Y.E.S!!!!!!!!!!!

The paperwork is all signed and in and the house is now looking like it's OURS!
Of course we still have an inspection to do - and all that other stuff that goes with buying a house. You know - like testing for lead paint and radon gas - and um......looking for cute bird feeders for the backyard ( hee heee heee )
ok - I can't really do that until May 11th. That's the closing date. That's when we will REALLY know that the house is REALLY ours. They will give us the KEYS!!!

But this first stage was really nerve wracking - just finding out if WE were the ones or if someone else would get an offer in before us - or if we could get all of our "ducks" in a row for the sellers in time to meet their deadlines. Phew.

This weekend my parents are coming for their first visit to Salt Lake City! I'm SO excited to see them again and I know they are thrilled to get an opportunity to see Max again. Maybe my dad and Max will go on a walk together while they are here - like they did when dad was recovering from his heart surgery. I'm excited to show them around - take them to our favorite restaurants and we scheduled another walk through of the house while they are here so they can get a look at it as well. We are bringing our tape measure to make sure any furniture we find will FIT and it comes in handy that my mom was an award winning interior designer ( before hanging up her wallpaper samples to become a marriage and family counselor ). I just LOVE that way the current owners have it decorated and I love their furniture choices - so I am going to take TONS of photos so we can look for similar things.

Thank you to everyone for crossing your fingers and toes for so long! I know how difficult it was to get things done when your feet and hands are all twisted up like that. You can release them now! IT WORKED!!!!

In other news - Max started his Music Together class yesterday. It's the 4th time we've taken it - but first time in Salt Lake City - and Grandma Marty came along with us. It took Max a little while to get used to the new crowd but by the end he was doing his usual walking around the circle and finding the mirror so he could entertain himself in it. Marty took some video that I will try to post here.....it's after music class and Max sat down with the other kids to try to play the instrument. He's the one facing away from us with the brown pants and white socks on. Next time I'll bring my video camera too so we can do double duty!






watching the music teacher play her instrument - what is that thing called?



not wanting to leave class

yep....a delay

Book time with papa - just before bed time
evidence of Spring.


Ok - So everyone has been crossing their fingers and toes and Monday was suppose to be the day we got the final Acceptance letter from the sellers. Everything is in place. They had already accepted our counter offer and everyone had the paperwork that they needed to move forward....

But Monday came - and we didn't hear a peep. Until 5pm when we found out that someone on the financial end of it never returned a phone call to the sellers so they couldn't do anything until that happened.

augh...............

So this morning we are getting that phone call to happen, making sure our ducks are all in a row before the end of the day today so that the Sellers have nothing else to do but to SIGN and Send it back to us.

I've never purchased a house before - and this is not that unusual from what I've been hearing from those out there who are more seasoned at this than I am. But it doesn't make the process any easier for me.

So.................I'm still crossing my fingers and toes and will keep you all posted!

Buying a house is like a roller coaster ride. And I HATE roller coasters!

The suspense is killing me people! So what's a girl to do who is feeling powerlessness?

I breathe - write to you all out there - feed my son lunch - read a book - get out in the sunshine - drink water - hug and Kiss Max - watch Sesame Street with him - Take a few photos - remember to stay in the moment - make a few phone calls - buy myself a new beautiful green purse! - remember that I am not in charge - take a nice bubble bath - and Let it all go...

ok and then I take it all back and stress out - until I remember again to let it go!

As my cousin Sloan said at her wedding

" Tick Tock People! "

That's my new saying these days with this process!

xoxoxooxox
*c

House in Cottonwood Heights...an update (!!!!)

I couldn't resist posting this photo that Jerry took of us last night before sleepy time. This is what it always looks like when it's time to go to bed. Lots of snuggling and sweetness. oh he is delicious!!

AND ....OK! Here are the photos of the house! And the reason I am sharing all of them with you is because the sellers came back with a counter offer today! So - we are MOVING FORWARD!
ohhhhhhh how we love this house! They didn't even take photos of the 3 other bedrooms. This house is really amazing. I think I'm dreaming. Of course we are at the very beginning of this process so anything can happen between here and the closing dates and I will keep you all posted as we go along. But right now we were thrilled to know that no one else got a bid in before us and that the counter offer is workable.
















and tonight is DATE night ! It's a great day in Salt Lake City !

World Down Syndrome Day!

Why is TODAY World Down syndrome day?
on 3/21 ?

