Baby's First Christmas

Dancing Baby

Original Video

Just so we remember...

On the Wednesday night church service before Thanksgiving, Chase was especially sleepy and cuddled with us, even wrapped his arms around us. Since then, he's been more affectionate than he has in the past. Particularly when he wakes up (he likes to be held and nuzzled) or when he's overwhelmed (he comes for a reassuring hug).

Chase loves water and anything that has to do with water. In addition to his pool time each Tuesday, he still goes nuts over a cup of water, or a wet wash cloth. Most parents have to fuss to wipe their baby's face, but not us. Chase dives right into it and likes to suck on it.

And Chase got his 5th tooth today (or maybe last night).

First Step!

This morning Chase took his hands off the chair and took very small step towards the Christmas tree. At which point he could have both hands on the Christmas tree. And tried to eat a glass ornament.

Jitter

I recently got a Moka. It makes 6 cups of espresso. I don't really love coffee but enjoy a latte from time to time.

This morning I split it's contents with Megan and we're both very buzzed. Turns out 3 shots of espresso can do that to you.

No Title

Winter has hit Oregon with a swift kick in the booty. Our kick came yesterday when we had a pipe burst. Thankfully, it was part of the sprinkler system which has its own shutoff valve. Also, thanks to my dad and neighbor who helped me pry off the cover to the street shutoff for the house. Since we were able to shutoff the sprinkler system we won't have to worry about the water until spring, when it will be warmer to deal with.

As of tomorrow Chase will be ten months old. There are currently three teeth in his mouth, I kinda miss the toothless grin. He's a super sweet heart, always sharing a smile with me. Since he loves to laugh, he pretend laughs all the time. This can sound a bit like a cough and a grunt which makes me laugh prompting him to pretend laugh harder. It's one of the many games we play. Getting him to laugh for real is quite a challenge. I haven't yet been able to do it consistently. The best time to get him to right around bed time. Playing with him around bed time is like playing with fire though, as soon as you quit playing he'll probably start crying.

Today Megan dressed him in an outfit that was a gift. I thought it made him look like a girl, Megan said "It will let him crawl better and keep him warm." In the evening as I was holding Chase a girl made a comment "She looks like the Gerber baby." At least he is still cute.

Tomorrow is also Megan's last day at work. She's going to become Chase's full time Mamma. I'm really glad we can make this happen for our family. People always ask us if we're having another kid, we do plan too but there won't be one in the next nine months.

That's all for now. Here's a picture of Chase on Halloween...

Outdoor Fun

In addition to all our holiday and birthday (Troy's) fun, we've managed to get outside to enjoy Andrew's vacation days. On Friday, we went up to HooDoo for some skiing. Andrew and I took turns skiing and playing with Chase in the lodge. So much fun, I'm so happy to be skiing again. Today we went to Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge. We had sunny mild weather and saw 18 deer and thousands of geese. Chase slept on Andrew's back in the baby backpack as we walked.

The Decision to Stay Home

Well, after a great deal of deliberating and praying, the decision has been made! I will become a full-time mommy on December 12th (so long as I get my grades in on the 11th). The math department, and Chase's sitter have been informed, so it's very final. Why? I want to be with Chase, and I think it's best for him!

We're going to sell the Saturn, so we'll have 1 car and 1 motorcycle. Andrew will usually take a vehicle to work, so I plan to take the bus to get to the gym (Kroc Center) and a mom's group (church), and possibly for groceries. I hope to walk (with Chase in the baby backpack) to a few playdates in the neighborhood (the furthest is 2 miles).

Just a few short years ago I was completely immersed in math and research - totally career oriented. I could not have imagined wanting to be a stay-at-home-mom. So really why? It's been fun and interesting to hear what questions people have about this decision. So what are you going to do all day? Is your schedule too much for you to balance work and parenting? Are you pregnant? Are you trying to get pregnant? What about money?

