Saturday, May 28, 2011

100 dollars

so a few hours after i wrote that last post we received a call from our realtor with a full price offer. closing 7/7...which was perfect since we take possession of our new house on 6/30. they wanted the fridge & the master bedroom curtains (we had excluded them). done.

the story of the buyers seemed a bit strange, but we didn't think too much of it. seemed maybe only mrs. buyer had seen the house, but it was another military family so we felt a bit of a connection to the fact that the husband was in the field & unavailable. the inspection was scheduled for friday at 12p, and they wanted a second showing from 10a-12p. i thought that was a bit strange given they had the house from 12p-3p for the inspection.

fast forward to 11:30a on friday & i get a voicemail from my realtor saying he needs to talk to me about the contract. uh oh, i thought. yep. sure enough, mrs. buyer was having second thoughts. it turns out that only mrs. buyer's family had seen the house - and she put in the offer based on their advice. so friday was the first time she'd seen it. and she decided it was too small.

awesome.

clay & i had never expected to get full price, so we had done lots of spending that extra money in our heads all week. back to the reality of an uncertain period of double mortgage payments looming.

oh, and what do we get for our trouble? for our 5 days of having a house basically off the market? $100. cause in texas $100 buys you a 10-day option period. great as a buyer, but a small consolation as a seller.

Monday, May 23, 2011

state of the pierses

we are all hanging in there! i've been VERY preoccupied trying not to throw up while keeping the house spotless in the event of a last minute showing request!

so here is an executive summary state of the union update...

the house. our lovely home is for sale. i swear the more i think about living somewhere else the more i love it. it is like part of our family. i mean, it is our home. this house is definitely the first time as an adult that the place where i live is truly home. mom & dad's is mom & dad's. at age 33 i can say home and mean it in every sense of the word. i must be a late bloomer. anyway - as of today we've had eight showings. the first week we had six, two of which told us our home made it to their final cut. then we never heard from them again. then a whole week went by without any showings. and this week we've had two so far. all of the feedback has been positive, but we are getting a bit more anxious with each passing day. we close on the new house on june 6th, but we are leasing back the home to its current owners until june 30th. so if everything goes according to plan we'll move in during the beginning of july.

me. well, in even more life changing news my too-good-to-be-true job is ending in mid-july. i'm probably the only financial analyst in history to have left a full time job managing people to going to full time telecommuting at the same salary, to a measly telecommuting 10 hours a week...ANY 10 hours i want mind you, at an hourly rate of my 2006 handsome annual salary. 28 of us have had our positions eliminated but we were encouraged to apply for one of 9 new positions opening at headquarters. full time, of course. so after much discussion & number crunching, clay & i have decided i will soon be gainfully unemployed by choice. full time employment for me at this time is just not ultimately what we want for our family right now. this topic probably has a whole other post worth of things to say.

clay. he's working working working, planning & number crunching. the third time in i've realized that this is his dad nesting thing. ya know, the one that happens with the realization that another human being will soon be depending on him for financial support for the next 18 years + college. he takes it very seriously, and while i love that about him, it bums me out a bit that it puts so much stress on him. and obviously it is multiplied by the fact that a-we are about to take on a larger mortgage b-without my income and c-with the possibility of two mortgages looming for some indefinite amount of time. it's a lot. thank goodness the house has been spotless...it is about all i can do for him at this point.

the lu. she's feisty as ever but has started talking/whining/crying like gus. a lot. it kinda drives us crazy. all of her little friends have turned 4 and she's quite upset that she's still 3. like really upset. so being the manipulative mom i am, i'm using this to my advantage. 'lu, did you know 4 year olds don't drink out of sippy cups? if you want to be 4 you better start practicing your big girl drinking!' 'lu, that didn't sound like the way a 4 year old asks/talks. can i hear you say it again like a 4 year old?'. she takes it all very seriously, and so far it is working. we'll see how long it lasts. yet all that said, she's getting so big, right before our eyes. i can't believe she IS almost four! how in the world did that happen! one more year of preschool & then she's in KINDERGARTEN. dude. it brings me to tears just typing it! but i am pregnant ;)

the goo. after his double ear infection & a round of clindamycin he developed a rash. last dose of meds on thursday. woke up friday covered in spots. ugh. that said, he's the happiest he's been in months!!! and dad is his new favorite playmate. he's a talking fool and i could just eat him up most of the time. more to come on his 17 month notes.

the newpea. 14 weeks today. sweet baby. making me the sickest of all of my kids. i'm hoping we'll do the big ultrasound at the end of june so we get results before the best ob-gyn in the world heads to india for three weeks in july. i don't go back until the second week of june...unless i just can't wait...then they are so sweet they let me come in just to have an ultrasound to calm my nerves. why? cause she's the best ob-gyn in the world!

dress up

it never gets old...

her best disney princess poses...


and not to be left out...

