Big News #2!

This week we shared on social media that our family is growing! We are excited have our children close in age growing up together. I love knowing that Grayson will never remember a time not having his sibling.

I've already received several questions and have been trying to find time to type up some extra information for those of you who are curious and to help document this pregnancy (we've been so busy this fall that I've already done much less for this pregnancy than I did for Grayson's #secondchild). I had so much fun sharing my last pregnancy and documenting that I look forward to doing it again.

How far apart will the kids be?
Baby H2 is due May 2019, which will put our kids about exactly 20 months apart depending when baby decides to arrive.  Our ideal time line for kids is roughly two years apart. I grew up with a brother nine years older than me and a sister two years younger; Ben and his sister are three years apart.

How long did you try for number two?
If you remember, it took us six months to get pregnant with Grayson, so when we decided to start trying again, that was one consideration and the other factor was that Ben had a work retreat in Mexico, where Zika is still a concern. Right now the CDC recommends abstaining three months after possible exposure, which would have allowed us to start trying in January or February. Call me crazy, but I did not/do not want a child born through the holiday season; really I didn't want to be due November through February time-frame. I grew up with two best friends born on Christmas and New Years, plus I loved my fall maternity leave with Grayson, that it was important to me to think about timing.

As luck would have it, we didn't need to worry about the decision to try for a holiday baby or not because this time around things happened much quicker, as in on our first try. I think it's because I'm much more in tune with my body. In order to get pregnant the first time, I learned my ovulation signs and cycles. "Lucky me" (extreme sarcasm), even though I'm still breastfeeding Grayson now at 14 months old (it AMAZES me that my body is supporting not ONE but TWO living beings right now!), with Grayson my cycle came back around 10 weeks postpartum and has been regular ever since. Knowing we wanted to try in the fall, I started tracking my signs in the spring to get a good idea of timing.

When did you find out?
It was a few weeks before Grayson's birthday and I had recently dropped to two pumps a day at work.  I was consistently punping 8oz of milk during the day. Within days of conception, my milk supply dropped 3oz pumped and I knew I was pregnant. I waited a few days to take a test, and sure enough: positive! When I calculated the due date, I realized we were due May 10th; a day after my birthday and six days after Ben's.

Before we were officially trying, I had seen a "World's Best Brother" shirt at Target and had ordered it just in case. So I had it on hand and the Friday before Grayson's first birthday, I put it on him and let him crawl into the kitchen to tell Ben. We were both equally shocked and surprised that it happened so fast, but excited! When we initially started trying for kids in 2016, I naively thought we would have a May baby, so the fact that our second child is due in May feels like it's meant to be!

We already had Grayson's one year pictures set up, so I called my photographer to share the news. I said I know it's extremely early, but would you mind capturing a few pictures of Grayson in a big brother shirt so that we can use them to tell family? I'm so glad we added in these announcement pictures. They might be my favorite from the session. All photos in this post were taken by Courtney Heckler.

How far along are you?
Today I'm 16 weeks. Just like with Grayson, my cycle started on a Friday, so every Friday I'm one week farther along. I know it seems silly, but that makes me look forward to Fridays that much more!

It's so crazy (and honestly nerve wracking) to think that at Christmas we'll be half way there.

How are you feeling?
Thankfully with this pregnancy I haven't suffered any nausea at all. With Grayson I never got sick, or maybe once; but felt poorly enough I carried a vomit bag around with me everywhere, just in case! I was extremely tired weeks five through nine, but now that's subsided.

Are you showing?
You guys, I started wearing maternity jeans at 11 weeks; 11 weeks! With Grayson I didn't wear them until after our babymoon, so 21 weeks. I'm not majorly showing yet (although enough that I've had some people ask), but I think I knew how much more comfortable they would be than regular pants or the hair-tie trick (although I'm still doing that a little to fit into favorite jeans).

