The Lot

Tom and I went to the site of our new home yesterday and went over the position of the house on the lot.  You can't really see the stakes from the photo (unless you click on the photo - then you can see them), but they are there.  They mark out all the corners of the house's foundation.  They plan to break ground on Tuesday!  We had one unhappy surprise when we met with Dan, the Buchan employee who will oversee the construction.  There is an easement on our property in the back corner (totaling about 800 square feet) that belongs to the City of Sammamish's Water district.  We don't know what they'll allow us to do with the easement.

Because it is in the back corner of the lot and serves as a turn-around for their trucks, they may not allow us to fence it into our backyard, essentially negating the 800+ square feet from our yard.  One reason we bought this lot was for its 16K square feet and now we're loosing nearly 1,000 square feet of it.  If we'd known this, we wouldn't have purchased this lot.  We're waiting to find out what the city will say we can do with the easement (fence it in, or not; landscape it, or not).   If we have to do anything other than what we want with it (ie. putting trees in the back corner of the lot), it will probably bother me every day...that's an unfortunate thought when we're supposedly building what will be our house for many years to come.

The lot staked for the "big dig" on Tuesday (5.31.11) Click on the photo to see the stakes.

The Path Less Traveled: Latest on the Baby Front

The Path Less Traveled: Latest on the Baby Front: "I wish I had something really positive and uplifting to post today....However, both on our personal adoption front, those also in the proces..."

My best friend Stephanie's blog regarding her wait at adopting!  Click on the link to read her blog...I'm really hoping for them that they're able to adopt & that they don't have to wait too long!!

Building Permit & Consulting

Building Permit for the New House

On a rare post on an off-Shannon topic; we finally have the building permit for the new house!  We meet today with the team to discuss where we'll dig the foundation.  Then they will mark the lot & begin to dig!  At this point, we're probably 9 months out from the house being completed.  The timing will be perfect as it pertains to our rental home.  We have this house through the end of March & we don't want to stay any later than that...we also don't really want to be in the position of having to pay a months rent in the rental & a mortgage payment on top of it, but it may be inevitable.  From what I understand, our builder (William Buchan) runs very much on time, even a bit ahead of schedule.  But it sounds like the timing is going to just about perfect....if we close a bit before we're out of this house, we can move some of the stuff ourselves over time, rather than all at once.  We're getting excited & can finally feel like we're not stuck in this small rental where 2 of 4 bedrooms are packed to the ceiling (no exaggeration) with boxes!

one of the 2 bedrooms now serving as storage

Consulting Work

I'm going to begin to do some consulting work for a company called (currently) Ivivi Orthopedics.  They are a new company & are a in the midst of changing their name.  Their product is actually an existing FDA approved technology from the parent company Ivivi Technologies, but will function autonomously from Ivivi (hence the name change) & only be responsible to Ivivi Technologies for a percentage of their revenue.  I have a meeting next week with them to discuss the scope of my projects.  This consulting work is also a potential precursor to me working for them on a full time basis if both parties find this mutually beneficial.  This will be a good trial fun at re-entering the work force without any strings attached.

We have a walker!

She'd taken a few steps, somewhat on accident in the days leading up to this...but today, we're full on walking!  Go Shannon!!

1 Year Photos

The Malchow Family!

Happy Birthday Shannon!

How has a year already gone by? Is it even possible? Apparently when people tell you that the first year is gone in a blink of an eye, they aren't lying. As hard as this year has been, I'd do it all over again. Shannon is such a blessing in our lives & love that I get to be home with her to watch it all happen. Kudos to Tom for allowing me to be home with her.

A timeout for a family photo:

My "Sweet Pea" cake before I destroyed it:

Yes, I am into this cake thing:

And I am a mess:

But clean up of the high chair is easy when you a own a Titan:

Fox Hollow Farm

Today we visited Fox Hollow Farm!  It was really fun to watch Shannon look at the animals she's only seen so far in books.  She was fascinated by the pigs.  The farm is fabulously clean for being a farm.  There were peacocks, horses, miniature horses, goats, lambs, goslings, kittens, a puppy, bunnies, even a large Tom turkey!  When she's older, they have mini tractors to ride & even pony rides!  Here's a sampling of Shannon's visit: