Week 22 – Goodbye Apartment, Hello House Projects

Sunday we officially moved-out of the apartment.  We spent all morning & most of the afternoon packing up the final car load (it almost didn’t all fit!), painting the hallway, dining room, & doing touch ups, and then finally turning in our keys.  It’s a shame the new management is so terrible and we left with a bitter taste in our mouths.  We both really liked the building, the grounds, the neighbors (excluding the one below us), and the whole surrounding town area.  It was our first home as a married couple.  It’s where I trained for 3 marathons and logged MANY miles on those roads.  It was where Bailey “grew-up” and we have numerous memories of her doing funny & cute things.  I know we’ll make 10 times the memories in our new home, especially with a little one coming in a few months…but I’m still going to miss our “first home”.

View from our apartment windows - "Backyard" and the parking lot across from C.O.D.

Bye Apartment

Now that we have only 1 place to tend to, we’ve spent what feels like every waking second unpacking and getting things in order.  This week we’ve unpacked and set up:  the rest of the living room, our bedroom (after buying/installing a closet organizer), the rest of the bathrooms’ furniture/hardware, and the dining room.  Our attentions this weekend, however, have been towards the leaking shower pipes.  We saw this during our home inspection and it was one of the things we told them to fix.  Of course, as it seems to be the theme in this house, they did a half-assed job and just barely patched things together.  So, naturally, it is leaking again.  Trevor’s parents came up yesterday and after going out to Chilli’s for dinner, we stopped at Menards to pick up all the supplies for tomorrow’s project.  Today, Debbie & I spent most of the day cleaning up the yard; picking up the endless supply of garbage/debris, trimming back overgrown plants, and chiefly trying to make the yard seem less like an abandoned plot.  Steve & Trevor were busy running out to Menards/Lowes several times for last minute items and then replacing the pipes & hardware for the shower.  I’m so grateful that they not only drove all this way again (after just driving up here 2 weeks ago to help us move), but also for lending some much appreciated help and expertise in home repair.

22 Weeks

Baby girl is about 8 inches long and an entire ONE pound big this week.  Her senses are developing more and she’s able to:  grab the umbilical cord, still “see” light changes even though her eyelids are fused closed, continue to taste the various flavors in the amniotic fluid, and now hear not only the sounds within my own body, but sounds occurring on the outside as well.  Trevor’s been waiting for this and is really excited to start “talking” to her & have her get to know his voice.  I’m still really tired & sore from only doing things that were apartment/home/packing/painting related.  My diet has been way off; eating whatever and whenever I can.  As a result, I’ve been sluggish and have had more headaches & heartburn than usual.  Though as exhausted as I’ve been these past 3 weeks, I feel really lazy when compared to what Trevor has had to do.  He’s not only done the heavier lifting & more physical aspects of all our projects, but he’s been spending all day at work and then spending all evening & the weekends doing projects for the apartment & house.  I really couldn’t be more blessed to have someone who not only is motivated & wants to work on our home, but follows through and continues to go above & beyond.

Trevor’s Note:  I know that one day home repairs are going to be annoying and aggravating projects that just take away from my free time.  However, there is something really great about working on “your home”.  It makes you feel like a big man (even if your Dad had to come and do most of the work while you just watched.  Thanks Dad!). 

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 20 – It’s a…

We had our 20 week ultrasound at the specialist OB’s office today.  Both the ultrasound tech and the doctor looked over the images, took the usual measurements, and printed off lots of pictures for us to take home.  The doctor said BK’s development looks normal, is on pace with everything, and that it appears to be a healthy baby GIRL!

Sucking her thumb

Thinking Pose

Some people can just tell what they are having, but I never had a gut feeling for either sex.  I was hoping for a girl though, so that overshadowed the news of her not having Down’s Syndrome.  If she did have it (and she still could because the only 100% way to know for sure is to have the genetics of the fetus mapped via amniocentesis), we both knew we were still going to continue with everything.  We just wanted to know so that we could start preparing ourselves.  We decided that having an amniocentesis was a little too aggressive since nothing unusual was detected in the ultrasound (also I’m a baby and don’t want a 20 ft needle to stab me).  We did settle on having the Materni-21 test done, which is just a simple blood test on me and is 90 something percent conclusive.

