&t The Taylor Family: March 2013

Sunday, March 31

Happy Easter!! He is Risen!

The other day Abbi asked me if the Easter Bunny would know where to deliver the baskets. She was concerned because the leprechaun didn't stop by either house on St. Patrick's Day this year. I told her that I think the Easter Bunny would know because now we have everything moved over and are really living in the new house. I also told her that the leprechaun probably went to our old house but got confused when there wasn't much there so he left without doing anything like he normally does. She seemed to accept this answer and went on playing. Last night the bunny must have made it to the house because we woke up and found three bean bag chairs with beautiful Easter Baskets on them. There were also several dozen plastic eggs hidden around the house with treats inside. The children found all the eggs but we didn't let them open them until after we went to church. Church was great, as usual, and then our family went out to lunch at the Olive Garden. When we got home the children opened their eggs and baskets and we played with some of the toys they got too. We made a trip to the old house and then came back where I made us all a nice fish dinner. Our day was pretty quiet and low stress which was a wonderful change from the last couple of weeks.

posted by We are the Taylors @ 5:46 PM   0 comments

Friday, March 29

Getting to be more like Home

After some deliberation and talking with my friend who is an interior decorator we decided where Peter's guitars were going to live. At the old house he had 4 hooks on the walls but here we have a lot more space so he gathered all his hooks and then went to work hanging them nice and level. He got 4 up and since he didn't currently having any more guitars that he really wanted to hand decided to wait to hand the last three. They will go in between the four hanging now but will be staggered so they will be set lower on the wall. With Peter's guitars up it is starting to feel a bit more like home but the overall feeling of this being our new home hasn't really hit us yet.

posted by We are the Taylors @ 12:38 PM   0 comments

Tuesday, March 26

Happy Birthday to me!!

This week the girls are on spring break from school and since we were still trying to get some normalcy in our lives and things were crazy I decided to take the week off from work. My mom has Javan and I arranged for the girls to have a sleep over at their friend's house so Peter and I had the house and night to ourselves. We went to dinner with a couple friends from church. They had never been to the Melting Pot and Peter and I were going for my birthday so we all went together. It was delicious and also so nice to sit and relax with no agenda except to talk and have awesome food. Today we are picking up the girls at a frozen yogurt place around 5 so Peter and I went shopping and ran some errands in Sanford. I desperately needed some new maternity clothes and I found a bunch of great deals at Old Navy and Ross. We got some more things done around the house but also celebrated me. :)

posted by We are the Taylors @ 12:26 PM   0 comments

Saturday, March 23

A break for fun

My nephew Wyatt was celebrating his first birthday so we had to join in on the fun. We still have a million things to do but at the same time it was nice to leave the houses and forget about all the work for a moment. Also, Janell and Wyatt are moving soon so we took them a bunch of our boxes which helped make our house look a bit more normal. At the party there was awesome food and the kids got to swim and have fun. Javan was a bit naughty though. I think he is sleep deprived and having a hard time adjusting to all the changes going on. It's hard to explain the reasoning behind everything in 4 year old terms. My mom was taking Javan for a few days so I had packed his bag we moved the carseat over. After watching Wyatt dig into his birthday cake we headed out. We had a few errands to run and still so many things to do at the house.

posted by We are the Taylors @ 8:24 PM   0 comments

Thursday, March 21

Still crazy

Life has not slowed down here at the Taylor house. After the movers brought all the furniture we started sleeping at the new house. We have a hard time trying to figure out where things go and then where they are. It took several days to get the washer hooked up as well as the dishwasher, due to needing hoses and connectors. Lots of trips to Lowes and Home Depot and some bigger purchases that were not expected (over the range microwave, because we ended up not being able to move our old one, and bunk beds for the girls). Slowly things are coming together but it is very hectic at the moment.

posted by We are the Taylors @ 3:08 PM   0 comments

Friday, March 15

Such a difference

When the movers arrived this morning we had locked Goose in master bathroom at the old house with her litter box and food and water. Once the movers were done and the girls were home from school we all went back over to the old house to see how things were. We still had a few things on the wall but for the most part everything was at the new place. I let Goose out of the bathroom and she wandered around the house smelling everything. I can't imagine what she was thinking. When we had a few more baskets of loose ends gathered and packed in the car Peter and I put Goose in the carrier to take to the new house. That was a feat in itself, she did not want to go in the carrier and made it very clear by her growling and tensing of her body. Somehow we managed to get her in though and then I held the carrier on my lap while Peter drove to the new house. Once at the new house I took her up to our bedroom (where she spent most of her time in the last house) and let her out. She smelled the furniture and explored for a while and then I picked her up and took her downstairs to show her where her litter box was and where her food and water was set up. She wanted nothing to do with the downstairs and ran back up the stairs and hid in the closet for a few hours.

