New house!

We made an offer on a house and it got accepted!  Here are the specs:
http://www.meritagehomes.com/search/austin-tx/cedar-ridge-estates/crosby---cedar-ridge-1412/ .  Ignore the price, it's pretty meaningless.  We don't even know what the final price is yet.

We were a little late in the process so we didn't get to customize it as much as we'd like, because they already started building on that lot.  Most significantly, we would've gotten an entirely different floorplan (the Austin as opposed to the Crosby).  We also didn't get to change the cabinets and a few other things (like we had to get the fireplace, which we didn't want).

We are getting the study on the first floor, the covered patio, bay window in the master bedroom, and the optional bath 4 on the second floor.  We added and changed a bunch more minor things today at the "design center" where we finalized our selections:  more outlets, nicer sink, slightly different color scheme... we even got to choose the grout color from the "grout book," which I thought was amusing.  It's a little portfolio of grout chips.  I had no idea this was even something people chose.  Every house I go into now, I'm going to examine the grout and think about how someone consciously picked it out.  Goodbye, blissful ignorance.

a challenge

Because it's not official until it's written in bits on the internet!

1)  I hate when Ben plays Starcraft on the computer.
2)  I have no self-control these days when it comes to food--I have been binging every. single. day.  Yesterday, I had several brownies (each at about 300 calories), half a package of Hershey's Kisses, several bite-sized chocolates... today I had probably a pound of cheese (see earlier post from today), several servings of dates, and a LOT of almond butter-and-jelly sandwiches.  (And the last two days have not been exceptional.)  I'm putting on weight and I'm feeling really lousy about myself.

Here's the deal:  every time I binge, Ben gets to play Starcraft for 45 minutes or "until a single game ends" while Michael is awake (i.e. I have to watch him while Ben gets to be alone).  "Binge" is defined as "anything I feel guilty about later."  Ben does not otherwise get to play Starcraft, at least not while Michael is awake.

That should hopefully be sufficient motivation!

First word!

Michael just said his first word, finally!  (He's more than a little behind.)

We were eating breakfast, and I put an apple, some dried fruit, and three cheeses on his tray (Havarti, mozzarella, and Parmesan).  He grabbed the Parm and I kept repeating "cheese!  cheese!  cheese!"  and he looked at me, grinned, and repeated back, "geez!"  I got all excited and we repeated the process to make sure it wasn't a fluke!  And then he ate it.

I'm so proud that his first word is a delicious food.  Also, I have packed on 5 pounds in 2 months because I love food myself a little too much.  :-(

Michael and Marian

Michael and Mo--... wait a minute... 

We visited Grammy, Gramps, and the Smiths over the weekend.  They babysat Michael on Saturday while Ben and I went out to eat.  Apparently Michael was a little unhappy with the situation until he saw cousin Marian, so he calmed down as he approached her and then schnuggled on her lap.  We think Michael may have confused Marian with Mommy!  Uncle Thomas took this picture.

Thomas asked Marian whether she enjoyed watching Michael.  Marian sullenly replied "no," and when Thomas asked why not, we all could sympathize with "because my legs went numb."  Still, I hope she appreciates being the only one in the house who could calm Michael!