Note, I had to defend my decision to go back to work as well! So, I'd like to encourage other moms and families just to figure out what's best for your family. :o)

So after Chase was born, I certainly didn't want to leave him and go back to work. But, I thought there was a strong possibility that once I went back to work and got into that routine, that I'd enjoy the time away and together all the more. And there was no way to find out, but to try it. We did try it. I still do love to teach, but I found I just want to be with Chase. I spend my days at school counting the minutes until I can pick up Chase. He's only 9-months old once!

I'm not pregnant, nor do we plan to have more kids very soon. Let's get this family caught up on sleep before we add to it! Chase still nurses once each night.

As for money, it came down to me working now so we could have more family time later. Well there are few garantees in life, so we're taking family time now.

Chase's sitter, Kasyn, is absolutely amazing. Chase has great care and lots of love during the 4 days (7 hours per day) when I'm away. He gets tons of attention and interaction with her and the other kids. He learns a lot there, imitates the older kids, and has fun. We are even planning a regular playdate when I am finished working. So quality childcare is not the issue.

How about the schedule? Well, working and parenting is crazy. But, after the first few weeks of adjusting, it's not all that much crazier than being home with Chase. And anyone who's spent a good deal of time with young kids knows being home is no vacation. Sometimes, working is easier than being home. Even during his naps, I'm doing housework (not so easy when he's awake... how does my sister manage 2 babies?!), there's always plenty to do. You don't exactly get time to yourself. Still, it is much more enjoyable to be home with Chase, rather than away from him and at work. What am I going to do all day? If you mean this when you ask this, you haven't spent a day with a baby (or you have a poor memory). I'll try to do a "24 hours" post in the future. Some othere mommies have asked me this, and I think they mean, won't you go crazy all day alone with your kid?! Yes, I think I would. That's why it's going to be so important for us to go to the Kroc Center (swimming!), mom's group, Kasyn's playdate, and a couple other regular playdates with neighbors, and I assume grandparents. On top of that we're going to cram in housework, yardwork, learning to walk/talk/read/sing/color/potty/share/count/etc.

I'm really looking forward to this time with our baby, and I'm so grateful that Andrew is giving us this time together. :o)

Friend or Foe?

First Tooth!

Chase's first tooth came in today. It's on the bottom in the front. He's been drooling quite a bit lately and we thought we felt one in the back about a week ago but the first visible one is in the front.

Cloth Diapers

Some time in the fall of 2008 we decided to use cloth diapers for our first child. We had various reasons for this the mains ones, in order of importance, are environmental, economic, and sustainability. We have all different types of cloth diapers.

Prefolds: these are the type that most people, us included, use as burp rags. They are 24"x18" and the middle third is thicker than the outside thirds. You wrap you baby in them and then cover them. These are the least expensive but also take the most work. You have to wrap the baby, fasten them and then cover them. These cost less than a dollar each and the covers are $9-$12 each.

All in ones: We were at a second hand baby clothes store asking if they had any cloth diapers and another customer volunteered that she had a few that she wasn't using anymore and gave them to us. The have a cloth section sewed to a nylon cover and usually a flap that folds in for easy drying. These are much easier to put on than the prefolds. They cost about $15-$20 each. We have about 5 of them.

Pocket diapers. These have a nylon cover with polypro lining. The lining has an opening that allows you insert an absorption cloth. These are as easy to put on as a All in one but you have to take them apart after washing to get them to dry. We have 15 of these. They cost $17 each.

Here I'd like to compare our experience with cloth and paper diapers.

Environmental:

Disposable diapers are made out of plastic and paper and are not disposable at all. They sit in land fills for a long period of time or are burnt and pollute the air. Cloth diapers, ours are actually nylon, polyester and cotton, are not perfect. Their production energy cost is substantial but the main problem is the amount of water that is used when cleaning them. We have a front loading washer that when run on the fastest cycle probably uses about 15 gallons of water. The electricy cost is fairly negliable, our electric bill didn't go up when we started doing them (308 kWh, 309 kWh and 296 kWh for Jan, Feb and March of 2009), but our water bill didn't either. Originally I thought that cloth diapers where near perfect but there is quite a bit of research saying that they have as much environmental impact as their paper cousins. In practice however I think the assumptions they took are skewed (one such research project was funded by Procter and Gamble which has a large portion of the $3.2 billion dollar paper diaper market).For one, we always air dry the diapers. They easily dry in six hours. Second, the water usage is for top loading washers, these use forty gallons of water or more per load. In addition the diapers we got supposedly fit 8-35 pound babies so we won't have to buy new ones every 6 to 9 months as some of the studies assume.

