Updates!

A lot has happened since I last posted. We put our house on the market on January 14 and exactly 7 days later someone made us an offer. We counter-offered back and forth a few times and they accepted our last offer!!! Can you believe our house sold in 7 days? Of course the contract is "pending" but it's pretty much a done deal. The couple that is buying our house REALLY love it, (as they should, and who wouldn't). Today all of the different inspectors came by and they were in and out pretty quickly. The home inspector has a very short list of things for us to do and it's things we were expecting, so that's good. Unfortunately they weren't fixed before the inspector came, but I can't make ppl do things on my watch, even though I wish I could. We are looking to close on February 22, 2010. The appraiser will be out some time hopefully next week. After that the closing date will be given for sure, but the lender doesn't see any reason that it would be later than the 22. So I'm in the process of packing and getting ready to move in with my mom. I will be induced on the 19 of February so that Kenneth can be here. I'll move in with my mom the week before I'm induced so that I won't have to worry about moving again until we leave for TX. So I'm also looking for a storage unit. I have NO idea what size unit I need. I am also having a garage/yard sale the first weekend of February to get rid of a LOT of stuff. Hopefully a lot of ppl will turn out for the event and give me lots of money. lol. I have sold a few things on craigslist which is nice. Wow! You know that you're busy while you're going through your days, but when you see how much you're doing when it's written down it makes you wonder, "How on earth am I going to do all of this and how have I done ALL the other stuff!?" I have truly been blessed! My Ward Family has just reached out and gone above and beyond! I feel so loved and supported. I can also see Heavenly Father's hand in this entire process. I mean come on, who sells a home in 7 days? Heavenly Father does! I am really gaining a stronger testimony in so many different facets of the gospel. The girls have been great. We of course have our days that I can't wait for bed time to come, but for the most part they are better behaved than not. That too I believe is coming from our Father in heaven. He is really uplifting the girls. They miss Kenneth SO much! Ashlyn draws him pictures regularly and they each talk to him on the phone every night before bed. I've taken a few videos on the cell and sent them to his Blackberry. He says it's like Christmas when he gets to see them. Ashlyn just learned to tie her shoes to the point that I don't really help her ever with her shoes any more and I was able to catch it on video and send it to him. He is VERY impressed. Jade's vocabulary is just taking off. She pretty much says whatever she wants and hears. Of course I don't always understand it, but for the most part I can tell what she's talking about.

Well I'm just a few wks away from delivery and I cannot wait to see Kenneth! I know this sounds horrible, but I don't want to share him with the girls. But I also know that they really need him. I'm not looking forward to him leaving us again though. I just know how emotional I'll be from just having Dallin and the girls will be sad that he's not staying. Ashlyn can understand so much, but Jade will probably just be really confused. I hope that they both just RUN to him when they get to first see him in February. I know Ashlyn will, but I'm starting to wonder about Jade. Even though she talks to him all the time on the phone, she hasn't seen him in over a month. I know he'll be hurt if she's shy toward him. Well, we'll see what happens. Well I think that pretty much sums everything up. Then again I have the pregnancy brain and am still trying to recover from the other two pregnancies as far as memory goes so I'm sure I'm forgetting a few things, important things even. It may be quite awhile before I'm able to post again. I'll do my best, but I can't make any promises. I will have a friend take pics of Dallin when he arrives and let everyone know when he makes his debut. I cannot wait to see what he looks like! The drs. say he's very small. Maybe a 6 pounder. Weird for me, I haven't had one under 7. Who's complaining!? I love you all and hope to have the chance to say goodbye to everyone.