Now at 16 weeks I have more of a visible bump starting (it's so weird how bumps always come out more at night; am I right?!). I wore a button down shirt last week and realized, I don't think I can wear this buttoned more! Thank goodness last winter the majority of my tops were oversized and flowy for breastfeeding; they're perfect for this year's bump.

Are we going to find out the gender?
Nope! We have talked about it a little; but we waited for Grayson and it truly is THE BEST surprise to wait. Because we waited the first time, we have all of the initial gender neutral necessities we need anyways.

(Plus you know me, if it were a girl, I would start shopping like crazy! Even if it were a boy I probably would too because we'll need to add some summer weather newborn clothes to our closet for this baby).

Will you schedule a C-Section?
Another nope! I think I may have blogged about this before, but having Grayson via C-section was the absolute opposite birth experience I wanted when we initially found out we were pregnant and even when we found out Grayson was breech. We tried everything, everything, to change that he was breech, but in the end I still believe that he and I are in this world today because a c-section was the safest way for his arrival.

Shortly after having Grayson, I started researching VBAC supportive OBs (vaginal birth after cesarean). I came to the consensus of one highly recommended and raved about doctor in the area. As in, I've heard more than one woman say they decided to have a third child because they loved their VBAC experience and this OB so much for their second. (I also want to throw in here, in case you're a c-section mama and not familiar with where you can find information and support, International Cesarean Awareness Network is a great place to start or to heal from a previous birth experience. You can likely find local chapters to learn about VBAC supportive doctors and hospitals in your area).

Knowing we wanted to have kids close together, I met with him in the spring to ask about my likelihood of a successful VBAC and the preferred timing between pregnancies. He said I'm an ideal VBAC candidate (from what my previous OB, who specialized in breech birth, could tell, there was no reason caused by my body for Grayson to be breech). He also said he recommended 18 months between deliveries.

Also re:gender above, to be honest, there's a part of me that's scared I won't have a successful VBAC. Knowing I'll have the surprise of learning the gender at birth, regardless of how this baby arrives, makes me excited!

So we're planning on an unmedicated doula-OB supported VBAC! And delivering at a different hospital, which is also known to be extremely supportive. As one friend who has had 2 successful VBACs with my OB put it: with your experience, the OB/nurse/hospital, your doula, husband and will-power, you've got this. I hope so that comes true!

Are you going to move?
This question has come from friends and family who are familiar with our house. We have a three bedroom, two bathroom house with some "bonus" spaces like a master entry room and main floor office. We currently have our bedroom, Grayson's room, and a guest room.

With the majority of our family out of town, it is extremely convenient to have a guest room, but for how often they are here compared to our daily living, it makes more sense for us to fully utilize the room for our kids. We currently plan to the guest room into a second nursery combined with playroom (it's much bigger than Grayson's room).

Our basement isn't finished, however there is a fourth nonconventional bedroom (it has a closet and two windows) down there that we could use as a guest room if we wanted (otherwise the air matress fits in the office). We just need to find the time to update it and turn it into an actual bedroom instead of storage (i.e. we need to paint, install carpet, buy an IKEA bedframe and foam mattress in order to get down our stairs. Our current queen guest bed won't fit down the stairs because they're so steep!). This is a winter project on my goal list.

There's also the thought that if the kids are the same gender, we could have them share the large bedroom (current guest room) and then use Grayson's room as a play room and turn it into a guest room (ie pull out an air mattress when guest's come). Time will tell really! We are constantly looking at new listings online and went to see a townhouse last spring, while we have great equity in our house, the problem is that the market is so hot, we would have to spend more than we want to get what we want (a single family home with garage, grass yard, four bedrooms and two living areas). And hi, we'll have two kids in daycare, which also is not cheap here, so we're not looking to increase our mortgage right now!

How did you travel to Europe pregnant? Did you drink?
We booked our flights for a trip that's been on our beer bucketlist for years and a week later we found out we were pregnant. I figured it would happen! Thankfully, I also knew for the timing of the trip I would be in my second trimester and it would be more manageable than going those early weeks of pregnancy, and it was.

