Working Mama Wows

2 years, 1 month, 3 weeks

Honestly, I'm not a fan of the term 'working mom'. To me, it sort of implies that moms who stay home don't work. And let me tell you, that couldn't be farther from the truth. What they do is more meaningful and much more difficult than what I do all day at the office. There are days I am green with envy at all the time they get to spend with their precious babes and then Brock has a tantrum and I am so so grateful for my job. I love where I work, I love the people I work with and it challenges me in different ways. I also know I'm wired to work. The structure, the organization, the day to day duties - it keeps me sane. I wish I were more of a free-spirit, but I'm just not. Having a child has definitely softened parts of me in that way. But I also find myself getting into my control freak-OCD mode at times. I have to pull on the reigns to get myself to enjoy the moment. Sometimes, you just have to let him wander up someone's driveway when we're out on a walk, stop to look at the bug and sit on the front porch for an extra 5 minutes, just because he wants to (and I get to see this face).

 While I don't have the luxury of being totally 'schedule' free, there are some things that just make it all worth it. And hands down, one of those things for me, is seeing his sweet face light up with pure excitement when I pick him up from school.

At his old daycare, Nick did the picking up most days. But we have switched and now I get that job! At first, it was hard because it puts us home so much later than before which means dinner doesn't get started and therefore, served until much later. However, that all quickly fades away from my mind when I see his face. He sees me and his eyes get big, he drops (literally) whatever he is doing and just runs over yelling 'Mommmy! Mommmy!!!'. I bend down to hug him and he gives me the biggest hug and says 'Hold you' asking me to pick him up. He loves school, but it's nice to know there is still nothing he loves more than Mommy. He says his goodbyes and thank yous to all his friends and teachers and off we go. On the way home, we talk about what he did that day and sing songs and, for awhile, it's like time stands still. It's one of my favorite working mom wows (WMWs).

Speaking of singing, we may have a little Justin Bieber (or hopefully Timberlake) in the making. He has always liked music, he had a favorite song at a really early age and he has always been a little mover and shaker. However, now he's gone from simply repeating words he hears in the songs to knowing the words already and singing along. It's pretty amazing. It leads me to another one of my WMWs. Every night since he was very very young, I would sing 'You Are My Sunshine' to him before bed. We sit in the rocker and I sing this song to him because it truly describes how I feel about him in a few short lines. He usually lays his head on my shoulder and listens quietly. Until last week, when out of nowhere, he sang the ENTIRE SONG right along with me. Literally almost every word. This isn't something that was taught, it's something he learned simply from listening to his mommy every night trying to put into words how much he means to me. To say I got choked up would be an understatement!

Now on to some fun photos and events we've been up to lately. Last week was 4th of July and we kicked it off with our neighborhood bike parade (organized by Yours Truly).
Here is a picture of his car all ready to go!

After the parade, we relaxed at home. Then we had dinner at Uncle Mark and Aunt Jan's followed by Fireworks at the Great Mall. This was Brock's first time seeing the fireworks. He was a little unsure at first, but definitely was intrigued. We had headphones for him to numb the noise a bit, but anytime someone would ask him about them the next day, the first thing out of his mouth was 'fireworks are loud!'. 

Friday morning started out with a visit to the pool with Grandma and Grammie. Out of nowhere, Brock has started calling Grandma, Judy. We have no idea where he learned it other than hearing other people call her that. It's kind of random and funny! After swimming, lunch and nap time, we headed out for a Royals game! We went with some family and friends and while it wasn't his 'first' game, it was definitely the first where he could really understand what was going on. Here he is with Grandpa and sporting his new hat, which he picked out himself! 

And here he is being the little tailgate pro!

We got into the stadium and I could tell he was a little overwhelmed at first. Now that he can speak and understand so much, we like to talk to him about things we're doing before we do them, especially 'new' things. So for 2 days leading up to the game, we talked about going to a baseball game. He could tell you he was going to a 'baseball game' and was very excited about it. However, he clearly didn't really know what that all meant. When we walked into the stadium, there were sooo many people and sooo many things to see. At one point, he looked up and me and said 'Mommy. I'm scared'. I think he was mostly overwhelmed but I assured him it was ok and that the baseball game was fun!

