And she's crawling!

Eleanor started crawling two days ago and Jason was home to witness the whole thing. It was so adorable. We were sitting there watching E rock back and forth and all of the sudden, just like a foal learning his footing after birth, she slowly put the motions together and started to move around. And then (!!) she put herself from the crawling position to the sitting position and it wasn't by accident either. It's like she's been formulating this in her head for a few weeks and finally got to put it to practice.

It is so darn cute to watch her develop. But I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I wish she'd put this off for another few weeks. Which leads me to ...

WE HAVE A CLOSING DATE!

May 14th we close in Lafayette. And as of now, our plans are to close in Katy on the 15th.

Initially we were supposed to close on the 30th and rent from our sellers until closing but they wanted a ridiculous amount of rent ($3000) for a week so we said thanks but no thanks.

Three weeks from today we'll be moving into our new home!

We're out of inspections!

And I'm convinced that our buyers are the best buyers in the entire universe. They did not ask for a single thing. Not a THING! (This, in comparison, to my friend whose buyer demanded that every little thing be repaired/replaced on the inspection report, which was done by an inspector who really loves his job. In the end, the buyer backed out and my friend and her husband are worried sick they'll lose the house they're buying).

So tomorrow, me and my little Easter bunnies will hippity hop over to Houston (after Easter Mass, of course) to get settled for our big day on Monday!!

The amount of love I have for this baby is overwhelming.

It really is. And the pure amount of delight we get from this child is nothing short of astounding. It's not limited to Jason and I, either! The kids adore her and her antics just as much as we do.

Tonight I was in the cry-room at Mass with Miss E, not because she was crying but because she was yelling at the top of her lungs in the middle of Palm Sunday readings, and once I got in there I let her down on the floor because that's what she was really wanting anyway. And as I was giggling at her up on her hands and knees rocking back and forth, I received a look from a grandmother type that is reserved for obvious first-time mothers enjoying their first baby: that reflective smile that lets you know they're thinking about how much they enjoyed their babies at this age too. And the look perplexed me a bit being that I haven't received it since Hayes was a young tot, but then I realized the other three were still in Mass with DeDe and so it really did look like I was a first timer!

I'm glad, though, that I'm getting to enjoy these moments with her. They're so precious to me and I hope that I remember them always.

I'll definitely remember tonight's dinner, that's for certain. I took the twins and E to Picadilly to eat after dropping Hayes off for art class at the Little Paintbrush and since I'd forgotten to bring Eleanor anything to eat, I got a side of mashed potatoes for her. In the middle of dinner, Sam had his typical "OH NO I'M GOING TO PEE MYSELF" face on so I carted him off to the bathroom yelling over my shoulder to Mary Beth to watch the baby.

I came back to Eleanor slinging mashed potatoes in all directions because she'd gotten a hold of the spoon. Oh dear. All I could do was laugh. Eleanor was having an absolute blast and I totally ruined her fun (and she let me know it) when I removed the spoon from her clutch and wiped her full body with half the pack of baby wipes.

(me, laughing) "Mary Beth, I asked you to watch her!"

(MB, proudly) "I did, Mommy! She didn't go anywhere!"

Hmmm. Perhaps I'll leave more explicit directions in the future?

We have a tooth! (7m6d)

Eleanor's first little tooth broke through this morning and I couldn't be more relieved. Yesterday was a day of no naps and loads of fussing so I knew it was coming ... but that was possibly the quickest teething episode of any of the other four.

She's growing up right before our eyes and I simply cannot believe how fast it's going this time. She can't quite sit up unassisted, though she's certainly close. And yesterday we caught her rocking back and forth on her hands and knees. She'll be crawling before we know it.

I can hardly believe it myself.

But we just got another full price offer on our house! Amazing!

One contingency down; one to go!

They've got the year's lease signed on their house. Now we are awaiting confirmation from their lender that the money for the down payment is complete.

We've gotten verbal confirmation that the money was released from the insurance company but we want actual, concrete confirmation before celebrations begin.

Oh, God, please let this happen quickly!

On a funny note, I just got a call from a childhood acquaintance who has seen our house (saw my diploma on the wall, whoops) and her house recently went under contract so she was wanting to get more information about the contract we're under. She was quite excited when I told her we were still accepting offers. But I've just spoken to Ms. Penny and their contingency (selling their house even though it's under contract) is a way worse one than what we've got going on here.

Either way, it's nice to know this acquaintance's interest might light a fire under our buyers!

Update to come ...