Friday, December 26, 2014

Christmas Letter

Hi all! Its been a few months since our last update. I haven't forgotten about our blog, just been busy with moving & and now with a walking baby... so I haven't found the time or energy to make a post for awhile :(  Anyway, I thought I would post our Christmas letter for those who haven't received one in the mail. 

I'm looking forward to getting back to posting monthly updates in the new year, after we're done with the Holiday shenanigans  ;)   Hope you all are having a wonderful Christmas break!

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Merry Christmas!

2014 brought us many new experiences, challenges and blessings - its safe to say that it has been our best year yet!

We welcomed our sweet baby girl, Madilyn Harper, on January 8th.  So, January – April was somewhat of a blur (newborn coma) but we got into the swing of things after Maddie was a few months old and we can barely remember what life was like before her!

We celebrated our third wedding anniversary in May and around that time decided it was best for this Momma to stay home with her Baby. Learning to live off a single income has had its own special challenges but in selling our house and moving into a rental we were able to alleviate our financial burdens and start fresh. Selling our first, beloved home was tough but we are so happy with our decision!

Currently, Ryan is working for Kootenai County as a residential tax appraiser (2 years in February) and I am a stay at home mom to a very, very busy almost 1 year old. She crawls, stands, walks (a few steps at a time) and jumps; she claps & waves and says “Dada” nonstop. She gives hugs and kisses [[rarely]] and chases the cat [[constantly]]. She has 5 teeth and is working her way up to eating real food. She is feisty, determined and sweeter than we could have ever imagined. Life is SO good!

We hope you all had a wonderful year as well! We wish you a Merry Christmas and many Blessings in the New Year!


Love,
Ryan, Emily and Madilyn Rouse

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Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Moving time!

Well, that was FAST! We are happy to say that we have accepted an offer on our house! And it came to us only a week after we listed our home on the market! After a whirlwind of initial showings, we knew we would find someone that wanted to buy. It was perfect timing as we accepted the offer the day before we left on vacation to Oregon! Currently, we are wrapping up the paperwork and the sale will be finalized on our closing date in October. And we're so grateful that our hard work over the last 2 years will have been well worth it!

Last night we signed a lease for a rental house in CDA, not to far from our current home. Its only a mile from Ryan's work so he's talking about walking or riding his bike. We'll see how he feels about that at 5:30 in the morning though ;) heehee... so for now we are just preparing to move into a smaller home and we are needing to downsize some furniture to make it work for us. It will be interesting - packing and moving with a baby - but hopefully it will be a smooth transition. I was hoping that we would be settled in the new rental house before Maddie starts crawling, however, I'm not sure that is going to happen.... she is so so so close... She can scoot like a crazy person and the other day she practiced so much that she tore a hole in the toe of her PJs! This girl means business...


Our week in Oregon was great! We relaxed and took advantage of the free childcare. We went crabbing, shopping, camping, watched "Guardians of the Galaxy", ate out, roasted smores.... pretty much the works. We were ready to come home though since Madilyn had a hard time sleeping somewhere new. She had a good time seeing her grandparents & aunt Jenae again and visiting her uncle Joe. She just loved him instantly... usually she takes a while to warm up to people but right when we picked him up at the airport she reached her arms out for him. Super weird... But so cute!








Ryan also went salmon fishing with the Rouse guys this past weekend... they had so much fun! And brought back a TON of fish! So much that I don't know what to do with it all... Anyone out there want to take some of it off our hands??? We also have a huge amount of white fish fillets from a previous ocean charter. I'm not a huge fan of fish and I rarely cook it.... So you're all welcome to come browse my freezer :)

 Don't mind his facial hair... apparently you have to do weird things to your face when you fish... ;)



Its super hard to believe Madilyn is already almost 9 months old... thats almost a year!!! People aren't kidding when they say babies grow up fast! And seriously... if I had a dollar for every time someone said that to me I'd be rich... Just my opinion, but some of the common cliche` statements made to new parents get kinda old... lol... For example:  
1) "Cherish every moment" ... ha. I will cherish most moments, thank you very much! The pooping, puking and screaming moments are not always considered cherish-worthy in my book.
2) "Enjoy your pregnancy!" ... HA. Might have just been my experience, but there were very few things I enjoyed about pregnancy. Obviously it was worth it, but still... not always the best thing to say to a highly hormonal, sick and tired prego.
3) "Your life will totally change!" ... well, duh. 

Anyways.... back on topic! Maddie is growing so big! She's 18 pounds now and is babbling all the time. She says "Dada" on accident from time to time, which makes Ryan super happy. She isn't saying "Mama" yet but if my brainwashing technique is successful she will be shortly ;) She is a professional sitter and scooter now, well on her way to crawling. Her other talents include (but are not limited to): happy shrieking, spitting, hair pulling, fake coughing, splashing in the tub, choking on her own spit and waving.

