Maverick and Ryker have birthdays

We have had some birthdays around here. On July 25th, Maverick turned 2. Maverick is a kid who most people fall in love with instantly. I suppose maybe his big head and cute smile say, "I'm lovable." He is a smart kid who is obsessed with the letter "T." I'm determined one day he is going to do something amazing with the letter "T." He points it out all the time and has almost for the past 8 months or so. He loves to pee on the potty, but pooping is still a no-go. It is beyond frustrating, but since he just turned 2, I would sweat it too much. He used to be our amazing sleeper, but now leaves much to be desired in that department. He usually lays down for a nap without a fight, but bedtime is his favorite play time. Kyle has resorted to just sleeping on their floor each night until Maverick falls alseep in an effort to keep Maverick from crawling into the window sill, biting, and hitting his brothers. (Kyle is gone this week, I miss him the most around bedtime as I am caring for a fussy baby Nora, and taking Maverick back to his bed for the millionth time!)

Ryker also had a birthday, August 22, he turned 4. He has some big news, he is having a baby! Since the birth of his sister Nora, he has been determined that he is growing a baby in his belly. He isn't shy to tell you about it either. To my embarrassment he told our pediatrician all about it. He also told her he was lactating with chocolate milk on one side and strawberry on the other. He also informed her that he was going to have to push the baby out, but that it's gross because there is poop down there and he doesn't want to get poop on his baby. Not only did he bring this up at the doctor's office, but he loves to tell random people he meets about it too.
Other than his baby, he loves ninja turtles, fishing, reading, and learning about God. I love seeing faith through my children's eyes. If you ask him who his best friend is he will say Gunnar.

I had a birthday too. I'm just older and wiser. Nothing much to report there! 

Introducing...Nora!

So much has happened, hopefully slowly over the days of summer I can do some blog updating!

Let's begin with the most exciting and important news. A BABY!
Nora Joyce Pettit
April 27, 2014
7 lbs 10 oz
20 inches long

That's right we had our baby, April 27th, 2014. Here's the birth story:

After going over my due date, I was beginning to think our little baby girl was never going to decide to come out. The day of April 26th, I wasn't really feeling much different and saw no sign that labor was in the near future, however, that night I was pretty tired. Kyle went down stairs around 10pm to watch a movie and I decided to go to bed instead. Kyle came to bed around 1am. I got up and decided to go sit on the couch as I was experiencing some contractions and couldn't get comfortable. Nothing unusual or consistent. At 2:35am I even messaged a friend saying I didn't know when the baby would come and wasn't necessarily expecting it to be soon.  After a potty break I went back out to the couch and decided to time my contractions. They were totally inconsistent. Around 3:30 I decided they were getting painful and not stopping and despite there inconsistency we had an hour and half drive in front of us and we should probably get moving.
The kids were champs when we woke them up to take them into Kyle's dads. The ride in is always long. Kyle knew things were pretty serious and we were beginning to fear that we wouldn't make it in time. The kids were funny on the way into town and talked the entire way. In between gripping the dashboard in pain from contractions I would laugh along with them.
By the time we pulled into Kyle's dads house I was pretty sure the baby was going to come at any minute. When we pulled in, Kyle quickly unloaded the kids. Mike (his dad) opened my door to give me a hug and wish me luck, but once he opened it and saw me, he quickly closed the door. I happened to be in the middle of a contraction at the point.
Kyle jumped back in and got us to the hospital quickly. I'm pretty sure my law-abiding husband even ran a few red lights. We got to the hospital and it seemed like the walk in took forever, I felt like with every step I took I had another contraction. We got in, they saw ugency and quickly checked me in a quickly wheeled me up to a room.
Upon arriving in my room at 5:50am, they checked me and I was ONLY dilated to a six or seven. I was so disappointed. I told them that I felt like I was going to need to push very soon. I waited about 4 more contractions and told them to get ready I was going to push. My midwife, very much let's me be in control. She was sitting at the end of the bed and when I told her I was ready she knew it was time. She checked and said "oh yeah, babies crowning" she then yelled in the hallway "I NEED A BABY CATCHER." A nurse for me and a nurse for Nora entered the room and at 6:14am, our beautiful girl was here.
I love that they immediately let me hold her, nurse her, love on her. I got to hold her for over an hour before they took her to weigh and check her out. Those first moments with your baby are so special and I am so thankful to deliver in a hospital with midwives that allow me those first speical moments with my baby.
I had some severe hemorrhaging after the delivery, that isn't comfortable for fun to be dealt with. Honestly, I feel that it's more painful than the actual birth. This is probably because I don't get a beautiful baby afterwards.
Other than that, my recovery has been pretty easy and nice. Nothing like my first couple babies, and even easier than with Mav.
Nora is probably our fussiest baby (Gunnar was pretty close). At two months she isn't as colicky, but still the evening hours aren't the most enjoyable. But despite her fussiness her dad and I, and her three brothers love her to death!

A feeling of relief after delivery!

 There is no greater feeling that holding a baby and knowing you did that!

 7lbs. 10 oz. Our biggest baby!

The love for a child...

First snuggles with daddy.

 Nora is loved, she got to see all three of her grandmas.

