Westmoreland Asays

Our house is now live on the market. It will be interesting to see how many hours, days, or weeks it will take to get a reasonable offer. Three other other houses in our direct neighborhood have sold since November, and they sat for 17, 9, and 2 days respectively before accepting offers. Those houses were all original, too--meaning that they still had the same appliances, flooring, countertops, windows/doors, paint, etc. as when they houses were first built in 1988. We have updated nearly everything in ours. Meg wants to set a record for how quickly it sells, while I'd just prefer to move back home again--living at the inlaws isn't ideal, you know, but we're grateful.

Well, since we signed the contracts last night, I guess it is now official: we are selling our house. The market is so silly right now that we already have two different parties interested--simply by Meg spreading the word among our neighbors. We could potentially have an offer even before we publicly list the house (but I'm not counting on it). Regardless, we are going to be homeless soon, at least until we re-roost in Capital City. Centex is building a small, 46-lot subdivision--named Nottingham Woods --near where we used to live, and which backs up and connects to one of Salem's most affluent neighborhoods, Cambridge (and the newer part of it). They build relatively cheap (but big) houses, so we're banking on their prices being low enough for us to get one of their "smaller" models , all the while reducing our debt in the process. We've yet to reserve our plot of land, but we know exactly which one it will be--and Michael is willing to camp out in fr...

Aaron discovered that he can fit in the cabinet (with closing doors) underneath my old entertainment center that we keep in the bonus room upstairs, and which he enjoys playing in, on, and around. He dubbed it his sleeping hole and was determined to sleep in it through the night. So the two of us brought his pillow and blankets from his bed and went through his normal nightime ritual. When it was time to say good-night, I closed the cabinet doors and left the room. Not two minutes later--to noone's surprise--Aaron was screaming with fear and would not calm down for several minutes. We walked down the stairs back to his room, and he slept peacefully in his bed--at least till 2:00 a.m., or some insanely early hour of the night.

Meg and the boys picked me up at the office after work (both fell asleep before I got in the car), and we drove to SE Portland for drive-though Arby's and Christmas light viewing on Peacock Lane. Having grown up in the midst of Keizer's Miracle on 14th Street, and having heard this display compared to Peacock Lane, I thought it appropriate to finally see what it was all about. Let me tell you: it doesn't really compare. The street is short, and the displays, while nice, were nothing like I remember from Keizer. But the real joy of the evening was when the boys finally woke up: Edward crapped his pants and then barfed all over himself (his last barf of his brief bout with some strange virus that only he contracted), and Aaron cried endlessly, even though we offered him a strawberry milkshake, fries, and chicken strips--his favorite meal of all-time. He got over it eventually, and Edward went back to sleep until we arrived home.

Edward Crawls During Thanksgiving week, Edward mustered the courage to trainsition from sitting position to crawling position, where he rocked back and forth for a long time before realizing he could move forward. His movements are still slow and archaic, but he can get anywhere he wants. Aaron is Toilet Trained Ignoring the occasional accident, Aaron seems dedicated to using the toilet on a full-time basis. We are all overjoyed and relieved, but no one is as excited as Aaron, who loves to celebrate each successful trip to the bathroom. Oak Hills Turkey Bowl 2005 Michael sided with the young men (he is one of their leaders, you know) as they took on the older men in a Thanksgiving morning football game in the Oak Hills common area. Michael eventually gained the confidence of his quarterback and pulled in about 10 receptions, with 4 of them going for touchdowns. The young men's team won by a touchdown, even after fumbling multiple kick returns on pathetic "trick" plays. Tr...

Last week or so we started putting Edward in his crib (in Aaron's room) at night, instead of our bed or the bassinet in our room. Ever since, the boy has slept through the night. It felt magical because it happened so fast and so easy. And Aaron decided to do the same last night, sticking it out from 7:30 p.m. to 5:10 a.m. (his allowed time to get up, because that is when Michael gets up to run--so he can take Dad's place in bed). Aaron's eczema and crazy dreams usually keep him pretty occupied at night, but he has been doing better as his eczema has become less severe. So a new first: both boys sleeping in their beds in their room for the entire night. Yeah boys !

This year was the boys' first year trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. Meg took them to her friends' houses, and Michael finished up the rest of the neighborhood (carrying Edward his arms, and dragging Aaron near the end of the evening) plus Trenton (the large and expenseive houses adjacent to our Surrey Pines). Edward was a pumpkin, while Aaron donned a Thomas the Tank Engine costume. After our 8:30 p.m. return, Meg counted all of Aaron's booty to number around 250 pieces; several houses were dumping handsful of loot in Aaron's bag as the evening moved on. Aaron showed his maturity by asking for only two pieces before bed. It had rained all day, cleared up for a few hours during the evening (the weather coopoerated perfectly) and it began pouring again right after we fell asleep.