J9's Property

I guess a few of you may be wondering what's happening with the house...



We accepted a conditional offer 2 days before Christmas, and the offer went firm the day after New Years! What a way to start off the year!! The house was only on the market for 2 1/2 weeks before the offer came in, pretty amazing considering the time of year and state of the market these days...

The house-hunting then began in earnest. We were getting discouraged, because very few of the houses in our price range met all our criteria. Most of the ones with a nice-sized piece of property and adequate parking needed a lot of reno work (which I am NOT prepared to endure with a new-born!), while the new houses were on postage-stamp lots and only had room to park one car.

argh.

One very nice house did pop up on our radar, it was a 5-year-old house, on a bigger lot, and while the garage was only a single, the driveway had been widened to easily accomodate 2 vehicles, and the neighborhood was a really nice one. The problem? It was priced $10,000-$20,000 above what we had agreed our comfortable price-range was. But whenever I prayed about the house we were supposed to buy and move into, that was the house that kept popping into my head.

argh.

We did some checking around, and discovered that if we could talk the sellers down in price, we could probably do it, but we really didn't want to push ourselves to the limit in a financial sense. With Doug being self-employed, we really don't know what he's going to pull in month-to-month, so we really needed to be careful. It looked like it was "back to the drawing board"...

Then the price of the house dropped. As in, dropped $20,000!!!! If that wasn't a blazing message, I don't know what is!! We put in an offer immediately, since the sellers were having an open house only a few days later, and we didn't want to risk having someone else put in an offer before we had a chance to. And lo and behold, it was accepted!

The offer is conditional, so I'll wait for the conditions to be met before I REALLY start celebrating, but we are quite confident that there should not be any problems. I'll post pics when everything is firm!

As Doug has been heard to say lately, we're really being taken care of!

(BTW, if you ever need a GREAT real estate agent, I have a couple I can introduce you to!)

Well, it's been a busy couple of weeks!

The suspense got the better of me, and I called my doctor to find out the ultrasound results...and lo and behold, everything is perfectly normal! All measurements were in the "average" range, fluid levels are normal, and the due date is unchanged. Yay! I feel MUCH better now! No, we do not know the gender of the baby, I don't want to know, and it wasn't even in the ultrasound report. (I know this, because my doctor's nurse read the report to me over the phone, word for word!)

The other VERY exciting development is that my house is finally on the market! We've had lots of interest so far, 5 showings in the first week, and more being booked. No offers yet, but that's not unexpected given the state of the market these days. We're having an open house on Sunday, so maybe that might spark some further interest!

I've been saying to a few people, at this point I really don't care if it sells or not. I would LOVE to move out of Toronto, and closer to my parents, but it's really not the end of the world if we stay put. I'm just glad we finally accomplished what we set out to do 3 years ago! The way I look at it, if The Lord wants us to move, the house will sell. If He doesn't, it wont'. I'm content to do what He wants, I know it will be for the best in the long run.

Has anyone told what a pain in the butt it can be, having your house up for sale??? I couldn't leave the house in the morning all week without making sure that every room was spotlessly clean. Who loves washing dishes at 8:00 in the morning? Not Me!!

That being said, I'm now done with work until after Christmas! Yay!!! Sleep-in time!!!

Although, not tomorrow morning....we have a showing at 10am....

Looks like another tummy-sleeper in the family!

We couldn't get that classic profile shot, because the poor little thing is spending it's days looking at my backside. But, we got awesome shots of the spine, you can see all the little vertebrae! If you look closely at the 2nd pic, you can actually see the baby has it's mouth wide open. (I'll leave it to the peanut gallery to make comments about that!) The bottom pic is actually a shot of one of the hands, right up beside the head.

