We bought a house!!!

I must say that the whole home-buying process had major ups & downs. We didn't have the greatest experience during the process, or after when we moved into the house. However, our realtor said she has never dealt with something quite like this before. I'm thinking maybe we were just unlucky. We love our house, but dealing with the contractor who updated (and was still finishing work on the house) was very frustrating. Let's just say, we will never use him for ANY project in the future.

Friday, we got the keys to the house. I came over to clean & mainly to seal the grout on our tile floors and bathrooms before we moved in the next day. I brought a great babysitter over with me to watch Carly while I did this. I'm sure I looked goofy as I sported the pregnant cleaning lady look - complete with knee-pads, mask, gloves, and all windows open. I didn't get everything done that I had hoped, but figured I would be able to accomplish a lot the next day while the men were moving everything. That night Morgan's Mom & Step-Dad arrived to help with the move. We brought 2 truck loads to the house that night and noticed a gas-smell when we were in the house. The guys turned off the gas behind the oven and we would see if we still noticed a gas smell the next day (that way we would know if the gas was coming from the pipe, or from the connection with the actual stove).

Saturday, the full-out moving process had begun. When Barb & I got to the house with cleaning supplies & food, we cleaned out the fridge and then began stocking it with the food. Not too long after, we noticed a puddle of water under the fridge. We opened it to find the ice melting in the freezer and the fridge was blowing out warm air.... We packed up the food to be transported back to the apartment fridge and began trying to get ahold of our realtor, the contractor and the listing agent, to figure out what to do. Major stress was setting in. 2 major appliances were having issues and I was feeling overwhelmed. It was really frustrating because we made sure to check these appliances with every walk-through we did. With it being the weekend, I wondered how soon we would be able to remedy these problems.

I noticed a few tender mercies amidst all the stress and chaos. 1. While the men were gone, we realized we couldn't unpack any more boxes because they were all in the garage. Minor problem - pregnant lady & Grandma in the house (We definitely shouldn't be carrying these heavy boxes...). The missionaries from our church just happened to be knocking doors on our street and asked if they could help. What a huge help! And now we would know someone in our new ward. 2. Carly took a really long nap that afternoon (3-4 hours). I really needed that. It was nice to be able to focus on cleaning, etc. without her running around. 3. Carly was loving Grandpa's water bottle. She loved it so much that she ended up dumping the water all over herself. She was so happy to be carrying it around the house, despite no shirt and half-wet pants. She sure does some funny things that make me smile. 4. Before bed I took a shower. Wow, I really like our shower. No reason to be disappointed there. It got me thinking and I realized that I should start focusing on the positives and the things I like about the house, rather than get overwhelmed and stressed out about the few things that went wrong that day.

Thank goodness for a mini-fridge, a coleman propane stove and a toaster oven. That is how we were able to eat on Sunday. Happy Father's Day! Morgan was willing to cook breakfast on his propane stove, we had sandwiches for lunch, and then baked salmon in the toaster oven (along with rice in the rice-cooker) for dinner.

I don't think I really realized how much I rely on those major kitchen appliances. I felt pretty hopeless without them and almost felt like there was nothing to eat because everything I could think of involved an item that was still in our apartment, or required an oven or stove. So Saturday we bought a fridge to be delivered Monday. Morgan & Dan had to move the cabinet & partial wall over to accommodate the bigger fridge we chose. Then on Tuesday we bought a stove to be delivered Wednesday. All of the sudden with those appliances, my life feels stable again lol. That sounds really funny, but honestly I've felt like a wreck without them. I was so excited to make cookies & dinner right after getting our new stove :)

We really love our new house, especially now that we have fully functioning appliances. I don't know what we would have done without Morgan's parents this last weekend. We were very blessed that they were able to assist with the move and be there for us. They helped us reason out the situation and make decisions. Not to mention, all the help with Carly, with moving, with cleaning... The list goes on and on. They really helped us make a smoother transition to the new house than we could have done on our own.

