Choosing a name, What a job!!

Our little one is 19 weeks and is the size of a mango.

It is 6 inches and 8.5 ounces. I now feel baby moving, not all the time usually at night after I have laid in bed for a little while. I think I am way to active during the day to feel it. The first time I felt baby move, I knew it was a different feeling that I had never felt before and anticipated it again just to make sure I was right. Now, I feel the baby moving almost every night several times. Baby is growing and so am I, I had a dr's appt this week and I have gained 5 pounds and my stomach is 8 inches wider than when I started. The Dr. said he thinks baby is doing well and has a strong healthy heart rate.

The appointment was scheduled at the end of the month to find out what I am having. Any guesses as to what you think I am having? Matthew wants a boy but told me just the other day he thinks we are having a girl. I have no feeling either way as to what I am having. But what ever old wives tales say, I seem to be carrying high, I was very sick, and the baby's heartbeat has been high. Well after I found out less than a month I would know if it was a girl or a boy I started researching names. I read an entire book of names and their meanings this week and wrote down all of the names I liked. I read the names to Matthew and he said, "What country are you raising this baby in?" Then did not give me any suggestions. I have however decided that unless we feel really strongly about a name, I would rather not name the baby until I see him or her. I think you can gather alot more about this person's identity in one meeting and their name should fit them!! Therefore, we are not about any jr. or the 2nds because we want a baby to have it's own identity. As, I have spent several hours researching names, I decided it is quite a big job to name someone! Maybe not as big of a job as rasing the person you name but a big job.

After Christmas we will be in full swing of decorating the nursery and buying furniture. As well as a package of diapers a week, Matthew thought this was a silly idea at first, he said they probably go through only 3 or 4 a day. I then shared the truth with him and he decided my over compulsive planning and desire to plan the future which usually annoys him may not be such a bad idea :-) I asked for a rocking chair for Christmas from Matthew for the nursery and even sent him pictures to his email so hopefully he catches on to my not so settle hints :-)

Decoration and Preparation for the Holidays

Our little bambino is 17 weeks and it is the size of an onion. It's hearing is getting better, so I have began reading and talking out loud so that the baby can be apart. I also love playing music, hoping that it will make the little bambino dance so I can feel it. Fat is starting to form and bones are starting to harden this week.

As, carrier and food provider for our little one, I take the job very serious and get very concerned that I am doing everything right. I would hate to be the cause of something that is wrong with our baby, all because I did not provide the right nutrition, got some bacteria from food, or that I did something that was not recommended for the expecting. I am anxious for our ultrasound, which the date is unknown, to find out how the little one is developing and doing. Sometimes, I get worried that since I have not felt any movement or that I don't visibly see the baby growing by my stomach expanding that something must be wrong. Which is followed with a little prayer of protection upon our little one and usually some fruits or vegetables.

As, I continue decorating our home for the holidays and really just in generally it makes me so excited for next year. Not that I want to rush by this year, but the anticipation is there. I am excited to have a little one to share the holidays with and to make it so much more fun. I put the first Christmas present under the tree and it was for Matthew. He didn't even ask who it was for or shake it, weigh it, or guess what it was when I told him it was for him. I will definately be doing all of that plus trying to get him to tell me what the present is when mine go under the tree so I will like to share my excitement with the little one. I also think it will be easier to talk Matthew into letting me open a present early if I have someone else asking (it always worked on my mom)! I mostly just love the holidays and love that I will get to impress that on our little one.

How is the dad doing in the pregnancy, some of you might ask? Well Matthew, I believe is still a little unsure of what to do. I read facts to him from books and magazines on how to take care of a baby and he is usually amazed at how many details matter. I think it makes him nervous to think about but likes that he still has months to process. I still have not let him in on the secret of how expensive babies are, I just keep telling him we need to save for baby. His respose is how expensive can a baby be.... I will let him figure that out when we go furniture shopping and we register, I think he will take it better. Matthew likes to rub my belly and point out when my belly bump is really showing. He says, he can't wait for the belly bump to get bigger. He would also like a boy.

Finally, I will give a small update on the house. It is really coming along, I have been hanging pictures and looking for little things to make it our home. I did not have a table so the other day I decided that I would set up our brand new patio furniture we bought at the end of the summer in the kitchen. Matthew thinks it is getto but we have eaten dinner at the table for the last 2 nights. We bought bar stools last weekend. This week I am going to buy some blinds for the bedrooms. We buy one item a week for the house.

