WAITING GAME

I HATE THIS!!! Okay, I don't really hate "this", but "this" is hard. What is "this"? It's the WAITING FOR THIS BABY TO BE BORN AND WAITING FOR ESCROW TO CLOSE ON OUR HOUSE. That's what "This" is. My life is about to change SO drastically in 2 ways, but I'm just stuck here before it all changes, being TORTURED beyond oblivion.

AUGHGHGHGH!

Okay, I feel a little bit better. It probably wouldn't be so hard if it wasn't 812 degrees outside. Or if I at least had a fan on my hot and swollen red feet.


Sooo...would you like to look at a funny picture to pass the time with me?

This is my 61 year old dad. In order for this picture to reach maximum funniness, you must know my father. He is a self-employed structural engineer. You will never find him with out a pen, pencil, miniature measuring tape, and swiss army knife in his pocket. He goes to church every Sunday, NO FAIL, and knows more about the Bible than...Billy Graham. He is an endless source of knowledge, on topics that range from soil mineral contents to the date Custer's last stand took place. He wears plaid button down shirts and the same style of jeans everyday. He plays the piano and loves trains and reads Guns and Ammo and Military Heritage magazines. The only channel he ever watches is Fox News, and he listens to Rush Limbaugh religiously. His favorite Rush Limbaugh quote is "It's eleven o'clock, time for welfare recipients to...WAKE UP!". He loves his family like no other, loves kitties like no other, and every person on the planet that has ever met him just thinks he is the sweetest, nicest man EVER. He also can't throw anything away, which is a funny post all of its own.

So this picture? Is HILARIOUS! It is the absolute ANTITHESIS of my dad, and everything he stands for.

(Background info on this photo: He was going to a St Pattie's day party, and bought a new green shirt and green Guinness boxers to wear [the fact that his boxers say Guinness on them is funny in and of itself, as I don't think I've ever seen my dad have anything to drink other than a glass of wine at my wedding], and he really wanted his boxers to show. So my mother and I talked him into sagging his pants like all the high school boys do. The facial expression was his idea. Apparently, it's the interpretation of the intelligence level of guys who sag their pants. I have to admit, I kind of agree).

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!!!

The front of the house

As you know, we moved into my parents' house last October to save up for a home. With all the money we were spending on rent and utilities and all that, we were never going to be able to save enough money to make a down payment on a home. So we moved in with my parents and have been living in their basement for the last 9 months. Honestly, it was surprisingly easy to live here, my parents are so relaxed and generous, super-easy going people and just great to live with. Our plan was to try to buy a house in 1 year. This last month, I've been working with a mortgage broker on getting pre-approved, and over the course of the last 2 months, we've had our eye on a house that seems to be the best of all worlds: A cosmetic fixer (it's really cute, just outdated, perfect so that we can make it our own style), in a great location (1 block from the park, walking distance to downtown, and right near family!) and well sized house and property (1660 sq ft, on a quarter acre...lots for this area) and it even has a pool and spa. Lucky for us, there was an offer made on the house last week that ended up falling through, so when we got officially pre-approved, we made an offer immediately! We made the offer Friday, and found out Saturday morning that our offer was accepted! I AM SO EXCITED!!! Every morning I wake up, I can't help but think about the house, like what color we should paint the dining room, how long it will take to refinish the wood floors, and whether we should paint over the knotty pine in the family room or not.

I'm just really thankful that we're able to give Sweetie Pie a good home, with its own bedroom and its own place to just roam around. YAY! I'll post more pictures of the house later...

Good news and bad news...

First, the good news:
So I finally had the ultrasound appointment today, and the baby is JUST FINE! They said he/she weighs 6 pounds and 13 ounces right now, and the due date could be anywhere from 7/25 (the date determined from my last menstrual period) to 8/3 (what the u/s measurements said). The tech said that it is not an exact science AT ALL, so it really could be anywhere between those two dates. So I don't technically have a due date. Has anyone else had this same problem with their babies? An ever-changing, elusive due date?? I feel like I'm being strung along, I feel so in the dark about when this baby is going to join the outside world! (On a side note, its movements seem SO strong today. It's actually hurt me for the first time with its head. But I wonder if that's all mental because I know how big the baby is now...)

And now the bad: Something really horrible happened today. I just found one of my parent's cats dead under one of their cars. They're out of town for a couple weeks, and I noticed that one of the outside cats wasn't coming around. So when my sister was here (she went to the ultrasound with me), I asked her to check under the cars because I can't really get that low. She said she saw Britches (his name) and started to call him, then looked closer and saw that he was dead. He was pretty old for an outside kitty, 16, so he has had a good life, but I am just incredibly sad right now. My uncle came over, and while he was here, I asked him to bury Britches by an apple tree in the backyard where several cats from years past are buried. Apparently he had been there for several days, and I feel like an awful cat-sitter because it took me so long to find him. Well, at least I know he had a good life. He probably just felt a little tired one afternoon and decided to go lay down in the shade, fell asleep, and just never woke up....