I hadn't really thought about this at the Fargo house because our back yard wasn't really accessible by any other means than the driveway, and you couldn't exactly sneak back there. The back yard we have now can be seen by 3 different sides; the north side that faces Cass County 18, the back, and the front yard. Before we got the fence, anyone could just walk into our back yard at any time. Since we got the fence, I haven't worried one bit about the girls playing back there without me or Grant present since that's what the fence was for. But since the city has been doing the roads and there have been tons and tons of construction workers out there, I've been a little more observant of them. It dawned on me this morning that anyone could walk up to the gate in the front and get the girls' attention without me knowing. It could be just that I've been living in Fargo for too long, or all the news stories I read/heard about where things like that were happening in Fargo...I'm not sure. But I told the girls that if anyone tries to talk to them over the fence to come get Mom or Dad right away. Nobody has ever tried to talk to any of us when we're outside, and all the workers just have done their jobs...but now that the thought is in my head... it made me really stop and think. Isabelle's at the age where she can understand stuff like that. So I guess I get to (at some point) have that talk with her about strangers and how you don't really talk to them and certainly never leave with them. It makes my stomach clench at the thought of someone trying anything with my kids, and if that ever happens you can bet your sweet ass I would unleash a crazy like no one has ever seen from me before.. but we moved here for that slower pace of life, and that (I hope) friendlier neighborhood.
I honestly don't think I need to worry about it as much as I started to, but I would be remiss as a parent if I didn't keep things like that on the back burner. My kids are good kids and they already come run to me if anything happens. Let's hope it always stays that way!!
Thursday, July 27, 2017
Tuesday, July 18, 2017
The things you do or say....
Every morning, I have basically the same routine...not intentional, it's just how it worked out. After I watch my show, I usually get in the shower and get dressed for the day. So I get out of the shower, am heading upstairs when I figure I should grab the clothes and bring them up too. As I'm grabbing them, I ask the girls if they're ok. I ask it the same way, every time; "you girls ok?". It's kind of my way of asking if they need anything...a snack, or something to drink...ect. I must ask it a lot because as I asked it this time, Isabelle says "Why do you say that a lot?". When I asked what she meant, she said "you ask if me and Kensi are ok". I guess I hadn't realized how much I ask it during the day...but after she said that, I stopped and thought about it. I do ask it quite a bit, and always when I haven't been in the same room as them for a period of time.
It's funny how, as a parent, I seem to do or say certain things at certain times. Isabelle getting older and able to understand things more really brings it out. She was playing with her babies one day and she made one of them do something naughty. She then had it face her and says "I don't think so!". Yup, that's a dead ringer for me. I do that a lot when the girls are doing something they're not supposed to be. Another one is "are you serious??" when it's something a little worse. Hearing Isabelle say the things I do has really made me realize how I speak, and how often I say things. Now, they're nothing bad. I don't usually swear, I've toned that down a lot. But it has slipped out. Usually when I hurt myself or get upset about something... like yesterday, I was opening the door and it hit my foot. Without thinking, I yelled out "SHIT!". Isabelle, with her ever curious mind, asks "mom why did you say 'shit?'". I told her I got hurt and she says "oh, is that a mommy word?" Told her it was, she said ok and that was that lol not too often does she say it to get a reaction or because she thinks it's funny. Thankfully she understands and respects that there are some words that mommy and daddy say that she cant right now. It makes my life a little easier.
Her picking up on things I say or do is turning out to be a little bit of a lesson for me. Reminds me that there are little ears always listening and little eyes are always watching. I haven't had to radically change my behavior or anything, but it's nice to have that to keep me in check.
