Baby Bump?

All I have to say is, being pregnant with your second child is alot different than your first! Not only have my pregnancies been totally different but I am 14 weeks pregnant and I think overnight grew a "baby bump!" I'm not kidding! I was not showing, just feeling a little "thick" around the middle, and now there's a small bump! I swear this baby doubled in size overnight. Maybe that's why I've been so hungry this week!

It's Official!

It's official ... we got a house! Finally! I had previously posted about some homes we were considering. We had put in an offer on that "fixer upper" and after countering back and forth, it just didn't work out. Keith assured me there was something out there for us, something better. Boy was he right! Last Saturday evening we looked at this house. We were there for the entire one hour showing and at the end, we knew it was the one. We put a strong offer in that night and found out Monday night we got it! That was the most nerve racking 48 hours of my life! But worth every second of stress because we got our dream 1st house! I was still nervous throughout this week with just a verbal acceptance of the offer. We signed some paperwork last night to make it official! Yay!

We were originally looking for an older home in an established neighborhood, closer to the historic part of Grove City. With all of our searching we had strayed from that at some point, but low and behold when it came down to it, that's exactly what we got. It's Keith and my favorite old neighborhood, one block from town. We can walk to local shops and restaurants, a playground, and much more. It's a peaceful neighborhood. We are on a dead end street. The house was built in 1953, a stone ranch with surprisingly large rooms, hardwood floors throughout, except ceramic tile in the kitchen and bath. It also has a huge finished basement for extra living space. We are so excited that all our searching finally paid off. We will be moving at the beginning of March and we can't wait to be in our new home!

Drum roll please ... here it is!

12 Weeks: Second Doctor Visit

Yesterday I went in for my 12 week checkup. Very simple, she answered any questions I had, and we listened to the baby's heartbeat. This took a minute though. She put the wand on my stomach and moved it around ... and around ... and around, and couldn't find anything. Then I thought, "I am pregnant right?" Then a thump, and another thump, she laughed and told me I have a very active one in there! I laughed hesitantly and said, " I hope this isn't a sign of what's to come!" Uncooperative, stubborn, etc. She then told me that her most active baby in the womb is her most laid back child. Well that's good news! Anyway, the heartbeat was very strong and now that I'm ending my first trimester my nauseousness as subsided. I haven't been sick in over a week! Yay, hopefully I'm in the clear.

Happy 30th Birthday Keith!

Dear Keith,
We want to wish you a Happy 30th Birthday and want you to know we love you very much! You are such a wonderful, loving, and faithful husband. You are also a responsible, loving and FUN daddy to Mason, (and baby to be)! Thank you for braving nature's elements each day at work. It seems there are more bad weather days than good that you have to endure. We appreciate your efforts. Now in looking for a house ... we are thankful and appreciate all of the hard work that you will put into making our house a home. What a year this will be as you enter your 30's. A new house and a new baby, how exciting! We hope you enjoy your day, and you and I will go to dinner on Friday!

All our love,
Joelle, Mason, and Baby #2

Dilema?

"Backup" house ... it is currently contingent.

HOUSE #1

HOUSE #2

Keith, Mason, and I went out yesterday to look at six houses. At the conclusion of the evening we walked away with three possibilites. However, one of those possibilities is currently contingent, so our offer would be a "backup" offer on the house. We have two more homes to see next Friday. Here's where the dilema comes in ...

Without considering the house that is contingent, that leaves us with two current possibilities. House #1 is AMAZING! I am totally in love with this house. It was built in 2007, so virtually a brand new house. It is a spacious ranch, and with 1436 square feet and 9' ceilings it feels very roomy. It needs nothing done to it. Move in and your done. Cute curb appeal, beautiful entry hall, hardwood floors throughout entry, kitchen, and dining area. A beautiful upgraded kitchen with stainless appliances, very nice cabinets, brushed nickel knobs, and it is large. The eating area is large as well with beautiful windows. It has three bedrooms plus a bonus room (for a play room) and two bathrooms. It has all white six panel doors and white trim, which I love. Out back the yard is a good size, it is fenced with an adorable storage shed or playhouse for Mason. The two children's rooms share a connecting bathroom, which is too cute, and there is a master suite. With all those pros are there any cons? Well, these would be the cons. Though the backyard is privacy fenced, it backs up to Gantz Rd. (which is a very busy main road), so you have traffic noise when you are out back. You cannot hear street noise inside the house however. It does not have a basement, which gives us limited storage space. But I told Keith with a two car garage, we can install floor to ceiling shelving and store things that way, plus we have the shed. Last, the schools. Because of the cutoff, we are still in Southwestern City Schools with a Grove City address, they just aren't "Grove City" schools. But like I said ... I LOVE THIS HOUSE!

On the other hand, the second house ...

This house is a little older, I think it was built in the 80's. It is a ranch as well with 1198 square feet. It has three bedrooms and one very small bathroom. The curb appeal is very nice on this house as well, it is very charming and homey on the outside. The selling point on this house is location. It is in an established neighborhood in Grove City ... so Grove City Schools. It has a large fenced backyard with a shed, and it backs up to Big Splash water park, and a Park. So both are in walking distance. The school is in walking distance as well. It has a two car garage as well. All three bedrooms are very good sizes and all have walk in closets with closet organizers installed. A newer front load wahser dryer comes with the house (which we need!), and all mechanicals are under 5 years old. Here's what stinks! It was an older couple who lived in it, and it needs updated! I'm talking, bathroom (a complete job), kitchen counters, flooring in kitchen, entry, and bathroom, and painting the entire house and ceilings. As well as light fixtures and a ceiling fan will need replaced. Eventually we would switch out the appliaces to stainless as well. Another thing is, the previous owner's husband had bad allergies and took out all of the carpet. There are laminate wood floors throughout the living room, hall, and two of the bedrooms. The other bedroom was used as an office and there is laminate tile floor in there. I feel we would have to carpet at minimum the bedrooms, if not the entire living area. OMG! It's alot of work that I didn't want to do. It could be fun. We can make it our own. And honestly, if we update everything ourselves, when we go to sell it, we will make some money! Resale on this house would be better and easier than resale on house #1, based on location, location, location.

So that is my dilema. Do I go with the perfect move in ready house that is exactly what I want, or do I go with the perfect location and put some elbow grease into the house over time? What do I do? All of your opinions matter to me, and I value your advice. Please tell me what you think!

Happy 80th Grandma!

Today we held a SURPRISE 80th Birthday Party for my Grandma. She was so surprised and couldn't believe we pulled it off without her knowing anything. Oh grandma, it was pretty easy! She got to see old friends, neighbors, family, and had a wonderful time. Happy Birthday Grandma, we love you!

This is as good as it gets folks!

Talking and not looking at the camera.

Mom, Grandma, and Aunt Teri

My mom and Colton

Colton always seems to be looking over at Mason!

He's holding up Thomas the Tank Engine.

Thomas goes everywhere!

SURPRISE!

Keith and I are VERY happy to announce that we are pregnant with Baby #2! I am just about 10 weeks along and my due date is August 2, 2009. Though based on my experience with Mason, I expect, and hope to have this baby toward the end of July. We are so excited to meet this addition to our family and Mason will be a great big brother. I'll keep you all posted as things progress! Happy New Year everyone!