j&d sittin' in a tree: December 2015

So much has happened to our little family in the last month, I don't even know where to start! First, I suppose I should start with my fibroid. Surgery was one week ago and things went amazingly well. The procedure was all done laparoscopically and I am well on the mend. I have three tiny incisions near my belly button and one 2 inch incision along my c-section scar. The pain was very minimal and the only hard part of recovery is that it left me incredibly exhausted. Normally, I am an amazing napper and I can sleep just about anywhere. However, the house next-door is (finally) being built and between the power tools, crane operations, generators, and the Mexican show tunes whistling worker, I can hardly get a wink of daytime sleep. All of this construction is happening less than 10 feet from my head. The good news is that I'm feeling fantastic! I had originally taken two weeks off from work but will be heading back Wednesday to finish the week with the kids before winter break. I'm actually looking forward to seeing them. :)

The "McMansion" next door

Drum-roll, please.......................We have bought ourselves a brand-new home! Yes, you heard me correctly! We had never really discussed leaving this house or this neighborhood but basically a builder in the neighborhood gave us an offer on our house that we couldn't refuse. Daniel came home that night and talk to me about it and the next day we drove to Stapleton to check what they had available (North West Denver). Within 72 hours we had found our dream home, signed a contract for both the new house and our current house and are well on our way to a home with a lot more room, 4 bedrooms, a finished basement and a wonderful yard- we are beyond excited!

The house, was a spec house and construction on it had begun several months prior. We walked in just as the final choices for flooring were being made and have a small part in the design of the house. For several weeks the house was nothing but Clay and drywall. This weekend, Daniel and I walked in to see the progress being made and wow! We were amazed! The walls are textured and painted, baseboards are installed, cabinets and lighting fixtures are in, our bathroom is near completion, the hardwood floors are installed and it is going to be be-u-ti-fullllll!

Front porch

Front door

Living room- I'm standing in the dining room- kitchen is
directly to the right- OPEN FLOOR PLAN!!!

Dining room

Kitchen

Our bathroom

Hard wood floors

We play the game, in our new house..."we are going to have this… we won't ever have to do this again… I can't wait to have this"… several times a day! I can't wait to have enough cabinets in my kitchen to hold my wedding China. In our new house I will have a closet light and can display all of my clothes. In our new house I won't have to wear a headlamp to search for missing shoes at the bottom of my closet. In our new house, I will have enough kitchen counter tops to cook! In our new house we only have to walk five steps from the bedroom door to the laundry room. We won't ever have to entertain in our office/playroom/dog room/TV room/living room ever again! Now we can entertain and Porter can sleep quietly in his own room upstairs! I salivating, I'm so excited!

The only bummer of the whole situation is we are moving much farther from Meg and we will no longer be sharing Irma together. Sniff sniff. We have P starting at the Goddard School in February and Meg is currently interviewing new families to take our place. It makes me so sad because Ashlyn and Porter are soooooo close and it will also make seeing Meg as regularly much more difficult. If I could pick up this new house and put us 10 miles closer to her, it would in fact be the perfect house. <3 Love you Dudie.

Our attempt at a cute picture!

And finally onto Porter. Sweet Porter. He is turning into such an amazing little boy. Yes, he is definitely a typical almost two-year-old. We have started dealing with tantrums and negotiating deals with him but the little things that he does make me smile a hundred times a day.

He's obsessed with hugging. He can weasel his way out of just about every situation with a hug. I will be pushing him in the grocery store and he will want to stand up and hug me instead of ride in the cart. He will ask for just one more hug, about 10 times, before we drop him off with Irma. His favorite game on the playground is to run from one side of the bridge to hug Dada and turn around, run across the bridge and hug me. I love my little cuddle bug.

After Gymnastics Aiya hug

Hugging a snowman on a walk in the neighborhood!

Hugging Dada during swim class

Hugging his buddy "Dayden"

He is also talking up a storm. It's funny- back in September I started a blog post about all the words that he was saying. I fell behind a few weeks and when I tried to pick the post back up, his vocabulary had grown exponentially that I couldn't even begin to list all the words he was saying. Today, his one and two words are now turning into four, five and six word sentences and we can (almost!) understand everything that he says.

Some of his favorite things are blowing out candles whenever they are lit (the menorah has been blown out more times than I can count), he loves to wash his hands and play in the water, he loves to "dump!" all boxes of toys out on the floor, he loves to paint and to play with his tools. (The kid can be more tools than I can, it's amazing!) He's incredibly gentle with the dogs, especially Ralphie, who has seemed to turn into a wonderful toddler dog. He loves to drink seltzer and eat spinach. He must always take a "bike" of our food during meal times and loves to watch himself in the mirror. He loves to read books and we are currently working on teaching him what "just one more" means before bed.