It's funny how, as a parent, I seem to do or say certain things at certain times. Isabelle getting older and able to understand things more really brings it out. She was playing with her babies one day and she made one of them do something naughty. She then had it face her and says "I don't think so!". Yup, that's a dead ringer for me. I do that a lot when the girls are doing something they're not supposed to be. Another one is "are you serious??" when it's something a little worse. Hearing Isabelle say the things I do has really made me realize how I speak, and how often I say things. Now, they're nothing bad. I don't usually swear, I've toned that down a lot. But it has slipped out. Usually when I hurt myself or get upset about something... like yesterday, I was opening the door and it hit my foot. Without thinking, I yelled out "SHIT!". Isabelle, with her ever curious mind, asks "mom why did you say 'shit?'". I told her I got hurt and she says "oh, is that a mommy word?" Told her it was, she said ok and that was that lol not too often does she say it to get a reaction or because she thinks it's funny. Thankfully she understands and respects that there are some words that mommy and daddy say that she cant right now. It makes my life a little easier.
Her picking up on things I say or do is turning out to be a little bit of a lesson for me. Reminds me that there are little ears always listening and little eyes are always watching. I haven't had to radically change my behavior or anything, but it's nice to have that to keep me in check.
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
New house...new chapter
It seemed like it would take forever and I was beginning to worry it would never happen. But it did. Grant and I are finally homeowners! We finally bought a house! During our search, we were really starting to worry that we would have to settle on damn near everything we wanted in a house in order to just get one. The house that we were renting was going to be put on the market, and with no concrete date or even timeframe, we felt that we should find one sooner rather than later. So the search began. Now, one of the MAJOR things that we wanted was to not be in Fargo or West Fargo. We wanted to be either in the country or in a smaller town, but still stay in ND. We were both born in ND and it just feels like home. Our radius was no more than 30 miles away from Fargo. We didn't want to raise our kids in the city. There have been too many reports of bad things and it was just getting worse. Crime was starting to creep closer to our house, and when someone tried to come through the front door at like midnight one night, that was the nail in the Fargo coffin. We started looking pretty damn hard. Thankfully we had gotten set up to buy a house over the winter and had started looking at that time. But if you're not looking in Fargo/West Fargo/Moorhead, the inventory drops way down. We were finding some things, but either the price was too high, the house too small, or it just didn't work for our family. We are now a family of 5 and a 2 or 3 bedroom house with no potential of adding rooms just wouldn't work, which is a lot of what we were finding. If we had been looking in the city, we would have found something within a month or two. But we weren't so we had to hold out for something more. Once we had a timeframe of when the house was going up for sale, we used that as kind of our D Day in a way. It took longer than we would have liked, but we finally found our home.
I love owning a house. Granted, we've only been here for about a month, but still. I love being able to change stuff. Renting the house was great, for a while. But after some time, you figure out things that you do/do not want in a home. Like I found out that I hate claw foot tubs as showers. As a stand alone bath, they'd be amazing! But having to have 2 shower curtains makes it feel really closed in. After 4 years of showering in a claw foot tub, I started fantasizing about a normal shower/tub combo. I also realized how much I missed having carpet in the living room. I know that some people would kill for gorgeous hardwood floors all over their house. But as a mom to young kids, I dreamt more of carpet. When you hear your child's head bang on the hardwood, you die a little inside. It sounds so bad and you're sure that they're going to scream. It usually sounds so much worse than what it is. But when you first hear the sound, your heart stops for a minute...or at least mine did. Every. Single. Time.
With renting, any time something big breaks down (plumbing, furnace...ect), we'd have to call the owner to get it fixed. It's really nice to know that if something like that does happen, we don't have to wait for the owner to find time to call someone in to fix it. We can either do it ourselves (or let's be real, Grant would be the one doing it lol I'd just be watching), or make the call right away. That's not to say the owner took forever to do it, that's not it at all. I'm just saying it's nice that we don't have the middle man.
