Team A'Hearn

As predicted, we’re now in the thick of it. Immediately after our last update, we did indeed get our house on the market. We had at least a dozen potential buyers just over the first weekend! It was tough to keep the house clean, live in it, and take care of Lily while all that was going on – but nice to see so much interest in the property.

Luckily, after only two weeks, we received a great offer! There was only a little bit of back and forth, and we’re now into patching up a few findings from the home inspection. The offer isn’t fully ratified yet, but was more than enough for Stephanie and I to turn our attentions to placing an offer of our own. We ultimately had to sit down and make a very tough decision between two great properties, but were very happy to present an offer on a great place off route 7100 just a few miles down the road. Incredibly, we were lucky to hear our offer was accepted with only a few very small changes!

At this point, everything truly is happening all at once. Since neither the buyer’s nor our own offer is fully ratified yet, there are several contingencies in place and we can’t really call it a done deal just yet. Hearing a “congratulations” from our agent made us feel good, though. Lots more paperwork to go, but it’s sounding like May 28^th will be the big day (coinciding settlements will make for a long one).

Time to start packing!

Over the past few weeks, Lily has been teasing us with her slow and steady progress in learning to walk. She’s been able to stumble around for a while, but she’s always needed to hold our hands. Well after tons of practice, she finally took a few steps on her own last night! It was probably due to mommy and I cheering at her, but she thought the whole milestone was just hilarious.

We couldn’t believe how much more carefully we needed to watch her once she started recklessly crawling, so I’m not sure we can fully appreciate how crazy it will be once she really starts running around. Yikes.

Walking has also coincided with another fun milestone this week. She’s been babbling like crazy for months, but has only recently been articulating genuine words (with real meaning). Well rather than waking up each morning with her usual nonsensical discussions, we’ve heard a loud and sing-song “DAAAD! DAAAD!” for the past few days. Ug. Why not mommy? Daddy’s not ready to wake up yet.

A few months ago, we started talking about moving. Two biblical snowstorms and a family-wide stomach bug later, we realized it was suddenly March and we’d barely done anything besides some financial planning and minor online house-hunting. So we mustered up all our discipline and sat down once again with our agent to pull the trigger on this adventure.

Fortunately, I think we’ve accomplished a lot in a short amount of time. My parents were gracious enough to open up a full corner of their basement, and we’ve packed it to the brim with random junk in an effort to declutter our place so it’s suitable to get on the market and show. We’ve seen enough of those TLC shows to know there was just too much stuff in the way. We have also been cleaning like never before and are now ready to actually get a sign out on the lawn.

Within the next day or two we should be on the market, and then despite the fact that we have no need to rush through this process, I imagine things will start happening very quickly.

Lily entered her teens the other day, but thankfully it’s the good kind (as measured in months). I don’t even want to think about the chaos that will be my baby girl at thirteen years. She’s just so much dang fun to be around these days, so I suppose I should savor it now!

Photo updates today: I renamed her original album to “0-12 months,” and created a new one to cover the coming year. These are always available via the “Photos” link along the top of the website. Enjoy!

Lily went for her one year pediatrician visit yesterday and is doing well! She’s still barely 18 pounds, so is sitting comfortably in the 3^rd percentile for weight – and is about 27 inches tall which places her in the 5^th percentile for height. So she’s tiny, but is otherwise very healthy. And despite a recent head cold she’s eating very well and sleeping great – no complaints from mommy and daddy!

Thanks to everyone who joined us for a fun 1^st birthday party for Lily! We all had a great time and were glad that she did so well throughout the day. I added a photo recently with a cute shot her of her eating her birthday “cake” (an egg/wheat/dairy-free brownie topped with a blueberry glaze). Credit to Stephanie for the creative, allergy-free eats!

Finally, we got the following two videos the day of Lily’s birthday – as you can see, she can’t walk completely on her own yet, but it’s certainly not stopping her from tearing around the house screeching with glee.

Unbelievably, Lily turns one year old today. It’s still ridiculous when I think about it, because it seems like just yesterday that I was holding her in my arms after welcoming her into the world only minutes earlier. But it also seems like it all happened ten years ago. What an incredible blur it’s all been.

Things have settled significantly over the past few weeks. After illnesses and the stress of confirming her many allergies, Lily has become accustomed to her limited diet. In fact, she spent the past two weeks having some kind of growth spurt – we couldn’t shovel food in there fast enough! While that’s tapered as of late, seeing her eat that much was still a very welcome sight for mommy and daddy.

Her personality is developing more than ever! She’s developed quite a little attitude about some things, and has already learned how to get into serious mischief. However, she thankfully spends way more of the day smiling and goofballing than being sassy.

Pictures and videos to come – especially following her celebration with family and friends this coming Saturday.

We love you more than anything, Lily – happy first birthday! Here’s to 365 days of pure magic. We can’t wait for many, many more.