And yes, I had some beer. I was 13 weeks and had half a beer and several sips at Cantillon. I couldn't not and I've been reading up a lot on occasional drinks during pregnancy and decided I felt comfortable having some beer; and it was soooo worth it! But we also brought back plenty of beer to save until this baby arrives and I'm drinking more too.

So there you have it; the story to our growing family :)

Motherhood: Find Your Tribe

Exactly a year ago today I was just over six months pregnant and my evening was double booked. The neighborhood facebook group of expecting/new moms with babies in 2017 was having a “happy hour” and I had a women in construction event to network with other women in the industry. As I usually do, I decided to squeeze in both events and now a year later, I’m so glad I did.

There were about 15 of us soon-to-be mommas at the happy hour. It’s funny because sometimes I consider myself an introvert when it comes to meeting new people, but I could talk motherhood, pregnancy and babies for a week straight. I plopped down on the couch near a group of girls and started chatting. We were all due within about 2.5 months of one another. Our baby (at the time we didn’t know the gender) was due on one of the girl’s birthdays! I spent about an hour there chatting with the girls about our general life background.

For the five of us chatting in the corner, it was our first child. Afterwards, we connected via Facebook and decided that we should continue to get together during pregnancy on a smaller scale (verse the large group). We met up twice after during pregnancy and shares texts of symptoms and excitement. We went to dinner on a Thursday night and that Saturday, the first of our baby crew was born! It was getting real!

When my water broke and we were admitted to the hospital, I waited to text the group until the next morning (the day Grayson was born). I got a group text one of the girls (the girl who’s birthday we were due on), that they was also admitted in the hospital, 2.5 weeks early from their due date with their daughter. Our kids were born just a few hours apart from one another; birthday buddies!

While it was fun conversing during pregnancy, I couldn’t have known then how much I would come to rely, trust, and love these girls once our babies were here. The daily texts; questions, comical events, successes and woes, brought us even closer together.  We first got together when we had three babies in the group and two women were still pregnant. It was so fun to see the littles we created in person and give the others a glance into their near future.

And maternity leave; I don’t know what I would have done without those who I shared maternity leave with.  It means so much to: 1. Get out of the house, 2. Get out of the house and be around people who GET it. They know it’s not easy and we’re still learning our babies ques. We’re still learning about ourselves as a mother. Having familiar faces to share library story time with, go for a walk or grab a beer, helps you ease into the new normal. During maternity leave I was living in the moment, as one should, and I didn’t realize how much these girls truly meant to me until I got back to work and missed them so incredibly much.

Now, nine months after our arrivals started, we all constantly get the babies together. Now more than previously, we share our successes, our  questions, our concerns, our tips. I have a constant 24-hour support line. Someone who’s willing to come over and babysit at the drop of a hat on a Saturday night when our babysitter cancelled. Someone who our kids will (hopefully soon) share the same daycare class. Someone who I can lament with over how cute baby girl clothes are. Someone who brings us all flowers from her garden just because. Someone who lives two blocks down the street from us for impromptu playdates that I hadn’t meet in the previous year of living in our house. As the babies start to interact more and more, it all continues to get better and better. As each child hits milestones (whether its sitting up, sitting in a highchair, eating solids or crawling), we learn from one another and are happy for each baby as if they were our own.

I mentioned above, we all met because of a facebook group for 2017 babies. While I was lucky enough to find my close mom tribe, there are so many friends we’ve made from this larger facebook group too. Would you believe it, there are 437 women with babies born in 2017 for my neighborhood and surrounding area that part of this private group? Not everyone posts on the group or is able to make it to events, but everyone that I have met and interacted with has helped or supported me in some way or another. There is ALWAYS someone to meet up with, share a similar experience, go for a walk, borrow an item, weekly happy hours.

When my maternity leave was ending and I was at our last library story time, one of these moms asked how I was doing and I lost it. I started sobbing in the middle of story time. She just held me and told me it’d be okay, and afterwards insisted we get a drink 😊 These are my people. People who get it (motherhood), who get me, and I’m grateful to know. It’s not easy and it seems weird, scary, or intimidating to meet new people, especially from the internet, but social media can be a powerful, and life changing tool. It’s worth it.

