We got it!

We got the house and we're moving in a little more than a week! Our current landlord said that if we can get out before the first then he won't ask us to pay any rent. We told him we'd be out by the 5th, so we'll end up paying some money, but not as much as if we stayed for the whole 30 days. It's really great of him, and it puts the pressure on us to get moving. Our new place won't be ready until the 1st, so it gives us a little time to pack and they are letting us put things in the garage in the meantime. It doesn't help that we're going away for three days for a family reunion this weekend and that Neil will be working every day, 12 hour days, after we get back until the first. But, we'll get it together. I work better under pressure, though I also don't handle stress very well. Haha, make up your mind lady!

I'm very sad to leave my current neighborhood, though. I would stay here for a long time if our house were bigger. It is simply too small for us with the baby. Change is good, but my heart is sad at the same time. I've lived in my little duplex for nearly five years and have been through a lot here. It is very hard to leave, but we'll be much better off in our new house. HOUSE. Plus, you never know where Neil's job will take us. He could continue to work for AMR here in Portland, but if he can get a job at a fire department somewhere that would be much better. We may not even be in our new house for a year before we move for his work. Or, we could be in it for years to come.

It's also a little scary making a commitment to a house and higher bills. It's hard to trust that we'll have what we need, but I have to. To quote Bob Marley, every little thing's gonna be alright.

Love,
Aislinn

I Heart The Special Olympics

Neil does a lot of volunteer first aid for the Special Olympics, and he also sings the national anthem for all of the events that he volunteers at. I saw this photo on my screen saver from the Summer games recently and I just love it.

She was so gentle and kind to Riley, she just stood there and petted his little head.

I cry every time I go to an event. The athletes are so genuine and have such amazing spirits. We could all learn a great deal from them - to persevere in the face of adversity. Not only that, but to be so happy while doing it!

Love,

Aislinn

Writing News

Well, I found out some good news and some bad news about a couple of articles that I wrote for Curve magazine. They WILL be published - I hadn't heard anything for awhile and had this fear that they hated my writing and wouldn't publish my articles. But, they won't be published until early 2009! That was pretty surprising, but the executive editor sounded firm that they would be published (unless that was just her way of putting me off for now. I have too much self doubt). Of course it will be hard to wait, but it's just the way that it is. I really want to find other writing work, but I don't have any clips to show that I've been published, other than a few small clips of reviews that I wrote. But, I'll do my best with what I've got.

House update: I finally got an email back from the landlord of the Milwaukie house. He says that he feels optimistic about our application and will let me know tomorrow...eeeeeeee! Is this really coming together? That makes me excited and nervous.

Love,
Aislinn

On to the next

Well, we turned down house number one. I just couldn't get comfortable with it. But, I found a house in Milwaukie, really close to the river and Elk Rock Island. It's on a bit of a busy street, but I'm willing to compromise for a location so close to the river. It is a split level house but the living room, kitchen (which is gigantic compared to my current one) and garage are on the main level. Downstairs is a family room, bathroom and utility room and upstairs are three bedrooms and a bathroom. So, we could take the upstairs and my mom could have the downstairs. The house is also not as private as we were hoping for (particularly compared to house number one), but it does have a nice large yard in the back and on the side for the baby to frolic.

I've already turned in the application, but I haven't heard from the landlord yet, and I emailed it to him two nights ago. I don't expect an answer on whether we've been accepted or not yet as he was showing the house to other people this weekend, but an acknowledgment that he's received it would be nice. He just had a baby two weeks ago, though, so I imagine he's more focused on that right now and probably not in a huge hurry to check email over the weekend.

Neil has the day off tomorrow and he's going to gymnastics with Riley and I. I can't wait for him to see how adorable it is.