Well..I'll tell you

because Down syndrome occurs when there are 3 copies of the 21st chromosome

Down syndrome is also called Trisomy 21.


Happy Day! It's World Down syndrome Day. I'm celebrating Max in every way. But wait - I ALREADY do! He is so Fabulous isn't he? Well - I know you already know that!
Some sweetness shared between Papa and Max...Or...Max is trying to escape...you decide.

Max hanging out at Vertical Diner with us. A new favorite place for me to eat healthy and get out of the condo with Max. On this occasion - we met up with my friend Nicole and her son Tyler. Max was enthralled with Tyler. Couldn't get enough of him. So fun to watch him study older boys and their ways of play.

Tyler brought along a few favorite Lego toys. Of course they had their own trophy's he could attached to the wings of the plane or the back of the speed boat. I think all of the mama's out there need some trophy's like this to attach to the wings of their superhero mama cape!
Nicole and Tyler sharing a moment

Caught them in the act of power lounging again!
Jerry and I took Max to Eggs in the City on Sunday. We usually do something called " Seiner Sunday" which is just a day of adventure. So our adventure consisted of trying out a new restaurant. I know - that doesn't seem thrilling but to us - it really is! We LOVED it there and even though the wait was over 25 minutes - we didn't mind. The people watching was great too! Max was studying the menu and it looks like he has his decision made - I'm guessing french toast. ( Side note - He's still not eating much food. But working on it! I WISH he would eat french toast - or ANYTHING ELSE on that menu! )

Max just LOVES to drink out of the grown-up cups - even when they are larger than his entire body. His sweatshirt became completely drenched in water - but he didn't care. He kept signing " Water- Water - Water" and wanted to try again and again. p.s. his sign for "water" looks like a gang sign. I'll have to get that on video for you.
here he is post water exploration - playing with my iphone. We were told by a friend about a cool app that has a cat that "talks". if you rub the cat it purrs. So here is Max rubbing the cat belly! SO cute to watch him learn how to interact with it. It's great for his fine motor skills, and communication and action / reaction learning. Plus it keeps him entertained while we wait for the check and he is starting to melt.

I started to hunt for Pods in SLC. Here was the first Pod I found while driving around Cottonwood Heights. Most of you know how I've been a bit in LOVE with pods for years now. If you don't know that about me - I think I have a portfolio of pods on my website at catherinejust.com
I'm also starting to look for signs of spring. It's amazing to watch things start to transform here.
Tiny bright green buds on trees, Daffodils, crocus, and still learning what Spring means here.

The other news is.......We put in an offer on a HOUSE today. Oh yes we did!
I'd tell you all about it - but I'm going to wait to tell you until TOMORROW. We hear back from them by 2pm tomorrow..........Please cross your fingers on this one! We LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE IT. Not only is it 2700 square feet, 4 bedroom, 3.5 baths, large backyard, great kitchen, open floorplan, attached garage, quiet cul-de-sac, and totally finished basement which will be a GREAT playroom for Max and his buddy's on cold days...but it's in what we have heard is a very good school district for kids with Special needs. It's about a mile away from another friend who has a child with Ds, and we just found out there's another little boy with Ds who lives in the area as well. It's right by the mountains and I could walk to Whole Foods. It's also about 3 miles from that Farm I posted about a few days ago. um........Are you crossing your fingers yet????

Here is a sneak peek inside.







I'll share more photos......TOMORROW! Are you crossing your fingers?? If you're not into that - how about lighting a candle - sending up a prayer - sending good vibes - putting a wish under your pillow - or dancing around the house tossing star glitter in the air while laughing hysterically and listening to music that makes you feel pumped! ( like Kanye West, Eminem, Guns and Roses and mmmmmmmm how about a little Soul Coughing, Tenacious D, and of course NO Doubt mixed in. This selection cracks me up already!! )

You can bet I will be doing ALL of these options within the next 10 hours or so!