Thursday, May 19, 2011

so um, 15 month photos...






so yeah, 2 months late, here is the boy at 15 months. excuse the poor quality...they were captured on my cell phone. he was a VERY unhappy boy around this time. teeth? ears? phase? not sure. but he was very unhappy, and that about sums up 15 months-ish.

Friday, May 13, 2011

my poor gusgus

has his first double ear infection. a week to the day after both he & luci tested positive for their first strep infections. so while on antibiotics what was the start of one ear infection a week ago, today was two ear infections...one of them nearly bulging. poor thing.

no wonder he's been difficult to be around. yesterday he was playing, then walked out of the playroom to me, took two steps, tugged on both of his ears & let out a blood curling scream. so i did what any good mama would do - i called my mama. and she told me to take him in. so i did.

called at 4:57p yesterday & got in this morning at 8:15a. i really figured dr. substitute-pedi would tell me it was just teething since he was on antibiotics (azithromycin since luci is allergic to everything) that just ended on tuesday. i thought maybe he'd re-test for strep, that maybe the antibiotics didn't kick it as they usually would prescribe something different for strep. but no, just two flaming ears.

and y'all are gonna think i'm crazy, but i'm thinking it has something to do with the amount of cow's milk he's had in the last week. we've been showing the house, which has equaled going out to eat, which has equaled him drinking cow's milk at restaurants. cause he loves it. and i don't have an official allergy diagnosis, it's just a sneaky suspicion/observation of mine that every time he drinks much of it he gets nasty poo, no poo, eczema (which has also gotten dramatically worse in the last week), or now, thick yellow gunk stuck in his ears. and usually he just doesn't get much cow's milk. but what to do when the poor thing just wants milk out of a cup with a straw like sissy at a restaurant? from now on i guess we'll do diluted juice.

so now we are onto clindamycin. which made me sicker than a dog in college. so i'll be pumping him with lots of probiotics, and giving him said icky tasting medicine with soy milk chocolate puddin. cause that's the kind of mama i am.

Sunday, May 08, 2011

happy mother's day

to my three favorite mothers. my mom, my grandma, and my mother-in-law. i love and appreciate all three of you more than you could possibly know.

i'm so grateful to have you all in my life.



and i am so sorry that in the busy-ness of pregnancy, two kids, and selling a house i neglected to get heart felt cards sent your way.


it hurts my heart to think that you may have been disappointed.

there is no excuse.



my apologies, and all of my love - to all three of you.

Saturday, May 07, 2011

sick day

what to do when you are home on a saturday, while dad is working, with two kids who are starting to feel better but may still be contagious?

first you hang out & eat a leisurely breakfast.
then you play outside a bit.
then you play inside.
then you serve an early lunch.
then you put the lil one own for a nap.
then you turn the tv on to whatever the big one wants to watch & gently suggest that mama needs some rest time.
then you play inside some more when the lil one gets up.
then you have a snack. cheese & apples.
then you play inside some more.
then you call your mom cause you'd like to speak to an adult. but your kids are bonkers by this time & you can't have a real conversation.
then you make some home-made...
edible (yet not tasty) play dough.
then you realize it is only 4:15 and you've got over an hour before dinner.

so then you go back outside. after they fight over the same toys for 15 minutes, you decide to pull out the big fun. the SPRINKLER. it totally saves the day. it wears the kids out.

in case you can't tell, that is a pure joy squeal face he's making.

he drank a TON of water.


she was very industrious with her bucket.


and this might be the best.photo.i've.ever.taken.

after his big drink he just ran around

and drove his car.



then at 5:30 you start dinner, realizing you have a pound of ground beef that needs to be cooked. um, yeah.

so, in honor of your midwest roots, you break out a sloppy joe recipe. turns out, your kids LOVE them.

and one more show later, it's nigh nigh time!!
and as of tomorrow they are no longer contagious! woohoo!!

quality family time

to say we've been a bit preoccupied with getting house ready to sell is a bit of an understatement...so as soon as the house photos were taken we headed off to old macdonald's farm...a local petting zoo!


off & running! a train! pony rides!
and a cow for g. cow's are his favorite...i think.

they were having a heart to heart.
feeding a goat. see g's lil foot?
he stomped that foot & made a lip smacking noise every time an animal ate.
and here my loves are watching ice age...g's new favorite movie! that squirrel guy in the beginning just cracks him up! he stomps his foot & makes that lip smacking sound every time the squirrel is on screen.same movie, different day.

