Pulling his weight...

We went over to the house tonight after Ammon got home from work. We go over there everyday and Noah is really starting to get the hang of what needs to be done. Here he is sanding some spackling off the walls. Thanks dude!



I don't really have a story for this next picture. I guess we're all a little bit frustrated that things aren't moving as quickly as we had hoped. One of a few tantrums that were thrown tonight...



The house IS coming along though. I called and found out that our floors are coming in on the 9th so, we want everything painted by then. We're still in the sanding and spackling phase but we hope to prime and get everything painted by the end of this weekend. Then hopefully we won't get in too much trouble trying to lay a wood floor by ourselves and we can move in soon! I must be crazy - moving when I'm 9 months pregnant. I honestly don't know how I'm going to do it. I'm really starting to feel the end of pregnancy pains. Namely my lower back. It hurts so bad all the time. Does anyone have any ideas how to make it go away? Besides giving birth? I didn't have back pain with Noah... I'm not sure how I'm going to pack up this apartment and then unpack into a new house. Ammon has really been picking up the slack. I feel so horrible that he works full-time, then works on the house and still makes time to help me out. I know I complain a lot and he really is so good to me. He tries to be understanding even though there is no way he can know what it feels like to have a baby trapped in his ribcage. Seriously... why do I have to carry my babies so high?! I can't breathe well. I can't sit, I can't lay down. I'm awkward and uncomfortable.

Lois Lane

We closed on our new house last week! We've been super busy trying to get it ready for us to move in. It has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, living room, kitchen/dining room, a den and even a scrapbooking room! It is on 1 acre which is mostly wooded. We got a SUPER deal on it as it was a foreclosure. We're able to take the extra $ we would have spent on a house to fix this one up the way we want it. Right now we're working on repairing the walls and ceilings and then it will be ready for paint. After that, we'll put in the hardwood floors, new baseboards, and get new appliances. We'll probably move in at that point and then once we're in we can work on changing out the light fixtures and little projects like that. We'll need to clean the metal roof and clean out the gutters, cut down a couple trees that are leaning over the house, and clear out the land a little bit. It has been really fun picking out new things for our home. I hope we can get it all done on time... This baby is coming soon and I would love to be in and settled by the time he gets here. Ammon has been working really hard to get everything done. He works all day and as soon as he gets home, we head to the new house to work for a few hours. He's so cute. He wants me to inspect each room after he spackles or sands to make sure he did a good job. And if he missed a spot, he goes over it again to get it just the way I want it. I'm grateful he's like this instead of just hurrying to get everything done and missing things. He's a good boy and he really wants this house to be perfect for us. Will and Ginger have been helping us a lot too and we're so grateful! With me being pregnant and chasing Noah around, I'm not as much help as I'd like to be. It's so nice of them to be so willing to help and to let us use their tools. I'll take some pictures of the inside tomorrow so you can see the progress we've made.

Flooring

Here's a picture of the wood floor we picked out. Pretty, huh?

Today's Happenings

We went to the pool again tonight for family swim. Noah LOVES the pool these days. He likes the kiddie pool the best because then he doesn't have to be held. Here are a few shots I got.




He's clapping for himself because he let Daddy put him on his back.



Wearing Daddy's goggles.



He was getting splashed!



Look at him suck that gut in!



He played this game for a long time. He would crouch down real low...



and then jump up!



This was right before we left. He got so cold his little lips turned purple!



Ahh. Nice and snug. He made Ammon hold him like this all the way to the car. We finally got that little guy warm again. :)

In other news, it looks like we'll be able to close on our house next Wednesday!! We drove down to Winston today to finalize flooring. Ammon and I have totally different tastes but we compromised and are both happy with our choice. We decided to do hardwood throughout the whole house which will be SO nice! We are getting a 5-inch plank tigerwood. It looks a little bit like cherry but has some darker knots through it. I think it will look gorgeous in the house and I'm really excited to get started on that. We have all the paint finalized and our appliances picked out. Now we just need to own the house so we can start working on it! While we were down in Winston, we stopped by Sam's Club to get gas, diapers, and wipes. I found a really nice body pillow that had to have. Sleep is not coming easily these days so anything I can use to help, I'm all about it. Hopefully it will help. Maybe I'll go try and get some sleep right now so that I can wake up early and go yard sale-ing. Noah needs a dresser or two for his new room and Ammon and I could use a dresser for our room too. Wish me luck!

BIG NEWS!

