It's a girl!

We found out we're having a girl. I'm not sure I'm ready for this, but I must say, I wasn't ready for either of the first two. At least I have experience handling two different kinds of personalities and am ready for almost anything. I hope she is mellow and sweet like Brett, but I'll be armed and ready if she's anything like Breanna.

I thought as soon as I found out the gender, I would want to rearrange things in my house immediately to make room for her, but I haven't found that to be true yet. I was ready to give Brett his own space the moment I found out he was a boy. I am running ideas through my head about where to put this one, and how to decorate, etc., but I am not anxious. I want to get through the holidays first, and then maybe tackle those things.

Unfortunately it's more than just clearing out a room and painting it for her. I have also discovered that I need to buy a new car seat because our infant seat is very old and probably does not meet safety standards anymore. Plus, this discovery has led me to research car seat safety in general, and I fear I need to buy another forward facing car seat for Breanna to sit in because she is just too short and small. My biggest problem with these, besides the cost factor, is finding seats that fit our car. There is always something.

We are excited the baby is healthy and doing well. We've finally come up with a due date of April 6th--whatever that means.

Merry Christmas!!

Pictures and birthdays

Yesterday was Breanna's birthday. We had a nice little party for her with party hats, pizza, watermelon, and cake. That was what she wanted. So I put in all the pictures we took of our cute little four-year-old.


She got a toy trumpet that she loves to play all the time. We had to put it in the music closet last night so she wouldn't start playing it as soon as she woke up in the morning.




Her cousin in the background.









Breanna's cousins


We bought the pizzas Saturday night, and cooked them when everyone got there Sunday.



Their grandparents came to visit us for Halloween. They have all the pictures from the zoo, so I'll have to get those later.


This is the kids bathroom after it was all textured, painted, and put back together.



This is the dining room that used to be a small living room.



The bathroom before the wallpaper came down.



The living room that is now a dining room.

Progress

I am finally starting to come out of the fog. I don't feel sick nearly as often as I was. Things are still going well too. I'm huge for being only 16 weeks though. I just noticed today that my feet swell a little if I'm on them too much. It's too early for this, right?

We are slowly moving forward on our house updates again. My nose isn't quite as sensitive as it was, and I have more energy now. So we stared work on our front yard. We had a small dead tree removed, and we have taken out three of the large bushes that were hiding the front of our house. We still have to remove the roots of all those, but along with all the weeding I've done, the outside of the house is looking a lot more tidy and big.

We've also hired someone to come out and texture all three rooms that weren't finished. John's parents are coming down for Halloween and we needed to get the second bathroom finished, so we decided to just get it all done. That will be nice. My in-laws will actually have a mirror in the bathroom. (It's been sitting in our dining room for months now.)

So I am back on my feet and the house gets cleaner every week.

BLAH!

I've been really sick since the last time I wrote. I don't remember being this sick with either of the first two, but then again, it has been a long time since I was pregnant with Breanna.
So all my house projects have been put on hold. The smell of just about everything makes me sick. I had to go on acid reflux medication about a week ago. That has now made me feel better. I do have my good days.
I had a doctors appointment today and another ultrasound. The doctor found a possible fibroid and wants me to do my best to stay on bed rest until the end of the week. Then I have to go back to meet with an ultrasound specialist who will check on things and make sure everything is okay. Hopefully I won't have to be down for too long. Other than all that, the baby is doing fine.

It's Official

I had my first doctor's appointment today, and it's official...we are expecting another baby the first week of April. Not that I didn't think it was official before the appointment, but it still makes everything seem more real when you can see the baby and the heart beat. I am a little sad to know that I am a week under what I thought, but only because that means I have an extra week of being sick ahead of me.
I really like my new doctor. She is really great and personable. I was worried, since I didn't have a referral or anything. She is very upbeat and she just loves the kids.
Breanna was very excited to see a picture of the baby. She asked to have one, and she carries it around with her. She really wants it to be a girl. I figure as long as it eats and sleeps well, I don't care if it's a boy or girl. John really wants another boy though.
So there you have it. Life gets interesting all over again.

