R.I.P. Dora

Five or six weeks ago, we got a tadpole. I was teaching the preschool lesson about the letter T, and I thought it would be a great to teach them about tadpoles. Bailey was thrilled to have a pet tadpole, and name him Dora. Avery was totally in love with him. Every morning she would ask for, "Fish, fish" and feed him way too much food. The only spontaneous "I love you" out of Avery's mouth went to the tadpole. I try not to be jealous.

This weekend we went to Cleveland for our niece, Hannah's, baptism. When we came back, we discovered Dora on the carpet. He was turning into quite the big jumpy tadpole, and I guess we filled his container up too much. Mike went  to pick him up, and he was still alive! We put him back into his water, where he swam around crazily.

That night, in her prayers, Bailey said the sweetest thing. "Please bless Dora that she won't be died." Sadly, Dora didn't make it. Bailey was, of course, very sad, but didn't want to participate in the Dora's flushing ceremony. (We also had a goldfish who died a few weeks ago. Bailey was very concerned that we flushed him. "How can he be resurrected out of the toilet? He can't be resurrected if he's in the toilet.") That morning, when Avery woke up and asked for, "Fish, fish" I had to tell her that the fish went bye-bye. She threw a small tantrum with lots of "No! No!" and them moved on.

Poor Dora. I feel terrible about it. I guess I'm not very good at keeping animals alive...

The breakfast of champions is...

... can you tell?

Nutella and bannanas. What more could a three year old and an nineteen month old ask? Or me for that matter? I should have taken a picture of Avery when she done- I could have eaten her. She was covered from head to toe with Nutella. Yum!

Ode to the Lender

Here's my ode to our lender

who sits, with great splendor

having power to say

"yea" or "nay."

Make haste, if you please

give my mind greater ease

the slow pace of this loan

I cannot condone.

With a house contract signed

and communication misaligned

our fears will abound

til the lender is found.

 This wait is too long,

we fear it'll end wrong

our good credit is sown

please approve the loan!

House Shopping

This weekend Mike and I headed to our new hometown to look for a house. We were super excited, and relieved that everything came together. You would not believe how hard it is to get a loan in the state of New York. Mike and I talked to at least six loan agents before we found one who got it done. New York does not offer doctor loans, and to get an FHA loan, you HAVE to have two pay stubs. They don't make it easy. I'm actually very grateful that we found the right loan agent. I really think we were being watched over and taken care of.

Now might be a good time to talk about the TAXES in New York. (Lori- maybe I'm supposed to learn something and change my more liberal political ideas.) The taxes there are crazy. Really. On a $150,000 house, they are at least $4000. That is a nice car payment. Every month. New York also has the highest upfront fees and taxes when buying in house in the United States. Let's just say we were very surprised at how much we had to have upfront. It's amazing anyone in New York can buy a house.

We dropped Bailey off in Cleveland on Thursday, and continued on our way to Syracuse. Avery was a dream. She is turning into a car riding pro. On Friday, we looked at the nine houses that met our criteria. There were some very interesting houses. My particular favorite was a four bedroom house with one of the bedrooms off the middle of a staircase. It had obviously been built there after the fact. Also, it advertised a two car garage, but there was literally no way to get to the garage. It was purely for storage. Another bedroom was actually in front of the master bedroom, and you had to walk through it to get to the master bedroom. It was hilarious. I was laughing for about an hour. Other awesome houses had carpet in the kitchen, laminate squares in bedrooms, and awful "new" bathrooms and floors. I'm amazed at people's taste. Avery continued to be the perfect baby. She didn't slow us down at all. I was very impressed with how easy it was to have her along.

On Saturday, we made an offer on this house:

This house has four bedrooms, 2.5 baths, a fenced backyard, and an unfinished basement. This house is in move-in condition, only a block away from a playground, and walking distance from the amazing grocery store Wegman's. We made our offer, and they didn't get back to us until this morning with a counter offer. Now we are just trying to decide what to do...

Match Day Pictures

Last Thursday was the big Match Day. The day we had been waiting for all year. I remember the fourths years celebrating last year, and being jealous. I can't believe that Mike only has five weeks left of medical school!

Match Day was quite an event. All the fourths years and their family and friends went to the Fawcett center to get their letters. A few people spoke, they passed out the much anticipated envelopes, and then blew a horn at exactly noon. Every fourth year medical student in the country opened up their letter at the same time.

It was a strange day. The anticipation had been building all year, and it kind of felt anti-climatic. It was a relief, it was exciting, but it was also bittersweet. We are super excited to be going to Syracuse. However, of course, we are also nervous to be leaving. We love Columbus and our friends here. I remember how long it took us to make friends, and I'm not excited to be doing that again. It it scary to be buying a house, and it is kind of scary to not to have the option of more student loans "just in case."

We are heading up this weekend to find a house. Hopefully we will find one in the few days we are there. The next five weeks are sure to be a whirlwind. 

We matched...

 We're are going to Syracuse NY! We are super excited!

The things we do for Dora

One of our favorite places to go in Columbus in the science museum COSI. In January we got a flyer advertising that Dora was going to come to COSI in March. Bailey was ecstatic. She adores Dora, and asked me a least once a week if Dora was at COSI yet. Finally, the much anticipated day arrived.

We got up, got a drink at the gas station, and headed to COSI. Across the street from the museum are parking meters that are super cheap- only 25 cents for an hour and fifteen minutes. Mike started to pull into a parking spot next to a F-250 truck with tinted windows, and suddenly ran into something. That something was the door of the truck being opened at the exact time that Mike was pulling in.

Nobody was hurt, luckily, The car was not so fortuitous. I'm amazed that such slow speeds could cause so much damage. The truck's door was also crunched, but not nearly to extent of our little Honda. After the initial angry swearing by the truck's driver, everyone was very cordial.

However, we definitely had a problem. The truck driver was adamant that it was our fault. The police came by and wrote it up, and gratefully, only cited both drivers for inattentive driving, instead of giving both of them tickets. The police officer tried to explain that his truck was only safe inside his parking spot lines, and that we are not responsible for the damage done out of it (which his door was).

Our insurance company also thinks that the truck driver is at fault, but will only file a claim against their insurance if we tell them to.

So, we don't know what to do. Mike could/should have pulled in slower, but the guy should have looked before he opened his door. It was also frustrating that Mike and I both had looked at the truck and thought that no one was in it. Because of the tinting, it looked like an empty truck.

We kind of feel like both parties should just pay for their own damages. However, if we don't file a claim does that mean we are admitting fault? Who knows. I thought insurance companies were supposed to figure all of this out. Instead, they are leaving it up to us.

The police officer left, and we all went into COSI. The lines were the worst I have ever seen. We have been members for three years, and have gone to COSI more than a few times. And I have never seen it so crazy. The line just to get in wound around the front hall. We finally got to the front of the line, and were informed that they were not letting anyone else into the Dora line. Bailey was crushed. We told her that we didn't think she was going to see Dora and the tears started pouring. She had been waiting for months, literally.

We went to the line anyway, hoping to be let in. They told us it was a two and half hour wait, but if we took a purple ticket and stayed in line, Bailey would meet Dora. So we waited. Avery and I ended going home for nap time. And Mike waited. After a "mere" hour and a half, Bailey finally got to meet Dora. Unfortunately, although the camera we had the camera, the battery was dead. Mike took a picture with his Blackberry, but neither of us can figure out how to get pictures off of it.

A car accident and super long wait later, Bailey got to meet her story book heroine. I guess it was worth it...