Backseat Driver

On our way home tonight I was letting a car cross the street, and as usual in Chicago the car ended up blocking the entire road waiting for the other lane to be clear. Here is what developed from the backseat:

Hadley: Move it car! Come on People!

Mommy: (looks back at her and laughs)

Hadley: What..I said it just like you.

And yes, I have taught my daughter to be impatient with other cars. I think it is partly due to the insane drivers in Chicago..you are either an aggressive driver or don't drive. And the other part is that with my job; from the time I leave my house in the morning and the time I get home at night I may have been in the car for 4 hrs that day..and trust me 4 hrs of dealing with Chicago traffic will make anyone impatient!

And the total is..

Hadley loves her activities, both gymnastics and ice skating. And ice skating is quickly becoming her favorite. She loves to ice skate, wants to stay after her lessons, watches it on TV, can't stop talking about the Disney on Ice Show we are going to in a few weeks. And I knew when we got started ice skating would one day be an expensive sport to do..well..that day came sooner! You see, my daughter has these weird feet. She has a perfect arch in her foot when on her tip toes, but when she puts her foot down..flat as a pancake. It is a little freaky sometimes to see, we even had her seen by an orthopedist when she was about 2 yrs old because her ankles seemed to go inward. But she is fine, thank god, she just has weird feet. This has made it next to impossible to wear some shoes, I usually have to go up a size. After a few ice skating lessons Hadley started to say her toes hurt, so I took her in to the ice skate shop to get her fitted for ice skates, hoping we could still use the rental ones each week..well..here comes the part where the cost of ice skating got us early!
Lady: "What size shoe does she wear?"
Me: "10-10.5"
Lady: "Are you sure?"
Me: "yes, I mean she hasn't complained" (I feel her toes in her shoes) "And there is room in these shoes."
Lady: "She is measuring a 13"
Me: "Wow, should she be wearing the 13 in rentals?"
Lady: "Well, she can, but those are unisex and may still hurt."
(and let me tell you I left there thinking I didn't know my own daughter's shoe size, which bothered me all day!!!)

We try on a size 13 rental that day for the lessons, Hadley still comes off the ice complaining about her toes, almost in tears..so we head back to the Ice Shop and try on a few pairs until we find the right ones for her weird feet!!! And of course then you have to get covers for the blades...and a bag (which I felt we could wait on)
So ladies and gentleman we have entered the expensive world of ice skating!! But she is too cute so it is okay!!! (I won't share the total..but it isn't as bad as you are probally thinking..I hope!!)

A place to lay our heads

We spent last weekend in Iowa City looking at rentals, well a few rentals. I had been working on finding a place for a few weeks and had a ton of options and with the help of a local realtor we were able to narrow down to just a few. We saw two places we loved that weekend. One was a 4yr old duplex in Coralville. It was AMAZING, but too big for us. We wouldn't be able to furnish even the upstairs, plus we would have to get another car which would push our budget. Next was a smaller house that was in Iowa City and only 1/2 mile from the hospital and 3/4 mile from the school I wanted Hadley at. Since it is so close to the hospital it meant we didn't have to get another car! So we have completed the application, have the lease ready to sign and fax in and then we will have a place to lay our heads once we get to Iowa City!!
I do have to say I am excited about having a house, we have been attached to others for the last 4 yrs. I am also very excited about having a yard, large area for Hadley to ride her bike, a great deck, and enough room to have people come stay with us and actually have their own room and bath!No more sleeping on the pull out couch!!
And I am so glad to get one thing marked off my ever growing to do list!!

We are Officially For Sale

We are now for sale by owner!! In talking with our realtor and with the lovely market, she suggested we try listing the condo on our own to start. This gives us a better option of selling the place without losing money! We are so lucky to have her on our side as she is still helping us and has offered to help as needed throughout the process...which is good..because it is stressful to do this on your own!
Well..today we did the last bit of things needed and we are listed. We will be on several sites with this as: http://www.postlets.com/res/1650094
And it has a link to the blog site I made for the place:
http://6910nlakewoodave.blogspot.com

So, let's keep hoping, praying, begging that we are able to sell!! The realtor did say the average length a condo is on the market is 6 months..so really, we do have 6 months as we don't need to move to Iowa until July 1st!!

Just another conversation..

We were on our way home and Hadley was drinking a milk in the car. I went over a bump and here is the conversation:

H: Mommy, the milk got on my cheek and chin.
M: Well, it's a good thing it didn't go up your nose.
H: That would be funny! But then my boogers would be milky!

M: (laughing!)

Hadley's Disney Park

The video above was sent to me from the travel agent we used to book our DisneyWorld trip last Sept, and the one we are using for our upcoming DisneyLand trip this fall. I changed it to Hadley's name and showed her....her responses:

"Wow!"
"That's my name"
"How did they get my name?"

Everytime her name was on there she smilied and her mouth opened! It was so cute to watch her. I sent this to several of you, hope you liked it!

As I told the travel agent, if only this was true I would be moving to Florida today!!