A ray of sunshine

Even in the midst of all this stress and negativity, there's a big bright light shining through (see above photo). This was taken this morning and is the most beautiful sight! It made all the crap that's been going on just fade away for a little while.

By the way, we're still homeless and have no news on the house, but this made my morning!

Along with the pictures, the ultrasound tech did a test to check for chromosomal abnormalities. It's called Nuchal Translucency--basically, this is an area on the base of the baby's skull (back of the neck) that they check at this point in the pregnancy to make sure there's no thickening (of bone or something). They check this in conjunction with a blood test and all-in-all, the test is MUCH safer and less invasive to the baby than a couple of other tests that have existed for a while (amniocentesis, and CVS). From what the technician saw, everything looks normal! Pretty remarkable that as "abnormal" as the conception and implantation of this baby was, we have a so-far relatively normal child! That's pretty cool!

No word yet on the sex (still too early). Paul doesn't want to know, but I do, so I'm not sure what to do. I might hold off knowing until closer to the end, but I'm not sure if this is a secret I could keep without spilling to him.

Just thought you'd all enjoy a more positive post from me! :) ENJOY!!

Nope.

Still homeless. Apparently, banks and mortgage companies are backed up to the hilt with refinances, foreclosures, etc. Our little mortgage is just sitting and waiting for someone to look at it. SUCKS. I have no idea how long this will take, but I'm scared shitless that the current owners of the house we want to buy are going to get really tired of waiting, decide it's no longer worth their time, and relist their house on the market. They could technically do this (though I think it would be a HUGE hassle for them). SUCKS.

I have an ultrasound scheduled tomorrow morning...my first with this new OB. Paul's going with and is SO EXCITED at the idea of hearing the heartbeat! Hopefully, that's part of the whole deal tomorrow. It'll be his first time seeing or hearing anything, so I'm sure it'll all be exciting for him!

I did test positive for beta strep (via a pee sample). From what I'm hearing and reading, it's serious but preventable and shouldn't affect the baby. The doc will put me on strong IV antibiotics the day of labor to avoid passing anything to the baby. It's pretty common, from the sounds of it.

Despite being homeless, we've been spending a wee bit of time in the garage of the new house, where a bunch of our stuff is stored (that which was in the house when we moved out--we still have the storage unit). Eventually, and hopefully, we'll actually be allowed to move into the rest of the house and when we do, we'll need help!! I can't carry anything, so we'll be in search of some strappingly strong men who will do hard labor (not like delivering a baby or anything) in exchange for beer and pizza. If you're interested, I'm taking applications. ☺

Enjoy the upcoming beautiful weekend! Keep fingers crossed that we'll be in our house soooooon!

Coming to you LIVE from...

Panera in St. Charles. Nope, still no house. My patience has been tried again and again, but at least I've come to realize that I really have no choice but to wait, so I need to make the "best" of it. Hahahaha. Not so funny.

We do, however, have a garage. After some wrestling among the lawyers, we were able to come up with a contract to rent the garage in the new house. This alleviates our daily $100 shit-sitting-on-a-truck expense that the moving company was charging us. They came this morning and emptied the truck into about 2/3 of the garage. They did a fine job of it, too. My scooter came out of this unscathed.

And my plants did as well. That was the biggest and sweetest surprise! I have a couple VERY large plants that had been sitting in a dark truck for a week, one of them in a box (don't ask...). I was soooooooooo happy to see them still among the living this morning! And yes, I realize how unhealthy it is to have any kind of emotional attachment to plants, but I do. They are living things, after all. One is a ficus I'd bought as a twig at Walmart in the early 90's that's grown to about 4-5 feet. It's fluffy and quite beautiful, and normally ficus' don't like to be moved--this one's officially been through the ringer, but it's survived beautifully. All plants are now sitting outside on the front porch of the house, which isn't really in the whole garage agreement, but I'll take my chances.

No other news to report. No baby news yet--my next appt isn't until the 29th, so we sit tight until then. There was talk about us possibly closing this Friday, but both Paul and I doubt that will happen. They've been pushing it off 2 days at a time for the last week. Should it not happen on Friday, we might be heading to Waynee World for the weekend. Believe it or not, the beds there are WAY more comfortable than where we're at now.

Enjoy the hot weather while it lasts! Apparently, that won't be long....

No news yet.

In this case, no news is NOT good news.

We're still waiting. And waiting. And, while we're at it, waiting a little more. We're paying through the nose to have our stuff sit on a moving truck, which they're soon going to empty if we don't have it delivered somewhere. That means we'll be charged for them unloading and later reloading it. Yippee.

