O.M.G.

It's been a little hectic over here the past week, to say the least. The good news is that we are moving - YAY! We are closing on our current home next Wednesday, May 2nd. However, we are waiting to hear back from our seller's on the new house if we can move in early before we close. I am really praying that we will be able to do so. Otherwise, we'll have to move twice within 2 weeks...and it will cost us about an extra $1k. So, let's just hope that we can get over this little hurdle and all parties will be happy and comply.

The next week is going to be stressful. However, to keep my own sanity under control, I devised a planned list for daily tasks that need to get done. This is the only way it calms my anxieties down on big projects. Here's my to do list:


Today: Steam carpets, deep clean house, buy XL packing boxes, schedule movers, change utilities
Tomorrow: Errand day - Will be gone all day long
Friday: Packing kitchen, and misc. decor items
Saturday: Shopping day for new appliances, fixtures, etc.
Sunday: Pack up any remaining misc. items (in garage, artwork, etc.) Spackle walls.
Monday: Confirm movers, utilities, etc. Schedule install quotes for new home for Thursday/Friday
Tuesday: Deep clean day, prepare for movers, etc.
Wednesday: Moving Day!!!! Need I say more?

And then, the following 2-3 weeks will be spent on unpacking the house, updating fixtures, etc. Basically, the next month is going to be extremely busy. I am the type of person who has to get everything done right away. I hate procrastination. I'm definitely a "work hard, then play" type A personality. I'm sure I'm going to drive Tommy crazy. But, unpacking is always easier/faster than packing and my parents are helping us with changing out fixtures, paint, etc. So, we will have help.

Speaking of help, I have a hard time accepting it from friends. Leia, Shelby, and I went to dinner last night, and they graciously offered to help us with our move. I don't know whether it's my pride, control freak inside, or guilt...but it's hard for me to say yes. I feel that it's our responsibility. I don't know, it's something I definitely need to work on.

Now on to a quick Madeline update: She's been kicking more and more daily. She's most active around 10pm. Most babies sleep during the day, and awake at night due to daily movement. It's such a weird, but cool feeling. Tommy is still unable to feel her from the outside of my belly, but I'm sure in the next 2 weeks that will change. My bump is also growing. I think she went through a growth spurt the past 2 weeks since I was basically starving at all times of the day. The constant hunger has subsided for now.

22.5 Week Photos:

I'm still in all my regular clothing, however, it definitely fits a little differently. I'm at the pudgy stage of pregnancy. Some of my tops just make me look like I have grown a beer belly, not a baby. I predict I'll be in this stage for another 3-4 weeks, and then my belly will "pop." Surely, I should be breaking out my Bella Bands in the next couple of weeks...but I've been saying that for 2 months. My next OB appointment is this coming Monday, so I'll find out if I gained any weight this month. I'm sure I have...at least I know I have in my tummy, unless I lost elsewhere.

Insanity

I am seriously about to go insane. We still haven't heard a final YES from our buyer's lender. We've been dealing with this now for weeks. Now, we get to wait to hear back next week. My head is going to explode. Sorry for the vent, but I am so frustrated....and it doesn't help that I'm impatient with things that I cannot control. This is just getting ridiculous. *SCREAMS*

Ravenous Pig

Extreme hunger hit me out of nowhere this week. I'm starving after a large meal, snack, drinking glasses of water....just about all hours of the day. If I don't gain any weight this week, I will be shocked. My new cravings are hard boiled eggs and extra sharp cheddar cheese. I'm still having a smoothie just about daily, too. I've cut back on the salads for now, but I have a feeling I will long for them shortly. I am supposed to be adding on 500 calories daily to my consumption, anyway. I'm definitely meeting the criteria, that's for sure! And, I've been drinking around 16-18 glasses of water everyday. I have extreme thirst.

I actually feel a little guilty about Madeline, because of everything going on right now. I haven't spent much time on baby things the past 2 weeks. I know once we get moved and settled that will change, and she will become my number one focus again. I plan on reading several parenting books, including "Moms on Call" highly referred by Lance and Shellie, among a few other items to prepare myself during my last trimester. Surprisingly, labor and delivery doesn't scare me at all. A C-Section is a different story. I'm terrified to have one, but if that's what has to happen, I'll deal.