On the way home, we stopped to run some errands.  I couldn’t help it, but I did pick up a few girly outfits :) We’re not going to tell anyone the sex until after the baby showers because we’re hoping to avoid a lot of girl-only things.  The hope is to have another kid down the line and if he’s a boy, we don’t want to have to get all new things…especially because that first year you use things for such a short amount of time!  I know I’m posting here that BK is a girl, but I’m actually not publishing these posts until after we have the showers and tell our families in person.

20 Weeks

The rest of this week is going to be filled with moving craziness, so I better do my update on BK’s development now before I forget.  SHE (see what I did there, haha) is 6 ½ inches long, 10 ounces big, and is the size of a cantaloupe.  I’m glad we returned to the fruit comparisons.  This whole ‘size of your open hand’ or ‘size of a chicken breast’ just wasn’t cutting it.  Since she is a girl, her uterus is fully formed and the ovaries have about 7 million eggs…though at birth it will get down to about 2 million.  I’m halfway through the pregnancy at this point!  I feel…busy, lol.  I’m pretty good now but I suspect by the end of this week I’m going to be dragging and hurting and pretty much in zombie mode mentally.  So much to get done!

Trevor’s Note:  Two great discoveries this week.  Our baby almost certainly doesn’t have Down’s and it’s a girl.  I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve so much, but I am so thankful.  That’s not to say I’m not still stressed out (this week has been crazy and it’s only just begun), but I am going to focus on the positives.

Week 19 – Easter and the Calm Before the Storm

Easter Nails

Puppy Pillow

Happy Easter

This past Sunday was Easter.  As usual, we went to church in the morning and then went to my Uncle Paul’s house for a family party in the afternoon.  I wonder how our holidays will be divvied up when our little one comes.  Since it’s just us traveling, though it’s sometimes exhausting, it really isn’t too complicated.  We’ve split up the holidays between my family and Trevor’s pretty evenly.  Easter and Mother’s Day we stay here with my family, since we travel to Trevor’s in April & twice in June for a couple of birthday parties and for Father’s Day.  Thanksgiving is usually here with my family because his family doesn’t always have a big get together.  However, we’ll see them all in October now for another birthday party, so that’s now evened out.  And Christmas has always been easy as both families celebrate on different days. 

Again, I wonder how that is going to change when we start to do our own family traditions.  I only have 2 cousins on my side that are married or have children, and every year we see them dramatically less often.  On Trevor’s side, only a couple of cousins have children but a lot of them are now married and things are quite different from when I first started going to his family’s functions.  I know traveling with kids is harder but combining that with juggling in-laws & the family that you’ve created makes it all the more difficult.  I’m curious to see how the next few years alter the traditions I’ve followed my whole life.

BK this week is 6 inches long, around 7 ounces big, and is the size of a large mango.  It is around this time that they can start to hear sounds from within your own body (they say “hear sounds” but it’s really “feeling vibrations”) – the heart beating, blood swishing, lungs filling, food digesting, and the tenor of your voice, especially if it’s lower-pitched.  Also this week, BK’s body coated in what’s called vernix caseosa; a greasy protective coating that protects the skin from amniotic fluid.  It will shed closer to delivery, though if born a little early, it may still have some.  I’ve been pretty good this week and really have been good for the most part since the sciatic pain subsided a few weeks ago.  The nausea from being in the car is also getting a little better too.  I think I felt the baby moving again.  It feels the same as it did 2 weeks ago when I thought I felt it the first time.  Unfortunately, it’s still too subtle for Trevor to feel anything yet.  He’s pretty anxious to experience those first movements for himself. 

