Moving Day

We'd spent two weeks after closing bouncing between the new and old house. Painting and hanging blinds here and packing, cleaning and organizing there. We hired a moving for February 15th. The movers showed up two hours late, truck problems they said. Three men arrived and seemed energized and ready to go, that is until they came inside and saw the house. Turns out the sales lady who'd quoted our move DRASTICALLY underestimated the amount of stuff we had, the size truck we needed and how many guys it would take!

Warning, I am about to go on a rant: I called the sales person and she tells me that she thought we only needed our furniture moved, none of our stuff... Wait WHAT!? That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!! How could that possibly have been misconstrued!? I found out that she's new to this job - this was not a situation I wanted to play the guinea pig in. I couldn't believe it when the company refused to send more help, even after me and the moving crew leader requested it from their dispatch office. I feel SCREWED! So much for going with the best quote! My advice to anyone who will listen:

DO NOT USE Primer Moving and Storage, a Mayflower Company

Back to the move: At this point literally everything I own is in a box and these three guys already have half my stuff hostage on the truck. Did I mention they get paid by the hour! The moving guys made personal calls for back up, and two of their buddies showed up for little less than an hour. At 5pm they finally loaded the last box. This is the time they were suppose to finish, but we haven't even left the old house yet. This move was quoted to take 7 hours max, 14 hours later they finally finished! The truck pulled away from our new house at MIDNIGHT! What a marathon. The movers were champs, they didn't complain to us but they were physically wasted both mentally and physically. We'd bought them lunch, offered them dinner, snacks and coffee. However there is no amount of caffeine that can pick you up after moving 13,000 pounds worth of stuff. The hardest part was standing around and watching. John and I are not like that, but they said we couldn't help because of insurance and liability issues.

When they finally left we were exhausted. My parents kept the kids for use during this crazy day. I'm so thankful they weren't around for all the chaos, but I missed them so much. Hate when I can't kiss them good night. That night we moved a few things around to make it livable, made the beds and waited for Deb, Al and Jen to arrive. How exciting to welcome our first guests. It was late, but we gave them a quick tour. John made us dinner at 1am... first meal cooked in the new house = kielbasa with veggies. At 3am we finally lay down for the first night of sleep in our new house!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone. Mrs. Becky took this most adorable picture of our two cupids.

It's Ours!

Things have been happening so fast, a month of wild days has flow past and here I go again... let me try and catch this blog up!

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On February 1st we signed (and signed, and signed) on the double line. 6174 Fawnlake Court now officially belongs to the Marshall family! 

We sprinted over to pick up the kids. Then headed "home" to New Kent. Our celebration menu consisted of beer and pizza. Might not be gourmet, but it seemed like the perfect way to break it in! As we sat in camp chairs at chatted about where our furniture would go and what colors to paint our voices echoed though the empty house. I couldn't help but dream about what lies ahead. This house is going to become our home. Soon the our pictures will hang on these walls and the kids toys will cover the living room floor, but for now the possibilities are endless and it's spotless!

As we left that night Wyatt looked up at exclaimed "Mommy look at all the stars!" -- If there were any doubt, that moment took it away. Welcome to the country.

Final Walk Though!

We are almost to the finish line! This past Saturday Gary, the Contractor, lead us took us on the final walk though. We never do anything quite anymore, we showed up with my parents and the kiddos in tow. There were a few things that need a little toughing up, but all in all it is PERFECT!!!! Dad even seemed pleased with the results. 

Of course we couldn't just have an uneventful meeting. Wyatt decided he had to check out all the knobs in the house, which was fine until he turned the laundry machine water hook up. The spout shot a stream of water from the laundry room about 30 feet, over the second floor landing and hit the front door! Wyatt screamed, hit the floor and army crawled for the door. John hurdled Wyatt and ran to turn off the spout. When it was all said and done, Wyatt was soaked from head to toe, John was wet from the belt down and everyone else had wet socks. I don't think Gary will forget us anytime soon :)

In the Snow!

Entry (looking in from the front door)

Dining Room

Breakfast Nook

Front Door

Master Bedroom

Ava likes the new carpet

Wyatt approves the cabinets

Kitchen

Master Bathroom

Master Bathroom

Master Bathroom

Kitchen

Wyatt aka 'Toddler the Terrible'

We recently went though a major lesson in parenting... I am posting this for the other mom's out there that may soon be hurdling this developmental stage. 

Wyatt laying in Ava's bath tub - told me he was "all clean" 

At some point in early January Wyatt woke up and decided this was his world and he was going to take it by storm. Enter 'Toddler the Terrible'! What happened to my adorable baby boy that said "please" and "thank you", loved to be cuddled and listened when I talked? He had disappeared leaving John and I in a constant state of frustration. We tried everything... yelling, time outs, and yes I am ashamed to say even a spank. Don't judge me, it hurt me more than it hurt him. Nothing seemed to get though to him! After more than a week of this demonic behavior I'd had it! John saw on my face that I was about to crack, he took the kids while I escaped to the grocery store (it's pathetic when going to the grocery store is therapeutic). I returned 2 hours later with a renewed lease on life, Wyatt was napping and John had me read this article: Getting your toddler to listen

Fast forward 1 week and I can honestly say this article may have saved my sanity and turned 'Toddler the Terrible' back in to our Wyatt. I am not saying we still aren't dealing with an occasional temper tantrum, but it is 1000 times better. I've learned a hard lesson - sometimes the actions of my child are reactions to my parenting approach. It's hard to look in the mirror and realize that you are part of the problem. But we're trying and adjusting to the challenges as they develop.

MARSHALL LAW: We work together to become better people!

Ava's Four Months Old!

Our Little Miss Ava turned four months old on the 19th. Monday she had her well-baby check up and I am happy to report she's doing GREAT. She's now 25.5 inches long, which puts her between the 75th to 90th percentile. 14 lbs 6oz, putting her in the 75th percentile. Finally her head measured in at 41cm,  in the 50th percentile. All good numbers :)

She's getting to be so expressive, laughing and cooing all the time with the biggest grin. Our Lil' Peanut is interested in everything happening around her, and with Wyatt as a big bro that means there's never a dull moment. January 9th she rolled over for the first time!  She flipped herself to her stomach then immediately back over looking up at me with wide eyes that seemed to say "MOMMY, what the heck just happened!".

New Year at the New House

2013 has brought with it many more decisions to be made. John and I picked out flooring, which I think was the last major decision before closing.

Bathrooms

Main living area

Bedrooms

As long as the cabinets arrive on time we are on schedule to close at the end of the month! This impending deadline has kicked our preparation into high gear. I've got a 3inch notebook filled with more to-do lists, house info and design ideas than I know what to do with.

A couple of frustrating issues have come up with the builder. The most recent is that they stained the hand rail on the staircase in an oak color... it doesn't match anything else in the house. Why did they do this... because it's "standard" they tell me! I call BS! I think someone jumped the gun and wasn't thinking about the big picture. Let's hope they fix it!

We still don't know what we're doing with Exton Lane yet. We thought it was going to be shown yesterday - but they cancelled at the last minute - boo, however at least the house is clean today!