Giggles & Love

Gigglefest
The girls and I were skyping with Gramps and Kevin tonight - they got to see how Ali amuses her little sister. Everytime she said "hop like a bunny" and attempted to launch herself off the ground, Mea-belle squealed with delight. Her belly laughs are absolutely adorable and no one can capture her attention and make her giggle like her big sister Ali. She is enamored with Ali and Aliyah adores her back.
Here is a video of Mea's first belly laugh - of course it was at her sister ;-)

Unforgettable
Tonight before bed Ali was saying her goodnights as usual. She took ahold of Mea's head with both of her hands, kisses her and says "I love you so much"

I cannot believe Aliyah will be turning TWO in thirteen days. TWO.

 

Growing up & Sharing a room...almost
The girls are in bed now. In the same room. This is a trial run - we'll see how they do. Mea's crib arrived last week but we haven't put it together yet (procrastinate, much? The girl is 5 months old next week - jeesh!). Mea's in her sleeper and Ali's in her crib. We've got the monitor close by. We might be crazy but our logic was this: they both have congestion so they'd otherwise wake up a bunch if solo anyway, there is one humidifier and they both need the benefits, we didn't sleep much last night because Mea had other plans and Ali was coughing quite a bit, so we picked a night that they both might crash hard. And yes, we're crazy too.

Selling our home in a recession...

Four days after going on the market we had a showing...then the next day another, and then.......nothing. Just last night we were talking about how we should just refinance and what plans we have for the house. I took a nap with the girls today and woke to a call requesting a showing tonight...make that two showings in one night. Very strange...silence for 2 full weeks and then BAM!

This has been a little bit of an emotional roller coaster: "I bet we're going to get an offer" "Did they even come in the house?" "Was the sink clean enough?" "They stood us up" "Should we get more aggressive about looking?" "The lady 2 doors down had a showing too, she has a garage" "Why haven't we had any showings?" "Oh look, there's a car out front taking pictures - they seem interested" "They didn't like the lot so they didn't bother to come in? Wouldn't you know that before scheduling a showing?"

The showings are quite a physical drain as well. They involve some intense high speed cleaning sprees while keeping Mea from crying and Ali from tearing the house to bits. It must be quite comical for an outsider to see, maybe I'll take a video to share. Once the house is perfection and the girls are loaded in the car, we need to find a way to entertain us all for a couple-few hours. There was a party at Target the first night, a playdate with Leslie and Lillian the second and tonight we all had dinner out to celebrate Tarek's birthday again (Thanks, Granny & Gramps)!

Luckily, my parents have very generously offered to dogsit Rooney-bear, he's having a blast up in rural NY with Claire-bear. Which makes for a much less hairy home and relieves a ton of stress when we need to get out of the house for showings. We do miss him though. Ali sometimes asks for him or goes where his crate used to be and talks about his "house" - we'll be happy when he comes back. Whether it's in a different home or not, that remains a mystery!

We're on the market!

We started the conversation at the end of May and we're finally on the market! Two storage units, tons of pulled weeds, some touch-up paint, new door fixtures, a freshly updated and stained deck, a few chopped trees/bushes, some poison ivy outbreaks, a Rogue Rooney, an All-over-Ali, an Immobile Mea, it's been quite a trip!

Here is our listing on Realtor.com: 109 Hiddenwood Court

We are lucky enough to be working with one of the best realtors in the area (Kimberly Conroy at HPW is ranked in the top 6 of the Triangle) - she knows her stuff. We suspect she's taken us on as more of a "pet project" as we are the most affordable home of her 20 listings at the moment. Her expertise lies in the homes with a half million dollar plus price tag - quite different than our modest ranch! She sold us our first house and we will continue to call on her as long as we're here in NC - she's amazing!

Mea Belle is 3 months old already!

Our sweet baby girl!

Happy Birthday, Baba!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband!

Tata and Jidu came up for the weekend and we were surprised on Saturday morning with a visit from Oma & Opa (Niloufar & Ali)! We had so much fun and it seemed like such a perfect weekend - this mama got a little verclempt!

We took a stroll after dinner and ice cream

Loving this picture of Ali and Tata!

Ali's face cracks me up - is that a classic toddler expression, or what?

Opa & Jidu

Playing dress-up with Oma's jewels - a pretty ring and wrist watch while sporting her new yard sale clip ons!

Triple the LOVE! Look at my sweet neices!

My sister in law is amazing. Carried three beautiful, healthy little girls to 35 weeks! Such a blessing. I can't wait to meet these little sweeties at Christmas and to see my oldest brother in his role as a proud father! Love. Love. Love.

Mea's Announcement

Here we are at the start of June and I'm just now getting around to Mariam's baby announcement! These are just a few pictures from our iPhones but I think they do a great job of displaying her sweet personality.
**I was actually able to design and print these for free through my Pampers Gifts to Grow program - I highly recommend it! You get points for the different boxes of pampers wipes and diapers that you purchase - there are frequently bonus codes floating around online that help boost points too, pretty cool!**

Clever Cadence Pink Baby Announcements

Shutterfly cards for Valentine's Day, Easter & Father's Day.

View the entire collection of cards.