Feeling Lucky?

Happy St. Patrick's Day! My mom bought Ally this super cute outfit to wear today so I couldn't resist taking a few pictures this morning before we went to day care. She loves to smile all the time...except for when I want to take her picture!

We have had a lot of luck on our side recently: Karl's new job and we sold our house in a record-setting 24 days. We got an offer on Tuesday (my birthday) and went back and forth a few times and the guy accepted our counter on Sunday. Pending the inspection, we will close on April 30! We are in shock but certainly aren't going to complain. Now its time for new stresses like where to live and when to find time to pack.

March Sadness

Its my favorite time of year, March Madness but because of the sad state of our athletics department I have decided that this year we should call it March SADness. With the women's team not making the NCAA tournament for the first time in 17 years and the men's team decimated by injury, it just doesn't have the same feel. We knew it would be a tough women's basketball season after losing 5 seniors from last years elite eight team but no one saw this change coming for the men. All of the hopes and dreams for a final four appearance seemed to go down the drain with the tearing of Robbie Hummel's ACL. Obviously the NCAA selection committee thought the same since we went from a possible 1 seed all the way to a 4 seed- a 4 seed that not many people are picking to get out of the first round. The attitude around the fan base has drastically changed (especially after Saturdays blow out loss to Minnesota) and the department has pretty much followed. We are still hopeful the team will come out of its shooting slump and get back to the confidence they had earlier in the season. As I watched them at practice today it doesn't seem possible but I can still hope. As for the women, tonight we find out about the NIT which is a whole other kind of disappointing but with a young team, we just need more opportunities to play. I still filled out my bracket and hope to enjoy the next few weeks of games. No traveling with any teams this year for me but I'm still keeping my fingers crossed the men's team will put on a good show in Spokane and surprise us all.

Stresses of Selling a House

Who knew that having a house on the market could be so stressful? I'm sure a lot of people knew this already but for us this is all new so the last 22 days with our house for sale have been busier than we imagined, which is both good and bad. The day after we listed our house we had two showings scheduled which sort of just started us off on the wrong foot. We had done a lot of moving things around and cleaning when our realtor did a walk through and took pictures but it was no where near clean enough for people to start opening closets and cupboards. This put us in a rush even before anything really happened. After the first showings I thought I would have time to get more cleaned up but the fact is that we are now on showing number 6 and not much else has been done. I am certainly not going to complain about the amount of traffic coming through our house because its been great to have so much interest so soon but, having a 5 month old and a dog do not make this easy! Here is what happens when someone wants to see our house:

• Realtor's errand boy calls and asks if its ok if so-and-so realtor shows the house between time A and time B today
• Erin panics but always says yes because in this market, why say no
• Quickly think through the morning routine and figure out what could potentially be on the floors, on the counters, on the kitchen table, etc...
• Make time to get home to pick up said items, throwing baby toys and dog toys in various hidden places and wiping down all exposed surfaces and vacuuming if there is time
• Get Ella into the car and take her over to Karl's parents
• Get back to work and pray that nothing major was left out like bras hanging in the laundry room or dirty diapers near the changing pad
• If its a weekend, just hope that all this can be done and everyone can get out before people are at the door (this Saturday we failed because the people were early...booo)
• After the showing pick up Ella, go home and mess it all up again

I know that a lot of these little things probably aren't going to make or break a deal but I've watched a lot of HGTV over the years and they make a big deal out of everything so it causes me to panic every time. I would like to think someone can get past our dirty carpets and the baby toys that are too large to hide and see the house for what it could be for them. I would also like to think we could be better organized and keep things cleaner so I don't have to go through this routine every time but obviously that's unrealistic.

So far we have gotten good feedback from everyone that has been through it and in all honesty, we didn't think we would have much interest this early on. Our neighborhood was hit hard by foreclosures over the last year so that has hurt resale value a lot and there are also a few other houses for sale in the area. Like I said, I really shouldn't complain because we know several people that have had houses on the market for 9,10, 11 months with no luck. I am praying that we don't have to go through that and with the amount of time I have to spend hiding toys lately, it seems like we may not have to. If we do, posts about our house selling adventures may take a more serious and desperate tone.

New Foods

Who likes squash??

Ally does! Food #2 was a success last night. She is going to be a good eater, I can tell!

5 Months Old

Since there technically isn't a 30th of February, we celebrated Ally's 5 month birthday over the weekend. She is getting so big! Ally has pretty much outgrown all of her 3 month clothes and is working her way into the 6 month stuff. She is sort of in-between sizes so pants and shirts are still a little big but the bigger one piece outfits fit well. She has also worked her way into the size 2 diapers. It has become more obvious that Ally discovered her voice this month and she loves to squeal in delight and babble very loudly. She always greets me with a happy yell when I take her out of her crib in the morning and we decided that her ah-goo sound is definitely "love you". Last week she began to show some signs of teething so that made for a rough week. She had a fever Sunday and Monday, woke up often at night crying, ate less, cried a lot more and was just an unhappy baby for a few days but it seems to have passed for now. I don't feel any teeth coming in yet but maybe soon. Here is what Ally has been up to this month:

• Tried rice cereal for the first time and loved it! She also tried pears over the weekend and enjoyed them as well
• She can stand flat footed in her bouncer and play but she hasn't figured out that it turns yet
• She can sit up well by herself but is still a little top heavy
• Passes toys from one hand to the other
• Likes to play with her paci by taking it in and out of her mouth and turning it around or sucking on the side
• She often has scratches on her forehead because she rubs her face when she gets tired and I cant keep up with her nails
• Discovered her feet and how to take off socks
• Can roll from front to back and back to front but mostly just hangs out on her side
• Loves to stand and sit up to look around
• Enjoyed watching Purdue basketball, tennis and swimming and meeting some new friends
  
• Is very interested in faces and is constantly grabbing cheeks, noses, eyes, hair, etc...
• Discovered that she has a dog and likes to touch her nose or pet her face (if Ella will let her)
• Laughs like crazy when you kiss her cheeks or her neck, or bounce her on your leg

Allyson is a very easy going and happy baby, unless she doesn't feel well, then she lets you know it! She is always smiling and laughing and has really started to develop her own voice and personality. We love all the new things she does and can't believe we will be celebrating six months soon. Here are some photos from the past month to enjoy.