Winner: Cloth

Economics:

The upfront cost of cloth diapers is steep. Especially if you have a large hospital bill to pay. We spent about $250 on these diapers and had 5 or 6 given to us. But over time they easily pay for themselves. The cheapest I've seen paper diapers go for is $.14 each. When Chase was first born he went through 12-16 diapers a day ( I know, I washed them). At that price in eight weeks we would have spent as much as $125. Now he goes through 6-8 per day but even at that amount after 8 months we would have spent $260. Cloth diapers don't last forever. They have velcro closures that will wear out someday but after eight months they look good as new. We will really come ahead if we can use them for our next child.

Winner: Cloth

Convience:

This is why most people use paper diapers. It is easier and quicker to go to the store and pick up package of diapers then to wash them and hang them to dry. We use paper diapers anytime we travel. Anything longer than one overnight, we don't want to be carry around soiled diapers. Cleaning diapers takes me about 10 minutes every other night. Although until Chase was about 4 months old this was every night. The main time that it's inconvenient is when we're gone all day and get home to dirty diapers that need to be washed. For this reason we always have a package of paper diapers in the house. Paper diapers aren't perfect either. You do run out them and when you do you can't just wash them and go to bed.

Winner: Paper

Absorption:

When Chase was younger this would have been a hands down victory for cloth. The paper diapers always left him with poo on his back. Now that he's older I'd say they both do.

Winner: Draw

Since we did invest the money (and are very happy we did) I'm going to stop while cloth is winning :) Actually I have lots more to say but am not sure anyone will be interested. If you have any questions leave a comment and I'd be happy to answer it. I'm also going to plug the kind of diapers we like best. If you are going to get some cloth diapers don't bother getting all different kinds and seeing what you like. Get the Bum Genius 3.0. It's the best. And get them from Wee Bunz in Corvallis Oregon they have free shipping!

California

The fam headed south this past weekend to see family, specifically my nephew who was graduating from Marine Corps boot camp. Chase did really well on the plane again which was relief. Here he is with his cousins (except the one who did the graduating)...


We've taken to trying the cry it out or Ferber method after a few weeks of nearly sleepless nights. The first night was actually wonderful. We were dreading it all day long but he only got up a few times that night. We didn't just leave him in his crib until he quit crying, rather we went in to comfort him, without picking him up, every few minutes. The time between comforting gradually increases. By the third night we didn't have to go in at all when he first went to sleep. We've also decided that it's okay for him to eat once a night. So far he's gotten up at least once every night but it has been a lot better. We'll see how he adjusts after going on the trip. We were a little more lax with him while on vacation. Last night he got up five or six times but he went right back to sleep when Megan put his pacifier back in.

Summer is still in full effect here in Oregon. I think the temperature yesterday was 90. Chase get's lots of outside time in the evenings when it's like this...


We leave our windows open all night to let the house cool so in the mornings it's cold enough for a sleeper...


So far Oliver hasn't ever been annoyed with Chase. It may happen but so far they're good buddies...


He spent a lot of his summer like this...


Music to my ears...



Original Video

Family Update

Chase is 6 1/2 months old now. He's a really happy baby, and always makes us smile. Just so we remember, here's what he's up to lately:

Eating: He's still breastfed and not so great with a bottle, although he can do it when need be. He started solids a few days before his 6-month birthday. He now eats rice, barley, squash, avocado, and banana. Avocado seems to be his favorite. He loves to drink water, from sippy cups and especially from a regular grown up cup. We make all his food. The barley and brown rice we just add extra water and puree, the squash we steam and puree. Then portions we won't use in a few days go in ice cube trays until they freeze, and then the cubs to a freezer bag, and we just pop them out and warm them up as we need them. A recent discovery is that solid foods result in solid turds. We're still getting used to this, and it takes both parents and a bath to clean him and his diaper up. Recently, we were giggling as we watched his face and listened to him toot. A few minutes later we were shocked as we cleaned up, "What if he does this when we're out somewhere?!" "I just don't know," said the bewildered parents.

