House Update

Sooo.....last night we went with our realtor to look at the house. Obviously we've seen the house many times, but it is very different to be in someone else's house as their house as opposed to being in someone else's house visualizing what you would do with it if it were your own, where you would put your stuff etc. Honestly it was a little depressing because they still have a TON of stuff in there and the kitchen cabinets are like old 70s style (Michael makes fun of me for obsessing about cabinets, but the ones in our house are atrocious and I was honestly really looking forward to some nice ones - these are an improvement though) and lots of other little things that you would expect in an older house. But like Michael pointed out, if you buy a house exactly the way you want it, you're going to be paying a whole lot more than if you buy a house and fix it up to the way you want. I don't know if we'll have the time and money to fix this house up as much as I think it needs, but we can sure do little things here and there.

Anyways. After that we went back to the office and wrote up and signed an offer and submitted it to the other realtor. They rejected that offer and we had a couple hours of uncertainty today while we waited for them to counter our offer, but they countered with an acceptable compromise and we accepted. The other 'little' thing was that just today mortgage rates went up from 5.49% to 5.79% but fortunately our broker found the last bank that was still at 5.49% and submitted our application through them. How weird is it that the rates would go up today? She says she expects to hear back tomorrow - and then I guess we start packing!

The other super exciting thing is that we already have 2 renters lined up to move into the basement. There are potentially 3 rooms downstairs and the plan is to rent them all out which will cover our mortgage payment plus half the monthly property tax. With what we get from these 2 guys what we pay for monthly housing will remain the same, but it would sure be nice to have that whole payment covered!

I never thought we would be able to afford a house right now - I thought we would be stretched so thin we would break, but then there was this amazing opportunity - it's so cool to see how things work out. Sometimes I forget that God really is involved in the more mundane practical aspects of our life too - like our housing situation - but it's a good reminder when something like this happens and even though the house is not our dream house, it's exactly what we need right now.

I should also give our realtor a plug here - he's been really really helpful and also wasted no time in getting back to us, making time to see the house etc. His name is Larry Dueck and he's with Re/Max, so if you're in Grande Prairie and you need a realtor, check him out! He helped our friends Kevin and Chaundra sell their house out in Sexsmith and they were also very impressed with him, which is why we gave him a call.

Mosquitoes

There was a mosquito flying around trying to land on me at work and while I was swatting it away I thought I remembered something about only the males or only the females sucking blood. So I googled it and found this:

'Female mosquitoes suck blood for only one reason. They fall into the confines of the female. The female of any species will suck the blood, life and soul out of anything it manages to dig its well manicured claws into.'

Yay!!!

Today is a very exciting day. A couple weeks ago I had mentioned to Michael that I thought we should maybe start looking into buying a house or mobile home or at least something before I go on mat leave or he changes jobs - and before prices skyrocket again. He didn't seem very interested, but then today he called me and said he had read in the paper that they're projecting houses here to go up an average of $20-30,000 within the next year. That seemed to do the trick so we talked about going to discuss our options with a mortgage broker and I mentioned that our good friends Bill and Bev were selling their home - everything has happened so quickly, but the end result being that we are unofficially approved to buy their house!!! We still need to get everything in to our broker so she can submit everything and get us officially approved, maybe find a realtor (hopefully the one we want isn't super busy) and tie up all the other little loose ends - but everything looks like it's on the right track. You can see the house by clicking here. House prices up here are just stupid. Michael talked to a builder today and found out if we were to build a brand new 3 bedroom house with no garage and an unfinished basement it would be $289,000!! This house is actually just down the road from where we live now, and a little closer to the school Aidan would probably go to. Also it has a nice big backyard, is right across the street from the grocery store and some other stores, is still nice and close to some trails and has 5 bedrooms. Pat's going to move into one of the bedrooms downstairs and I'm sure we'll be able to find another renter for the other bedroom without too much trouble. If everything goes as planned, we'll be taking possession on July 1st - maybe enough time to move everything in before Hagatha comes? Either way we are going to have plenty to do when my mom comes for her visit! I am just so excited about having another bedroom for the baby and a house that will be a bit roomier for us. At this point it wouldn't take much to be a step up from where we're at (which isn't to say I'm not grateful for our little house) and it's definitely time for us to move on.