I titled this entry “The Calm Before the Storm” because there really isn’t anything for us to do this week but wait for time to pass.  Next week is our 20 week ultrasound.  We don’t have room to pack and pile up boxes, so that has to wait until our closing date is nearer.  Ah, just looking at this to-do list for next couple of weeks is exhausting.  If only it were possible to stock-pile hours of sleep.

Trevor’s Note:  I really do have to admit that I’m jealous that Ashley can feel the baby and I can’t.  I know this will sound weird but I’ve never felt a baby kick in the womb before.  It’s not that I really wanted to wait; I just never had a really good opportunity before.  But now that my baby will be the first one, I’m really looking forward to it.

Week 18 – Trevor’s Spring Break

I should have titled this entry “The week everyone finally called us!”  I finally got in touch with the specialist OB office after spending a LONG time on the phone with the third party hospital.  For whatever reason, they had to accept the medical records from my OB and be the ones to give it to the specialist OB.  Seems like an unnecessary step, but I guess that’s how the world works…slow everything down with middle men.  Anyway, the appointment will be our regular 20 week ultrasound, but it will be done at their office instead of at our regular Dr’s.  They have more advanced equipment that can better show the development of the baby, determining if he or she has Down’s characteristics.   If the specialist sees anything in the ultrasound that suggests the baby has Down’s (shortened limbs, a specific shape to the face, as well as other things), then an amniocentesis can be ordered to show the fetus’s chromosomal count.  We wish our OB office could have told us in the first place that all they ordered was a 20 week ultrasound.  This would have not only answered what further testing was needed but also given us a length of time to expect.

Even though this is not what we had hoped to include on our life experience list, I think we’re both a little less stressed just having this appointment finally made.  Trevor is a do-er.  He wants something tangible to hold, an activity that makes him feel like he’s doing something, or at the very least have a defined length of time to look towards.  I, on the other hand, was really just feeling frustrated with being told several times to expect to hear from someone, only to repeatedly be left in silence.  We still have to wait a few weeks until our 20 week ultrasound, and I know in the meantime this is going to cross our minds time and again.  All we can do, though, is wait & see.

In house news, we finally heard back from several people whom we’ve been waiting on.  The appraisal is finally done and showed the house to be valued higher than what we offered.  Now the bank can continue to process our loan and the seller has agreed to fix the things we requested be done.  Yay progress!

This week was Trevor’s spring break and after stressing all last week, he definitely welcomed this time off.  We spent a lot of time just relaxing and being together – many trips to Barnes & Noble, the Naperville Riverwalk, a movie/lunch date to see “OZ - The Great and Powerful”, taking Bailey on many walks, trivia night, playing with puppies, and going out for breakfast & dessert.  It was so nice to be selfish together and take time off from this pretty busy year we’ve been having so far.

18 Weeks

I already touched on baby news but progression-wise, BK is 5 ½ inches long and about 5 ounces big this week.  It is practicing yawning & hiccupping and now has fingerprints.  I’ve still only gained about 7 pounds and pretty much wear the same 2 pairs of yoga pants all the time, lol.  Until maternity pants stop being ridiculously over-priced, I’ll most likely be rocking these yoga pants until summer-time.

Nap Time

Week 17 – Another Round of the Waiting Game

There’s nothing really to update about the house yet.  We’re still waiting on the appraisal to be done and the seller is waiting for that information to determine what repairs they’ll do, if any.  So it’s another week of waiting for phone calls and emails.  I guess this must be why closing on a house can take months; everyone is waiting on someone else.  It all seems so efficient, lol. 

This week BK is 5 inches long, around 5 ounces big, and is about the size of my hand spread open. Some fat is starting to form, but the skin is translucent and will be for a little while.  It is practicing some of the basic things like sucking and swallowing.  I’ve had heartburn on and off all this week but most of it happened after I drank coffee.  So I guess the upside is I can avoid heartburn for the moment if I just avoid coffee…if you consider that an upside, haha.  Also this week I think I felt the baby move for the first time.  I’m not certain though, since I have no frame of reference.  The tiny vibrations kind of reminded me of when your stomach rumbles when it’s hungry, but I wasn’t hungry…kind of weird to explain.  I suppose over the next few weeks I’ll have a better idea if this was the real thing or not.

