On the hunt

I'm getting so excited, tomorrow is our first day of real house hunting! I've mentioned before how excited we are to buy our first home and now we have the opportunity. We have our pre-approval and just recently got a letter from them in the mail stating our credit scores. Out of 3 companies, mine are well over 750, one over 800. I know that's really good, and DH's are a little lower, but not by much, still between 700-750. We should be able to get a really good interest rate with those. We have about 7 houses to look at tomorrow in our target area, which is near an expressway (which DH will need for work), near Battle Creek (also needed for work) but close enough to Lansing that I won't be far from my birth center. We also have 4 more house more west and south of the area, but that is getting a little far away, so we'll look at those next weekend, if none of these work out. I don't think 7 is too bad, it gives us a lot of options. We have been looking for weeks and have narrowed down tremendously from our original search. I'm going crazy today, trying to map the route we'll need to take to make it most time-efficient, so we don't run too late, and so we're not retracking ourselves go between houses. I'm now going to look more into the areas they are in, which luckily, several of them are in more rural areas, which is what we like. I want to write down a few things we'll need to look at with each house, pros and cons we can already see, and then make a list of items we need to check at each house, such as is there a fenced in yard? How big is the living room, is there plenty of cupboard and closet space? I'll take pictures of each place fully while we're there, so we have something to look over when making our decision. Goodness, I think that's a little too organized, but it can't hurt, can it? I also have to look at school districts, yikes!
Ok, so enough of the house rambling. I'm just excited to take this next step, one step closer to buying. We'll also be Abigail-free tomorrow, since my dad has offered to watch her for us. I know she'll miss one out of the two days a week she'll get with daddy, but it will be far more difficult if we have her with us. In and out of the car so many times, we have to make time for diaper changes, meals, etc.

Beautiful day

Today is beautiful! The sun is shining bright and the temperature is suppose to continue to rise into the 70's. The last few days have been gorgeous, it would be silly not to take advantage of them. A little warmer than we usually have in the spring, but I won't complain. I have been opening all of the windows, hanging diapers on the line and playing outside with Abigail. These type of days make me feel so good. Yesterday started out cloudy and gloomy, which started my day gloomy. I don't know why the weather seems to affect my mood so much. Of course, pregnancy horomones may play a small part in it. :P
I am feeling pretty good. I have some bad days and some good days. I was really nauseous for about the past 2 weeks, and it seems to have died down the past few days. It's good, at least I can eat a meal without gagging. My cramping has completely disappeared, but fatigue has not. It hits many times a day, so I just take it easy, and then take advantage of my active periods to get things done. So far, the time is moving quickly, which is great. The first trimester is always a little boring, and I look forward to watching my belly start to grow and feeling the baby kick.
We've contacted a realtor and hopefully will be looking at some house next weekend *jumps up and down* Unfortunately, we weren't approved for as much as we would have liked. About $8,000 less. DH's parents had promised us sometime in the past year, $5000 to go towards buying a home, since they did the same for my BIL and SIL. It would be really helpful now, because that is going to be the difference between buying a home that really suites our needs and one that we'll just settle on. When DH asked them about it, they said "We don't have the money right now". They can afford yet another vacation this weekend, but somehow can't scrounge up the money they told us they were going to give us. Why did they even tell us about it if they couldn't back it up? They knew we were going to buy soon, if they "didn't have the money" they shouldn't have said anything in the first place. It really makes me mad, I should have known better. I really don't want to dig into our savings too much for a down payment, we need to keep a decent cushion in there in case we need it.
Zane will be home tonight from his first drill weekend with the National Guard. He hates it...go figure. He does this all the time though, he will commit to something before thinking it through and then, ooops! Just like the college classes he took last year, and he now won't finish the degree, because it has nothign to do with the job he was hired into. Or EOD school a few years ago. He decided when he was almost done, he no longer wanted to do it. We extended from 4 years to 5 1/2 years just for that, to have him change his mind. We could have been out a 1 1/2 years ago and most of all, no second deployment. It makes me mad that he won't think this kind of stuff through. Then he looks back and regrets it, you would think he would learn by now.
At least the training for this job is already 2 weeks in, only 2 1/2 months left to go. There's so much to look forward to this summer, I hate to wish the time away, but I am. I'll enjoy as the pregnancy progresses more, when we move into our first home, and when Zane is done with training. I just hope it all goes smoothly!

We're expecting!

TTC really paid off this month, because we're expecting! We found out last weekend, although I suspected it a few days sooner. I'm due December 8th, so we'll be having a holiday baby! I'm excited, a little nervous, but none-the-less, very happy to be having our next child.
So far, the pregnancy is going very well. Minimal symptoms, just like last time. Some slight nausea, fatigue, and my breasts are getting sore, which is worse this time around since Abigail is still nursing. We're hoping for a boy this time around, which we planned BDing around, but we will be estatic with whatever we get. I am excited because I know this pregnancy will go by faster, and I know what to expect now. It was all new territory for me last time and now, I've been there, done that, and have no fear of the unknown. It also helps that I know what I want, based on my last birth experience, and can have a better one this time.
DH leaves tomorrow to start his training for his new job. He was offered the job that allows us to stay in Michigan, but the training is 3 months long, in Illinois. He will likely be home every weekend, which will be nice, but the weeks may be a little stressful until I adjust to being alone again. We are driving eachother crazy being together so much, so this should be good for us. We have already started looking at houses online and hopefully can get in contact with a realtor and start viewing some in the next few weeks. I'm so excited to buy our first home!