He ended up being such a good boy! He had fun watching everything and even got to see more fireworks that night. He definitely liked them much more the 2nd time!! 

The 'being scared' is a new concept that he's picked up on. He can definitely tell when things are 'scary'. Like the roar of a dinosaur. He is becoming increasingly aware of what can be scary so we try and monitor what we watch on tv or expose him to that much more so he's not seeing anything too 'scary'. 

In addition to the 4th of July festivities, we had a Princess birthday party to attend. Our favorite little Diva, Marlee Hugunin, turned 2! Between me and 4 of my best girlfriends, we have 7 kiddos and ALL of their birthdays fall between the months of March and July - with most of them from the end of April to the end of July. So that makes for a busy but super fun summer!! 

Last week we were at Tripp's dinosaur party so when Brock heard he was going to a birthday party, he kept talking about dinosaurs. I had to explain that this party was different and it was a princess party. His gears quickly shifted to princess (with the help of a little Sofia the First during breakfast) and he was ready to rock. I took him with me to pick up Marlee's gift and he was in strictly Princess-mode. He picked out the first Princess card he could see, and even helped pick her gift (a princess dress of course!). While we were at Target shopping, he was in the best mood and we had the best time. He was waving at everyone we passed by, saying hi and just being his happy little self. He tends to get a little shy with strangers so to see him  be so friendly was so fun!

Here is a picture of some of the kiddos from the party (minus Tripp and Charlie - we missed you boys!)

 We ended the 4 day weekend with Brock's first movie at the theater!! We saw Despicable Me 2. We had been talking about the minions every time we saw a commercial so he was very excited to see them on the 'big tv'. We got to our seats and got settled with the popcorn (his new favorite treat) and he was in Heaven. Especially once the preview for the new movie Planes came on! He already has a book and toy from the movie so he was beside himself when he saw that!

He did pretty well for most of the movie. A little over halfway in, you could tell his attention span was starting to fade and he said 'I wanna go bye-bye'. This is his new 'go to' line whenever he's done with whatever we are doing. In some cases, we oblige (like at the pool) and realize it's simply him telling us he's done. In others, however, (like the movie) we wanted to stay to the end to help him understand that you have to stick with something until it's finished. I know, he's 2 and probably doesn't get it and won't for awhile. But such is the constant struggle of every mother in the world - the balance of teaching them while also allowing them to have their own freedom and make their own choices.

We have noticed he's started just discarding things, people, toys, etc when he's done. Most of the time, it's not an issue. However, when it comes to people - that's where we draw the line. We are trying to help him understand that when someone is speaking to you, you look at them and listen to what they are saying. Also, when someone else is talking, you don't interrupt. This is going to be an uphill battle but hopefully it will help him be a better listener, friend, and husband one day.

Being home with him for 4 straight days was such a gift. It's not often we get that much time together all at once so I soaked up every minute, which of course flew by way too fast. It also showed me how much he truly loves school. By the end of the weekend, he was starting to get a little bored with us and lashing out. He also started talking about all his friends at school. We knew as much as he loved being home with us, he was ready to get back to seeing his friends!

School's IN for summer!

2 years, 1 month

Ok, as soon as I think I'm on track to keep updating this thing, another month goes by and I realize I'm way behind!!

Now that we are finally getting settled into the house, the stress level is starting to go down while the business is starting to go up!

Brock started his new 'school' officially on June 3rd. It's a daycare center but they focus more on lessons and teaching and letting them try all kinds of things. They have guests come in (a firefighter) and they do arts and crafts and play outside and run in the sprinklers. It's a great place! We think he's finally starting to like it!