Also in baby news, we received a call from our OB on Monday to tell us the results from the 16 week blood work were in…and that they were just slightly abnormal.  The alpha-fetoprotein levels are just below the “normal” range, which indicate a slightly higher than average risk of BK having Down’s Syndrome.  The OB wasn’t too concerned because this test has a high false positive and we were just barely outside of the normal range…but we are going to have to meet with a specialist OB that deals in high-risk pregnancies for further testing. 

We were told the specialist OB office would call us in a couple of days to set up an appointment when they had a copy of all the test results.  Well 3 stressful days passed and by Thursday we still hadn’t heard anything.  Apparently all the information was sent over to the special OB office but it had to go through another party first, so they don’t have anything yet.  Gotta love bureaucracy!  Today is Saturday, they already closed for the day, and we’ve yet to get in contact to even set up an appointment.   Again – stressful.  However, it’s more owing to that we don’t even know what we’re waiting for.  What kind of “further testing” is needed?  Is it a test that can be scheduled ASAP or is it an ultrasound that can’t be done until I’m 20 weeks?  Are we talking some simple blood work or a scary amniocentesis?  All week we’ve been waiting just to get in touch and make an appointment.  It hasn’t been very fun.

But to end on a positive note, here are some unnecessary pictures of Bailey :)
 

I want ALL my toys at once

Peekaboo under the table

  

Trevor’s Note:  Basically all the information we have about “irregular test” is stuff that Ashley and I have researched ourselves.  There are just too many stressful things happening.  The good news is my spring break is coming and hopefully we can get some answers about this test soon.

Week 16 – Happy St Paddy’s Day!

St. Paddy's Nails

High Fives for St. Paddy's

Earlier this week I had my 16 week OB appointment.  We got to hear the heartbeat and received the order to get the 2^nd trimester blood work done.  BK is still around 4 ½ inches long but is now 4 ounces big.  It’s back muscles are stronger allowing it to straighten out more.  BK’s eyes are working now and are able to perceive light through the eyelids.  It is also more sensitive to touch and can respond by squirming if the belly is poked. 

16 Weeks

It’s been nice enough to be outside so Bailey and I have been taking a lot of walks this week.  I can’t wait for spring temps…I am so over winter already.  I’ve even begun spring cleaning or really I’d call it move-out-cleaning.  As you can see from the picture above I’ve gone from looking like I ate a little too much to looking like I let myself go, haha.  I guess 7 lbs mostly all in the front will do that.  My pants no longer allow me to sit down without really cutting into my stomach.  I spent many hours on Friday going to THREE different malls trying to find maternity yoga pants.  Yes, I said three.  And it was completely ridiculous.  The first two malls had zero maternity stores. 

I can vividly remember when I wasn’t pregnant seeing those stores all the time.  Now that I need them…they’ve all disappeared?  Awesome.  The third mall only had one maternity store.  Unfortunately, all they had were leggings.  Not quite the same thing.  I despise the look people are trying to pull off when they wear leggings as pants (as in without a long enough shirt to cover their butt).  That is not a good look for anyone; I don’t care how in shape you are.  Even the department stores only had a few racks and most of it was $100 maternity jeans (how crazy is that!?) and shirts.  I found some maternity yoga pants in both Macy’s and Target but they were so short they didn’t even clear my ankles.  I guess people taller than 5 feet don’t get pregnant anymore. 

