Sometimes it feels good.

Yesterday I was driving home and got teary eyed thinking about a few of my recent "victories" at work.  Honestly, I was teary about the fact that there are too many folks suffering financially right now in ways I can only pray I will never have to even imagine.  I don't have a do-gooder job by any means, but this real estate market has set the stage to help some folks who are really down and out. 

I'll share a few of this weeks favorites, because sometimes it's nice to think of the good things that come from me leaving my sweet boy during the day.  One short sale client came to me with his wife and told me the in depth story of their rags to riches and back to rags story.  They were living in Chateau Elan, enjoying all of their money when a series of bad events landed their only daughter in substance abuse rehab and him unemployed.  They owed over twice as much on their home as it is worth, and their entire income combined wouldn't cover the mortgage payment if they tried.  The gentleman came back at a later date to drop off a form and asked to sit down with me again.  This 60 year old manly man left in little girl tears telling me how terrible he felt about failing his family.  My heart ached for him.

Last week I was excited to call him and tell him that after 4 months and two buyers, we had his short sale approved.  The bank also agreed to forgive the debt he owed them above and beyond what they would be recieving from the sale.  My personal feelings about debt aside, it felt good.  It felt great to know that although they were starting out from scratch in their 60s, they would be doing so from ground zero and not hundreds of thousands of dollars in the hole. 

Another older lady that I did a closing for earlier this year called.  She wanted me to review her health care directive and durable power of attorney she had originally prepared by an attorney in South Carolina.  After review, I thought they were okay, but could be better.  I remembered her agent telling me about all of the problems she was having with the house after closing, thousands of dollars in septic and plumbing repair, and could hear the strain in her voice when I told her I recommended new documents.  I could hear the equal excitement in her voice when I told her I'd be happy to prepare them at no charge, as a favor to my agent who is so good to me.

Well, someone must have wanted us to sit down and talk again because when she came in to sign the new documents she started telling me the story of why she was reviewing them in the first place.  Years ago when her husband passed away she took most of his money and set up a "modest" trust for the benefit of their adult daughter who struggles with mental illness.  This same adult daughter had all but convinced her 84 year old mother to modify the trust now worth over 300k.  She was going to use forms found on the internet to name the daughter as the trustee instead of her brother.  I'll leave out the details of how that could never work with her being the sole beneficiary of the trust, but just know that the only way that was going to end was bad.  Her daughter is probably not very happy with me right now, but she will be in 10 years when she still has a place to live and a brother giving her plenty of money out of her trust to live off of each month.

The stories go on, mostly revolving around short sales and helping people lessen the blow of their financial struggles right now.  Its a good thing to, because there are also days when I come home searching Amazon for a punching bag.  Like today.  No joke.  Can't be fun all the time or they wouldn't call it work I guess.

The pictures have nothing to do with the post, but I took all of these trying to capture the perfect image for an idea I have in my head for a gift for my mom.  I'll probably keep trying for the perfect shot, but these are some of my favorites.  I know I say it too much, but he really is too cute.  I love his little face so much! 

Gobble Gobble

We had another fantastic Thanksgiving gathering at our house this year.  We didn't really plan it, but our house is where we have landed for Turkey Day ever since we moved in 2008.  Jason and I love not having to go anywhere and spending the day with many of our favorites.  I LOVE those two precious kiddos in turkey outfits.  Seriously, it doesn't get much cuter.

Me and the babe hit the ground running this morning.  We baked and delivered chocolate chip pumpkin muffins to my neighbors and had them there by 9.  That was even more fun that I thought it would be.  

Justin's crew was getting over a cold, so you'll see how familiar Hardin was with the Purell by the end of the day.  The weather was perfect and allowed us to play outside a lot.  The food was delicious as usual, and we all over indulged.

B spent the night, and noticed how much things have really changed around here.  We sat around on the sofa watching football and DVR until 11, when Jason and I threw in the towel because we couldn't stay awake.  Scott said he wasn't disappointed in our mildness, but he did mention past years and staying up playing darts until all hours of the morning.  Those days are few and far between with a one year old, but we wouldn't change it for a thing! 

