Approaching the End...

We are just about at the end of this pregnancy.  I swear, each day is worse then the last and I am more and more ready to get back to myself!!  33 weeks this week, and at my next Dr. appointment I'm going to see if we can't get an induction scheduled and get this baby an eviction date!!

I'm looking and feeling smaller then I remember being with the boys, which probably means this little lady will be smaller then her brothers (I'm okay with that...don't have much desire for any more 9 pound babies!).  Unfortunately, I must also be carrying her different cuz I have all sorts of different pain then I remember having before.  My back hurts all day, everyday, and has for weeks now--but I'm grateful that pre-term labor hasn't started yet and I'm not having contractions all day long like I have had at this point previously.

This little lady is a major mover. In the past, to be honest, I haven't really enjoyed a moving-kicking-crazy baby.  Who likes being poked and prodded and jiggled all day long?  Not me! ;)  But, I gratefully admit that this pregnancy I have come to appreciate and even enjoy those little movements--all. day. long.  I have had too many friends and family recently who have struggled with infertility, miscarriages, stillbirths, or unhealthy babies that I have a new appreciation for this pregnancy. I'm thankful for that.  I try not to think about all the things that can go wrong--I sometimes get panicky when I think about how the odds are against me. My prayer of late has been that I will have the spiritual ears to hear and know if something is wrong--and what I should do about it--and if not, that I will have the strength to come through whatever is supposed to happen.  I know that Heavenly Father has a kind and merciful plan--so in my moments of worry and fear I just try to remember that!

In the meantime, we are spending our days with a heating pad and too much TV.  I'm glad for the good weather as the kids get to spend a ton of time outside playing with friends, and I get to spend time in the front yard with a book.  Lots of reading getting done around here! ;)

Happy Birthday Luke!

My favorite little Luke FINALLY turned 4!! He was so excited!!  Some days he seems so much older to me then his 4 year old self: he's a great talker and has an incredible imagination.  With him and Josh being so close in age he hangs out with the older crowd almost exclusively.  Makes for a very mature little 4 year old.  I am convinced Heavenly Father made him this way so that I wouldn't worry about his development (due to his accident) at all. And I don't.  Nothing slows this kid down and all those neural pathways are working in proper order!!

Luke wanted a 'Chewbacca' birthday and it didn't disappoint!  All things Chewy--a costume, a stuffed animal, a 'How to Speak Wookie' book, Pez dispensers, and more.  We also upgraded his bike, and he got all sorts of ball/mitts/toys...but they sort of paled in comparison to the costume.  Oh well!!  What a crazy great kid we've got!
 Sure love him!

March

I'm playing catch-up, once again!  But I'm only a few days behind this time, instead of months.  Bravo! :)

I cannot believe the amazing weather we have had this winter.  March is often cold, wet, and full of snow--but this March has been mostly sun, warmth, and dry.  It's going to make for a hot, hot, fire ridden summer, I'm sure, but it has sure been a mild and lovely winter and and spring!

Enjoy the photo dump! :)

Grandma Great took the big kids to the Symphony.  I got to hang out with the little boys for an hour or so while we waited for it to be over. It was so great. I look forward to next year when we won't be on a Kindergarten schedule and just have these two--plus a baby lump that won't cause much stress. It should be a good year. :)

Katelyn has decided glasses are cool. These go to one of her stuffed animals, but they fit, so she's taken to wearing them! Silly girl!

We enrolled Luke in the same excema study that Josh is in. I told him he didn't look happy in this picture, and he told me that he wasn't happy.  Ha, ha. Silly kid.  We hope the cream works for him. 

Spring break was a success. I think this is the only week my whole pregnancy that I have felt good AND the kids have been out of school. We lived it up. :)  Monday for FHE we rode the train to Salt Lake and walked around Temple Square to see the flowers. They were beautiful! The kids had fun.

 

Tuesday was Luke's birthday. We went to the Zoo to celebrate. It was grand fun.  We love our Zoo pass and look forward to using it more this summer.  We just renewed our mega pass, so who wants to join us!?

Wednesday we went to Antelope Island. It ended up being more driving then I was anticipating, but we saw lots of Buffalo (no babies though... :( ) and deer on our drive so that made it fun. We got to bring one of Katelyn's friends with us and that was great.  They have this ranch you can visit and play at--we loved it.

We got a basketball hoop this month. The kids have been having fun playing with Daddy with it.

We participated in our neighborhood Easter Egg hunt. It's always fun and I feel grateful to have such fun friends who include everyone.  Mike had the day off so it was good odds for him--one Mike to about 30 women. Ha, ha!

We love playing with our neighbors down the street!

Making bread with Daddy on Sunday morning is a favorite activity!

Katelyn is trying to earn money to buy a microscope.  One day she decided to have a fruit sale--her prices were steep, but she made some money!  Anybody want to donate to her cause?

And now, we've made it to April! NEXT MONTH we will welcome the littlest Miss here and I can finally get back to me.  I feel like I am really missing the boat lately and only operating at half--but I'm trying to remember to cut myself some slack.  This years' lame Conference prep and Easter does not define me--unless you take it to mean that 'pregnant me' isn't fully up to the 'regular me'--which is EXACTLY true! But, growing a baby is hard work...plus selling a house (which, thus far, has been full of more downs than ups!).  Next Conference we will do better. Next Easter we will do better.  This year...we did okay. :)  Seven weeks left today...time to dig deep! :)

Lost a buyer, found a buyer...

