Shielding Picnic

We went to the shielding picnic, an annual event in Ben's group at work. Allison came with us, and we all enjoyed a nice meal and a nice day at the park. The irony is that the subdivision manager of Ben's group is named Alison, which caused some confusion a few times!

ANS Picnic

We made a quick stop at the annual ANS picnic where Celia met a few other kids her age and colored for the first time. I think she likes the concept of coloring.

We moved in!

We got to move into our new house early since our closing date keeps getting pushed farther and farther out. We were walking on air - until we actually started cleaning it. Being 7 months pregnant and climbing on counters and removing cabinet doors to scrub nicotine off is not my idea of a good time. It may be that I'm pregnant, but I simply cannot get this house clean enough! I'm sore, exhausted, and we only scratched the surface. This is turning into the house disaster of the century.

In the midst of the crazy cleaning, some friends of ours in New York brought us a picnic dinner. Thank goodness!! It included some awesome chocolate, which Celia enjoyed. She also enjoyed playing with their little girl Maddie.

Buying a House - the Neverending Saga

So, May 23 we put an offer in on a house and it was accepted. With ignorance of the turmoil to come, we entered the process of getting a mortgage.

At first things seemed to be going well. We got the inspections arranged ASAP, we were pre-approved for twice the amount of the house we wanted to buy, and we were off earning a good income in the real world. This shouldn't take too long, right? Wrong. What we didn't realize was that the competence, or lack there of, of our loan processors would set the pace of this sale.

First, it took over a week to actually get a hold of our processor. We were directed to several people until we got the name and number of the actual person with our file. As frustrated as we were that we couldn't contact anyone right away, he was very pleasant and seemed optimistic. We wanted to move the process on as quickly as possible, so we sent him everything he asked for within a day, if not within hours. It seemed like a glass that wouldn't fill at times because he kept asking for documents we had already sent him. Still, we tried to keep things moving and called him every few days for a status update.

On the phone, he would say things like, "everything is looking great, we're just waiting on x-y-z." Or he would say, "we just need x." We'd send him the information, check that he got it, and follow up in a day or two for the same routine. One bright day, we heard that the appraiser had appraised the house and we were just waiting on some corrections they needed from him. With that news - the process stopped.

It was just about this time that our 30 days of temporary living were up. We frantically applied for an extension, daunted by the possibility of paying for a hotel room ourselves for weeks. Right in the knick of time, our approval comes through and we have our hotel room for 45 days. Whew, now we have time for the last few things we need on the loan. This is the first time we will hear the words "when the appraiser gets back to us, as long as nothing else comes up, we'll be able to close in a week." So we wait for the appraiser. And we wait, and we wait.

Our 45 days are up, and we learn that the request for corrections was never received - they never got the e-mail. To keep time straight for you, it's been a month since the request. We learn that, 4 weeks after the face, the processor is just learning that the e-mail was never received. Great follow-up, right? Plus, it's not like we weren't calling in the interim and asking about it. At this point, we make the first calls to his supervisor and finally get some fire under him to move things along. We've told him that our contract is nearly up, and he has less than 2 weeks now to get the loan approved. In the meantime, there was a scheduling glitch, and the hotel thinks we're checking out a day early and the approval for an additional 15 days of temporary living has not been received. I spend time at work calling our relocation agent and the hotel working out our extension. It comes through - we know someone above is looking out for us - and we have another 2 weeks of reprieve, again just in the knick of time.

By this time, we've stepped up frequency of calling the bank and speaking with his supervisor. He has stopped regularly returning phone calls or answering his phone. Finally, we hear that he's sent everything except what he needs from the appraiser to underwriting. He's planning some grand culmination that should happen in a few days. The result of the culmination - he now wants 3 paystubs, which we won't have before the end of our contract, and still hasn't heard from the appraiser.

Now, we knew we'd be starting new jobs and we wouldn't have 3 paystubs before closing. We asked these questions before starting the pre-approval process, before putting an offer in on the house, and at the beginning of our interaction with this loan processor. The answer was always "you have an offer letter, you do not need any paystubs as long as you have started or have a start date." Well, great. We protested, and they decided they could do it with a written employment verification. Evidently, this was too difficult for their office, and 3 days after beginning to try, I get a call from our processor with the list of people at our job he had talked to with limited success. I sent one e-mail to help speed things on our end and got 3 phone calls and results within 24 hours. This should be it, right? Wrong, the appraiser has still not come through. He's got someone keeping him to deadlines, though, and he's optimistic for a closing date of July 23 - the last day of our purchase contract. At some point, he gets something from the appraiser and the whole file is finally in the underwriter merry-go-round.