Since Thanksgiving is right around the corner, I am so thankful for my home, our little bambino, and my husband.

Pictures of the House!!

Well as promised I am going to post pictures of the house.

This is the front of the house with our grass that is trying to grow but we forget to water so you don't see any grass.


This is my Christmas wreath I made last Sunday and is now on our door.


The living room, we still need to buy some end tables and get a coffee table. I also would like a floor rug, the list goes on :-)


This is the kitchen

This is the Master Bedroom


Here is the master bath or at least parts of it.


I didn't take any pictures of the spare bedroom or the room that will be the nursery because there is no furniture in them yet and just has boxes. We are so thankful for our house and excited to continue working on it.

Now, for some funny comments that have been made since I have been pregnant.
This was the week I found out I was pregnant and was soo sick and we were on our third doctors visit in the car that week and hoping that someone could help me stop throwing up.
Matthew: If this is what happens when she is pregnant, I am going to get fixed today so she does not have to go through this again.

When my mom found my sister was pregnant she said, "I worried about this and said this the day Cara was born, that you guys would have babies close together.

I am 16 weeks, this week and the baby is the size of an avocado. It is starting to hear so I now talk to baby more often. Hair, eyelashes and eyebrows are growing in.

One Less Spare Bedroom

The house is done, well almost done, minus the millions of small jobs everywhere that I feel we will continue to work on as long as we live there :-) We built a house to have 3 spare bedrooms, plenty of room for friends and family to come visit. We love to have visitors :-) It seems we love visitors so much that we decided to have a permanent visitor, an addition to our family. We will have a new arrival, a bundle of joy around April 27th. If you have not already guessed, I will help you along, we are expecting a beautiful baby, April 27th!! I am 15 weeks along and had no idea how much work pregnancy was.

This is the baby at 11 weeks. The one at 6 weeks looks like just a ball or dot so I didn't show it.


Here is a little update on the the pregnancy so far to get everyone up to speed. The first 12 weeks were full of alot of miserable excitement. And by excitement, I mean a trip to the E.R. and several doctor's visits in a matter of a week. Morning sickness has a whole new meaning and it is anything but morning, it is I can't get out of bed and throw up all day long. The days I did feel good, I just thought to myself, no one explains pregnancy the way I feel, which was anything but good. But thankfully that has passed and now I only have mild discomfort and manageable nausea but thankfully rarely throwing up. Right now the baby is the size of an orange. My last doctor's visit, probably due to "morning sickness" I had only gained 1 pound, thankfully!! I feel there is a little visible bump but usually I am the only one that notices it. We have purchased a changing table, because we found a great deal and now on the look out for a crib and rocking chair. We have a white room waiting to find out if our baby will be a boy or a girl to decorate.
We are thankfull there will be some time in between the house getting done and our new arrival to prepare and get ready.
Here is an update on the house. We have been staying in the house since Saturday. I have been unpacking and cleaning and wiping walls, trim, doors, and floors to get rid of the dust but I do believe it will be an ongoing problem for a little while. I am going to take on the task of cleaning the garage to get rid of the dust in there. Matthew is out of town so he can not say too much but he hates when I move his tools around!!
We have some furniture, enough to get by but will slowly buy the rest. On piece at a time. Right now, we are in the market for end tables, coffee table, bar stools, and bedroom furniture. Matthew is going to build my huge closet with shelves and organizers but right now it is an empty room. So thankful for my handyman. I will post pictures of the house soon.

Move In Date.....

The plan is to move in this weekend!!! Yay!! I am not going to post any pictures on this post because I am going to wait to post lots of pictures when we move in.

The countertops are in and the appliances are just waiting for someone to move them into their spot. Matthew thinks me and him can do it by ourselves and I explain to him that WE, as in ME can not move a refridgerator, oven, or dishwasher. It took like 4 guys to move my dad's so I am not sure why he thinks WE can move them alone.

This weekend Matthew's parents were in town. Matthew and his dad worked on tiling the bathtub in our bathroom. His mom and I painted some doors and did the tedious job of putting calk on every nail hole in the base boards and door frames.

Oh I will post one picture, of our idea for the fireplace side in the kitchen. Matthew said he can make this.