Friday, May 06, 2011

bugS...plural

lu went to the dr. pedi this morning to check out that possible pink eye. it's actually an enterovirus...which apparently is just a fancy name for a tummy/cold/fever/headache/throat ulcer bug that occasionally comes with eye irritation. all of which the lu has. and g has had over the last week. they've both just been seriously out of sorts...luci actually fell asleep sitting up in her chair while we were out to dinner on wednesday. then she promptly threw up when we got home. g has been battling the diarrhea for a week now, and is just one seriously fussy lil man. until luci got sick i figured it was just teething.

i mentioned to dr. pedi that we were leaving for indiana monday to go see grandma & grandpa pierse so our ever thorough good doctor decided he didn't want to miss anything so he better do a strep test, 'just in case' even though it was 'classic enterovirus'.

sure enough, it came back positive.

poor, sweet thing. she's tough as nails, really. she hasn't been acting like a kid with a virus AND strep.

and so then the boy needed to come in. i'm pretty sure he had the enterovirus last week, and probably gave it to luci. dr. pedi assured me that it is pretty rare for tots of g's age to get strep, and that it was more likely that clay & i would catch it.

alas, his was positive too. and he had maybe the start or end of an ear infection. and he's getting two teeth in. his last one year molar & a cuspid.

awesome.

so i decided to get myself tested for strep today too, cause of course it is friday and we have plans to fly on monday. luckily it was negative...at least for now. hopefully i'll stay healthy over the weekend & the kids will be on the mend! feel free to send positive, healthy thoughts our way!

Thursday, May 05, 2011

active listing

lots to catch up on, little time to do it. why? cause tomorrow our house is officially for sale. like be ready for a showing with 30 minutes notice kind of for sale. should be fun, especially with two small children.

the house looks fabulous (if i do say so myself). our realtor comes with a free home stager. even if we had needed to pay for her, in hindsight, she was worth every penny. so much so we're going to have her come to our new house right away. she mostly re purposed stuff we had and moved stuff around. genius.

not exactly the way we had planned to spend clay's week of vacation. but hopefully it'll pay off.

more to come on my peas. all three are well :) the lu is fighting a bug & maybe pink eye, g is fighting a bug and deserves a 15mo & 16mo notes post, and babypea measured right on last week at 10w4d. that lil photo deserves a post too. i'll be 12w on monday. i hope to kick the nausea any day now. i think i've been running on anxious/nervous energy cause during the day (except for the post lunch lul) i'm highly functioning. i'll take what i can get. but at night, man, i'm ready for bed right after the kids go down.

so on that note...as we say around here...'nigh nigh'.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

patience

Lord, teach me to be patient - with life, with people, and with myself. I sometimes try to hurry things along too much, and I push for answers before the time is right. Teach me to trust Your sense of timing rather than my own and to surrender my will to Your greater and wiser plan. Help me let life unfold slowly, like the small rosebud whose petals unravel bit by bit, and remind me that in hurrying the bloom along, I destroy the bud and much of the beauty therein.

Instead, let me wait for all to unfold in its own time. Each moment and state of growth contains a loveliness. Teach me to slow down enough to appreciate life and all it holds. Amen.

Prayer Source: Unknown.


Clay is back from a week with the Navy. I have NO.IDEA. how real Navy wives do it. He arrived home about 1p yesterday & we had a great afternoon with the kids. Then they went to bed & the reality of buying a home, selling a home & having a baby set in. The sheer volume of paperwork, printing, signing, scanning & emailing with the buying & selling process is ridiculous. We need some patience with one another.

And now I'm here at my favorite office (Starbucks) and there are two lil boys SCREAMING...I can hear them through my headphones. And I need some patience.

I'm off to the OB...where I'm sure I'll need even more patience to get through the wait to see a glimpse our sweet lil baby pea.

And then I'll go home, where the kids will be clingy cause I've been away for a few hours. And I'll need patience.

Then I'll probably start to feel sick, cause that is how my afternoons roll these days. At least the morning & night are getting easier. The laundry will be waiting, and the staging & packing can't wait much longer.

Patience. Please grant me patience & perseverance today. I am blessed and I know it. Help me to keep things in perspective.