If you’re a mom, newly pregnant, or planning to be pregnant; put yourself out there. Find your people, your tribe. Find the people that you can send pictures of baby poop too (I don’t remember if I’ve actually done this, but I know I’ve contemplated it). Find the people that will bring you up, that will let know you it’s okay if you’re struggling to breastfeed, who will cry with your when your baby takes their first big fall, who know exactly how you feel when need to vent about your husband, who can tell you how they’re getting their kid to sleep through the night, who will loan you breastmilk when you’re going out of town for the first time and don’t have enough, who check in on you to see if baby’s cough has gone away, who help you feel confident breastfeeding in public, or who are just as eager to go to happy hour with a baby as you.

Babies bring about so much joy, but they also bring frustrations, fears, doubts, and change you. As much as I needed Ben to enter parenthood together, I needed these girls to help me enter motherhood. I’m so glad I found them to do into it together.

To my mom friends, you all will forever hold a special place in my heart that will never be forgotten or replaced. Love you!

I can't put into words how much these women mean to me, but I tried. Now excuse me while I go find a box of Kleenex! 

Back to Work Update

I've never been a great blogger. Since we moved from Chicago, I started feeling like I was spending more time living life, than documenting it. That's how it should be.

However, time goes so incredibly fast with a baby that I try to document what I can to remember it all. We're approaching five months old, Grayson is pretty close to double his birth weight and it's almost already hard to fathom that he used to be this small.

Photos by Courtney Heckler Photography

 If you follow me on instagram, then a lot of this point may not come as a surprise to you. I love using instagram stories to document photos and stories from the day.

I went back to work when Grayson was 13 weeks old. Prior to that, we tossed back and forth trying to figure childcare. We thought we had a daycare spot, then we didn't, then we were going to sign a contract for a nanny-share with another family and the night before we go a call that we did have a daycare spot. Aye-yi-yi.

However, the daycare spot we landed didn't start until a week after I was to start back at work. My parents willingly offered to come out from Illinois to help. If I'm being honest, I was hesitant at first. It was a big enough change already and I wasn't sure if I would be stressed by having more people in the house. Then I thought about the upsides: Grayson could stay in our house and even though I wouldn't be there, it seemed like a good transition step for him to go to daycare; cooking! When my parents came out when Grayson was born, they kept us well fed and made some amazing dinners. So going back to work, knowing Gray would be in good hands, knowing I could come home and snuggle him up while someone else made it dinner; yep, sold.

The week prior to going back to work was THE worst. I tried not to think about it, but inevitability every day when the thought crossed my mind, I would tear up and start to cry. At home, in the car; even storytime at the library when a mom friend asked how I was filling. It was awful. I was anxious to move into yet another "new normal". Then my parents got here and the day arrived and I was fine. I barely even cried when I left in the morning! I survived work, came up and snuggled him and slowly, every day got easier and easier until I realized that I would sometimes go an hour or two and not think about him once.

It completely helps that Ben has taken on the majority of drop-off and pick-up. We went together the first day and I occasionally do it, but Ben's office is a mile or two down the street (whereas daycare is 20 minutes out of the way from my project). I really like our set up. I get Grayson ready in the morning (more in a minute) and Ben does the driving. If I feel like I'm missing out, I tell Ben I'll grab him after school and it's no big deal.

Grayson is still tiny; at his four month appointment he was 12lb 7 oz and 23" long; which puts him around 5th percentile in weight and under 1st percentile in height. I'm still shocked! I was an 8lb 15oz baby and born two weeks early. Ben was 10lb 4oz! I mean, we're not big people now, but we were tiny beans babies. He still is wearing newborn (size 0) shoes, size 1 diapers and mostly 0-3 and 3 month clothing. As of this week we starting pulling out some 3-6 month clothes.