The last couple of days of I have been cleaning like crazy!! We burned tons of stuff on Sunday as well. I have also began to realize having trees brings on the project of leaves!! So I have been kind of keeping up with that, by that I mean raked and burned them once and now there is twice as many on the ground. But there is still more to clean. Tonight we are going to pick up mattresses, door knobs, and a million other little small things at Menards. Menards is a huge and I mean huge store that has everything. I am also hoping I can talk Matthew into eating at Chipotle, he does not really like it. I on the other hand love it, I will even take it to go, if I have to.

I have also decided that since fall will be almost done by the time I move in. I am going to put minimal fall decor. Maybe decorate my table for fall and a pumpkin on the porch but will immediately begin decorating for CHRISTMAS!! Christmas decor is out in stores, why not in my house :-) Matthew will be gone the first week of November and I think that will be when I begin my Christmas decorating with Christmas music. Shhh, do not tell him, he will probably not embrace the Christmas spirit yet.

So I will have pictures for you at the beginning of next week.

Doors, trim, and plumbing

The Kings have been very busy with the house! The floors are done, completely done!
Here is a picture in the living room.

The interior doors are up

Now, we are waiting for the plumbers to come back and finish up, so we can have water in our house. We are also waiting for the septic to be installed. It is currently sitting in our front yard. I will have to admit we look a little white trash with all of the random items in our front yard.
I went and bought our appliances last week. They should be delivered sometime this week. Finally, our beautiful and very inexpensive (because I found a wonderful sale) granite countertops are being installed on friday. I was not even considering granite and I found these countertops on sale and they were the same price as laminate. Not only that but this week we were able to return some extra flooring we had bought and got more money back on our countertops. We then found crown molding super cheap and used the cash to buy crown molding and a million other little things that you do no think about. Thank you Jesus for the little blessings along with the big.
My husband has been hard at work on making our island beautiful, he added great trim and hung my corbels. So glad that I have such a talented handyman. I will try and take some pictures of the island.
I am now getting very anxious and want to start moving boxes in and I would, if they didn't come in every day and make everything dirty and dusty. I hope to be moving in this weekend!!!

Down to the Finish Working

The last week and a half have been very busy. Every night after work is spent at the house working on something. But progress has been made aside from a very tired girl!!
I have done most of the painting, well me and my mom. We have painted all of the rooms in the house, I just have some cut in work to be done. Which I am told needs to be done by tomorrow, not sure I will get all of it done but we will see!! I have gotten to the point where, I do not even care if all the paint comes off in the shower because I know there will be more paint on me in a matter of time.
They started laying our tile. We have tile in both bathrooms and in the entry hall. The hallway and the masterbath have been done.
This is the hallway!!

This is the Master bath

We have kitchen cabinets!! Terry and Lisa, our wonderful friends came and helped us or I should say helped Matthew hand the cabinets. We still have to do the trim and we are waiting on countertops (2 weeks) but the cabinets look great!! They are an antique white with a dark glaze around the wood work. Here are some pictures of the cabinets, it was hard to get good pictures because there was so much stuff on them due to the fact we were trying to get everything off the floor for flooring.




Finally, We have light fixtures!!! Matthew and I hung 7 light fixtures last night. When he was ready to start the 8th after midnight, I said "I can not do another one tonight!!" So we quit for the night!! Matthew found it fun to quiz me over the wires and what each one was called.... I told him, I didn't need to know because I had him :-) My uncle is here working away at the electrical. So today, we should have power to our light fixtures and hopefully air conditioning!! Here is one picture of the seven that we hung. This one is in our master bedroom.

Hopefully, they will start the rest of the flooring, tomorrow!! Matthew and I are going to lay the flooring in the spare bedrooms.... Another, skill, I will learn how to do. Then after the flooring will come the trim work and just odds and end of stuff!! It is hard to believe that less than 4 months ago it looked like this

And now we have a house!! God has definately blessed us and guided us along the way to find the right workers and help and materials. We are soo excited!!!

Painting, Oh Painting!!

Monday started painting the ceilings and priming the walls. Yesterday, Matthew and I bought paint for the living room, hallway, master bedroom, and the hall bathroom. Picking colors we agreed on was quite the process. I think dark floors lighter color walls, he thinks hunter green would be good for anything. I think we already have our bedspread so lets pick a color that goes with that, he thinks hunter green would be the best color. After lots of thought and conversations we picked colors. We painting the living room and hallway last night and both agreed we really like the color we chose. Whether we like it because it looks good or like it because we both wanted the color it doesn't matter :-) We like it!! I have pictures but it was really late when I took them and I do not think it really shows what color it is.