Yep, the first week was AW-FUL! Mostly just the first 2 days. He cried so hard the first day, that I left there a complete sobbing mess unsure if we made the right choice to move him. I was a ball of tears on and off all day. To all you moms out there that have to leave their babies with strangers right outta the gate - my hats off to you! I don't know how you do it!! The first week was full of tears, but each day got better and better. We changed up the routine so Daddy does drop offs now. They were a little too much for this mama to take!

They have cameras all over the center where we can watch him during the day. The first day this was a miracle. We had never left him alone with people we didn't know and he didn't know. So I mostly just wanted to make sure he was ok. Was he adjusting? Was he sad? Was he lonely? Was he scared? I was GLUED to the computer screen for the first 2 days. Luckily, by the end of day 1, he was already making friends. Each day, he got more and more involved. We were so proud watching him on the screen fully engaged in all the activities they asked of him!

Last week was still a little rough at drop off time - no tears, but a big fat pouty lip. When Nick dropped him off today - no tears, no fat lip!! He has started talking about his friends at school by name. Every night we say our prayers and we make sure to talk about his new teachers and new friends. I think it helps him associate them and remember they are a part of his life right now.

We tried out our neighborhood pool for the first time this weekend. I was a little nervous since we didn't do swim lessons this year. I wasn't sure how Brock would react. He LOVED the pool last summer. But that was the PV pool which had an amazing baby pool area he could walk around in on his own. And he's a totally different kid this year. Luckily...after just a few minutes, he was a little fish again! He was jumping off the side into our arms, kicking his legs and going after his toys. We are so excited for a fun, free summer activity we can all enjoy!

I would like to also officially call out our Pediatrician. Don't worry - we still love Dr. White. But boy was she wrong! When she told us the 2 stage might not be as bad since he's so highly verbal, she really got our hopes up. But WOW...the terrible 2's are in full swing at our house. We thought they were bad before...but man...the tantrums, the fussing, the yelling oh my! He whines now which he's never really done before. It's almost like because he's been so verbal for so long, now he wants to be a baby and not use his words. He just wants to cry and whine. We have taken the approach of trying not to give any attention for these little fits, as that seems to be what he's wanting. We'll see how it works out!

We also have started something we always swore we would never do...letting him sleep in our bed! I always said I wouldn't be that mom. That kids need to have and love their own space and mommies and daddies need their time and space too. Note to all you non-parents out there: whatever you say you won't do when you have kids, prepare to do ten times over. Anyway...with the move and the new school, he's started having what we think are night terrors. He'll wake up just crying but not really being fully awake. Sometimes we can rock him and get him back to sleep in his own bed. But probably 4-5 nights out of the week, he'll wake back up and end up in our bed.

Here's the thing: we both work full time. Sleep is precious. If putting him in our bed gets him back to sleep in 5 minutes as opposed to 50 - then I'll take it. Also, it doesn't really bother us. I fought it for a little while just because I 'didn't want to start a habit' and 'they say you shouldn't do this....'. Well, screw that! LOL! We really don't mind having him in our bed - with a couple of exceptions: We both have to be able to get sleep and he can't be taking advantage and crying JUST to come in our bed. Our bed is so big it usually doesn't affect our sleep to have him there. Also we don't feel right now like he's crying just to cry and come in our bed. If and when that starts to happen, we will work on getting him to stay in his own bed. We really feel like all the changes have thrown off his sleep for a bit and if sleeping with Mommy and Daddy makes him feel a little more secure while we transition, we're more than happy to allow it. It's just not a battle we feel is necessary to fight right now.

Also, we still feel like we have our own time together in the hours after we put him to bed. He still goes down to bed in his own bed every night. Therefore Nick and I can maintain our routine of having a couple hours just the two of us to catch up on trashy tv and get in bed in time for the news. Yes, we're an old married couple, but watching the news in bed together is our happy place. It's something we've done for years and it's almost our own little 'tradition'. It's such a steady part of our routine we both feel a little slighted if we miss it too often.

