refi.

joe and i have been half-heartedly talking about trying to refinance our house for like a year now. we are wayyyy upside down (for those of you who haven't found yourself in this lovely spot and don't understand its joys, it means that we owe more on our mortgage than the current value of the home) and weren't really sure if refinancing was even going to be option for us. not to mention we are both (as i may have mentioned before) the type that gets excited about something on the front end but then have very little in the way of follow-through. thus, the year of pondering a refinance.

well, finally we (err, joe) got serious about looking into our options and, as it turns out, it's a pretty easy process. since our loan is backed by the fha, we can refinance and BONUS!, we don't need an appraisal! so the fact that we are upside down doesn't really matter. our current interest rate is 5.8% which is just completely out of control. our lender (chase) offered us 4% and we don't have to bring any money to the table to cover closing costs. how can this be so easy? we're lowering our monthly mortgage payment by over $200, which can go straight to saving for a down payment on a new house. also, this will allow us to rent our place for a reasonable monthly amount and potentially even make money on it. score.

dave would be so proud.

in unrelated news, bennett is starting to eat solid foods. ok, eat is a poor description of what he's doing. he's actually putting pieces of food in his mouth, immediately getting confused and grossed out, and then spitting them back out. it's actually impressive that he keeps wanting to put the pieces of food in his mouth considering his reaction once they're in there. this means there's hope. i think teeth would help, but still not-a-one. last night he tried little pieces of noodles and little pieces of cheese. he was very amused by picking them up and putting them in his mouth, but that's as far as we've gotten. baby steps.

here's some pictures of my [almost] crawling babe...

helping mama at trader joe's

before you report me to child protective services let me explain. bennett scooted backwards under this shelf at daycare, and then got super mad that he couldn't get out. i love that his teacher took the time to take the picture before rescuing him, because that's pretty much exactly what i would've done! :)

my parents' dog ollie after burying his face in the snow

loving sitting in the stroller not in his car seat anymore! such a big boy!