Hallway


The siding is almost done and we got a garage door!! In the picture you will have to disregard all the trash and misc stuff in the front of the house!!



The rest of this week, will be spent painting, painting, and painting. They will start the flooring on Tues. We will start tile work as soon as we are done painting. Cabinets come on Thur.
Move in date is getting so close that, I can't really believe it!! We are so thankful for everything that God has provided us. We are now looking for a great interest rate on a mortgage which now is the time to do it.... We have found.

Taking time to get away and still the house gets worked on

After, a crazy summer of non stop madness and barely a few minutes to spend time with each other in a day, we decided to go to Tennessee and visit Matthew's family. It was so great to get away!! Even though we were gone, alot happen back in Rocky Mount. I had no idea the show would go on without the check writers present :-)

The insulation guy has came and gone, finishing the whole house in just 2 days.


The drywall has started and they should be done by Friday!!


The vinyl siding guy is here and should be done this week!!


We are ALMOST done with rock work in the front. You want to work on your relationship skills with your spouse or even as a team building activity then do a tedious project like rock work.


This is the finished deck upstairs. The guy did awesome decorative post for me. The railings are high for our future children to have no chance of falling over the deck :-)


My uncle has pretty much finished the electrical, now we just have to wait for the drywall to be done to put the fixtures up. We are going to look at paint colors, flooring, and tile all this week. It looks like after I have now painted my sister and my mom's house, next week I will finally be painting MY house.

The house is looking more like a house. Everytime I go into the house or even think about it, I think how blessed I am. I am so grateful God provides and has been orchestrating the details of this house!!

Rock and Time

We have now began to do the rock work on the front of the house ourselves. We have to figure out where to put what piece where. When we first started we had to figure out what was the best way and of course Matthew and I had completely different ways of what was the best way. We had to stop and talk out the best way and come in to aggreement. After that everything went great and the time consuming project is coming along. We have a long way to go but have a great start. Here is a picture of our progress.


Matthew and I orginally did not think to put a deck upstairs and the house was already framed. Someone gave us the idea and that was it, I thought it was an amazing idea. We got a really awesome bid on it and decided a deck would be the best idea. Now, the deck is done and we have one upstairs and one down stairs. Here are pictures of the deck.


We bought cabinets and countertops!!! What a relief to have that done!!
My uncle is finishing up the electrical next week!!


Camp is over but we are still extremely busy with retreats and cleaning up from camp. Everything is going well and still extremely busy trying to juggle the house, marriage, and the camp.

Summer is almost over

Even now as a grown adult with no children, the thought of school supplies taking the place summer fun at Walmart is just as sad today as it was 10 years ago. There is only one week of camp left, a few weeks left till school starts, and only couple months of warm weather left :-( The goods new is our house is almost half done.

The roof has black paper on all of it and shingles on half of it. I didn't want to walk to the back of the
house to take a picture of the completed shingles so here is the front with black paper.


The next picture you may ask, why in the world did you take that....Well there is a reason and that is to show that the plumbers have came.

The plumbers asked me question like what size is your double vanity, my reply was that it was not bought yet. I said plumb it for a standard double vanity and his reply was there is no standard! Goal to not spend a fortune on a double vanity and find one soon!!

The next picture is Matthew's handywork as he is trying to frame in the jacuzzi tub and make it perfect for me!!


The last picture is this metal netting I nailed in by myself that is for the rock work.


We have framed in the fireplace. The heating and cooling people are coming this week. Then my uncle is coming the end of the week to start on electrical. We are also working on cabinets.

It finally has started feeling like a home. I got ancy and ordered pots and pans, a toaster, and a steam mop online from Macys with wedding and birthday gift cards.

Time goes so fast, summer is almost over, and fall will be here and over before we know it. I am trying to savor every day before it gets away from me.

Top Reasons you know we are building a house

1. I have become very knowledgeable in construction lingo. I now know Trusses are like the framed wood on the roof. I know osb boards are the wood that gets nailed up after you frame on the outside. I understand words like dried in and finish work.

2. Instead of buying clothes or even decorative house items, we are buying nails and nail guns. Instead of buying furniture we are buying showers and bathtubs. Our latest purchase is a front door.

3. I spend more time talking to subcontractors than I do to my friends and family. How long do you want your cabinets, how many cabinets, do you want rock work on the front of the house, do you want a left or right swinging door, and the list goes on.