The summer is in full swing with 4 birthday parties coming up in the next 2 weeks so it's fun and sun ahead for the Barbosas!

We have a 2 year old!

2 years, 3 days

Wow, how is that title even possible?? Our sweet baby boy is 2. TWO YEARS OLD PEOPLE!! It seems like he was just born yesterday and at the same time, like I've said before, like he's been here forever! It's obviously been the best 2 years of our life. He's the most fun little man ever. He makes us laugh every single day!!

We just had the 2 year check up today and here's where we are:
Height: 34 3/4" - 45%
Weight: 30.15 lbs - 90%
Head: 92% (yep, still huge)

The doctor was so impressed with both is gross motor skills (aka ability to climb literally anything in sight) as well as his highly advanced verbal skills (we are now speaking in 3-5 word sentences pretty much all the time). He dropped his Thomas toy and said 'Oh no, I dropped my train mama'. The doctor stopped dead in her tracks and said 'well, I guess we don't need to go over his verbal skills!'. She said with highly verbal children the 'terrible 2' phase usually hits at 18 months, which is probably why in some of my last posts you've heard me talk about the terrible 2's hitting early at our house. She said 2 should be a breeze, but just be ready for 3. Grrrrrrreaattt!!

In other news, WE HAVE MOVED! We officially moved into our new home just over a week ago (May 10th was our first official night in the house). And while it's been so nice to get settled into the new house, the move was not without it's drama. We were as organized as you possibly can be with a move like that. All our ducks in a row for deliveries, boxes were marked with what was inside as well as what room to take them to. Brock was going to daycare for the majority of the day. We were good to go. Or so we thought.

I picked up Brock from daycare and he was on FIRE. He was crying and fussy and just miserable. So, I took him home only to turn right around and take him to Children's Mercy Urgent Care (seriously - they should probably give us a kick back for how many times I mention them in this blog due to his many visits there). Sure enough, the ear infection he had from 2 weeks before was not gone. So, we tried a new anti-biotic hoping to really kick it this time. We started it Friday night (our first night in the house) and he was still miserable all night and slept in our bed. We were immediately grateful for going for the king sized bed as having him in there with us was not nearly as painful as in the old house.

However, the meds just didn't kick in right away. His fever was spiking almost every 4 hours (whenever the Tylenol wore off) to anywhere from 101-104. Poor baby was just absolutely miserable. On top of that, he started to get an AWFUL cough that would get so bad, he would get to the point of almost throwing up. He felt terrible and was barely eating and refused to sleep. He learned how to crawl out of his crib and when we would lay him down for a nap, he would either lay there and just cry his eyes out, or crawl out of the crib. He ended up in our bed every night for the entire weekend. We were all completely and totally exhausted in every sense of the word. And on top of that, I was starting to worry we were setting a bad precedent: new house = sleep in mommy/daddy's bed.

By Monday we were back at the doctor's office since it just didn't seem like the meds were helping kick this thing. The doctor checked him out and decided to keep him on the same stuff, but added an inhaler to try and take care of the cough. THANK GOD! Monday night was his first night in his new room and he slept the entire night!! I am happy to report he now loves his new room and with one small exception, has not tried to climb out of his crib anymore.

And who has time for a sick kid, when you've got 2 big birthdays coming up?? Yes, I am a complete maniac and yes I planned and sent out invitations to have Brock's 2nd birthday at our new house the week after we moved. On top of that, I planned a small family bbq at the house the night before his party to celebrate Nick turning 30.

Thankfully we have the best family anyone could ask for. We had help getting our house organized and unpacked and my rockstar husband worked his butt off to get everything at least out of the garage and into the house by the end of moving weekend. By the time the party rolled around, our house was completely unpacked and organized except for the storage room and 3rd stall in the garage.