This is all so depressing. Paul can't do anything more than he's already done. I just sit around, afraid to go out for fear I'll spend money we don't have on things we have no room for. I go to work, then go back to Ken's and stay there. I hate his house, if I haven't said that before.

Many people have made incredible offers for us to go stay with them, and for that, I'm so thankful. I think we're set on staying where we're at, which isn't far from work for Paul. In the meantime, any "down" time I have is spent catching up on Tivo'd shows. It keeps me somewhat sane to sit and watch other peoples' problems instead of dwelling on my own.

Keep all fingers crossed that this will work out. I wish there was something we could do or say to make SOMETHING happen. This has tried my patience beyond all expectation....

This f'ing sucks.

We're STILL homeless. The stupid banks are taking their time deciding if we're worthy of a loan from them for our house. It's Sunday and the lawyers are now saying it could be Wednesday before anything is decided. GREAT NEWS for those of us who packed 2 days worth of everything in an overnight bag.

We've been staying with Paul's friend, Ken. He has a nice house WAY out west in Elburn. He's a bachelor, always has been and likely always will be, so his house isn't exactly homey. He does, however, have room for us and the dog. We don't have a lot with us right now, except in our cars which are packed full. His bed is also hideously uncomfortable--I can barely stand in the mornings. This makes it hard to do just about anything. This, plus the lack of internet connection, is just about to set me over the edge of sanity.

I'm in a horrid mood these days, not fit for human company. I had to go buy clothes to wear to a birthday party today and work tomorrow. The last thing I need is more clothes! Ugh. I've never been so frustrated.

We're hoping to be able to rent the house for a few days, or a week, or whatever it takes to get financing. I'm not sure if we need a co-signer or not, but we'll check into that. Embarrassing, since we both have pristine credit records.

More when I know it...

Homeless in Geneva

Poop. Looks like we aren't going to have financing in time to close on the house tomorrow, which means we move out, but not in. Yes, we will be ever-so-slightly homeless. I'm bummed. We'll be spending the night with Paul's friend, Ken. He's really nice, but he has no internet or cable, so it'll be a loooooooooooong day. Also means I have to go email-free for about 24 hours. Ugh. How else will I hear Cathy complaining about my lack of interesting blog news? ☺ HEE HEE!

We're hoping to have everything straightened out by Friday at the latest. Meanwhile, the cats are at the vet clinic (where I work). It'll be nice to have them home again! At least it'll be nice to have Daisy back. Salsa's another story....

So that's the latest. I can only hope that the next time I update this blog, it'll be from my new beautiful house!!

Big day!

This morning, we had our new house inspection, and it went pretty well! Just some minor things that need to be changed. We're also in the midst of a radon test that we ordered. Hopefully, that won't be an issue, but if it is, the current owners will have to pay to have it dealt with.

While we were there, I took a ton of pictures, which I'll have up on my photo site in the next day or so. I wanted to remember some of the details as well, so I took tons of notes. Basically, Paul and I do not have enough furniture for all the rooms. We have no formal living room furniture, and we're going to need some other assorted things, but nothing too major. I did some measuring in the kitchen to see what kinds of appliances we can get, so I have a better idea of that.

After that, we decided to swing by an Amish furniture store in Batavia. A few years ago, Paul bought several pieces at this store and they're BEAUTIFUL. Sooooo well made, too. It took us 3+ months to get our entertainment center! We found a gorgeous bedroom set, which will be a belated wedding present from my dad and stepmom. It's incredible and was on clearance for more than 1/2 off. After a quick call to my dad, we just couldn't resist getting it! The master bedroom will need to be painted before we can have it delivered. It looks a little like the picture here. The pieces included in the set are a wee different (and there are a LOT of them!!), but that's the basic design.

Tonight, Paul and I had a little celebration at a nearby Mexican restaurant that we've been dying to try. It was amazing!! Then we got caught in the heavy rain--hopefully, this won't stick around too long tomorrow as we're getting our front step repaired as part of the contract with the new owners. If he can't do it tomorrow, we might be a tiny bit screwed...

Enjoy your weekend! Tomorrow, I'm officially 8 weeks along!

Geneva

Well, surprise of all surprises, we found a house!! After putting in offers on a multitude of houses, we hit the jackpot. Can't say we got the best deal on it, but we were finding that a lot--not many people were willing to budge on prices. My theory is that everyone had lowered their house prices so much that they just didn't want to go any lower. Do I blame them? Not really, however we budged and were told over and over not to worry what we sold our house for because we'd make it up on the buying end. We didn't really see that happen though.

