Tuesday, March 22, 2011

New House!

We took a quick trip down to Savannah this Saturday-Tuesday to look for a new place to live.  We found an amazing home at an even better price!  It is AWESOME and has so much room, so please come visit us!  We're in Savannah city limits, 15 minutes from downtown, 35 minutes from the beach and 35 minutes from Ft. Stewart.  We couldn't be more excited! 
It's a new home and comes with so many nice features, plus the builder put in tons of money towards incentives and closing costs.  We'll be getting stainless steel appliances in the kitchen, sod in front and back yard, privacy fence, and all of our closing costs paid.  It's a 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath, open floor plan, plus an office, loft, laundry room, and so much storage space.  we are in L.O.V.E!  Tentative move in date of April 25th...




 




 Office/den downstairs

 powder room and laundry room....LAUNDRY ROOM!!  YAY!!

 Loft with overlook to entryway, master bedroom below.

 Master closet is HUGE.  bigger than James' current bedroom  :)
 Master Bath

 James' bedroom and huge closet
 Side of the house, cute little tree...we're going to have neighbors soon it appears. 
 Backyard, will have privacy fence and sod by the time we move in!

Thursday, March 17, 2011

I got a kiss...

James got a clean bill of health on Tuesday.  We had a follow up with his pediatrician, she listened to his little chest and it was all clear!  Thank God!  He's back to his normal...eating, playing, smiling, talking, reading, running us like crazy.  We love it! 
His new thing this month has been animals.  He's noticing everything, dogs, birds, bunnies, the animals on his bedroom bumper and comforter...i can't wait to get him and Lacy back together!  Every time he hears a dog bark he runs to the window to "woof woof" back at them.  Tonight we sat by the window, listened to the birds and dogs, and felt the warm 75 degree breeze in our hair.   And I got a kiss....





Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Home Sweet Home

We made it home from the hospital this evening.  We took James to the ER Sunday morning with extremely labored breathing.  He wasn't eating, drinking, playing or anything, just lethargic and having a really hard time getting air.  We were counting his breathing, it should be 30-ish breaths a minute, 60 is considered an emergency situation, and James was averaging 70-74!  yikes.  needless to say, he needed some oxygen and professional care. 
They took another set of chest xrays on Sunday and they looked worse than the ones taken Thurs.  They admitted him and proceeded to give him breathing treatments, antibiotics, and steroids...not to mention some invasive respiratory therapy.  They had to go down his nose into his lungs with this syringe thing and suck out the stuff clogging him up....twice...while he was awake and screaming.  we were all in tears, i hope to never have to see him go through that again.  That being said, it definitely helped! 
The biggest problem we were having was maintaining his blood oxygen levels while he was sleeping.  He'd drop down between 86-90 and no pediatrician was comfortable with that.  They gave him oxygen during the last two nights, and about 4:00am today (Tues.) he turned the corner.  They took him off oxygen then, and he woke up a few hours later ready to play, read, eat, and get off of that hospital bed! He was like a brand new kid.  He kept his oxygen up all day, even during his nap, so they sent us home!  yay! 
This RSV is no joke, poor little kiddos can't cough or blow their noses hard enough to get that junk out, so it can turn into bronchiolitis or pneumonia quickly.  Thankfully he's a tough guy and handled being a patient very well, all the nurses loved him!
Thanks for all of your prayers, phone calls, emails, and support. I also apologize if you didn't find out about it until reading this.  the internet at the hospital was not very good, and honestly there really wasn't much time to write a post while dealing with everything.  ahhh...but we're home sweet home now, and I'm off to bed. 
goodnight. 

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Sick Boy

Our little guy is sick.  This virus has hit him hard with fever, labored breathing, coughing and sneezing.  It is not fun.  He doesn't want to play, read or eat....and we know he's really sick when he's not hungry!  The only thing he wants to do is snuggle up with his green pillow and his daddy.  We were at the doctor Thursday, Friday and go back again on Monday, and know we're getting good care.  We LOVE his pediatrician, thank goodness.  This bronchiolitis has been an ongoing issue with James, but this is the first time a fever has come with it.  hopefully we're turning the corner and maybe today will be the last "bad" day he has.  poor little guy. 


Smiling...