So on to the fun stuff - birthday weekend. The family bbq was the perfect 'chill' way to celebrate such a milestone birthday for Nick. We had ribs, burgers, brats, beer and just a nice night with the fam. We woke up Saturday and I was just in total shock that my baby was turning 2. The craziness of moving had made me sort of out of touch with time and reality and it hit me like a ton of bricks! I tried to let him have his day, his way. With the exception of nap time where we had our only other 'crib escape' incident. But it was well worth it for him to get good rest in before party time!

The theme for his party this year was Jake and the Neverland Pirates. The activities included: 'Walk the Plank', dig for treasure, dress up like your favorite character and of course, the tradition we started last year - the pinata, which was in the form of a treasure chest. The kids all had a complete blast playing in the yard and we were so grateful that our house was easily able to hold the 50+ people who came. The kids played outside but also had an absolute blast in Brock's new playroom in the basement.

Present time was so fun! Brock gets so excited by things now and would give a little 'gasp' or even an 'Oh my God' at some of the awesome things he got!! The kids were nice and worn out (and let's be honest, so were we). There are so many great pictures and you can see them on my facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151370622321886.1073741827.500091885&type=3

Coming up on the calendar is Brock's 'trial' day at his new school this Friday and then on June 3rd, he starts full time! I am anticipating some sadness both for him and for me as we are leaving our beloved CC and all her wonderful family and the kiddos there. But luckily, they are pretty much like family to us and we will still see them as much as possible!

Catching up....

23 months, 2 weeks

WOW! I just logged on and realized it's been over a month since my last blog update! Sorry folks! It's been a little wacky for us lately.

We officially moved out of our beloved 1st house on April 20th. I knew it would be sad and hard, but I never imagined it would be as hard as it was. I found myself breaking down seeing each room empty. I immediately had flashbacks in movie-montage style running through my head of all the ways each room looked from the day we moved in to now. I was looking back on all the fun memories we had there. All the parties, girls nights, low-key date nights and family nights we had here. This is the home we got married in, and most importantly, the home we brought Brock home to. The hardest part was the last time walking through, getting all the last minute items, when Brock walked in to the living room and pointed by the wall where we used to keep his toys, and said 'where toys go Mama?'. I lost it!

Luckily, he has been the biggest trooper through this entire process. He has been totally relaxed and happy to just go with the flow. Grandma and Grandpa have been kind enough to let us stay in completely invade their home. There are toys everywhere, boxes, clothes, Brock's entire birthday party set up has taken over their dining room. But they have been wonderful in letting us stay there. We have one more week and then it's off to our new house!

Brock has had a blast staying with Tazzy! They have to say good morning to each other each day and Taz just loves him! There is a park right across the street from their house so we've spent a lot of time there and just running around in the backyard. That is, until yesterday, when it was SNOWING ON MAY 2nd. Yes, you read that right. SNOW. IN MAY. RIDICULOUS! It went from 80* on Wednesday to snow on the ground last night. Only in Kansas!

We are getting very excited to move into our new home and to have Brock's big 2nd birthday bash the week after!! I can't believe my sweet baby is almost 2!! It has gone so fast and at the same time, feels like he's been here forever. Some of the 'terrible 2's' have subsided a bit. We aren't hearing as much 'no' and 'I don't likes'. We decided to stop even giving him any attention if he says 'I don't like' for no reason. I think it's helped tone it down to only when applicable.

He is now speaking almost exclusively in full-on sentences and we can easily have conversations with him. We were at the doctor a couple of weeks ago and they had a sign on the wall asking 'does your child does this by this age?'. We were looking under the 2 year old column - he'd already long since mastered all of it and was over half-way done with the 3 year old list!

Now that things are hopefully slowing down, I promise to try and stay more on top of the updates to the good 'ole blog!

Ya gotta take the good with the bad....

22 months exactly!

So, as you can probably tell from the title, the 'terrible twos' I referenced in my last blog entry are not only still present, they are getting more and more prevalent in our household. Now everything is 'mine', 'no' is said at least 100 times a day (by him AND us), sharing is a key item we need to work on and the most recent and horrific episode: 'shut up dada' which was uttered out of my once sweet angel's lips yesterday. We're still trying to track down where he heard that one...

