general life, life with baby

Jameson is 10 days old

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Today Jameson is 10 days old!

Jameson has been holding his head up and moving around a lot more. He’s spending more time awake (sometimes, to my dismay!). Often after feedings he likes to stay awake for a while. He also is keeping his legs stretched out a lot more often instead of curled up. He still seems so small, but I bet when we taken him for his two week appointment he’ll have gained a lot of weight!

Jameson has what the doctors called a tongue-tie, which means he can’t move his tongue past his bottom lip. This is starting to make breastfeeding him a lot more painful for me, and I think more work for him! We decided that we are going to have it “snipped”. It’s a simple 10 minute out patient procedure that can be done in the office by an ear nose and throat doctor. At our two week appointment this week, we’ll be getting a referral to get that done.

At 10 days, babies are supposed to start going through a growth spurt, feeding more often. Jameson does seem more awake and a little hungrier, but not extremely so just yet!

Brian and I wanted to do a professional photoshoot, however we had trouble getting a hold of the photographer and ended up trying to take pictures ourself. It actually turned out really good! We couldn’t get any good naked shots because he was wide awake, but we got lots of great basket shots which we’ll be using for our announcements. We put him next to a bottle of Jameson whiskey for a couple shots (Brian asked if it was tacky and I said who cares hah!) We also got some great shots with him in the knitted bonnet that his Great Grandma made. She didn’t know when she gave it to me that it would be a boy (in fact, she thought later that it would be a girl), but he looked just adorable in the slightly too big hat.

Jameson got lots of great clothes for Christmas, in bigger sizes for when he gets older. We had a great Christmas. I got Brian a perpetual daily flip calendar with different pictures for every day! It was a lot of work, he is going to enjoy it. “Jameson” went over budget, but apparently Brian didn’t. They got me a Pandora bracelet with Jameson’s birthstone and a rose charm; and Jameson got me feety pajamas which are just too cute! Brian’s family came for the afternoon, bringing dinner with them. We had a very nice turkey dinner!

Brian has just a week left before he has to go back to work. Life with a baby is going to be a series of transitions!

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general life, life with baby

Happy Birthday Jameson Charles Thomas!

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Jameson was born on Dec. 16, 2010 at 10:06 pm, weighing 5 lb 13.5 oz and 19 3/4″ long.

On Tuesday, we went in for our follow up appointment with ultrasound to check the fluid levels. We were at a 5.8 fluid level, which is borderline being too low. The doctor recommended induction, and scheduled it for the very next day at 4pm! I finished up work for my last day and Brian and I both tried to relax a bit on Wednesday morning, though I did have Brian do a little housework in preparation for baby’s arrival.

We didn’t really know what to expect for induction; I had read that induction can mean many things, including using hormones and pitocin to start contractions. On Tuesday, I was about 1 cm dilated, which was better than the previous week with no activity, but apparently that is still not enough to start right on pitocin, so when we arrived I was allowed to have dinner and then the hormone was inserted for 12 hours. Brian and I were not expecting such a long wait! The next morning I was only at 2 cm but I was allowed to have cheerios, and then they started me on the pitocin. I began having mild cramping contractions, but really didn’t feel anything until they finally broke my water at 4 cm. Less than a minute after that, I had severe painful contractions. I did attempt for a little bit to go natural, and used pain killers and breathing for about an hour and a half to manage the pain. Then I decided to go ahead and get the epidural, for which I am very thankful!

After that, things moved very quickly. I went from 5 cm to 9 cm in an hour. Brian came back with his dinner, expecting we would have a long wait still ahead of us, and the nurse told him he better get my dinner ready too! Then it was time to push, and Brian helped hold my legs; it was great to be able to have him involved and helping during my labor! After about 1 1/2 hours of pushing, baby boy Thomas was born and Brian got to cut the cord!

Brian and I were torn between Brendan and Jameson as the first name for our son. However, after seeing him we both decided that Jameson was definitely his name. His middle name is Charles after Brian’s grandfather. They took his blood sugar level, which was a great 77, and his apgar score was also good, about an 8. I shook for a little while after his birth, which was interesting. I enjoyed dinner and then we went to the recovery room.

