November 2005

When she's in a cooperative mood, Kyla will attempt to say just about any one or two syllable word, with various levels of success. During the Apple Cup we taught her to say "purple" for the Huskies and "Wazzu" for the Cougs. The first time she said "I love you" wasn't to Becky or I; instead she was reciprocating to Baby Tad, a speaking toy.

Reading has become one of her favorite activities. She grabs a book, hands it to me, and then plops down in my lap. She will say the names of the items she can identify to me and points to those she can't for me to name for her.

Kyla has also become more active physically. She enjoys jumping and climbing more and more. One evening while Becky and I were sitting in the family room chatting, Becky's face suddenly went white and I turned to see Kyla standing on the kitchen table, very proud of herself. If this is the level of panic she brings at 15 months, I am very concerned about what the future has in store for us.

Even her musical side is showing through. When she likes a particular tune, Kyla starts bouncing and waving her hands to the beat. She can sing a few songs, such as "Row Row Row Your Boat." Actually she only actually sings the "row row row" part, but it's still very cute.
Thanksgiving was again an immensely busy weekend, putting in time at four different gatherings and consuming a prodigious amounts of food. We even had one festivity at our new house, and it was cool to exploit our added space.

With the real estate fiasco finally over and our daughter's adventurous spirit shining through, Becky and I have much to be thankful for this holiday season.

The Real Estate Ride Is Over

After three long months of being in the real estate market, we're finally out of it. When we started this whole process, someone told me that buying a new house was about as much stress as a death in the family. At the time I thought he was grossly exaggerating, now I'm not so sure.

If everything would have gone smoothly, we would have gotten away with a moderate amount of anxiety. Instead, the day before we were supposed to close both the sale of our condo and the purchase of our new house we found out that our buyer was having difficulty with their lender because our condo's home owners association was suing the complex's builder. The original basis of the litigation was mold that was discovered in a few other units and had nothing to do with our condo, but that didn't matter to the bank.

Soon the whole deal fell apart. Our buyers were still interested so we extended both the sale and purchase for a couple of weeks while they found another lender. Fortunately the people we were buying from were very patient and understanding. Then we found out that the buyer had a rocky credit history, and their mortgage broker (who was also our mortgage broker) had to fight an uphill battle to find a bank that would approve a loan on a unit involved in litigation and with a sub-par borrower.

Things were looking bad, so Becky and I had to decide whether or not we'd allow ourselves to loose the house if our sale didn't work out. We calculated that if we were to carry both properties while the condo was for sale, our cash flow would go negative by over $2,000 a month. We could handle this for a while, but obviously it wouldn't be sustainable.

Becky is generally more conservative when it comes to our finances, and didn't think the house was worth the risk. I was sure that we had gotten a good deal on the house, and by this time my heart was set on it and I had a hard time letting it go. It was a great house in a wonderful neighborhood and there weren't any others we liked nearly as much. After several heated conversations and a bit of soul-searching, we decided to take the risk.

Finally when the broker was able to get the loan approved, our buyers decided that they had had enough and cancelled the whole deal. This was a real blow to us, but we bought the house as planned and moved in thinking that this would bring us the closure we were looking for. Unfortunately I couldn't really let go of the fact that we still needed to sell the condo. I had trouble sleeping at night as I worried that my enthusiasm had put my young family on the road to bankruptcy.

After three weeks, we got two offers on the condo, and we accepted one. I was on pins and needles wondering if the lawsuit was going to burn us again, but apparently it wasn't an obstacle for a buyer with decent credit.

Now here I am, after a quarter of a year of riding the real estate roller coaster, I can finally enjoy my new home knowing that I haven't failed my family. I am starting to believe that because this endeavor was such a struggle, in the long run I am better off for having experienced it, but I sure as hell hope I never go through it again.

We Moved!

We moved! Finally!

After many trials and tribulations, we have moved into our new house. Technically we moved into it a few days before it was ours due to the kindness of the family we bought it from. It has taken us a few weeks to get situated, but we've now unpacked all of the boxes and gotten reasonably settled in.

The house is roughly twice the size of our old place, and this is evidenced by the absence of furniture in the Family Room and a couple of the bedrooms. We are looking for some new furniture, but it will take time due to the enormity of our new mortgage payment.

Thanks to some help from our fathers, the yard has been whipped into decent shape. Becky has arranged the kitchen just the way she likes it (I still can't seem to find anything). Kyla also has a new kitchen that Grandma Linda bought her that resides in the real kitchen so she won't feel left out when Mommy cooks. I spent a day in the garage hanging up tools and getting it just the way I like it, which I thoroughly enjoyed (insert manly grunt here). The Bonus Room has been filled with Kyla's toys and I installed a gate at the top of the stairs so she can wonder the whole second floor without us having to worry.

We've stored our old baby equipment that Kyla no longer uses, or never used as in the case of the crib, for potential future use by an as yet non-existent younger sibling, who may join us in a couple of years. The room was already blue, so if the next child (we refer to it as "Baby-X") is a boy, it would save us some painting.

Overall we are thrilled to be in this new house. It's in a great neighborhood, has lots of room, and fits our family very well. I think we'll be very happy here, which is good because I don't intend to deal with real estate, mortgages, and moving again for a very, very long time.