Beautiful

Our house is looking really beautiful!  I'm so happy with the plan we chose, and I can't wait to move in! Its so light and bright inside, i'm so happy with it!

This week the changes have been less obvious, but they are still happening rapidly.  The ceiling was textured and painted, the walls were textured and will be painted this week, exterior was painted and trim is in the process of being painted. Gutters were installed. Garage floor was poured.  Interior trim was installed and painted. Someone is ALWAYS at the house doing something, day and sometimes nightly too. It really is like extreme makeover!

So why is there a push to get the house done so quickly? Well for starters, because it can be done. Randy said any house can be built fast, and it does not affect the quality of the house.  Usually when a house is built, between each job, the house sits for weeks with nothing happening. For example, after foundation is laid, it sits for weeks. After walls go up, it sits for weeks, etc.  These weeks add up to months.  Randy just scheduled our house so that there was never any down time, and even sometimes crews were there at the same time.
Secondly, our lender, who has worked with our builder many times before, was pushing for a sooner closing date so we could get locked in at a low rate. (Funny thing is, the day after we locked in, it went up a half a point, so we saved a lot of money there!)
Thirdly, Randy has several other jobs lined up waiting!  Funny.... we talked to several other builders who said they hadn't built houses in years because the economy was so terrible.  Its because they aren't willing to build quality homes at lower costs.  They are more worried about making a pretty penny than just having the work.  That's why we like our builder.  He's not willing to raise his prices! :) And THAT is why he has work and the others don't.

This coming week pretty much everything will be finished, and I cant WAIT!!! :)
We spent a couple hours at the house yesterday measuring the windows for blinds, and talking with the landscaper who will be doing the front yard this week. We met our future neighbor, who dropped in to show her friend the house because she will be building a house right next to ours, and she loved our floor plan so much shes going to use our floor plan too.  Derek's a bit disappointed. He was really excited to have a house that probably no one in the world had. Obviously the floor plan was similar to someone else's but not with the changes we made.  Luckily Randy will be building her house also, and he told his designer to change the elevation of her house to look differently from ours.

Jadon's starting to get anxious about moving. We started taking him back to see his counselor a few weeks ago. His counselor said that Jadon is a hard one to get information from, but his session yesterday went really well and he gathered a lot of insight. Jadon really really REALLY hates this rental house, he's excited about the new house, but also confused about moving. He's also still having some underlying issues with the sickness stuff. I figured. Whenever a kid is not at school, thats the first thing he tells me about his day when I pick him up. Or the first thing he tells me is that a kid went home sick that day. Or he seems to be a little anxious when his teacher is out for a couple days. Oddly, he didn't have any problems when I was sick a couple weeks ago.
He really misses our old house, and doesn't understand why we had to move. Its all he ever knew. He's very sensitive to changes in his life. We are learning when something is bugging him, how he is acting.
The other night, he wouldn't stay in bed, and was crying about it, which is not normal unless somethings bugging him. So we went to talk to him. It was really sweet, he tried really hard to tell us what was going on in his little noggin that was bugging him, but he doesn't understand and therefore can't fully put into words.  So he told us that he had a lot of boxes in his head, and they all had question marks in them. So we talked to him about moving and the new house a little and how things will get back to normal again, then after that he said one of the boxes turned into an exclamation point. We were proud of him for trying to talk to us. That's the first time he's been able to tell us somewhat whats going on in his head.

On a different note, we signed him up for karate last month.  Poor kid, I didn't realize just how much of my lack of balance and coordination he got from me, but its pretty evident at karate. However, after 5 or 6 weeks of karate we are already noticing an improvement in his balance, so we are encouraged!  He is enjoying it too. I've heard a lot of positive things about karate, physically, mentally, emotionally. I think its good for him. Its teaching him to be quick, focused, strong, confident, etc. He has earned 4 stripes on his belt. We are working with him at home on everything as well. Practice makes perfect.

Avery is still the same. Nothing affects her!  I always sign her up for gymnastics at the beginning of the year for a few months through the college.  She LOVES it!  Its not my favorite... I hate driving all the way there, having to find a parking spot, then having to walk a mile to get to the building. Okay, i'm being dramatic, but its not the most convenient. Plus there's very little seating inside for the boys to sit and watch, and actually watching can be impossible sometimes.  But, Avery loves it, so that's why we do it. She's good too. She's much more agile than her brother.  Much more athletic. She has no problem doing everything that the teacher  says, and she has got some good listening skills!!  When I don't think she's listening, she is.  For example, the teacher will set up a little obstacle course thing on the floor, about 6 different things, and then show them what to do all at once. I don't expect a 3 year old to remember what to do for any of them, but she knows exactly what to do, so she was clearly paying attention!

Anyways, daylight savings begins in a month and Jadon's birthday is in a month. Very excited about both!  And very glad we will be in our new house for both! :)