Melody's Memories: June 2009

This week has been insane. I could list out all the millions of things I have done, from packing up our entire house, to disconnecting our utilities, setting up forwarding addresses, finalizing sale stuff for closing next week, updating contracts on our new house due to inspection reports, moving Ryleigh and I to my parent's house for the month, while working and taking care of Miss Ryleigh....well, I think you get the idea. Slightly hectic. So you can imagine that little, if any emphasis has been placed on Ryleigh's clothing attire or the growing baby.

Tuesday, while I was working in the house, I noticed that Ryleigh had gotten quiet. Considering most of her toys were already packed, there was not much for her to get into but trouble, if you get my drift. So, I started calling her. No answer. I noticed that the door to the laundry room (where we are currently storing all the "baby stuff" was closed. I went inside to find Ryleigh completely stripped down, diaper included, playing with baby toys! And yes, for those concerned, she thought it would be fun to pee on the floor while diaper-free. Oh man. We are at that phase. Perfect time to potty train, except that I can't really start that until life slows down and we are in a stable location where she is not peeing everywhere!! Yikes. Not too excited about that, if I'm being honest. My girl sure loves being naked though, and I think I have seen her more without her clothes on this week, than with them on. Perhaps its this ridiculous heat? Or maybe I really do have a little nudist on my hands...

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Last night, I ran out of steam. I have been going strong all week long, and last night I was absolutely dead. The (maybe) 4 hours of sleep I got the night before might have had something to do with it... Anyway, so after going hard all day long and making the move to my parent's house, I got Ryleigh to bed and organized all my stuff in "my" room. Then I took a half of Benadryl and knocked myself out, desperate to get some rest.

So, about the time I crawl into bed, eyes barely open, the baby started moving. A lot. Pretty normal at night, but last night I just didn't feel like it. And then I noticed that the movements were very rhythmic...his first hiccups! We know that Ryleigh gets hiccups from me and apparently Baby Shulse shares the attribute as well. Haha.

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Okay, enough of an update for tonight. I'm exhausted.

The movers come bright and early Saturday morning, then I just have to clean, and we'll be done! We sign the papers (and receive the check!) Monday morning.

Until then....

I have not posted in awhile. And life has changed. A LOT. I literally have not had 15 minutes to sit down and write about everything that has gone on. Partly, because I was afraid that if I wrote it down, I would somehow jinx it all. Haha.

There is so much I want to tell you. So sit back and get comfy. This is going to be a long one.

The day we found out we were having a baby boy (May 21), I was cooking dinner. Jesse's phone rang. The job he has been waiting for was available. You see, his brother is a partner in a golf course management company- a company which has recently purchased and manages Traditions Golf Club in College Station. For those of you non-Aggies who read this blog, Traditions is a very nice, exclusive golf course, and the home of the Texas A&M golf team. It is played by some of the elite Aggies, if-you-will, including university Presidents, head coaches, and big name former students (including George Bush, Sr, a few years ago, so we hear). So the golf course itself, was of course enticing for an Aggie. Not only that, but Jesse (and I) loved living in College Station when we were in school. It is kind of like a big city in a small town- everything you need, but friendly, warm people who love to love. We have always talked about moving back eventually. And suddenly an opportunity was on the table. The superintendent there gave his 2-weeks notice. So Jesse would not only be at Traditions, in College Station, but also getting a promotion to head superintendent. Life changed for us really quickly.

Jesse started interviewing the next day. The management company is based out of Houston, so first he met with another owner/partner in the company on Friday. The following day, Saturday, he drove up to College Station to meet with the Director of Golf. Sunday night, on Ryleigh's birthday, he received an official offer letter. And oh yeah, he had to be there in 10 days.

We had known that this job was a possibility in the future, but had no idea how quickly it would come about. So about a month prior, we had had a real estate agent come to the house and tell us her thoughts. We had a few new projects in mind and wanted to know if she thought they would help us, should we decide to sell in the near future. She told us what to do, and we kind of put it to the back-burner, waiting until we had more time.

Obviously, when the job situation happened so quickly, we had to jump to it and get our house on the market!! So, for one week, we worked night and day finalizing all the projects and fixing up our house. We re-did the master bathroom, staining the cabinets, putting in new decorative mirrors, changing the light fixtures and faucets, and of course, painting from top to bottom. We finished up all projects around the house, including all white trim, changing out all the door knobs (no more gold!), and updating all the electrical plugs. There was some trim work and paint that had to get done, and lots of organizing closets. We also purchased a new gas range so that we could officially claim "all new kitchen appliances." Some yard work and new flowers, and many sleepless nights later, we called in a maid service (my first time ever!!) and had them clean from top to bottom. As they were finishing up, the realtor arrived, we signed the paperwork, and the sign was officially in the front yard.

