 15 lbs., 4 oz. and measures at 25 inches! He jumped from the 25th to the 50th percentile in height in the last 2 months!

Highlights of the last month...
--First Valentine's Day
--Huge snowstorm in Fort Worth
--First visit to see Daddy & Grandpa Kal at the shop in Decatur!
--First Sunday in the Baby Suite at Keystone on Feb. 7 (yes, I teared up when we put his nametag on and put him in the nursery...but Aunt Corrie--and all the other wonderful Baby Suite ladies--were there and took great care of him!)






Isaac's new interests...
--Talking, cooing, laughing, giggling, and squealing...ALL the time (or so it seems!)
--I'm not sure if this is technically an "interest"--but Isaac has started rubbing both of his eyes when he's tired! It's absolutely adorable!
--Isaac is starting to have his fingers and/or hands in his mouth all the time...unless he's eating! (And even then, he still sometimes tries to fit his hands in there!)
--He has always liked laying in his play gym, but in the last few weeks, he has started to coo & giggle the second you lay him under the animals--especially the penguin!
--Isaac is batting at anything in his reach with both hands, and in the past few days he has started to grab objects with both hands and pull them closer to himself.
--His favorite song is still "How Much Is That Doggy in the Window!" On the nights when Dave is out of town, I put the phone up to Isaac's ear and Dave sings this song to him....his eyes light up and he giggles right along!
--And....Isaac loves laughing at himself in the mirror!

Happy 4 Month Birthday, Isaac!

Record-Breaking Snow in North Texas

We've never seen our house covered in so much snow! More snow fell yesterday, February 11, than has ever fallen in the DFW area! We also set a new record for the most snowfall in a 24 hours period. (I have Rush on in the background as I write this, and even he just mentioned it, so it must be big news, right?) We do have pictures of our house covered in snow from March of 2008, and we also had a lot of snow this past Christmas Eve...but never have we come even close to over a foot of snow!

I was glad that I never got rid of my Sorel boots, either; several years ago, I considered giving them to Goodwill since I had never needed them here in Texas...but I am really glad I kept them, especially when Isaac and I took a snowy trek this morning through our neighborhood. His little head isn't quite big enough to see over the top of the carrier, so it was cute how he kept his head lifted high for our entire walk so that he could see! When we got home, his cheeks were so rosy--it was adorable!

On our walk, we saw that a lot of our neighbors lost huge trees. The snow was so heavy on them that a lot of them cracked straight through the trunk...they almost look like they were hit by lightening! Dave shook all the snow off of our crepe myrtle early this morning so that its limbs didn't break.

It was already snowing when we woke up yesterday morning. I had a doctor's appointment downtown, and it took me nearly an hour to drive down there. I'm glad I didn't cancel, though, since the doctor's office was nearly deserted due to cancellations, and I was able to be seen quickly. Dave came home from Decatur around 4:00 in the afternoon and started shoveling the driveway with a yard shovel, since we don't even own a snow shovel. We tried to take Isaac outside for a few quick pictures, but he was hungry and wasn't quite as excited about the snow as we were! Dave also made this snowman at the shop in Decatur yesterday afternoon...we've seen a lot of cute snowmen in our neighborhood, but none of them have quite the same flair as this one:

I think it's pretty funny that Dave and I, having grown up in Colorado and Minnesota respectively, still get so excited about the snow...but we haven't had any true winter weather for a long time! It makes me miss hot chocolate, ice skating, sledding, and all the other wonderful wintery activities that were such a huge part of my childhood. We'll have to take Isaac to visit his Grandma & Poppa Rinn in Steamboat a lot so that he gets to experience all those fun winter activities, too!

Wordless Wednesday

Isaac's Completed Nursery

My sweet friend Corrie inspired me to do a post on Isaac's completed nursery! Not too much has changed since we last posted pictures about Isaac's nursery, but I thought we should share these pictures before we start packing.

Our friend Cari wrote out this beautiful poem about adoption. We had it framed the week before Isaac was born, and the framing company called the day we came home without Isaac to say that it was completed. At that point, I didn't want anything to do with working on the nursery, so I never went to pick it up. But, when we finally brought Isaac home, my friend Jenny was sweet enough to pick it up the very next day so that we could hang it in Isaac's room! (As for the baby boy sign: I know that it doesn't match, but Isaac absolutely loves looking at it, so I didn't have the heart to throw it away when I finally took it off the front door!)

My mom used the quilt that came with the bedding set to create the valance.

As a shower gift, Corrie gave me this sign that she had made for Isaac, except it didn't have Isaac's name, since nobody knew it yet! (You can click here to see her daughter Landrie's adorable sign, too.) Oh, and there's Isaac staring at the fan, another of his favorite things to do. If our house sells, we plan on making Isaac's next room a construction theme, too. Nothing else would work for our little guy, who probably has no choice BUT to love dirt and machines. ;)

Kitchen Redo...Before & After

When we bought our house, the kitchen was painted a pale yellow OVER wallpaper. The first summer we lived in this house, we spent many, many weekends steaming and pulling off wallpaper, texturizing the walls, and repainting. Ever since we painted our kitchen green, I have had a love/hate relationship with it. Several months ago I told Dave, "I think I have finally made peace with the green." Then, we decided to put our house on the market, and we knew the green had to go in order to help the house show better. My cousin Nate helped us redo the kitchen 4 years ago....and even though that home project was no fun at all, he was still kind enough to help us with this project, too. My parents kept Isaac overnight so that we could have a painting marathon, and we love the result. The brown is the same color as our hallways & entryway. Even if our house doesn't sell, I am so happy to have my kitchen a new color that I'll be more than happy to stay here!

Dave tried to write subliminal messages to potential buyers... :)

and, after...