But it's ok--we found a nice house that we aren't having to overstretch to buy! It's in Geneva (IL, for those who might be thinking of European destinations) and it's very, very nice! It was one that we looked at, then thought about for many houses afterwards. We compare them to this one and none really stood up (ok, until the last one that was GORGEOUS but again, no budge on the price). The only things it needs are new kitchen appliances and a back patio or deck (which will have to wait until next summer).

Wanna see it? ☺ Take a gander at it here.

IacoBaby is doing well so far. I had my last ultrasound with Dr. Morris' office today. I got to see the heartbeat again, and the tech showed me little leg and arm buds! WE HAVE APPENDAGES! Yippee! It's about 1 cm long so far and growing fast and well! I have, however, been feeling queasy at times, sometimes for longer stretches than I'd like. This is severely hindering my motivation level--I want to do nothing but lay down and relax, which is good for the baby but bad when you have to leave for Mexico in a week and move a week after you return. I'm in deep doo-doo. Thankfully, we're living quite minimally these days, so packing shouldn't be too difficult.

Enjoy the upcoming 80 degree weather! Where else can you live where it snows on a Tuesday and is 80 by Friday???

So much

It's funny how, in just a few short weeks, so much has changed. Last week, we had the inspection on this house and it ended quite well! Only one repair (front step), which we had planned anyway. On our end, we've bid on 3 houses so far, but none would come down to our price point. One of them we thought would be a slam dunk--it wasn't. We're now revisiting 2 of them to see if they'll accept a slightly higher bid. If neither does, we'll be back out looking this weekend.

We tried making an offer on the very first one yesterday, but they wouldn't accept our bid. We're trying the 2nd one today, and if they don't accept, we'll go out hunting again this weekend (we may plan to go anyway). I'm a little blown away at how difficult this has been!! We've put in offers on 3 houses now, 2 of them twice, but had no luck.

The little nubbin is doing just fine! I saw the heartbeat yesterday--it's still too early to hear anything, but seeing it was still pretty awesome! Everyone is so excited, but I don't think anyone is moreso than Paul's dad. On Sunday, he asked a million questions, and kept patting my belly (even though it's just FAT right now, not baby!). After my ultrasound yesterday, I called Paul, who promptly asked me to call his dad, who was apparently waiting with baited breath, so I called the restaurant to let him know. He's thrilled every time we talk! It's so cute!

I haven't had any morning sickness, but I hear that normally starts in the next few weeks. I'm kind of dreading it--with our trip to Mexico, I don't want anything to ruin it, nor do I want to be forced to have to see a doctor there. I've heard there's medication to help with nausea, so I might look into that at my next appointment (a week from today).

In other news, my sister-in-law's PET scan was ALL CLEAR today!! Her husband wept when he heard the news. 2009 is proving to be quite the HAPPY year!!

First picture

Introducing: the little nubbin. Measuring a mere 5mm round (the sac...nubbin's still too small to measure), it's still too early to see any fetal poles (?). Next week, we'll see the heartbeat (but not hear it). After that, it's on to a regular ob/gyn.

And yes, there's only ONE. And I'm perfectly ok with that.

Things became a lot more REAL yesterday, after seeing this. We've been so preoccupied with the selling of the house (and buying of a new one) that we haven't been able to give it a lot of thought. This definitely put things into perspective! It's exciting to us, but we're still being VERY cautious, being I'm only 5 weeks along. We know good and well that anything can happen.

Poor Bailey is pretty sick right now. She has runny stuff coming out both ends. I took her to work and Dr. Lisa is doing a poop and blood test on her to see if anything can be found. Signs are pointing to more bladder stones, but it could be as serious as renal failure. If she has stones, they'll definitely need to be removed. Thank goodness I work where I do and get a great discount!

We were bidding on a house in Batavia but it looks like it won't go through. That's ok because we have a few others picked out. We're headed out again on Friday to look at more. I know we'll find something and hopefully get a great deal! The house inspection for our house is today. Keep all fingers crossed for good results!

More later...

House-hunting

Well, we spent 4 hours hunting for a house today, and saw a lot of really nice ones! We had 2 all-time favorites, both in Batavia. In fact, most of what we've found has been in Batavia. We seem to be able to get a lot more for our money there, plus they have a good school system and it's a nice town overall. The house we really flipped for is priced at the highest end of our budget, even if we get a good deal, so we may have to forgo that one. Realistically, I might not be working much after kids arrive, so that's going to cut our income a bit.