BUT, I have decided 2 things - 1. We are totally getting paid back for how wonderful of a baby he was, 2. He's still the best thing that's ever happened to us and we're taking the few bad things with the infinite good things that come from having him in our lives. So, rather than harp on the negative, this post is dedicated to all the wonderful, funny, and sweet things he does that make our lives complete.

- He LOVES music, just like Nick and I. If there is no music on (or if God forbid a commercial comes on in the car), he starts saying 'song mama, more song'. And as soon as a song comes on, he'll bob his head, pump his fist, kick his feet, whatever dance move he feels at the time. He also LOVES to sing, he sing almost all of 'Twinkle Twinkle' by himself (ok, he doesn't hit EVERY word, but you can totally tell what he's saying) and he'll sing in the car. Some of the current faves are: 'Girl on Fire' by Alicia Keys, he sings 'FIIIYAAAAAAA' and it's adorable; Bruno Mars; fun - he still loves anything they sing.

- He says thank you all the time. 'Thank You Mama', 'Thank you Dada', etc. He also says 'Welcome' if you tell him thank you. We're still working on please - not sure what the hold up is on that one. If you say 'can you say please?' he just nods his head. 'Uh yeah mom, I can say it, just don't want to'. Pretty funny.

- He is speaking in 3-4 word sentences and we have full conversations with him. He tells us 'I don't like it' if he doesn't like something. As always, his communication skills never stop amazing us.

- He likes us to scratch his back and belly. If he's getting tired and laying down by us, he'll pull up his shirt and say 'scratch mama'. It's so cute I can't help but do it.

- He has started pretending with his toys. The other day I heard him tell his cars to 'be nice'. And we got him a couple toy dinosaurs and he was making them roar at each other.

- He still absolutely LOVES anything and everything Cars. McQueen (pronounced MaaaQueen or just 'queen', Mater - pronounced 'Namer', Finn (from Cars 2) and Mack (from Cars 1) are his favorite characters. He picks up his McQueen cars and says 'ka-chow' just like the movie.

- He is still an amazing sleeper. Goes to bed most nights with no trouble and sleeps all the way through. No matter what else is going on, we are so thankful for that!

- He loves going to see his 'new house' and knows where we are when we turn down the street. He starts saying 'new house! new house!'. He knows (most of the time) which room is his and points it out.

- Nick's favorite new hobby with Brock is throwing around the baseball. He got Brock a small glove last year and Brock puts it on and likes to put his baseball in it. He throws the ball (not very far) and thinks it's so fun. Not long before they are playing full on catch in the backyard!

He makes us smile and laugh every day, and even when we have our moments of frustration, we wouldn't trade one second of it for anything in the world. He is the true joy in our lives and we feel beyond blessed to call him ours.

Cabin Fever

21 months, 1 week

We have had 2 EPIC snow storms come through our little area, less than a week apart! The first one dropped about a foot of snow on a Thursday, and by the following Tuesday morning, we had about 6-8 more inches. They broke records and made the roads just a mess. Businesses completely shut down, stores were running out of food, they were urging people not to drive unless it was an emergency.

All that said, it meant 3 days of working from home for Nick and I, along with Brock having snow days from daycare. I didn't want him in a car on the roads as they were really bad a couple of the days, so the 3 of us, and Oscar, were all cooped up. By the end of yesterday, we were all getting terrible cabin fever.

Brock is just at an age where he's too wild and full of energy to be cooped up all day. Nick and I tried to take turns watching him and playing, but we both still had to be sure we were getting our work done. We took some time yesterday to play in the snow. Brock helped Nick shovel, we started to build a snowman, etc. He loved being outside in the snow, unlike his Mommy!

We also think the terrible 2's are starting to set in a little early. We are hearing a LOT of 'no mommy/daddy', and 'my (fill in the blank here - anything from potato to a certain toy to love you - yes, you say I love you and he says 'no MY love you' but not in the sweet 'I love you more kind of way.)