Our realtor asked me if I minded if the house showed right away (that night), to which I told her, "Please do anything you can to sell this house. Of course, I don't mind if you show it tonight! My husband has to be in College Station by the end of this week, I'm 5.5 months pregnant, and I need to be up there with him! If you could sell this house tonight, you'd be my new best friend!" So, I went to dinner with my mom and sister to "celebrate" putting the house on the market while someone was coming to look. After dinner, Ryleigh wanted to go to the park, so we stopped on the way in the neighborhood. A got another call, saying someone else wanted to see the house that night! Two showings...the first night, within hours of us putting it on the market! Fine by me! That evening we got a call from our realtor- both viewers had put in offers, of full price. WHAT?! What about this "horrible" market we have been hearing about? The next day, the two buyers went into a bidding war, and we eventually signed a contract with the one who was the strongest buyer. Within 24 hours, our house was sold.

We still had to deal with the scary periods- the inspection and the appraisal, both which had no major issues. We had to fix a few breakers on our breaker box from the inspection, but that's it. No big deal. Then the real crunch began. Jesse was already up in College Station, starting his new job, leaving Ryleigh and I here to deal with the rest of the move. My mom came several days last week, helping me pack up the major areas of the house, and Jesse came home this weekend to help with the garage and the attic. Needless to say, I'm living in a sea of boxes. Talk about chaotic!! We have to be out by this weekend, haul off all our stuff to a storage facility in College Station, and then close next Monday, June 29th.

It will be sad to leave our home. Not only was this our first house, our first big purchase together (huge purchase, I should say), but also we have had a lot of memories here these past 4 years. We have worked late into the night on projects, transforming our house into our home. We have had family and friends gather in the backyard or sit around our living room. We have spent countless hours laughing together, cuddling, talking about life, and sharing in some of our greatest moments as a couple. And of course, we brought Ryleigh home to this house, to her nursery, to her first "big girl bed." We have memories of her 1st movements, 1st food, 1st steps, 1st words...all in this house. But you know what? It's just that. A house. Four walls, some doors, a roof, and windows. What made this our home was us. Our family, our friends, our memories. And those will not go away simply because we change location.

And changing location, we are! When our house sold so stinkin' quickly, we realized right away that we would soon be without a place to live. Luckily, Jesse is able to live for free in the casitas on site at Traditions until we find a new home. Ryleigh and I have been going up on weekends to see him and we can stay with him. Originally, Jesse thought we could easily move up there and just stay with him once our house sold. Well, he lives like a nomad. He moves around, sometimes nightly, depending on what rooms are available. And the casitas are nice, so I constantly tell Ryleigh, "no- don't touch that!" The environment is not conducive to an active two year old.

So, we started thinking about what to do up there. We started looking around at areas, trying to find a neighborhood that we liked. The problem was that if we live in Bryan, you get a whole lot more bang for your buck, but the school districts are not as good and the neighborhoods are a little iffy- some are okay, but then right next door is not the best. We just did not feel comfortable there. We like College Station, but we clearly did not want to live in the heart of the city, amongst all the college students. Once we started moving to the outskirts of town, we found some beautiful, family neighborhoods. We fell in love! And then we saw a price tag.

I have not felt so discouraged in a long time. We are hard working people. We make an honest living. We have paid off our debt. We have excellent credit. And we just knew after seeing the price tag that there was no way we could afford to live there. I cried a lot that weekend.

The following week, while back in Houston, I started doing some online research and got in contact with a realtor up there. She helped me find some middle-of-the-road homes and we planned to see them the following weekend. I also met with a lender, who helped us get pre-approved for a home loan and helped me crunch a bunch of numbers, regarding cost of house = monthly mortgage payment. We were approved for a heck of a lot, which we knew we would be, because we have such outstanding credit and no debt. But we were worried about living outside of our means and having a huge monthly payment. So we started low.