Other highlights of this week included: installing a garbage disposal, yardwork, spraying around the house for spiders, etc. All these involved multiple trips to Lowe's and lots of purchases now that we are homeowner's. Morgan did great with the garbage disposal. There are a ton of online resources for replacing an existing garbage disposal with a new one, but putting one in from scratch is tough. Morgan had to completely undo the kitchen pipes, take out the existing sink drain, install the garbage disposal, redo the kitchen pipes and hook up the dishwasher drain loop. Wow. What a night! Now we have a working garbage disposal (and I can't believe how quiet it is compared to our last one). Loving it :)

 Woohoo! Keys to our house! Time to get to work...

It's fun to play with waterbottles, especially if you can open it and pour the water all over your clothes. I sure love that little face. Note the bedding on the floor. Carly LOVES to play in bedding. She will giggle and roll around, staying occupied for quite a while.

 The cabinet & wall moving project has begun. We couldn't have done this without Dan - he was the instigator in this project.

 The new fridge with LOTS of space inside :)

 Carly had a great time with Grandma & Grandpa! We sure miss you guys!

 We went with a convection oven. I am loving it. I made cookies the day we got it and they turned out so good. That night I made a new garlic chicken recipe for dinner. Bake time was 35 min according to the recipe, but it was done in 20 min. I am happy to have my glass top electric stove (I never liked the idea of having gas anyway).

 Carly really cracks us up. She has a little green camping chair that she loves to sit in. Over the past couple of weeks, she will take the bag that the chair goes in, and wear it like a satchel. She will just walk around the house with it around her.

 She loves to sit on the arms of the couch. Anything that looks dangerous is the funnest thing ever apparently.

Garbage disposal installation.... I was tired just watching the process. Man, this was giving me a headache. The plumbing is like a puzzle. Morgan has a crazy mind that can figure out problems I never could. I sure love my handyman :)

Last thing. I have to brag about my sweet garage-sailing today! My mother-in-law Diane introduced me to garage-sales when we were in Idaho. I really scored today. I got this sweet doll house for Carly for $3. So excited! She has already been playing with it. She has been putting her dora dolls and all the farm animals from her little people farm (also from the garage sale) on the beds and on the elevator. 

18 months

So I'm pretty sure this is the last __ months post I'll be doing for Carly. At this point I think she'll be 1 1/2 yrs until she's 2 yrs? A lot of people like to keep doing the months at this point, but I'm not sure I'm one of those people. We went to the doctor and she got her last 2 immunizations! Woohoo! She doesn't have anymore to get until she is 4 yrs old :) But the day we went to the doctor was a rough day. She was just having a bad day and cried for everything. She cried when I set her on the scale to weigh her. She cried when she was still sitting on my lap and they wanted to measure her head. She got fruit snacks when it was time for her shots. Poor girl. We let her walk out to the car with no pants on and it was very cute. Once she was out of that room and moving, she was just fine (like always).

Carly has been such a picky eater these past few months. I feel like it's harder on me lol. It drives me crazy when she hardly eats anything. She still loves Dora of course. Her new thing is she'll ask to watch Dora. She'll look at the TV and say "Dora-Dora?" Apparently yesterday she handed Morgan the remote and said "Dora-Dora?" She is getting pretty smart these days. She'll attempt to repeat most one-syllable words and understands a lot of things. I'll ask her to get a book and she will, or her blanky. She understands when I ask her if she's tired and wants to go to sleep. Yesterday I couldn't find her sunglasses and we were ready to go to the state park, I asked her to find her sunglasses. She walked straight to them and put them on (correctly, I might add). Putting them on the right way was actually a first :)

Carly has been going to nursery for 2 weeks now and doing great. Last week was Mother's Day and she made me a cute little mother's day flower in a pot (mostly made out of paper). The flower was her hands traced & cut out and it came with m&m's with a new label mOm's. I got lots of treats, Morgan made me breakfast and dinner - it was a good day.

 We went to a state park in the Gig Harbor area. Carly had a really good time. She kept grabbing handfuls of rocks and dropping them all over herself.