It's the perfect location, for me, as well. One of the big things I wanted was either in my old stomping grounds (Casselton/Mapleton) or Grant's (Colfax)...that was big for me. We got lucky and found one in Casselton, and it's right next to the school! The kids' walk to school will take all of 3 minutes, at most. I love that. I had a dream of being able to walk the kids to and from school. This is even better!! When they get old enough, I can just watch them from my front steps. Whatever job I get after they all start school, I'm still going to make sure I see them off to school and also be home when they get done with school. That's also really important to me. If I could, I'd just be a stay at home mom/wife even after they start school, but I promised Grant I'd get back into the working world to help pay bills since the kids wont be home 24/7 with me. But as long as I get to be home before and after school, I'm still calling that a win!
We've been dreaming of our own house for a few years now. Renting that house was a huge blessing for us because it gave us the opportunity to start raising our family in a house rather than an apartment. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with raising a family in an apartment, but that's just not our style. But after 4 years of renting, it was time. We had had enough with renting anything and were more than ready to own. We have so many things we want to do, and have even started a list. Right now, and I'm not even exaggerating, there are 52 items on that list. From the smallest thing like redoing shelves in a closet, to the biggest things like doing bump outs in the upstairs and making that a full upstairs. But you know the most glorious part? We have time. Since we were lucky enough to find our "forever home", we have umpteen years to do the things we want. We have truly found a house that we WANT to make our home. You just can't beat that!
I love owning a house. Granted, we've only been here for about a month, but still. I love being able to change stuff. Renting the house was great, for a while. But after some time, you figure out things that you do/do not want in a home. Like I found out that I hate claw foot tubs as showers. As a stand alone bath, they'd be amazing! But having to have 2 shower curtains makes it feel really closed in. After 4 years of showering in a claw foot tub, I started fantasizing about a normal shower/tub combo. I also realized how much I missed having carpet in the living room. I know that some people would kill for gorgeous hardwood floors all over their house. But as a mom to young kids, I dreamt more of carpet. When you hear your child's head bang on the hardwood, you die a little inside. It sounds so bad and you're sure that they're going to scream. It usually sounds so much worse than what it is. But when you first hear the sound, your heart stops for a minute...or at least mine did. Every. Single. Time.
With renting, any time something big breaks down (plumbing, furnace...ect), we'd have to call the owner to get it fixed. It's really nice to know that if something like that does happen, we don't have to wait for the owner to find time to call someone in to fix it. We can either do it ourselves (or let's be real, Grant would be the one doing it lol I'd just be watching), or make the call right away. That's not to say the owner took forever to do it, that's not it at all. I'm just saying it's nice that we don't have the middle man.
It's the perfect location, for me, as well. One of the big things I wanted was either in my old stomping grounds (Casselton/Mapleton) or Grant's (Colfax)...that was big for me. We got lucky and found one in Casselton, and it's right next to the school! The kids' walk to school will take all of 3 minutes, at most. I love that. I had a dream of being able to walk the kids to and from school. This is even better!! When they get old enough, I can just watch them from my front steps. Whatever job I get after they all start school, I'm still going to make sure I see them off to school and also be home when they get done with school. That's also really important to me. If I could, I'd just be a stay at home mom/wife even after they start school, but I promised Grant I'd get back into the working world to help pay bills since the kids wont be home 24/7 with me. But as long as I get to be home before and after school, I'm still calling that a win!
We've been dreaming of our own house for a few years now. Renting that house was a huge blessing for us because it gave us the opportunity to start raising our family in a house rather than an apartment. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with raising a family in an apartment, but that's just not our style. But after 4 years of renting, it was time. We had had enough with renting anything and were more than ready to own. We have so many things we want to do, and have even started a list. Right now, and I'm not even exaggerating, there are 52 items on that list. From the smallest thing like redoing shelves in a closet, to the biggest things like doing bump outs in the upstairs and making that a full upstairs. But you know the most glorious part? We have time. Since we were lucky enough to find our "forever home", we have umpteen years to do the things we want. We have truly found a house that we WANT to make our home. You just can't beat that!
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