I'm sure there's other news but I'm just too excited about this to remember what it is. The Stompede comes to town this weekend so Aidan and I might go, maybe we'll see if Michael wants to come with us and check out the Midway. I thought it would be cool to take Aidan to see the rodeo or chuckwagon races (did you know Grande Prairie is the home to Kelly Sutherland, World Champion chuckwagon racer? yeah, that's our claim to fame...) until I checked out the admission prices and realized I would be dropping about $40 just to go watch!

Good Stuff

I just had my third (and hopefully last) ultrasound yesterday. At my doctor's appointment last week she determined that the baby was breech and then we discussed what would happen if she didn't move. I already had an ultrasound scheduled for the 22nd so it was good timing because she's no longer breech. I don't think I had this problem with Aidan - maybe because he was such a large baby. My doctor says it's the little babies that either don't turn or turn late. I am very relieved that she's turned by herself because I didn't really want to have to go through a C-section. It's always so cool to have an ultrasound this late in pregnancy because you get to see the face and profile of your baby very clearly.

The weather here has been quite crazy. The forecast was for rain all through the long weekend which I was really bummed about because I wanted to take Aidan out to Pipestone Creek Park in Wembley but if it was going to rain I wasn't going to bother. I had wanted to do a barbeque thing and invite some friends but maybe I can convince Michael to do that on his next weekend off. In the end it rained most of the day Saturday, a little on Sunday and then was sunny and hot on Monday! We went to a park here in town on Monday for a couple hours so at least Aidan got a little park time in. Then this morning we went out to the car and there was a little residual snow on the deck and on the car - that's nuts! Aidan opened the door and saw the snow and said 'Yay! Almost winter!' I said why do you want winter? we just finished winter time! He said he wanted to have snowball fights with his friends. Today is some sort of municipal celebration day and there is a free barbeque with bouncy castles and face painting downtown from 4-7 so Aidan and I are stopping by on our way home. It's still raining/snowing a bit and I wish it would stop, especially so everyone doesn't get soaked! Last summer he was really excited about the bouncy castles but it would take quite a bit of talking from me to get him inside so hopefully this year he can be a little more confident. He seemed excited enough and Darlene said she might even take the kids down there.

This past weekend we went bowling with Aidan. There wasn't much going on after church on Sunday and I had wanted to check out the kids bowling lanes where Aidan said he went with Sammy the weekend that he slept over at Darlene's house. First Michael and Aidan tried the big lane, with Aidan using a little metal slide thing to push the ball off of, and then Aidan went and bowled in the kids lane using little balls. He much preferred the little kids lane and had a blast. After that he and Michael had a game of air hockey which Aidan won 7-5. I'm not sure if Michael intended to let Aidan win or not. He let Aidan score his 6th goal to make it 6 Aidan-5 Michael and then surprised Michael by scoring again and winning the game.

I also cut Aidan's hair for the first time. Awhile back Michael bought a Conair razor thing with all the attachments, combs and little scissors. He cut Aidan's hair but it ended up being very short and he wasn't keen to try it again, so I decided I would give it a shot. It also ended up being shorter than I had intended, but at least he doesn't look bald! Aidan wanted it very short, but it's just long enough for him to have little 'pikes' on top of his head which is perfect.

Pictures

This is Aidan in the tub drinking a daquiri - he was quite impressed with the little umbrella I found and played with it all evening until he wrecked it.

We had a small amount of water come up from the floor in our basement and had to move stuff around to get it pumped out. While I was down there re-organizing a little I saw this little horse Michael's parents had given us and thought I would bring it up for Aidan to play with.

He was so excited about it and had a great time riding it. I think this is the first year he can climb on and off by himself and actually ride it. He named it Brooklynn which I think is pretty funny.

This is the little wagon I got from freecycle - the one that comes with skis for winter. Right now I find it very handy to haul my garbage to the big bin behind the church because I never remember to take the garbage out when it's just one or two bags and then it piles up...So we took the garbage out and I gave Aidan a ride back to the house and then suggested that he give rides to his teddies.

He thought that was a great idea and went inside to get a bunch and stuck them in the wagon and then went tearing up and down the driveway.

Afterwards they even got to ride on his horse!

Helping the frog to ride requires great concentration - if you look hard you can see he's even got his little tongue stuck out between his teeth.

It finally happened...

