House Update

It's time for our quarterly house update. So, our current house has been on the market for just over 6 months now. In the last quarterly update I posted that we weren't seeing a lot of interest in the house and I would say it is still the same. A few people have looked at it but not very many.

Over the last month or so we have been faced with the decision of what to do about our house. With Baby Caleb due in March we know we'd have to take the house off the market for several months. I cannot imagine keeping my house clean and being able to get out for showings with a toddler and a brand new baby. We'd also have to take it off the market a couple months before Caleb is due because we wouldn't be able to accept any offers that would involve closing in February or March because we don't want to move that close to my due date.

So, after much prayer, wise counsel and consideration we decided to buy a house before ours sold. We looked at every house in town in our price range and found a great choice that we can totally picture our family in. After a great negotiation process we accepted a counter offer last week. We had a good inspection today and are set to move in January. I'm so excited.

As far as our current home we will keep it on the market through the spring and early summer in hopes that someone will buy it. If not, we will look for a renter. While our house might not be what buyers are looking for right now we're pretty sure renters would love it.

T-day

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend with family and are ready for the Christmas season. I've gotten a good start on shopping all done from my couch. I love the Internet. Anyway, back to Thanksgiving. We started the weekend by visiting my Grandparents on Thursday and having a traditional turkey lunch. We played games, watched football and did what many of you were doing on Thursday.

Then on Thursday night we drove to Matt's parents' house. Friday we hung out with his family, Grace got to play with her cousins, we had chili for lunch and then had the traditional Thanksgiving meal for supper. After supper we were able to go see the musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. We went with Matt's parents and his brother and wife. One of their friends came over and listened to the kids sleep in the monitors. The show was really good!

Saturday we just spent some time hanging around Matt's parents house and headed home in the evening. The only downside of the whole weekend is I had a cold. I think it hit it's worst yesterday though so at least I was at home to rest.

Packers Game

This post is way late but I wanted to make sure to get it up before I post about Thanksgiving. A few weeks ago we were able to attend the Sunday Night Football game at Green Bay and watch the Packers beat the Cowboys by a whole lot. It was a super fun trip. We went with Matt's brother and his wife. All 3 kids stayed with Matt's parents. We were able to stay in a hotel Sunday night and got back on Monday. The weather was great football weather and it was a great fall activity. Below are a couple pictures from the game and one of Grace and her cousin hanging out at Grandma and Grandpa's house while we were gone.

Oops

This is what happens when you put something plastic on the stove and turn the burner on. Oops, I turned on the wrong burner. The smell and clean-up were both unpleasant.

Why Caleb?

I promised that I would dedicate a post to why we have chosen the name Caleb Matthew for the little boy growing inside of me. So here it is. Initially when we set out thinking about names we were definitely only thinking of girl names. For some reason it seemed like it would be easier to pick a boy name to go with Grace. So while we had a short list of girl names and even one that we were pretty set on we didn't really have a good list of boy names the day we found out Caleb was a boy.

One thing that is really important to us in choosing a name is that it has meaning connected to our Christian faith. There are many boy names in the Bible that are very usable so we started there. In the end we had it narrowed down to Noah and Caleb. But Caleb stood out above and beyond Noah to us for a few reasons.

According to most baby books the name Caleb means dog or also faithful and bold. Dog isn't the funnest thing to say your name means but faithful and bold are definitely good qualities to have.

We also love the story of Caleb in the Bible. The summary of it is Joshua and Caleb were two of twelve spies who went to scope out the land that God had promised their people. Joshua and Caleb put their trust in God and his strength and power, while the other ten spies doubted they could defeat the people in the land God had promised them. They said this to the people to declare their faith in God and his promises.

So with that story we had an amazing name. Also, our nephew is named Joshua so it seemed perfect. We were leaning very strongly towards the name Caleb and on the brink of making the final decision when at church that Sunday the verses our pastor preached on were the story of Joshua and Caleb. At that point it was set. Caleb is the name we chose for our son.