Meals have become almost dreaded. He has little interest in sitting down to eat a meal. He wants to play with his food, play with his cup, feed the dog, occasionally try and throw his food, etc. It tests our patience big time!

He had his first real 'fit' at the grocery store over the weekend. He saw a Lightning McQueen bubble bath car and wanted it. He kept saying 'Queen! Queen!'. But, we don't want him to get in the habit of getting something every time we go to the store, so we told him we were not getting it. He just LOST IT. Screaming, crying we were totally 'those parents'. Nick took him out to the car while I finished paying for the groceries and avoiding all eye contract with anyone who saw the meltdown.

He's also become a little harder to take places. Now that he's so mobile and independent, he does NOT want to be in a cart and he does not want to be held. He wants to run around like a mad man all over whatever store we happen to be in. It's made the house decisions a little tougher as we decide whether to have someone watch him (and thus scheduling is needed) or try and be brave and roll the dice that he'll cooperate.It's a fine line between risking it to try and get him used to behaving like a human and not a monkey or just going the easy route to get decisions made quickly and get on with our day.

With all that said, he's also getting a lot more loving. He gives full on hugs now where he wraps both his little arms around your neck. And he loves to give kisses. He'll say 'love you or I love you' and if I say 'love you to the moon' he says 'love you moon!' And he likes to check on everyone. If I say 'ouch' or seem sad, he'll say 'you ok mama'? and pat my arm or leg. It just melts my heart everytime. He's so sweet and so wild all wrapped into one little perfect boy.

Every day I look at him and he just looks so much bigger and more grown up. Yesterday, as the cabin fever was taking over and my patience was almost gone, I started to talk myself out of getting frustrated. They are only young like this once. I know as hard as these days can be, I will miss them like crazy in the not too distant future!

And for those of you keeping up with the house, the weather has put a little damper on the progress but we are hoping to really see some changes by the end of this week! They were supposed to be painting and staining this week so we should have some updated pictures soon!

We have a house!!

20 months, 3 weeks

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Barbosa's are heading west! We have a house!! We are so so so happy and excited to be able to share our new home with everyone!

We bought a home out in Olathe (where we always said we would never live), and out west (where we said we'd never go). We broke all of our 'rules' and we are so glad we did! It's a brand new home, which is already built but we get to pick the finishes (paint, carpet, granite, lighting, etc). We are having the basement finished before we move in and Nick designed the perfect layout for our family! We can't wait to see it all finished! It will be in the Kansas City Parade of Homes the last weekend in April and first weekend in May so we won't be able to actually move in until May 10th, but we get to go out there as much as we want between now and then - and trust me, we will be out there a LOT! And we will be in just in time to have Brock's 2nd birthday at the house - perfect timing!

It was quite a stressful week going back and forth on negotiations, but it was well worth it! It made us realize how much we really wanted the house and Nick and I were both on the same page about it the entire time which was awesome! It would have been so tough if one of us was trying to convince the other to keep fighting if they just didn't feel it was right. But we really never waiver'd on the fact that it was 'our' house.

It has everything we EVER said we wanted in a house and then some. There were a few  'dream' items we wanted and didn't think we could find. And this one has it all. On top of that, we are in a neighborhood that is mostly young families like us. They have organized activities for the holidays (Easter egg hunts, Santa sleigh rides, 4th of July parades and more). We feel it is just the perfect fit for our family and are so excited to move in and get settled!

We have been out a few times already and Brock got to see his 'new house' for the first time over the past weekend. We've been talking about it to him a lot and he would hold up the flyer for it and say 'new house'. We showed him the house, his room and even met our backyard neighbors!

So, now for the goods, here is the first picture of the house since it officially become 'ours':

It hasn't been painted yet so that's just the color of the wet stucco. We are meeting this week to pick out paint colors and will keep updates here or on Facebook with the progress!