I keep this calendar with his milestones and memorable moments. Although, again, sometimes time passes so quickly I forget to write things downs and then I struggle to remember exact dates or flip through photos on my phone to try to remember. The weekend before I started back at work Grayson slept his night straight! We moved him into his room and his crib, after consulting with our pediatrician, just before 4 months.  I feel like I was ready for this, but it was a big deal for Ben. Our master suite is on a separate level in the house than Grayson's nursery. I remember Ben saying, "Are you sure? It's so far away!" But as our ped suggested might happen, I think we're all sleeping better being in separate rooms.

He also started to laugh when he was three months. Now, it's more consistent and louder and so stinking cute! At four months he started arching his back. Nearing five months, he's not rolling over quite yet, but he will roll from his back to his side so I think we're nearing the full rolls.

 Workday Schedule
Our normal/ideal workday looks like something like this:

5:30am - I wake for work and get ready. I shower the night before to help minimize prep time.

6:10/6:15am - I wake Grayson. Sometimes he's already stirring and other times I rub his tummy to wake him. He immediately nurses and I love this time together. He's still kind of sleepy but as he starts to eat he becomes more alert. His big blue eyes look up and lock in with mine and then he'll pull off and smile. After he finishes eating, we do a diaper and clothing change. I'll pour myself a bowl of cereal and he sits in the Bumbo chair with me while I eat until Ben finishes walking Oscar and is ready to go.

6:45am - We're all out the door for the day

At work, I ideally try to pump three times (8:30a/11:30a/2:30p). If I do this, I typically pump around 16 oz; which is 4 bottles. This is awesome become Grayson is only taking 3 bottles at school which means we get to build a stash. However, the majority of the time I end up getting busy at work which means I get in two pumping sessions. I still produce 12 oz during from two pumps which means we're sustaining the amount of milk needed at day care.

5:00pm - Usually we're all home by 5pm. Sometimes Grayson will have fallen asleep during the drive home and sometimes not. I nurse him at 5:30p and then we work on dinner. (Ideally I get home at 4:30 and can squeeze in a workout before it's time to feed).

7:00pm - Grayson's bedtime. We rotate who puts him down but have worked to establish a routine that includes a diaper change, pajamas on, storytime and bedtime.

Once Grayson is down, it's time to try to fit everything else in. Washing pump parts, shower, layout clothes for the next day, sit down and relax with Ben. There's a lot to squeeze into a little amount of time but I'm trying to make it a priority to dedicate time to us being us.

8:30/9:00pm - Dreamfeed.  Now that Grayson's older, he's able to successfully dreamfeed; that is, that he'll nurse without fully waking. I give him a dreamfeed before we head to bed.

Postpartum
I didn't experience any noticeable postpartum thoughts or feelings during maternity leave. I think because we worked hard to establish a routine and schedule (Babywise), that our regular activities and daily meetups with other new moms kept me busy enough not to fall into a funk, but also gave me an outlet to express what I was feeling, when I was feeling it with others who could relate. This was so so helpful! I really had no idea that when I met a group of pregnant women six months into my pregnancy how much they would mean to me in those first several postpartum months (and still now!).

However, I will say that returning to work and putting Grayson in the hands of someone else during the day IS hard. Returning to work and working full days on shorter nights of sleep is hard. Finding energy to come home after work and play with baby, make dinner, exercise, do chores and spend time together as a couple is hard. Like everything in pregnancy, and so far as parents, it's a learning game. Learn what works, learn what doesn't and make adjustments.

Not being able to do everything that I want to, when I want to is hard. Forgetting to write notes in Grayson's calendar or clothes in the washer is frustrating to me. I have my mental to-do list, but it's not at the forefront of my brain and I'm trying to learn that's okay. Life is short and time moves fast. The most important thing I can do is be present for it. So if that means a pile of clean, folding laundry waits three days for me to put it away, then it waits. If a thank you card isn't mailed out in a timely manner, then it isn't and hopefully it's the thought and fact that I remembered to send one that counts. If we go to bed and the couch pillows are in disarray thanks to Oscar, then they look sloppy, but who cares? (Me!)