Thankfully, we did not have to have a roommate during our stay. Since I had already been in the hospital so long, I was ready to come home right away. The nurses were very kind and helpful, giving tips for breastfeeding and swaddling. The hospital food was great for me, though Brian did not enjoy his cafeteria food as much!

I went home on Saturday and Brian’s parents brought over lasagna dinner! The proud grandparents waited in the hospital for his birth and are so excited about their first grandchild!

Tomorrow night, Jameson will be one week old! The past week has been amazing (and tiring). I am pretty sure I must still have some great hormones running through my system because I am running on little sleep. Brian has been great staying up with me almost all the time while we got through nursing together and my milk coming in. Everything has been a learning experience, and it’s been great having my mom around since we got home from the hospital. She has helped us keep up on our laundry and vacuuming and of course helping watch Jameson, and enjoying holding him.

We did get Jameson circumcised, and today finally we stopping putting Vaseline on it, it is healing well. The past few days have been difficult changing him with just one person while we keep his legs away from his body and use warm washcloths around the circumcision. The belly button has been tough to work around too as we have to be careful while diapering him!

His first outing was to the doctor’s office on Monday, 12/20. He was 5 lb 9 oz, which is what he was when leaving the hospital, so we stopped his losing weight fairly quickly. When we went again today, he was back up to his birth weight already! He gained weight twice as fast as the doctor usually expects. We had been on a fairly strict schedule of feeding him every 3 hours, with no more than a single 5 hour stretch between feedings. While he usually stuck to the schedule himself, we did have to wake him up sometimes. After this most recent visit, we are going on an “on demand” feeding schedule. It will be interesting to see what kind of routine he has. So far today he has been awake a lot because we had visitors!

First bath (sponge bath anyway), 12/20

We had visitors on Sunday from my family; my dad, Tyler and Holly came to visit with Jameson for a day. Today, my Aunt Carol stopped by to see him.

Jameson has so many facial expressions. He does smile some, a reflex right now, but hopefully soon it will be because he’s looking at his parents! So far he seems pretty content with sleeping, eating and peeing a lot! I am excited to watch him grow. See more pictures of Jameson!

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general life, house

Thanksgiving

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This year was our first Thanksgiving in the new house. Brian and I were pretty excited to be hosting it as well! We used our dining room for the first time and had Brian’s family over. Brian made most of the meal and it turned out just perfect with no hiccups. It was our first time using the turkey oven bag, and it was great. We also made sweet potatoes with marshmallow topping, green bean casserole, stuffing with apples, corn, mashed potatoes and gravy, and the cranberry sauce staple.

The day before, we took the day off and visited 5 daycares. We were finally able to decide on one, based primarily on gut feel and location and teacher to child ratio. All of them were around the same price, even with a corporate discount I received from a lot of them in the area. Then I got my hair cut, and spent the rest of the afternoon looking for a table runner and place mats. (That was all me — Brian worked on the shed)

The shed is getting it’s finishing touches over the next couple weekends as Brian has friends coming to help put in the siding. Then all it needs is a proper ramp, which is planned for spring! I can’t believe it actually is getting done, and just in time as the snow is starting to come down here and it’s staying cold.

I spent Thanksgiving day cleaning downstairs and putting finishing touches on Christmas decorations. We didn’t have our Christmas tree yet but all other decorations were out and inviting. This year, I got some inspiration from work where the corporate headquarters entryway had some big bulb ornaments hanging from ribbon down the glass panes. I did something similar, purchasing the bulbs of course during double discount, and hanging them from the railings on the second floor so they hang down into the entry way. They look great, I am very happy with how they turned out!

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general life, preparing for baby

A Rough Couple Weeks

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It’s been a rough couple weeks for us. The week before last, my Grandma passed away relatively suddenly. I had only just gone to see her the weekend before, which was both good and upsetting that life can change so quickly. She was hospitalized after becoming ill the following evening. Grandma aspirated into her lungs during a procedure and developed pneumonia which ended up being too much for her. We took her off the ventilator and she passed peacefully. I spent most of my weekend then at her house with family, going through pictures, and making the memorial boards for her.

