Family Updates

Josh -

Josh got a NEW job! He is now working at Auto Value in Rockford and really likes it.
He was working at Dan Pfeiffer Auto and was really dreading going into work everyday so he decided to try and find something new. He didn't feel respected among other things - he especially hated the long drive. He said the other day he put $25 in his gas tank to get to AV and made it a whole week without getting gas again.  He had interviewed at VanAndel & Flikkema (sp?) and Auto Value. Auto Value hired him and then the same week VanAndel wanted to hire him as well but he had already accepted at Auto Value. So proud of him. He's doing a great job.

Lately we've had this joke going around where he says "How's that for your handyman?"
One day when we were talking about remodeling at his parents house I had said that guys are different. Some are mechanics, some are tv guys, some are handymen, some are sports guys, etc and I had said that maybe he wouldn't want to work in the basement because he's not really a handyman...or something to that effect. Well I didn't actually mean that he is NOT a handyman I just meant that he doesn't do construction type stuff - he's more of a tv / sports guy. So now everytime he does a "handyman" type "thing" or if he fixes something - he'll say "How's that for your handyman!" LOL
He's getting better hahahahahahahaha  LOVE YA INFINITY babe.

Abby - 2nd Grade

Feeling like a horrible Mom lately. I'll explain in a minute. Abby is doing much better at school. Here's why I'm feeling like a horrible Mom... I'm still trying to come up with a schedule of some sort for after school where the girls can both do school work / read but --- ok DUH moment...
Ever since we've been reading more with Abby she's doing better in reading. IMAGINE that??!!
So I just feel awful that we didn't read more often before and maybe she'd be farther along by now. I don't feel like all of her learning "issues" are our fault - but hello she's not going to know anything if we don't teach her or help her. I've never been much of a reader my self and I'm horrible and math  but I do not want her to end up the same way. Right now it's been free time after school until 4pm, then homework, then reading. We are a tv watching family which sometimes I wish would change but it's Josh's release after work/dinner. The girls also take a bath at night so I should read after their bath. If you have any schedule ideas - I would greatly appreciate them. She LOVES her teacher (so do we). She still is an amazing big sister and second Mom. Love her infinity.

Jasmine - 1st Grade

She is doing wonderful on her homework. She always wants to get it done on Friday right when she gets it after she gets home from school. She is so quick and just "gets it". I'm anxious to hear how they both are doing at conferences coming up in November. She is my cleaning mini me. I think since she was born she's had a little of my OCD which I've never professionally been diagnosed with. I'm just sure I've got it in some ways. We call her Miss. Detail and she's always been a fan of patterns. The funny thing is though is that her room is not clean most of the time BUT if she cleans it - she cleans well. I can remember ever since she was little she'd put things in a pattern or in a straight line. If something belongs to someone it's got to be in it's correct place -but yet her room is a mess. Weird! LOL. I'd have to explain my OCD in a whole blog post hehe. She's going to be our "tough" one I think. You should hear some of the things she says. Miss Detail Stinker. She also has her very sweet side though, every morning she remembers to give me our infinity sign before school. I want to / need to try to spend more one on one quality time with both Abby and Jasmine.  Love her infinity.

Josie - 6 months (will be 7 on Oct 26th)

How is she almost 7 months already? Crazy. We started giving her some baby food. She's had bananas, oatmeal with breast milk, green beans, squash, apple/strawberry/bananas. She does better eating those foods when Grammy feeds her while I'm away. Otherwise when I feed her at home it's a little after she's breastfed so she's not as hungry. Grammy uses it as a substitute while I'm away. She's been going longer between feedings now so I've been cleaning at homes that are farther away. She still seems to wake up every 3 hours at night. Some days I'm more tired than others but I love nursing so since she won't be doing that her whole life I'm enjoying it for now. I'm sure I'd get several comments on this but she's still sleeping in her co-sleeper. We've tried her crib a couple times and she stays in their well but then I've just put her back into her co-sleeper. Occasionally she'll sleep next to me in bed as well. But most of the time she sleeps in her co-sleeper. My opinion is that if she's sleeping (not in our bed) then why does it matter where. Obviously we'll have to move her permanently  because she won't fit in the co-sleeper soon but I'm thinking we'll start once we're in our new home. She's sitting up well and so close to crawling. She still smiles all the time and the women in our family are her favorite. She also has this new cheesy / teethy grin that is adorable. She's my punky punk at the moment. I've been calling her Punker. I used to call her baby cakes. Funny how nicknames start. Not sure why Punker. LOL Hoping to nurse until she's 1 so I don't have to buy formula. Love her infinity.

Me - I'm going to be the big 3-0 on 11-11.

