Author: Paige

We have officially begun the home search. We have our pre-qual letter and have decided that the Round Rock area is going to be the best fit for us. It reminds me a lot of Frisco but with a whole lot of outdoor activities to enjoy.

We found one house in particular that was great but it is in foreclosure and after we submitted our bid the listing agent sent out a notice that they had multiple offers on the home since it was priced so far below market value and wanted everyone to amend their bids to as high as they are willing to go.

So …we thought about it and there are so many homes for sale in the area we love and in our budget that we decide we had no desire to enter a bidding war. I do not like playing those games. Way too stressful for my taste.

Anyway, we are going to look at 5 or 6 houses today in our target neighborhood. We drove by them all last night and liked all but one-the one with the creepy neighbor hanging out in a lit up, open garage. I hate to say it but that lady gave us the creeps. It’s too bad really because the house itself was adorable.

So wish us luck. Hopefully things will go smoothly.

I actually did not realize it had been so long since our last post. We have been rather occupied lately. My dear sister came to visit and we did everything we could while she was here. The museums, the capitol, shopping, meandering through the smorgasbord that is Whole Foods, catching up and seeing Matthew thrilled to see his Aunt was too good.

It made Austin feel more like home to have her visit and I hope more of our friends and family can do the same when they can. Austin is a lot of fun to explore.

We have also begun a little house shopping, going to some open house and getting a “feel” for the neighborhoods. We have narrowed it down to the Round Rock area for now. The schools have great ratings and the parks are unbelievable! One neighborhood park included not only trails and playscapes but a 5 acre fishing pond and tennis courts. It was literally right out the front door of one home we toured. It also doesn’t hurt that the prices are on the mild side either.

I am also still waiting to go to the doctor. We thought that Tony’s insurance would be effective ninety days from his first day of work but it is actually ninety days from his first paycheck, so it will happen in February. I know it isn’t that far off now but I am running out of my medication that my last doctor prescribed. I know you shouldn’t wish your life away but the sooner February gets here, the better!

On a political note:  Thank Goodness We Have An OUTSTANDING, NEW PRESIDENT!!  I think Obama is just what we need right now.  We as a country have a lot of work to do and a lot of wounds to heal.  I think he is ready to get down to business.  I told Matthew that we had a new president and his response was, “Hooray!!”  I could not have said it better my self.

So this concludes our January update.  I seriously will try to post more often.

All I can say is, if you told me last New’s Year’s Eve what would actually happen in 2008, I would have thought you had quite the over active imagination.

I am jobless (but well cared for-thanks, honey!) and live 300 miles away from the only place I’ve ever known.  We thought our family would have grown by now and and I never could have guess the low back pain that was to come.  One constant though, Tony and Matthew.  As you all know they are awesome.  I could also not forget the rest of our sweet family, including my sister and her family, Tony’s family (they’ve always been so good to me) and our good friends Ben, Paula, Jackson, Dee, Geoff & Elizabeth, and Deb and my friends at the paper and I am sure I forgot someone. This time of year is always a good time to count your blessings.  I feel happy to have so many to count.

Happy New Year–2009 will be different.  That’s for sure.

Merry Christmas to all our family and friends.  We can’t wait to see you all tomorrow.  As much as we love living in Austin now, we love to see those near and dear to us.

It is sunny and 72 degrees here today and we are spending the day watching old movies, playing games, cooking, and eating.  I even managed to fit in a workout.  Tony is finishing wrapping my gifts even as we speak.  It has been a great day and I hope you all are having a great one, too.

Also, four years ago today I was having 4 to 5 contractions and hour but had been that way for five days and didn’t think anything of it.  When Tony and I decided to finally go to bed at 2 a.m., little did we know in less than one hour we would be off to the hospital to have our baby boy on Christmas Day.  The absolute best Christmas gift in the world.  Matthew is truly a gift that keeps on giving.  My little family makes me feel blessed everyday.

Hope you all have the merriest, most peaceful, joyous Christmas of your lives because… it goes by way too fast.

We went to the Zilker Tree Park Lighting Sunday, enjoying kettle corn, pretzels and hot cocoa.  Matthew really liked the children’s choir and the count down to turning on the tree.  The tree is 155 feet tall and has 3,300 lights.  Everyone stands under it as they flip the switch.

We noticed that for the most part people here in Austin enjoy their city and are very happy to live here.  That is always very comforting to witness since we moved from the only place we’ve ever lived just two and a half months ago.  So far, it’s really going well.

Yesterday Matthew started having trouble with the Nintendo Wii.  The signal wasn’t registering from his remote on the left side of the screen.  I tried the 2nd remote and the same thing happened.  I could not figure it out and was worried that we had some how broken the thing and turned it off until Tony got home.

He seemed to be sure that it was our sensor bar and that we needed a new one.  Matthew and I headed off to the store around noon today to get replacement.   Surprisingly, Matthew didn’t seem to mind much that he couldn’t play.  I was relieved and we played lots of other things-it was great!

Anyway, we returned with the replacement sensor bar and it still wouldn’t work.  We tried running the update and no success there either.  We cleaned the bar and the remotes and did everything we could think of except standing on our heads.  It is after all, just a game.

Tony went to the Nintendo website and on the first support page for the remotes mentioned that things that create magnetic fields, cell phones or even sunlight could interfere with your remote signals.  Well, we just couldn’t figure it out.  Then it dawned on Tony (You knew it wouldn’t be me who figured this out, didn’t you?):  The Christmas tree we just put up day before yesterday is to the left of the entertainment center.  We turned off the Christmas lights and wow;  it worked perfectly.

So, for future reference, don’t put you lighted Christmas displays right next to your Wii or at least turn them off before you play.

I’ve noticed that I haven’t posted pictures of Matthew lately so I thought it was time I did.  Matthew & I were playing the Wii today after our walk and he was so smiley I had to take a picture. Even though you can never capture the exact moment of the biggest smile because my camera has a slight delay, I thought this was very cute.

Matthew and I spent yesterday making turkey shaped cookies and talking about out trip to Paris for Thanksgiving and what we are thankful for.  We had a great time and he enjoyed finding all the green mini M&M’s in the bowl and sorting them out to use for the turkey eyes.  He was happy to tell his Daddy what we had been up to when he got home and they got to share the left over M&M’s.  Here is how they came out:

It will be wonderful to see everyone and I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving.  Enjoy Turkey Day.  I know we will.

Matthew recently upped his Wii Play Tanks score from 195 to 295!  Yay, Matthew.  I can’t believe he will be 4 years old on Christmas day.   Don’t tell him but we found a good deal on Wii games last night and bought him a couple.  They were two he actually saw the previews for and said we would like to ask Santa for.  He has out grown Wii Play seeing as he has platinum medals for every game on the disc!  So I bet he will be happy about the new games.

Temperatures finally fell down around freezing here in Austin last night and I absolutely love it!  It puts me in the Christmas shopping mood that all the retailers anticipate every year as the first really good cold front comes through.  Since I had never even visited Austin in the winter, I was beginning to worry that it would never feel like holidays were you could bring out the long sleeves and jackets.

Matthew and I even listened to Christmas songs on the way to the store this afternoon!  He loved “Jingle Bells” and asked the name of every song as it came on.

Bring on the holidays!  I love it!