I am disappointed and sad that she will not be around to meet our baby. The weekend prior, we had just been talking about how she needed to be patient with her wrist which she had broken recently and let it heal so that she could hold the baby. She didn’t tell me, but told my aunt and uncle that after she saw me and the way I was carrying, she thought it is a girl. It was hard seeing her the previous weekend, fairly helpless without the use of her wrist, but harder and still somewhat weird to think that she will never be in that house again.

The same week, I took a gestational diabetes test. I had failed the hour long screening test at the doctor’s office, and had to go to the hospital to take the three hour test. Brian decided to spend the entire time with me which was very nice to have company. They take your blood after fasting, and then every hour for three hours after drinking the glucose solution. It came out that I do have gestational diabetes. My fasting numbers were normal, the first hour was barely normal, but the following two were undoubtedly abnormal.

So far, this hasn’t affected my diet too much, simply because I haven’t been able to meet with the diabetes counselor yet. They weren’t able to schedule me until nearly two weeks after diagnosis. I am seeing the counselor and taking a class tomorrow morning. The doctor told me that I will be given a meter which I will use to take my blood sugar levels two hours after every meal. At my next appointment two weeks from now, we will look at my levels and determine whether the diabetes can be controlled with diet alone or if medication is needed.

The diabetes is disappointing, because I very much like my carbs and sugar! So hopefully things will be back to normal shortly after baby Peapod is born.

This past weekend I spent at my parents’ and helped my sister get ready for Homecoming dance for her Senior year. Holly had a lovely dress and I straightened her hair and did her make up! It was a lot of fun and she had a blast for her first dance. On Sunday, I went to an old friend’s new house, Katie, who is also pregnant and due two weeks after me. We had a get together with a bunch of us old high school friends, which was great. Katie’s nursery is an antique and monkey theme (Monkeys were her husband’s choice!)

My nursery is just about finished; we have hung up all our photos upstairs finally and included the baby room pictures. So soon we should be able to take photos! All I need is a mattress, so that I can properly show off the bedding.

Recently I have been getting a lot of questions about names! So far, Brian has been willing to tell me what he really doesn’t like, but has not shared his favorite names. So the names I have picked so far haven’t been officially approved. However, we have decided on middle names. If it’s a boy, the middle name will be Charles after his grandfather; if it’s a girl the middle name with either be Rose (my own middle name) or Eleanor (after my grandma on my mom’s side). I did debate briefly about using my recently passed Grandma’s name which is Genevieve, but right now I am leaning away from it, for a couple reasons. 1) She hated her name and always said that and 2) I am not sure I could hear the name without feeling sad about it right now.

That’s all for now! As soon as I hook up my camera I’ll have a few more pictures of Grandma’s memorial boards and her house; I’m also waiting on some nice photos of my sister in her Homecoming dress!

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general life, preparing for baby

Weekend

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This weekend has been lonelier for me because Brian is mini-vacationing with his friends. This Thursday-Sunday, he has spent touring distilleries of whiskey in Tennessee and Kentucky. Meanwhile, I have been working and visiting my grandma.

I kept myself busy in Thursday and had dinner with a friend, Teresa, who I haven’t seen in a long time. On Friday, I RedBoxed a couple movies that were on my list (but not Brian’s, haha!). I saw Prince of Persia, and The Backup Plan. I thought both were pretty good, and entertaining. Sasha has been very good with Brian away, though I am sure she misses having him home too!

The weather was hot enough to turn the air on those two days, I was happy to see it cool off today. I went to visit grandma today and was telling her about it, she didn’t realize it was close to 90 on Thursday and Friday because she hasn’t been out of the house since her surgery on her broken wrist from the last fall. The pins in her arm don’t look as bad as expected, because the arm was bandaged up. She certainly isn’t young anymore, but she has two very nice almost-nurse ladies taking good care of her.

Brian should be back tomorrow evening which is good. He will be coming with me to my glucose test Tuesday morning for part of the time. This past Tuesday, I took a glucose level (and anemia) screening test which was to test for gestational diabetes. I failed the screening, so I now I have to take the 3 hours test at the hospital. Doctor said that about 10% of women fail the screening test, and only 10% of that 10% actually have a problem. So odds are in my favor! I read up on the test, and it sounds like they will be drawing my blood four times. I also have to fast for 12 hours in advance, so I will undoubtedly be starving by the time it’s over! Hopefully, there will be no passing out. I’ve taken the morning off work entirely, so since it’s at 7 am I should have some time afterwards to walk around the mall before going to work the afternoon.

Baby is moving a lot more noticeably now, and occasionally uncomfortable. At my last appointment, the doctor said I had only gained 2 pounds, which seems really low! I swear I have grown twice the size I was in the past month! I finally put up my tree wall decal, which is super cute. Next doctor’s appointment is in three weeks, then I will be on the two week appointment schedule!

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general life, preparing for baby

Chicago and Peapod

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A couple weekends ago, Brian and I went on our “baby moon” to Chicago. The idea is you go on one last fling to relax and spend time together before baby gets here. I particularly wanted to go before walking around gets to be no fun! As it was, I still was far more tired than I would’ve been without the extra baby weight. The walking took it’s toll, but it was well worth it!

We spent Friday at the Aquarium, had lunch at the Goose Island bar/micro brew/pub and went to dinner at a nice Italian family style restaurant. Saturday we spent at the Field Museum most of the day and ate real Chicago deep dish pizza for lunch and a tasty French dinner. Sunday we went to the Planetarium, which I of course promptly fell asleep in. In between we walked the Navy Pier, saw fireworks, walked the Magnificent Mile and putzed around Millennium Park. We had a great time!

Us in Chicago 2010

See more pictures of our Chicago trip >

The baby is moving all the time now, poking around and making flips in my belly. Brian felt the baby move for the first time a couple weeks ago, and since then has felt it a couple more times. For some reason, Peapod is sleeping when Brian is around! But it moves all day long at the office, which is pretty distracting.

We recently purchased our crib and glider. The glider my parents are graciously gifting us. The baby better be a rocker like me! Brian teased me recently that we would probably have a baby that doesn’t want to be rocked. Sitting still would be impossibly hard for me! The crib is lighter than we originally wanted to go, it is a honey natural color. The glider is an ebony with light olive fabric. Combined, I have a non-matching room! This was a little difficult to move past for me, since I am big on matching. However, the quality of both pieces more than makes up for the color difficulties.

Currently, we’re trying to find a matching honey colored changing table. If we cannot find one that matches, we’ll probably switch to dark wood in the hopes that it looks like we mismatched on purpose, the glider and changing table would be dark! The oak dresser that was Brian’s as a child we are going to refinish in the lighter honey color, and change out the handles and hopefully the drawer tracks as well. However, Brian is working hard on his shed, so until the weather turns the baby dresser is taking a back seat!

The baby’s room is coming along nicely; we have curtains, the crib and a glider, which must be the most important pieces, right!? Meanwhile, Brian’s mom is planning the baby shower for November 7. We are having it nearby; the previous owners of our house moved to a complex down the road and their HOA includes a very nice party room which we will be using. I’m very excited. The time is just flying by! It won’t be long before we are having the shower and putting finishing touches on Peapod’s room. Maybe somewhere in this time I can get Brian to look at a few baby names 😉

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general life, pets, preparing for baby

Baby and Sasha Updates

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Sasha is doing well! She got her cone off and the toe is finally looking healed or nearly so. We had a small scare because we had to get the bandage off early, her toe was staying too moist which was concerning obviously if it had continued so. So the first time we saw the toe it was not has healed as I would’ve liked it to be and looked very raw. Sasha did not like her cone either. It took her a day or so to get used to lying down in it and not running into things as much. Brian bought car door protector things which we put on the raw plastic on the outside of the cone as a bumper because she was scratching things up!

It was very nice visiting with Tyler, he stayed an extra day so I took that day off and we watched movies. I had a lot of fun, it was nice to take a day off for once. I don’t have a lot of spare days now at this point, I am trying to save them for maternity leave. I can use 5 PTO days on maternity leave, which I intend on trying to do so that is one less week I have to take unpaid.

Tuesday we had our ultrasound, which would’ve been the gender one had we decided to find out. But we didn’t! The technician even made us look away when she examined the legs, so we never got a hint. It’ll be a big suprise! It may have been our last ultrasound, I don’t know if they’ll do another one. Everything is good with Peapod, it has a four chamber heart that is functioning properly, and kidneys and bladder that look good. 2 arms, 2 legs, 2 hands and 2 feet! I have a really cute picture of a foot. We got to see the spine and other bones, and the head of course. I have a creeper photo of the face looking at us, but it looks like an alien. I told Brian it looked like him hahahaha. We had the ultrasound at 18 weeks and 5 days, and I measured exactly 18 weeks and 5 days, so the due date will remain at Dec. 23, which is mildly disappointing for my anti-Christmas complaints.

Brian likes the fact that I have a little belly now and he rubs it, but no kicking yet! There have been a couple times where I thought maybe I felt something, but it did not repeat often enough for me to be confident that that was it. The doctors said by next appointment I should be feeling it, but even then it won’t be all the time because it’s still really small. I am almost to the halfway point though, which is bizarre! Really just bizarre all the way around that by December we will have a little family.

We toured the two options we had for hospitals last week. The practice said I can go with either Akron General or Akron City; both take the same amount of time to get to (about 40-45 minutes). We chose Akron City because they had bathrooms in every post partum room. Akron General had different post partum rooms (we only saw one of them, but the ladies description said that some had bathrooms in the hall!). Otherwise the hospitals were about the same. Akron General is supposed to be getting new rooms soon, but can’t guarantee when or even if I would get a new room when I deliver, so Akron City it is! I think the buildings are around the same age, but City looks newer also.

The way it works is that I will go into a labor/delivery/recovery room and then to a post partum room after I’ve recovered initially from the birth. As far as care goes, they seem to offer the same level of care. Akron General is directly connected to Akron Children’s for any serious issues, but Akron City takes care of everything except a couple long term care type of things, and then they send them to Akron Children’s too. So that’s not an issue either.

I, like usual, am impatient to be planning and doing things. I am trying not to buy much. I bought my bedding set, because it was not something I could register for, but I keep second guessing myself cause bedding is so expensive. Brian’s mom is looking at planning a baby shower in October, I am shooting for later October so my mom and Holly can spend  more time here. Holly runs until later in October. That’s all for now… cheerio.

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general life, house

Done and Moved

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We are a week into our new house! I love love love it. Moving was stressful and no fun, but totally worth it in the end. And the last thing you want to do after moving into a new house is clean the old, but we did and left it fairly pleasant I think.

We did decide to get the furniture from my parents the day before our official move, so that was good and meant we didn’t have to move old furniture we were getting rid of anyway. Tony took it off our hands. My parents furniture, while probably just as old, is in slightly better condition and reclines, which is excellent!

The house is practically like new, and they even steam cleaned the carpets before we moved in which is super! The puppy had a hard time for the first couple days, but is pretty good now. Staying off furniture and off the bed, and learning the electric fence. Not too bad thus far! Brian already is investing in a couple home improvement things, I’m not surprised. We got a new thermostat and a water thing for upstairs which I don’t fully understand but means that the water will warm much quicker and we won’t waste as much water waiting for the heat.

It’s weird having so many bathrooms! And a pantry and cabinets that actually hold everything we own! We have rediscovered some wedding gifts. Kitchen is pretty much unpacked, closet is pretty much unpacked. There’s decorating stuff in the dining room and the office still needs a lot of work (computer is not yet up and running). But the house is almost guest ready. I took some more days off (Friday & Monday this weekend) to do some extra unpacking, though I haven’t really gotten much done in reality so far.

I recently got a promotion at work and will be switching to the IT department on June 1. The position is a Business Analyst position and  I will continue working with the .com team in a different capacity, though continuing to manage our testing process for code releases.

I think next weekend Brian and I are going to look at bedroom furniture, and a little table for the entryway. Oh I just have to say also that the laundry room on the second floor is amazing. I LOVE it. And our neighbors seem really nice (at least one set; we haven’t really met the others). The ones we’ve met are named Curtis and Kelly. They are both pharmacists and are expecting their first baby in August (a surprise). They seem very nice and young, I think we will hang out.