The next weekend, we went to meet the realtor. She was probably in her 70's with a sidekick, also in her 70's. Both very sweet ladies, but not our type. We moved slow and saw some not-too-exciting property. The next day, we couldn't see anything because they could not get their key to work. We left discouraged and frustrated. We drove around on our own and if we liked a house, we called the listing agent. This one agent was literally everywhere. We figured she had to be good! So we called on a property we liked, and sure enough, it had already sold. But, we did get hooked up with her, and saw a few properties the next day. Unfortunately, we kept going higher and higher on our budget, and again got discouraged that we would never get into a house that we liked, in an area we liked, with good schools, for our price range. Jesse and I argued that night- him suggesting we consider renting property for awhile, saving up money and waiting to get what we really want. Of course, I did not like that idea. First off, in a college town, renting is the thing to do. So every rental property is pretty expensive and the leases are all 1-year minimum. No thank you. Not to mention, I am 6 months pregnant, and not wanting to unpack, only to repack again in awhile, with two babies at home!! No way. So we fought. And I again, cried the whole way home.

Last Monday, I called the lender and went into to meet with him. He was supposed to be on vacation, but he came in (in shorts and t-shirt) to meet with me. He said I sounded distressed on the phone, and he could tell I needed some assurance. So, we met. We re-crunched numbers on the higher priced homes, and he was able to show me that we could get into a home that cost more, while still maintaining our lower monthly payments. I almost cried again. He laughed at me. He told me that Jesse and I have some of the best credit he has ever seen for a couple our age and that he wished Jesse would come in and council all his clients because he loved our conservative attitude, despite the fact that we could afford so much. He said we were the perfect client for any lender- approved for more, but choosing to pay less to live within our means. It made me so proud of my husband all over again, for all his hard work and constantly reminding me that all the work (Elfa) was a means to an end. And it was- it got us out of debt and in a place where we could even consider buying a more expensive home in College Station.

SO, that brings us to this past week. (If you are still reading this, I'm most impressed!) The new realtor in College Station met with Jesse a couple of days, showing him close to 20 or so properties throughout the week. She would send a list to me, I would weed them out from there, and then they would go look at what was left on my list. Sure enough, Jesse found one he liked. We made plans to see it together again on Friday, when Ryleigh and I came up for the weekend. We went and looked at it together, and I liked it right away. It is a little bit larger than our current house, but not much. Frankly, it will fit us like a glove. The kitchen and living area felt a little small, so we went to a couple other houses that Jesse liked, though not as much. And I did not like them as much either. I asked if we could go back to the first house. We did. And then we went back to the realtor's house and wrote out an offer.

Yesterday and today have been the waiting game. But late this afternoon, right before Jesse had to head back to College Station for the week, we got the call. Our offer was accepted! Jesse went back tonight to sign the contract and pay the earnest money. We have to make it through inspection and the appraisal, but otherwise, the closing date is set for July 24.

We are excited and anxious. I'm so thankful that everything has worked out-- seriously the way things have more-or-less fallen in our lap has further confirmed that God wants us in College Station. Timing is perfect. We will have almost 2 months to "settle" before the baby arrives, and we made it into a nice home, in a nice neighborhood, with a great school district. Jesse loves his new job. I get to keep my current job, working from College Station and commuting when I need to come in for meetings. God is so good, and we recognize His hand and His blessings all over our life right now. It has been an insanely busy and stressful time, but again, all a blessing.

Want to see the cute house? I thought you might. Here are a few pictures I pulled from the MLS site.

The good news? The house does not require a single project. For those of you who have read this blog for awhile, you know that we have constantly worked projects since we moved into our house. We love the way they turned out, but I think Jesse is "over" it. With another baby on the way and a new job to focus on, we just will not have the time or energy to do anything major. Sure, we will do some painting according to preference, but no projects. Everything is great. It's beautiful. And it will soon become our new home.

Whew. I told you a lot has happened. As long as this post is, I cannot even begin to tell you how long the past month has been. We have not stopped. We're all exhausted and running on adrenaline I think. Once we close on our house next week and get all of our stuff into storage for the next month, I plan on hibernating for a few days. Then we get a week to go to Minnesota for my sister Susan's wedding (wahoo!), and when we come back, we close and start the move all over again. :)

Crazy, but good. Crazy, but good.

We'd appreciate your prayers, as we endure the exhaustion (physical, mental, and emotional) from all of this. Ryleigh has handled it all pretty well thus far, but I'm sure we will have more adjustments once we get settled again into a routine. Pray for Jesse, as he is working crazy hours trying to get things situated with his new job, while being away from his family. Pray that all the little details get worked out during the move and that we are able to successfully close on both houses, as planned. Pray that we all maintain the rest we need to handle the stress of the move. And mostly, pray for peace about all of the decisions and life changes we are experiencing. Thanks, friends!

We know God has a plan and we are pretty excited watching it all unfold. Can't wait to share more of our roller coaster with you in the weeks and months ahead!