Autumn Klair: 6 months!

It's been way too long since I've written a post. My Klair Bear turned sixth months last Wednesday. I'm still in shock. How can six months pass by so quickly? She now has two bottom teeth, she can roll completely over (she's been doing that for a few weeks now), she has wonderful hand-eye coordination (if she wants something she grabs it and it goes straight into her mouth), and she can sit up for about thirty seconds at a time without any help (as of yesterday)! She's also extremely aware of her surroundings and she understands how to manipulate her environment (i.e. me) to get what she wants. Basically, she knows how to use crying to her advantage. And oh, how she can turn on and off those waterworks in an instant. Also, she loves our cat Harvey. She has of course always loved Rosie and the feeling has been mutual, but only lately as her environmental awareness has increased has she noticed the typically aloof feline who lurks around the house. And she LOVES him... And other cats for that matter. She takes after her Mama. (In fact she recently busted up in a spontaneous giggle to rival her first epic laugh... just from the mere sight if my sister's cat) Unfortunately, felines don't tend to love her back. I think it's her tendency to grab, kick, and squeal when they're near that scares them off. Apparently, they don't love it when she pulls out chunks of their hair. Weird.

I think her fascination with Harvey is probably also due in part to the fact that we live in a smaller space. Thus, he has less places to hide and is forced to be a little more seen. ...which brings us to some big news I have not yet written about. It's actually the main reason I haven't written in awhile. We sold our house and moved! We had been toying with the idea for awhile, but the consensus was always to wait another year... Until we found out just how ripe the market was for sellers. Apparently the inventory in the Utah market is extremely low. Thus, low supply and high demand means we were able to sell for a great price. I love economics when it works to our advantage. Our house in particular was quite the hot item. Living in a coveted retiree community worked to our benefit. We put our house up for sale on a Saturday. We sold our house on that Saturday. Three people walked through it, two offered, and one was a full price offer. We took it and ran with it.

Because our house sold so fast, we needed somewhere to go in the mean time. Our realtor set us up in one of his rentals. It's a tiny little bungalow house that was built in 1938. It has a little more than 800 square feet of main level living and a scary basement-- complete with steep stairs of death and a cellar that looks like something out of a horror flick. Sam sprayed for bugs and cleaned out the cobwebs before we moved. I have such a great husband!

When we got here the yard was pretty overgrown and looked like the secret garden... The version before they fix it up. Rosie loved it. She looked like a rabbit bobbing up and down through the overgrown greenery. Now it's been mowed (we bought our first lawn mower--we're growing up!) and it looks much better. It's actually a pretty amazing piece of property. With a little more love than we're willing to give it, it could really be something great!

We were so spoiled before with our spacious, clean, bright, high-ceiling home that it's been a bit of an adjustment. For the first few nights we felt claustrophobic. Once we got everything put away it felt better, but we have so much stuff crammed in here that its still pretty tight. All in all though it's been a good place to land temporarily.

For a few weeks we toyed with the idea of building and even had a plot and floor plan picked out. When the builder gave us our official bid, however, it was much higher than he had initially told us it would be. After some consideration we realized that not only did we not want to build with him, but that all build jobs would probably be similar in terms of ending up more expensive than we would want. So, we decided that perhaps building a house wasn't the way to go.

We turned back to the market and saw that a house we had liked before had come down in price to our range. We made an appointment, visited it, and immediately made an offer (that's the way things are dine these days). The next day Sam went our of town and I got a call that night while he was on his flight that we had just bought a house. I was shocked to say the least. After the let down with the builder I think I was feeling a little pessimistic and getting the house didn't even feel like a possibility... especially because we low-balled them. But they accepted, and we bought ourselves a house! I really feel like it worked out for the best. There was definitely some divine intervention on our behalf. I like the house and the area better, and the fact that it's 100 percent finished is pretty nice too :) Oh, and the yard is beautifully landscaped... And the schools are so great... And and... Well, let's just say we are really happy and we are feeling extremely blessed.

Also, if that wasn't amazing enough, while he was out of town Sam found out he is getting a promotion and a raise. It came at such a good time with the new house. We will be very comfortable, and Sam is making a giant leap for his career path.

Today Sam came home from his trip and we drove out to the house (just to see it). We also picked up some celebration dinner while we were at it. The past few weeks were so rough... Klair was teething, we moved, we lost the opportunity to build, Klair and I got sick with a cold right before Sam left (and Klair was sicker than I've ever seen her... Complete with a late night visit to instacare). It was looking pretty grim there for awhile. I felt like I was at my wits end. ...And then the blessings came. We feel so overwhelmed with gratitude for everything that has taken place! I feel like it's a bright morning after a long night. The darkness seemed to be never ending when we were caught in the thick of it, yet when the morning light broke through it was brighter than either of us could have ever imagined. Although these events, both good and bad, may seem trivial to an onlooker, they were very meaningful for us. I think there is a metaphor for life to be found in the fine print, and personally I find encouragement knowing that this is how God works.

Also, here are some six month photos of my baby girl and me, taken by my Sam: