Life can be complicated! (kinda long)

Well, since my last blog, a few things have happened. First to come to mind is that we found out our apartment building is going into foreclosure which means... yup, we're getting evicted. Our rental company called and told us we didn't need to pay rent for august (sweet) and that once the bank took over, we'd have 90 days to find a new place. Of course I panicked and my pregnant hormones raged. But finally after a lot of mental conversations and lots and lots of prayers, I found myself okay with it the next morning. We were moving but we'd have 3 months, rent free, to find another place. HA... so after many attempt to get a hold of the landlord (not rental company) to find out the details on when all this was going to take place, we discover that the receptionist was mistaken in telling us we would have 90 days to find a new place. In reality, we will have 30 days. So our official move out day is September 19th. :( Luckily I had my break down the first day. Now I have been blessed enough to stay calm. (by calm I mean that I'm not having a hard time coping. it's still frustrating but my ability to handle it is a lot better) Now that we have the eviction notice, Joel and I are trying to get "cash for keys." Apparently it's something that some banks do to get tenants out quickly and with minimal damage to the building. Joel's brother works with someone who ended up getting $1500.00 this way. We wouldn't mind $1500.00 :) Our attempts have turned up no luck so far.

The hard part for me was figuring out why this happened. We moved into this apartment 4 months ago. While we were looking for apartments, we were SO inspired to get this one. We weren't sure if we could afford to live this far away from Joel's work and bang(!) Blessing. They messed up on our apartment contract and said we would owe $70.00 a month less than we had originally thought it would be. Coincidence that the dollar difference between what we paid here and the place closer to his work was exactly what Joel paid for gas? I think not. After moving here, we couldn't believe how much we appreciated and enjoyed being so close to family. 30 minutes wasn't that bad, but 5 miles is much better. -- Then we find that we're being evicted. Nothing in the area is even close to comparing to what we have now. All the rentals are smaller and cost more than what we have now. Disappointment. We enjoy our family. If we have to pay more, we'll have to move back to the area we originally were... 30 minutes away. Complicated? yes :( You can see how I wasn't seeing the blessings in of all this?

So because we know we're moving within the next month, Joel and I have kind of been in a rush to find a new place. We spent several hours going through the listings of about 10 different rental companies only to find that 2 or 3 might work. Finally giving up, we went to bed. The next night, we drove around looking for signs on places for rent, and then looking them up when we got home. No luck. The next morning I decided that I would start researching foreclosed properties. Joel's parents had talked to us about buying an investment property which we could rent from them. My thought was that foreclosed properties would be inexpensive enough that when it was all said and done, they wouldn't lose money and we could afford it. During my research, I discovered that, HEY, Joel and I might be able to afford to buy. Neither of us had even considered it because we thought it was outside of our budget. That same afternoon, with a list of foreclosures in hand, my mother in law and I drove around looking at the properties. (Most of which we didn't have exact addresses for, just streets, so we went up and down the street looking for the right one) After seeing some of the houses, I decided that this was too complicated to do by myself. I wanted and needed a realtor to be able to go IN them. (Not just window look) I called coldwell banker and got an appointment to meet with someone that day. We went in and believe it or not, we somehow managed to get probably the only native german/austrian realtor in town. He and Joel hit it off and went crazy speaking german and talking about places they lived and liked. Big brownie points for him. He gave us a collection of houses in the price range I had given on the phone earlier that day. WE LIKED THEM. After discussing our ideas of what we wanted, he was able to get us a meeting with someone to talk about whether or not we could actually afford a house. (a loan person, I'm not the best with all the terminology) What we discovered? Yes! We left our meetings with 9 prospective houses in hand. We then turned into nosy peoples who drive to subdivisions and peek in all the windows. :) Our realtor wanted us to get an idea of areas/ houses we liked and didn't like so he suggested doing a drive by. We did just that. After our peeks, we narrowed down the houses we were interested it and went through them the next day with our realtor (Herb). We found one we really liked and put an offer on it. Sadly, multiple offers came in for the same house and we didn't win. Fairly disappointed, we began the search all over again. We wanted to be sure we were getting the house Heavenly Father had in store for us, we were just hoping to do it quickly since we're being evicted. But in our second go around, we found a house we like much much more! We put an offer in and once again, multiple offers. This time however, we won! :) So now we anxiously wait for the house buying process to go through and pray all is done before our eviction date!

So to wrap this all around. Eviction= happy us. Funny right? (also- baby due in 5 days...)

