We Have the Keys!

It's official! Finally! The closing of our new home was a success this afternoon, and we now have the keys! Unfortunately, we won't be able to move in right away (we still have to have a new air conditioner unit/heat pump and a new water heater installed), but we are so anxious to at least start moving our stuff in. Hopefully we will be able to actually start living there sometime next week. We are just so relieved that everything is finally settled, and we're very excited to start this new chapter in our lives. I'm already looking forward to our first Christmas there (which is just a few months away now - can you believe that?!). We'll have a fireplace that we can hang our stockings from. It's the little things that get me the most excited about this move. This is going to be our home. We are so thankful for this opportunity, for all of my parents' help in getting us this far, and for God's continuous blessings on our family. We are so humbled by His love!

the keys to our new home!

One Step Closer to Reality

Well, twelve days after the original closing date of our new home, we got some good news today: the closing date has finally been rescheduled for this Friday afternoon. The attorneys now have all of the paperwork and titles and everything they need, so hopefully it will actually happen this time. It's funny, but in a weird way, I don't actually feel as excited as I originally did. Of course I'm still very excited, but I guess after the first closing date fell through, it just seems sort of surreal now that it's actually going to happen. I think once Friday is here, and everything is for sure finalized, it'll hit me, and then the excitement will set in once again. Until then, we've got to get busy packing! Anyway, just wanted to give a quick update. Until next time...

A Few Updates and 3 Months of Motherhood

Well, it's been a week since my last blog. I've been a little more busy this past week than I usually am, so I just haven't taken the time to post anything. I'll try to take this opportunity now (even though it's late, and I should really be going to bed) to recap everything that's happened since my last post.
For starters, I guess I'll mention the fact that I am now a stay-at-home wife and mommy. My last official day at Chocodelphia, where I worked part-time for almost two years, was this past Thursday, September 9. I worked there all the way up until I had Rylee back in June, but since going on maternity leave, I have only been back a handful of times to fill some shifts. Since we will soon be moving farther out into the country, Jordan and I had been discussing whether or not it would be worth it gas-wise for me to continue working. It was a hard decision to come to, but at the same time, I know it is best for our family right now, and I am so thankful that God has blessed us enough for me to be able to stay home and watch my sweet girl grow. I will certainly miss working at Chocodelphia; it has been a second home to me in the almost two years that I have been employed there. I was blessed to work alongside two great bosses, very talented bakers and chocolatiers, and several sweet girls who were like sisters to me. I will also miss all of the wonderful customers - especially the "regulars" - who I had the pleasure of serving on an almost-daily basis. I loved the fact that, even if I didn't know them by name, I knew them by their drinks: large decaf Americano with two pumps of sugar-free vanilla; large white chocolate mocha with extra white chocolate, seven sugars, and whip cream; large Turtle Mocha over ice with a dome lid... they go on and on, and I will truly miss making them. It will be weird not smelling like espresso every day. I can honestly say that I always did my very best to bring a smile to the face of each person I served, and many of them brought smiles to my face as well. It was a special chapter in my life - my first "real world" job - and I will always cherish the memories I made there. And now I'm starting to get emotional, so I'm going to move on to the next subject.
I went to the doctor yesterday afternoon for my annual "female" check-up. Of course I won't go into the details of that, but Dr. Dupre said my exam looked great. I've actually been on an antibiotic since Sunday for Mastitis (a bacterial infection of the breast that is very common in breastfeeding mothers). It's my second bout of it (I got it for the first time when Rylee was about two weeks old), but thankfully the medicine has been doing its job and I'm feeling much better, so that wasn't an issue of concern. The best news (in my opinion) from my check-up is that I am now back down to my pre-pregnancy weight of 107 pounds! I certainly wasn't expecting that - if anything, I figured I was going to weigh more than I did the last time when I was there in July for my postpartum check-up. Needless to say, I'm thrilled to be reacquainted with that number; now I just need to tighten up my stomach so that my figure will reflect that number. We'll see how that goes...
Tomorrow will mark one week since what was supposed to be the closing date of our new home. Instead, we are still waiting to hear when the new (and hopefully final!) closing date will be. We are very anxious to be moved into our new home and begin that chapter in our lives. Right now, we're just sort of stuck in the packing phase. We've got boxes packed full of stuff just sitting in our living room with nowhere to go, so things in our current home are a little crazy and unorganized. Hopefully everything will be finalized soon, and we'll be able to start moving. We know that everything happens in God's timing. Sometimes it's just hard not to wish that He would speed things up a bit. He knows what He is doing much better than we ever do, though, so we're just waiting for Him to work everything out. 
In the mean time, I am, as always, staying busy keeping up with my sweet Rylee. She is the greatest joy in my life aside from my relationship with Jesus and then my relationship with my husband, and I never cease to be amazed at how much I love her. I am just crazy about that little girl! I read a comment on Facebook the other day where someone said that having a child fills a hole in your heart that you didn't realize you had, and that is SO true in my opinion. I can't imagine not being a mommy now. I am so blessed to have her as my daughter. She is three months old today, which of course is hard for me to believe/accept; I actually teared up a bit earlier today thinking about how fast time has gone by so far. I had some pictures taken of her this morning by a very talented photographer, Lynne Richardson, who I currently go to church with. She did a maternity photo shoot with Jordan and me when I was still pregnant with Rylee, and she's been anxious to get some shots of Rylee since she was born. The weather was nice today, so we decided to do the pictures outside. Rylee hung in there with us for a little while, but eventually she got hot and sleepy, and she made sure to let us know she was done. We didn't get all of the shots we had hoped to get of her, so we're going to try to get together again in a couple of days to finish the "session". I wanted to go ahead and include a few of my favorites from today in this post. I'm also going to share a couple of pictures that I took of her here at home today.