Oh and the middle name Matthew. Well we thought that we'd carry on Caleb's fathers name and Matt wanted some attention:)

We Survived

Grace and I survived this past week without Matt here. I honestly didn't know how I was going to when the week started. Of course I love having Matt around just because I love him. I married him because I like having him in my life:) But I also have really appreciated how much he helps out and takes care of Grace and me lately. The mornings are just really tough with this pregnancy and he gets up and feeds Grace breakfast everyday! Then he changes her first poop of the day and gets her dressed.

Matt left on Monday and I dug my feet in and said go. We had invites to hang out with people at least once a day and a couple of friends even had us over for dinner. That definitely made the days less boring. At the beginning of the week I made a list of 3 positives about him being gone. They were...

1. I got the bed to myself which is a nice treat every so often.

2. I got to hang my towel closer to the shower.

3. The bathroom stayed a lot cleaner.

Although the positives were nice I'm happy he made it home safely today and I'll gladly give back his side of the bed.

Cake

1. I am pregnant and when I want something to eat I want it right away.

2. I've been watching "Cake Boss" on Netflix waaaay too much.

3. I saw a picture of my friends' kid eating cake on Facebook.

These are the 3 reasons to justify why I put a yellow cake in the oven at 7:50pm. I will not go to bed tonight until the cake has been frosted in chocolate and partially devoured.

Halfway There - 20 Weeks

This pregnancy is going so fast. I can't believe that I'm halfway done already. If the second half goes as quickly as the first half our new baby will be coming home to a house unprepared.

Boy: As I posted already we found out that we are expecting a boy. While I was initially shocked and still am not used to it we are thrilled. I think having a boy is going to be a great adventure and I'm very excited about it. I'm thankful that most of our stuff is neutral or if it is girly it really doesn't matter. Our son can be swaddled in pink and he will be fine. The only thing we really need are clothes since I'm not really willing to dress him in pink dresses. I bought some newborn stuff off of Craigslist and have had some offers for boy hand-me downs that will definitely be helpful!

Name: We have pretty much settled on a name for our little guy. It is hard for me not to call him by name so we wanted to decide fairly early. Of course it is not set in stone yet but I think we'll go with it. Do you want to know what it is? Caleb Matthew. I'll give you the reasoning behind that choice in another post.

Pregnancy Symptoms: A few things to report on pregnancy. First, I posted a few weeks ago that I had to take my glucose screening test early and I passed it by 1 point. Yikes, that was close! I am still having issues throwing up first thing in the morning everyday and my breakfast a couple days a week. I'd really like that to end but I can deal with it if it doesn't. Finally, I've been feeling Caleb move a ton. I love how much stronger the movements are getting and am looking forward to the really strong ones as he continues to grow.

Hoppy Halloween

We had a nice Halloween weekend and enjoyed several fun activities with friends and also just relaxing at home. Our adventures started with a party at Matt's work on Friday afternoon. Grace got all dressed up in her bunny costume and headed over to see other kids and Daddy. She was hopping all over the office and loving being around other people. The highlight was a little girl dressed as the devil (about 3) who kept chasing Grace around because she wanted to hug the bunny. I couldn't stop laughing at the scene.

Saturday we just spent the day at home and enjoyed a nice walk around the neighborhood. We were invited to a couple of parties that we were unable to attend because we didn't get a babysitter. While they would have been fun I didn't mind spending the evening at home with Matt.

Sunday we had a fun morning at church. All the kids were dressed up and most of the adults went out into the community to do some service projects. I stayed back with the kids and several other moms/volunteers. It was fun watching the kids run around church and play together for a little longer than their usual 1 hourish Sunday morning class.

Sunday evening we invited our small group to come hang out and trick or treat with us. Only a couple of families came and we had a blast. Grace got to trick or treat with her friend Elliott. He was a good example of saying trick or treat and thank you at every house we went to (which was only about 6). Grace however left her bucket behind, emptied it on peoples doorsteps, tried to enter (and even succeeded once) people's homes, and didn't really get was going on. I only took 1 picture all weekend and it is posted above.