Wall o' text incoming
I've had a hell of a lot of stuff going on in my life lately.
1. House
2. Unexpected medical issues (not me)
3. Incoming Baby (with unexpected medical issues for me)
4. New car needs
1. On the house front. We got the windows upstairs replaced a few months ago and I am so unbelievably happy with them. The rooms are warmer, and now i have windows that I can open, close and lock. I basically had 1 window I could open upstairs, the rest were unusable for any number of reasons.
The windows were replaced at that time because we knew with the new baby on the way that we needed to move Kaylee out of the nursery and into a big girl room. The room she was going to be getting had floor to ceiling casement windows which would have been very easy for her to get open. Safety issue! Now her room has double hung windows with child safety locks on them.
Next, we discovered that one of our kitchen cabinets was literally falling apart on the wall. We had been planning on just replacing the counterop (tile. wtf?) but we ended up tearing the kitchen out. New cabinets and a new cooktop and countertop. The cabinets are in and we are waiting for our countertop to be ready for install. As soon as that is installed, the sink and cooktop can be installed and we will have a kitchen again. I still need to pick out tile for the backsplash and paint for the kitchen, but those things can wait a bit.
We also had gnarly carpet upstairs which we were going to replace at some point in the near future, but the cats decided to move up our timing. They started shredding sections of it and we were getting exposed carpet tack strips which is scary with little kids running around. Basically the entire upstairs of the house had to get moved down into the basement and first floor (while the kitchen is also packed up and moved into the dining room and basement) so the carpet could be pulled up and new flooring put in. We ended up going with wood floors due to my allergies and the cats. I didn't want to pay for new carpet just to have them shred that too.
While the upstairs was empty, we knew we needed to get painting done. Normally, I would have just painted most of it myself. However, being pregnant made that not be an option. Thankfully we found a good company who gave an totally reasonable quote and we ended up getting about half the house painted.
We still have a bunch of furniture in the living and family rooms, the dining room is still unusable and the office furniture is still blocking up the master bathroom. Hopefully though, Steve will be able to start getting the office furniture moved back into place so we can start getting that put back together (most of the boxes around the house are from the office).
It has been a ton of work and stress and has been very expensive, but thankfully we have been budgeting for nearly all of the work (not the painting) since we bought the house. So we knew we had the money accessible to do all of it. Even so, it was scary having so much go out all at once.
2. We are behind on the house project (I think the kitchen would be all done and most of the house put back together already) due to a heart attack in the family. Basically everything was put completely on hold for about 2 weeks and then continued very slowly after that. Thankfully, the heart attack sufferer did not have damage done to his heart. It was one of those 'never should have happened to him' situations. There were other complications but he is recovering thank goodness.
3. I am now just over a week from my due date. During the last 2 months I have been getting trace amounts of protein in my urine (test it at every appointment). Last week I had to do a 24 hour pee collection test. Joy. The results? 280. Pre-eclampsia? 300. So I had to do the test again 2 days ago along with a blood test. The blood test came back normal and the office is closed for lunch right now so I don't know the results of the urine test yet. I would think I would have gotten a call if it was 300 or over since that means I would need to be induced. However, I still plan of calling and asking what the number was as I am curious. My feet and ankles (hah.. ankles) are pretty badly swollen and uncomfortable. I didn't have swelling with either of the girls so this is a new experience for me.
I am so ready to have this kid. I wish the house was more put together to make things easier when we bring him home, but it is what it is.
4. We knew (and again, budgeted for) that I was going to need a new car before the baby came. My car is getting older and having some problems and, even with new narrow carseats, would probably not fit 3 across for the kids. Steve's car will still work with the new narrow carseats, though it will be tight.
So we went out test driving on Monday and ended up coming home with a Honda Odyssey. Yep. I am now a minivan driving soccer mom. Sadly, it is not AWD (Honda doesn't offer, but we didn't like the AWD Toyota Sienna - hello...3 star safety rating?) and is automatic. I had to give up driving stick. = ( I am very much a sad panda about that. But the new van will fit us all comfortably.
