Squeezing in a tradition

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. It's that time of year when you can dress up and be whoever you want to be. Another reason why it is my favorite holiday is the tradition of carving pumpkins.

Due to our busy and hectic lives right now, I wasn't sure if we were going to continue this tradition this year. But we made it a point to carve pumpkins this weekend.

Every year, I wonder if Tyler will "help" gut the pumpkin. If you remember, Tyler isn't a fan. Click here to see last years post. Well this year was no different. He decided it would be more fun to watch than participate.

"Mom, please don't make me do this."

"No!!!!!!!"

"Thanks mom"

Tyler has a communication device and I asked him what shape he wanted for the eyes and nose and this is what he told me.

Back Tracking

So the last time I posted on the progress of the house, besides the other day saying it's complete and we have moved in, was back in September. So let me back track a little. At that time, the outside of the house was completely done (besides the deck), tile was laid and cabinets were just put in. So here are a few pictures of the last details.

Countertop was installed.

Appliances were put in.

Fireplace was finished.

Shelving in closets were done.

Tyler enjoying the new carpet.

COMPLETION

The house is COMPLETE!

We started this journey last July and now 1 year and 3 months later we got to move into our brand new house. Last summer, Travis and I decided that the houses we were looking at just were not quite right. We were looking for something that would accommodate and make our lives easier with Tyler and making it more accessible. Yes, most houses could have been remodeled and made more accessible, but in the long run we had decided that we would build instead.

So July 2010, we purchased a 2-acre lake-front property. The view was definitely the selling point and it was also a foreclosed lot that was selling at a price that couldn't be passed up.

The next big thing was deciding on house plans and finding a contractor. We finalized both of those and then the battle with the weather began. We were hoping to start before the winter but that didn't happen. There are so many steps before you can even start that prolonged the start date.

The last week in February was when we finally broke ground. A month went by when we were making good progress and then the weather decided to intervene for the next month. It rained and rained and rained.

Fast forward 7 1/2 months and we are DONE! This past weekend we finally got to move into our new house. Several people have asked, 'If you could build again, would you?' Right now, the answer to that would be "heck NO." Yes it was nice to be able to pick everything out yourself and make it completely your own. But by the end of this process, I was to the point of saying I don't care, you decide. No matter how prepared you are, there is a lot of stress that goes into building a house.

Stay tuned for pictures. Since I was slacking on posting about the house here lately, I will go back and post some of the main things that happened this past month.

Is Tyler ready for a baby sister?

I sometimes am leary on how Tyler is going to handle having a baby in the house. He is not fond of babies and puckers up at any little sound they make. He has noticed my growing belly and likes to "hit" it whenever he is close. But I also wonder just what he is thinking.

The babysitter he goes to started watching newborn twins this summer and it has been good practice for Tyler. The babysitter says he does really well with them and doesn't usually get upset when they cry. So that is definitely a step in the right directions :)

There was one day this past summer when the babysitter sent me this video of Tyler helping out. I cracked up when I first saw it. He LOVES the portable swing she has and he always scoots his way over to it so he can swing it back and forth. I think it's his way of saying I want in this thing. But of course he is too big for it. And then I thought maybe he is just practicing and wanted to swing the baby. What do you think?

Sorry for the angle of the video. It wouldn't let me rotate it..ugh!

I can't remember if I have shared this video or not but thought it was appropriate for this post. This was in therapy awhile back (I believe last September). When his therapist was trying to play pretend play and Tyler picked up the baby and gave it a kiss. It was so sweet. Let's hope he's like that with his baby sister.

34 weeks

I am 34 weeks today. Earlier this week, I had another doctor's appointment. I am loving how boring these appointments are and they are so routine. I go in; get weighed, give a urine sample, have blood pressure checked, hear the heart beat and go over any questions I have with my doctor. They typically last a total of 30 minutes. It's so different compared to my pregnancy with Tyler. Tyler's was every 3 weeks and took up the entire day. they did ultrasounds and did monitoring each time. I also had to travel 2 hours (one way) for each appointment.

As much as I love these boring appointments, it's kind of crazy for me to say, I miss having all the ultrasounds. It was so nice to "see" Tyler every 3 week.

It's been 14 weeks since my last ultrasound, so I was really excited for my appointment this week because I had an ultrasound scheduled. Even though we know everything is fine genetically, my doctor suggested at one of my earlier appointments that we could do another ultrasound later in the pregnancy also. I think he wanted to just ease my mind a little. Which I quickly responded with a I'm good with that :)

Everything with my appointment checked out good and I also got some more great images of our baby girl.

We also scheduled the date of my c-section, which will be on November 11. Yes that means her birthday will be 11-11-11. Pretty cool, huh! Now it is up to her if she likes that date, let's hope so because we don't need her to come any earlier. Remember we still have to move ;-)

4D image of our precious little girl

8 Wonderful Years!

Happy Anniversary, Travis!!