Ammon checked out our blog this morning and told me that I hadn't posted about the biggest thing that has happened to us lately. I wanted to wait until I got some pictures but, let's be honest, that could take awhile. I don't venture out of the house much these days with the heat. It's disgusting outside. Fo sho. Anway, the big news is... we got a house!! We have been looking and looking and have gotten quite discouraged in our hunt. We've found a few that we liked but, we were outbid on them. We found a foreclosure and went to look at it. It is in my favorite neighborhood that we've looked at. It is on 1 acre and it is mostly wooded. It has a deck on the back and a 2-car carport. It has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, a basement with a separate office (which will be known as my scrapbooking room from now on!) It needs a little work before we can move in but, we got such a GREAT deal on the house that we have a little bit of $ to put into it. :) We've been to Lowes quite a few times to pick out paint, appliances, blinds, light fixtures, ceiling fans and all those types of goodies! We are so thrilled to get into a new house and we're excited to get in before this baby comes. So, thats our news. I'll try to go take some pictures because I know you all are so excited to see it! We have a tentative closing date of the 18th of this month. I've been packing a few boxes everyday so it's not such a huge chore in a couple weeks. If all goes as planned, we'll be in by early July!

Night Night Noah

I love bedtime! I love when Noah gets out of the bath and we put his lotion on that smells so yummy. I love how soft his skin is and how shiny his hair gets. I love little pajamas that are snug and comfy. I love getting a few snuggles in before we say our prayers. I love hearing Noah say, "night night". I love bedtime!

Swimming!

We are members of our local community center and every Friday night, they have family swim. A time when only families get to use the pool. We went quite a bit in the winter and Noah didn't like it at all at first. He gets cold really easily in the water. ( Ammon and I do too) Anyway, he has really gotten used to it and these past couple weeks, we've been able to use the outside pool. This is the kiddie pool. Noah can stand up in it and walk all around. He really loves it! Ammon is teaching him how to hold his breath and go under. He's also been working with him to float on his back. Noah doesn't like to do that yet... we'll keep practicing. He loves to jump in (with help) and today, he stayed in a whole hour before he got cold! It has been so hot here lately that the kiddie pool was quite warm today. I think we'll be spending a lot of time at the pool this summer. Noah loves it and I need a way to stay cool!

Yes, I'm Pregnant...

I know I haven't really talked about it much. Probably because I'm always hearing new things about this pregnancy. It's hard to keep up! Tomorrow I will be 30 weeks pregnant! I am thrilled that things are coming to an end and that our little guy will be here soon. He has definitely been harder to get here than Noah was. Warning: This could get lengthy and is really so that I can remember all the things that were abnormal with this pregnancy. Feel free to keep reading though! :) I know I shouldn't compare children or pregnancies but I feel like with Noah I went to my regular checkups and they told me everything was fine and they were never concerned. The only thing abnormal was that I was slightly anemic and had to take iron pills and I remember I had ligament pains pretty bad. Thats it. With this one, wow... I didn't have much trouble until 18 weeks. They did an ultrasound to determine the sex of the baby and they found choroid plexus cysts on his brain. I had to go to a specialist to get a level II ultrasound. They didn't see the cysts at that appointment which was good but, they found a small calcium deposit around his heart. Neither of these things means that anything is wrong with him. They are just "soft markers" for genetic problems but, we could have a perfectly healthy baby too. Since then, I have been having contractions. They're not painful which I'm grateful for but Dr. McIlveen wants to monitor that. I've been having heartburn, foot cramps, ligament pains and I just feel huge. When I came in for my appt. on Tuesday, they did my sugar test and I failed. They didn't tell me to fast for the test so, I guess that messed it up. Dr. McIlveen says I'm measuring 2.5 weeks smaller than I am. He said if that gap gets any wider, we'll need to do regular ultrasounds to make sure everything is ok. Since I failed my sugar test, I had to go back yesterday and do a 3 hour test. Everything is now fine with my blood sugar. Yay! I just have 4 bruised fingertips from them taking blood but, I can deal with that. My lab results came back from Tuesday and my iron is very low. I guess that explains why I crave ice 24/7. He gave me a prescription for some iron pills. My iron level was at a 4. Normal range is anywhere from 6-100-something. One thing that was strange was that my MCV was high. They didn't expect so see that since my iron is so low so they said something else is going on. They took blood to test my B12, folate, and hemoglobin electophesis. I should get those results today and I'll have to supplement whichever one I'm low on. Oh, and I got my Rhogam shot as well. So they took blood 5 times yesterday and I got a nasty shot. How crappy... I already love this child but, this pregnancy has been tough. And I know it could be a lot worse. I've really tried not to stress much because I really feel like that gets passed onto the baby. Nothing that they told me has been devastating. It's just that I just expect them to have more concerns when I go in and I don't like that. We're almost done and I can't wait to hold him and know that everything is ok.