Baby blog #7

Last night I ended up going to labor and delivery because I realized that I hadn't felt the baby move that day. It wasn't a normal day for me so I hadn't given it much thought. Anyways... I hadn't been feeling very good the past couple days. My back hurt a lot, and the night before I went in, I slept terribly. I kept waking up with a stomach ache. When I would get up to go pee, my stomach would be SO tight and it would take me a little to be able to stand up straight. So because I wasn't feeling baby move, doc said we needed to go to labor and delivery. Got there and they hooked me up to two machines. One to measure baby's heartbeat, and the other to see if I was having contractions. Sure enough- I was. Part of me felt justified and the other part was like, no no baby, too early. (only 33 weeks) Justified because on the way there he started moving, and because I had a suspicion it was contractions and it was nice to be confirmed and not just a guess.


One of the first questions the nurse asked me after that was, have you been outside a lot in the past few days. Yes. (we had just gotten back from camping that day for a family reunion) She checked my pee and I was definitely dehydrated. Apparently being dehydrated can start contractions. So I was officially admitted and they gave me an IV of fluids and a giant cup of water to sip on. They gave me 2 liters of fluids via IV in just over an hours worth of time. I had to PEEE. The good news is that it stopped the contractions and they were able to skip giving me a steriod shot to stop them and sent me home. We're keeping him in at least one more day. :) The only down side to the whole visit was that because I was a little dizzy and nauseas they gave me something in my first liter of fluids to help with it. I have no idea if it helped with either of those because about five minutes later, I was pretty much knocked out and sleeping. Couldn't keep my eyes open if I had wanted to. Oh and not only did the meds give me weird dreams, I talked out loud in responce to them AND had the most difficult time making it to the restroom to pee. I mean- I made it... but the walking wasn't the most coordinated. For a down side, being tired really isn't all that bad.


Baby is safe and I am still pregnant. All is well in our world.

Baby blog #6

I still can't believe that tomorrow will be the mark of 7 1/2 months done. I love how fast time is flying by, but at the same time it almost catches me off guard. This next week is my last monthly visit with the doctor and then we're down to bi-weekly! Only 8 weeks left now. I'm not counting or anything... :)  (ps... for those that are doing the calculations of 7.5 months and 8 weeks... doctors calculate your trimesters a little different. The last 6 weeks are all considered to be 1 month)

Tomorrow is also my baby shower. I am so super excited for it! My mom and sister have put lots of time into planning and I know it'll be nice. I'm excited to get things for Bentley but I'm also anxious to know what's left to get. Especially the big things. Hopefully someone gives us an adorable outfit that he can wear home from the hospital, because I haven't gotten anything for that yet and I think I'd put too much thought into if I had to go buy something. It's just clothes for a baby right? Oh and to have more things to put away in his room. Sigh. I go in the nursery once or twice a week and just stare at what we've got so far. I have a newborn outfit that I look at and try to imagine this little tiny being that will fit into it. I'm glad they start small because I honestly don't want to push a watermelon out. Nope. Not even a little.

Joel is getting more excited about having a baby. He touches my tummy in public a lot when talking to someone about coming events. Just his body language has changed. Before, he was more passive about the topic of having a baby and family. Now he seems to be thinking about it more. He's very in-tune with my needs and I can't tell you how grateful I am that he's so willing to do anything for me. Almost daily he is offering to rub my feet or back or legs. I am most achy at night while trying to fall asleep. I really appreciate him rubbing my back. I have this terrible feeling that I'm going to have back labor when the time comes. At least my hubby has gotten lots of practice in knowing what I like and don't like. He's going to be a really good "coach." I hear stories from other ladies about how their husbands act and react to similar situations. It makes me very grateful that Joel is my perfect other half. It's like he's willing to do all the things I'm unable to do. In recent weeks (especially days!) I appreciate that he shoves me up the stairs. My poor legs just aren't cooperating with me like I want them to... Which brings me to another point. I am getting to the stage where my body does not listen to what my brain wants it to do. Stand up. Roll over. Walk. Sit down. Eating... Where's my comfort zone? I know it only gets better so I have made it a personal goal to not complain about it. Its not like Joel can take the discomfort away, and I really don't feel better having ranted on and on about my discomfort. If I need something, I ask. But otherwise, life goes on. Can't keep entertaining my mental pity party. :)

I can't forget to mention how proud I am of Joel. He has been working full time and going to school full time since we have been married, and is doing so well! Not only has he gotten almost complete straight A's (1st B this last semester), he has also gotten a promotion at work and is doing an internship. I am so proud of you honey!! I know you will always provide for our family. I also have to give a lot of credit to God. Without his inspiration, there is no way we'd be where we are now. God willing, only good things to come!

Baby blog #5

There are all sorts of thoughts and conversations one has with oneself when pregnant that you would never imagine coming up. Such as the term "mommy." Mommy has always been a term to refer to MY mommy. Or the mommy of friends who are also my age. Yes, my mommy has a mom, but she's grandma to me. So when the moment comes that one has the conversation with oneself about the appropriate time to be referred to as "mommy".. it's kind of a strange, almost debate with your own thoughts. "I'm not mommy- not yet".."Well I guess I could refer to myself as the mommy of our baby"... "It's still to weird to say it out loud, I'll wait"... "Did I really say mommy out loud? I must be getting used to the idea"... "No- saying mommy about myself is still too weird."... "Oh man, 10 weeks left and then I'm going to be a mommy. Wait, I'm going to be a mommy. I'm going to be a mommy? Weeeeiiirrd." (haha- now you have insight into my odd thoughts)

Another thought that I had this morning was that, oh ya, Joel will be there to help. It was an "ah ha moment" as the commercials say. I'm glad I didn't make this discovery while talking to someone because I'm sure they would think "Duh.." But hear me out. So far.. It's pretty much been all me. I mean, Joel contributed some genetics, but after that it's been all me. I carry the baby. I feel the movements. I get sick due to baby. I'm the one with this motherly attachment already. I'm the one getting things ready for when baby comes. I bring up the conversations of names, furniture, choices, ideas. And finally, I'm the one who will be doing the actual giving birth!  So you can see how my mental mind almost forgets that after we have the baby, Joel can be an active participant as well. If we hypothetically went on a family camp out with a baby, Joel can take care of him too! It's really an amazing thought :) Or rather, a stress relieving thought. Thanks honey for all the help I know you'll give :)

Summer

In one of my earlier blogs I mentioned that Joel and I are trying a new thing for dinner. The 4-week meal planner. It's actually going really well aside from my 'random craving' days. Having a meal plan for the whole week has really helped us both financially and nutritionally. We spent right around $60 for two weeks of groceries. That's pretty good if you ask me! The fun part has been being able to try new things. We've made a home made alfredo sauce for fettuccine alfredo (way better than canned stuff!!!!), we made a salad with lime vinaigrette last night (had a new flavor but definitely way healthier than smothering it in ranch...plus we made the vinaigrette ourselves), we made a spiniach lasagna that was actually pretty good (and if you know me you know I'm not a lasagna fan). Overall, I think the best part of the meal planning is that we have side dishes with our meal instead of just a main dish. It's helped us eat smaller portions of the food as well as incorporated a bigger variety of food groups. A balanced diet definitely hasn't been my forte in the past.

As for the vacation I mentioned earlier as well... wonderful!! We left early on a friday (I mean, we were packed and on the highway by 6am) and drove the 9 hours to the coast. What a long drive!! Luckily my hubby was kind enough to let me sleep if I needed, so I only suffered through half the trip. Each day in Newport, we did something new and had so much fun. We really enjoyed the free things we were able to do because they were surprisingly the neatest things. By the time Tuesday came though, I was pretty tired of seafood. We had a great time going to beaches, exploring tide pools, eating the food, visiting the shops.. it was great. The ride home was another story. We made it safe, don't get me wrong. But I was so ready to be home. Joel and I were pretty tired of seeing the signs that said "Road Work Ahead, Fines Double"... Oregon, take down the construction signs when you're NOT using them anymore. We got caught in quite a bit of construction on our way back too. My favorite part of the whole trip was talking to Joel and being able to laugh at ourselves. We are strange people when we're by ourselves. We discovered that we both felt a "bond" to a car we'd been following for a couple hours. Strange, I know. I guess we were both just tired of being tourists. So... Car that we followed that was also from Idaho AND the same county as us- we enjoyed following you and getting annoyed when slow pokes got between us :) ...haha... As fun as going on vacation was, it was nice to be home. Your own bed, your own dishes. It's just nice.

