Moved Check, Full Term Check, Unpacking almost Check

Well hello again everyone. We've had a very busy week since our last update. We moved out of our old place, unpacked a ton of our stuff, and already made some updates/changes to the new place. We are so excited to be in our new home and already have started our wish list of updates. Brian has quickly become Mr. Fix it. On our first day in the house he worked on the air conditioner which was causing some difficulty on move day (90+ degrees, followed by a beautiful mid 70's day the next day, go figure). He has replaced a faucet, the wax ring in a toilet, many lightbulbs, outlets, etc. I've been very impressed! Thanks to all those who helped us with updates (carpeting, painting, etc) and those who helped us moved, we REALLY appreciate all the help and we couldn't have done it without all of you.


Brian is Mr. Fix It, watch out Handy Manny, here he comes.

I am happy to report that Ofie did not feel that move week was a good time to come surprise the parents and she has decided to let us get settled in and make her accommodations perfect before her arrival. My feet did begin swelling up quite a bit (think cankles). With lots of water and elevated feet, I can usually keep the swelling to a minimum and yesterday they even looked like my old feet for a few hours (it was cause for celebration). Our dr.'s appointment last week was good, everything continues to be right on track (we're officially full-term now)and we both continue to be healthy. We will be going every Friday for dr. appointments now and our goal is to make it past my birthday (this week) and our anniversary (next week 16th) before Ofie arrives. Selfishly, I'd like to not be in the hospital for my birthday and we'd really like to have a nice dinner and go see the new Harry Potter next weekend for our anniversary. We'll see if Ofie has other plans.

Below you will see pictures of our completed nursery, we love it and it all came together in just a few days!

We've been busy so there have been no belly pictures for awhile, but here we are at 37 weeks and 2 days. When we're relaxing on the couch, Gretchen has taken a liking to my belly, it's a very comfortable spot for her to snuggle up. Disregard my color choices, my favorite shorts were in the wash so I was wearing my favorite old gym shorts of Brian's.

Until next week that's all, only one more room in our house to unpack and then it's time to sit back, relax and wait for Ofie's arrival!

Sold Sign

Finally a picture of the front of the house. The first thing to go is going to be the awning, we think it will drop about 10 years off the look of the house.
Brian drove by the house one night on his way home from work and saw the sign. We of course had to make a trip back to get a picture. No scrapbook will be complete without the sold sign! Only 4 more days until closing, and one week until moving.

Packing, showers, etc....

Basement






Ofie's room (the color, carpet, and furniture are changing)









Backyard View towards the 3 seasons room.




So much going on and so little time. We are 6 weeks from Ofie's due date, 2 weeks from move day, and 11 days until closing date. In addition to finalizing house details, picking out carpet and paint colors we've also had two baby showers and another doctor's appointment. Ofie is doing very well heartbeat at 141, we're measuring right on track, and Ofie continues to move around a lot. She has had the hiccups lately (a good sign as its her practicing her breathing), but she definitely doesn't like the hiccups because with every bout of hiccups there comes lots of thrashing around inside, it's very funny. After our next appt we start going every week, hard to believe we're that close!

We had one baby shower in Dixon and one in Wheeling, both were great and Ofie was definitely spoiled at both. We are very appreciative to everyone for all of the wonderful things we've gotten for her. Thanks to Joyce, Jenni, Kim, and mom for hosting the showers, it was great to see everyone!

As we continue to pack up our house for the move the only things that are completely packed are Ofie's things, and we can't wait to get them all unpacked in the new place and finally set up the baby's room. Then we'll feel ready for the arrival. We did decide to err on the side of caution and pack the hospital bags prior to the move just in case little Ofie wants to arrive before we can get our house unpacked and locate things.

Here are some pictures from the showers and the house.....free tours of the house anytime after closing as long as you agree to bring a box inside, unpack, or do some other sort of home repair :)

Dixon Shower














Brian and I at the shower in Wheeling, he was there to greet people, get some dessert and help with gifts afterwards.

Ellie and Allison were my helpers during gift opening. They handed me gifts and moved them for me. It was very helpful. Hard to believe that nearly 4 years ago these girls were the flower girls in our wedding and now they're practically towering over me.Here is our living room after we got back from the last shower. We had to sort through everything and pack it into boxes for the move. Gretchen wasn't sure what to do with all the things in her way so she would set her ball on things we were moving so we'd have to throw it for her.

We've been busy and didn't have time to do belly shots, but here's one from 33 weeks. The belly is getting in the way now, I can't reach the faucet doing dishes quite like I used to and there's still more time to grow, yikes!

We're MOVING!

It happened so fast, we can hardly believe it. We went and saw a house on Friday evening, thought about it all weekend, saw it again Tuesday night and put an offer in. After several counteroffers we accepted and we are buying our first house! We're excited but nervous, it's a huge commitment. The house was only on the market for 8 days, and we think it's great. We're going to be even busier now getting ready for baby, packing, moving, changing addresses, etc....oh boy it sounds overwhelming when I really think about it. I have to have a talk with Ofie to let her know that we do not want any early arrivals since we now have to get moved into a new place exactly one month before her due date...yikes!