In house news, things are moving along. Our buyers aren't as shaky, but we will know for sure either tomorrow or Friday. We're just waiting on a couple of things. Also, we're going to work with our buyers on pushing our closing date out, so we will only move once. Not only does it save time and money, but stress.

I don't have anything interesting to post, Monday and Tuesday my allergies basically left me debilitated on the couch all day. Ugh...it was awful. I'm much better today!

Pins and Needles

Where shall I start? The most exciting news.....we got our house! I am so excited. The home is way more than what I imagined us getting, and I'm thrilled that we will be raising our family in it. We will work out all of our closing details on Monday. In a perfect world, we'd close on the same day as our home, but we might be able to do "Owner "Occupy" if the lenders, closing attorneys, etc. need more time. We'd just have to close on our home first. So, if that could work out, it would be more than awesome. We definitely have some updating in our new home to do. We need new appliances, fixtures, fencing, and hardware. Eventually, we'll put in granite, but that might have to wait awhile. I posted photos below, but these photos are really horrible. I'll take some next time I stop by!

We are not out of the woods yet. The buyers on our home are still getting their financing worked out. I'll admit that the deal is a bit shaky. We are hoping to have a final answer on Monday. Instead of being stressed about our offer/finding a new home/etc., now I get to be on pins and needles about our own buyers. The good news is that they do not want an inspection....which is AWESOME. It's funny, because my last home I sold didn't have an inspection, either. This is pretty much a rare occurrence.

So we wait. I always say if it's meant to be, it's meant to be...whatever happens. We got such an amazing deal on our new home, and well, it's just perfect, so it would be quite disappointing if this deal doesn't work out. However, we also went through a similar situation 2 years ago, so we know it's a possibility. Anything can happen.

I ask that you keep us in your thoughts, prayers, and/or send us good vibes during these next two weeks.

Offer Made

We made an offer on a wonderful potential home today! I'd post photos, but I forgot to take them, and the online photos simply do not do the home justice. While the home is in our price range, the taxes in this area are DOUBLE what we've been looking at, so we don't have as much wiggle room. Here are the house stats: Cul de Sac Home Private Backyard 3400 Square Feet 4 Bedrooms, 2.5 baths with large Bonus Open Floorplan - actually, the floor plan is perfect Excellent Neighborhood The kitchen does need renovation, and it will need new carpet in a few years. We'd also have to immediately fence it because of Sophie...so some repairs do have to be considered. So, we will see. If the darn taxes weren't so high, wouldn't even be sweating it at all. It's funny how just a couple of miles make a HUGE difference. Of course I'll be more than excited if this offer works out, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high. I know they'll counter back tomorrow, and we will go from there. If it's meant to be, it'll work out. If not, we can just wait for more listings. I'll update once I hear something back. They have until 5pm tomorrow to respond, and I predict we will hear back late tomorrow afternoon while they mull over it tonight/early morning.

Halfway

First, Happy Easter!!! I'm happy to announce that I'm officially 20 Weeks along today, and I'm starting on my 6th month of pregnancy. I will admit that the weeks/months is confusing. Pregnancy is actually 10 months long - not 9 months - so this week begins my 6 month marker. I'm halfway through!!! Yay!!

I'm thankful to have a healthy baby, as far as we know, and no worries or concerns. I know her cyst will eventually go away. It's very, very common and nothing to worry about. Back in the day, they simply didn't have the technology to see what they can see now, so it was virtually unheard of. Cysts happen frequently now, and my doctor has reassured us that it is nothing to worry about. We just need to verify that her other two heart chambers look good. Hopefully, she'll comply with us on our next ultrasound.

This weekend, we worked on our garage and visited our families. Today, we went over Ray and Sandra's for Easter lunch and had an Easter Egg Hunt for Tyler and Katie. Taking photos of moving children has proved to be a difficult task. I tried, but gave up. A couple photos are below. Aren't they adorable?

I'm crossing my fingers that more listings pop up this week, and we can go house hunting again. We'll see. Our house is driving me nuts. I have boxes everywhere, and I loathe clutter. It's just a part of moving, but it's still annoying at the same time.

