The Big Move, Part 1: Selling our House!

I have come to terms with the fact that my blog may never know how wonderful the 4th of July was with our extended family (I've thought about cutting/pasting my cousin Elaine's recap but what a plagiarizing poser I'd be!), or my ultra fab Birthday girls' trip to Hotel Zaza or even what we did for Beau's Birthday. But I just can't go through a big house move and not capture it all here! So, Part 1: Selling our current home!

Beau likes to joke with people that he came home one week and the house was on the market! He's a funny guy. ;) While we did originally agree to hold off for a year and save our pennies, we ultimately decided to expedite the process. The sale of our neighbor's house gave us an idea of what we could get for our house plus the real estate boom here in Texas and particularly Frisco is proving that, even if we saved and saved, the increase in prices by next year would pretty much equal out any savings we could acquire by then. Make sense?

We put 110% of our efforts into getting this house show-worthy. This is our first time as sellers and BOY, is it so much easier just to be a first-time buyer! No sale on the back end to coordinate! I'm really proud of all of Beau's work. You just can't prepare for everything that goes into selling a house when you've never done it before! We also brought in a staging company. I've never had an opinion on them and you can't quantify their worth really but let's put it this way. If we could get an extra thousand bucks out of it and they only cost a couple hundred, then we win. And trust me, we REALLY think we got a whole lot more out of them! Highly recommend stagers!

We moved out of the house for the week that we went on the market just to keep it mess-fress and our lives stress-free from having to rush out at any given moment. The house went on the market on a Thursday morning (July 25th), we had 8 showings that first day, between 5-8 the next day and had 2 offers come in by Friday afternoon. We picked the best one Friday night, had a back-up offer come in Tuesday and both have been with us to this point. Our buyers are so low-maintenance. They didn't ask for any of our things (not even the fridge or w/d), they asked us to fix 4 things as a result of the 24 page inspection (fixes that only cost us $125 total) and they came to the table with the balance of offer price when the appraisal came back a touch under. And Y'ALL, let me tell you how stressed we were that this house wouldn't appraise! As our realtor says, it definitely set a record for this neighborhood! The house is definitely worth it, don't get me wrong. But if the appraiser had solely looked at square feet comps for the neighborhood (which they can be known for doing) and not looked at all of the upgrades and HUGE lot, then we would have been in a big pickle since we priced this house higher than any comp showed and then the offers came in over that! So, we were stressing. Thankfully, it all worked out!

We close mid-September and know that it's not over til the ink is dry. But we are staying optimistic and have a new house to look forward to! More to come on that but I must say, we are SO sad to leave this house. We came home from our Honeymoon to this house, brought home both boys from the hospital here. We have made so many memories, hosted neighborhood parties in our front yard, have loved hanging out with our neighbors and will miss this incredible backyard. We will also REALLY miss being down the street from my parents. We will now be 20 minutes away - eek! But compared to 30 seconds, that is a lot! Sometimes I wonder if we're making the right move. But I'm keeping the faith that whatever is meant to be will happen for us!

Here is our house. These were taken before the stagers came in but this is how I want to remember it. :) The stagers made it look like a model home! And we had the surround sound playing in the living/master bedroom/bathroom/patio and I think it really made a difference!

You will be seeing this kitchen again in the Reynolds' future ;)

The realtor took much better pictures of the backyard. It's 1/3 of an acre so there were several pics just of it!

Now, for Part 2 of this crazy process....the new house!

Walker is 6 months old!

I'm slacking in the blogging department! We have been up to so much that just isn't getting captured here. But what I CAN do is provide his latest stats since we had a pediatrician appt last week!