Our first few weeks in SLC

ok....Trying to catch up! Here we go! The photo above is of my friend Nicole and her beautiful family. From Left to Right: Aaron, London, Tyler and Nicole. Nicole and I went to High school together and haven't seen each other in about 24 years or so. We re-connected on Facebook just one week before Salt Lake City was even on our minds. And guess where she lives! So back in November when we took a road trip to SLC to figure things out we met up with Nicole and her family. I tried my best to snap a family portrait - but guess what. The only person in focus is Tyler and his soccer ball. hmmmm. I am out of practice!
Tyler and Max playing together back in November.
Once we made the move to SLC I re-connected with some mom's who have kids with Ds. I was invited to join a playgroup the first week in town. Here are all the kids. Max is in the front crying. He actually made it through 2 hours of playgroup without having a hard time with all the noise. That's a first I think. But at the very end when we tried to take this photo.....melting. I just loved meeting everyone in this playgroup and all of their kids. I joined their yahoo group and it's such a supportive, friendly fabulous group! I feel so relieved to find them and to introduce Max to a bunch of new friends right off the bat.
Here is an iphone photo of Max with his friend Max! yep and they are the same age. I think they are going to spend a lot of time together. Max's mom Kristin is the one who introduced me to the group and I am so grateful to her!
I think I mentioned in the last post that we are subletting a condo in the Lower Avenues. When you walk out of our place and you look to the right you see the Mormon temple. It's been snowing and then melting and bright and sunny and then snowing again. So I ran out at 6am to take photos after an all night snowfall.
When you look to the left you see the Catholic Church.
Across the street are these beautiful trees.


Yes - this is REALLY what it looks like the day AFTER it snows and everything melts. Gorgeous. This was the view while driving around looking at houses for sale.
yes I was driving on the freeway and blown away by the mountains. I tried to take a shot as I drove. Don't worry mom, I wasn't looking through the viewfinder - I had my eyes on the road!
yes another photo while driving. this time with my iphone. Heading to Cottonwood Heights to drive by a bunch of houses that are for sale. I REALLY love the view of the mountains from this part of town. I don't think I'd mind if my backyard faced this view! They are so close to the mountains it just feels amazing.
Another snow day looking across the street from our condo. I LOVE that tree.

At Cafe Shambala which we seem to frequent these days since it's very close to the condo and tasty!
We got a membership from family members to a place called the Discovery Center. I think I've taken Max there 5 times already! It's a great place for him to play and walk walk walk walk which makes him squeal with delight. He loves to play with all the colorful toys, get pushed around in the cars, play music and walk up to the parents and wave at them. He seems more interested in the adults than in the kids his age.
playing music with papa
his favorite thing these days.....cars. cars. cars. It must be in the bloodstream or something because we don't really have many car toys at home and don't focus on them when we play. He sees them driving down the street and gets so excited. Anything with wheels. Even other strollers. He wants to follow them down the sidewalk. He loves to touch the wheels and tires. Even at a farm we went to he was more interested in the tractors than the cute bunnies or the sheep.
learning the art of power lounging from papa He just started to be able to get himself up onto the couch by himself.
His new friend Victoria. She is the daughter of Jerry's Sister's friend Peggy. Peggy just happens to also be our Real Estate agent. yes it is a soft focus photo because someone licked the iphone. I wonder who? Max went right over to her and held up his arms so that she could pick him up. He loves her.
And here is Max's first girlfriend in Salt lake City. London. They met back in November and it's been true love ever since. He loves to touch her face and smile at her.
Max and Papa on a tractor at Wheeler Farm
Max meeting a sweet horse
There's Nicole and London looking gorgeous at the farm.
Pretty X 2
Tyler with his Star Wars t-shirt on. Guess what his favorite movie is?
All of us at Wheeler Farm. Nicole, Aaron, London and Tyler took us there. It was great to visit all the animals and guess what, this place is close and FREE. I think Max and I will be spending a lot of time here - especially when it warms up.
One of the many perks of living here is that Max and I have been able to visit Jerry during his lunch break at work and run off to a restaurant for lunch together. This would NEVER happen in Los Angeles. Just getting to Jerry's work in LA took FOREVER. We love seeing him in the middle of the day and how easy it is to get over there.

All of us are really enjoying it here. Yes, you heard right. We like it here! I feel right at home here. I have no idea why that is. But it's been smooth and easy to meet new people, figure out the city and finding my daily comforts - like where to eat - buy groceries - get my hair done - go to 12 step meetings etc.

And - drum roll please - we actually went out on a DATE without Max. Yes. we. Did! Grandma Marty came over and watched Max while we went up the street to Cafe Shambala and had dinner. It felt strange to not have him with us since we don't go anywhere without him. But it was also NICE. Every Tuesday night is DATE NIGHT ! Woo hoooooo! Thank you so much *m.

Much more to say and share but we are off to one of our favorite places to eat, The Oasis Cafe for breakfast. Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday!