The Quiet White House On Court Street...

The boys having a snack at their big boy table

So it's sort of official - we're now the proud owners of the house on Court Street! We signed back on the offer yesterday and sent the offer back along with our deposit cheque to our real estate agent Bruce.  It took just under two weeks and 2 counter offers, but we finally got the house at the price we wanted on the 3rd counter offer!

Of course even though we've signed the deal on Court Street, the offer is still conditional upon financing and inspection and of course right now we're just stressed and hoping that we will get the financing for the mortgage as that will seal the deal on us being the official owners of the house. Michael spoke with the mortgage broker yesterday, and he said that we would most likely be approved for the mortgage since we're putting a fair down payment on the house, but you never know! Cross your fingers for us everyone!

Our next worry is if the house will pass the inspection, with the obvious understanding that the house is almost 200 years old and that there will obviously be issues with the home, but we're hoping that they will be issues that we can afford to deal with right away, and that they will not to run us into more debt.

However, we completely trust our real estate agent Bruce as so far he's been nothing but completely straight forward and honest with us, and has just been an outstanding real estate agent by helping us get the right home to fit our budget and our family's needs, and we know that he wouldn't have found us a home that was a total wreck and wasn't move in ready.

Kicking back with Mommy's hats on...

We're completely aware though, that we still have A LOT to do between now and the move the Bridgetown and of course neither of us are happy that we're going to be homeless in approximately 2 weeks,for about a month before the offer officially closes on May 1st. We're ever so grateful to Michael's mom and step dad to offer us their home for the month,and we know they will do everything to make us feel comfortable and happy, but it's not the same when you don't have your own home. We're hoping that we can push the closing date up sooner, but then again Michael doesn't want to get stuck in an April snow storm while driving down to Bridgetown in a moving truck! It's a double ended sword...

Benjamin's idea of independent feeding

As our lives are changing and developing on this new course, so are Benjamin and Oliver. They've developed and grown so much in the last month that I've been home and I can see how much they needed both parents at home with them all the time and I've learned so much more about my children and their individual personalities which money just can't buy. It makes me feel so much better knowing that we're making this decision to move to Bridgetown to have more quality time with them.

Oliver loves his toy cars, while Bennie loves to draw and he loves to collect and stack things in groups. I find  the great difference in the personalities quite amazing, I guess especially since they're identical twins and share 98% the same DNA.

Ollie has learned more words now, and he can say our dog's name 'Maya' and 'Bye, bye' very clearly, and he's been trying to say 'Car', and his latest new word is 'BOOM!'which he learned from me after a lid for a pot crashed and landed on the kitchen floor while I was cooking in the kitchen.

Oliver having fun in the tub

He watches every movement of our mouths when we talk and tries to mimic everything we're saying. The last thing he did which I found incredible was when he copied me waving my index finger at me and saying 'NO' in a firm voice and he also copied me going 'Shhhh...' and placing his index finger to his mouth to be quiet. I tried not to laugh as he was doing this, but it was so incredibly cute and amazing at the same time. He also knows all of the parts of his face now when you call them out and points to them - 'Nose, Ears, Mouth, & Chin', we're still working on the eyes as he was poking his eyes everytime he'd try. He loves the fish in the fish tank and says 'Night, night' to them every night before I turn the fish tank light off. I think that the most fascinating development for Oliver this last month is his associaion with words, things and actions. Whenever he accidently drops something on the ground he says 'Oh, Oh!' and then Bennie will join in and say 'Oh, Oh! too.

Benjamin's words are 'Fish', 'Door', 'Spoon', and obviously 'Mama & Dadda', and of course Oliver can say 'Mama, & Dada' too, but I find I hear Benjamin saying these words the most as he seems to always coming to one of us to complain about something his brother did to him.
I think that he will be the definite problem solver when he grows up I believe, as he's always calculating and trying to figure things out.

He grabs our keys whenever he can and tries to open up the door with them from the inside, but never-the-less he makes the association, which I find ever so impressive for his age, but then again I'm a first time parent, so everything new that they do at this age I find impressive. Benjamin also loves the fish, and likes to go say hello to them every now and then as well.

He loves to draw, which we discovered recently and he has made his artisitic impressions all over the front of the freezer, and the carpet, and the table! Good thing the crayons are washable!

They both seem to really want to be independent now, which for twins is not a bad thing as when you have multiples you want them to become independent as quickly as possible! Oliver especially just really wants to try eating on his own, and he did a good job eating all his sphagetti by himself with a fork!

Oliver on the left, Benjamin on the right - almost two years ago!

They're both just growing so fast! And I just can't believe that they will be turning 2 years old in less than 3 months time! Where did the time go? Obviously time has passed as I feel so old already! But it just seems like yesterday both Michael and I were these fresh faced and enthusiastically in love couple with no responssibilities in life and full of naive hope for the future, and here we are today, buying a house in Bridgetown and can't wait to move into quiet small town life! How things change when you have your children.