Stressed

This week has been a crazy week. I've spent my time packing, organizing, house hunting, cleaning, etc. I've been thinking it's Thursday all day long. This morning, I finished packing all of our closets, donation items, and kitchen donations. Then, I dropped off a car load of donations at Goodwill, then two carloads of "junk" to a dumpster. I haven't packed our home decor, clothing, and kitchen just yet. I'd like to wait until a week before we close just to make sure it's going to happen. I'm not trying to be pessimistic, I just know that sometimes a deal can fall through, and I'd hate to pack up our entire house just to unpack it all again. I did meet my goal of packing this week, so I can stress less about it.

Wednesday and Thursday we went house hunting with Lance. We had a gorgeous renovated home that we were going to put an offer on....and then BAM...someone beat us to it. It was the perfect floorplan and design for us. However, it was located on a golf course...near the golf range area. So, the noise from the golf course would probably have driven me crazy...but oh my gosh...this house would have been perfect. It happens, and there isn't anything we can do about it, so we just have to move on. We are waiting until more inventory pops back up on the market. We've seen just about everything (about 12 homes) within our requirements and they are all a no go. It's very important to us that we have another open floorplan. A lot of the homes we've seen are rather boxy...and just don't work for us. I highly doubt any new listings will be posted until midweek next week due to the holiday. So, yes, we will be rooming with my parents for awhile. Hopefully, we'll find something soon. As long as we are moved by August 1st, that's fine with me.

Speaking of moving, we are going to use U-Haul's U-Pod system. I priced out both PODS and U-Pod and U-Pods are significantly cheaper. It's still a pain and pricier than a normal move, but at least we do have an option instead of moving twice. Tommy's dad is coming on Sunday to help us go through our garage. Our garage should be featured on an episode of Hoarders. It's jam packed full of old furniture and boxes that haven't been opened in 10 years. But, there are a few things that we will keep. Next Saturday, we have a junk hauling company coming out to get rid of everything for us. I really just want to get Sunday done with asap. I'm dreading it. And, it's all Tommy's stuff, so I can't really tell what is toss or stay. But then again, if we haven't used it....for 10 YEARS....then it's a toss item.

We'll have to rent 4-5 of these for our home.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't stressed, but I'm more stressed about our initial move. I know we'll find a house eventually....we just need more inventory out there! And, like I've said several times before, homes are moving very quickly. It's great for our economy, however, it makes it more difficult on us. So as soon as we find a house that we both love, we'll immediately put an offer on it and pray that it is accepted.

MIA

The past week has been stressful, exciting, and exhausting. We sold our house! Yay. However, it's not official until we actually close. Lance and I went house hunting on Friday, without much luck. A month ago, there were several potential homes on the market that would have been perfect, however, they are selling within just a couple of days. So, now there aren't many homes on the market that fit our criteria. I keep checking multiple times per day to see if any new listings have been added, and so far nothing. It looks like we will be staying with my parents until we close on a new home. Our tentative close date is April 27th, but that can always change.

Yesterday, we had our anatomy scan. Everything looked good, but Madeline does have a cyst on her brain. Our doctor said this is quite common and it should go away by the time my next appointment comes around, and it's not a concern at the moment. I also have to go back and have an ultrasound again because we were only able to peak at 2 chambers of the heart, and not all four. So, we'll do that at my next appointment on April 30th. And, I lost another pound...and I'm back at my starting weight. My doctor is not concerned at all, and said I'll most likely gain most of it in the 3rd trimester and not to worry.

I started packing a bit today, but I need larger boxes. Publix is giving me their boxes early Thursday morning, so I can pack all weekend. It is a daunting task....even though, a lot of our stuff is already in boxes. We have several items that we are going to donate to charity, and we also have a junk removal company scheduled for Saturday, April 14th. We literally have a garage full of stuff....so hopefully, 90% of this will all be gone. I definitely don't want to be bringing anything we haven't used and/or won't use in our new home. Did I mention that I have a severe hatred for clutter? I cannot stand it. So, whatever we can toss or donate, we are doing it!

It looks like we will probably have to use a POD Storage system and movers...which is expensive, but that looks like our only option at the moment. Even if we are under contract on a new home this week, it would be unlikely that we'd close in under 25 days.

Since I'm going to be pretty slammed this next few weeks, I most likely won't be posting as much. And, I apologize again for the lack of photos. I've just been going and going.