Love,
Aislinn

We're really movin' now

Well, it's moving time. We haven't actually found a house yet, but we've been looking for awhile now and I'm finally truly motivated, and nearing excited, about it. I've been flip flopping because the options for us to afford a house right now are to either rent a small house in Parkrose that my ex-step dad's brother owns, or to find a house with my mom. Now, your first thought is probably that it's preferable NOT to live with my mom. However, she would be such a huge help financially and with the baby. But, to be able to live with her, we would need a house with a separate living living/bonus/basement/loft/whatever so that we can each have our own space. As one might imagine, that is not very easy to find - at least not in our price range or location preference. So, it's been a struggle to find the "right" house. Oh, and my ex-step uncle's house is not ready and it is definitely not a priority for him and we're tired of waiting.

We checked out a house a couple days ago and it's just okay. It has a whole separate living area with a bathroom that would be perfect for my mom. And it's very private. The negatives are that we'd have to buy a refrigerator, it's hardwood floors throughout the whole house - which might be nice for some but we have a baby that is getting close to crawling and so we'd need a lot of rugs, which means more of an expense - and there is a huge "sun room" attached to the back of the house. This may seem cool, and it kinda is, but that means there is no back yard...no view of a back yard...just a view, from the bedrooms and living room, of a big room with white walls and a white cement floor. You could get creative with it, but it's just not ideal. Plus, the house just feels kind of funky, for lack of a better word.

So, I mention all that because the owner has several people who want the house, but called us yesterday and said that if we want the house then they'll rent it to us (after paying $40 each, of course, to do a background/credit check). So, I've been going back and forth on whether the house is really right for us. Then, I decided to check craigslist again and found several homes that are right at our max rent level but are nicer than this other home. Not as private, but more updated - and include refrigerators. Which means that now I'm on a mad dash to see all these homes so I can let the owners of the other home know whether we want their house or not.

It's good. I needed something to motivate me. Moving with a six-month-old does not sound fun (plus I really love my neighborhood). But, it's time to bight the bullet and just get movin'. Living with mom will be a good thing. And when it's not, we'll deal with it. Our society is so strange about independence anyways. I mean that in the sense that some see it as a negative thing when a young family lives with a parent(s), perhaps for emotional or financial dependence. But the way I see it is that family is the most important thing in our lives and it's wonderful to be able to help each other.

Well, I gotta run. Baby just woke up and it's time to go see some houses!

Love,
Aislinn

Riley ate on 8/8/08

Riley had his first solid food today! I gave him a little organic rice cereal mixed with breastmilk and he loved it. It was awkward for him, of course, because he's used to sucking for his food, but overall he did really well. I fed him with one hand and took pictures with the other, as best as I could. Neil was bummed out that he wasn't there for it, but his days off are few and far between and I didn't want to wait any longer.

Working 12 hour days means that he kisses Riley while he's still asleep in the morning and, if I'm able to get him down by nine, kisses him when he gets home. Occasionally Neil gets to see him after he gets home from work, but it's only for a half hour or so. It's not ideal, but it's the way it is. River rescue season is over after Labor Day, though, and Neil will be on to his internship on an ambulance. We don't know where yet. Hopefully Newberg or Redmond. My dad knows the Redmond fire chief and put in a call for Neil and it looks like it might go through. It's much better than Las Vegas or South Carolina, the only other options for PCC students right now. It's slim pickins.

Happy 8/8/08! It's a day to create abundance.

Love,
Aislinn

Picture Perfect

So, I said at one point that I wasn't comfortable with posting pictures of Riley on the Internet. Then, I posted photos from the shoot with Laura Domela. And now I'm posting another one from today. Riley has a gymnastics class in Beaverton on Mondays (yes, gymnastics, folks. It helps to develop motor skills and it makes him active, lets him play with other babies and it's just plain adorable). And, on the way home, my mom and I usually stop at Babies R Us for diapers or whatever we might be in need of. Well, that store is a vortex for us. We can spend hours in there. I think we spent about four hours in there today. No joke. But, a large part of that was because we decided to do some portraits. Riley was so cute, as always of course. And, because I'm a proud, cheesy mama, I want to share at least one photo:

Picture Perfect

Love,
Aislinn