House and Baby

HI!

I have so enjoyed this summer 2011. Thinsg are wonderful! Work has been so laid back, I've never felt better, and living with my Mom definitely has its perks! (no rent to pay, always good food & ice cream to eat, plenty of great company... sometimes). We could live here forever! (Just kidding Mom).

Actually we're really anxious to be in our own house before the baby comes in December. Qualifying for a mortgage loan isn't an easy process though. Well, it might be easy for most folks, but, for Jorge and I, seems like nothing comes easy. Because of a few "blemishes" on my credit history, my credit score is only considered "fair". And with Jorge being new in the country, he has NO credit score which doesn't help our situation at all. Our income alone won't qualify us for a mortgage loan eiether. So what does that mean? We have to wait to improve my score by cleaning some of the bad credit and obtain Jorge a credit score by getting him a... credit card. It seems so silly and backwards that to have a credit score you need to acquire debt? The idea is to not have debt or get OUT of debt as soon as possible, right? But I'm learning more and more that the creditors lending us the $100,000+ don't see it that way. They want to make sure we're responsible with the debt and loan they give us, so we have to prove to them we can handle it. Which means... credit card land, here comes Jorge!! (He LOVES to spend. L-O-V-E-S it!!!) LOL. However, we decided he will only use his card to buy gasoline, and will pay 85% of it off every month (heaven forbid we pay it off in FULL every month, which would be the responsible thing to do... but, not to the creditors who we want to give us money). In a couple months, it should be enough to earn Jorge a "GOOD" credit score, which will help us out immensely. So, my little house, wherever you are, wait for me! We'll be in touch soon where we can live happily ever after! (I hope!!!) The hardest part of this all is to NOT get excited about the extraordinary deals on some amazing homes. And sighing as I watch them get snatched up by some lucky, prepared and financially responsible with good- credit- score -person as soon as they go on the market. I just keep telling myself it will happen for us when it's meant to happen. I just hope it's sooner than later, but I trust that Heavenly Father will lead us to the perfect house to raise our little family in when the time is right.

Speaking of our little family, on July 13 (@19 weeks) we had our first (and probably only) ultrasound. I was SOO looking forward to see the baby moving, see the heartbeat beating and find out the gender of the baby. But when I went in there and laid on the table, I couldn't believe how UNCOMFORTABLE it was to have an ultrasound. They asked me to drink a lot of water (I can't even remember the quantity now) 2 hours beforehand so my bladder would be full, which would raise the uterus to take better pictures. But man, I couldn't stand it! I was practically in tears of pain as the sonographer, who showed little sympathy to my pain, jabbed the little wand thing over my belly taking measurements. It was hurting my back laying there holding my breath, and I could barely enjoy the process, which I had SO looked forward to. I didn't even care when she said that she said it was a GIRL (yay!). I was just wanting it to be done so I could pee. And boy did I. Luckily I made it to the bathroom, but went like a race horse three times before even leaving the imaging place. Oh the joys of pregnancy!

One special thing I do remember though was when the tech was measuring the the baby's femur bone and commented, "Wow, this little one has long legs!" Just as she said that, we watched as the baby started kicking upward in my belly with both of her long legs. haha. It was an adorable response! She'll probably take after her daddy. :)

The pregnancy is going well. She's growing more and more every day, and in fact is measuring 5 cm's bigger than average. Although looking at my belly you wouldn't think I was almost 6 months. I barely show. She loves to kick and squirm and roll and make waves through the majority of the day. She also seems to love the hiccups because of how often she gets them. Mom does not like to feel them however, what an annoying sensation! lol. I know she can't help it though. I've been keeping track of her heartbeat through the doctor visits. So far they've been:

6/6 - 14 weeks - 164 bpm

7/5 - 18 weeks - 147 bpm

7/13 - 19 weeks - 141 bpm (ultrasound)

8/1 - 22 weeks - 157 bpm

8/26 - 26 weeks - 152 bpm

9/26 - 30 weeks - 142 bpm

10/10 -32 weeks - 162 bpm

10/24 - 34 weeks - 139 bpm

11/7 - 36 weeks - 158 bpm

11/14 - 37 weeks - n/a

11/21 - 38 weeks - 138 bpm

11/28 - 39 weeks -

12/5- 40 weeks -
* sigh* Her heartbeat is the best sound in the world. :)

Here's a picture of the picture of her little profile. How cute is my little alien. LOL.

