Sold!

Our house is sold! With "for sale" signs on the house across the street and the two houses behind us, we feel lucky. It's a great relief to not have to worry about a house when we're so far away there's nothing we can do.

We flew into OKC and worked like crazy last week to pack things up to go to NJ and to storage. I arrived a couple of days early to organize. My parents stayed overnight and impressed me with their amazing speed and skill of packing things so quickly. By the time Garrett arrived, much of it was done. He and my dad loaded things up for storage and phase one and two were finished. We saw Garrett's parents almost every day. As the saying goes, "The devil is in the details" and Mary helped us finish up those.

In addition to family, we were able to see a few friends. I'm hoping we can see others on our next visit because we miss you all. It made me sad that we didn't get to see everyone. However, we were so happy to see those of you we did. I was thrilled to visit with my Resolve girls at Abuelo's and learn about their successes, setbacks, and future plans. (Although they read this blog, they often forget to email updates on themselves...hint, hint hint!) Plus, it was wonderful to see my former lunch bunch from school. Thanks to Christy and Carole for arranging those gatherings.

I grew sentimental as the house emptied. Being by myself a couple of days was beneficial because I was able to soak it in and say goodbye. Change is difficult for me but it's good. I stood in the room we'd always planned on being a nursery and talked to Max. As time passed, Garrett helped me remember that we were wanting to move into a new house anyway.

I enjoyed looking at the things we'd done together to improve it. For several years, I'd enlisted my dad and Garrett to plant bushes as my birthday present. Somehow, the photinias had outwitted our clay soil by growing taller than the fence and were a beautiful bright red with little white blooms. Our living room walls are a bright cheery yellow--that probably scared some buyers, but we love it. We'd pulled up the carpet and Garrett had laid down all the wood flooring. We'd replaced almost every light in the place along with the face plates. All of the window treatments were practically new. Then there were the countertops...they were such a pain in the butt that I really didn't get too sentimental about them!

I suppose it was time to say goodbye. Still, it's always difficult for me to close a good book.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

My trip to Oklahoma was fabulous. Not only did I get to see my talented Inkling friends but I also got to spend time with my parents and grandmother. My dad cooked up a batch of greens for me—yes, that’s turnip greens and collard greens, I’m from Oklahoma, thankyouverymuch. I bet Paula Deen’s don’t taste as good as his: de-lish! The Open House went well on Sunday according to our realtor. We’re waiting on an offer to prove it. C’mon, buyers, it’s a great house! Most importantly, though, the real excitement happened on Friday.

My mom accompanied me on my appointment with Dr. Haas. I’m glad she did. How many grandmothers-to-be get to see a heartbeat? Plus, I was grateful she got to meet the staff where Garrett and I have spent so much time. Dr. Haas has this way of bouncing when he’s excited, so I knew the appointment went well. We were relieved to learn the heartbeat was in the normal range. From Sherry and Cammie who work in the office to the chatty endocrinologist John, everyone is so friendly and seems to have a real stake in our pregnancy. Even Dr. Craig who shares the office but is in a different practice regularly questions our progress when we meet in the hallway. The nursing staff can’t be beat. As I’ve mentioned before, Priscilla totally rocks, and Vanetta, Amber, and the cute brunette (I totally just blanked on her name) are fabulous too. I really miss them.