Busy times

The past couple of weeks have flown by. We have been busy. Everyday I have to make sure our house is spotless, just in case someone wants to come by and see it. We have had a few nibbles, but no offers yet. There was a couple that looked at it yesterday that may put in an offer after Memorial Day, but I am trying not to get my hopes up. Also, yesterday the person that probably made the full price offer on our house when we bought it dropped in to see it. He liked it and asked if we would take a lower price. I told him we were entertaining offers so he should call and make one. He also asked if we would rent the house if we did not sell it. We had an open house last Saturday and had 10 different sets of people come through. All in all, I am excited about the prospect of selling our home.

Joseph likes to show me things now and says that he has learned to do this or "I can do this now." He is happy to be learning. He also recognizes all the letters in his name. He draws the letters H, L, J, and O. We are also working on getting him to drink more water. He doesn't like to drink plain water. We are keeping a chart of what he drinks everyday so he can see. It is funny because each day I go out to water the year and on occasion, I will get him wet and say that I am watering him so he can grow. He laughs and then says that water on the outside won't help him grow but water on the inside will (We had to have a long conversation about why he needed to drink more water).

Samuel likes to look around and touch the world around him. When I water the lawn, I usually have to carry him in one arm. He drools a ton. If I am not changing his outfit due to a blowout, I am changing it because he soaked it with drool (even with a bib on). He is more vocal about things. He hates tummy time. He is going bald in the back. He sleeps really well at night now. Usually he sleeps from 8 or 9 p.m. till 5 or 6 a.m. On rare occasions, he will wake up one time for a feeding. He had his 4 month check up a week ago. He weighed a little over 16 pounds (82nd percentile), is 25 inches long (67th percentile), and his head was in the 86th percentile (not nearly as big as Joseph's).

Joe's boss got fired at work on Thursday. He is such a nice guy and worked so hard. Joe's CFO called him into a meeting and said, "I have heard good things about you." He then told him that he has to step up. So, now they expect Joe to be the team lead, plus do his job...all without increasing his pay. It made me so mad that they are expecting more work and responsibility, but are not planning on compensating him in any way.

Samuel and Joseph

Here is a picture of our family. Samuel was blessed on Sunday. He is wearing the same baby outfit that Joseph wore, as well as the same one that his dad and uncles wore. It was a little snug, but it fit. If we had waited any longer, he would have burst out of it.

My boys. What a handsome bunch! :)
Joseph and his baby brother. Samuel still enjoys watching his big brother. He smiles lots when he sees him and he will turn his head in any direction.
Here is everyone that participated in the blessing (except for Joseph). I spent so much time in Texas and then trying to get our house in order that I failed to contact lots of family members. The only reason we had anyone there was that Joe reminded me at the last minute. Sorry to all ya'll Wades. We would have loved to have you there also. I hope there are no hard feelings. The blessing was sweet. I don't know if it is appropriate to blog about the baby blessing and the promises, so I will just say that I am grateful for the priesthood and that Heavenly Father is aware of us and loves us dearly. I am also glad that the microphone worked for Samuel's blessing. With Joseph's, I couldn't hear any of the promises or blessings.

Samuel and Joseph are growing up so fast. They are both so much fun.


Here is what is happening with Joseph. He is loving the fact that mommy is home with him all the time. Sometimes he will let me rest a little, but only sometimes. Most of the time he is up and he wants me to be up with him. Joseph is working on recognizing the letters of the alphabet. He loves his Dinosaur Encyclopedia. Dinosaurs are his favorite, but I am trying to help him gain confidence to do things on his own. Yesterday he put on his own pants and shirt. It is a struggle because he wants me to do it for him, but once he does it, he is so happy and proud of himself. The art in the video he did on his own. I left him with the paints so I could paint one of the rooms. He did a great job.

As for the transition to big brother, he is great for the most part. He likes to play with his brother. He has started to get jealous with his old toys and will take them from Samuel, even if he hasn't played with it in ages. He also waits till I start feeding Samuel to ask to go to the bathroom and then says that I need to put Samuel down and let him cry a little. This has happened on many occasions.

He likes to help around the house and loves to wash dishes. We'll see how long that one lasts. All in all, I love my little boy. He is so sweet and I am happy to be home with him.



Samuel is starting to be very interested in grabbing things. He doesn't like to be on his back or belly. He prefers to sit up or stand (with assistance of course). He purposefully reaches for things that are close to him. He likes this toy that Uncle David gave to Joseph when he was a baby. Samuel talks lots and smiles a lot. It is still hard to get him to laugh. He sleeps through the night for at least 6 to 7 hour stretches. He is awake a lot more during the day. Samuel is in size 3 diapers. He is getting a bald spot on the back of his head. It is sad to me because I love his head full of hair. The other day Joe was looking at him and said, "I found one thing that is Rankin on him...his ears." He then showed me his baby pics with the same type of ears. I also think that he has Grandpa Rankin's eyes.

Our house is on the market!!

Yay! I am so happy. It is finally clean and on the verge of being completely in order. To think we thought it would be easy to get our house in the market in January. Yeah...didn't happen. We finally just did it. My dad is our realtor. If you need a realtor in Utah, use my dad (a little plug for you apa): Ernesto G. Nunez with EXIT Realty Solutions. He knows what he is talking about and he will take care of you like family (nunern@wfmls.com).

This is a picture of our bedroom. The comforter and pillows are a designer set that my mom gave me that originally cost over $1800 for the comforter alone. The business went under (can you imagine with ridiculous prices such as that), so my mom got it for $100 with the pillows (originally almost $200 a piece). It is hard to imagine anyone paying that much for a blanket and pillows, hence the reason the business did not survive in this economy.
Here is our guest bathroom. It looks so nice with everything that Joe has done.
Here is our kitchen. I have to say that I really like our slate tile. It is so pretty. Heavenly Father sure is one for detail and colors. Each tile is unique and beautiful.
Another view of our kitchen. I love my orchids. They are so pretty.
Here is the wood floor room. It now has a couch and chair. I will try and take pics of it later.
Here is the outside of our house. I planted flowers the other day. There are some blue and white columbines, some star dianthus and spotted dianthus, some sun blanket flowers, some cape daisies and some coriopsis. I bought some delphenium and pink and white columbine to plant as well. I only bought perennials. The lilac trees are in bloom as are all the other trees in our yard. Achoo! They smell so good and look so nice.