Things aren't the way they were before. My body isn't the way it was before. Finding time to exercise and even how I exercise is different. I don't have the strength and stamina from when I ran my marathon six months prior to getting pregnant. It took nine months to grow this beautiful boy so it's going to take time to adjust and go back. It's going to take work and time. Things will never be how they were before and that's okay too. It's worth it.

Overall, as a new, first-time mom, I don't have it all together. I try and sometimes I have good days, but some days are hard. I don't always know what I'm doing, but together with Ben, we make it up as we go. I'm trying to give myself grace. It's not always easy and certainly has it's frustrations but eventually I will be me; a new and improved me: mentally, emotionally and physically. Most importantly, every day, every minute, and every second of self-doubt, self-consciousness, and sometimes self-pity, is so worth it for this being that we created.

 (PS - I'm working on a separate post regarding our Babywise schedule and sleeptraining)

Weeks 2 and 3 Postpartum

Well, we've managed to get this far! Honestly, I have to say, things are going much better than I anticipated. Overall, Grayson is a great baby. I had the expectation that we'd both end up in a heap on the floor crying and of endless, sleepless nights. Thankfully I haven't had any tears or postpartum baby blues to date and although segmented, I am getting some sleep.

A few notes about my second and third week postpartum experience...

Recovery
I'm happy to say my recovery has been pretty smooth. The first few days home I tried to take it easy and limit my movement, which helped. I also wore a belly band (similar to this) for about a week. Having the extra applied pressure on my stomach and incision helped with pain during movement, laughing or coughing.

Following the procedure, I didn't take any narcotics and stuck with Motrin/ibuprofen. I was able to stop taking this completely around 13 days postpartum.

After my two week check up, I was cleared for light exercise and driving, so I've been trying to get in my daily two mile walk, similar to the last weeks of pregnancy. I'm going to wait until my six week appointment to attempt running. My doctor also recommended I stop wearing the belly band and start focusing on trying to strengthen my stomach and abdominal muscles again.

I've been applying Earth Mama Angel Baby C-Salve to my incision daily.

After my two week appointment we stopped in the hospital to bring baked goods as a thank you to the nurses who helped us from Labor & Delivery, NICU, and Family Care (recovery). The only nurse we were able to see was Cynthia from L&D. I bawled when I saw her. It's the only time I can remember crying since leaving the hospital. She had such an impact on my success for unmedicated labor. When I started laboring she put her hand on my sternum and had me mimmick the deep low sounds she was making. She showed Ben how to do this and it was one of the primary breathing and pain doing techniques I used during labor. She is amazing!

During labor she warned me she was going to leave at 11am for an hour,  Because labor happened so quickly, when she came back she had no idea where we were (at this point we'd gone into the OR). She said she couldn't believe how quickly things happened and commended me for being such a trooper and fighter. I'll always remember her!

Weight
Overall with my pregnancy, I gained about 40 pounds. I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid) and put on medication.  I'm still taking the medication and will checked to see if I can go off of it. Three weeks postpartum, I'm down about 17 pounds (Grayson was 6lb 8oz). The  majority of this was baby and due to breastfeeding. As I increase my exercise, we'll see how the weight loss journey goes.

Breastfeeding
I've been blessed so far that things are going so smoothly in this department. Grayson has a great latch and my body is producing to keep up with his needs. I do use Mother Love nipple cream sporadically but haven't endured much pain besides initial latch (which I've heard is normal). My true goal is to nurse for a year, but it may be a little lofty, so I'm starting with a six month goal.

I haven't had any issues nursing him in public. I have a cover and wear nursing friendly clothes when I know there's a chance he may get hungry. Ben was a little weirded out the first time, but honestly, in general breastfeeding has been quite empowering for me; to know that I can give him everything he needs to grow!