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general life, house

Waiting

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Just playing the waiting game now! So I will write about other stuff:

We spent Easter at my parents in Centerville, which was very nice. Everyone was home, and (maybe because I can’t let childhood go), I had my mom hide eggs and our baskets still. I love that part of Easter, it’s entertaining, and fun to have Brian do it too haha. My mom started writing poems for clues to hiding places back when we first move to the house on Sentinel Oak (what was that, some 10 years ago now?). Anyway, it is a firmly planted tradition now even though it only started after we were all older.

My brother is spending the fall in Florida doing the Disney program in his major, Industrial Engineering. We are all supremely proud of him, and I am excited he will get to spend some time away from school which I think is a very good thing. Not because he’s not doing well, but because I am a firm believer in studying abroad (or elsewhere in the US as the case may be). It’s awesome to gain new experiences like that.

My lightbox which I was using to photograph my jewelry was taken apart with some of our last showings (as we were starting to get desperate to make our house look big and inviting). Anyway, I have thus not taken any new pictures of jewelry that I’ve created, though I have done a few. The most recent one combines chain, which is a new thing for me. I am going to do another chain one soon that I think will be good enough to sell. I am still enjoying the hobby!

This upcoming weekend I am headed to Columbus for a (mini) reunion with old friends, and to see Jamie’s new house which will surely make me jealous! I am impatient and have noticed this month to be harder than before to try and stay motivated and positive. I am ready for this all to be over. We started packing in the house last weekend (Brian started packing the garage earlier); I put away all the rest of the books and started in the office closet which currently houses all my crafting items. This week I want to finish the office and take things off the walls. I hate wrapping stuff in bubble wrap, so I don’t want to wait til the last minute and get sloppy on those types of items.

I will post pictures of the new place once we are settled! My parents are giving us some furniture of theirs that we aren’t picking up til end of May, so chances are there won’t be pictures until then. They are giving us their old couches, my old day bed (less the mattresses), a gliding chair, elliptical and some other stuff. I am super pumped about it, it will be so nice to have like-new furniture!

Anyway, that is all that’s new on this end. Til next time.

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general life, house

Sold!

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It actually already feels like old news to me, I can’t believe how fast things are moving!

So very shortly after my last post, we got a phone call from our realtor; apparently the guy who low balled us weeks ago came back looking for some further  negotiation. After some short back and forth and pre-approval on his end (he’s retired so had a fixed income), we negotiated to both our satisfactions. It’s still lower than what Brian paid for it 8 or so years ago, but it’s understandable considering the market. In fact shortly after we signed the contract, I started getting emails (Washington Post, I skim headlines) about the housing market being at record lows again, so all things considered I feel very lucky and the man should feel like he’s getting a deal. Our realtor said it was the cleanest offer he’d seen in a long time (no contingencies, etc.)

I was a little concerned about inspection; after all the house is really old and there are a lot of things that will need replaced at some point. The man only wanted a replaced electrical box! This was also excellent considering we already dipped very low from our original asking price.

Conveniently, this all started happening just before we sat down with the for-sale-by-owner couple; our “contingent” offer was much less contingent. We were able to say it would be just contingent on the current pending offer of our house, which sounds much better than contingent on some unknown pending sale in the distant future.

We sat down with them a number of times, for several hours each time, negotiating the price down and trying to get some amenities to make up for the higher price. We didn’t involve our realtor. It was a little weird, negotiating for the most expensive thing we’ve ever owned, sitting down at a table without an intermediary.

All in all, it’s a fair price for what we are getting (3 car garage, bigger yard, all appliances including washer & dryer, etc.., not to mention we negotiated for the dining room table, a small bedroom set and twin bed upstairs so at least we don’t have to buy guest room furniture any time soon, and a lower bathroom cabinet). I am particularly exciting about the dining room table because that is a luxury we probably wouldn’t have purchased any time soon and we would have had an empty room for a while!

The house is about 5 minutes or less from Brian’s parents; it’s just 2 years old and needs no work done; what we will work on will be for fun, for us, not because we have to. I am excited to plant flowers and make my own house beautiful!

So we are sale pending, not technically sold, but all inspections and appraisals are done so I expect no issues. We are supposed to close end of April, though I am wondering if we will be able to make things move a little quicker. Everyone has been very quick so far! Now, I am just waiting…

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