Rylee's first time sitting up like a big girl in her Bumbo seat

Taking a bath to get cleaned up for her pictures with Mrs. Lynne

photo taken by Lynne Richardson (check out her website: www.picturetaker.smugmug.com)

photo taken by Lynne Richardson (check out her website: www.picturetaker.smugmug.com)

photo taken by Lynne Richardson (check out her website: www.picturetaker.smugmug.com)

And this was the moment when Rylee decided she was done for the day:

photo taken by Lynne Richardson (check out her website: www.picturetaker.smugmug.com)

"Bummer" News

Well, today was a pretty good day until about 3:45 this afternoon when we got some really "bummer" news. My mom called, and the closing date of our new home has been postponed. It was supposed to be tomorrow afternoon, and as of right now, we don't have a rescheduled date. Apparently the bank is still waiting on the title of the land that the home is on (or something like that... I'm pretty sure that's what my mom said the issue was). We don't really know any details, but the bottom line is, we're not going to be able to move in this weekend like we've been planning. It's definitely frustrating (especially for my parents, since they're the actual buyers of the home, and are having to deal with all the "dirty work" associated with it), but there's nothing we can do but wait until everything is worked out. Hopefully that won't take more than a few days, and MAYBE we can be moved in by next weekend... but we have no idea. So, like I said, we just have to wait and see what happens when. As upsetting as it is, I know that everything happens in God's timing, so I'm trying to focus on that and just be patient. This is definitely one of those situations that you can look at from two different perspectives: "cup half-empty" or "cup half-full". So I'm going to do my best to look at it optimistically. As some of my friends have told me: at least it'll give us more time to pack!

