March 2012

This month has been filled with the ups and downs of purchasing a house. The house I referenced in the prior month’s blog was great. We had a purchase agreement and were onto the inspection when some items showed up that got us worried. We tried to negotiate, but it just wasn’t meant to be. Funny thing is, there was a house down the street that we liked, (Deb loved, I was OK with it) when we saw it back in November. Since we had fallen in love with the neighborhood, we started to see this house in a different light, and saw some of the things we could do with it (it was significantly less expensive) so we decided to put in an offer. As of the end of March, we have a purchase agreement and an agreed upon inspection response. We close in late April and move the weekend of Allison’s birthday. We are extremely excited about the house. The address is 4128 Briarwood, Indianapolis, IN if you want to check it out. The MLS listing should still be up with pictures.

As you have noticed, Allison has a ton of hair. Deb took Allison with her to a hair appointment and Teri also cut Allison’s hair. Finally, she no longer has hair in her eyes or a mullet!
This month marked the 1 year anniversary of my dad’s passing. As tough as the last year has been, it is difficult to believe that it has been an entire year. Some days it feels like I should be heading to the hospital for lunch to see him or stop by our old house to have dinner. One of the toughest things is to think that I haven’t talked to my dad in a year. When he was healthy, weeks would go by and we wouldn’t talk that much but there was always time because this situation doesn’t cross your mind. Once he was sick and we knew there was some sort of limited time left, never would a few days go by and we wouldn’t talk on the phone or in person. It is ironic that it takes an illness to make you closer to your older relatives/parents. We got together on the anniversary and had all of Dad’s favorite foods, which included pork, pizza, chicken wings, mashed potatoes, corn, fried chicken, shrimp cocktail, corn beef with cream cheese and corn dogs. Everyone also enjoyed about 4 different chocolate desserts. We had a good evening and the anticipation of the day was actually worse than the day itself.

The highlight of the evening was watching Allison crawl for the first time! She has had a great month, and has started to add “ma-ma” to her babbling. Changing diapers, naps and everything else has gotten much more difficult with crawling. We are attempting to give her more table foods and it is fun to watch her reaction. She had frozen fruit pop, several fruits (she loves strawberries, bananas and blueberries just like her mom), bread, eggs, veggies and attempted to drink some water.


We went to the ZOO! Beth for Christmas gave us a family zoo pass which is awesome. We went with the Watkins family and had a great time. Allison had a great time and did well as we strolled along. The dolphin show was a big hit with the kids too.

The last weekend of the month, we ventured out to the Foulke’s house on Friday night and the Anderson’s house on Saturday night. Both nights we put Allison down at their houses and were able to hang out until later than usual. We hope to be able to continue this trend instead of one of us needing to leave gatherings early to get her home and to bed. It was fun to see our friends, as we used to have the ability to up and go, so seeing them and being a little more mobile with Allison has helped.

A few more items from this month:

**Beth got engaged to Matt! Matt and Beth have been dating since the fall and they are great together. After Beth moves into the condo, she and Matt will get started on the wedding plans. I think Allison is expected to be a flower girl…so hopefully she can come through!
I attended a fundraiser for the Global Timmy Foundation with a table that Beth had put together.
**Deb enjoyed a dirls night out which included pedicures and dinner.
**A group of us from my family went to a Pacer game this month. The NBA, and the Pacers included, has been an easy ticket to get. On the game-day, I was able to buy 7 tickets for $17 on stub-hub.
**We had the Bassetts and Lawton over for dinner one night and I decided to go out to the Wellington with them. We met up with the Ferrands and Steffeys and enjoyed a few night-cap beers.
**Deb has a 4-year winning streak vs. me in our NCAA bracket challenge. I won the first 5 years, but have been getting crushed since then.
**Speaking of March Madness, it has been the only thing we are allowed to watch right now as we have given up TV for Lent (except for March Madness – NCAA Tournament). We have done this before, and we have been able to get a lot more sleep and things done, along with packing for our move.

Daddy and Allison hang out time....
Allison started flipping over in her sleep...
Allison's first time on a swing...