posted by We are the Taylors @ 3:58 PM   0 comments

Time to Move

This was a very long and stressful week. I was still working my normal hours and everyday I would head straight to the new house to try and get things in order for today. I wanted to get all the kitchen cabinets and drawers lined with contact paper and Peter was busy doing many miscellaneous things around the house. I was also still packing the old house up and moving things over. The girls were pretty good helpers with this. I can't lift too heavy things so Peter had to do some of that too. There were also a million appointments that we had to set and be available for. Things like alarm system quotes, fence quotes, security window tint, window treatments, plumbers, etc. Overall, this week was extremely draining and overwhelming. We weren't really sure where all the furniture was going but we figured if we got the little things out of the way it would make life a bit easier. This morning we had a meeting with Abbi's teacher to discuss Abbi's goals for the coming year (standard procedure for gifted students in grades 2 and 5). It went well and quick and then we met the movers at the old house. They went over a few things with us and then started packing up the truck. I had a doctor appointment in Daytona so I had to get going but Peter was at the house(s) to tell the guys where things needed to go. After my doctor appointment I got a text from Peter that said some of our blinds we ordered were ready so I swung by and picked those up (we had to custom order all our blinds because none of the 24 windows in the house were a common size). I met Peter at the new house with some lunch and got to see the progress made by the movers. They had moved all the furniture into the house but were going to go back after a lunch break to get the appliances and Peter's big tools in his shop.

posted by We are the Taylors @ 1:00 PM   0 comments

Thursday, March 14

Getting There...slowly

posted by We are the Taylors @ 11:32 AM   0 comments

Wednesday, March 13

I think progress is being made but it's hard to tell

posted by We are the Taylors @ 11:32 AM   0 comments

Monday, March 11

Chaos

posted by We are the Taylors @ 11:31 AM   0 comments

Sunday, March 10

Packing it up

We scheduled the movers to come on the 15th but we only are going to use them for the furniture and appliances. The plan for this week is to get everything packed into boxes and take loads over using the van. The new house is only about a mile away from our current house so it shouldn't be too bad. I started this past weekend by packing up all the things that I knew we wouldn't need at all this coming week. Mostly decorative things and then progressed to DVD's and games. I was trying to wait to the do all the bedrooms for last since I figured we would need most of that stuff regularly. It's been weird seeing our house all torn up and the things taken off the walls. The kitchen is slowly getting barer and boxes are taking up what little space we have left.

posted by We are the Taylors @ 11:21 AM   0 comments

Saturday, March 9

Still have time for fun

I had previously signed the kids up to do a Lowe's Workshop today. There are about a million things that need to be done at the new house before we can move in and a million more things to do at the old house before we can pack it up and move out but the kids don't understand all of that so it was good to stop and let them have a bit of fun in the midst of my errands for the day. Besides, with buying a new house comes a lot of needed trips to Lowe's and Home Depot so why not let the children enjoy some time too? Today they all worked really hard and made wonderful Monster Dog Trucks.

