Week 21 – I Imagine Hell to be Filled with People Painting for All Eternity

Even though we “moved” into our new home last weekend, there was still a lot to get done in our apartment, including several more car loads to take over and a fair bit of painting.  Tomorrow we have to hand in our keys and there’s still so much more to do before then.  We’ve been running non-stop for the past couple weeks and I think it’s really catching up to us. 

In the new house this week we’ve:  unpacked & set up the kitchen, fixed the toilet and bathroom sink leaks, hung various things, installed hardware, painted the bathroom, part of our bedroom, & the second coat in the living room, placed all the furniture, made many calls for bills, insurance, & utilities, and did a million other little things. 

Content being shuffled back and forth in the car

In the apartment this week we’ve:  packed up & moved 4 car loads of random things, did a lot of laundry (since we have yet to buy a washer/dryer for the house), patched up holes, cleaned the place from top to bottom, and painted the bedroom, kitchen (which was red and took 3 coats!), and started the hallway.  Despite our efforts to avoid this time crunch, we’ve been rushed into painting our apartment back to white.  In trying to find out how much it was going to cost us, management played phone tag and avoided giving us a direct answer for over a week. 

Living in a college town and having dealt with several move-out processes, we know from experience that landlords will nickel & dime you to death with random charges upon move-out.  We’ve lived in our latest apartment complex for 4 years; most of that time being fantastic.  Then the complex was sold to another company at the end of last year and the new management has been beyond awful.  When it came time to move out, we tried many times to get a quote for how much they’ll charge to paint if we left our apartment with color on the walls.  We decided if the amount was close to what it would cost to buy all the paint & supplies, then we wouldn’t put ourselves through all that work.  Instead, we would just patch up some holes and clean.  They finally stopped dancing around the question and decided to send someone out on Wednesday (our move out day – great timing) to look over the place and determine how much they would charge.  Unfortunately on Wednesday this huge storm started to roll in, and after waiting over an hour for this guy to show up, I had to get home while the roads were still open.  Like I said we were supposed to move out & turn in our keys on Wednesday, but after all this back-and-forth combined with the flooding damage the crazy storm caused, they said we can have until Sunday.   It took until yesterday for them to call with an estimate, so this morning we bought a bunch of paint on our way over and have been trying to do as much as we can before turning in our keys tomorrow.  I cannot wait until tomorrow evening; no matter how much we get done or are unable to finish, it will be over!

"Helping" with all the laundry

"Helping" pack up the bathroom

In less stressful and busy news this week, Baby Kershaw is now 21 weeks done baking.  She is about 7 inches long, 10 ½ ounces big and is the size of a banana.  BK is swallowing a lot of amniotic fluid and because of that, can “taste” the various things that I’m eating.  Her arms and legs are now in proportion, the cartilage is hardening into bone, and the neurons between her brain & muscles are more connected.  All of these things are contributing to more coordinated movements and less jerky twitching.  The results from the Materni-21 test came back this week.  It was negative and confirmed again the un-likeliness of her having Down’s Syndrome.  In regards to how I’m feeling…well I’m a zombie.  My muscles ache, my joints are stiff, I’m exhausted, and my mind is turning to mush due to being in overdrive for weeks now.  The last time we moved, it was the weeks before, during, and after our wedding.  This time it’s while I’m 5 months pregnant.  I guess combining stressful & big life events is just how we roll, haha.

Week 13 – With the Good Also Comes the Bad

This week marked the final week of the first trimester.  BK is 1/3 of the way done baking!  It is about 3 inches long, ¾ an ounce, and the size of a peach.  The intestines are moving from where they’ve been developing in the umbilical cord to where they should be.  The ears and eyes are moving closer to their normal position.  Also the vocal cords are starting to develop.  I feel pretty much the same as I did last week – the same sciatic pain is hanging around, my energy has pretty much returned, and still no nausea unless I’m not the one driving.  I’m pretty sure I don’t look pregnant to other people yet, but I’ve noticed a little rounding to the abdomen area.  It basically looks like I’ve just let myself go a little, lol.  My pants have been only a little uncomfortable on my belly if I’ve been sitting for too long.  I can probably get away with a couple more weeks before I have to go shopping.  :)

Some big and exciting news happened in the beginning of the week.  After looking at an additional 4 properties, we decided to go ahead and put in an offer on that home that already had multiple offers on it.  We knew before finding out others were interested that we liked that house best, and after seeing 26 total properties, it was still our favorite.  It took a couple of days to hear back from the seller, but the realtor called and said they accepted our offer!  To say there is a lot of paperwork to sign when buying a house would be an understatement, but after writing our names probably 500 times, the contract is now filed and our loan is being processed.   Now we just have to get a home inspection and then the waiting game will begin.

Some big and not so exciting news happened later in the week though.  Our neighbor who lives below us complained to the apartment management that our puppy was making too much noise, and the management’s response was to serve us with a 14 day notice to remove Bailey from the property.  Now our lease is up on March 19^th and we were hoping to sign a one month extension so that we don’t have to live on the street while we close on our house.  However, they want us to remove Bailey by March 7^th citing not only is she a restricted breed but she is disrupting the neighbors.  Awesome.  Well since we knew exactly who it was that complained, Trevor went downstairs to talk to the guy who has been a pain to us for months now.  Not only do he and his wife not know how to live in an apartment, but this guy has called management to repeatedly complain about every neighbor that lives around him.  As for the restricted breed business, the previous management granted us permission to have a Husky and the new management has to honor existing contracts.  Also they have been perfectly content to accept our pet fees every month knowing we have a Husky, but now she’s not going to be allowed? 

Well even though Trevor was fuming over this, he put on a calm & pleasant face and managed to convince the guy to drop the complaint.  The next day the neighbor went over to tell the office he’s dropping everything.  However, when we called the office later on, their response was that they already sent the letter to us and they have to honor it.  Umm…what?  A letter someone typed up in Microsoft Word and the two claims that no longer have any merit…this is something they have to honor.  Yep, makes sense.  Looks like it’s time to have our real estate attorney call over and tell them not only are they legally not allowed to do this, but to also stop being douchebags.  I don’t think he’ll tell them the last part, but he should.  Haha

Trevor's Note:  Let me run down a quick list here:  baby on the way, lease expiring, buying a house, wife in a car accident, and possibly getting evicted.  You can understand why I'm shaking while I type this.  What an up and down week.  I can't tell you how happy I am that we are getting a house, but now my fear of being homeless (albeit for a short time) may actually be realized.  

All of this is teaching me so much more about being a man than any other time in my life.  And I've come to the realization that sometimes being a man means you have to get down on your knees and pray.  I don't know what the next few months will bring, but somehow we're going to get through them.