Sunday, December 5, 2010

The Work Never Ends

When Brian and I were house hunting earlier this year, we decided not to consider homes that needed a lot of work. With a 2 year old and another baby in the plans, there just wasn't the time or energy for that. The house we purchased is by no means a fix-er up-er, but since we moved in this June, we have been working on one project after another. While the weather was still warm, we put up a shed in the side yard, chopped down about a dozen trees, and constantly worked on the landscaping. With winter here (most days, anyway..the weather is strange...it'll be in the 20's for a few days and then jump up to the 50's. I never know what to expect!) Anyway, our energy has been focused inside the house the last couple of months and though it feels like nothing is ever done, we are making progress. My dad flew out here the end of October and worked for two weeks to partition off part of our basement to create a storage room, as well as hanging french doors on the office, and putting in an additional closet in the master suite (don't ask why we need one...very poor judgement on the part of the previous owners is all I'll say). Five days after my dad left, my sister Kristen flew out here for a short visit to help paint. She worked her tail off to finish the three upstairs bedrooms and the kitchen in about 2 1/2 days. I was very impressed! And I am so happy to report that the mauve paint that was throughout this ENTIRE house when we moved in is about 75% gone. Happy day! Thank you Dad and Kristen for all your hard work. We loved spending time with you!

Jacob was Papa's little helper, always wanting to be in the way
(er, I mean "help". Do you like how hard they're working?) And Jake's plastic tools were never  good enough. He wanted the real thing...scary!

Kristen hard at work with the paintbrush. She painted her face just for the pictures. Jacob still talks about "Kristen messy. She paint her face."

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Sugar & Spice or Puppy Dog Tails?

We received a fun surprise this week. I went in for my regularly scheduled doctor's appointment on Monday, wanting to know when I could schedule our 20 week ultrasound appointment (I'm 18 weeks right now). The doctor matter-of-factly says to me, "Tomorrow, if you want to. Or next Tuesday. You're ready." (I guess the tech comes in on Tuesdays.) I was completely taken aback, as we didn't have the opportunity to see Jake on the big screen until 20 weeks.
So, after talking to Brian and making arrangements for a sitter for Jake, we scheduled the appointment for the next morning. What an agonizing 24 hours! I had baby on the brain. Would he/she have the right number of limbs? Would the heart look okay? Was it another boy? Would it be a girl? Would the baby cooperate and let us see?
After 45 minutes of watching our baby kick and turn and move around, we were finally able to see that SHE is a GIRL! Yeah! The knowledge is still sinking in: I have to remind myself I don't have to call her "the baby" anymore. And now I can dream and plan for this little girl to join our family come mid-Spring. (Oh, and the real reason for the ultrasound brought positive results too :) She appears to be healthy, growing normally with all her parts!)