posted by We are the Taylors @ 11:30 AM   0 comments

Friday, March 8

Moving on

On our last trip to Vegas I shared that we ran into a good friend of ours, Paul, on the airplane. We all sat together and talked on the 5 ½ hour flight about just about everything. One of the things we discussed was the possibility of Peter and I moving out of our current house and into something a little bigger. Peter really needed more shop space and I could stand to use a bigger kitchen for our growing family. We weren’t so concerned with the size of the rooms or even getting more rooms (bedroom or otherwise) but the shop and kitchen definitely needed some attention. Paul is a realtor so I knew I could get an honest and informed opinion from him. I told him that I had talked to Peter about it in the past but Peter was hesitant because of the economy and all the horror stories we had heard about people getting denied for loans and losing their homes to foreclosure. Also, we didn’t know what the requirements were as far as down payments and deposits went. After talking to Paul in length about it all we both decided we would start looking, not necessarily to buy something right away or to definitely move but just to see what our options were. When we all got back to FL, Paul had us give him the criteria in a home we were looking for and price range and put us on an email notification system so we knew when homes we may be interested were posted or altered. We currently have a 4 bedroom 2 bath with a 2 car garage but it is super tiny. We said we would consider a 3 bedroom (the girls can share) 2 bath as long as the shop space and kitchen were adequate. Immediately we had about 60 houses to look through online. We went through each on but none really popped out to us or drew too much of our interest. I did a little searching on my own and found a house about a mile away that looked like it would meet (and exceed) all our “needs”. The problem was it was a bit above our price range, which is why we didn’t get an email about it from Paul. Nonetheless I asked Paul if we could go see it after showing Peter the pictures online. The only concern I had was that the house would be too big. I didn’t want a big house, I was happy with our little house just needed certain things changed a bit. We went with Paul and his wife, Nancy, to the house and as soon as I walked in I said, “I’m not old enough to have a nice house like this.” It was beautiful and much nicer than anything I thought we would be looking at. We had said we wanted something from 2000 or newer and the minimum 3/2 for beds and bath and at least a 2 car garage. This home was built in 2006, is a 4/4 with a 3 car garage (perfect for Peter’s shop) and has a large kitchen with an island. It is right next to the girls’ school so they could walk to it and save Peter an 1 ½ hour drive to and from to pick them up and drop them off each day. When we left our walk thru I asked Peter what he thought (thinking he would be a bit hesitant) but he said he really liked it. That surprised me because he was still a little reserved about the whole moving thing and I didn’t want to push him into something he didn’t want or wasn’t ready for. Because the price was a bit high we just sat back and continued to look at other homes online but didn’t actually go out to any we might be serious about. We didn’t think the home we really liked was anything more than a dream but God had a plan we couldn’t see. After having a conversation with Paul about homes I said, “can’t we just get that one home that we went to see?” We knew the price was too high but not even 2 days later the bank lowered the price and Paul called to see the status. He knew the listing agent and she told him that someone else had put in an offer that morning when the price went down. We didn’t know what the offer was but Paul told us if we wanted it we had to make a move. After much paperwork and discussion we submitted an offer and the very next day the bank asked for our best and highest offer (from both us and the other person). Paul told us this would happen (though we didn’t expect it so quickly) so we were prepared and submitted our next offer. Again, the very next day, the bank got back to us with a counter offer. We countered them and they accepted and then we were officially in contract for the house. The next few weeks seemed liked months, it was constantly hurry up and do this and then wait. Every day we didn’t hear anything about the progress of the contract filled our heads with doubts and concern but we decided that God had a plan and we just had to wait to see what it would be. We wanted His will to be done so we tried to be patient and we prayed about each step and where He would take us. We were pretty hush hush about it all to our friends and family and only told a few people. I think we were guarding our hearts in case of a big letdown. Finally, after a ton of paperwork and Peter gathering all the information for our broker and title agent, almost daily, we had a closing date set for today. This morning Peter and I went to our broker’s office and signed the final forms for the closing of our house and received our set of keys to our new home. We are still in awe of how God moved in all of this. He had every last minute planned and every minor detail that we didn’t think was relevant worked out perfectly and only later realized that every minute thing was precisely what we needed to make things fit together. We went to our new home and did another walk through and praised God for how He was moving in our lives. There is so much to do now and million things to plan and schedule but in this moment we are just thanking God for His favor, mercy and grace.

posted by We are the Taylors @ 10:33 AM   0 comments

Wednesday, March 6

It's a Boy!!

I haven't really shared that I am pregnant with many people. Some close friends and family know because they have seen me through the process but for the most part I am letting people find out as they see my growing belly. Last year when Peter and I had to go to Las Vegas a couple times it was for this little baby. I am a surrogate again and I met an awesome couple in Texas that has been through the process of surrogacy once before which resulted in twin boys. They had frozen embryos left over from their first go around so they wanted to use those this time to add to their family. I had never done a Frozen Embryo Transfer (FET) before so this was a new experience for me. I had told the couple early on I only wanted to transfer one since I am prone to carrying multiples. They were happy to oblige since they already had a set of twins. On Nov. 5th we transferred just one embryo and the day we left for our cruise on the 15 I got confirmation that the embryo had taken and that I was officially pregnant. After three ultrasounds and weekly (sometimes bi-weekly) blood work I was released to my general OB/GYN’s care.
Today I am 22 weeks and had my routine ultrasound where the baby got measured and checked over and we got to find out that I have little boy in here. I wanted them to have a girl but they were ecstatic when they found out it was a boy. Being pregnant with just one little baby is almost like not being pregnant at all. Everything has been so smooth and simple this time around (not that I have a lot of drama normally) that sometimes I often forget that I am even pregnant until someone points it out to me. I am so excited to help this new family grow. I can’t wait to meet this little bean and see the excitement the parents get when they get to hold their new son for the first time. My due date is set for July 24th.

posted by We are the Taylors @ 4:24 PM   0 comments

Saturday, March 2

Racecar Building

It's been a while since I took the children to a Home Depot Workshop so this morning, among many errands, we stopped at Home Depot where the children all got a kit to build their own racecar. They had a great time as they usually do and then enjoyed a snack and drink provided by the store. I had a couple things I wanted to look at while I was there so we walked around a bit and then went on to our next errand on the list.

posted by We are the Taylors @ 12:38 PM   0 comments