We started him on solids mainly because he showed so much interest. No Chase, you can't have ice cream just yet.
And here is Andrew giving Chase his first taste of something (rice) other than milk.

Sleeping: He naps twice a day, from about 8:30-10 and 12:30-2/2:30. He used to be a good sleeper at night, but not for the last month or two. We're working really hard to fix that. He just wakes up and needs help going back to sleep quite often. Some nights he sleeps through the night (I'd guess about once per week), but most often he's up a lot, sometimes every hour. We're working on a lot of things, but the main ones are sticking to our routine (you mean we have to be home by 7pm and for all his naps on a Saturday?!), and putting him down before he's asleep (he's only good at falling asleep in our arms, which is a challenge the 5th time in the night). This morning we celebrated because he slept 4 hours in a row, something he first did at 4 or 5 weeks of age! I must mention that right now he's sleeping in his teddy bear sleeper and is just heart-melting. He's just so lovable it makes the lack of sleep bearable. He's finally seemed to outgrow swaddling over the last few weeks.

Playing: He's just a happy little guy. At the moment, he loves to sit up on his own and play with cloth blocks (well, suck on them, just like everything else). He's starting to get into stuff now, like grab the pen when I write, grabbing our plates, patting the keyboard if we type near him. Over the weekend, we set him in a bed of stones, and he picked up handfuls of them, and we were surprised that he didn't put them in his mouth, like everything else he gets ahold of. How did he know he shouldn't eat stones? He's rolled and rolled (2 months ago he earned the nickname "the Human Steam Roller" from his cousin Noah), but he's bored with that now, and would much rather sit. He loves story time and laundry time (folding clothes is great fun!). He's mesmorized when I play the keyboard, and he loved when my dad played guitar for him. He enjoys all his grandparents, aunts, and uncles, but you should see his face when Grandma B starts cooing and talking to him. And Andrew can get him giggling and laughing like no one else. There's tickling and tossing and the happiest noises you've ever heard.

Talking?!: He babbles and coos, and yes, you can laugh at us, but Dad and I believe he says words. Twice now, he's looked at Andrew and said, "Dada." Two syllables, not even dadadadada... like he often does. He says, "Nummnummnumm" when he wants to nurse (more like a noise than a word, but certainly communication). Around 5 am this morning, Chase decided it was playtime. As to not encourage playing at night, I lay down next to him in the dark with my back to him and pretended to be asleep. He did all he could to get my attention (or maybe I was just the only thing he could play with), he patted my back, shrieked, and then he said, "Mama, HHIIIIIII!!!" It took everything I had to show no reaction, but I stopped breathing and my heart may have skipped a beat or two. I would have thought it a coincidence (and yes, you can keep laughing at me), but we say hi, dada, numnum, and mama to him in context quite a bit. And yesterday I said HHIIIII to him all day long.

Chase isn't the only one in the family!

Oliver is just as cute and fun as ever.

Andrew's enjoying his vegetable garden. He's really done all the building, digging, planting, watering, and other tending. We've had beans, tomatoes, basil, and more. We also have some humungous squash, but... we also joined a CSA (community supported agriculture), and we get weekly deliveries of veggies (salad greens, garlic, eggplant, peas, beans, beets, kale, swiss chard, all kinds of stuff). They have a ridiculous amount of squash, so much they have to throw some out, so we're just letting our garden squash get as big as it can on the plant, since we have no use for it. Andrew collected all the basil and made lots of pesto and froze it so we can enjoy it all year long. We're also enjoying all kind of berries. I've helped a little, but Andrew's been good about picking blackberries. Then he freezes them and can have them all year too. Jen helped me make some of the strawberries into jam. Andrew's also been riding his bike with Scott (they're training for the Peach of a Century!), and doing some work on his Subaru (replaced the busted mirror, peeling hood scoop, changed spark pulgs). He was even nice to me when I backed it into our fence a couple days ago (minimal damage).

