3 More Sleeps!!! (if we can call them that...)

First, I have to tell you. My computer is a piece of garbage. Actually, the hard drive is a piece of garbage (I'm keeping this reader-friendly for all my readers despite the language I would rather use to describe my computer's hard drive). I made this huge, awesome post with pictures scattered throughout and it took me about 1/2 hour (when a child is napping, this is very precious time). When I hit the "publish" button, my computer rebooted. Did it save my post? Of course not. I got so mad. I called up Staples. I told them, I don't care how they do it, but they are giving me a new computer today and taking this piece of "garbage" back even if it costs me another $500. Well, I was talked off my limb and the tech convinced me instead to call Cisnet (my computer manufacturer) and have them send me a new hard drive since it was still under warranty. I still haven't done it, mind you (and don't tell Ryan). Life is so hectic right now! Let me explain...

I was blessed the other day to finally be able to meet face-to-face Amber and her beautiful family. Amber and I met on Babycenter and started a life-long friendship when we were both due in May 2006. We have chatted on the phone and on Messenger so many times. Sometimes I can't go to bed at night until I have a little chat with my friend up north (she's in northern BC) - speaking of which - where are you tonight? Baking up another cake? Anyways, due to some health issues, she was referred to a specialist in Vancouver and we managed to meet briefly for coffee last week in Chilliwack. Woo hoo! Her kids are adorable and Andy is a total sweetheart. No matter how brief it was, I will never forget our first meeting. Her kids are all super adorable, but I have to say, Eliana is absolutely enchanting. Her eyes are full of excitement and she just overflowed when I asked her how the Vancouver Aquarium was. "It was soooo fuuun" and she just lit up. What a doll with such a beautiful smile!!!

A couple days later I was blessed again to be able to meet another friend I had met on Babycenter who I also met due to our mutual due dates of May 2006. Cathy lives in Langley and yes, it seriously has taken me this long to get my behind in gear and go out to her home and meet her and her gorgeous clan as well. Cathy has just moved into the home of her dreams and rightfully so! What a gorgeous house for a gorgeous family! Here are a few pics from our meeting with Cathy and her clan and Amber and her familia:

I met with my new manager at the Courthouse the other day to discuss wages and start dates and we decided I would start on next week Monday as I required this Thursday and Friday off for the cruise and it was just easier this way. No problem for me! Gives me more time to prepare for our holiday and things around the house. Today was spent trying to figure out what is wrong with our phone line and swimsuit shopping (sarcastic yay). Oh, and plus closing on the offer on the house.

Our offer has been accepted and all the subjects have been removed. I have given our 30 days notice to our landlords and we will be moving out somewhere between May 28 (when we get posession) and May 31 (when we have to be out of here). So exciting!!! Our first home. I think Greg is super excited too. His suite is really nice and I think he really sees himself and all his toys having a great new home down there.

So 3 more sleeps until our cruise! I still feel really guilty for having to leave Kaitlyn with my very pregnant sister (Andrea) while we relax and have fun but she keeps telling me to stop it and all will be fine. Still, Kaitlyn's having a lot of sleep issues lately so I hope she behaves for Aunty Andrea! I am reading the book "No Cry Sleep Solution" and really enjoying it - mostly because I have found someone who is going through the exact same thing I am going through and was able to solve the sleep issues without crying it out. Hopefully all works out well!

Anyways, this is a super long post and I congratulate anyone who was able to read the entire thing. So hopefully when I hit "publish" it doesn't delete the entire thing...

I am Now a Court Clerk!

Yes, I got the call a couple hours ago that I am definitely the newest Court Clerk at the Chilliwack Courthouse. Apparently they want me to start as early as Monday. That's the funny thing about government - things will take forever and then suddenly when it's done, it's done. I met with Krista from our church today for lunch who will be watching Kaitlyn most of the time for the first while and we finalized the technicalities of it all. I am so excited!

As for the house, our offer has been accepted and we are now going through the process of financing and home inspection. The conditions are to be removed from the offer by next week Monday and if all goes well, we should be moving in to our new home May 28. Again, things moving quickly on that end as well!

Thank you everyone for your prayers and well wishes. They have all meant so much to us. We will keep you updated on everything!

Updates for us!

Well, our computer is having issues again, so I may be without for a little while next week while they try to fix it (again). Luckily it is still under warranty so hopefully this will all get resolved rather quickly. We had to have our old hard drive completely wiped out so I lost a lot of contacts - which reminds me - Esther - can you email me again? I don't have your email anymore now that our hard drive is starting over.