Monday, April 25, 2011

easter in photos

the dying of eggs...
goodies from the easter bunny... yum, yum!
he's hugging the peeps. it took him about 10 minutes to figure out they were food.
"how did the easter bunny know i wanted strawberry?!?!?!"

Friday, April 22, 2011

catch up...



the boy...up to no good...

and he knows it...



so...i needed to post some photos of my lovely peas. it has been a BONKERS two weeks. i'll recap in executive memo fashion, then i'll come back later & fill in some more details. cause to say we've had some serious life changing events happen is an understatement.

1. our sweet baby seems to be doing well. i'm actually throwing up...in between anti-nausea meds. for sure the sickest i've been during a pregnancy. we go back to the doctor next week on thursday.

2. i've been having aura migraines...the kind where my vision goes wonky & i literally can't see for about 45 minutes. luckily the best MIL in the world was here to continue to pick up my slack so i could go rest IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY!

3. so, um....we bought a new house. yeah. here in the woodlands....about 3 miles down the road. it's a 5 bedroom, 4.5 bath. this deserves its own entire post, so more to come. and yes...we essentially just bought ourselves 3-5 more years deep in the heart of hot, swampy, bug infested texas. but given all that, we're as thrilled as we can be. and it's on .35 acres, so the man will have a big lot by the bubble standards. and i get a screened in porch :) and everyone gets their own room...including sweet baby & guests...and the only people that have to share a bathroom are luci & gus...and a jack & jill bathroom no less!!! we close june 6th.

4. so...we are selling our house. we hope to have it on the market by the first week of may. wish us luck...say a few prayers...whatever you are most comfortable with ;)

5. flew into chicago last thursday & spent the day with my bff jen & her ADORABLE kiddos. also got to have dinner with long lost

6. i went to galena, il last weekend for a highschool girls weekend. man i love those ladies. we have SUCH a special & unique bond. i'm so grateful that we can go months or even years without talking & then pick up right where we left off. in many ways they are more like sisters than friends. again, more to come!

7. my mom & dad picked me up in waterloo & took me to the airport in dsm. we had a lovely lunch & got some fresh air at the zoo. thanks mom & dad...for driving 6+hours you didn't need to just to hang out. it was fun. i can't remember the last time i got to hang out with them alone :)

8. my very generous MIL stayed with clay & the kids over the weekend and until thursday. clay & i have a few things to do to prepare for the move & the sale of our house & we are incredibly grateful for her help. it kept us sane....sort of ;)

9. i missed my texas bff's birthday. cause i stink :(


i think that is it. surely that is enough, right?

Monday, April 11, 2011

8w3d

meet our sweet baby. measuring right on at 8 weeks & 3 days.

forgive the flash orb in the bottom right.

i was too lazy to scan it when i could just take a photo with my phone and email it to myself.

feeling so, SO blessed. and so, SO full of gratitude.




*also thank you to my fabulous bff for watching my boy while i waited 2 hours to see sweet baby. the wait itself was hard enough...

it would have been ROUGH with my active 15 month old to contend with!

Sunday, April 10, 2011

dear babypea,

hello my sweet baby. we've known about you for 4 weeks and 2 days now. tomorrow we hope to see you for the first time (well...your dad will be at work, but dr. j will take your first photo and of course i'll share)...fluttering heartbeat and all. i haven't thought much about actually holding you or meeting you cause your dad & i have a tendency to make babies that go straight to heaven. but we're so hoping & praying that you come play with us here on earth. if you have any say in the matter please be a good listener to mama's words. ;)

when we told your big sister she was full of pure joy. she literally said, "oh thank you, thank you!!" while jumping up & down. in fact, she was so full of joy that it brought tears to your daddy's eyes. (he's a softy, don't let him fool ya). i wasn't sure if we should tell her so soon, but i figured it would be better for her to understand what was going on cause it was likely i'd be acting a little different soon. we told her that mom, dad & Jesus made a baby (you) in mom's belly. and that sometimes when mom, dad & Jesus make a baby it goes straight to heaven to live with Jesus. sissy said, "but i want them to come live with us!" we reminded her of how we pray at night for her brothers & sisters in heaven. but we told her that sometimes, the baby does get to come here & live with us. like brother gus did. then she asked when you would be here and we told her around thanksgiving. she said, "i can't wait for thanksgiving! i think i want a baby sister! what is the baby's name?" having that conversation filled our hearts with joy.

