About the JOB
Resident managing a 74 unit town house complex and moving into one of the units takes a lot of time! I am doing paperwork, making phone calls, and emailing everyday from about 1-5pm. The rest of the time from 8am-5pm I answer phones and the door, show suites, let contractors in to units needing work, take in rent, give notices and more. Then from 5-9pm, and all day Saturday, I show suits, do move In's and move outs. Then every 3 weeks I am on call for a week in the evenings and have to deal with any emergencies that come up from 4 other complexes. As much as we like resident managing, we hope that we will only have to stay here until 2013 :)
Then there is the job of being a mom. So while I am doing all of this apartment stuff, William and I still make time to go to Butterfield Acres, swimming, Gymboree, and the park. We do laundry and make pancakes, go for walks, do dishes, kick the ball, clean up toys, read books, dance, make cookies and bread, have a nap, go shopping, watch "Super Why" and watch the trains go by.
About the NW
We LOVE it! At first I was ashamed to say what part of town I lived in, but after getting to know it a bit, it is so great! We are close to the river and pathways. The view is fantastic of parks and the city. The neighborhood is quiet because the streets are not busy. We are close to the mountains and parks and have lots of access to schools, shopping and malls. The new Temple that is being built is only 15 minutes or less from where we live.
About the House
We live in a 4 bedroom townhouse. We have our own washer and dryer and a dishwasher! Who knew such simple appliances could make one's life so much happier! We have a back yard with a fire pit and a front yard with a tree. There is a field just outside our fence perimeter also with lots of space to run and play. At night, we can see the stars. We are loving living in this part of the city and we are enjoying our new place. We have a basement for storing all our stuff. Trust me, we have a lot. It took a 5 ton truck completely full plus filling up 4 vehicles before the truck came and another couple of car loads after the truck came. It's sad how there are only 3 of us and we have so many things and that were able to fit in a 2 bedroom apartment. Tyler says "the next move is going to be our last, so we really have to love the next house we move to"! He is just imagining that we will have even more to move next time and he only wants to move it once.
The place is old and we would like to get new windows and add insulation to the basement. The cupboards are all old but the paint and flooring is fairly new and it feels nice to have carpet. William took a couple weeks to adjust after moving here. He just wanted to sleep with mommy and daddy. Those were pretty rough nights those first few weeks cause it was hard to sleep next to my cuddly, wiggly toddler. He calls our new place the "house, home". We tried to visit as much as possible before we moved and I would say "we are going to the new house". He would get really excited and say "new house". He has finally gotten used to being here and figured out that all his toys are here and that it is a pretty fun place to live.
Tyler's sister lives in the complex too so we have lots of fun getting together with them. William is loving playing with his cousin. They run around the house and play with cars and learn how to share and play together. Tyler's sister's cat just had kittens. They allow pets here and William really loves animals and cats especially. We are probably going to take the little runt. If we do, we are going to call her persistence (Percy for short). To show that she had to be persistent to survive and that we have to be persistent so that we can get out of debt and get a down payment for a house.
About Church
Well, we had to speak already but we don't have callings yet. I'm sure that will not last too long though. It seems like we have a good ward but we haven't really had a chance to get to talk to very many people because we have to leave right after church so William can have a nap. William really likes nursery here and he loves to say prayers (with help of course) and learn about Jesus.
About William
I can't believe how quickly he learns. He can recognize most of the letters of the alphabet. He knows a lot of colors including ones like navy blue and grey. He has so many words in his vocabulary and he signs a lot too. When eating a food he enjoys "uummm, delicious" is his favorite thing to say. Some of the little things he has picked up from what I say is "uh huh" and "yeah". So he will say "choo, choo train, yeah" or "blue ball, uh huh". He loves to sing songs and read book, throw and kick a ball and run (we are definitely going to put him in soccer). Swinging at the park could last all day if he was allowed and he always goes down the slide on his tummy. It's funny how he likes to make messes. When playing in the sand box or in rocks at the park, he will put sand into a dump truck or onto the slide and then say "oh, no mess!" He also says this when I dump his cheerios into the bowl, when he dumps his blocks all over the floor, when he empties the laundry out of the basket and his drawers and when children jump off the diving board and make a big splash. Blowing out candles could also keep him occupied all day. I think for his birthday cake I will put one of those trick candles that keeps lighting after you blow it out.
One day we went out in the field and found many dandelions. I said "William, that's a dandelion, can you say dandelion" and he tried that best he could which was pretty close. Then a little later we were going to the car where he found a dandelion and said "dandy flower, yeah". So that is what he calls the dandelions.
Outside is where he would be all the time. He gets so sad when it's time to come in. He also loves to go in the wagon which he calls "wagons". Fans and flags are two of his favorite things. Anything that goes around is a fan, even if it is just a toy phone that he is spinning around and around. Stickers are another favorite, I find a sticker on my socks at least once a day. His favorite song is Feist (he thinks she is Maya) 1.2.3.4 the sesame street version.
Independence is his goal. He wants to do everything by himself including climbing up and down stairs, putting lids on and off, holding cups, feeding himself and more! He says " I see self!" He has his 8 front teeth 4 on top and 4 on the bottom and only 4 molars. His diet consists of fruit, avocado, potatoes, chicken, spaghetti, pizza, yogurt, milk, gold fish crackers, toast and jam, and the only vegetables I can get him to eat are tomatoes and cucumber (calls it cumer) and POPCORN and that's about it.
Well that's about it! I can't think of much else to say. I know this is really long but a lot has happened in the last few months so I guess I had a lot to tell. Next time will be shorter (I promise) and hopefully it wont take me as long to write something.