At this point, we are looking at a close date of - tomorrow (well, it's after midnight so, today) aka the last day . From the tone of this you can probably guess that we aren't closing tomorrow. He submitted everything on Monday, and found out today that the hold up is that the appraiser didn't put a couple of dates on the form. The bank would like a contract extension until July 30. So, the movers are scheduled on Monday and our final temporary living extension is done on Saturday.
We are very fortunate that the sellers are good people. I had a good feeling when I saw the statue of the Blessed Mother in the bedroom and they've turned out to be very generous. We are arranging a rental agreement with them so we can get into the house this weekend and rent until closing. The rate they're proposing is more than reasonable and we'll be able to keep the same schedule with the movers. This way, the only real thing we'll have to do is the paperwork and final exchange of money. It will be nice to not have the 3 Swobodas and Allison living in the same bedroom. We've all gotten along well - much to everyone's surprise - but the reality is that it is stressful and everyone needs some privacy!

We've definitely had blessings in this process - 60 days of temporary living instead of 30 as well as the kind sellers, but the difficulties abound. Hopefully, the house will be officially ours by the end of next week (if they hear from the appraiser). Regardless, we will be moving in this weekend! We'll post some pictures when we're really in :). I don't know if we'll believe it until then. Our feelings about the process? We don't plan on banking with them after this - at all. We'll close our accounts and move to a new bank. The upside? We'll soon be home owners! Hopefully ...

Opening and Closing the Door

Cecilia has now learned to open and close the door in our hotel room, so we can't lock her in one room or the other any more. We didn't lock her in alone - we would close the door to keep her out of the bedroom when we were in the living room or vice versa.

She really demonstrates closing the door in this one. She only opens it far enough to close it again. Notice how she rewards herself! I think she enjoys the clapping the most!


In this one, she opens the door all the way - so she can take off :).

Communication

We've been teaching Cecilia a few simple signs to help with communication. We got them on video along with most of her current vocabulary.

Sign Language


A Few Words - you have to turn up the volume and listen to hear her respond. She's walking away from me.


Better Video of Words

4th of July

This year for the 4th of July we started the day with church at 11am in a church with no AC. For the record, it was the beginning of a heat wave with record setting temperatures. At 7 months pregnant, Mommy was HOT and so was Celia. She was extra fussy at church - pretty unusual - and we were all glad when mass was over. At 4, we went to a BBQ at our friend Julie's apartment where we swam, ate delicious roasted chicken, and played with the little baby and dog that were there. Cecilia loved sitting in chairs, of course (I think we have her in 3 different ones in these pictures), and she really loved the dog (woof-woof she calls them). You can tell it's hot - her cheeks get progressively redder (we were keeping her amply hydrated).

We stayed up for fireworks too. Instead of going to a park, we went to a friend of Julie's who owns a house with a backyard facing the fireworks for Clifton Park (one of the suburban towns in the area - they all run together). We were really worried Celia would be scared, but she loved it! For almost every firework, she went "ooohhhh" and pointed. It as so cool to see her excited that it was probably the best fireworks display we ever saw. The reality was that it was a short and so-so show. Celia, however, got upset when it was over - she wanted more! Then, some people behind us started setting off their own fireworks, and she got VERY mad when we wouln't go over to see them. We couldn't see them, only hear them, but she knew what it was and wanted to go. So, we know she likes fireworks. In addition to Celia's great time, the friend of Julie who owns the house we were at is a UMR alum (class of 70-somethingin Nuke Eng. too!) who has spent his career at KAPL. We just met him, but had a good time chatting with another Nuke from Missouri. After fireworks, we headed home and played a game of Settlers of Catan with Allison after Celia went to bed. It was a great day! Happy Birthday America!

New Chair and Her First Sunglasses!

Cecilia got a new chair and her first pair of sunglasses from Nanaw and Pawpaw. She is in a stage where she LOVES to sit in chairs. She'll hop from chair to chair if she can, and in a public situation she'll watch people from her perch. She is a big people watcher. Upon hearing this, Nanaw and Pawpaw sent her her own chair with Celia on it! She drags the chair around and sits in it for a spell. We put her sunglasses on - which she also loves - put her in the chair and handed her a book. It was a hit! She stayed there for a while and had a ball. The funniest thing, though, is that she can't quite sit on it herself. She looks at it, turns around, takes aim, and sits on - nothing! She needs a little direction to actually hit the seat. Her little head can't quite turn around to see where she's sitting. She'll get the hang of it, though, and it's good development of her depth perception and spacial perception, right? Thanks Nanaw and Pawpaw!