It's Official

Our house is on the market and...I'M PREGNANT! I am about 11 and half weeks. It's been a rough first trimester but I'm hoping it's winding down. I was sick with both boys but not this bad. I'm thinking I just haven't had as much time to rest since I'm running around with them and trying to keep the house ready to show. I'm just praying my energy comes back soon and I can eat something besides carbs. So it's an exciting time for the McLaughlin clan. Please keep our new little baby in your prayers!

Also, if you know anyone in the market for a cute little house in Glendale here's a link to our listing: http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/1089-Chelsea-Ave_Glendale_MO_63122_1108621099

Why did I name this blog, "Never a dull moment"?

Well we were excited. Sunday was the big day. Kathy was coming over to finish the paper work and put the house on the market. Drew, Chris (our handyman) and I were working hard all weekend to get the house in tip top shape. And my wonderful mother took the boys both days so we would be able to work productively. All was going as planned until...RAIN, RAIN, RAIN for 24 hours straight. The hour before Kathy arrived Drew was working on the basement and felt something wet. NOOOOO! He pulled up our carpet squares just in time and he saw we had a little leak.

Kathy arrived about 5 and was very impressed with how the house looked. Then we told her about the water. She said we would just put a "Coming Soon" sign in the yard and once the rain stopped we would be good to go. So we did some paper work and took some pictures and up went the sign. Once Kathy left we calmed the crazy boys down. I started to feel guilty because Andrew was out of control, wild and asking millions of questions about the house selling and I thought he was feeling anxious about the whole situation. But we got them in bed.

We were then woken up at 1am by Andrew. Drew put him back to bed. Then he came in again at 3. This time Drew was a little out of it and said to Andrew after touching his head, "is your room hot?" Once I heard that, I shot up and said, Drew he must have a fever. I ran and got the thermometer and the Tylenol and sure enough the first reading was 102.5! He got in bed with us an he was an absolute furnace. Of course I couldn't go to sleep with him like this. He was shivering and shaking and not making a lot of sense. We got him to lay down and then he started breathing weird. This is when I really began to panic. I was thinking maybe I should let him stay up until his fever went down a little. So about 4 I turned on some cartoons (thank God for Tivo) and he fell back to sleep around 5. He woke up for the day around 6:45. He wasn't really hungry all day but his temperature never went above 99 and he was his wild self. I am so thankful...what a weird situation!

After talking to my dad Monday morning, we decided it was best to have the basement looked at. In order to do this we had to cut a hole in our basement drywall (that really ups the resale value:)) and then have the Crack Team come out and see what they could find. We started to call around for additional bids since we thought the first was a little high, but once we heard they had a lifetime warranty and could do it right away we bit the bullet. Now that it is fixed we are able to sleep at night knowing we won't have any issues with this when in comes to an inspection on the house. Chris came back out today to start putting the drywall back up. So now we are back on track and only about a week behind schedule...could be worse.

In other scary news, my sister in law Christina, John's wife, had a big scare late Monday night. She is pregnant and due at the end of May. She was having some bad abdominal pains, ended up going to the hospital. Very long story short, had her appendix taken out. Then had very strong contractions all day because of the trauma from the surgery. The contraction medicine finally started working late last night, so the contractions have stopped. She is still in the hospital recovering. According to John, today she is in a lot of pain from the surgery and having a hard time eating which makes it tough to give her the right pain meds for her and the baby. The baby has been a trooper through this all and is doing well according to doctors. Please keep them in your prayers!

Where do I begin

Man have we been busy! So Drew and I met with our realtor (my God mother) Kathy Crane last Tuesday. We decided it's time to put our cute LITTLE house on the market. Kathy came over and told us some things that would be good to get done before we list it. Luckily, there were no surprises and somethings we thought we would have to do that she didn't think would be necessary. So we made our list and have been busy marking things off.