Sleep
Honestly, it's hit or miss. Grayson does latch easily and feeds well, so our nursing sessions vary between ten and twenty minutes. But some nights he's on a 45 minute nursing cycle, which means I get 20-30 minute breaks and sometimes he'll go three hours. Because he was in the NICU and feed so much initially (to raise his blood sugar levels), he never dropped below his birth weight so we don't have to monitor his time in between feeding.

We've been trying to keep him more engaged and awake during the day, especially after 7pm, or as much as possible and this seems to help us get some longer two-and-a-half/three hour stints between feeding. Last night we had a four hour gap, which was amazing!

Help
Ben went back to work two weeks after Grayson was born. We've had my parents here helping since he was 10 days old and they'll leave this week, but it has been a blessing to have help with grocery shopping, meal prep, dishes and having someone to hand Grayson off to when we need a break or take Oscar for a walk.  We even went out our first "date" Sunday (somehow Ben convinced me to see the movie IT).

Overall
We could not be more smitten with Grayson and every little thing he does. We've been able to make outings like our annual fall colors drive and brewery visits work with him as our sidekick. Yep, we are feeling pretty lucky with this little guy.

Belay On

Yea, so the house inspection came up with some little items and major repair items.  We heard from the seller that they were willing to fix the little items but not the large yesterday.  All afternoon I was ready to burst into tears (this is probably a good reminder why you shouldn't check personal email at work!).

The seller claimed that from the inspection report, the items deemed as needing "attention" did not warrant necessary repair or maintenance for function or safety reasons; thus, they weren't interested.  Our realtor tried to reason that these items would come up with any potential buyer and the seller came back with, that's part of the reason the house is priced what it is.

I called our inspector and walked through the list again. I was happy to learn that he truly doesn't not think the roof needs replacing, rather there are a few shingles that need repair.  The other large issue is the sewer line is close to one hundred years old and that definitely needs repair, if not replacement. But given the neighborhoods we want to be in and knowing the majority of the homes are the same age; this issue could come up anywhere. My dad has worked in the water industry for years and cautioned that yes, we need to get on that. We'll have another sewer scope done when he's out here to get more important and understanding on it's condition.

Otherwise, the last major issue is the A/C. We decided we can try living without central air and see how it goes.  There are always window units until we decide to bite the bullet. Plus, so many have reached out to us to say that they've lived in houses without central air and that summer heat here is dry; unlike the humid mess in the Midwest; so we're taking our chances.

Back to yesterday, pretty much as soon as I got in my car, the tears started flowing. I tried to place the emotion and reason for the tears, but couldn't. I couldn't decide if it was the fear of walking away or something else.  Now looking back, I think it was the fear of how much I wanted the house and worrying Ben wouldn't feel the same.

Good ole Dad called to talk through some items and the biggest one that stuck was, okay, adding on the worst-case costs for sewer, air conditioning and roof repairs, to the sale price of the house; how does that pricing compare to other listings? Thinking of it in that light, even with the add-ons (which we'll take care of as we need to and won't impact our monthly mortgage, which is comfortably what we budgeted for), the house is still a fair, if not good, price, given what the house has to offer and the location.

I was pretty shocked when I sat down on the couch and said to Ben, "so....", and he said, "well, we love it...and I think we should do it". Relief rushed over me and I was thrilled we were on the same page!

So there you have it! We ARE buying our current dream house and closing on the 28th!

Now to get onto the fun things; like decorating and I'm already on top of that (although I'll take your ideas too!)



Frisbee Friday

While it's obvious we love Denver (I mean, we are buying a house here), a lot of people commonly ask how Oscar is doing and adjusting to living in Colorado.  We no longer have our dog beach (although there are dog parks here, we just haven't ventured to them yet because Osc can be iffy with other dogs), he loves visits to the parks.

One of our hometown friends recently moved to Fort Collins (yay!) so we took the hour drive up to visit him (and breweries; post to come) recently. He was gracious enough to let us bring Oscar along for the trip.