We got an offer on our house last night, and after just one counter offer, they accepted and will sign the contract today at 11:00am.  It was awesome.  I really have not stressed too much about selling until last week when Steven got his orders, and reality hit that it was only a month until he'd be starting his new job.  Besides keeping the house clean, there is really nothing to do besides pray pray pray.  We did lots of that :)

some of you know, but it's been really hard for Steven to swallow leaving Ft. Campbell.  This was his first and favorite duty station, where he fell in love with the Army, and where he dreamed of staying for most of his career.  It's been hard for him to see any silver lining (besides the beach) about going to Ft. Stewart....
......until last night.......
when the buyers gave us a full price offer!  They only asked us to purchase a 1 year home warranty, which is pretty standard, and they wanted us to pay 4% of their closing costs.  We countered back with an offer to pay only 3% of their closing costs and they accepted the offer!!  Also, our realtor offered to pay for the home warranty too...so really, we got the best possible deal we could imagine.  it has been amazing.  Steven said last night that he finally had a sense of peace about moving, and that maybe Stewart is what God has planned for us....thank you to eveyone for the prayers, we have felt them working! 

All you USAA folks...we highly recommend the Mover's Advantage Program they offer.  We've had exceptional service and follow up from them.  They worked diligently on making sure we had enough realtors to interview, and that the one we chose was doing their job to our standards.  It was great, and we'll definitely use them again.  Also, our realtor was Janet Head with Coldwell Banker, and I'd highly recommend her to any of you moving to the Clarksville area.  She tells it like it is, works hard, kept in great contact, always got follow-up on the showings, and made sure our home was listed on every "for sale" website possible.  In the end, she was the one who brought the buyer into our home (which realtors usually don't like to do because it puts them in a bad situation working for both the seller and buyer), and it SO FAR has worked out smoothly.  I'm trying not to get too excited...the home won't close until the end of March, so nothing is finalized until signatures.  Plus, we still have to get the inspection and appraisal done which could bring problems. 

Until then, I'm going to smile, have my coffee, and maybe not even make my bed today  :)

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

loves to eat...

this kid is smart.  too smart.  he knows exactly what we're saying.  he deliberately disobeys.  he gives sweet kisses.  he runs to his chair at the table when we say it's time to eat.  he knows where his socks and shoes go.  he knows how to sit in his chair and watch a movie. he does not want to hold our hands.  he can put his books away and get out new ones by himself.  he says NO.  he loves bath time.  he loves his tiger from Grandpa Steve.  he knows that his food is cooking in the oven.  he loves to eat.  loves to eat.  loves to eat! 
i can hardly keep up...






Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Georgia on my mind...

It's official.  We're moving back to Georgia, but this time to Ft. Stewart which is just outside of Savannah!  Special Forces didn't work out for Steven, which is sad to us all, but we know God has other plans for us.  We were also trying to stay here at Ft. Campbell, but that hasn't worked out either...so now it's on to Georgia for the next several years.  Steven will be working for Division when he first reports on April 4th, and from there he's hoping to take command of a company in the new light infantry unit. We're not sure how long it will be before that happens or what he'll be doing at Division, but he's looking forward to starting something new. 

We've had our house on the market for just over 7 weeks now, and we're hoping to sell soon...like tomorrow would be great!  Anyway, James and I will stay here with the house until it sells and then move to GA with Steven.  The market has really picked up here lately, so we're not anticipating a long separation.  Here's hoping....and praying! 

We're planning to live in the Richmond Hill area which we've heard is the best.  It's just 20 miles outside of post, 15 minutes from Savannah, and about 45 minutes from Tybee Island!  Our home is always open to friends and family who want a vacation near the beach!  Please take us up on our offer!!!!  Until then, we would really appreciate any prayers for selling this home...time is running out! 

Thanks Aunt Jan...

Our Aunt Jan just returned from a job in Nicaragua, and she sent some fun toys for James in the mail last week....he got a Screamin' Eagle, a Howling Wolf, a cool Nicaragua jersey and a hat!  Thanks Aunt Jan, the jersey fits and he loves the stuffed animals! 

We took advantage of the beautiful 65 degree sunny day today and went to the park.  Ft. Campbell has this amazing new playground with ramps, slides and all kinds of fun things to do for all ages of kids.  James had a blast and wouldn't stand still long enough for me to take his picture.  He ran up the ramp, went down the slide, played on the cars, ran off through the grass, and made us chase him everywhere.  Needless to say, he was wiped out on the way home!