Lifestyles of the Young + Suburban

Archive for June, 2008

After two nights in the house, Lisa and I are starting to feel a little bit more settled. We have all of our stuff in the house and have begun unpacking. I would imagine we are more than halfway finished, which is pretty impressive if you think about the fact that the movers just came on Sunday (and if you don’t look in the garage).

My mom and Stacy came over yesterday and did an amazing job helping Lisa get so much unpacked and put away (even if it is not where it will eventually end up). We had a first family dinner (thanks Josh!) in our dining room last night with Mom, Dad, Josh, Stacy, Emily and Ellie. Grayson and Jackson were onlookers at this particular meal.

Emily, Ellie and Josh have had a chance to enjoy the lazy river at the clubhouse twice already and from what the girls tell me, we did a pretty good job with our house and neighborhood.

Jackson seems to enjoy the extra space and the ability to run around in the fenced backyard. He even found a new friend (bunny) who let’s Jackson chase him around the yard, even though Jackson has no chance.

Grayson seems to be enjoying all the extra people around recently and seems to be smiling a little more than normal. Maybe he knows that we finally ordered his nursery furniture and should have him all set up in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned for pics of his pirate themed nursery!

This past week has been especially exciting. We closed on our house in Georgia on Wednesday and then closed our new house in Texas on Friday.

I will be honest that I am amazed we were able to pull it off and everything went so smoothly. Between the movers, flights, and everything else — I have to thank all of our family that has stepped in to help out. Thanks guys!

After we closed yesterday we spent some time hanging out at the house with my mom, Stacy, Emily and Ellie. The girls really enjoyed the intercom system and after they grew tired of dancing in just about every room they moved on to “sending messages” to us.

We were able to stop by an informal meeting with the president of the HOA and meet some of our new neighbors during a TGIF social. There seems to be a great mix of ages and backgrounds in the people, but everyone seems very family oriented and fairly nice.

I feel like Georgia was the only closing and now Texas is a big opening for us. It will be great to be settled, make our new house our home and meet new people.

Grayson was a champ last night. Despite the warm Texas weather, he was so good and well behaved for the baseball game. When he was awake (which wasn’t much) he was very interested in watching Emily and Ellie and taking some quick peeks around the ballpark.

Here is how he spent most of his evening, even through the mini-fireworks show for the two homeruns and the big show after the clutch win in the bottom of the 9th.

I’ve had a few people ask if I am excited for my first Father’s Day on Sunday. Maybe I just haven’t thought about it that much, but I feel like every day for the past 58 days has been Father’s Day.

I wake up (at whatever time that may be) ready for a new adventure and ready for a new look, smile, or giggle. It’s amazing being a dad and knowing I am responsible (partly) for this wonderful little boy.

On Sunday we’re getting together with Josh, Stacy and the girls at my parents’ for an afternoon cookout and tonight we are headed to the Frisco Roughriders. It will be Grayson’s first baseball game and I hope he enjoys it — especially since this is my first big task as a dad.

Even though I enjoyed the game growing up and still like to attend games, I have never been a super baseball fan. It’s obviously tough to admit this on such an open forum, especially since my True American Score (TAS) just lost five points in my FBI file. I do try to make up for it with my willingness to thank military members during my travels and periodically offer to buy a drink for them. +5 for me, nice!

Back to baseball. So, I am torn because obviously we will dress Grayson up in one of his many cute baseball outfits (if you gave one to us as a gift, please know that we will dress him in your outfit and not anyone else’s tonight), but I want to make sure my subdued appreciation for the game doesn’t affect his outlook and ultimate affinity for the sport. It’s my patriotic duty as a father.

Maybe I am over thinking it, since watching baseball is about much more than just the game. Even the official baseball song does state its all about the rooting for the home team and loading up on peanuts and cracker jacks. Also everyone knows that hot dogs and friendly conversation were left off because Jack Norworth couldn’t come up with anything to rhyme, nor had he even been to a baseball game to know all that really mattered.

Father’s Day reminds me I have responsibilities to this boy — to raise him as a gentleman and a scholar, with an open mind and appreciation for all the wonderful things the world (and AA baseball) have to offer.

Go ‘Riders!

After nearly 10 months of having our house on the market, I am extremely excited to announce that we are under contract and will close on the 18th. We have been under contract for a couple weeks now, but we were waiting to spill the beans until we were past the appraisal, inspection and financial approval period. As of Friday we are golden, although we will continue to keep our fingers crossed to ensure that the closing is as smooth as possible!

We will miss our home on Nickajack, as it was our first house and we bought it shortly after we were married (almost four years ago). Although Grayson never had a chance to live there, it would have been a fantastic home for him and for our family to continue to grow. We’ll especially miss entertaining on the wonderful decks out back, the nights of board games, and the cold winter days packed full of Netflix movies in front of the warm fire place. I loved the yard and how the back had developed into a really great size and would have been perfect for a playset for Grayson. The neighborhood was great and in such a nice location to family, work and shopping.

But when one chapter ends, another one begins. And the plot is thickening! We are also under contract for a wonderful new home in Frisco and close on the 20th. Woo hoo! After realizing how quickly we were slated to close in Georgia, we lost no time in seeing over 50 homes in Frisco (and a few in Plano). We began to narrow down our search and fell in love with an incredible subdivision (Heritage Lakes) with more amenities than we could have ever wished for. From the lazy river and multiple swimming pools, to the 9-hole par 3 golf course wrapping around the many fully stocked lakes, to the guarded gates at the front entrance, and more — we have found something truly special!

The house has four bedrooms, so all of our out of town friends and family have space to feel welcomed for (planned and unplanned) visits to Texas. Plus there’s a gourmet kitchen with double ovens, so we are ready to host some holiday dinners!

Here is a pic we took earlier today, so you can see what we’re calling home after the 20th:

That is the amount of time, of sweet, beautiful time, Grayson was able to sleep through the night. Total Sleep Time – 6:34 (thanks Itzbeen for recording such a momentous record!)

When people told me that with a newborn I would get my best sleep when I was out of town on business trips I laughed, but after a few trips out of town I was amazed how true they were. Of course that doesn’t help Lisa out, so I am especially excited that she was able to experience continuous sleep once again after almost 8 weeks, even if it is an anomaly for the time being.

Of course Lisa woke me up to tell me the exciting news which seems all too funny now. And honestly, I was pretty darn excited, too. Maybe it was all the extra energy I had?

A few minutes later, Jackson and I were able to slip out for an early morning walk and can you guess what came on my clock radio when we walked back in the door…wait for it…

Queen’s We are the Champions

Enough said.

Have a fantastic day!