Thursday night we decided to relax and have a movie night. Drew and I watched Marley and Me once the boys were in bed. Talk about a tear jerker! I thought it was a great movie, everyone can use a good cry every once in a while. Drew said I may as well have rented Friday the 13th (guess it wasn't what he expected).
The timing worked out really well because last Friday (Good Friday) Drew and my mom were off work. So we rented a UHAUL and cleared out our basement storage so potential buyers could actually see the storage instead of wall to wall boxes. My dad, brother John and Drew's friend Graham ended up coming over as well to help out. Thank you everyone!

Then Saturday, after we dyed our eggs, my mom, Andrew, and I went flower shopping while Drew and Matthew waited for the mulch to be delivered. We picked up more pansies than you could imagine (I found out they are really the only flowers you can safely plant right now with our crazy weather) and some pretty flowers for our pots which can be moved in at night. So during naps Drew and I planted away and were happy with the results. Then it was off to a quick dinner and back to Lowes for the 4th time in two days. On this trip we picked up a few bushes and more potting soil to finish our yard project. Later that night I found out I am not in "planting" shape as I was unable to move with the pain in my lower back.

EASTER was a great day! We went to our usual 7:30 mass. Drew surprised me with Starbucks after. Then we came home and the Eater bunny had stopped by while we were at church. Matthew picked up one egg and lost interest while Andrew hunted away. Then we laid Matthew down for a nap and Andrew watched the new train movie the Easter bunny left in his basket. Then we headed to my parents for a delicious brunch and outdoor Easter egg hunt. Matthew REALLY got into this one. It was so cute. Andrew and Kiersten were all over the place getting as many eggs as possible while Matthew was in his own little world collecting his own eggs. He then convinced my dad to take him back outside and "rehide" the eggs so he could do it all over again. I guess it was a good thing we had a practice hunt at home. The boys took naps at Grandma and Poppas while the adults watched the Masters. Then we came home to unload, then guess where we went?! Yep, Lowes.

Monday my mom was off school again so she came by and helped me with some house stuff while Andrew was at school, she couldn't believe how quiet the house was:) Thanks so much for all your help mom. Then Monday evening we headed to the Mac store because my computer would not turn on. Unfortunately my hard drive had crashed ( I know shocking with a Mac!) but the good news was they replaced it for free and Drew had backed everything up a few weeks ago so not much was lost. Thank you God!

Tuesday, we had Jim, the tree guy come out and trim our big front tree. It was the best entertainment the boys have had in a while (too bad it wasn't cheap). Then Jim told me he had to get his other truck to get all the wood. I thought he would be back shortly but there were still hundreds of limps in our yard as we went to bed last night.

Yesterday Drew headed to jury duty:) I took Andrew to school and luckily when I got back Jim was here cleaning up the mess! I must say, the neighbors were quite intrigued by the mess so it was nice to have it out of the way. Matthew and I met Drew at Quiznos on his "lunch break" it was really nice. We rarely get to see Drew during the work day. Then Drew surprised us and came home around 4 and said he didn't have to go back to jury duty! My mom offered to watch the boys so Drew and I could grab a bite. We had a delicious meal at Deweys and realized we needed to have some adult conversation, thanks again mom!

A Snowy Opening Day

Who would have thought Opening Day for the Cardinals would be a snowy one? Everyone at the McLaughlin house has on their Cardinal red and is ready for the '09 season! Go Cards!

It's also a big night in basketball. If Michigan State wins...I win the pool at Drew's work! Go Spartans!

We had a busy week last week, actually I guess it was mainly a busy week for me. I had an event every day from Wednesday to Sunday. Thanks to Drew, Christina and Mrs. Saracino, the boys were in good hands and hopefully Matthew is starting to understand, mom will come home! Some of the highlights of the week included my friend Brittany's wedding shower, a cocktail party at my high school celebrating my 10 year reunion (I'm old, but not as old as Drew:)), and a baby shower for Christina. It was a busy week/weekend but lots of fun.

*I have also added a link on the side of our March snapfish pictures.