Busy times

So, Chris got a job, again! It is somewhat funny because he was supposed to start working at Under Armour on Monday... and we snubbed them! haha! Chris doesn't feel very happy about the fact that after we had accepted the offer we told them that Chris wouldn't be able to work there. It all happened so fast last week!

As I had said in my previous post we were going to go look at a house in Finksburg, which would ultimately have been a shorter commute for Chris when he was working in Baltimore at Under Armour. We had seen some pictures online and thought it was a decent looking house with acreage, which we loved the idea of! The listing is here. So, Chris Cull with Coldwell Banker, who has worked with all of the Davenports, took us out to look at the house on Tuesday. We really liked it. And we felt really good about the house. It had been recently redone, new kitchen appliances, new counter tops, new carpeting in the whole house, repainted. Anyway, they made the house look nice. Realtor Chris told us that it has already had a lot of showings on the property and that it had been listed in January and almost was sold but something happened with the listing or something so it had to be taken off the market and then re-listed. Anyway, it was very popular. The next day (Thursday) Realtor Chris called us and told us that the house had an offer and Chris and I had already been talking about how we liked the house and had started praying about it already. We knew we had to move fast with all those people who were looking at it! So we go out and see it again with Chris's family and look at all of the things that need work on it and trying to decide if it was an investment or something else. In the end Chris and I decided that we still liked it a lot and really wanted it so we put an offer in on the house. Then we waited.

While we were waiting, Chris got a phone call from this other company that he had started applying for before we had even heard about the Under Armour position. The boss guy asked Chris to come in and be shown around the next day so Chris said yes! This was on Thursday at the time so Chris was going to go in on Friday. We didn't know if we our offer had been accepted and Chris didn't start with Under Armour until Monday so we decided he should go. But we had a thought, he should take his offer to the meeting and say "make me an offer today or else I start another job on Monday". It sounds pushy of Chris to do that but we wanted this job because it is so much closer to home so a much shorter commute. 15-20 minutes compared to over an hour.

So Chris went in to see the company and as he was there, Realtor Chris called to say no changes, we haven't heard anything about an offer being accepted yet. So Chris looks at the company, decides he would like to work there and shows the boss guy the offer because we have set our finances and needed a certain amount to be able to buy this house with and have a baby in August and still have some money left over to save. The boss guy said at first that he couldn't match it but he came back later after talking to their parent company and said that they couldn't make Chris an offer of $62K a year like Under Armour was, but he could offer $55K and then 3 months later after a performance review it could be bumped up to $60K. That sounded like a pretty good deal. Anyway, Chris finished up there and on the car ride home Realtor Chris called him and said that our offer was accepted!

So now we had some important questions. With a decreased income would we still be able to qualify for our mortgage? Would we be able to pay our mortgage? Would the bigger commute be better for us in the long run? I can honestly tell you I have never prayed so much in a 4 hour time period. We called around talked to people to make sure we were seeing all sides of this decision. In then end though, we said some prayers and then had 10 minutes of quiet pondering. After it was up, we both said on the count of three the job that we felt was the right one. We both said the one in Westminster! We went back and forth, back and forth a few times, trying to figure out what to do and when we finally did figure it out, we felt so much better. Sort of... Now we had to get a signed offer in our hands so that it couldn't be retracted later. Once we had that in our hands Chris had to call the recruiter who had been working with him to get the job at Under Armour the whole time. This was the worst part of the whole day... The recruiter was not happy at all and for good reason, it means he wasn't getting a big pay check! Thankfully, the one that mattered, the guy who was going to be Chris's boss responded in an email saying he was disappointed but he understood that family came first. It was so nice of him and it made us feel soooo much better!

So now instead of Monday Chris starting a job, he starts next Monday, at decreased pay but sooo much closer so that he will still be able to see our kids grow up during the week, not just on the weekends. We know we did what was right in the long run, even if we did snub a very large company... But we are so happy that Chris has a job starting in a week and we get to sign for our house in 4 weeks! I am so glad that we are able to have the Lord on our side, providing for us and helping us in so many ways. All it takes is some intense praying and faith.

New news!

Chris has a job! I haven't posted in a while to tell everyone so I thought I should do that now while Dallin is napping. We are really happy about this job and it feels like it is what the Lord wants us to do for our family right now, even though it is a bit longer of a commute than we originally hoped for. But, such is life!

-Our little family at a picnic with Katie, Roger, Natalie and Anthony

Last Monday we got a call from a recruiter that Chris has been working with for a while and he asked if Chris could do a phone interview in 2 hours and Chris said yes. The phone interview went really well. Chris answered all of the questions in such a way that the interviewer told him that he wanted Chris to come in for an in-person interview that week. The recruiter told him that Chris is the first person that they have found that they truly liked.

