Fun for the Fishers

Sorry it's been so long since our last update ~ we've been very busy out here! I won't bore you with all of the details but will try to stick to the highlights :)


As you know, since we pulled Alli out of day care the middle of March, the moms took turns coming out to provide what we fondly called "Gramma-care" Well, Gramma-care ended the week before Memorial Weekend and we've been on our own since then. It was challenging at times, but we survived

Garrett's last day working for the Air Force was June 13th.  Alli and I drove down to CT for his going away party and had a great time!

Since then, he and Alli have been having a great time together.  On June 21st, the two of them boarded a flight to WA for a two week visit.  Sadly, I have been so swamped at work (a whole other story!) so I stayed behind in MA.  Fortunately, Salem was with me ~ of course, he was in trouble because he was supposed to fly back with Garrett & Alli but the little stinker ran away for the day.  Turned out to be for the best as it would have been too much for G and I enjoyed the company.  I flew back to WA to meet up with my family on July 2nd.  Salem had his last plane ride ever and is now officially a WA kitty (G's parents were nice enough to let him stay with them until we move).

Since returning to MA, things have been busy!!!  I am still swamped with work but have high hopes that things will return to a more normal pace in August.  G and Alli have been very busy getting us ready for the move.  We're still set to close on July 30th and have set up short term housing for August.  As of now, we're still hoping to be back in WA by Labor Day but there are a few things we have to take care of out here before we move.

We know that the packing may not be as much fun for Alli so we are trying to sprinkle in fun with all of the boring stuff.  Garrett has been taking her out to play at parks with other little ones and we took her to this great place for kids yesterday:  Davis Farmland.  It is an amazing place with lots of animals for petting and cuddling, lots of playgrounds, and a water park!  We spent the entire afternoon there and had a wonderful time.  Alli really liked the bunnies and goats ~ she even ran up to hug a baby goat!  It was going great with the animals until a large sheep "baahed" loudly.  After that, she was pretty scared of all the animals, including a baby chick!!!  Fortuantely, she had fun playing at the various playground and eating ice cream.  Then we played at the Toddler water park.  After getting changed and trying out another playground, we headed home.  It was a long but very fun day!

I have to head back to work today ~ these one day weekends are killing me and I haven't seen a Friday off in I don't know how long. Can't wait until things go back to normal . . .

Well, our biggest news is that Garrett got a job offer from Honeywell!!!!!!!!!!!! He interviewed with them while in WA and made a great impression. Assuming they don't mind him starting in late August, it looks like he's got a new job

I promise to try updating a little sooner next time

We Sold the House in MA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YEAH!!! We could not be happier (okay, so we could if the price was higher but you take what you can get!)  We have been in negotiations with the buyers for the past week and it wasn't looking too great.  Needless to say, after counteroffering to multiple rounds of low ball offers, we finally settled on what was pretty much our bottom line.  Actually, their final offer was a little below our bottom line which led to our re-negotiating our realtor's rate from 6% down 4.5% to make the deal work.  I can quite honestly say that I'm pretty sure our realtor hates us but we can live with that.  It came down to a horrible market and some great negotiating.  We are thrilled!!!  The plan is to still stick around MA for part, if not most of August and be home by Labor Day.  Please pray that this works out for us!!!

Keeping us on our toes!

Where to start . . . As I mentioned in our last update, Alli and Garrett flew back to WA with Adele (i.e. Gramma) April 2nd to do some work on our new house.  Fortunately, it was not a full flight so Alli had her own seat but decided to stay awake the majority of the flight. Good thing she is such a good natured little girl or that could have been a very long flight :)  Alli does great traveling and adapting to new surroundings, thank goodness.  She was very happy to see her Gram and get reaquainted with the grandpas, great-grandparents, cousins, aunts & uncles.  She loved showing off how great she can walk and run these day :)  I flew in that weekend to help work on the house. We got a ton completed thanks to the help of our families ~ we are so lucky to have family members that know what they are doing when it comes to remodeling.

 

As you know, we bought a brand-new house so all we were really doing was adding "us" to the house. It originally came with wire shelving, which I detest, so as part of our purchase agreement, we had the builder remove all of the wire and fix the walls.  Garrett and my dad completed the coat closet, linen closets and pantry. 

 

We are having a company do custom shelving in the Master closet as well as a custom built-in office. We will have to work on Alli's closet and guest room closet on our next visit.  We also did a ton of painting. We went for earth tones in every room but Alli's.  The living room is a chocolate brown, the Master bedroom, bathrooms, and office are all tan, and the dining room (by far our biggest project) is an olive green with white wainscoting.