We all had plenty to be thankful for this year, mostly each other.  Thanksgiving and every day!

Those eyes...  oh those eyes.

He was watching Cawley and picked this up.

Good thing the mamas were close by and watching, but of course we had to snap a pic first.

Once a climber, always a climber.

Blue Steel.

Baby where's your nose?

Baby, where are your toes?

And no, if you are wondering, seeing his cousin on her feet does not even phase him.  He can take steps just fine, but he has no interest in walking.  Jason didn't walk until 14 months, and Cawley 15 months.  Maybe it's a McWhorter male thing.   Fine by me, he's got the rest of his life to walk around.  I'll enjoy this baby thing as long as I can because he has very few of those sweet baby things left.  Except the dirty pant knees, I do not enjoy that part. 

We will continue to work on this...

So far Scott and Hardin have been about equally impressed with each other.  B asking if he's always this cranky, and H asking why the heck we keep giving him to this bearded stranger.  

In Hardin's defense, Scott got here today between 2nd nap and bedtime.  That is always his most clingy time.  In Scott's defense, he means no harm.  He has been around very few babies and has no clue what a real fussy baby is like.  Hopefully H will be charming tomorrow! 

Uncle Scott is home!

B arrived just before 7 am this morning.  I must love that brother of mine, because there are very few folks I'd get out of bed that early to pick up from the airport.  We went straight to Chick-Fil-A.  I'm pretty sure Scott misses that place as much as us.

Next stop was Lilburn for him to shower and meet up with his buddies for the UGA game.  That's some serious football dedication, the only place I'd be heading after that red eye flight is to bed!

Jason and H met us on the road so J could ride with them to the game and I could go home with Hardin.  My back's been bugging me a bit and I didn't want to walk all over creation and sit in the freezing cold.  I also didn't want to leave my baby again. 

H and I had a lunch date at Chick-Fil-A, and then went to Wally World to load up on supplies for Thanksgiving at our house.  We both napped and then it was time to pick up daddy who hitched a ride half way home to the Parker's house.  We visited with their boys a few minutes and then headed home for bed. 

I know I keep posting the same pictures, but H really does carry a ball around with him for a good part of the day.  He has some new wooden ones from a birthday toy and the weight of them helps them roll all the way across the downstairs.  He is so funny playing fetch with himself.  He throws the ball, goes and gets it, throws it in a different direction, repeat.  You can therefore find a plethora of balls under my sofa at any given time.

Wow, reading over this entry sure does sound boring.  Hardin, I promise you had a fun day kid.  In your little world Chick-Fil-A and buggy ride around Walmart are highly exciting and eventful tasks.

Uncle Scott is sleeping at a friends right now, and we are anxiously awaiting his arrival tomorrow morning!

He has started excusing himself to do his business.  Even cute then!

I just like being at home.

After our eventful Friday, I was ready to do a repeat of last weekend's laziness.  Unfortunately that wasn't in the cards, but it wasn't too busy either.

All season I've been planning on going to the GA v. Auburn game.  I thought it would be a fun one and I did want to use my season ticket once.  Next weekend my brother was supposed to go to the Kentucky game with Jason, but B called Friday and said he got another ticket to the Kentucky game so J and I could both go.  Panic hit me.  You mean I have to leave my baby two Saturdays in a row?  No way.  

You see, when I was on maternity leave, I was ready to go out on the weekends for a few hours.  Now that I have to leave my sweet boy almost every single week day, the LAST thing I want to do is leave him on the weekends.  I do like hanging out with my neighbors after he goes to sleep for some adult time, but I want to take advantage of every single hour with him I can.  He's just so much fun. 

That said, we all know how I feel about my brother and I really wanted to go to a game with him also.  Therefore, we got mom to come over a little after 1 for the game, and we left at half time to get back to H man.  It was awesome to see our good friends, and awesome to get home well before bed time.

Today we went out for breakfast and headed home for naps for all.  I thought about cleaning all day long, but played instead.  I can't tell you how anxious it makes me to have all of Hardin's stuff all over the den floor all day long, but I am getting much better about it!

