The house is framed!

We're on a roll! Within a week, our piece of land went from a huge pile of concrete to a completely framed house! It's amazing to walk through and actually see the room layouts and details, instead of only visualizing them. What a whirlwind this has been so far, yet I would do it all over again at the drop of a dime.

The house last Tuesday, day 1 of framing. This is standing to the far right, looking into the garage:

And here is what progressed within two days (last Thursday):

What a difference! Now I'm rushing to pick out exterior colors, roof colors, shutters (we're still not sure we're going to use them at all), column design, stone, trim colors, etc.

I finalized the cabinet choices last week, and I'm thrilled about the choices! The electrical, roofing, heating & air, and plumbing rough-in (thanks DH!) will be complete by next Wednesday, then it's insulation, sheet rock, and we start the fun stuff! (Painting, trim work, flooring, etc.)

11 weeks & a heartbeat!

So we've made it to week 11! I feel like every week is such an accomplishment, and here we are so close to 2nd trimester already! We went yesterday for my blood work appointment. Let me just start by saying this was one of my biggest fears of becoming pregnant. I hate needles with.a.passion. I knew going in that yesterday's appointment would be tough, and it started out that way for sure. The woman taking my blood was a newly hired nurse who had no idea what was going on. A lead nurse had to walk her through the process. I'm sure there are plenty of women out there who would be fine with this, but I wasn't. I was scared out of my mind. Needless to say we got it taken care of, I survived, and we moved on. They moved us to a regular room w/ a bed, and the doctor came in and told me to lie down. Why do I need to lie down? I thought this was a blood work only appt.? She took out the doppler and within a minute we heard the most beautiful, comforting sound in the world; our baby's heart was beating away! I would go to thousands of blood work appointments if I was guaranteed to hear that precious sound every time. That was worth every ounce of pain. :)

**How far along? 11 weeks

**Total weight gain/loss: I'm down .6 from last week, which totals -.2

**How Big is Baby?: The size of a lime!

**Maternity clothes? Belly bands are still going strong. I ordered some maternity clothes this week though. :)

**Stretch marks? None yet ::crosses fingers::

**Sleep: Has been a lot better, besides the pee breaks. I think I'm just exhausted from everything.

**Best moment this week: Hearing that miracle of our baby's heartbeat.

**Movement: Getting closer!! I can't wait!

**Food cravings: Okay I totally craved french toast at like 9 at night. So I made me some. hehe

**Gender: This will be interesting. I'm right about 50/50 now.

**Labor Signs: Let's hope these stay away for a while!

**Belly Button in or out? In

**What I am looking forward to: Making it to 2nd tri, and getting a real bump. (Not just bloat) It's actually starting to get hard now!

**Weekly Wisdom: Take deep breaths. Stay calm. Remember that God will not give you what you cannot handle.

**Milestones: Hearing the heartbeat on the doppler! That decreases the risk of "the horrible thing" to under 3%. Yay!!

Okay please don't laugh at the growth spurt this week.

Well, actually laugh all you want... it's not like I can hear you! :)

The building begins!

Back in mid-July, DH and I sold our first house together to pursue our dream of building a house. It's been a hectic year so far, preparing for construction, getting all of our ducks in a row, organizing and managing our money to a tee, etc. The building has finally begun! August 7th was our "ground breaking" day: the first day of construction. We had our foundation crew out there at the crack of dawn getting everything ready for our foundation to be poured. On the 13th, the concrete for our slab was done! Here are some pictures of the progress so far. Sorry the angles aren't the best. We're surrounded by woods, so there's only so much room I can back up to take the pictures.

This is the left side of the house. Front porch is the shallow part.

Facing the right side of the house from the front porch. The garage is completely cut out of this picture.

Our framers started yesterday morning, so I'll have pictures of the completely framed house by early next week! What a huge difference just after framing! It actually looks like a house now!

10 weeks already!

Here we are, 10 weeks along already! I'm still in a daze, wondering every day if this dream is actually happening. I have an appointment a week from today, but I'm almost positive they're just doing blood work. I really wish they would pull out the doppler and give it a try. I'd feel a thousand times better if we heard the heartbeat again. Living in a constant state of worry is something I'm definitely going to have to get used to!


In other news, we started building our house last week! I'll post some pictures in just a little while... not too much to see yet though. School started back yesterday as well. I'm only taking two classes, but with working full time, the house being built, being constantly tired and icky, I'm pushing my limits. Not too much longer and everything will be over and done with! (Hopefully I'll have some hair left at the end of this journey!)



**How far along? 10 weeks

**Total weight gain/loss: I'm up .4 this week, for a total of .4

**How Big is Baby?: The size of a small plum! (Over an inch long now) :)

**Maternity clothes? Belly bands are still my best friend.

**Stretch marks? None yet ::crosses fingers::

**Sleep: Some days are wonderful - others, not so hot.

**Best moment this week: Making it to 10 weeks!

**Movement: Not too much longer.

**Food cravings: More aversions than cravings. I crave anything that will stay in my stomach.

**Gender: Ohhh I don't know. I was so pro-girl, now I'm torn. I keep referring to LO as "him". hmm..

**Labor Signs: Let's hope these stay away for a while!

**Belly Button in or out? In

**What I am looking forward to: Making it to 2nd tri, and my appt. next week!

**Weekly Wisdom: Don't let yourself get hungry. My goodness it feels like someone is tearing your stomach from your body if you get hungry. These are some MEAN hungry pangs.

**Milestones: LO is growing so fast now! Over an inch long!




You can really tell a difference this week! (just way thicker in the mid-section)

9 Weeks

Okay, I promise I'm not a total slacker. At our last dr.'s appt., the baby was measuring 6w5d, which would put my "week change" day on Thursday. The dr. didn't change my due date, so I was really confused as to when to do these pictures. After a week of debate, DH and I decided to just stick with Sunday as we had been and continue.

No real updates this week - I'm still not feeling so hot, but I have to admit I've had more energy the last week or so. (Granted, I'm still taking at least one nap a day) Every pair of pants I own are now too tight to button, so I've graduated to using the belly band full time. So I guess that's about it for this week! We have an appt. on the 25th for blood work, and I'm really hoping they'll schedule the NT scan soon after that. I'm going crazy not knowing how LO is doing in there!



**How far along? 9 weeks

**Total weight gain/loss: I've gained back the 2 I lost, so now I'm back to pre-pregnancy weight.


**How Big is Baby?: LO is a green olive!!


**Maternity clothes? None yet - but I'm wearing my belly band full time now!

**Stretch marks? None yet ::crosses fingers::

**Sleep: Hasn't been the best lately - I'm dead tired but can't stay asleep.

**Best moment this week: I had my first baby dream, and it was a boy! (contrary to my guess though)

**Movement: Not too much longer.

**Food cravings: They vary every day. If I want something specific for dinner, I literally cannot swallow anything except what I'm craving. I HAVE to have it. Poor DH. :)

**Gender: I still feel girl, even though I dreamed it was a boy.


**Labor Signs: Let's hope these stay away for a while!

**Belly Button in or out? In

**What I am looking forward to: Hearing LO's heartbeat on a doppler. What a relief that will be.

**Weekly Wisdom: Invest in popsicles... they taste good even when you don't feel so hot.


**Milestones: 9 weeks, the baby's fingers and toes can be seen! Little ears are formed, and eyelids are almost completely covering the eye socket. So amazing!



My 9 week bloat, which is considerably bigger than my 7 week bloat. Oh boy..