For funsies I went into Victoria’s Secret, even though I knew all of their pants were covered in rhinestones and had the word “PINK” written across the backsides.  The clothing gods must have felt sorry for me by then because I managed to find two pairs of yoga pants!  One of them even came without rhinestones…I didn’t even know that was possible.  They must have had a rhinestone shortage the week those were made.  The other of course did have the offensive little sparkles but PINK was written very small and my shirts would cover it.  I hope they’ll fit longer than a couple of months because I do not want to repeat that day anytime soon.

Today I had a baby shower to go to for a college friend, Katie.  Trevor came with so that Travis would have someone to hang out with while Sara and I were at the shower.  I am so not looking forward to having to register for my own showers in a couple of months.  There is so much crap babies need and all of it is quite expensive so a shower is a must unless you are super rich.  However, researching brands and sifting through the way over-crowded baby market just makes me want to take a nap.  When registering for our wedding, I knew which things on the “Must Register For” lists that stores and magazines pushed were going to be completely useless.  Baby registries though…no frickin’ clue what you’ll actually use all the time, what you’ll use for about 5 seconds before they outgrow it, and what they’re trying to push onto new parents by making you think you need it.  Yep, definitely not looking forward to figuring all this out ;)

Week 15 – Waiting Game

BK is 4 ½ inches long, 2 ounces big, and the size of a softball this week.  That’s a whole inch and a whole ounce bigger than last week.  No wonder it looks like I had Thanksgiving dinner every night this week.  I can really feel the toughness of the uterus now when I push on the skin in front of my hips.  I even had my first heartburn of the pregnancy occur this week.  I’ve never really had heartburn before so I wasn’t sure if that’s what I was feeling at first.  It’s more annoying than painful but maybe that will change later on.  This week BK’s bones are getting harder and can be seen with an x-ray (that’s a little creepy to me).  It is coordinated enough to move its finger, toes, flex its extremities, suck its thumb and make breathing movements.  I guess if you’ve had a baby before you can feel movement this week.  However since this is my first it seems I’ll have to wait a few more weeks.

We’re doing a lot of waiting around at this point with the house.  It took a week since our home inspection for the real estate attorney to contact us and ask what repairs we are requesting be done.  Now that he’s called and taken down our list, we’re just waiting to hear what the seller will agree to repair or not.  It’s a fun process, lol. 

We had a big snowstorm this week and Bailey has been having the time of her life.  This is the first real snow she’s ever seen and it’s quite clear just how much she loves it.  We’ve done a lot of high-kneed running around the property because of how deep it is in places.  

 

Bailey digging in the snow piles

It’s really shown me just how out of shape with running I am!  The first 2 ½ months of the pregnancy I was exhausted just sitting up on the couch.  Then I had a fun 2 months of sciatic pain.  And now that both of those are gone I’ve been working out again but I’ve had to go back to the old-school method of rotating running 5 minutes – walking 5 minutes.  I haven’t had to do that since I started marathon training 2 years ago.  Oh well, gotta start somewhere.

Trevor's Note:  I don't understand why buying this house is taking this long.  They want to get rid of it and we want to get into it.  Bureaucracy.  I can't wait till Bailey and the baby get to play in our own yard like in the video.

Week 14 – It’s Facebook Official

We made the trip down to Springfield last weekend to tell Trevor’s parents and Tony that there will be a new little one come August.  Trevor was giving his Mom and Dad a digital tour of what the house looked like from the pictures online.  When he got to one of the bedrooms he said, “And this will be the baby’s room.”  Molly captured a picture of Debbie looking quite confused at him, but of course they eventually realized what he really just told them.

"And this will be the baby's room." - Trevor telling his parents (Picture from Molly's blog)

They realized what Trevor was 
really telling them. 
(Picture from Molly's blog)

Excited to be 5th-time grandparents 
(Picture from Molly's blog)

 
We spent the rest of the evening with little Alex & Amelia while Adam & Molly enjoyed a night out.  The next day we went to Virden for Church and then lunch at Trevor’s parents house.  When we finally got back home that night, we made the news of BK Facebook official.  (Because it hasn’t really happened until it’s been announced on social media, lol.)