1. House
2. Unexpected medical issues (not me)
3. Incoming Baby (with unexpected medical issues for me)
4. New car needs
1. On the house front. We got the windows upstairs replaced a few months ago and I am so unbelievably happy with them. The rooms are warmer, and now i have windows that I can open, close and lock. I basically had 1 window I could open upstairs, the rest were unusable for any number of reasons.
The windows were replaced at that time because we knew with the new baby on the way that we needed to move Kaylee out of the nursery and into a big girl room. The room she was going to be getting had floor to ceiling casement windows which would have been very easy for her to get open. Safety issue! Now her room has double hung windows with child safety locks on them.
Next, we discovered that one of our kitchen cabinets was literally falling apart on the wall. We had been planning on just replacing the counterop (tile. wtf?) but we ended up tearing the kitchen out. New cabinets and a new cooktop and countertop. The cabinets are in and we are waiting for our countertop to be ready for install. As soon as that is installed, the sink and cooktop can be installed and we will have a kitchen again. I still need to pick out tile for the backsplash and paint for the kitchen, but those things can wait a bit.
We also had gnarly carpet upstairs which we were going to replace at some point in the near future, but the cats decided to move up our timing. They started shredding sections of it and we were getting exposed carpet tack strips which is scary with little kids running around. Basically the entire upstairs of the house had to get moved down into the basement and first floor (while the kitchen is also packed up and moved into the dining room and basement) so the carpet could be pulled up and new flooring put in. We ended up going with wood floors due to my allergies and the cats. I didn't want to pay for new carpet just to have them shred that too.
While the upstairs was empty, we knew we needed to get painting done. Normally, I would have just painted most of it myself. However, being pregnant made that not be an option. Thankfully we found a good company who gave an totally reasonable quote and we ended up getting about half the house painted.
We still have a bunch of furniture in the living and family rooms, the dining room is still unusable and the office furniture is still blocking up the master bathroom. Hopefully though, Steve will be able to start getting the office furniture moved back into place so we can start getting that put back together (most of the boxes around the house are from the office).
It has been a ton of work and stress and has been very expensive, but thankfully we have been budgeting for nearly all of the work (not the painting) since we bought the house. So we knew we had the money accessible to do all of it. Even so, it was scary having so much go out all at once.
2. We are behind on the house project (I think the kitchen would be all done and most of the house put back together already) due to a heart attack in the family. Basically everything was put completely on hold for about 2 weeks and then continued very slowly after that. Thankfully, the heart attack sufferer did not have damage done to his heart. It was one of those 'never should have happened to him' situations. There were other complications but he is recovering thank goodness.
3. I am now just over a week from my due date. During the last 2 months I have been getting trace amounts of protein in my urine (test it at every appointment). Last week I had to do a 24 hour pee collection test. Joy. The results? 280. Pre-eclampsia? 300. So I had to do the test again 2 days ago along with a blood test. The blood test came back normal and the office is closed for lunch right now so I don't know the results of the urine test yet. I would think I would have gotten a call if it was 300 or over since that means I would need to be induced. However, I still plan of calling and asking what the number was as I am curious. My feet and ankles (hah.. ankles) are pretty badly swollen and uncomfortable. I didn't have swelling with either of the girls so this is a new experience for me.
I am so ready to have this kid. I wish the house was more put together to make things easier when we bring him home, but it is what it is.
4. We knew (and again, budgeted for) that I was going to need a new car before the baby came. My car is getting older and having some problems and, even with new narrow carseats, would probably not fit 3 across for the kids. Steve's car will still work with the new narrow carseats, though it will be tight.
So we went out test driving on Monday and ended up coming home with a Honda Odyssey. Yep. I am now a minivan driving soccer mom. Sadly, it is not AWD (Honda doesn't offer, but we didn't like the AWD Toyota Sienna - hello...3 star safety rating?) and is automatic. I had to give up driving stick. = ( I am very much a sad panda about that. But the new van will fit us all comfortably.