Basically, the head is right down low, and the feet are sitting right up beside my belly button. I had a feeling that was the case - I've been getting some fairly strong kicks up top, and there's been some uncomfortable pressure lower down at times, so I was wondering if that might be the head hanging out down there. (speaking of which, I'm getting kicked like mad as I type! Soccer in utero??) While I have been feeling some kicks and bumps, I haven't felt a whole lot of the "flutterings" that other women talk about; this is probably because the placenta is located in the front - it's basically dampening all the smaller movements so I can't feel them. The kicks, on the other hand.....

I have to say, I left my ultrasound appointment this morning feeling a little apprehensive. It was great to see the little one, see the heart pumping away, see him/her squigle around...but at the end of the appointment, the tech said, "so, the baby looks fairly healthy"......what you mean, "fairly", Kemosabe?....it has me a little uptight. If he'd said "baby looks healthy", I would have gone away thinking, great! Baby is healthy! But, when you throw the "fairly" in there, it just gives it a whole different connotation...

...I'm seriously looking forward to my next appointment with my doctor now, to find out what "fairly" is supposed to mean....

...but that's another 2 weeks from now...

I'm on a rollercoaster right now. Not a literal one (although right now I feel like I am!), but it's been so crazy the last week or 2 that I can barely hold a coherent thought in my head.

Allow me to explain:

High: we signed the papers last night to list our house!
Low: the house is nowhere near ready for showing. We had very high hopes that we could list it and go on vacation, so they could show the house while we're not in it. Not gonna happen...

High: I've been promoted at work!
Low: I'm swamped with work, and the expectations are now higher than they were before...

High: I'm gonna be a mom!
Low: I can't get a referral to an OB, or call a midwife until I know where I'm going to be living by next spring....which brings us back to high/low #1....

Do I sound a little overwhelmed? Probably because I am! We are, as we speak, trying to do everything we can to clean up/finish up the house, while packing and preparing for a road trip...

I need a vacation....

I know, it's been forever since I posted. Again. But, let's face it, there's only been one thing I've actually wanted to write about, and I didn't want to let the secret out until now.

That's right, I'm having a baby; expecting; pregnant; preggers; preggo; in the family way; have a bun in the oven; (have I missed any?)

It's a bit scarey, really. I don't know a whole lot about wee ones! Anyone in my family will tell you, I HATED babysitting as a teenager, and would find any excuse to say "no" to anyone who asked me to. Didn't matter how much I would be paid, I just really didn't want to do it! Especially if they were asking me to babysit really little ones. Diapers and me don't mix too well! I also just didn't know how to relate to kids, how to converse with them, how to play with them, I just never really learned what to do with them.

So, here I am, wondering how I'm going to do this!

It's always been part of the "plan" to start a family. Someday. In the future. Eventually. When we're settled in a new house, in a new town, and we realize that we don't have any more excuses for delaying. But it was always one of those "someday" ideas in the backs of our minds. My attitude has always been, if The Lord wants us to have kids, we'll have them. If He doesn't, we won't.

...I guess He wants us to have kids.....(or at least, one, anyway! There's only one in there!)

Don't get me wrong, we're quite excited! Especially now that the oh-my-goodness-we're-having-a-baby shock has worn off. And the grandparents are Very excited. (yes, mom, I saw you go up to the cash desk in the children's store!) And I have to say, it's been fun seeing the reactions as we tell people. With everyone so excited for us, how can we not be excited ourselves?? Of course, we've had a few weeks to become accustomed to the idea, so we're not quite so giddy anymore. (well, I'm not anyway... I think Doug is another story...)

I guess what it all boils down to, is that we've started on a brand new journey, one that will take a lot of faith, a lot of patience, and will last the rest of our lives. Which isn't a bad thing! Like I read in an article about "40 reasons to be glad you're pregnant": we'll never be bored again!!

....guess it's been a while!!

I just realized I haven't blogged all summer! How pathetic is that?? It's not that there hasn't been stuff going on, I just haven't blogged about it. No excuses. Just...haven't...blogged...

I'm sorry!