We had our home inspection earlier this week.  A handful of things were found that we definitely want fixed; mostly safety and plumbing issues.  However, we’re stuck waiting until the sellers sign the contract they made us sign & return last week before we can send over our repair requests.  We also went to Home Depot to get a general idea of prices for all the things we’ll need for the new house.  You can say that trip was a tad overwhelming.  Speaking of homes, the apartment management called us about a week after they sent the dog “eviction” notice to tell us we can keep our puppy and we can also sign a 1 month lease extension while our home is in closing.  I guess they realized they legally can’t evict a dog, especially when no one has complained against it and we signed a contract with the previous management allowing the breed.  And in order for us to leave, they would have to give an official eviction notice, which would give us 30 days notice.  It seems since we would be living there in April regardless, they’d rather have us pay rent for it than living out an eviction notice.  Thank you real estate lawyer for forcing them to abide by their own contracts they make their tenants sign and not just make up rules whenever they feel like it.

In baby news, we are now a week into the second trimester.  BK is 3 ½ inches long, 1 ounce big, and is the size of a fist.  We must be out of fruit at this point.  The neck is more elongated, the chin no longer rests on the chest due to the head being more erect, and it is growing lanugo (downy hair) all over the body for warmth.  I’m doing pretty well.  Sara gave me the tip to use an ice pack for sciatic pain.  Not just for comfort but because baby doesn’t like the temperature change and will move.  Either BK finally got big enough to move into the abdominal cavity like the doctor said it would OR I was able to successfully freeze the baby out and make it move like Sara said it would.  Whatever the reason, the pain moved from my sciatic to the front of my left hip for a few days and now I barely notice it at all.  We had our 14 week OB appointment a few days ago and nothing new except we got to hear BK’s heartbeat again. 

I’ve only gained 4 pounds but it’s all in the front and my pants are really filling in.  Goodbye runner’s body.  I hope to see you again someday.   It doesn’t help that all my clothes are super fitted, but when all the weight gain is in one place, they go from fitting to digging into me real quick.  FYI I know it doesn’t look much different, but the picture above would be a lot less flattering if I were wearing my jeans, lol.  

Trevor's Note:  What a difference a week makes.  Let me run down that list from the previous post again:  baby on the way (a blessing), lease expiring buying a house (a blessing), wife in a car accident (nobody got hurt so a blessing), possible eviction (no longer a problem and a little empowering show them we won't be bullied).  

It was great being able to tell everyone and now that we aren't keeping it a secret anymore I really do feel a lot more support. 

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.

Week 12 – A Lot to Take In

The week started out nice and slow.  My energy started to come back to me so I was able to get a few workouts in.  We made an appointment with our accountant and filed our taxes.  I was even able to catch up on some neglected cleaning.  Then Thursday happened and it’s been pretty stressful since then. 

I met with the realtor while Trevor was at work and we looked at 8 different properties.  Even though that’s a lot of places to see in a day (details definitely began to overlap), there were 3 really nice properties that I wanted Trevor to take a look at for himself.  In the afternoon while I was driving, a car pulled out in front of me and sideswiped the front passenger end of my car.  They dented and scratched up the front fender and bumper as well as scratched up their car, but luckily no one was hurt.  And then later that evening, PetSmart doggie day care called to say another dog bit Bailey on the nose.  She was bleeding, but they cleaned her up and said she seemed fine now.  I’d call that an information-overload sort of day.  

Bailey-Belle before getting her nose chomped :)

"Indestructible" Kong toy - clearly not true

The weekend so far has been spent filing the car accident report with our insurance company, filing the claim with the lady’s insurance company (that’s what you get for having GEICO…you do all the work!), making sure Bailey doesn’t re-open the bite mark on her nose when she’s playing outside, and showing Trevor the 3 properties I scheduled a second look for, as well as checking out a new listing.  The most stressful part of the week has been trying to make a very big decision.  After our second look, we decided there were 2 properties we liked enough to put an offer on.  Now we just had to decide which one to go with.  We learned from experience that investors snatch up properties really fast and move-in-ready homes go just as quickly; so you can’t waste any time. 