Anyway, we'll take a couple more days to look at others. Dawn was really good about taking us around and giving us her ideas and thoughts. I guess realtors aren't normally supposed to do this, but being that she's family, we appreciate it. She has never discouraged us and has a lot of good advice on everything. Plus, she's really keen on low-balling, which we like! ☺

Everything with the little nubbin(s) is fine so far. It's still so early and I'm trying not to get too excited about anything. Sometimes it's hard though--we both want this SO BAD. I dread the thought of having to restart all those drugs to try again. Next time around, we'll be starting from scratch. Anyway, I've had no morning sickness or anything, but I do find myself eating A LOT and definitely gaining weight. I'm not super happy about that--I know it's expected, but I'm sure it's not expected at the rate I'm going.

We should have more house news by the end of the week! We realized today that we'll be getting a new bedroom set once we move, courtesy of my dad and Beverly (belated wedding present--we turned it down in 2006 since nothing new would fit in our current house!). WOO HOO!

If things weren't interesting enough...

WE SOLD OUR HOUSE!

Nothing can ever be boring and dull around here. The excitement continues! Yesterday, we had a showing scheduled from 1:30-2:30. At 3:30, our realtor called to say the people that had just seen it were putting in a bid on it. After some negotiating back and forth, we accepted their offer and signed all the paperwork last night! They want to close on May 13th, so we're headed out this weekend to start looking for a new house for us.

Now, I realize there's still a lot that has to happen before this house is officially considered SOLD, but to me, it's pretty damn real now. The weird part of this whole thing: the people buying it are currently renting a house right down the street from us. I guess they like the neighborhood so well, they're sticking around!

Poor Paul is completely flipped out right now. Last night, we sat for about 20 minutes on the couch together putting it all in perspective. We're so thankful to have each other in all this. There have been and will be those few moments of stress (we got in a rare yelling match last night), but we'll be fine. As flipped out as he is, it's very much a good flipped out.

Our trip to Mexico has officially been booked (before the house sale!), and Peggy handed over the condo keys last night. We're so stinkin' excited to get away from here and have a break. It usually takes Paul 3-4 days to really get into and enjoy a vacation (and for him to even feel like he's ON vacation), which explains why he always takes 2-3 week breaks when he goes away. This one will be a bit shorter, but all that either of us can spare. It'll still be very welcomed!

So...if good things happen in 3's, what's next for us??!

Eureka!

I think most of our immediate world knows the news, but for those who don't....

WE'RE PREGNANT!

It's SUPER early though, so don't go getting too excited just yet. I have had an official bloodtest (my second was actually today), and so far, all hormone levels look great! They look at a level called hCG. On Friday, mine was 44.9. It's supposed to double each day and today, I was at 169, which the nurse said was perfect!

When I went in this morning for the blood draw, they said that if my levels are still a little low, they'd bring me back in on Wed for another test. I was nervous that this would happen. We haven't had anything go our way until now, so I'm not expecting great things from this. I don't mean to sound negative--I am REALLY excited about this, but there's still a great deal of caution we're both taking right now. HOWEVER...my levels are fine. If you're interested in learning more about the levels, there's an interesting site here. Keep in mind that every woman's body is different.

There's still no indication how many might be in there. I don't think I'll really know that for a while. I have an ultrasound (cootie cam) scheduled on Tuesday the 7th where they'll verify that there's a gestational sac. I don't know at what point I'll have to start seeing an OB/GYN--I asked today, and all they said was that it'll be a little while still.

We're both tepidly excited and really, still not at all used to the idea. My work habits will have to change--I can't do x-rays anymore, and I've taken the position of refusing to clean out litter boxes. I know there's some controversy as to whether or not I really can, but frankly, I'm going to do my best to do everything right. I've worked too damn hard to screw it up. The only thing I need to look into is coloring my hair. A girl's gotta have that one vice, and this is mine. I refuse to go 9 months without coloring, even if it means I go orange-blond with peroxide. I will NOT be a gray-haired mother who's constantly confused with being the child's grandmother!!

The house is still on the market, and I'm as determined to sell it as ever. Our agent lacks in a lot of areas, so she's really going to have to step it up. Things are SERIOUS now. ☺

PLEASE keep in mind that things are in the very early stages. I don't know what to expect--I can hope for the best, but not be surprised if things take a turn. Mentally, I have to prepare myself for this or I'll go bananas if it happens. Above anything, I'm SO grateful that I can at least GET pregnant. That was half the battle! I was really thinking I couldn't, so this is a good moment in time.

