Recap of the last month

Here are a couple of pictures that make me smile! Cole is smiling now...he started at about six weeks old and now he flashes us big grins all the time which we love.

Ever since Cole was born, life has been pretty crazy at the Hurter household. On top of having a newborn and getting used to life with two kids, we accepted an offer on our house on June 2nd with a July 20th close date!? Our house had been on the market for almost ten months. Cole was only a week and a half old at the time when we accepted the offer! Aagh...so not much tme to find a place and move. We're focusing our home search in Downers Grove. With the closing quickly approaching, we still hadn't found a place yet so Plan B was to live with my parents until we found something. Then...the Friday before the closing we get a call from our lawyer saying that the buyer's mortgage was denied at the last minute...you've got to be kidding me! Half of our house was in boxes at this point. To make a long story short...we have a new close date set (August 24th) and it looks like the buyers will be able to get a mortgage through another lender. Thank God we hadn't bought another house yet! We're still house hunting and have a couple good prospects. We'll most likely still be moving in with my parents for a little bit though unless we make an offer on something really quickly and can get a quick closing date.

Despite the craziness, we were able to get away to the lake at the end of June. My parents took Nolan up on Thursday and Dave, Cole, and I came up on Saturday. We went to a fly-in at the small local airport which Nolan really enjoyed. They also had a pancake breakfast there so Nolan was loving life...airplanes and pancakes. We also went to the annual neighborhood summer party. Here's a slideshow of pictures from that weekend:


Becky and George came in for a visit over the 4th and we had a nice time sticking close to home. This is the first time that we've stayed in Mt. Prospect for the 4th and it was fun taking Nolan to the parade. They don't mess around in Mt. Prospect...the parade was an hour and 45 minutes long with over 100 entries. And it seemed like everyone in the parade was throwing candy so Nolan had fun chasing after that. We also went to the Mt. Prospect pancake breakfast that morning. Do you notice a theme here...our little guy loves pancakes!! Having George and Becky here was especially helpful because it let Dave and I scoot away to go look at houses without taking along two kids. We made an offer on a house that weekend and had a few rounds of negotiations back and forth, but we ultimately didn't meet on a price. We think they're overpriced and we kind of think we could still ultimately end up at the house if we just sit tight and wait it out. The sellers are building a house which is done in October and we think they'll start getting nervous at the thought of two mortgages. Time will tell. Here are pics from the 4th and others from this summer:


I can't believe that Cole turned two months yesterday. This maternity leave has flown by. I'm supposed to return back to work this coming Monday. After a lot of thought, I came to the decision that I really want to be a full-time stay at home mom. Right now I'm working part-time (20 hours/week). With that, I had to make the dreaded call to my boss last Friday to give her my two weeks notice. I was so nervous. They have been so good to me at Hospira and I've had such a great part-time set-up since Nolan was born. But I just know for me personally, trying to juggle work with two kids is going to be too much. I feel fortunate that we're in a situation that I'm able to stay home. I'll go into the office this Monday to turn in my laptop and clean out my desk. Then marks the beginning of a new chapter in my life. I think it will be wonderful. June 17th was Nolan's last day at daycare which was bittersweet. They have been wonderful with him and he has learned so much by being in daycare. He's been going twice a week since he was 15 weeks old. He really enjoys his friends and teachers there and I'm hoping he likes staying home with mommy full-time just as much. =) Here are pics from his last day:


Cole is doing great and growing like a weed! At 1 month old he was 11 lb, 11 oz. and at his six week check-up he was 13 lb, 8 oz and 24 inches!! He had grown 4 inches and 5 pounds in six weeks! We grow 'em big! He's been in 6 month clothes now for the past couple weeks. Nolan is so good with Cole...he's very sweet and gentle and has no jealousy towards him...knock on wood. It's been a fun, crazy ride so far and we wouldn't change it for anything! We hope you're all doing well and enjoying your summer.