I guess that's all for now! Here's last month's photos:

Selfie!!!

Dad did this... typical!







 At Asher's superhero party... flying above Gotham City!


 Just because....







Friday, August 29, 2014

All done... Yay!!!

This past month has been somewhat of a blurrr... we've been super busy wrapping up the finishing touches that our realtor suggested and I'm so happy to say that we are now completely done! YAYYY!!! Our house listing was posted on the market yesterday afternoon and we already had a showing this morning!!! We were expecting some initial interest because of the improvements we've made and even if nothing comes from it, we were pleasantly surprised to have a showing this quickly.

So, here it is... (drum roll please)... Check it out! And if you happen to know of anyone looking for a house in CDA, please send them our way ;)



Today is also the first day that we've had in months where we don't have anything to work on and the only plans we have are for dinner. It feels weird and awesome... but weird... Time for some much needed relaxation! Even Maddie is on board, because this morning she slept in until 9:00 - which is completely unheard of for her... :)

In other news, we have a vacation coming up! Hooray! Talk about perfect timing, right? We'll be visiting my family in Oregon for a week... We are excited to visit my hometown, stay a few nights at the coast, go crabbing, visit with old friends and just relax. It'll be nice for Maddie to reconnect with her grandparents that she hasn't seen for several months. I know they'll be shocked to see in person just how much she has grown and how different she is in such a short amount of time.

Ryan is doing well, his summer softball league just ended - he had alot of fun with his team this year. He is super happy to be done fixing up the house and he swears he'll never buy this large of a fixer upper again, no matter how great of a deal it is... we've learned our lesson... lol. We're looking forward to just renting cheaply for a little while before jumping back into home-ownership. He decided against hunting year as with our vacation's timing and possibly moving soon, he may not be available much of the season. However, he is going on a weekend fishing trip with his dad and brothers soon which he is really looking forward to.

Madilyn is great! She can now sit up all by herself and is reallllllly trying to crawl... soon, very soon, it will happen. She has two teeth and is working on several more. She can pull herself up onto her knees when sitting in her crib and I'm sure one day I'll just walk into her room to see her standing up proudly in bed.  Also, she recently got a jumperoo toy because her parents have no self control in the baby section of stores... She loves it so much, its pretty hilarious when she goes crazy in it. I have some funny videos but unfortunately my phone is stupid and I can't get them onto my computer :(

I'm doing good, too. Just enjoying life, while trying to keep the house spotless and ready to sell. Now that projects are done,  I'll have some free time in between baby naps so I may get back into crafting or reading or I don't know --- maybe take a nap myself?!?  Oh the possibilities... :)

I guess that's about all.... So here's the latest snapshots!

 Cheeeeeezer!!!!


She never falls asleep like this... So sweet:


Hey mom, just kickin back in my jumper!


This sequence just cracks me up... her facial expressions are the best :) 

 


Puppy dog eyes:





Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Goodbye, July! Can't say I'll miss ya...

This month has been challenging.... I'm extra ready to get away from life and take a break with my two favorite people. Unfortunately, our vacation isn't until September and right now another whole month feels like a freaking eternity! Gahhhh!!!!

We decided last month to put our house up for sale, so we've been working on cleaning, staging and finishing up the repairs. And honestly, as much as I love this house, I'm reallllly starting to hate it... if that makes any sense....  haha! I can't remember the last time we had a weekend that was not filled with house projects and chores. Ryan is burnt out on fixing and updating things. And I'm burnt out on attempting to help while trying to keep a baby entertained. Thankfully, the realtor is coming this week to give us instructions on listing and to assess our home. We're hoping that it sells in a timely manner so we can focus on being a family and spending the weekends together going on adventures, or relaxing, or anything else really.....

***Side note: Check out what Ryan did with the weird bump left in our kitchen from when we took out the old stove. 
Made a pot rack out of scrap material - 
now it looks like its supposed to be that way!

Before:                                                                                          After:

Madilyn has had it rough lately as well. She got her 6 months shots and her first 2 teeth all in the same week! She's reverted back to waking up for a feeding at least once a night, waking up and needing help getting back to sleep once or twice as well. We've tried to give her rice cereal to keep her full through the night, but her sensitive tummy doesn't agree with it. So now we are dealing with a cranky/tired baby working through digestive issues. Its been a long, hard month of being a momma....

On a more positive note, the month is almost over and we're moving on to bigger and brighter things. We've still had plenty of sweet moments with our girl even though this last month has been full of little struggles. We're thankful even on the hard days because she makes life better in every way. Here's the proof:

Cheeeeeese!!!



Look mom, I'm trying to crawl!


 I give up....




Check out my two front teeth!


 Beauty queen:

Annnnddd this is what happens when you leave her with dad for 5 minutes. She gets a peter pan hat made of newspaper...


Yeah, I'd make this face too if someone forced me to wear a paper hat that made me look like a little boy...

Enjoying the summer weather on the back deck: