"Home is where your heart is"...okay heart, show us where our home is.

House shopping is one of the strangest things we've had to do since getting married. There are so many details that you need to think about. Two years ago I was apartment shopping...and let me tell you, there's a world of difference between shopping for an apartment and for a house. Gah. Last Saturday we went on a tour of 6 houses that we were interested in (from the pictures and info that we were able to glean from MLS.com). I wish there was a way to morph 3 houses together, coming up with our "perfect" house. There were definitely some houses that stood out to us (one especially)...but non were perfect. I was hoping that that would be the case...a sense of peace. Today we saw an additional 4 houses. There was one that stood out to us (nice neighborhood, nice layout), but it's a short sale which could end up being a long process...without any promises (whoever thought up the term: "Short Sale" apparently didn't know the definition for "short" - haha). We're kind of in a time crunch if we want to take advantage of the $8,000 credit as well as getting our apartment deposit back (making it so we would have to move out of our current residence by the first of June...the time where our current lease will be up).

Location is a big deal to me. I love Saint Paul, but to me the area that we want to live is: 1) to expensive and 2) too far away from family (who graciously babysit Simon on a weekly basis while Peter and I attend our churche's small group and go on a date every now and then).

Price is obviously a big deal as well.

The layout to me as a semi-organized women is huge. It doesn't make sense not to have a bathroom on the second floor where all of the bedrooms are (I shudder at the thought of my potty-trainee toddler going down the stairs in the middle of the night to use the bathroom - Hmm, the words "chamber pot" comes to mind as a possible solution - lol...eww!). Also, having no closets in the bedrooms is just.so.very.wrong. lol. Sadly those were the houses that I liked the most last week. An unfinished basement isn't ideal and yet...that's how most of them were. I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty with fixing up a house. I'm okay with making one of the three bedrooms a communal closet if that has to be the case.

House hunting is such a strange and stressful process. I know the stress will go up a level once we put in an offer (not to mention the numerous questions that come with that action...how much do you offer and how long will it take before you know that you actually have won the offer war...). You would think purchasing a house would be easier as almost everyone has to go through this crazy confusing process. Thank goodness for friends who are Realtors (someone you can trust and feel comfortable asking "silly" questions - haha).

Anyway, if you think about it, pray for us as we go though this process. I won't lie, I do yearn for a place to call my own. A yard to plant flowers and vegetables in, and a yard for my child to play in. A house to entertain and have guests over (a guest room for friends and family). And selfishly, a craft room to house all of my accumulated "stuff" (sewing machine, scrapbooking accessories, yarn - you know, crafty stuff) ;). But more importantly, a place where people feel welcome and feel the love of Jesus pouring out upon them. I know the Lord is using this opportunity to stretch us and make us rely on Him and for that I'm grateful. I do love watching God work as we step aside and fully rely on Him. I pray that we remember to do that more often as we go through this process. :)

Romans 8:28 & 31

Homesick

I'm homesick today. I called home this morning to check up on my little brother (Josiah broke his arm on the 17th while biking) and to catch up with my mom on how the family was doing. Simon was being especially cute while I was on the phone and I just wanted to share the fun with my family. I looked up tickets while on the phone and was astonished at the prices: $450-750 (note to self Delta is expensive flying from MSP to FWA). Ahh! We haven't tried driving out to see my family since Simon has been born...I can only imagine the stress of a 10-hour trip (not to mention wasting 2 whole days driving). I feel like it'll only get harder and more expensive to visit my family as the years pass on by. That's depressing.

Emotional Music

I've been so emotional lately - thank you hormones. Friday and Tuesday night I cried silly tears. I started tearing up as I was thinking about my family just a little bit ago too...I guess I'm homesick. Sigh. I hate not having total control of my body. It's frustrating and I'm sure quite annoying for my husband as well. ;) I've been quite exhausted from numerous activities that have been keeping me busy these past couple of weeks. Now that life is starting to slow down, my body seems to be doing the same. It's times like these where I wish I could sleep in and take naps whenever I wanted. The thoughts of taking a vacation has also entered my mind - ahh, how lovely would it be to escape from this apartment and city to somewhere sunny and warm with my husband and well-mannered little boy (hey, a girl can dream) and just relax.

