Hopeful Thoughts

We’re in the third trimester home stretch!

The last few weeks have seen lots of milestones in the pregnancy.

On May 11th, Ryan and I started out birthing classes through the Inanna Birth Center. We meet once a week for 6 weeks. So far we have covered various pain coping techniques as well as the different stages of labor. Tomorrow is movie night. Oh, yeah…you know what I’m talking about!!! Overall, this has been a great experience. It’s taught by the midwives from the birthing center, so it’s been a great chance to get to know them better before our big day.

On May 14th, while I was at my reunion, my dear college friends threw me a little shower for Grayson. This was his first shower so far. We met at a restaurant near campus for a casual celebration. Thanks so much to all my college girls for your time and thoughtful gifts!

So cute! I can't wait to see Grayson in this! Thanks Susan and Erin~

These will be fun in the tub when Grayson gets a little older.

This week we were able to have a sonogram to see how the baby is growing. He’s much bigger than the 16 week shots, weighing in at over 3 pounds! Our little guy is a wiggle worm, and he’s changing position on a regular basis. When the sonogram first started, there was some concern about the baby being breech. However, he rotated to being completely transverse within a matter of minutes, so he’s still got plenty of room and time to get into the right position!

I count 5 toes!!! His foot is up right by his head!

Such cute little feet!

Glad to see that he's using his time wisely!

I think that I am falling in love.

And if all goes well, our Roly Poly bundle will come home to a house all his very own. We are set to close on our house this Friday, provided all falls into place. We think we’ve overcome all the obstacles at this point, but the deal is not done until all the papers are signed.

Recently I was able to go back to North Carolina for my 10 year College Reunion. I can’t believe it’s been 10 years since I graduated from Meredith! The weekend was very much a trip back into times long forgotten. Looking at my girlfriends from 10 years ago, it was easy to think that no time had passed. We drifted into easy conversation just like old times. It was only the content that disclosed the fact that we are all years older. Most of us married, years into careers or even career changes, many with children, some of us with kids on the way. At the end, we decided that we are too old for the dorm beds and we’ll plan to stay in a hotel at the next reunion!

The girls from my Senior Suite back in 2000.

The girls from my Senior Year Suite now . No change, right?

Me and Meredith. We were room mates Sophomore and Junior years.

Leigh Anna and are are Preggo Twins. We got pregnant about the same time. She's having a girl, and I'm having a boy. Here we are both about 28 weeks.

Ever since we moved into our little rental house, we tossed around the question of “What if the landlord were to sell this place? We’d dream about whether or not we could afford it, and what we would change if the place were actually ours. We knew they were just dreams, but we talked about it a lot.

Well, back in January, while we were hanging out with our neighbors from the adjoining apartment, stuck inside due to a giant snow storm, the landlord called. Much to our surprise, he announced that he wanted to sell the house.

Seems great, huh? But we felt we were in NO position to buy. Since Ryan was laid off back in June and I quit my job, we’d only just gotten back to the point where our savings was building up instead of depleting. Where would we get a down payment from? Not to mention, how could we afford such a place?

After going around and around with a new series of “what ifs”, Ryan started to do some research. We contacted a mortgage broker just to see if we could even qualify for a loan. Turned out that, due to amazing credit, we did qualify for enough to buy a house. We decided to pursue the possibility. It turns out that our next door neighbors are realtors. We hooked up with them and went looking to see what else was on the market in our price range.

After looking at houses all weekend, it became more and more clear that the rental house would be a great deal. It costs a bit more than we’re comfortable paying on our own, but we’d ben getting the rent from the apartment, which makes it more affordable on a monthly basis than a lot of cheaper houses. In fact, since nearly half the mortgage would be paid by the rental unit, we would save nearly $100 a month compared to what we are renting for! Not to mention the location is great. We are close to the university, which means any improvements we make will only add to the value over time.

So, the decision was made, we just had to figure out what we were going to do about a down payment. Sometimes all you have to do is ask, and Ryan’s Dad came through for us. He has provided the entire down payment. Praise God!

At present, we are under contract for the house, just in time to qualify for the $8000 tax credit. Inspection happened over the weekend, and we’re in the process of final negotiations. We’re hoping to see several professionals in the next day or so to assess some of the problems found on the inspection. There wasn’t anything unusual, but we do want to make sure we can come up with the time and the resources to make some needed repairs.

Hopefully, if all goes well, we will be home owners by the end of the month. And we don’t even have to move!!!