About Me

My photo
I am a Mom of two young lads, a fitness fanatic and wife to a die-hard Packers/Brewers fan. I worked in corporate america for 12 years. Now I am on a new adventure - raising my sons and working part-time in the fitness industry as a Personal Trainer and Group Exercise Instructor. I hope you stop by and read my updates- family, fitness, or life related!

Sunday, February 27, 2011

17 Months and New Surroundings!

Braden playing in our master bath shower!

Well, my first blog entry from the new house. It has taken a while because I couldn't locate the camera cord for dowloading pictures until lastnight. Oh, the joys of unpacking! :)

It has been quite a week. We have been in the new house since last Saturday afternoon. Braden arrived back from WI on Sunday afternoon in the snowstorm. It has been a pretty hard week for him - sickness, overtired and so confused by the new surroundings. He is very clingy to me and some seperation anxiety has set in again, yikes I thought we were past that. Hopefully he will be back to his happy-go-lucky self and more independent once everything feels like a routine to him again.

So, on top of taking care of a sick and clingy little guy, I have been busy unpacking/organizing, I too got sick, and I started teaching new classes at the YMCA and had to return to the townhome to clean and get it all ready for our renters. Needless to say, come this weeekend I am one exhausted momma!

It has been a good week to be in the new home, the snow and our bad colds have kept us snuggled in and allowing me to tackle the to-do list. One week later, I have unpacked all boxes and put everything away. We are almost done hanging up our pictures on the wall and we purchsed a new TV for the living room. Joe has enjoyed setting that up and admiring the big, clear picture!

Here are pictures of Braden in his new house as he turns 17 months! He is saying a ton of new words and he is loving all the space! He runs up and down the halls. He runs laps around the center island. He climbs the stairs with confidence. He gets into EVERYTHING that is in his sight- oh, I have my hands full until everything is not so new anymore! He loves to help shovel the driveway. He likes to explore in the unfinished basement and the spacious garage. Maybe the seperation anxiety is kicking in again because he is used to having me right next to him in the small townhome and now he has to come find me or see me from afar. :) Not a bad problem to have, he will adjust! :) It has been nice for me to find things that I forgot that I had because it was shoved away in the townhome. Now I can take my time to figure out where to store it, and change it to a new storage space if I don't like it there.

We are loving the new house and are working hard to get it more and more settled in each day. I can post some pics of the house in the next entry!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Moving Week! Eastward bound...


Well the countdown is on! We are moving in just 4 days. I knew this week would come fast. It also has approached us not stress-free of course. We had some issues with our appraisal the first time around, so they did a second one and it didn't come back until today! Yikes. Talk about waiting until the last minute. There was a chance we would have had to move our closing and move date, so we were very nervous and stressed. But all is good today and we can move forward as planned- yippee!

A lot of the packing is done, but there is a little bit more to do. I am sure we will be doing little by little up until the last night, but somewhow it all gets done!

This week will be busy with me teaching my last classes at the Southdale YMCA (BOO!), our last ECFE class, and then Braden will be headed to grandpa and grandpas for 3 days (I will be sad to see him off, but we will be able to get so much more done). Then after his departure, we have the walk-through, closing, the loading/unloading, cleaning and yes - all the unpacking (and who knows how many weeks or even months that will take)!
So, hopefully when all three of us are in our new home together come this Sunday this is what we will look like from our front porch! :)

Until I can blog again after the move, adios to townhome life and hello to house living!!!! There are things I will miss about this area like my classes at Southdale Y, the restaurants and shopping, the friends I have made this way, the lakes and parks, being somewhat close to downtown, etc...But I am thrilled to have more space, neighbors with kids, an attached garage, a big kitchen for entertaining, being close to my sister and other family, having a yard, good paths/walking trails in my neighborhood and not crossing busy streets, a pool/movie theater/parks and ice rink all in walking distance and the list goes on (did I mention having more space yet???)!!!!!

It is an exciting next chapter for the Hammonds....Woodbury, here we come! I am going back to the east side of the river, where it all began for me. :) The west-side has treated me well for over 12 years but it's time to return to my roots!

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Boxes and more....





It is true when people say that little ones are usually more entertained by the simple things like boxes and tupperware versus their own toys. As we try to get this place all packed up for our move in just 13 days, Braden is enjoying having boxes to play with. He likes to climb in them, throw his toys in them, and walk around with them on his head and body. He is quite the entertainer around here. He has been a really good sport with all of our packing up and how this house is a complete mess. I am curious to see how he likes his new house and how he adjusts - if he gets it right away or not?!?! Only time will tell. Well, just had to update the blog quick in the midst of all the packing. Speaking of packing, Go Packers! Joe will be the happiest man in the world if his team wins tonight, so I am hoping for a big win for him (and his family since they are all die hards!) We are all in our Packer wear today and hoping for something to cheer about during our packing continuation. Hope everyone is having a good weekend and has fun tonight watching the game!