Thursday, July 21, 2011

House Hunting and Other New Adventures

DH and I have begun "browsing" for houses. So exciting!!! It seems to be the trend that I am ready for the next stage in life before my life is ready for it. Let me explain...

I got married at 19. The typical plan is to wait until finishing college. I was a sophomore.

I had a baby at 23. The plan was to wait until I was done with dental school.

Now I am antsy to get into a house of our own. The problem is, our finances aren't exactly ready for us to purchase a house. :( Sad face.

I hate having to wait for something, but in this case, it is probably a good idea. First of all, we don't even know which area we want to live in! We have been browsing from St. Michael to Waconia and everywhere in between. That is a huge difference! On one hand, we would like to live close to family and friends from our younger days. That would lead us to looking around the Elk River area. On the other hand, DH works in Chanhassen, our church is in Eden Prairie and our newer friends reside in the area more south and west of the Cities. So where does that leave us? Considering I don't know where I will be working, it will probably be helpful to wait. One thing that (helped?) narrow down the search is the "down-payment assistance" program done by the USDA's Rural Development. There are certain "rural" areas of the state that qualify for 0% down payment with very little impact on overall monthly mortgage payment. So that leaves us west of a vertical line drawn from Albertville to Waconia. At first I thought this would be totally fine and help narrow down our options to a reasonable number of great houses we could consider. As I continue to browse, I am starting to get a little disappointed. I found a lot of places/areas that I like that aren't eligible for the down-payment assistance program. It excludes St. Michael, Elk River, Hanover and more importantly, Chaska, which I fell in love with already. Boooo!

So I don't really know where that leaves us. I went to talk to a lender just so a professional could hash out our finances and give me an idea where we are at and where we need to be. That helped a lot, but made me want to speed up the process and get a house now! I'm not very patient ;)

In other news, Bean is so wonderful and I miss being home with her soooooo much! She is such a happy baby now! She is at such a fun age and doing new things daily. And one of the most amazing things she is doing is sleeping like 12 hours straight! Whoa! She wakes up and fusses a little bit in her crib usually 1-2x/night but goes right back to sleep as soon as we put the pacifier back in her mouth!

And she loves swimming! She splashes and kicks and smiles and splashes some more! I love it! PLUS I got her the cutest Baby Gap swimsuit from Once Upon a Child, brand new, with tags, for $5! Awesome, right???



My 3 week break is coming up - 2 days of clinic left! I can't wait to spend every day with Lydia again! It is going to be different, but in a good way (I think)!

Alright, back to studying... Everyone else is sleeping (including the dogs), but I have a final tomorrow. Ick.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

New Adventure in the Form of a Blog

Sooooo...my bestie and I started a new blog adventure last month :) It is pretty fun to write about things I am interested in! Check it out, follow us, let me know what you think! I really value your feedback!

Real Housewives of MN

Some of the things I post on there are things I would post on here. If it seems like I am on here left often, that might be why :)

In other news, I got in a cooking (sort of) mood and decided to whip up some homemade baby food for Miss Lydia! I don't know why this made me so excited, but it did! And I found a great use for the Magic Bullet DH and I got as a wedding gift.

I bought a fresh avocado, mango and butternut squash at the grocery story and waited for them to get ripe enough. DH gave Lydia a little taste of the avocado puree I made - she loved it!!! I also made a green bean puree using the green beans from DH's grandparent's garden.

Most of it is in the freezer waiting to harden enough to put into plastic baggies. I ran out of ice cube trays (see other blog) so some of it is sitting in the refrigerator, waiting to be frozen.

Maybe we will work on some more avocado tomorrow :)

Friday, July 8, 2011

Too Busy - So Here Are Some Pictures

Bean's first 4th of July!






Also, a song that has been inspiring me lately:
"Do Everything" Steven Curtis Chapman

You’re picking up toys on the living room floor
for the 15th time today
Matching up socks and sweeping up lost
Cheerios that got away
You put a baby on your hip and color on your lips
and head out the door
And while I may not know you I bet I know you
Wonder sometimes does it matter at all
We’ll let me remind you it all matters just as long as you

Do everything you do to the glory of the One who made you
Cause He made you to do
Every little thing that you do to bring a smile to His face
And tell the story of grace
With every move that you make
And every little thing you do

OOoh ooooh oooooh

Maybe you’re that guy with the suit and tie
Maybe your shirt says your name
You may be hooking up mergers, cooking up burgers
But at the end of the day

http://www.lyrics-celebrities.anekatips.com/

Little stuff big stuff in between stuff
God sees it all the same
And while I may not know you I bet I know you
Wonder sometimes does it matter at all
We’ll let me remind you it all matters just as long as you do

Everything you do to the glory of the One who made you
Cause He made you
To do every little thing that you do to bring a smile to His face
And tell the story of grace with every move that you make
And every little thing that you do

Well maybe you’re sitting in math class
Maybe anekatips on a mission in the Congo
Maybe you’re working at the office
Singing along with the radio
Maybe you’re dining at a five star
Or feeding orphans in Myanmar
Anywhere and everywhere you are
Whatever you do it all matters
So do what you do and don’t ever forget
to do

Everything you do to the glory of the One who made you
Cause He made you to do
Every little thing that you do to bring a smile to His face
And tell the story of grace as you do
Everything you do to the glory of the One who made you
Cause He made you to do
Every little thing that you do to bring a smile to His face
And tell the story of grace with every move that you make
And every little thing that you do

Ooh oooooh
Every little thing you do