Well, to catch you up, we went camping in July with Mom & Dad, and Phil & Sarah and the kids. Lots of fun!! We got to try out our "new" tent - not new as such, but new to us. You see, when Mom&Dad got a new trailer, Phil & Sarah took their old trailer. Phil & Sarah then gave us their larger tent in exchange for our smaller tent. It was beautiful! Can't wait to use it again!

The week was great, we camped at Pog Lake in Algonquin Park. One of my favorite spots! We even rented a canoe for the week, which was great. Pog Lake is a great jumping-off point for canoeing, you can go in 2 different directions into a couple of different lakes. Phil&Sarah also rented a canoe, so we were able to go out on a couple of excursions together. I'll post some shots on my photo blog soon for you to see.

One of the best things about the week was being able to hang out with Micaela and Ethan. I don't get to see them nearly enough, so it was great to be able to get to know them a little better. They can be so much fun, especially around a campfire. Ethan was a hoot, using his "spooky" voice to say good night every night. Between that and re-naming a restaurant "The Egg Pooper"... (the restaurant is actually called "The Mad Musher"...not sure where the connection is...)

Earlier this August, we celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. 6 years?!?!?!? Where did the time go???? It only seems like we've been married a couple of years!.... We had a nice day, we drove up to Huntsville via Collingwood...yes, I know, that's just a bit out of the way, but I'd never been up to the Wasaga Beach/Collingwood area, so it was fun to explore. Once we got to Huntsville, we had supper at one of our favorite "casual fine dining" spots, called 3 Guys and a Stove. We even sat out on the deck to eat, and it was really nice!

It's now the Labour Day weekend, and just about every year we've gone camping at Arrowhead Provincial Park. Except for this year. We've stayed home this time, Doug is hoping to get some serious work done on the house, so we can hopefully list it in September. Yah, I know, how many times have I said that?...(don't remind me!)... But seriously, the end is in sight. We've been able to get a lot of work done this year, and it's actually possible. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we can actually get it done this time, before the housing market falls any further.

Well, I think that about catches me up for now. For those of you who know about Marked By Love , we're at Eastwood Corps in Windsor next weekend (September 6-7) for their Rally Day Weekend. We're really looking forward to it! Might we see you there?....

Some are self-imposed.

Some are from other people.

But there are too many of them.

I can never live up to all the expectations people have of me, nor the ones I have of myself.

After all, I'm only one human.

But it's distressing. I'll put in a really good effort some days, then others I get so overwhelmed that I literally just curl up in a corner and try to shut everything out.

There are so many, from so many different sources...

...The expectation to be a loving, considerate, self-less, hard-working wife...

...The expectation to be a loving, considerate, thoughtful daughter and daughter-in-law...

...The expectation to be a loyal, considerate, thoughtful friend...

...The expectation to move...

...The expectation to produce children. (or grandchildren, or great-grandchildren, depending on the source)...

...The expectation to be fiscally responsible...

...The expectation to make wise decisions in everyday life, every day of my life...

...The expectation to be a loyal, productive, understanding, Christ-like member of a church...

...The expectation to be "flexible"...

...The expectation to be a loyal, productive, hard-working, conscientious employee...

...The expectation to live up to my potential...

...And the list goes on....

I've been wondering lately why my stress levels have been getting out of control. When I sat down and looked (really looked) at what's been happening in my life lately, I've realized that I have a lot of expectations placed on me, and I'm having a very difficult time living up to them all.

It causes me great distress when I let someone down.

It causes me great distress when I let myself down.

Sometimes I want to climb up on a hill, or the roof of a building, and just scream to the sky, "ENOUGH!!!"

I guess it's a case of prioritizing: whose expectations are the most important? Which expectations are the ones that really count in the long-run?

It's the type of question that I need a time-out from life to really be able to answer. There's no easy, clear-cut answer, because so many of the expectations are legitimate and important both in this life and the next.

But a "time-out" is not on the agenda for quite a while yet.

Right now, I'm just tired.

Tired of trying.

Tired of failing.

Just.

Plain.

Tired.

Somebody throw me a life-ring here?.....