Enjoy the crappy winter weather headed this way. Paul and I are contemplating a trip to Mexico--a good friend of mine has a beautiful beachfront condo in Ixtapa that she's generously said we can use (no charge!). I'm so stinkin' excited about the possibility! If we go, it'll likely be at the end of April or early May.

Hasta luego!

(and oui, I still teach French....one day I'll get back to France....)

Awake, but sleepy.

I've found myself awake in the 3 o'clock hour yet again. My sleep habits are deplorable. I don't know why--I fell alseep before 11pm last night. I sleep so restlessly, tossing and turning all night, constantly waking up. Yesterday, I cooked a pot roast in the crock pot and every time I woke up, that's all I could smell (it's been done cooking since about 5pm yesterday, but the smell still lingers). When I woke up at 3:30am, I found myself yelling (in my mind) at my co-workers for overbooking appointments, a problem that's been happening a lot lately (at the vet clinic).

No news about any pregnancy. I peed on a stick Sunday night and it was negative. Maybe it was too early, maybe it was just a way to mentally prepare myself for Friday's test. Whatever the case, I'm ready to once again hear negative. Frankly, I feel NOTHING, and while I'm sure the earth won't shake on its axis if I get pregnant, I expected to feel something. I'm having some cramping, but it's all muscular...

We have a Wii Fit in the house (bought it 12 days ago) and it's killing me! Is it the best workout known to mankind? Probably not, but it's fun, and it's WAY better than the nothing I was doing. There are competitive "games" so Paul and I work against each other on different activities. There are a few things that I can do WAY better than him, and vice versa. We both try to put in 30 minutes of Wii time each day (which equals about 45-60 minutes of real time--it only counts the minutes you use on activities). There's one strength activity called the Plank. I didn't think it would be as hard as it is! Basically, my forearms are on the Wii board (set about 3 inches off the floor, way lower than an aerobic stepper) and my feet extended out behind me with my butt just slightly raised higher than my head. That position is held for 30 seconds. Sound easy? Try it. It's kicks my ass.

We had an open house on Sunday and only one couple showed up. I'm hoping she isn't discouraged by this and no longer offers to have open houses. They may not be great, but as far as I'm concerned, they're better than nothing. I'm not entirely happy with our agent--I don't see her doing anything to sell our house (she has a few others on the market that are worth more, so her energy might be more concentrated on those?). She does some things, but not enough for my tastes. I need a pitbull!!

I'm on spring break this week. That isn't saying much since I only teach one night a week and still have 2 other jobs to go to. WCC (where I teach) has annoyed me beyond recognition. I'm seriously on the verge of saying sayonara--they really don't pay me enough for what I have to deal with. I'll give it one more semester, unless another teaching position comes along.

The weather is stormy this week, and cooler than I'd like, but at least there's no snow. We have a large dead patch of grass in the front...from dog pee that collected on the snow and melted in one spot, I'm guessing. Her pee usually doesn't affect the grass, but if it's all concentrated in one spot for a certain amount of time, it can happen. Gotta love winter!

Enjoy! More news when I know it!

3/1

I'm officially pregnant! Well, ok, not really...or maybe just one day pregnant.

We went early this afternoon to have some thawed out buggers transfered. I was soooooo stressed all the way there. I had thought they'd start thawing them on Sunday, but my info was wrong. They actually started today, so if any had trouble thawing, we weren't going to find out until right before. I was so sure that something would go wrong, and I jumped every time the phone rang this morning.

We got the surgery center and when the nurse called us in, I asked immediately how many we were having transfered. She didn't know but said she'd find out. Well, 2 minutes later, Dr. Morris came in and said he had 3 thawed out and ready to go, and we still have one frozen. I was BLOWN AWAY.

He took us back to the sterile room and got things rolling right on time--the man is nothing if not PROMPT. 15 minutes later, we were done. I had to wait there another 1/2 hour, but we were out of there before 2pm and on our way home.

So that's it...now I wait. There's a test scheduled in 8 days (Friday), so we should know something then. I'm trying not to get myself too psyched up for this again, despite the fact these are the most advanced embryos we've had implanted to date. Paul's VERY hopeful. I'm being my usual guarded self.

Enjoy the weather! It's cool but the sun is shining and you better believe I'll be on my scooter tomorrow!