Here are some of the vegetables.

I've been working on notes for when I go back to teach (28 September). We found a nice lady a few blocks away who will take care of Chase while I'm away. I know she'll love him, be attentive, and take great care of him, but I'm going to be so heartbroken to be away from him. The longest I've been apart from him so far has been less than 3 hours. I will work 4 days per week (Tuesdays off), and all my classes and office hours are between 8am-2pm. Because I'm doing so much preparation over the summer (during Chase's naps), I shouldn't have to do too much more work outside of those hours. I will do some grading on Tuesdays during his naps, but that should be most of it. Also, both of his naps are during the hours when I work, so that helps minimize the playtime I miss. I think it will be hard at first, but good for our family after a few weeks. Please pray for us!

My sister, Kate, and her husband are expecting a new baby in just 2 weeks! They'll have 2 boys less than a year old. Pray for them!

My mom recently said goodbye to her guinea pig, Squeak. He lived a good life and got lots of love and attention, including hand feedings for quite a while.

Through one of Sachiko's friends, I met another family with a 9-month-old son. Here we are walking at Bush Park.
Here's some hiking fun with cousins. Eric, Sachiko and family visited Salem. They whole family and Grandma and Grandpa Boes went hiking with us. Chase seems to enjoy being in the backpack.

We also went hiking with the Bradleys at Hearts Cove. Just beautiful. Wow Tiffanie, what a leap! Uh, oh - Scott and Megan still have to make it, with babies on their backs!

Here was one of the views. We could here and see sea lions.

Cutie

Amazing Baby

I'm holding our amazing baby boy. His surgery went well today. He was cheerful beforehand, even though he wasn't allowed to eat, and is waking up sweetly as the anesthesia wears off now. We love our baby so very much, and are grateful for everyone's prayers and support.

Baby Backpacking

I guess you wouldn't call what Chase did backpacking. He really went sleep packing, but he's really good at it.

We headed to Marion Lake last Saturday for some camping with friends. The weather was really great and so was the company. Oliver was self sufficent this time around, he carried his own food, bowl, and tennis ball.

He was really great on the hike, although his lack of awarness of his pack earned him the nickname wide load. More than once that pack almost tripped me as he would jog by.

If it weren't for the mosquitos we would have had a good campsite too.

At least we had a great view. Megan and I are a new and overly protective parents when it comes to bug spray, so we didn't use any. This wasn't a huge problem until about an hour before sunset. Then the litte parasites came out for dinner so we retreated to our tent. Baby's first bug bite isn't something you get real proud of, but it's still a first.

Being a great roller isn't always an advantage. Sometimes you get a mouth full of dirt.

I managed to get a couple sunset pics before getting eaten alive.

Happy family...

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

Chase is addicted to rolling. He can't stop himself. When we put him down he immediatly rolls onto his left side then suspends himself there for awhile. About half the time he then rolls onto his back and the other half onto his stomache. When he was three weeks old he would occasionally roll from his belly to his back but this was an accident and it has become very infrequent. Consequently Mom and Dad have to roll him back to his back after three or four minuets on his front.

Original Video - More videos at TinyPic

East Coast Swing

For his first plane ride Chase chose the red-eye from Portland to Newark. It was a good choice, he slept four out of the six hours we were in the air. The bad part was that his parents and grandparents were dead tired the next day. But we all survived.

The fam visited Megan's relatives during the week of the Forth of July. It was a very relaxing trip for me and also nice to get to spend so much time with my son.

Chase got to meet a lot of his family for the first time. Aunts, uncles, great uncles, great aunts...

Including his cousin Conner...

Chase isn't very good at sharing...

He also learned some music appreciation...

