Looking over the plans

The other day I was organizing all the receipts we had accumulated so far with the house and got them all into a folder. I then was going through tons of cabinet catalogs and deciding on what layouts I liked, what type of wood, color of stain, etc and when I look down this is what I see.

I guess he just wanted to help and give his approval, LOL!

Tyler looking over the house plans.

26 weeks

Brick

So far during this process of building, brick was one of the things I stressed about the most. What if I don't like it, what if we chose the wrong shade, will this trim look good with the brick, and the list just kept going on and on.

There were many sleepless nights of my mind going crazy. Even after we decided on the brick, I still thought, did we make the right choice. I drove by a house that had the same brick several times, still thinking did we choose the right mortar color and then will the color trim that we want look good with the brick. Oh decisions, decisions. Travis quickly reassured me that it will look fine and not to worry.

I am not a huge decision maker, so I don't know why I thought building a house would be fun. Yeah you get to pick out exactly what you want but these are some major choices we have to make. And brick is not something you can change; you are stuck with it as long as you live in that house. And for us, that is the rest of our lives. So I better like it.

So this week was when we found out, did we make the right choice. The brick started going up and I LOVE IT!!!! It could not have been a better choice.

PARTY!!!

We celebrated Tyler's birthday on Sunday. We invited all of our family and friends for some fun in the park. There was good food, a lot of bouncing in the bounce house and a fun time was had by all!

Yes, 6 months pregnant and I still got in the bounce house :)
And yes, there was some adults that wanted to still be kids. Here is Travis doing a hand stand.

Tyler meeting the birthday monkey. This monkey gets passed around to every birthday. I am so thrilled that it has made a home in my living room for now.~~Can you sense my sarcasm?~~ Hmmm, I wonder who the next lucky owner will be. Better hope you don't have a birthday coming up, LOL!

Tyler with his hydro buddy, Keller.

Tyler enjoyed watching his #6 sparkler candle. I thought I would try this fun candle instead regular candles, since he isn't able to blow out the candles.

Happy 6th!!

6 years ago today was one of the proudest moments of my life. It was the day Tyler was born. Finding out Tyler's diagnosis early in my pregnancy helped me prepare for that day, six years ago. There was many mixed emotions of happy, scared and worried. But overall, I was overjoyed to finally meet my son. We still had the unknown, is he going to make it, how severe is the hydro going to affect him, etc. But we knew that once he was here, we could and will do everything we can to help him.

As soon as I saw him for the first time, my heart melted. He was perfect in my eyes. And over the past 6 years, he has brought so much happiness and love. I still can't believe it's been 6 years. Seriously, I mean that's a whole other hand to count on now.

Happy 6th Birthday, Tyler!!!

Guided Tour

We are finally making some good progress on our home. We are under roof and we have interior studded walls. The next step is plumbing and electrical work, windows and doors and brick. Here is an inside look.

Warning--after watching this myself you may get a little dizzy. It looks like I was walking in circles :0)

Dear Baby Girl,

I am now well into my 2nd trimester and I am 23 weeks to be exact. You are the size of a large mango and weigh a little over 1 pound. The second trimester is my favorite time during the pregnancy, not that the first and third aren't fun. But, there are so many changes that happen during the second trimester. The first trimester brought on exhaustion and nausea. Luckily I have not got sick with you like I did your brother. And the last trimester, from what I remember when I was pregnant with your brother, was exhausting, uncomfortable with an expanding belly and sleepless nights.

The second trimester is great because I get to feel your movements for the first time. I first felt you when I was 16 weeks. It was very suttle movements like fluttering butterflies in my stomach. But it is so miraculous. I continue to feel you every day and those flutter movements have gotten much stronger and kicks and jabs are being felt from the outside now. Your dad still has not got the joy of feeling you yet. I think he's starting to think you don't like him, so if you could do me a favor and make him not feel left out give him a kick soon, please :) However your brother has felt your kick already. It was such a sweet moment.

Let me tell you something about your brother before I go any further, he likes to "bat" his arms and hit when someone is laying or sitting next to him. He doesn't mean harm and we believe it's just his way of trying to communicate with us. But we are working with him on being gentle and not to hit, especially before you arrive. So the other night, you were being very active. So dad brought Tyler over to me and we all sat on the couch with everyone's hands on my belly waiting patiently for your next movement. I think you knew something was up, because you immediately stopped and became still. I guess you thought we were all ganging up on you. Your brother was somewhat being gentle but pushing his hand heavily on my belly. He has to use his hands to balance himself to sit upright and well he was using my stomach for much of that support, which resulted in him pushing on my belly. Shortly there after him pushing on my belly, you give your strongest kick you have given right on his hand. I thought, uh oh, I believe your first brotherly/sisterly fight began and wondered how many of those the two of you will have. I'm sure it won't be the last. Tyler just smiled really big and moved his hand immediately.

Another thing I like about this trimester is finding out your gender. Your dad and I went to the doctor's office together and found out that our newest addition is going to be a girl. So let's bring on the pink!!!

Now the biggest decision we have is deciding on a name. A name is a big part of your life and something you will have to live with forever. We are narrowing it down but decided to keep this between me and your dad until you arrive. We would like to surprise our family and friends with something on your big day.

Love, Mom

Prayers for Matthew

There is a little boy in need of your prayers. Matthew is in the hospital and very critical. Please keep him and his family in your prayers.

It's a.....

For those of you that took the poll and guessed at what I was having, the majority won because it's a...

G I R L ! !

We are ecstatic! Although Travis is already thinking how much more this one is going to cost, LOL!

House Progress

I know it's been awhile since I posted about the house. Now that the rain has passed, we have been moving right along. It's crazy to think a month of non-stop rain and storms would set us back that far. We pretty much didn't get any work done on the house the end of April to the end of May. Here is a series of pictures from beginning to where we are now. We still hope to be moved in by the time baby #2 arrives. I may be 8 months pregnant but hopefully the 4 of us won't have to squeeze into our 2-bedroom duplex.

March 20
The basement is dug out.
April 7
Forms for the concrete to be poured is ready.
April 16
The concrete is poured.
June 10
View of the back of house. Framing has begun.
View from front of house.

June 16
Floor to the main level of house.
June 29
Front view of house.
July 3
Back view of house.
July 6