"Jesus Loves Me"

I don't really have much of anything to update right now, but I felt like blogging anyway, since I haven't posted one in a few days.
We're now three days away from the closing date of our new home, and four days away from when we will start moving in. Hopefully we'll be completely moved in (and ready to watch some Alabama football in our new home!) on Saturday the 11th. Jordan started packing the first bit of our stuff on Saturday night (two nights ago), so our living room is looking a bit bare now, but that's ok. Exciting, actually. We've got a LOT more packing to do, though, so the next few days are going to be pretty crazy, especially with juggling work and taking care of Rylee as well. We'll get everything done one way or another, though, and I think we'll all feel a lot better after Saturday.
In the mean time, Rylee is still growing more and more every day. She'll be 12 weeks old tomorrow. Last night, Jordan and I sang "Jesus Loves Me" to her, and she cooed along with us a bit. It was pretty sweet, and it actually choked me up a bit too. "Jesus Loves Me" is one of the songs my grandma Parker always used to sing with my brother Seth and me when we were little. She would've been 95 years old on Saturday (two days ago), so I'm missing her (not that I ever don't miss her). Anyway, I shot a little video of it, so I figured I would share it on here. Enjoy.
(P.S. Happy Labor Day!)

(For whatever reason, it appears that half of the video was cut off (it was supposed to be 40 seconds long), but you still get the gist of it.)

Another Baby Girl for Chocodelphia

I intended to post this blog last night, but I was just too tired, so I figured I would do it tonight instead. Anyway, yesterday afternoon, Rylee and I drove out to Baptist East Medical Center in Montgomery to visit my friend and Chocodelphia co-worker, Kristin. On Tuesday, August 31, she gave birth to a precious baby girl named Madison Grace. She weighed 5 pounds 1 ounce and was 17 inches long. I had a nice visit with Kristin and her family, and I got to hold Madison for a little while too. I couldn't believe how tiny she was compared to Rylee. It was yet another reminder of how fast time has gone by and how quickly Rylee is growing. It felt like just yesterday that I was in that same hospital after giving birth myself. In reality, it's been almost three months. Crazy! Anyway, Madison is the third baby girl to be born to a Chocodelphia employee this year. One of our former co-workers, Cece, had a baby girl named Sarah in January. Then I had Rylee in June. And now Kristin has had Madison. So if you want to have a baby - more specifically, a baby GIRL - go drink the water at Chocodelphia.

Here I am with sweet little Madison Grace. I think she slept the entire time I was there.

Here's a close-up of Madison. Isn't she precious?! (Sorry it's a bit blurry; I had the flash off.)

I've Been Adopted

Well, one week before we're due to move, two young cats have shown up at our house and have, apparently, decided to adopt us. Now, when I say they "showed up", I know they didn't really come far; our next-door neighbor has tons of cats (they keep breeding), so I'm sure they came from his house. But they made the venture over to our house two or three days ago, and have been pretty much camped out here ever since. Every time we open the door to go outside, they're right there waiting on us, and they practically wrap themselves around our legs as soon as we step out. We haven't fed them or anything (because, of course, that's a sure way to keep them around), but we do talk to them and pet them, and I guess that's enough for them. I'm sure they're getting food from the neighbor (or from somewhere, anyway), because, although they're small (they're still coming out of their kitten stage), they don't look like they're starving. I'm trying not to get attached to them (I've been good and haven't named them or anything... I don't even know if they're boys or girls) since, like I said, we're moving next week. Part of me wants to take them with us, though. They're the sweetest little things, and it'd be nice to have some family pets. Jordan and I have gone back and forth when talking about it, and I know we won't take them with us (after all, they're not ours to take, even though I'm sure the neighbor wouldn't miss them). We need to allow ourselves to settle in to our new home and get used to the financial differences that move will make. I don't want to take on the expense of two cats, and then not be able to afford to take care of them the way they deserve to be. Hopefully someday we can have a family pet, but it's just not the right time for us yet. So for now, I'm just going to enjoy their company when I check the mail every day, and then, next week, we'll say our goodbyes, and I'll wish them well. Here's to Kitty and... well... Kitty. (Like I said, I'm not going to name them... or is that what I just did?...) 

Here they are, waiting for us to come out and play with them.