This past weekend it finally happened. Someone touched my belly - or rather, someone I didn't know touched my belly. I think it's pretty good that I've made it to 7 months without anyone touching it. Also, right after she touched it she said 'Oh, I should probably have asked. Some people really freak out when other people touch their bellies'. Hi, I'm Alanna - I freak out when random people touch my belly!! But I didn't say anything because she only touched it lightly and we were at a birthday party and she was my friend's friend and I didn't want to be rude.

Aidan had an awesome weekend - Shaun's birthday party and the Thomas show on Saturday (he started asking 'We go to Thomas soon?' at 7:30am!) and then his first church program in church on Sunday. He was pretty tired all weekend and I'm sure all the excitement didn't help, so Sunday morning he was grumpy. We got to church and I went to drop him off with his class where they were sitting at the front of the sanctuary, but he was really clingy so I stayed with him. As the kids were filing up I sort of stuck him in line behind his buddy Shaun and he got swept along up onto stage and stood there crying. Poor little guy! Maybe I shouldn't have made him go up - he looked for me and saw me, but stood for most of the song and memory verse with his head down like he was pouting. The rest of the kids were so cute, trying to sing and doing their verse. They just had a short verse, it was 'Jesus is the Son of God 1 John 4:15' and then they did 2 thumbs up and said 'Yeah!'. When we got home he was upset because he wanted to do his memory verse again but by then it was obviously too late, so he did it for me and Michael - and remembered the whole thing!

The weather is so nice here - it really feels like summer! Driving to work this morning I saw tons of city workers out mowing the grass, cleaning up the city, the sun is shining and I'm wearing capri's and flip flops. And tonight I am making hamburgers and cooking them on the barbeque while Aidan plays outside. I guess it could be hotter and there could be watermelon after the burgers, but that's about as summery as it gets! I'm so happy - this is so much better than all that yucky snow!

What I Feel Like

This is what I feel like. Mostly at work during the week, and especially today.

Maybe I should clarify that a bit more. More specifically, this is what I feel like:

My one pair of maternity jeans have a wide elastic band that is constantly folding over and falling under my belly. It feels like I've got this tight belt cinched up under there, just like this poor horse. I was trying to negotiate another pair of jeans being shipped out from the Old Navy store in Vancouver but that fell through, so I'll have to go see if Wal-Mart has anything this weekend. I saw some roll panel maternity jeans there last time I was there which would probably be a great improvement!

30 weeks!

Today I'm officially at 30 weeks with only 10 weeks to go! The days seem to be flying past and the due date getting closer and closer which is good because I am sooooo tired of trying to find clothes that fit and trying to get comfortable sitting or lying down - but also a little scary because when the countdown is done then I have to do the labour part and I am definitely NOT looking forward to that. I guess for the most part things are going well - I don't have any major problems like being sick or other complications for which I am extremely thankful, I'm just really tired out and exhausted and uncomfortable.

Not helping with my search for clothes that fit are my Old Navy maternity jeans I got in Vancouver that got a hole in them!! I was not impressed, especially since the closest Old Navy is in Edmonton and no one that we know is going down anytime soon. However, I called the customer relations and then the store where I bought them from and they said if I mailed them down, they would mail a new pair up to me! I wasn't super crazy about having to pay the postage, but it's better than them just sitting here in my closet with a hole in them.

Aidan had a pretty great weekend starting off on Friday with his own little Spiderman party. It was our anniversary, so Pat said that he would look after Aidan while Michael and I went out for dinner and then to Spiderman 3. Aidan was very interested to hear that not only was there a new movie about Spiderman, but that it was the third one and that we owned the first 2! That Friday he wore his Spiderman pajamas to Darlene's house and after Pat picked him up they had pizza for dinner, a couple Spiderman treats for dessert and then popcorn from a Spiderman bucket while watching Spiderman 2. He was so excited about his little party and had such a good time he didn't mind that we were gone to see the new movie.

Yesterday our church booked the pool for an hour for all the families of preschoolers. I took Aidan and let him play in the little kiddie pool while I sat on the side. He had a great time playing with his little buddy Shaun and then at the end, Theresa and I let them go down the big waterslide 2 times. Theresa and I had both decided not to go in the water, so she walked them up the first time and I waited at the bottom to catch them. Aidan went down first and I saw him coming down the last little bit with his arms outstretched and a look of mild panic on his face. He was pretty brave to go down all by himself! It was a little fast for him and he didn't want to go again until Shaun said that he was going to go, so I walked them both up to the top. As it turned out there was a dad up there whose kid decided to go by himself so Aidan was very relieved to have someone to go down with. After the swimming there were snacks and juice boxes and a clown who did a short little show. At one point in her show she lit something on fire in her hat which Aidan thought was the coolest thing.