i've been a bit anxious for 4 weeks and 2 days now. it's kind of just my nature. but i promise, i am working very hard on trusting God's plan for our family. you've been helping out too by making me feel so nauseous all of the time. thanks for that. it's an easy cross to bear when the reward is holding you in 9 months.

all that said, the real reason i'm writing this is because i want you to know, my pea, that no matter what i see on that fuzzy screen tomorrow, you are acknowledged as part of our family, and most of all...you are loved.
love,
mama

Thursday, April 07, 2011

HOT MESS

the boy is STILL one.hot.mess.

he sneezed a lot last week. i had a feeling a cold was coming. it was.

green goo, wet cough, raspy voice, up several times a night...fun times. on top of teething.

then on sunday he wakes up from his nap with a 100.8ish fever. i medicate before bed but he's up several times. monday his mood is even worse. he wakes up from his afternoon nap with a seemingly broken fever.

but his breath. ugh...his swampy, chicago summer hot garbage breath. just horrendous. starting sunday, getting worse & worse & worse as time went on.

being the good mama i am i remember the pedi telling me the recipe for an infection. 1. green goo out of the nose &/or eyes (check) 2. fever (check) 3. stinky breath (super check)

and i happen to have had a 'just in case' prescription from the last time g had fluid on his ears, but no redness - when we were about to hop on an airplane...so pedi gave me a script 'just in case'.

i confirmed with dr. brooke that this could be 'the case' cause no way i was getting into the pedi for probably 24 hours. so i filled the script and started it around 5:30p on monday.

by bedtime i noticed a rash. i figured it was just one of those post viral fever rashes.

worse on tuesday. he's still one.unhappy.lil.dude. still sleeping horribly.

wednesday the rash is even worse. dr. brooke & i decide it might be a reaction to the omnicef. i make an appt at the pedi. he's only had antibiotics twice, and it was the same one (not omnicef) both times. and the lu is allergic to omnicef & penicillin. so it wouldn't be shocking for him to have a reaction.

but our pedi is out. of course. so we see another. he actually lets me look inside g's ears. now i'm no doctor, but they looked pretty good to me. throat looked fine. but the rancid breath i say...sub pedi says could be a sinus infection, but we have to wait 10 days before they 'should' prescribe something else.

now i am not really a huge antibiotic fan for my kiddos unless they REALLY need it. so in theory i'm fine with this.

but if he had the words, i'm pretty sure g would tell me that he HATES EVERYTHING right now. and i want my happy lil dude back.

so please bottom one year molars...please just bust through. and pleeeezzeee....whatever swamp monster has taken up residence somewhere in his ENT area...GET.OUT.

Saturday, April 02, 2011

and the culprit is...

the one year molars. this morning i spotted two partially poked through one year molars on the top. that means more to go on the top, and then another two on bottom. luci was a great teether and i don't think i even noticed her molars. g hasn't been sleeping well, day or night, for weeks now. when he sees a medicine bottle he cries because he wants it. and he makes a sound that sounds like the most annoying sound in the world pretty much all.day.long. (in case you haven't seen the movie dumb & dumber or want to be reminded of the noise, click here) poor thing. the good news is that he's kept his sense of humor. he loves to say 'cheeeeze' and pose for the camera ;)

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

sisters & cousins

with 4 kiddos...this is as good as my group shot got. i think uncle sunidh got some goodies...

i'll share if i ever get my computer on them!lu was a natural with baby lila do you see those sweet smiley eyes? gus saying 'cheeeeeze', and asher being cinderella. he even wore the heels. we loved it.

my other sis, dr. aunt brookie nae, came for a visit this weekend. lucky for us uncle sunidh grew up in the houston area & has to come down about once a year for a wedding...so we get lucky and get to have them hang out for awhile. the kiddos did surprisingly well together...lu has definitely been missing them since they left.


and, brooke & i had a blast catching up in between diaper changes, feedings, meltdowns & tears.



not the most flattering photo, but hey, this is what we look like when we wake up.

funny how similar our complexions & eye color is. or maybe not so funny?

we are sisters, after all.

thanks for coming & staying brookie nae.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

more visitors!

unrelated photos...of my peas reading.




the final contingent of the rosonke family march visitors arrive tonight. my sister brooke, her husband sunidh and their two peas asher & baby lila will be here around 11p. luci is very excited about the possbility of asher sleeping in her room with her on her trundle bed. we'll see how asher feels about this, and then if he's up for it, if they actually sleep!

and on saturday, clay & i are watching all 4 kids for the night while brooke & sunidh hit a wedding downtown. should be interesting, and if you have time, say a few prayers for us!! :)