 Nora has a special birthday. She shares it with her daddy and Grandma!

 Papa holding his second granddaugher.

 Gunnar and Ryker are great big brothers.

 Maverick wasn't so sure at first, but now he doesn't want to leave her alone.

 After getting home we had two birthday celebrations. A 30th birthday for Kyle and a 5th birthday for Gunnar.

 Her brothers love her so much!

 Nora is named after my Grandma, Joyce. I love this lady so much. She has dementia, but seeing Nora made her so happy, despite the look she is giving me for this picture!

A problem

Houston, we have a problem...let me explain. We have been allowed to rent the house we put a offer on in July as this long, short sale process continues. We are hopeful that the short sale goes in our favor, but nothing is guaranteed.

If you know much about this situation you know I wasn't completely excited about this house, well now that we are living here, I've fallen in love. The space, the house, the property, the view. We are only using 2 of the 3 floors and we have so much space. The kids have room to play without being under my feet, the kids love playing outside here, we have a couple good sledding hills and a whole lot of room for them to run and play. They went outside directly after church yesterday, were having so much fun they didn't want lunch and cried when we I told them almost 4 hours later they had to come in. 

The house has had problems as we had anticipated; 17 broken pipes, three broken toilets, no hot water, and a broken water line outside. All are fixed and now we just have drywall to replace which we won't do until we know the place is ours. Luckily the torn up walls are on the bottom floor so i dont have to look at them. Our rent is being used to pay for repairs. So besides the pipes a random person with the homes mortgage company coming and taking pictures randomly as the house is officially in preforclosure (with sn auction date for June) we are in love....and it's not ours, and we so badly want it to be, which is the problem. Honestly we are thankful we were able to move in because we are finding out everything that's wrong and are able to fix things that will be required for our VA loan to be approved. 

This morning as I was sitting in my rocking chair in front of a fire, drinking tea, having some quiet time with my Savior I was thanking Him for this opportunity and praying that this will soon be our house. I feel at home here and would be privileged to raise our kids here. Please pray with us, and ask that If this isn't the house for us that God gives us total piece about it. Pray this process continues to move forward and we have the banks answer soon so we can move on. Thank you all!

Short sale (or longest sale EVER) update

We get ask almost daily what's going on with the house...here is an update:

If you recall, way back in July we put an offer on a house. You read right...July. It was the end of July but it was still July. When we signed the papers we were committed and ready for what we told would be 3 months, potentially 6 months of a wait. Our closing date on the papers we signed were for the end of November (giving us the average time for a short sale 4 months). November came and went, with no word. Our hopes of being in the house for Christmas were crushed. We signed an extension story close no later than Janurary 31 (which would be 6 months). That means 8 days. Yet, nothing is progressing. We found out today the sellers bank has not even made the determination as to if the sellers are eligible for a hardship sale. We were also told today that they (our real estate agents office) have seen short sales take up to year...a YEAR?!?! I can't believe it, a year...I'm still sitting here shaking my head that they are just now sharing this tidbit of information with us.

This is what I know:

1. All of our belonging have been in storage for two years. They are due to come out at the end of February. As much as I don't think I'm a materialistic person, I miss MY things. But also without a house,  where will I put my things. We are at maximum capacity here! 

2. I'm entering my third trimester. That means in 3 short months be will be welcoming a new little one into our home. 

3. God is in control, He has a plan. His timing is alway perfect. 

That's right, I still believe number 3. It is a daily challenge and sometimes I wonder if God is saying to me "do you REALLY trust me?" In fact, sometime I ask myself that question. 

I cry a lot, I get frustrated a lot. And sometimes I even get mad at my husband and act like this entire thing is his fault (I'll blame the pregnancy hormones). Honestly, this isn't my dream house, but it's his. It would be an awesome place to raise our family and I agree with a little work it can be an amazing house...which is why I trusted him and his dream and signed the papers with him. We prayed before we signed them, and both felt at total peace with our decision, I know it was the right thing.

So what's the purpose of this post. Simply, I'm asking you to pray along side us. Pray God gives us continual peace about our decision, because we do a lot of doubting lately. Pray we rely on God and each other to get us through this sale. 

We are beginning to look for places to rent because let's face it there is no room in this place for another kid. There isn't room in this house for the 5 of us already. Our kids are piled in one room, our living room is the size of some people's bathrooms. We take things out to the garage weekly to make more space to live, but we still lack space. We survive, we are thankful for a free roof over our head during this time, our kids are happy. They know we want to move, they ask when we get to go to our new house often. But I can garuntee it's not because they aren't happy, I'm guessing it's more because they sense my unhappiness (I'm trying to work on this). We started looking for places to rent up here. We could potentially rent the house we are trying to short sale. but we could not do any work on it as that could increase the value of it, which we obviously don't want. There is one other potential house here, other than that our options are pretty limited.

So, friends, don't feel sorry for me (I feel sorry enough for myself), just pray for us. Pray for this process to progress and for this all to be just a distant memory. Also, pray that when/if the bank approves our offer that the inspections go more smoothly than imagined. We have some concerns as far as the house contidition and pray they are simply false rumors. 

Thank you friends! We love you and thank you for your support and prayers!