All last night we went back and forth between the two places trying to decide which one we wanted more.  We woke up this morning kind of settling on one of them when the realtor called.  She, of course, informs us that the one we were leaning towards has multiple offers on it already, with one offer already in negotiations.  Shoot!  So today we’ve been wrestling with the idea of just going for the other house or putting in our highest bid on the property we want more and hope they accept ours.  Ah, being a grown up.  It seemed so much more exciting and fun when we were younger.  

Well in baby news, BK is about ½ an ounce, 2 ½ inches long, and the size of a large plum.  Hmm, in week 10 it was a small plum.  Sounds like the books are running out of comparable fruits.  Anyway…the digestive system is starting to do its thing, white blood cells are being made, and the pituitary gland is starting to make hormones.  I mentioned earlier that my energy was starting to come back but after this weekend I feel like I could sleep for a few days.  I still have to drive to avoid motion sickness and my back is the same…pretty damn uncomfortable.  Lol.  Trevor talked to his brothers today about all this house news and since he had them on the phone, we figured just go ahead and tell them about little BK.  Again, so much for sticking to the End-of-the-First-Trimester plan. :)

Trevor's Note:  Picking a house is worse than looking for one.  It's such a huge decision.  I am really excited about it though.  In the end though, it will be great to finally have a home for my family.  Thankfully the accident was minor and my family is still in one piece. 

Telling Travis and Adam was pretty fun.  They were both super excited.  I feel bad not telling Tony yet, but he'll be there when we tell Mom and Dad and I'd much rather do it in person.  

Week 11 – “Su-Chin was there and she told me the baby had fingernails. Fingernails!” – Juno

This week the fingernails and toenails are just beginning to form and when I read that I, of course, immediately thought of the movie Juno.  BK is about 2 inches long, weighs about a third of an ounce and is the size of a large lime.  The small intestine is beginning to do it’s thing, the ears are where they should be now, and the mouth is taking shape.  I’m still super tired, the left side of my back hurts more than ever, and if I’m not the one driving the car a wicked form of motion sickness tries to kill me.  But really I’m pretty good all things considered.  My craving last month for Mexican food has been replaced by hot chocolate…and it’s pretty hardcore.  Oh and my pants are all super fitted and because of that, they are starting to become uncomfortable if I’m sitting for too long.  Looks like I better start looking for a good pair of yoga pants soon.

Also on the baby front, I called my other brother, Shane, and told him he is going to be an uncle in a few months time.  The plan of telling people after the first trimester really doesn’t seem to be happening.  However, I figured we’d already told my parents and other brother a week and a half ago.  So since they knew and Shane talks to them on the phone, might as well tell him too.  Let’s see if we can stick to the original plan for everyone else.

 On Tuesday we had our 11 week OB appointment.  We were able to hear the heartbeat again via a fetal doppler, but we didn’t get to see anything this time.  We won’t have another sonogram until about 20 weeks when we find out the sex.  It took her a little while to find BK with the doppler, but when she did, it was hiding all the way on my left side…surprise, surprise.  I could have told her where BK had set up camp from where the pain has been for the past 6 weeks ;)

On the house front, we met with the realtor and looked at about 7 properties.  Only one ended up being put into the “maybe” pile.  Yesterday we had to spend all day in a Homeownership course our lender required that we take.  Some of it was actually descent information and helped clear up the MANY terms everyone uses and expects you to know as well.  However it was still about 6 ½ hours worth of presentations and you can really only take so much of that. 

Trevor's Note:  Don't let Ashley fool you.  This back pain and car sickness is a real problem.  And all these houses are starting to blur together.  I feel a little like Batman now. "By day a mild-mannered teacher.  But by night he transforms into The House Hunter."  I swear I've looked online and in person at 25,000 houses.