 Daddy taught her how to throw rocks in the water. At first Morgan was throwing them from the blanket we were sitting on. Carly picked up a rock and twisted her wrist around, then stood up and walked down to the water. So Daddy helped her throw rocks in the water too :)

 There was a stake family run this month. Morgan & I did a 5K. Apparently, this was Morgan's first official 5K race. We've run further than that on our own, but this was the first official event/race he's done. He told me this on our way to the car, so of course I had to snap a picture.

 Some days Carly and I will go on a walk around our complex. Often times, she will wander to the back gate and try to get out. She will shake it, try to stick her head between the gate and grab at the chain. Pretty funny.

 Daddy made a fort for Carly. She likes to get on top of it more than get inside. I think it's mainly because the box is somewhat low to the ground. If it was higher, Carly would probably go inside more.

 Blackmail photo. Sometimes when her nose is really bothering her, her finger will end up there lol.

We went over to our friend's house for cinco de mayo. It was a lot of fun. Carly had a blast playing with the girls, and sitting in their fun chairs. 

 We went to the zoo this month. The kids zone really takes on a new meaning once your little one starts to enjoy it. Carly really enjoyed it this time. Autumn & Carly went into a little cave area for a few minutes and were just giggling like crazy. Lots of fun at the zoo!

 Sometimes Carly likes to climb on top of her ball.... Momma doesn't really like this....

 Daddy decided to teach Carly how to play soccer. She is still learning. She kept picking up the ball when it came to her. Work in progress.

 Grandma came for a day before her international flight to Paris, Croatia and Rome. It was so fun to see her!

Confessions of Pregnant Woman

Confession #1: Mini Fridge. Once we were ready to start trying for baby #2, I had a discussion with Morgan. Once we found out we were expecting, we would get a mini fridge. That way I could keep all my snacks, sodas, protein shakes, etc. right next to my bed. Not to mention, I wish I had had this last time while pregnant with Carly - not only for the pregnancy, but also postpartum. I followed my sister-in-law's advice to make frozen pads (I made a pot of chamomile tea, dipped pads in the tea, then froze them). This may sound really strange, but they were super helpful. Chamomile tea has anti-inflammatory properties. Mix that with frozen pads and you've got a recipe for minimal pain and discomfort postpartum. Simply genius. Just after having a baby, standing is hard enough, I don't want to have to walk to the kitchen to get these. I look forward to having these in my mini fridge - right next to my bed - this time around :) 

 Confession #2: Gummy vitamins. When I was pregnant with Carly, I was losing weight and hardly able to keep anything down. I saw an OB early on to get some anti-emetics. I told her I was concerned that I hadn't been able to swallow my multi-vitamins. (We had actually even tried mashing the multivitamin, putting it in yogurt, and I plugged my nose while I tried to eat it = I was unsuccessful. It was still nasty because I could tell how gritty & gross it was. That might have even made me throw up.) Anyway my OB told me that folic acid is the most important before you even know you're pregnant. She recommended just getting some chewable or gummy vitamins and taking those until I was able to take multivitamins/prenatal vitamins again. 

 Confession #3: Couch Snack Stash. I was talking to a good friend a while back. We were talking about pregnancy and feeling awful. She mentioned that when all you want to do is lay down, it's hard to want to get up to go get something to eat. I laughed and told her about my couch snack stash (not in those words exactly). I started stashing snacks behind the pillows on my couch. As you can see I have tortilla chips, goldfish crackers, pretzels. I also kept animal cookies, wheat thins, and chex. All the major carbs I could snack on during the day when I wasn't feeling great. Morgan totally made fun of my stash, but secretly I think he liked it too :) Now that I have been feeling better and have more energy, the couch snack stash is gone, but it was super nice to have during my 1st trimester. 

Confession #4: Netflix. As soon as I started feeling crummy, I gave up and signed up for netflix. It's been really nice to have. When all you want to do is lay around and get through the day, this is helpful for more than one reason. (We don't have cable - if we did, I probably wouldn't have signed up for netflix.) This provided Carly with lots of Dora the Explorer episodes, and me with lots of movies/shows to watch. Many days, while she would watch Dora on the TV, I would either rest or watch something on my laptop. Way too much screen time for both of us during my 1st trimester....