My baby shower is getting close. Eeeee! Am I excited? Oh yes! Registering was lots of fun. The things people have invented just for a baby are sometimes neat and sometimes- well, lets just say my mom and I would say "seriously... someone is selling this?" I enjoyed it though. I wish I could be there when the people I invited go shopping. I just want to buy things so I would live vicariously through my guests :) I guess that's what presents are anyways. (Things people buy, haha)

My summer is luckily busy! Starting with the weekend of Joel's birthday: Vacation to Newport, Joel's work party/ Father's day, Mom's birthday, 4th of July, Baby shower, family reunion, Sister and 2 brother in laws birthday. I mean, June- July is packed every weekend. I'm so grateful for that because I know I'm going to be miserable in the heat and in the anticipation. August... that's another story. August will probably go by way too slow for my liking (since Bentley isn't due until the first week of September). That's it for now.

Baby blog #4

The emotions that come along with being pregnant can sometimes be overwhelming and annoying. In the moment, I feel right and completely understandable, but upon reflection I find how silly my reasoning is. It seems that the only time I am truly aware in the moment of how silly my emotions are is when I am crying. Last night for example, I was listening to the news as I got ready for bed and a story of a kitten riding from Utah to Provo, ID in the engine compartment of a vehicle comes on. Kitten was fine, just suffered minor injuries. But me... I'm sobbing without any hope of stopping, thinking of the poor kitty and it's feelings and it's injuries and all the things I imagine it was going through (as if it were human non the less). But it was fine.. and was going to make a full recovery they said. I mean- sad story maybe.... but 10 minutes of uncontrollable crying... no. And the whole time I'm thinking, "of all the stupid things I can cry about." Luckily I was able to successfully hide from my husband while I worked at stopping the crying. He's pretty certain that every time I cry, it's his fault. I just didn't feel like having to say over and over "It's not your fault" because obviously I wasn't going to say "the stupid kitty story on the news is making me cry for 10 minutes even though it had a happy ending." haha.

When I feel the most stupid is when I look back on a disagreement or moment of anger I just had with Joel and realize yes, what he did was not the way I wanted it done, but no, it was not a very good reason to be angry or short with him. Thank you really supportive and understanding husband for not reacting negatively to my insane outbursts! Washing your face with my facial moisturizer would probably have been funny had I not been pregnant. :) Oh the 20/20 vision we have looking backwards.

As for dreams- I have been having a lot of strange dreams where I am with my ex boyfriends again. At first I would wake up guilty that I was dreaming of other guys. But upon reading a dream interpretation for pregnant woman's dreams, I feel a lot better. Apparently dreaming of previous relationships suggests that I am becoming bothered with my new appearance. And dreaming of previous relationships is a way of me feeling "desirable" or beautiful still. I didn't realize how conscious I was of my personal appearance until it was pointed out to me. Being pregnant, you do become very aware of everything on your body. Your skin, weight, clothing (ie- the way it fits or DOESNT anymore) So I feel safe in saying that my brain does not have some kind of other motive I am unaware of. (one starts to question themself when their dreams become progressively odd)

And as for baby Bentley- he has made his preferences known already. He likes sugary things. Fruit and ice cream (not together) in particular. He makes me crave very unhealthy things such as deep fried everything. He prefers that I sleep on my right side or else he kicks and throws a tantrum so mommy can't sleep or has a terrible urge to pee. He also prefers to inhabit the right side of my stomach. (However last night his head was just to the left of my belly button and his arms and feet were down the right side) He's a kicker, not a puncher. (I can tell because when he kicks, both his head and feet push on my tummy. And when he punches just one spot moves and it's generally not as strong) I feel a very strong willed child on the way. Only 11 more weeks till his due date. Luckily, May and June have gone by pretty quickly and July is filled with lots of things as well. So once July is over- then I'm sure the wait will become unbearable. Tick tock, tick tock.

Vacation here we come!

Well aside from the random people starting to touch my tummy, pregnancy is going well. For those people who I don't know or barely know... please don't touch my stomach. Just because I'm pregnant does NOT make it any less awkward than if I were to walk up to you and touch yours. Baby is moving less now, which makes mommy very happy. He still wiggles and moves around, but I can handle that. Those are usually slow movements and not quick, sharp jabs to the stomach and bladder. By the way- baby kicking bladder is also on my list of "could do without" list. :) Of course we get to pick our symptoms.


As for Joel and I- We are leaving for vacation tomorrow morning! Ya! We thought it would be a good idea to get one good vacation in before we had the baby. I've spent the past several days trying to deep clean the house so we have something nice to come home to. I always like the feeling of clean house after a vacation (and in general). Hopefully we have a safe drive there and back. Newport, OR here we come :)