4. Matthew and I's dates consist of dinner and doing something like going to lowe's and picking out bathtubs or going to Meeks and picking out shingles. Both were dates we went on recently, so romantic I know your jealous?

5. Every conversation Matthew and I have always includes at some point the house. e.g. We are walking along and talking about the weather or something not related to the house and then we see beautiful rock work and begin to discuss how we are going to do our rock work. Or we are discussing what we need to get done in the house or bids we have gotten.

6. I am now learning how to use power tools. After work and on the weekends, you do not see me laying out but you see me at the house working. You may find me using a saw (which I can use quite well, if I do say so myself), measuring and marking things, or trying to place osb boards.

7. The only places we have credit is Meek and Herman lumber (well, and the bank)!!

8. Matthew and I have started asking other people that are remodeling and building there house where they got things or who they used. And people are coming to us, asking us about our construction and who we use and where we purchased materials.

Finally
9. You know we are building a house because a great big house is being built! We are so thankful how God provided, and how he also has been supplying wonderful subcontractors and amazing deals on materials.

Progress on the house is coming along, the trusses were put up on Wednesday. They have worked on putting the osb boards on the roof even in the terrible heat. Wednesday they will start to put shingles up! I am still working on cabinet qoutes. Now I will post some pictures.

Pictures of the trusses






This is a picture of Matthew and Jordan working on the house, and I would saw the pieces while they nailed them in.

Progress on house, almost ready for Black paper, then shingles




Our Front Door!!!

No TV... takes away from resell value??

Almost 7 months ago, only engaged and still long distance, I was on the nightly phone chat with Matthew and as we were discussing our home, I made the statement, "I would rather not have a tv in our house." He had a stunned reaction like that is unbelievable. I explained to him my concern of how tv replaces conversation and quality time. When children are in the family it steals their innocence, teaches them bitter ugly attitudes, and robs their imagination because they are too busy watching tv than to play!! Matthew still thinking it was crazy agreed with my concerns and said we would work out a deal. Then my uncle the electrician tells me that we have to have cable hookups for resell value. Not only in the family room, every bedroom, but the kitchem, bathroom, and any other knook and cranny. About a week ago, Matthew says he has something to tell me. A little hesitant tells me that he bought a tv!! I said I have lots of thoughts 1. How could you make such a big purchase without consulting your life mate 2. I thought we decided we were not going to have a tv in a living room. His reply was oh no this is for the bathroom!! You can imagine my response the BATHROOM. What happened to having limited tv's in our home!! That is still up for debate as to where the tv will be located. But here is the tv still in the box.

The Plumbers are finishing up the house. The electrical starts tomorrow. The roof is just about done.The windows come tomorrow and they will set the windows and doors But the big project for the week was they poured our driveway and our approach!! Here is a picture of the driveway and approach after it was poured.

Now, I need opinions. Matthew has come up with an idea that benefits me completely but we haven't completely decided. He came up with the idea since our laundry room is awfully small to move it downstairs. Then expand my closet to make it over 100 square feet. I would have a bigger laundry room and a huge closet. Downside laundry room is downstairs. Upside added exercise in my day. So that is the big question of the week, what should we do?
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OSB boards and working together

I have not had the opportunity to update this last week because we have diligently been working on the house. The last 2 weekends, we have been at the house and litterally measuring, cutting, and nailing OSB board to the house. I have officially learned how to measure and saw. I do not touch the nail gun because it is scary!! I took on the project as a relationship builder activity. It was alot of fun to work together and BUILD OUR HOME!! I love that we are building our marriage and our home in this project. The upstairs is completely framed with a few little things to be done. The trusses come tomorrow for the roof. Then we have to figure out how to expedite the process on windows. We dropped the ball and did not order them and apparently it takes 4-6 weeks to get them in!!!

We made our first trip to Lowe's and agreed upon a shower/tub combo, a jacuzzi tub, and a shower.

I went over frightening and very intense questions with the electrical guy/my uncle, who will do the electrical!!! At the end of the conversation, I wanted to tear walls down and rebuild them in different spots. Matthew said, "He would go through the roof if I did that."

We will meet with cabinet guy this week! It is scary and exciting trying to make all of these decisions. I am all over the place on decisions like this, I know what I want but I fear it will end up not being the right decision.

We are going to look at doors tomorrow

Now I will show pictures of the house!!!
This is the front of the house on one side


This is the front of the garage


This is the hallway to the front door inside the house


This is the shower/tub we bought


This is the living room


This is a spare bedroom/future nursery