So--after all my ramblings, the sale fell through. :(  I have a list I'm going to ask Heavenly Father about when I get to heaven, and this situation is on that list.  It doesn't make sense to me why something that seemed, to my brain, to make so much good sense all around went south, but south it did and we re-vamped.  After hearing the news that our buyers backed out, we went right on with plan B and hired a realtor.  When we started this whole process we made a plan and it included a timeline for hiring help--we had met that deadline and so we made the jump.  It's a bummer, seeing how it is going to cost us extra money, but it's also efficient and somewhat of a stress relief knowing we've got someone to go to bat for us if things go wrong again.  We signed on Wednesday night and were back under contract by Tuesday morning (with competing offers!), so I guess it was worth it. * $7,000 worth it...? The jury is still out! ;) *

We had a roofer come out and verified that we did indeed need a new roof. Lame-sauce.  So grateful for handy and helpful family members who came over and spent the weekend with us roofing.  Mike got it all done yesterday, and we had an appraisal done, so we are one step closer to being done. It's no fun living in limbo-- I am hoping for some quick resolutions on any appraisal issues and some concrete evidence that the new buyers will actually buy our house.  We are a bit gun-shy after the last ones backed out after investing so much, and the VA loan that the new buyers have has a clause that lets them get out at any time.  Bummer.  We need to start moving towards temporary housing and storing our junk--but don't feel like it's smart to put any money down yet. In the meantime we wait. :)

I feel blessed that we were back under contract so quickly. It is no small feat to keep the house 'show ready' with all these kiddos, and my pregnant body doesn't seem to really want to cooperate either.  It is nice to let go of the stress a bit and not worry about the state of the house every second. We are never farther then 30 minutes or so from being able to put the house back together, but I no longer make sure the house is perfect every time I leave.  Bonus of being under contract, even if it falls through again. :)

Out for breakfast one of our show-mornings.

We have been making some movement towards our final destination-! That HAS been exciting!  We walked our lot with the builder this week and had a long chat about his thoughts.  We meet with the lender next week and, although we haven't actually put money on the lot yet, we are in constant contact with the owner and she assures us she considers it sold and won't sell it to anyone else.  Ernest money should go down on the lot soon and we are looking for architects to help us draw up our house plan.  We are stoked.

We're moving!

We have been daydreaming about building our own *dream* home for years now. We've got houseplans and we play with them all the time--move walls, add garages, pinterest light fixtures.  It's been fun.  We knew that our current home would not be our forever house, but didn't think we were quite ready to take the jump until the first of this year. It's amazing how things have just sort of fallen into place--totally, totally, blessed.  The financing is working out (darn our Texas foreclosure!), we found an incredible builder, we have our eye on a great lot and our house is under contract.  I can think of no other experience in my life where I have felt so led by the hand of the Lord in the direction he wants us to go.  It's been very humbling and thrilling.

We started to prep our home to put up on the market in January.  I am shocked and amazed at the work it takes to get a house ready.  It took us a full month--true, I was operating as pregnant Mindy, but a full month!  Bless my parents, their help was incredible.  It was such a huge blessing to have my Mom show up day after day to help me get things done, and Dad helped Mike with all the heavy lifting. So grateful. Our shed is PACKED full of stuff (and I'm amazed at how much of it I actually don't miss...shhh! don't tell Mike!) and our house doesn't totally feel like ours.  Our pictures and decorations are down and we had crazy mornings making sure everything is spiffy for potential  buyers...but it all payed off!  Like I said, the Lord has a plan.  For Sale By Owner and we were under contract in 2 1/2 weeks. That is crazy~!  The family buying our home is young, LDS, active, and cute.  Just the type of people I prayed would move in here.  I was so hoping for someone my neighbors could borrow an egg from, someone that would have kids to play with, someone safe and kind and helpful.  I think the Lord answered that wish. I am so grateful.

At this point, we are keeping our prayers focused on the home inspection--hoping, specifically, that our roof will not be an issue. It's original, and in great shape, but old.  Everything else, unless we have an infestation of bats we were unaware of, should go smooth.  Crossing our fingers and bending our knees--inspection day is Wednesday.  After that, we are home free!

The family who is buying our home is going to rent it back to us through June.  What an additional blessing!!  We will get Little Miss here while we still have our neighbors and friends around.  We don't have to have all of us shoved in a tiny apartment for 6 months. We get to take time to finish packing and cleaning and playing.  I am so grateful.

This week we think we will make the final decision on the move--build or buy, build or buy.  It's all we talk about and all we think about.  We should know this week if all our ducks will be in a row and if we can buy the lot.  Fingers crossed and knees bent!! :)

The link to our website...as my sister said, "I've never seen your house look like that before!" Ha! True!

www.laytonlocation.blogspot.com

Happy LOVE Day!!

How does your Valentines go? Does it include a hot date with you man, or a quiet night at home? What are your traditions?  

Pregnancy years don't usually include a date or dinner or dancing--pretty much I'm feeling the love with come ice cream and the chance to sit on the couch and watch TV--ha!  This year I had the chance to help with both kids' school parties and we had friends over for a 'fancy' (read tablecloth and colored plates) dinner and an evening of games. It was great for the kids, and great for us.  We sure love being a family and being together!