How am I going to be 30 already? Crazy. LOL I'd really love to go to Freighters restaurant for my birthday. It's a new restaurant. Maybe a ship would not sail by though because it will be November. Anyway google it if you haven't heard of it. I always hate when I want to update about me. I'm a horrible writer and always feel so negative about myself. I've got so much on my mind lately that I never feel like I can really adequately explain it all. I guess I'll just post random facts.
1. I wish I would have grown up going to church more often. I read blogs and the posts are all about reading the bible or bible verses or how God is working in their lives and bible stories etc and I feel like I don't know anything. I feel like I don't pray enough, I don't know enough, I don't read the bible enough, the list goes on. I recently started a prayer journal to get in the habit of praying more but even that I haven't updated in a while.
2. I still think way too much about past places I've worked / people I've worked with. Drives me nuts. I just want to forget the past and move on with it all.
3. I'm still struggling with loosing weight and that is also driving me nuts. I keep telling myself I need to loose weight and then I eat and eat and eat and eat and then feel guilty. It's a vicious cycle. I hate it.
4. I love cleaning for people. You'd think my house would be spotless - NOPE. Drives me nuts.
5. I think I'm going crazy ;) (drives me nuts)
I guess those are the main things on my mind. I'm anxious to be settled into our new home so I don't feel so stressed.

Cleaning -- I got 2 new jobs this week... super excited. One is a business.

This is my cleaning schedule

JR - every other Tuesday
MC - every other Tuesday
JE - every Thursday
SL - every Thursday / flexible
SC - every other week (day flexible)

I'm blessed with amazing people to clean for and I love it. I'm also still subbing when I can.
I'm also cleaning with a friend at the 2 new places and she's great. I'm so glad she was willing to help.
I'm thinking if I found maybe 1 more home I'd be full.

This is long - but it's all I can think of at the moment even though I know I'm forgetting everything. My mind races when I'm trying to type these.

Much LOVE to all who read.
I now have my blog public again - so if you do read this please LIKE my facebook post so I know or COMMENT. OK ?? =)

House is NOT for Sale

I snuck away to my bedroom to try and post a new blog - and little Momma's girl was not having it.

Took a nursing break and now here's my update.

House Update - If you did not read my previous posts we are moving to Bailey.
Jill and Jerry  (Josh's parents) are remodeling their walkout basement and will be moving downstairs.
We will be moving upstairs. Each family will have their own separate house. We will not be sharing anything except the yard and driveway. Plus we will be splitting all the payments so it will save all of us money.

Josh and I both were working full time when we bought our house and since I am no longer working full time we have come to the realization that we are unable to pay our mortgage. We've tried to work with our mortgage company several times and have never been given any options. When we were 2 months behind they finally said they would work on a "loan modification". Which means they would take our income and try to lower our mortgage payment. Why couldn't they have tried to do that before? Even though they are still working on the terms for the loan modification we still want to move. We'll save more money in the long run, plus we're looking forward to the land that we're gaining. The girls will be able to go outside without worry of vehicles along the road /etc. The land is only 1 of the many pluses.

We actually had our house up for sale at one point but we had to take it off the market because
1. We can not sell it for what we owe on it and we do not want to have to pay the extra.
2. Our mortgage company will not approve a "short sale" - A short sale is where we could sell our home for less than what we owe and then the bank would pay the difference.

At this point our only option is to let it go into foreclosure. It's not my favorite option and I understand what it does to our credit - but since our new home will be our forever home anyway - in a blunt way...we really don't care. Of course if it affects us getting a vehicle or something we'll deal with that when the time comes. I just know that if we continue to live here even if they modify the payment - I think we'd still loose the house anyway because the last time we got an update from our mortgage company they said our payment would probably not go down much from what it is right now.

The downstairs just needs paint, flooring, counter tops, and the appliances / fireplace hooked up and then Jill and Jerry can move in. They are hoping that will all be complete by Halloween.
Downstairs is 1 bedroom with huge walk in closet, 1 bathroom, kitchen, living room (with dining room), utility room, and storage area. Even though it's only 1 bedroom and 1 bathroom etc - it's very large rooms. Example - their bedroom is approximately 325 sq. ft.

Upstairs is 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2 living rooms, a sun room, kitchen, laundry room, dining room.
Once we're able to move in we'll be repainting most rooms, installing laminate flooring in the "girls living room", and installing new toilets. Hoping to be complete by December at least. Anxious to move.

I think I'll post a second blog post with family updates. I don't want this one to be huge.

If you can pray that all will continue to go smoothly with the remodel and pray that all the moving going on will go smoothly as well that would be wonderful.

Also we've been blessed with amazing family and friends that have helped us and Jill and Jerry through this whole process. There are not enough words to express our Thanks.