Flying with a baby was not nearly as bad as I had feared. In fact there are some bonuses. The first of which is that you get to board the plane early. This is a huge advantage because we never check any bags, we got first access to the overhead bins. The second is that it gave Megan and I an excuse to walk up and down the aisle burping and entertaining Chase. The downsides is how cramped it was. Fortunately we sat next to some very gracious people who gave lots of compliments about the behavior of our child. It's really nice to hear, even though we didn't have anything to do with it.

Driving in the car has been the biggest struggle so far. Chase doesn't really like to be in a car seat for more that twenty minutes. We're not sure if he gets car sick or if he's just cranky. We tried to time all of our car trips around his naps. The key to travelling this way is flexibility. We rarely told anyone that we would be meeting them at a certain time. Mostly though we tried to have people come to Meg's parents house.

All in all it was a very good trip. Now it's back to work :(

Can Oliver come out and play?

Of course we adore our dog, but he's become quite popular around the neighborhood as well. In addition to his human admirers, he has a number of doggy friends. A dog named Molly lives next door and frequently prances onto our deck and checks at our screen door for Oliver. If we miss her, Oliver whines to let us know he wants to go play. We open the door, and off they go.



You would think this is an anomaly, but, he has other doggy friends as well. There's a pair of boxers that play on the track. Their owner waves up to our house, we let Oliver out, one of the boxers comes up to our yard to coax Oliver down to the track, and they're off.

Although our dog is not the smartest, he does recognize familiar dogs from ones he hasn't met. From our house to across the track, he can tell the difference. He whines when he sees a playmate, and often barks or growls when he sees an unfamiliar one. (Andrew's not so sure of this, but I'm home all day and observe it regularly.)

Another great thing is that Oliver comes when we call. And on the rare occasion that fails, he always responds to the whistle, which is followed by a treat.


As for the rest of the family, Chase continues to grow, and Andrew continues to get older. :o)

Chase has doubled in size since birth (7 pounds 15 ounces). He clocked in at 16 pounds 5 ounces yesterday. He's a great eater. Imagine if you doubled in size in less than 4 months!

Andrew's birthday was yesterday. So Chase stayed with his aunt & uncle, and Andrew chose a yummy sushi place for dinner.

Here are some Chase pictures:




He's no musical prodigy, at least we haven't seen the signs yet, but he loves the sounds the keyboard makes.

High Chair

He's not quite ready for food but loves to sit up...

Vowels are fun!


Original Video - More videos at TinyPic

Hiking and Swimming

Last Friday, I met up with 3 other moms and their babies at Silver Falls and we did a hike. I didn't realize what a spectacle we'd make, but it was nice to get lots of Mother's Day wishes from other hikers.

The following day, Andrew, Chase, and I went swimming. Chase is too young to really appreciate it; the outing was more for me. I had a great time.



Andrew and I had some playtime too. Andrew got to go down the water slide, and I went off the diving board.

He Smiles!

Original Video - More videos at TinyPic

Monster Cookie Ride

Last Sunday (26 April 2009) I did another bicycle ride sponsored by the Salem Bicycle Club.  I also rode to and from the event start so all told I did about 70 miles. My freind Scott and averaged a little over 18 mph during the ride. The event had three stops which was actually one too many. We only stopped at the last one to use the restroom. The event cost $20 and I'm pretty sure I ate $20 worth of cookies.

Baby Raising Update

Chase's personality has started to show through in his third month of life. He smiles often and will react to us quite a bit. He also likes it when someone talks to him, espcially baby talk, I guess it's best when they speak his language. In the past week or so he has also started using less diapers. We have 16 cloth diapers and he used to use about 16 in a day but that has slowed down to 12-14 now. 

He is also growing. At his two month appointment (10 April)  he weighed 12 lbs 9 oz, was 23 inches long and had a head diameter of 40 cm (what's with the metric?). Ten days ago he weighed 13 lbs 6 oz. The 0-3 month clothes are to small and many of the 6 month clothes he fits into great. It's kinda sad that he's growing out of his clothes only because I have some favorites. I like clothes that fit snug and have zippers. Every once and a while I'll put him in some different type clothes but mostly I like him in sleepers with nothing else on except a diaper. Now that his head is less wobbly I also like it when he wears overalls. It's like wearing a handle.