We'll get pictures up here as soon as possible, we have to schedule our home inspection and assuming that goes well we'll be closing on June 24. Anyone interested in helping us move, that will be the following weekend and we LOVE help! I'm in charge of unpacking, directing traffic and feeding the troops.

We also believe we found a great day care person too, what a huge week it's been. We're very excited after 9 interviews to be able to say we found someone we think will do a wonderful job with our little Ofie. Of course not as good a job as we'll do, but we feel comfortable with her and her family.

We had a doctor's appointment today, Ofie is doing well heart beating away at 143, measuring right on track and no concerns. Unfortunately, due to insurance companies frequently denying to pay for a 32 week ultrasound our Doctor has decided to forgo it so that in case it gets rejected we don't have to pay for it. Since everything looks good and healthy there is no reason to do one, so I guess there will be no more Ofie pictures until D-day. We were disappointed, but what can you do.

No new house for Ofie

Ofie is doing well, but sadly it doesn't look like Ofie is getting a new house for her birthday. We put our final offer in 2 1/2 weeks ago, and were supposed to hear the next day, no word. Our realtor contacted us today to let us know that she still has heard nothing from them despite her efforts to contact them, but the house has been relisted as a "new" listing online at $22,000 more than it was orginally listed at. They never notified any of the people who had offers on the house to tell us our offers were rejected, they just relisted at a higher price.

We just hope the bank loses in this deal, because it would serve them right. So after nearly 3 months of waiting we're giving up on this house. We've been looking at other houses the whole time, but nothing compares. Plus, all the houses seem to be short sales, and we're not interested in getting involved with another one of those. I can only be patient so many times and for only so long. At least we didn't wait to get Ofie's room ready.

I guess it just wasn't meant to be and perhaps our dream house is still out there somewhere, we'd love to stay in Cortland, maybe a great house will become available soon.

In other news, my coworkers threw a surprise baby shower last week at work. I was completely surprised and it was so nice to see everyone. Ofie got some great gifts including many great books and her mom got some great scrapbook supplies so she can get right to work on Ofie's scrapbook. I'll put a picture from the shower up once the person who took them (hint, hint Lisa) shares them with me.

House Shopping Part II and belly picture

Well we went out house shopping again yesterday and saw two houses that we could see ourselves in. They were not houses we put on our well maybe we could live there list, but we could both envision our things there. Best part is both have room to grow and with some paint and TLC (but not too much) we'd be great. After talking, talking, and a good night of sleep we've decided we are going to put an offer in on one of the houses this week. It's a short sale which means it's pre-foreclosure so the bank is very meticulous about the sale and from offer to accepting (if they do) it can take months. We have the time to wait so we're going forward with an offer. We'll keep you posted on if this works. Cross your fingers though because it would be a great house for us and our growing family!

We have been taking belly pictures every few weeks since about 10 weeks, but there was nothing very noticeable until now. Still kind of just looks like I gained weight, but it's definitely Ofie. I have also just begun feeling her kick and move around, and boy does she have a party in there sometimes. Brian is anxious for when he will get to feel the kicks. Only 16 more days until our big ultrasound!

House Shopping

So we're back from our first round of looking at houses. It was exciting to get out there and see houses, to see what's available, what things we like and don't like. We really like the realtor we're working with and we're looking forward to finding "our" house. We had to rule out a couple of houses today because we knew our little princess, Gretchen not Ofie, would not be happy. All wood floors throughout the whole house are no good, and she would never forgive us for moving into a house like that. We're hoping to be able to go out again next weekend to see some more, because after seeing 6 they all start to run together. We saw 8 today and can barely remember a couple of them. From the 8 we are keeping 2 on our maybe list for now.

In the meantime we're rearranging our house moving everything from the office to the basement so we can turn the office into Ofie's room. We've decided preparing for a baby and shopping for a house are both full-time jobs, at least their both fun jobs (well so far, we'll see if we feel the same way in a few months).

17 Week Appointment

We are back from our 17 week appointment and we are happy to report Ofie's heart is beating away at 144 beats a minute. It was the quickest appointment we have had so far, very little waiting and the appointment was a total of 15 minutes from start to finish. After the appointment we decided to do a little scoping out of baby things and get some lunch. Wow is Baby's R Us overwhelming. So many baby things, so many choices, it's going to take us months just to figure out what we like. Seriously, does a baby need all those things?

Our next appointment is the big one. On March 17, easy to remember St. Patrick's Day, we'll be getting our 21 week ultrasound followed by a visit with the doctor. The ultrasound is supposed to last one hour and we'll get to make sure everything is ok, we have no reason to believe it won't be. We will not be finding out what we're having so Ofie will remain Ofie until some nice warm day in July when she decides to show herself. So next month we'll have ultrasound pics to show. As of now I have no really belly to show yet, but we'll be sure to post a pic when there is.

In other news now that 2/14 has happened and work will be settling down we're beginning our house search. We've found a realtor who we really think is going to be great and we may be out looking at houses as soon as this weekend. We're optimistic we'll find a great house at a great price and maybe with any luck be able to move before July. We'll keep everyone posted on house developments as well.