Weight: 20lbs, 6oz (91st %)
Length: 28.25in (97th %)
Head: 17.25in (63rd %) - While Walker has a much smaller head at this age than Grayson did, I know this is wrong. The 20 y.o. tech hardly had the tape measure around his head correctly. Oh well, I have never cared much for this measurement anyway! :)
Size 4 diapers
Size 3 shoe (I assume anyway, he doesn't wear them. It's HOT outside!)
Size 6-9 and 6-12 mo clothes

I was so late doing the 5 month update last month that I don't know if there is too much more to report. STILL the smiliest baby, STILL so chill and go with the flow. Especially with our crazy errands lately (have I mentioned that we sold our house?!), STILL rolling all over, putting everything in his mouth and lights up the moment anyone makes eye contact with him! He loves to engage! Oh, and almost sitting up on his own. I really need for this to happen before we move out of this house so that I can pack the random things like the boppy, bumbo, etc. and not have to take this extra gear with us :) 

The rest in pictures! We love this boy, so!

Grayson climbed up and wanted pictures of the 2 of them :) I love that he held W's foot. ..

But he becomes such a touch-me-not when Walker grabs ahold of him! I can't blame him, Walker is pretty grabby right now and doesn't know when to let go :) My hair knows this well!

Loving on Daddy

Buzzzzz....

My favorite picture in all the world! TWO smiles and eye contact at the same time.

Always making eye contact with someone!

Always trying to engage with Brother.

I love his sleeping ways!

Grayson, Our Little Swimmer!

Grayson has been going to swim lessons for 1 week now and oh man, can we tell a complete and total difference! We chose to take him to Ms. Pat, a local celebrity of sorts. If being an awesome swim instructor who has taught tons of Frisco kids to swim could be a celebrity, that is. I mean, 9 out of 10 people I asked about this subject responded with something like, You HAVE to use Ms. Pat! She even has her own hashtag, y'all. It was important to me that we found someone like her ever since we had a bit of a scare when Grayson fell into a friend's pool and no on saw him for many seconds. Fortunately, by the grace of God, he fell in on his back and remained floating but it was still scary. How fast something like that can happen with 8 adults around and still, no one saw.

So that brings us to last week. The first few days were pretty rough - lots of tears, lots of fear - but he always did exactly what Ms. Pat asked of him. She has a way with kids, through the Love and Logic approach, of establishing her authority, gaining their respect but never raising her voice and using a calm, repetitive tone. By Day 4, she had him on the diving board. I was shocked! I have video of his very first time up there! No tears and he jumped the first time she asked him to! So proud of our boy for working through his fears!

Look at my sweet boy swimming!

Beau went with us Friday and was just so blown away with the quick progress. Grayson was a brave boy for his Daddy and didn't cry or whine once. I hope he keeps that up for me this week. :) We are just so proud of him!

Swimming with his buddy Braxton from play group. These lessons were just the 2 of them and it helped that Braxton had a week prior to this so he could show Grayson how to stay calm.

Leaning on his noodle ;)

Walker, You're a BIG 5 Months!

18lbs, 1 oz
6-9 month clothes
Size 3 shoes
Moving into size 4 diapers soon

Walker baby! Everything is happening so fast! You started rolling over from back to front at 4 1/2 months. You then began rolling from front to back at 5 1/2 months! 30 days of that "stuck" limbo stage where you didn't know how to roll back made you very angry and had me up many times a night when you'd wake up realizing you couldn't fix yourself. :)

The laughing and giggles and smiles, oh my! I love when people get to see you in person - they see what I mean! Our dear friend Carissa spent the day with us a couple of weeks ago and got to see first-hand how content you are. We are just so lucky....

Until you get hungry! Can your cries and screams actually be getting LOUDER? I think so! Goodness.

I had a zillion videos of Grayson's every move by this age. I hardly have any of you and it stresses me out that I'm missing it all! (sigh)

You now grab at everything in front of you and bring them towards you, mostly directly in your mouth. You can hold your skinny bottles and can almost hold your Dr. Brown's bottles by yourself.

You are so good with just going with the flow. I've heard 2nd babies and beyond just have to be. And you have proved this spot on.

Because I'm doing this update so late, I can report that you have your TWO bottom teeth! Out of nowhere the other morning, I felt them. And they are SO CUTE. I knew you'd be an early teether. Grayson was like 8 or 9 or 10 months old but your incessant chewing/drooling/etc was a good indication that this was going to happen soon. You're even more adorable now. Like that's possible.