He recently started to stand up in his chair, so now it's against a wall.  He LOVES to sit in it and play.

Also, since telling folks about our Friday, I have been told by many people that face injuries bleed way more than normal, especially the mouth.  It sure is nice to know that now!  

My least favorite day yet.

I've been looking forward to today all week.  Jason was off for Veterans Day, and I had an extremely light day because banks are closed.  We had a casual morning, I went in and did two closings, then the boys were meeting mom and I at Costco for Christmas card pictures.  They had a free professional sitting if you order your cards there.  The perfect little afternoon plan.

Of course I couldn't find anything I wanted to wear at home, so I went to Target after my closings to pick out something new and festive.  I hadn't even made it through the door when Jason called freaking out.  When he got Hardin out of bed from his nap his face was covered in blood.  The bleeding wouldn't stop.  I was on the phone while he was trying to hold him down and see what was going on and that was excruciating.  All I wanted to know is if his mouth was bleeding or if he was spitting up blood.  He wouldn't let J look and all Jason kept saying was "I really don't know, but it's a lot of blood Tiff, it is all in his mouth and we are both covered." 

About the time I was getting in my car to drive home, Jason said it was coming from his gums.  I settled down a bit.  Early this morning, around 5:45, he'd been awake walking back and forth in his crib and I figured he'd probably been doing that again and fell.  As long as Jason was holding him and not touching his face, he was fine, no tears so we knew nothing was hurting him.  I told him to put the baby in the car and come to my office.  If we needed to take him to the emergency room, I wanted to go to the one in Gwinnett anyway.  Barrow Regional leaves a lot to be desired. 

Jason changed shirts himself and put the bloody baby in the car in his nasty pjs.  It's a good thing he didn't get pulled over, because he probably would have been arrested based on the looks of things.  By time they got to my work the bleeding had stopped and H was just fine.  I cleaned him up in the sink and we all calmed down.  I've never been so scared or felt so helpless in my entire life.  Poor Jason either.  I hated that he had to deal with that on his own.  I am thankful it didn't happen on my mom's watch though, for her sake.

Once everyone was clean and dressed, we headed to Costco to meet mom.  I wanted to cancel the pictures, but mom was there and didn't have her cell phone because she left it at my house Thursday.  Everyone was happy at this point, but H was bleeding a tiny bit again and I was sweating.  I was wearing my nasty old shirt with a red scarf I threw on, and we were trying to hold Hardin at the right angle as to cover the blood on his sleeve.  Needless to say the picture was terrible but we ordered the card anyway.  Mom's with H was a little better, and she got cards too.

Afterward, Gigi got H a frozen yogurt at the Costco food court and I believe that made it all worth while for the little guy.  That was his first fro-yo experience, and he loved it. 

Next up was crime scene clean up at home.  I wiped down the entire bed with Lysol wipes, threw away Jason's shirt, changed sheets and blankets, and put poor Doug in a bleach bath.  That little lamb looked like he'd been attacked by a wolf.  I guess that's the first thing H grabbed when he fell.  I'm sure glad Mimi has already purchased DJ (Doug Jr.), because I felt terrible putting H down without him after his rough afternoon.  He was feeling all around his bed for him and finally settled for Bunny.

Although it scared the heck out of us trying to figure it out, we are very thankful it was nothing more than a bloody mouth.  We are also very proud of our little boy for handling it like a champ.  He didn't cry at all except when Jason was trying to examine him.  That's the only thing that was comforting both of us.

Needless to say we did not take pictures of this day.  So I'll post a few more happy pictures from his birthday weekend.  H is the corn-hole champ, sweet boy.

For the record...  Jason is still sitting on the couch saying man, that was a lot of blood.  A ton of it.  So much.  That was so scary.

Santa. Take One. Fail.

You saw him first here folks.  Yep, it was 72 degrees out and my kid was in Santa's lap.  What can I say?  The best Santa in Atlanta has a busy schedule that doesn't work well with mine.  This year you had to preregister in the summer, and then they emailed groups out randomly to schedule.  By time we were able to, the only appointments left were at the end of the month and I couldn't commit.  So yes, we were in Santa's lap in a short sleeve shirt.  For the record, Cawley and Lillian were there last week.  That man gets to taking request early at Phipps.