Bored

I was bored for the first time in a long time yesterday, so Breanna and I built a little something out the mess of blocks she has scattered all over the floor. She wanted a house to put her princesses in, but as soon as she tried to put them in, it tumbled over. She wasn't very happy about that.I haven't been bored lately because I have been working so hard on the house. I have taken down all the wallpaper in the house, except the kitchen. It took me three weeks to do the kids bathroom, one week to do the laundry room, one day to do the front entry, and one hour to do the living room. I wish they had all been like the living room. I did the kid's bathroom last, so needless to say I am tired of messing with wallpaper and I will probably take quite a break before I attempt the kitchen.
John learned how to texture our walls as well. He has only done the entry from the garage, but we plan on tackling one room a week from here on out...I hope. It's all a matter of me nagging John to do it. He would rather do all sorts of smaller projects to wear himself out than one big project. I would texture, but I'm tired and now it's his turn. Besides, I am going to be the one to paint everything when he's done texturing.
We also put in all new black appliances. They look very nice. Especially compared to what was in here when we moved in. We put a french door in between the kitchen and living room to let more light in. It really makes a huge difference in the way both rooms feel. Now we just have to knock down one wall in the kitchen to really let the light flow through. I'm excited about that.

Well, here are some more fun pictures just to tag on from my birthday and other stuff:

Birthday

Another year come and gone, and so much has happened. Mostly, our family has grown up some...including the adults. I don't feel taller, but I'm certainly wiser. At least about home ownership, getting driver's licenses renewed (in a different state), and purchasing cars.

I realized, Wednesday afternoon, that time had flown by and due to much distraction, I had forgotten to renew my license. Well, my license expired today, and the holiday was Friday, so I had one day to get it done. I had to find out where the DPS was located, and the criteria for getting a new license in a different state. I tried to call, but the only information I was getting was the address. For everything else they told me to leave a message and they'd get back to me within 24 hours. Boo on them. So I went down there Friday morning.
I pulled up, got the kids out of the car, and then saw the sign on the door that said "check or cash only." So I put the kids back in the car and drove away from my front row parking space to find an ATM. When I got back to the DPS, I had to park at the back of the building, get the kids out of the car, walk all the way around the building, and stand in line only to see a sign that said "must have social security card available." So I decided to wait in line to ask the nice lady at the desk exactly what else I would need to get this done. She told me that if I had a vehicle with my name on it, it must be registered in Texas, with Texas insurance, or other wise I would need three forms of identification and to fill out a Texas driver's license request form. I about flipped out because our truck had not been registered in Texas, and I was informed that if I didn't take care of all of this that day, I would have to retake the written and driving test to get my license. AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So I took the kids back out to the car and drove home so I could figure all this out. It was now lunch time and time for Brett's nap. I called my parents to see if they could watch the kids while I did everything else. Luckily I found out that my name is not on the truck, so I had no need to worry about all the registration stuff. PHEW! So I grabbed all my forms of ID and headed back to the DPS, where there was a front row spot, and no line to the first desk. I got up there and it dawned on my to tell her that I had a Texas D.L. before my Utah license, and it turned out that they still had me in the system, so I didn't have to go through any of what I did. All I had to have was my recent D.L. It was frustrating, but at least it all worked out. I did have to wait for about an hour to get everything renewed and that, but that part was a piece of cake.

The Fourth of July was fun. We had a ward breakfast at 7:30 that morning at a park in Colleyville. We got to meet more people in the ward and the kids had fun playing. Then we did some grocery shopping and headed over to my Grandad's house to help my parents put his furniture back. My mom is painting his house and they needed some help puting things back. After that, we all went home to relax and then my parents came over for some BBQ, a movie, games, and fireworks. We didn't even have to leave to see the fireworks. We just sat in chairs across the street and we could see the Bedford fireworks really well. The park they set them off from is real close by.

Yesterday, we bought a minivan. We had been borrowing my parents car that we had sold to them recently, but decided we really needed a vehicle that would suit our needs long term. It isn't the best car there was, but it runs well, and has all the features we need. It is a 2002 Toyota Sienna.


Today we are just enjoying our Fast Sunday. John is going to make me dinner and bake me a cake. The car and house were my birthday presents. So HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!

Pictures of the house

We are moved in and almost everything is put in place. I still have a couple of days to get things cleaned up. I have pictures of every room to post. I am going to pull down wallpaper and start to paint soon, so consider these the "before" pictures. We also ordered all new appliances, which will help with the look and the smell.

This would be our bathroom


My side of the bathroom (with my own walk-in closet)


John's side of the bathroom (with his own walk-in closet)


View of our bedroom to the bathroom from the doorway


Bedroom

Laundry room


Kitchen

Other side of kitchen

Eating area

Family room

A dark view of the family room from the front entry. (There was a thunder storm going on)

Living room. Actually, this is a dining room that we wanted to use as a formal living room.

More of the living room

Hallway to kid's rooms

Breanna's room


Brett's room


Kid's bathroom


Third bedroom that is being used as exercise room/office


Front entry

So there you have it. Once I get all the painting done and new appliances, I'll post those new pictures. We're having too much fun with all this. It's a lot of work, but worth it.