First, the job update. I have moved on to the next phase of competition for the Court Clerk job and go in on Monday for "behavioural interviewing". Such a horrifying title for a normal interview. They will ask me questions and I will need to respond using examples and supply witnesses as well for things like, how did I react in the past when faced with a stressful situation at work? etc. Woo hoo (sarcasm). It's looking good though and hopefully I will be a Court Clerk by week's end.

We put an offer on a house tonight! It's actually half a duplex and we're oober excited. It's in a nice culdesac with church people right down the road. I'm actually just waiting up until midnight to see if the owners are counter-offering any further tonight but am super tired so I should really be in bed.

Anyways, that's where we're at. Sorry for the further lack of details but I'm having a hard time staying awake after the excitement of today. Hopefully I can post some more good news next week.

Yvonne, aren't you proud of me? No cutting and pasting this time ;)

Housing and Job Markets

I mentioned a few posts ago (I believe) about our visit from our landlord last week. He and his wife are expecting their first baby and want to move back into their house in July sometime. Well, we decided we are sick and tired of throwing our money away on rent so we spoke to a mortgage broker and real estate agent about entering the housing market. We have figured out some solutions and are taking a look at a house tomorrow! It's definitely an exact fit according to the description. It has a 3 bedroom suite upstairs and 3 bedroom suite downstairs so we can rent out one of the floors and use that as a mortgage helper. And each floor is 1000 sq ft - bigger than anything we've ever lived in before! It's such a nice area too. The downside is it already has an offer but it looks like the offer is falling through which is why we're still going to look at it.

I also finally received a phone call today from the Chilliwack Courthouse and am going in for testing on Wednesday morning for a court clerk position. It's not the exact job I want but it's a job and a foot in the door. Hopefully I do well on the testing and they offer me the job before April 27 when my benefits are cut off!

And to top off the day, Dad told us they oversold the inside cabins on the cruise we're going on in a couple weeks so we've been upgraded to a cabin with a balcony. Woo hoo! It will be nice to open our eyes and know if it's still the middle of the night or morning already.

So, it sounds as if the prayers are working. I've been praying so hard lately for things to start working out and have been losing weight just from being stressed about it all. Thank the Lord things are finally looking as if they're coming together!

Good Morning!

Good morning everyone! Sorry I've been slacking in the posting department lately. Kaitlyn has been a miserable sleeper for a few nights now and it turned out to be a double ear infection. This is her 3rd one already and she's not even 11 months old! The sub doctor (mine was off yesterday) mentioned the dreaded word "tubes" already. Let's hope we don't have to resort to that!

As far as work is concerned, I still don't have anything lined up. I had a nice long talk with my boss yesterday who was so great about everything. He's going to do some asking around as well and hopefully we'll have some good news next week. I sure hope so - this is so stressful knowing that my benefits will be cut off in 2 weeks.

The other stress we have right now is being informed by our landlord he wants us out in July because him and his wife are expecting and want to move back here. It would be wonderful to find out where I'm returning to work so we can meet with the bank and get pre-approved for a mortgage and start house (or mobile unit) hunting! We know if we don't get into the market soon, it will never happen and we are sick and tired of throwing away our money towards someone else's mortgage.

Other than that, life is continuing as normal. Our cruise tickets arrived which is exciting. It's just a short coastal cruise to Oregon and back from May 3-6 but it will be nice to have a few days to ourselves - maybe even in sleep in for once??? Wow, what a concept!

I guess the other exciting thing happening around here is the Canucks are in the playoffs. But what a pathetic game last night! Come on guys, you get paid how much??? Put the puck in the net. It's not that hard (not that I'm volunteering for the job of course).

OK - a smell is requiring my attention so that's all for now. Take care everyone!

Kaitlyn's First Macaroni and Cheese

Kaitlyn's eating solids has been a struggle pretty much from day one. It was even so bad, I took her to the doctor's office where she was diagnosed as a picky eater with a high gag reflex. She would gag and vomit almost daily. The doctor's advice was try every baby food and see which ones she likes, and which she doesn't. I've been surprised at a few things she does like such as carrots. Just gobbled them up.

But today I decided to switch gears. I dug out a Gerber Little Entrees Mac and Cheese out of the cupboard which I thought I would be hanging onto until she was much older considering all the food failings we've been experiencing thus far. But I thought, why not? Let's try it. So I just let her go at it and she loved it. I will be trying to find more "people foods" and make them kid-friendly so she can eat with her hands. And yes, she had a bath afterwards.