Preparations and Concerns

Okay so I figured it would be really stressful to get ready to have a baby, prepare my house for selling, keep it clean for walk-throughs of potential buyers and do everything else a mom does day to day all without the help of my husband. I had NO idea how much of a strain it really would be. I've always been a night owl but when you have two small children, you're 8mo pregnant and you are constantly on the go you should really rest a lot more often than I have been. Our house went on the market on Thursday Jan. 14. On Friday Jan. 15 I had just finished feeding the girls lunch and put Jade in her crib for nap time and began paying my bills online when all of a sudden the phone rang. It was our Realtor, Sherry Smith (whom we LOVE) asking how quickly I could have the house ready and be out of it so someone could stop by and look at it (here we go)! So I asked for 30minutes and jumped up as fast as I could. Jade luckily for me was and had been talking quite loudly in her crib not yet asleep. So I kept her there while Ashlyn and I ran through the house picking up. It worked out quite nicely because Jade couldn't go behind us and make a mess like she usually does when I try to clean (however she did manage to take off half of her clothes and throw everything out of her crib). I got the house ready grabbed the girl's things and headed to the car. Just as I was buckling Ashlyn's seat belt I saw a car approaching and just knew that it was them. They past the house and waited at the end of the rd while I was backing out. I realized right before getting into the car that I was having some contractions. I knew they would subside once I was able to rest and settle down. I didn't really know where I was driving to until Ashlyn suggested we do our grocery shopping. I figured that would give them plenty of time to look at the house and give me some driving time to calm my body down. By the time I got to Wal*Mart my cheeks were so red and I was sweating, (yes in 63 degree weather with the window down and the AC on) and Ashlyn thought it important to tell me how red my cheeks were. lol. I sat in the car for awhile before getting out and the contractions passed. We did our shopping and went home. Unfortunately Jade missed her nap and fell asleep in the car at 5pm. Not a decent napping hour so I had to keep her up, that wasn't fun either. After the day had ended for the girls and they were asleep I got to talk to Kenneth. He said that Sherry called and said the ppl that looked at the house really liked it but that they had some concerns. Their concerns included the backyard where we have some standing water, the storm drains in front of the house, (for some reason they thought they were part of our property and our responsibility) and the cracked tile in the master bathroom caused by the settling of the house (which by the way is TOTALLY normal). The good news is that all of these things are temporary problems. The backyard was supposed to be finished before Thursday but the man's equipment broke down. He'll be here early this coming wk. The storm drains are not our responsibility and there only purpose is to catch run off water from the street, (I thought everyone knew that). Next the tile will be fixed probably this weekend. It just needs to be cut out and re-layed and it's only 5 tiles. The couple wants to come back after the backyard is finished and to their surprise the tile will be done by then too. YAY. Now we just hope that they REALLY want the house. We'll see what happens. I understand that my chances of the first ppl to look at our house and buy it are not likely, at all but, a girl can dream. Ashlyn has been SUCH a big helper. She helps me clean up all the time. I know it's not really fun to clean so if anyone has any ideas of how I may be able to make it exciting for the girls I'd love to hear them. I'm sure you're wondering where I'll go if my house sells before we're supposed to leave for TX (March 20). We'll move in with my mom. Now you may wonder "Why don't you just move in with her now rather than hustle to clean the house every time someone wants to see it?" The answer my friends is that my mother lives about 45 minutes away from me and Ashlyn is still in school. I would have to drive an hour there and then an hour back EVERY Monday-Thursday. Not worth it in gas. I don't want to pull Ashlyn out of school either, at least until we have to so that we can move. She's already got enough on her plate about leaving her friends and cousins and especially her house. The girl prays that we won't sell it! It's the only house she's ever known, or remembers anyway. I'm wondering if maybe I should move in with my mom after the baby is born because how can I be in the middle of breastfeeding and clean at the same time if someone wants to come look at it? Oh the possibilities and problems and decisions. If anyone has a LOT of experience with this kind of thing or any suggestions I'm open to hear them. Well that's basically the update for now. I have a Dr. appt on Monday morning and I'm hoping we can go ahead and schedule my induction date. I'd love to be able to go ahead and buy Kenneth's plane ticket and prepare even better. Well here's to much prayer...and cleaning.

Oh I almost forgot! When I was talking to Kenneth last night he told me he got me something. It's not my birthday, or our anniversary, or even V-Day yet. He just wanted to get me something to let me know that he was thinking about me and how much he appreciates all that I'm doing and wishes he could help. Too sweet! I cannot wait to see what it is. He was going to surprise me but he accidentally slipped and mentioned that he went to the mall. What man just goes to the mall intentionally and willingly when he's alone? Of course that sparked questions on my behalf. Why was he at the mall? Even I don't go to the mall anymore, (not by choice of course). He asked if I wanted it hand delivered, (meaning when he flies down for Dallin's birth) or if I wanted it shipped. If you know me well you know I can't wait. I'm not good with surprises because I get too excited and just HAVE to know. lol. But I love to be surprised if you can keep it from me, (which not many have succeeded with). Otherwise watch out! I'm very sneaky. =D So to wrap things up I'm basically losing my mind stressed out and I have the best husband in the world.