Confession #5: Baby Food. Carly had not eaten baby food for a while before I got pregnant this time, but once I wasn't feeling well it was really hard to fix & feed her meals. I started buying baby food again. Those squeezy pouches can really be a lifesaver. 

Confession #6: Pregnancy Stash. Once we were ready to start trying for baby #2, I started buying things I remembered eating from my 1st trimester last pregnancy. I stocked up on sprite, tortilla chips, vitamin water & sports drinks, sugar-free hard candy (teeth are hard enough to brush without throwing up - I wish I had discovered this earlier last time around), gum, etc. I was really glad I had bought these things early on. We went on a weekend trip to visit Morgan's family and I started feeling crummy while we were there. It was nice to have those things waiting for me when I got home (no rushing to the store to get them). 

Confession #7: Sleep aid. With my first pregnancy, I would seriously sleep at least 15 hours every day, sometimes more. This time, if I took a nap, I wouldn't be able to fall asleep at night. If I didn't take a nap, I would still have trouble falling asleep/staying asleep at night. I have had to take either Benadryl or melatonin supplements to help sleep at night. I've stopped having to take a sleep aid just a few weeks ago. Finally.

Confession #8: Skinny jeans. I'm not really talking about skinny jeans, I'm talking about jeans you can wear when you're skinny lol. My first pregnancy, I lost 10 lb during my first trimester. I never actually had to wear maternity clothes - I did have some tops, but I never bought or wore maternity jeans. I felt like I could have used maternity pants after I had my baby though. I just couldn't seem to ever lose the weight. I'm pretty sure I haven't lost that much weight this time around, but I have definitely lost weight. I regret getting rid of some shorts/pants I thought I would never be able to wear again. I have been buying new jeans because I only have 1 that I've been wearing. I feel like I'm swimming in all the others. 

Well that's all for now. I'm sure I'll think of some more funny confessions later.

Birthday Goodness

This pregnancy, there wasn't a magical change at 14 weeks (my 2nd tri). Although there were gradual changes, I was disappointed. This time the magical change happened on my birthday (about 16 weeks). Happy birthday to me!!!

With my new-found energy, Carly and I went shopping. I found some jeans that I LOVE from american eagle. It was a beautiful, warm & sunny day, which really made the day awesome. That evening, we got together with our good friends Audrey & Ginny for pizza and a movie.

I was feeling a lot of birthday love from friends and family on my special day. I got some great packages & cards in the mail. I got lots of phone calls and birthday songs :) I think I had a total of 10 birthday songs, if I remember correctly. It's possible that my parents (including Sam & Rachel) sang like 6 different birthday songs in a row to me lol.

On Tuesday, Morgan was off work so we went to Seattle. We walked around Pikes Place where we watched some fish being thrown around, tasted some delicious fruit, etc. There were lots of stores to shop around at. And of course the main reason for our Seattle trip, Cheesecake Factory :) Yumm!!! We love to get their factory burrito grande and split it. It seriously is humungous! Then I got cheesecake of course.

Morgan said I should ride the pig. Let's be honest, I almost did, but there were a LOT of people around... 

 The place where they throw the fish around.

 This was the best pic I could get of me & Carly in the dressing room at Old Navy.

Carly also got some presents on my birthday. Grandma Barb got her Dora & Dora DVDs. She had to hold Dora while she drank her bottle. 

 Then she gave Dora some kisses. 

 In Seattle we found this car wearing a purple mustache. Random.

 

 Carly was a little crazy at Cheesecake factory. She was way overdue for a nap and wouldn't settle down. Pure chaos. 

 Yummmmmm!

 Carly let me paint her toes. She started off giggling, then spent the next 1/2 hr whining... 

Baby bump at 16 weeks.  

 Who knew that to entertain a toddler, you just had to open the sliding back door and give her a cup of ice cubes. She was good for 30-60min and very busy the whole time :)

 Helping in the kitchen.

Last night I went running for the first time since I've been sick during my pregnancy. It felt great! Carly got to play before and after my 1 mile run. 1 mile was a success! I'll be ready to bump it up to 2 this next week.