As expected H wanted nothing to do with the gigantic bearded stranger.  He did much better than the few kids around us though.  No total melt down, but he wasn't happy.  Honestly I don't know how you can be sad when you look THAT cute, but sad he was.  I don't deal well with that face AT ALL, so I quickly let them snap a pic and snatched him up.  He was all smiles the second I picked him up and then wanted to look at Santa.  Go figure.

Fair warning.  Yall only thought I took a lot of birthday pictures.  By the end of this season H is going to be a Santa pro.  We already have a few other Santa commitments between work and play.

After our brush with Santa's lap, we had a delicious sushi lunch at Twist.  Hardin was not impressed.  You should have seen the look on his face when I put cold rice in his mouth.  He quickly reached in, grabbed the rice, and flung it on the ground.  All while looking me directly in the eyes.  The kid cracks me up!  

Post Santa happy baby... back to trying to get his shoes off like normal.

Lazy lazy weekend.

After our crazy birthday weekend, and knowing all that is coming up with the holidays, I set out of work Friday with one mission:  do as little as possible while loving on my boys.  I should give myself a pat on the back for accomplishing my goal so well!  I got home from work, took a shower and put on clean jammas.  Took a shower Saturday around noon, and put on clean jammas.  Took a shower this morning, and put on clean jammas.  Aside from throwing on some sweats to go to the park and grocery store, I stayed in my pjs all weekend. 

I could blame my laziness on Hardin's stuffy nose, but I have a feeling we would have done the same thing even if he was feeling better.  He hasn't missed a beat, but he's sure draining like crazy.

Jason grilled Bubba burgers Friday and BBQ chicken Saturday night. I cooked a huge healthy breakfast today, and salmon, grits and asparagus for dinner tonight.  The only thing about staying in and cooking lots of delicious meals is that our house smelled really strange!  As of 30 minutes ago, now every surface smells like Febreze. 

Last night we set the clocks back and discovered one of the few drawbacks of a super scheduled little sleeper.  He was up and ready to go at 6:45 this morning.  We just put him to bed almost an hour early tonight (what his body thinks is the right time) and will see if he transitions tonight.

You can see his new favorite toy in the pictures below.  He says ball, he can find a ball anywhere.  He carries one around for a good part of the day.  He throws and catches.  He'll bring you his ball to help him throw it further.  He just loves them!

Halloween and well check.

First, let me start by saying that H has made me so sad after our company left looking around for his cousins.  When I got him up from his nap Sunday afternoon he checked all around this house looking for them.  Again on Monday.  I think he has forgotten now, but it was just so sad.

He also got a little cranky when we were trick or treating and Cawley walked away.  I'm pretty sure he is his favorite little person around.  Other than that trick or treating was a blast!

Today was H's one year well check.  He was 30 inches (50%), 19.5 inch head (95%) and 21.4 lbs (10-25%).  I was alarmed when I looked at the weight chart but doc says it's totally normal to have a lower weight percentile at 12 or 18 months because they are more active.  I know he's no chubby baby, but the boy eats ALL THE TIME.  Really.  He ate more than Cawley and Lillian combined all weekend.  Hopefully he'll have his daddy's amazing metabolism, but who knows, Jason was quite the little chub of a toddler. 

She also commented on his strength.  If you've ever picked him up, you know he's very stout feeling.  She was trying to examine his hips and he would not let her move his legs.  She laughed and said he was stronger than her!  I didn't tell her it's probably because he still spends his mornings in his jumper hanging in our bathroom door.  I'm 100% sure he's outgrown that thing, but he still loves it and we still love having him confined where we can watch him when we shower and get ready.  He can jump super high now, and just laughs and laughs. 

Speaking of laughing, he has picked up a fake laugh and it cracks us all up.  I'll get it on video soon!  If you laugh he bust out in it and it is so obviously fake that it makes us laugh, then he laughs again.