 

Of course the problem with bringing Oscar to a strange apartment and then leaving him for the afternoon was that we needed to tire him out. Luckily we found a frisbee golf disc in the car!

A word to the wise, apparently dogs must be on leash at all Fort Collins parks. A ranger pulled up to remind us of this and we barely snuck out of a $100 ticket for not having our leash on! At least our plan worked perfectly.

 

This weekend we continue on with the home process and have our home inspection! We're also getting the sewers inspected and having a contractor come out to meet us towards the end of the inspection to give us an estimate on removing a popcorn ceiling and for any other items the inspector may find.

And more exciting plans, I'm meeting a group of Denver bloggers for a little wine/appetizer/craft party. It's kind of like an awkward blind date; except that it's not blind since I've followed some of the blogs for a while now. Besides, the hostess moved to Denver the same month as us AND has a four year old English Bulldog. Meant to be, right?

Have a happy, fun and safe weekend and Superbowl!

Whoops.

It's here. It's been here a week now. Whoops. This is certainly not how I planned to start off the blog in the new year, but ya know, the holidays are busy, especially when you travel!

A recap of our holidays:

We were all set to drive back to Illinois early Christmas Eve morning.  Ben had suggested driving back after work on 12/23 and I'd shot the idea down for fear of driving over night and us staying awake (last summer Ben's family drove out to CO and his mom fell briefly fell asleep at the wheel. Thankfully the rumble strips her up immediately, but because of that we instated the rule that someone needs to always be awake with the driver). Monday morning, 12/23, I got to work anxious to get the day over. After checking the forecast and road conditions, I emailed Ben and said "what the hell? we might as well drive after I get off to have the extra time with family" and we did just that.

We arrived home at 4am MT/5am CT and immediately hopped in bed for a few hours.  By 10:30 we were up and at 'em. We even made it to 10pm Christmas Eve Mass!

This year's Christmas was a strange one.  With our nephew being here, my SIL decided they wanted his first Christmas to be in their own home in Chicago.  My brother and his wife decided that their dog is on her last leg (so sad!) and it was best not to travel with her but they hated the thought of leaving her behind, thus we both missed siblings at Christmas. None the less, it was so nice to be home with our parents and Mr. Sister. Home is always home.

My parents wonky tree

Sleeping in my own bed

Family Tradition: Ticket to Ride and wine :)

 Thursday I got my first EVER spray tan. I went to a place called Flesh Tones as recommended by my hair stylist/wedding make up artist, Glam 2 Go. A person did airbrush spray and it was only $15! I was pretty nervous that first night, but overall happy with the results!

Friday Ben and I hopped in the car for our next roadtrip, a five hour drive to Indianapolis for MT's wedding! We were supposed to have arrived with an hour to spare before rehearsal, but do to the worst back up I've ever seen, thanks to a overturned jello and pudding semi load (REALLY! I could not make up a worse excuse!), we barely caught the end of rehearsal.

Wedding day was perfect.  MT had arranged for hair and makeup (and food) in the private loft area of an adorable salon called A'Do.  From there we went to a beautiful Catholic church for pictures and the ceremony.  Who would have thought that the last Saturday in December in the Midwest would end up being 50 degrees?!

I was pretty proud of my makeup! I saved $50 and did it myself :)

The party bus and reception were a blast. One of my best friends, MJ and her husband were there. I hadn't seen her in months so it was great to catch up and hang out. 

I die. Love the look on MT's face

 

Sunday morning, dead tired, we drove back to the QC to watch the Bears lose. My inlaws had driven to Chicago on Christmas day and taken our gifts for SIL with, returning with their gifts for us; so Sunday night we FaceTimed and opened another round of gifts.

10 months old; isn't he adorable?!

...because we were up early on Monday to get on the road back to Denver!

The loves of my life

We got home around 5pm and had our last Christmas tradition: Ben and I's exchanging of gifts. I love this quite wrap up (or should I say unwrapping? ha!) of the holidays and the time between the two of us after the chaos of family.

 

 I hope you had a great holiday season!