Currently, we have gotten the entire first floor of the townhouse cleaned, and the laundry room painted. Chris and Katie (the previous owners, and new owners of the Bridgewater house) had 4 cats and a dog, and the litter boxes from the cats had been kept in the laundry room, so that room was the first priority in getting spic and span so that we could get the liter smell out before bringing the pets by (don't want anyone to be marking territory over other smells!). Today at 2 we have the estimator coming to price out new carpeting too. The carpeting there is a bit worn, and sometimes things just need to be refreshed for the new owners. :-) We are really excited though.
Scott's cousin Jesse came for a visit, and has been a god-send, priming the upstairs bedrooms for us so we can paint later this week. He truly has been a huge help, and it's been wonderful to have some family visit. I finally finished picking out colors for the bedrooms and kitchen, so it will be really fun to see the transformation as it happens. I will try and remember to take pictures through the various stages. We even cooked our first meal at the house last night. Granted, we ate our steaks off plastic-ware plates, but it was nice to comfortably have 4 people in the kitchen without anyone bumping into each other. Right now, we can't even fit Scott and I in our kitchen together without and elbow to the ribs. hahahaha
So, as I'm sure you can tell, things have been and will continue to be busy for a bit while getting ready for that. I will be sending out "change of address" cards to the family in the next week or two, but for those of you who want the new address sooner, we are moving to (effective now):
525 Pointe Drive
Harrisonburg, VA 22801
On to how things are going with our little Ellaina! Well, obviously, there has been lots of excitement, and, as I'm sure you can see from the pictures, I have definitely been putting on the belly weight. :-) I am up to 137.5 as of our last visit, with a starting weight of 117, so a healthy 20lbs weight gain so far. The mid-wife had said I should gain around 35 total, so I'm right on track with where I should be it seems. Ellaina is a very active little one, and we had our 24 week mid-wife appointment on Friday. They said that everything is looking good, her heart beat was around 150 bpm, and that my belly is measuring 25 centimeters (rule of thumb is 1 centimeter per week of pregnancy) so I'm a touch bigger than my actual weeks of progression, but nothing to be concerned about. Next visit I have to take a glucose screening test to check for gestational diabetes (standard practice nowadays) and that will also mark when my appointments become every two weeks instead of once a month.
I am also coming to the conclusion that we will have quite the smarty pants on our hands... solely based on the brain cells Ellaina seems to be stealing from me. hahahaha As if it weren't bad enough that I'm blonde and ADHD to begin with, the "pregnancy brain" has made me feel like a total scatterbrained idiot as of late. For example, last Saturday (a week ago), I just couldn't seem to get anything right. I started out by leaving the car windows open during a thunder storm (DOH!), then washing Haileys new dog bed and subsequently melting the liner that held in all the foam, so it came pouring out of the dryer at me (Oye Vey!), and finished off the day losing my keys in the Ollie's store while getting Hailey a new bed to replace the one I had ruined (that one took the cake). Thankfully, the assocaite found my keys, but by the end of the day, I was ready to go home and sleep before I could do something else totally stupid!
I have to admit though that the time is flying. When this journey started, 9 months seemed like such a long time. Now, with only having a little more than 3 months to go, it is amazing to me to think that it will be over so soon, and that I'll be meeting our little girl in such a short amount of time. The next three months will fly by too, especially between moving, baby showers in PA with the Drugo and Uncapher families, and the housewarming party we are having in August (when I am on travel restriction and too big to be going anywhere, as well as us being settled into the house by then).
In some ways, I am already thinking about how much I will miss feeling her kicking inside me. I know having her in my arms and all that comes with her being here will be another adventure, but I'm also trying to enjoy the time I have when her and I are part of one body, and I realize that it won't be for that much longer. There's a certain magic to feeling her kick, her movements, her hiccups... Watching her change my body, and me becoming this totally different human being with a added sense of purpose. I think I will miss that to some extent. Granted, I still have 3 very hot months of pregnancy in front of me, so I may be feeling a bit less "magical" in a month or two, but I think I will revel in it for the time being. :-)
A couple of notes about registry items... Though we are registered at Target for ease of access and having one central registry, I have realized a number of items on the registry are "internet only" items, as well as that some things, such as the crib bedding set, can be found for a good bit less elsewhere online. I have tried to add some clothing and smaller items also to the registry, and continually update it with items. As I have said before, this is the "pie in the sky" list. We appreciate all of the interest from our family and friends, and can't say thank you enough to those that have been helping us with preparing for our daughter's arrival. The support and encouragement has truly been overwhelming. :-)
Well, time to get to some other stuff for the day. I will make a big effort to get on here more often with updates. I hope all of you are doing well. :-)
Love you all, Nic & Ellaina