Home Is Where The Heart Is...

A drawing Michael made for the boys on the front of our freezer with the washable crayons Vicky brought over for the boys. Bennie really liked this drawing...

So I finally have my own computer! Which is why I can finally update my blog!
A lot has happened in these the last two weeks since my last post update, including another visit from Vicky, whom I've fondly nicknamed the Fairy Godmother as she always seems to bring gifts for the boys when she comes over and is always willing to help us out, and I also got a visit from my old school friend Jon last week. I had not seen him in several years, and he is now married and has a son named Oliver as well who is only one day younger than our twins!

My friend Jon sitting behind the couch with his son Oliver on his lap...

I finally got a chance to meet his lovely wife and their adorable son, and our children got a long so well together. It was a rather tender moment to see our children play together knowing how long I've known Jon and we both reflected on the good old college days when we had no responsibilities and how much our lives have changed now that we have our own families...

Oliver and Oliver playing together, how adorable!

However, there is still nothing happening with the court street house listing, so we decided that we would wait until the listing is actually legally listed before we make another offer.
Our real estate agent Bruce has promised us in the meantime that he would keep an eye out for anything within our budget and let us know right away as soon as something comes up.

However, finding a house is the last thing on my mind right now, as we haven't even started packing and we will be homeless in a month's time!
Our leasing agent contacted us last week to let us know that our apartment had been successfully sublet and that we have to be out of here by March 31st. There's no turning back now as we've already signed the papers to release our apartment!
I don't even know where I'm going to find the time to start packing, as it seems that I can't even turn my back on the boys for 5 seconds without one of them pushing or shoving the other, or some kind of fight breaking out over a toy (Argh!). Not the mention all the house work that piles up on a daily basis from the Laundry, to the cooking cleaning, and just taking care of and running after the boys!

Michael has his head planted mostly to the computer everyday now just selling like crazy to come up with the down payment on the apartment, so it's not like he can offer me much help as he obviously has to hussle and sell, sell, sell to make sure we have enough money for the down payment of the house and to move as well! We're both staying positive over all though, because at least we're working towards our dream, and not just sitting on it...

Benjamin 'reading' a flyer last week...

However on a good note, our real estate agent Bruce contacted us last week to let us know that a freelance reporter named Rachel Brighton was looking to publish a story on portable businesses and if he could help her resource any people she could interview, and he thought of us, the Toronto couple in Ontario looking for a home in Bridgetown. So Rachel contacted us and interviewed us and published our story in The Chronicle Herald local Newspaper!
Here's the link if you would all like to check it out:
http://thechronicleherald.ca/business/67253-toronto-record-dealer-brings-his-tunes-bridgetown

Rachel did a fantastic job with our story, and she even featured one of Michael's Cape Breton 78's in her article -The fiddler was A.A. Gillis, and the song is tittled Johnnie Cope. The next day, Rachel emailed us to let us know that some gentleman by the name of Brian read her article about us and wanted to get in touch with Michael to talk to him more about his featured Cape Breton record in the article. Michael contacted him back by email right away, and it turns out that Brian is married to one of the daughter of the late A.A. Gillis the popular folk artist fiddler featured in Michael's 78 record in the article!

Apparently A.A. Gillis had 6 daughters as we discovered from Brian, and none of the daughters have any of their father's recordings of his beloved folk music, so they were excited to get in touch with Michael so that they can hear their father's music again! What an amazing story!

Check out the featured 78 record on Michael's YouTube link!
http://www.youtube.com/user/Gamelan78s?feature=mhee

Rachel was kind enough to follow up with us by email to let us know that people in Bridgetown were approaching her in church telling her that they had read her article and were quite happy that 'The Record Man' and his family were coming to Bridgetown!
Michael also spoke with Bruce recently to inquire about the house situation and Bruce told Michael that ever since Rachel's article came out with our story that he's been overwhelmed with phone calls from people who are selling their houses and telling him that they read this story in the newspaper about a couple from Toronto looking to buy a house in Bridgetown and that they have their houses up for sale! Unfortunately none of them are within our budget though, but it's the thought that counts! People in Bridgetown are so helpful that they're willing to even sell us our homes so we can move there!
It appears as though our story is definitely making it's own little ripple effect in Bridgetown and in Nova Scotia as we're finding out!

So although we haven't secured a house yet in Bridgetown, it looks we've already made an imprint on Bridgetown and all signs are pointing us in the right direction. So thank you Rachel for publishing our story! We're so touched and humbled by the positive response we've had so far, and the people we've gotten connected with.

So far no there is nothing to report on the housing situation, but wow, what a start! I'm just excited to get to Bridgetown, and can't wait to settle in and meet our new community! So I guess that old saying is true - Home is where the heart is!