Busy month

June flew by! I enjoyed the whole month off from work. Here are the updates of what I was up to while I had my month off:

~ We had our first OB/GYN appointment on June 6th and heard the heartbeat for the first time. Fetal heartbeat of 164. :) I was thrilled and relieved to hear such a healthy and fast heartbeat, especially since I was so worried because of how little I could eat. I lost 30 pounds in the first 14 weeks being so sick with nausea. But good thing I had a lot of extra "reserves" for the little nugget to thrive off of, so it's doing well. We have our next dr. appointment on Tuesday the 5th. Meanwhile, I am 18 weeks along and HAPPILY enjoying my second trimester and eating again. :)

~ Holly and Nick's wedding was on June 10th! What a fun and special day. I can't believe my little sister is married! They were sealed in the Boise temple and afterwards had a beautiful reception at Eagle Hills golf course. We took lots of cute and fun pictures and I'll put them here.

Nick & Holly Warren!

One big happy family!

Cutting the cake at the reception

First dance as husband and wife

Throwing the bouquet (bouquets)

So funny that with all the single ladies there to catch the bouquets, Kelsey, Natalie, Kristin (future sis-in-law) and Ella (neice) all caught the one!

Jorge and Nick having fun on the dance floor.

The get-away car!!!

Other happenings this month:

~ I got to go to Moses Lake and visit Hayley & Carlos and their kids for a few days. :) It was so fun to relax and hang out with the family. I enjoyed the simplicity of just chatting, playing games together, reading books, watching the kids play outside, eating delicious meals, cheering on Fiona learn how to crawl, giggling at Ellia's tantrums and randomness and admiring Ava's maturity and playfulness. Such a great family!

~ The day I got back home from Moses Lake, I came home to a big plumbing problem in our apartment with water all over our bathroom floor, tub, kitchen floor... EVERYWHERE! Big sewage back up problems and the smell was so horrible we moved back into my Mom's house. We were planning on moving back in anyway, but the plumbing problems just moved the move out date up by a couple weeks.

~ The original reason we moved back in with my mom was to be able to save up some money to buy our first house! We are still in the beginning stages of house hunting.. .still working with a mortgage lender on how much we qualify for, but we would LOVE to be in our own little home before the time the baby comes. I don't see the reason in paying $750 in rent when we could pay $750 in a mortgage payment. Plus with the housing market the way it is now, it's an excellent time to buy. Jorge and I are excited for this adventure too.

Well that's about it for now. I start back work on Tuesday, but will blog again soon with the house hunting updates, baby updates (we get our first ultrasound in 2 weeks!) and ANOTHER sibling wedding coming up this month! Yay for weddings!!

Tchau!

January - June update :)

I really really stink at this blogging thing. LOL. I do hope to get better though. Seems like most people blog about their kiddos... so I'll soon get that same opportunity. Tomorrow I'll be 13 weeks pregnant and next monday, the 6th of June is our first doctor's appointment. 14 weeks seems so long to wait to have a first appointment, but with work and schedules that was the best we could do. GOOD-BYEEEEEEE FIRST TRIMESTER!! I'm excited to finally be able to hear a physical heartbeat and know there is something real inside me. Up until now it's felt so unreal. I mean, the biology of it all tells me I'm pregnant, and my sickness and constant nausea tell me I'm pregnant, but I can't wrap my head around the idea yet. I think hearing the heartbeat will be just what I need to accept it. Jorge can't wait to be a dad!! I'm excited to see him as a dad also. I on the other hand was so surprised about getting pregnant already. We planned for a baby later in the year or next year, but sometimes things don't work out the way you plan! So, we're planning for our first little one to join the Andrade family in December.