So on Wednesday Chris went in for an in-person interview with Under Armour. They really liked him and they told him that they would be contacting him shortly about the job. So on Thursday morning, they called and they offered him the job at $10,000 more than we originally asked for! We were so happy about it. It sounds like a great job that will be beneficial for our family and seems like Chris will really get some job satisfaction this time around. It is so important to have a happy husband so I really wanted him to have a job that he liked and was happy at. He has had a few other interviews since we accepted the job but none of them have felt right or better than this one and it is something that we have prayed about for a while!

So now we are going to start looking for a house. We have found one that will be closer than that Taneytown house that we liked, which will cut the commute in half almost. We are going out there with a realtor today to look at it. It is a 3 bedroom house but square footage wise is larger than the other house we were looking at so we are going to look at it with the idea in mind that we will be adding another room or two into the family room. We are really happy about this though and are looking forward to moving on and maybe moving out soon! As wonderful as Peggy as, I want my own house with all of my things that I miss. The one item that Chris makes fun of me for always commenting on is my masher. I know it is silly but when I make chili or mashed potatoes or I just want something mushed up, I would use my masher, and Peggy doesn't have one so I feel the lack. haha. I know it is so silly, but it just makes me feel like it isn't my house so I look forward to getting a house so that I can have my masher back! haha.

Dallin is almost 11 months now. He is getting so big. He is crawling everywhere now. He can go upstairs and he has learned that if he wants to get off of my bed, he needs to go feet first. For a while he had a hard time getting down from stuff that he was leaning against but he is so good at it now that it is automatic or just gives him pause for a few seconds. He has also finally learned how to sit as of 3 days ago! I know that sounds silly but the silly munchkin wouldn't sit, he would just lean and so ne could never go from crawling to sitting until 3 days ago! It was exciting because now he likes to sit and read books by himself. He is quite the reader! When my dad gave him a name and a blessing he said that Dallin would have a love of reading and that has definitely already manifested itself. It is amazing to see how the Lord blesses our little people! Anyway, he is great but he is going to have a shock next week, just like me, when Daddy is no longer around during the days. I haven't had Dallin all by myself in about 5 and a half months! Soooo that should be exciting.

I finally got Chris to take the pictures off of the camera and on the network so I could upload them so here are a bunch of recent pictures! By the way, I am now 23 weeks along and looking quite large (I think). Still don't have a midwife or insurance, and Chris's work insurance doesn't start until August 1st so we are trying to make alternate arrangements. But life is great and we are happy here!



My two guys, both being happy and cute. We are so blessed to have a happy baby. I think it will make it so much easier to have this baby and Dallin so close in age. Only one school year apart!



My big belly. I feel huge some days, that was one of them.



I made this dress for Jillian, our niece and I wanted to see how it fit and Dallin is still small and she is bigger than Dallin at that age so I thought it was a good way to see what she could be looking like at the end of the summer, when she might fit the dress really well! It still looks good on her now, just really long on her but I like this picture of Dallin in it! haha.



A recent picture of the three of us when we went outside to the park. It was cold out and misting that day but we enjoyed our time out there! And it was nice to get a family picture.



Here is acute picture of Dallin and Chris. I got the walker thingy at a consignment sale a week or so ago and Dallin loves it. It doesn't work so well inside the house but when we go outside he has a ball with it, walking all on his own except that he veers towards one side or the other after a while so we have to correct his course. But he is very cute in his happiness.



Dallin absolutely loves the swings. He sits in it and laughs so much and always looks so happy in the swing, if you couldn't tell.



My baby boy getting ready for bed or a bath or something. He just looks very cute in his cloth diapers. They make him look 5 pounds heavier.



We love to make home made ice cream and I made some this night and Dallin wanted to share but he had to give me a kiss. Isn't he cute?

Delayed Post

Man, it has been over a month since I have posted! The biggest reason why is because I have lots of pictures, but no way to take the pictures off of my camera, so I just keep putting off posting. I have also been somewhat busy since I got here to Maryland, if you can believe that. I also seem to have an over abundance of time some days, but then I get lazy and don't want to post. Anyway, I am finally going to type up a quick summary of what has been going on for my little family for the last month.

First off, Dallin and I got here to Maryland and waited for Chris and Peggy to arrive with all of our worldly possessions. Thankfully they arrived safe and sound and only a day late, due to leaving really late the first day and weather. Once they got here we got a storage unit and shoved everything in there and took a good amount to Peggy's house as well, like our bed and some clothes and, of course, Dallin's toys! Then for the next little while we just settled in and made ourselves comfortable.

Chris started to apply for jobs in earnest and has been working on some programming stuff so that he could show it to potential employers but unfortunately we have still had no luck finding a job. But Chris did a second round of applying for jobs last week and are hoping to hear back from someone, like the N.S.A. or someone! Who knows when someone will finally find Chris perfect for their job. Anyway, so, still no job but he keeps applying and we keep praying for one.

We had a wonderful experience of being able to go to the D.C. temple and be there when Jess, my sister in law received her endowments and then she and Russ and their baby, Jillian, were sealed. It was very sweet and I was glad to be there. It was nice to see it all happen since we went through the same thing back in November and now I get to have my Love and my sweet baby boy forever.

A bit later we went down to the Lake (Grandma and Grandad White in Virginia) and had a good time visiting with them. They are doing great and they had a lot of fun playing with Dallin. We all had a good time, even though I had a hard time sleeping on the hard bed, which caused me to have head aches almost all day, every day. Then we came home and then Monday Jan (Chris's sister) and Alex (her fiance) and Jan's friend came to town for their spring break. They thankfully left the dog behind because with so many people here at the house and a dog, I think there would have been way too many people! They stayed for a week and looked for wedding stuff since Jan and Alex are getting married next spring but it was nice to see them, but it is also nice to have the house to myself during the day again!

My little brother Jonathon is now engaged and I don't know if they know the exact date, but she has a ring! I figure if she posts about it on face book that I can write about it on my blog. So, that means I will be coming up to Alaska sometime soon! And I am looking forward to it. I am feeling really home sick these days and would love to see my family, maybe some snow or some summer depending on when the wedding will be!

As for me and my pregnancy, we still haven't found a midwife. I found out that the traveling midwife won't come as far as the place we are hoping to buy a house and so I figure I should just find the midwife I am going to use the whole time. But that means that I will be delivering in the hospital. I think the hospital stay was what I didn't like last time and so I really wanted to not be in a hospital environment but I think that for this baby we will go to the hospital and have a midwife there. We will also not be going to the hospital nearly as soon as I did last time, I don't want to have to wait for forever there. Its not my happy place. Anyway, so I need to find one still, but just in case any one is curious, I am over half way at 21 weeks right now.

That is all that is going on for us right now. We have been cleaning the house and getting things back in order after Jan left and its raining so no walk today but we are enjoying life generally. I do love the spring warmth though!

3 Days to go

This is it. This is our last week here in Colorado. Things are starting to stress me out more than they should, I don't sleep well, I'm not eating well (or at all) because we haven't gone shopping in a while in a valiant effort to get rid of all of our food. Needless to say, I have had a hard time being happy this week. There have been very good things that have happened too though, I just haven't been able to appreciate them for their greatness due to my stress level. So here is a list of some good things that have happened for us.

Dallin is now crawling! He learned how to go up on his hands and knees on Jan 22 and then on Jan 29 he was able to go across the whole room. He couldn't go into the kitchen because the floor was to slippery for him but he has gotten so good at crawling and now he pulls himself up on the furniture and on us and on chairs and has attempted the stairs a few times! So that is just peachy keen! It is so much fun to have him come to us and be able to come visit us. Being mobile has made him such a happy baby!

Next, I finally went to the OB and had my first prenatal appointment and figured out how close my estimated due date was and all that wonderful stuff. I didn't enjoy the doctor at all but she says that August 5th (day after my birthday) is very close to when I will be due. It might be anywhere up to a week after that! So now I just need to find a midwife in Maryland and I will be set to have this baby! We are thinking that if everything looks okay we will be doing a home birth, like my sister Carolyn. Of course that mainly depends on if I can find a midwife who covers my area. We shall see!

Chris still doesn't have a job lined up but he says that there are plenty of work opportunities for him there in Maryland, some only a half hour away from where we would like to live. So hopefully my husband will be employed in a week or two!

More good news, my sister in law, Bethany, had her baby on the 13th. Bobby! So that makes Canyon, that Carolyn had in January, Bobby in Feb, Becca in June, me in August and now Jennifer in September! The DeKay family is full of babies this year! Its sad because I won't get to meet them until Christmas since I won't really be much for flying this summer. Its so fun though!

We had an awesome snow a little while back and we got Dallin and Chris all dressed up to go play in the snow. Dallin definitely didn't know what to make of it and he thought we were crazy I am sure. But it was still fun to take him out there. Here are some pictures of that!



Dallin seriously contemplating what this cold white stuff is that his daddy is sticking him in.



Mommy and Dallin snuggling to get warm after being out in the cold. I didn't have snow pants on.



Dallin eating a snow ball we had brought in for him. I don't think he liked the cold of the snow...

Chris and I were finally able to go to the temple together. It was a nice outing for the two of us and its the first time we have made it since we were sealed in November. We are looking forward to going to the D.C. temple sometime next month now too.

I am sure there is other good news but I just can't think of it right now. I was taking a break from packing because Chris slept in so I was up with Dallin and he was just all over everything I was trying to pack. Maybe because it was his room I was packing... But now I should go find other things to pack and do.