Aidan's latest favourite thing to do is play 'bad guys'. The best person to play this with is Daddy although Uncle Pat is a close second. The way the game goes is this: one person has the plastic light saber and the other person has the foam sword and then you basically just try to whack the other person wherever you can without getting whacked yourself. Hats are optional, but usually used, Aidan's favourite being his blue plastic racing helmet with the visor. The other person then either doesn't wear a hat or gets to wear the fireman hat. This game can also be played with the belt of Aidan's polarfleece robe although the rules are somewhat different. The last time they played bad guys with the robe belt Michael was making crepes in the kitchen and Aidan was dancing around hitting him with it. Every once in awhile Michael would get tired of that and take it away from Aidan and either hit him back or tickle him until he was lying on the floor giggling. Then Aidan would get the belt back and this would start all over again. It's generally pretty funny to watch them fight - as long as Michael has the foam sword and Aidan has the light saber because they both show no mercy, though Michael is obviously a little quicker and more skilled than Aidan. Every time Aidan manages to get a good hit in (very few and far between) instead of stopping or saying sorry or other appropriate responses he just giggles and laughs really hard. Although now that I think about it, he might do that because whenever Michael gets a hit in (much more frequent) he laughs.

I'm looking forward to a little bit of a break this week - our weekends just seem to get busier and busier! Hopefully when I'm off we can spread the excitement around throughout the week, but for now it all gets crammed in on the weekend. This coming weekend is Shaun's party and the Thomas show - doesn't get much more exciting than that!

You know you're pregnant when...

Last night I had a dream that I had bought some clothes and they were all comfortable and fit properly. Then I woke up and was upset that it was just a dream.

May!

It’s kind of hard to believe that it’s May already! Time seems to be going by so quickly, every time I check my little ticker on my blog I’m amazed at how little time I have left until the baby comes! It’s when I’m at work and the day just drags by that it starts to seem like a long time until I’m going to be able to go on maternity leave. Including today I should have 43 more work days left. I decided I’m going to try to work all the way to the end of June so hopefully I can and it won’t be too uncomfortable. It’s nice because most of my day is spent sitting down, but I can get up and walk around if I need to and we have an upstairs, so if my back hurts I’ll walk around and go upstairs and come back down and that usually takes care of it for the moment.

Aidan and I are both looking forward to summer, but are enjoying the nice warm(er) spring weather we have right now. I’ve been trying to explain the seasons to him and what happens in each season. He knows what winter is, he’s a little fuzzy on spring and fall but he knows what summer is – he gets to play outside, Hagatha arrives and Mama comes to visit and (this seems very important to him) he gets to eat peaches! He’s already playing outside almost every day at home and we’ve brought his little tricycle to Darlene’s house so he can play with it outside while he’s there. Yesterday I got a wagon on freecycle which will be kind of redundant for summer since we have a bike trailer/stroller, but it came with little ski attachments for the winter! Aidan was extremely excited about the wagon so I had to give him a little ride around the yard after I got home from picking it up. He’s so tall (or the wagon is small) that he fit a lot more snugly in there than I was anticipating so hopefully he and Hagatha will still both be able to squish in there when we go for winter walks.

Michael and I went out to see a movie this past weekend with Pat and Tara and got our new babysitter Emily to come look after Aidan. The job market is crazy in this town, I think it was Alberta that just passed legislation for 12 year olds to be able to work – only for a certain number of hours per week and only in certain areas within the workplace, but still! So our babysitters keep getting younger and younger! Our old babysitter Brandi (who is 13) got a part time job, and now we’ve got Emily who is 11. I was talking to her mom today and she said that Emily really enjoys coming to look after Aidan and talks about him which is great because he has a great time with her. He was so excited for her to come over on Sunday and as soon as she arrived he started asking ‘You guys leaving now?’ every 2 minutes until we finally left. It was pretty funny, but good to know he enjoys spending time with her.

Aidan and Michael are both sick right now and I’m really really hoping that I don’t catch whatever it is they have! Aidan even agreed with me that he might need a nap today so he must be feeling really awful! :)