Megan worked hard to get him on a schedule starting around two months. It has paid off. For the past two weeks he has only gotten up once and even slept through the night once! He feeds about every 30-45 minutes in the evening and she will swaddle him between 8 and 9. The hardest part is getting him to actually fall asleep. He won't fall asleep on his own. He won't fall asleep in your arms if you sitting still. He won't even fall asleep if you're rocking him in a chair. The only way he falls asleep is if you are walking around or bouncing on large exercise ball. Once he's asleep for 10 minutes (somtimes more) he can be layed down in his crib. 

The only problem we're having is that he has an abscess on his butt, right by his pooper. We are going to go to OHSU next week to have them look at it and possibly remove it. Please keep this in your thoughts and prayers.

Holding Chase

We love when other people hold Chase. Our arms like the break and we like showing off our baby.

Grandpa B...

Grandma B...


Cousin Jordan...


Chase had better get used to this backpack. I have a feeling he'll get a lot of seat time in it...
Mama B gets to hold him lots. You can tell by his double chin that he's gaining weight very well...

About Housing and Mortgages

When we purchased a house last year I was introduced to the scam that is "closing costs". I had heard this term thrown around before in sentences like "Well after closing costs your payments will only be XXX dollars!" or "The buyer doesn't have to worry about closing costs" we even had one mortgage broker who told us that we shouldn't buy a house from someone who won't pay the closing costs. I'm still not sure what people mean when they say "closing costs" except that it is a generic term for every miscellaneous fee associated with buying a house except the purchase price and taxes. These can include Realtor fees, title fees, credit check fees, etc...We even had a fee for paperwork (after all they have to document the fees!). The main fee though is the one for the loan. This is what mortgage broker's call points (sorry, points are bad, think of it like golf) banks get paid off of interest but mortgage brokers get paid off of points. Depending on the interest rate, bank and how shady your mortgage broker is points end up being 1%-4% of the loan amount. All told we paid about 4.5% of the value of our home in closing costs. This does NOT include the 6% the seller paid in realtor fees. These are fairly small percentages but they add up to a lot of money. For example let's say you buy a home for $190,000 (the average sale price in Salem, OR). You think "Well I saved up $10,000 so I'll have 5% equity in my home lucky me!" Nope. That's not the case.

Price: $190,000
Closing costs: $8,550
Property Taxes: $2,310 (1.22% in my county and must be paid at the time of sale)
Total: $200,860
Loan amount: $190,860

Yep, you now owe more on your house than you paid for it! Contgratulations!

Wanna be angrier? Think about how much the realtor's are getting.

Price: $190,000
Realtor Fees: $11,400

So, your home (the biggest purchase you'll ever make) could have been bought for $178,600 and you would have owed $168,600 but instead you owe $190,860! That's twenty grand more thanks to all the leeches.

Bills: Before we bought a house we had no idea how much the bills would add up too. We asked a few people and they all had wildly different answers. This is mostly because of consumption and region. Here are ours but they will almost certainly be different than yours.

Electric: 26.375
Gas: 106.26 (average over December, January, February and March, will hopefully go down)
Cell Phone: 60 (two of them, more when Megan get's chatty)
Garbage: 17
Water: 50
Internet: 20 (will go up after 12 months)

Family Visit

Megan's parents (Larry and Sandy) and brother (Dan) visited us in the Great Northwest about two weeks ago. They got to sample quite a bit of Oregon on their visit.Their visit included Silver Creek Falls, Portland, Lincoln City, Depoe Bay, Pacific City, and even the Spruce Goose! While they were here we also had a birthday party for Chase...



We sang all of the Holben birthday songs (there are three)...

I realized that I haven't posted a picture of Megan recently so here she is...


(This picture was taken two days after the fam left. It was absolutely beautiful and we could see all of the mountains. Should have stayed longer!)