good news and bad news

Jared had his 9 month pediatrician visit the other day. He is now 17 lbs., 14 oz. (10th percentile) and 28" long (50th percentile.) The pediatrician said that he was "lean and mean." I said that he was "lean and toned" like our friend Sexy Mike! ;) The doctor was not worried about his lower weight percentile since he is so active.

When I turned around yesterday, Jared was not only standing up against the fridge, but he was on his tip-toes to reach a piece of paper! He is showing progress every day! He certainly keeps me on my toes! :) (groan!)

He has also stopped his laps around the coffee table. He starts at the coffee table, then does a couple of squats for some reason. Sometimes, he uses the squat to pick up a toy on the floor, and bring it back up to the coffee table.

Jared's top middle 3 or 4 teeth are all coming in right now. Poor kid. His top gums are so puffy and swollen. We've been giving him some Infant Motrin as needed to take the edge off. Hopefully they will be in soon.

Now for the bad news...
We lost the house that we had a contract on. The sellers are getting a divorce, and the husband took out a large home equity loan on the house without telling his wife. Since he has not been making payments on the home equity loan, both of their credits are ruined. So the lady, who has been living in the house, doesn't have the credit to go out and buy her own place. And the home equity loan might have been large enough that they might be in trouble with the bank with the house - the selling price might not cover their loan amounts. :( It just turned into this humongous mess that we got pulled into. We technically still have a contract with them, but that will probably go away soon. I am slowly coming to grips with the fact that we're losing the house. I also feel terrible for the lady seller who is now essentially stuck in the house, and can't move on with her life.
So the house search starts all over again. :( Steve and I are so disheartened. We have until the end of April to get a ratified contract, or else lose out on the tax credit. So we'll do a big push this final week, and if we don't find anything, we'll probably take a break and reevaluate our situation.