Alli's room is adorable.  We painted it spearmint green on top with green and white stripes on the bottom.  I have to thank my wonderful friend Michelle for the idea ~ future baby McDonald's room is blue and white stripes.  Garrett and I loved it and asked if we could copy them.  I had to return to work that Monday so Adele graciously offered to paint the stripes (I cannot say I was sorry to miss doing that!)  As you can see from the pictures, she did a FABULOUS job. 

All we have left to do in Alli's room is put up the chair rail. It was exhausting but fun working on the house and we are so anxious to move back there!!!

Now for the update on Alli . . . she's part of the reason that we're not sure when we'll be able to move. We need to get her eating and weight issues under control before we move.  Now that we have such a great team of doctors working to address these issues, we are hesitant to switch.  Alli had her follow-up with her GI doc last Thursday.  The GREAT news is that all of the scary tests came back negative and she does not have reflux so no more Zantac ~ she is thrilled about this.  She is slightly low on iron and Vit D so she's on a vitamin now that she does not love!  They are re-running one of the tests concerning her absorption of fat because the results were not clear.  She is up to 17 lbs 13 oz so she gained 7 oz in the last 3 weeks. This was a good thing (although it doesn't sound like much) because the GI doc said that if she had not gained, she planned to hospitalize her and place a feeding tube that day ~ WHAT?!?!  That made us nervous but thankfully, she gained.  Because she gained, the GI doc wants to wait another month before trying an appetite stimulant but agreed that if she does not gain substantially in the next month, we will begin Alli on an appetite stimulant ~ can we say "fat pill"? :)  We would like to just start it now but agreed to wait until her 15 month appointment to see where she's at.  We're praying she will finally hit 18 lbs!  The bummer is that she is working on more teeth and they are causing her so much pain that she is not at all interested in eating right now.  One step forward, a giant leap back. We'll see what happens . . .

The Air Force Does it Again . . .

What a roller coaster ride the past six months have been . . .

Last Fall, we made the decision to separate from the Air Force and move back to WA. Originally, Garrett's last day was going to be May 18, 2008 (terminal leave begins about a month and a half earlier).  Then we decided to extend until August 1, 2008 ~ typically, such a decision is no problem so long as your commander signs off on it, which Garrett's did. So we went forward under the assumption that we would be moving home sometime in Summer.  Well, the Air Force decided not to approve the extension, shocking both us and Garrett's co-workers, who attempted to file more paperwork in hopes of changing the decision.  It didn't work ~ we received two more rejections.  Garrett's Lt Col. filed one last request but Garrett was convinced it too would be rejected so he began interviewing for civilian jobs in WA, we bought a house in McCormick Woods, told Alli's school that her last day would be March 27, 2008, and we began planning our move.  This whole time, I was afraid the Air Force would suddenly come back and say "okay, we're extending you," which we no longer wanted.  Garrett was adamant that this would NEVER happen but I continued to be skeptical.  Well, as of 5 p.m. this evening, Garrett has been having to face the fact that "I WAS RIGHT"  That's right, my skepticism was very well deserved because the Air Force has now extended Garrett until August 1, 2008, which means he will not be done until sometime in June.  Ahh, the fun of having no control!!!  Good thing I was pretty convinced this would happen or I would probably be quite upset, as it is, I have said I told you so and not to ever doubt my intutition again ;-)

The Fishers are Moving HOME!!!!

That's right folks, despite all our plans to stay in the Air Force and continue moving around the country, we decided it was time to go home to WA! It's amazing how much your perspective on life and your priorities change once you have a little one


With Alli getting so many little illnesses and not being able to go to day care, we realized how much we want to be around family and friends. It's time. We so want Alli to grow up with her grandparents, aunt, uncles, and cousins. We miss home and are ready to return.

That said, we have no specifics yet. Our house in MA will be going on the market next week so we are busy making sure it is ready to show (thanks Mom for coming out to help with this!!!)

Garrett will not officially be out of the Air Force until the beginning of May (he will be on terminal leave about two months prior to that). Now, we are in the process of searching for jobs in WA. We are both working with head hunters so hopefully it will not be too painful of a process! Once we have the jobs (or at least one job) lined up, we'll be heading home. Not sure yet where we will live . . . but I guess that's part of the fun We'll let you know when we have more details.

Please keep us in your prayers!