I've been working on a music playlist for the past month. A few girls and I are trading CDs full of music that have shaped our lives. It's been an interesting experiment. It's definitely taken me back quite a few years, that's for sure. I've also noticed that my music taste has grown a lot...and that I still enjoy listening to music from back in the day. Hopefully I'll finalize it soon - I've become such a procrastinator when it comes to this project. Bad Jes. ;)

A much needed break. Time to blog.

What a CRAZY 8 days! I've literally had something going on each and every day - mostly fun things. This week is going to be exactly the same, what with Beth's personal shower at my place tomorrow evening and her wedding *squeal*, Friday night. I'm pumped and ready to go!

Last week I was able to spend a lot of time with my girlfriends. Wednesday all 5 of us got together for the first time in a while. We ate at a cute cafe and wandered down Uptown to this fun shop called Heartbreaker...too bad we only had 10 minutes to shop before they closed, I could have spent an hour there browsing through their cute dresses and fun jewelry and...shoes (which I didn't even get to look at *pout*.) I think our next girls day should consist of consignment shops and Heartbreaker. :)






Amid the fun of last week, there was also a sad time for me. I had to say goodbye to my sweet girlfriend, Brandy. We have really grown close this last year and I had a hard time saying goodbye to her on Thursday. Thank goodness for Skype and cell phones. :)



As I stated above, Ruth and I are throwing a personal shower for Beth tomorrow evening. I'm deep cleaning the apartment today and tomorrow (there's nothing like having 15 people at ones home to spur on spring cleaning). And, I made this cake today as well. I'm almost done assembling it - so far so good. I'm nervous and excited about the end result. I've only made it once before and that was a couple of years ago for Peter's birthday. It was a huge hit, and it's still talked about even to this day, so I'm giving it another try and crossing my fingers that it turns out just as well...if not better!


On Saturday, Peter and I went out shopping for the wedding. I actually found quite a few deals - skinny jeans, black wedge boots (both of which, obviously weren't wedding related), an adorable gray sheath belted dress, and yesterday, I bought some really cute Vera Wang bow shoes. love. I hate how excited I get when I buy clothes, it's seriously a disease. ;)

Well, enough about my life. I need to publish this, get the boy up from his nap and make dinner...ahh!! Breath, just breath. :D

What to do?

I've always had a hard time feeding my child. It started with breastfeeding and is now continuing on with solids. There was a very brief time where he would eat anything and everything we gave him, but that didn't last very long.

Currently, he's the most picky little-kid eater I've met. He closes his eyes and shakes his head when he doesn't want to eat and that happens often (I do have to admit, the closing of his eyes is pretty cute...it's almost like he's saying I can't see it, therefore it's not there). Dinnertime with my little family has become a struggle. I hate that. I used to look forward to dinner, sitting with my husband hearing about his day, enjoying our time as we all sat down together. Now it's a constant battle to get Simon to eat...and eat the right way. When he doesn't want to eat, he often times makes a big mess, playing with his food flinging it here and there. To make matter's worse, Simon has also become quite the independent little boy. He hit 18 months and wants to do everything himself and in his own way. ((Yes, Mom he got his strong will from me)). It's cute watching him try his hand at different things, but when it comes to eating he hardly gets a bite in his mouth. He's enamored with stirring and and playing with his food and forgets that the food actually goes into his mouth. He hates it when I take the spoon from his hand and tries to feed him. When I do succeed in getting food into his mouth, he promptly spits it out. It's frustrating to both myself and my little boy. He hates veggies and mostly anything that's good for him (does he ever love empty carbs though!). He does enjoy a nice bowl of oatmeal or hot cereal every so often, so that's nice. I've tried pureeing veggies into his oatmeal, but he's getting wise and figuring out the scam.

I want my little one to eat properly and enjoy the good healthy stuff. I hate forcing it upon him and don't want him to have a food complex growing up. Feeding my child ranks high on my Most Frustrating Things About Motherhood list.

So, if any of my dear mommy friends have any advice or wise words of wisdom for me, I would greatly appreciate hearing them. Until then, all I can do is pray and wait patiently. I really do hope that this is just a phase that he's going through.