Your sleeping is CRAZY. Now you're up 2x a night - starving both times. I need to ask the doc at your next appt. You take solids like a champ and still take those and a bottle every 3 1/2 - 4 hours so WHY are you still hungry at night?

Outtakes:

 I'll say it again, you ADORE your big brother. You watch every move, smiling throughout, just hoping he'll engage with you. And when he does, you are beside yourself. The giggles are just too much!

Grayson turns 3!

Your stats from your 3 year well-visit:

(I need to locate the print out from the doc for these)

40lbs

Size 4T tops and 3T and 4T bottoms

Shoe: 9.5W
No diaper size - big boy undies!

My BIG boy! I wish time would freeze. Grayson, you light up our days and our lives in so many ways. You are the funniest person I've ever met, the most athletic little thing that I never dreamed I could produce, the most helpful big brother - Walker seriously adores you.


I love the perfectly imperfect way you talk, your bigger than life imagination and the way you know to laugh so hard when we make adult jokes that you aren't even supposed to get yet! You are so smart and I love watching you put new things together every day! It's just so cool!

You bake with Mimi quite often. Now, you bring me things at our house like flour and sugar and say, "Here Mommy. Make cookies." (You actually pronounce them "tooties")

I just think you are SO beautiful! I try not to tell you TOO often. I want you to know how much you are adored and how special you are but not be spoiled and become numb to praise. It's a difficult balance! 

You are such a big guy already. I can so see you as a teenager. You're 3 going on 16 - eek!

You and your Daddy are closer than ever. You have so much in common - the outdoors, rough housing, same comic cartoons and foods. I'm so content sitting back and watching it all. You guys make my heart so full!

Face Timing with Daddy. You two have so much fun trying on the different faces and hats. We all laugh so hard together!

 One time, and only one time, I found you taking interesting in MY things! Here you're wearing my slippers and purse. I had to take a photo since it's so rare :)

You get so proud of your achievements and you really have a lot at this age! I never could have guessed. Like how do you have the most perfect golf swing still? And hit the baseball like 9 out of 10 times? I'd like to credit my rockstar pitching skills. Ha. ;)

Your sentences are almost complete -only missing the tiny words like to, and, or, am, etc. Which makes your conversations adorable!You are rarely quiet - so much chatter! I don't want you to ever lose this cuteness and I wish I could video every single sentence! 

It's not just the language that amazes us but the thought behind it. Your ideas are big, creative, beyond your capabilities or know-how but this doesn't stop you. 

OH MY, the things you build and the things you come up with to tie together, tie up, attach, fuse together. These are other things that I really want to photograph more of but just don't take the time. You are leaps and bounds beyond where you were just 6 short months ago. 

Your bed head gets better with age!

Your Dad and I had to get you a crane - your latest favorite piece of machinery. It is so real that your Uncle Todd
(a crane operator) spent hours the following day playing with it! 

You made so strange things with these manicure items....as Newborn Brother slept in the background :)

We had your birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese this year - your first that we had outside of our home and it was a hit! We kept it very small and kept the celebrating with your play group to a separate during-the-week play date. I wasn't trying to have a party of 60 up in the Chuck E. Cheese, you hear? :)

You and Pop in a fierce competition

With Emily, Seton and Fox

Mimi and Pop scored a last minute invite when we realized that we wouldn't see them for Father's Day the following day (we spent the day with the Reynolds side) or at any other point on your Birthday weekend. And that just couldn't happen!

Such a Dude already!

Let's just say that Mr. Cheese should NEVER sneak up from behind a child that has never seen him before.
There were tears!

Grayson wanted Mommy to wear the Birthday Crown

Cake

Blowing out THREE candles. My big boy!

With your buddies Joseph Phillips and Fox Quirin

Love you BIG, Grayson Luke Reynolds!! Happy 3rd Birthday and here's to many, many more!