Week 20 - Halfway!!!

Week 20 - October 24 - 30, 2013

Officially halfway! I woke up the morning of the 20 week mark in a wonderful mood and so excited! What a triumph! Halfway through my pregnancy with a wonderfully healthy little girl wiggling inside! Hooray!

From 10 weeks to 20 weeks! Baby Hals is growing!

 

Through the day (and the rest of the week) I kept thinking...wow, I have made it so far! And wow, it has gone so fast! But...that thought was quickly swamped with wow, I have so far to go! And...wow, I have a feeling this may go just as quickly! Ah! I triumphantly took a picture of my growing baby bump and reflected upon how much Baby Hals has grown and how well things are going! I was really excited to show up in Florida with my cute bump as well...

 

My official 20 week mark started on a Thursday and Friday morning I was scheduled to get up early, take the MARC and metro into DC to Reagan Int'l, fly to Orlando, and drive to meet up with friends in Florida. I was presenting in Daytona at the Florida Council for Social Studies Conference on Saturday. So...I had a lot to do in terms of packing, finalizing my presentation, and getting my hands on a forsaken apple cord that would allow me to project my iPad through VGA to and LCD projector. So I headed to the apple store in the mall (I had tried to get the cord through Amazon and it had been a disaster). After my apple store experience (I wanted a shower...but that's beside the point), I popped into the Vera Bradley store on my way out because I the baby section caught my eye and I wanted to check out their diaper bag backpack first hand. (Which I am a pretty big fan of!) While there a store clerk approached me and started chatting about the various items, and oh aren't these things so pretty and cute, and oh I had three boys so I never got to enjoy this kind of stuff... At that point I interupted her to excitedly say I was having a girl. She replied "oh, you're pregnant?! I had no idea?" Sigh. Yes, I thought - pregnant and halfway...

 

The next day on my flight from DC to Orlando I sat beside two very nervous, very chatty college age girls on the plane and when my pregnancy came up they again said - oh my gosh, we didn't even notice you were pregnant!! Again...sigh. And then once I met up with my friends we hit the food trucks in Wickham Park (which were delicious and a lot of fun) and we saw a very truly pregnant girl there in a purple shirt who made my cute little bump look just that...like a little bump. But from there I adjusted my perspective. Weight wise I am doing great (gaining, but at a very healthy rate) and ultimately I am glad I am not humongous pregnant. 20 more weeks is a looong time to continue expanding - particularly if I was already quite big. So...ultimately I am glad I am not full blown "grocery store pregnant" just yet, but at the same time...I woke up at 20 weeks, took my picture and did the side by side comparison and could only marvel at how much I have grown. And yet...it evidently isn't enough growth for anyone to think I am anything more than just kinda pudgy. Embracing it...but I spent Thursday and Friday going through an additional mental adjustment of being halfway...but still not obviously anything more than that girl in the grocery store with a beer gut or a cookie addiction.

 

Presenting at FCSS went really well! I really enjoyed getting to share my work with other teachers and overall had a great time with my presentation. And the rest of the weekend? I spent laughing and enjoying the company of our dear Florida friends. We enjoyed dinners, we had a traditional laughter filled evening at WOB and tried to invent the worst possible name for baby Hals, and caught up. It was really nice.

 

During week 20 Baby Hals also became an acrobat...although to my credit I didn't realize it for certain just yet. One of the nights I was staying with Thomas and Brie, I slept absolutely horribly...and kept thinking to myself...do I have a rumbly tumbly or a tumbly baby? In hindsight? I had a tumbly baby! By the end of week 20 it was clear - I had a tumbling, flip-flopping, barrel rolling, somersaulting acrobat in my belly! And it was awesome!

At 20 weeks, Baby Hals is the size of a banana! We took this the last night of week 20 and the night before Daniel left for the Maldives! This one was my favorite!

 

Every week that I feel good I am oh so grateful! I'm trying not to dread the future, but it's pretty common knowledge that I am likely to feel less than comfortable by the end. So every day and each week that I still feel good or even pretty good? I am thankful and rolling with it!

 

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19 weeks! Miss or Mister? Prince or Princess? He or She?!? Baby Hals is a...

October 17th - 19 weeks! Anatomy scan and...gender reveal!!!!

Today was one of my favorite days of my pregnancy so far! After the free-cell DNA test / gender snafu (doc claimed my 13 week blood test accidentally hadn't happened, so they took blood for a free-cell DNA test (which would tell me gender within two weeks!), but the 13 week test results came in after all (just late), so they cancelled the free-cell DNA test mid-test without telling me, so after a two week wait...no gender news = huge bummer) I think I had kinda squished my excitement to know my baby's gender and thus, a large part about my baby's identity into a little box because it was easier that way. We were moving, I didn't have a doctor's office and was having trouble getting in with one, had no idea when we would get an appointment for the anatomy scan...yep, squishing my excitement/desperate desire to know my baby's gender into a box was just easier.

 

But! In the past three days all kinds of big things have happened that we have been working towards for weeks! We moved into our townhome - and as I was signing the final papers with the movers I got a phone call from the doctor's office I really wanted to use! They could see me the next day! (yesterday!) At the appointment things were great - my blood pressure was awesome, my weight gain was right on target (phew!), and my baby maker was measuring to size! Hooray! AND THEN! I told my doc about all the gender drama and asked if there was any way they could squeeze me in sooner rather than later - and they did! Before I left the office I had an appointment for the following morning!

 

I wasn't sure what to expect, but any chance to see Baby Hals is an exciting one - and I was absolutely blown away by this ultrasound! Our baby looked like...a real BABY! Not a blob or a skinny skeleton baby with spindly limbs - but my goodness - a real baby! What a difference 6 weeks can make!

Baby Hals at 13 weeks - quite a cutie!

Baby Hals at 19 weeks!

Baby Hals waving hello - baby's arms and fingers were so much more defined this time!

Baby Hals sucking on the thumb! So cute! We could actually see the baby suckle and swallow!

So...these pictures may not truly do it all justice but Daniel and I were both immediately floored by how much more developed Baby Hals had become in just six weeks! The limbs were so much more defined - especially the fingers, the body had filled out a bit, the profile was more distinctive - and seriously - seeing the baby suckle and swallow was just so so amazing! The technician (who was awesome!...I have loved everyone in this doctor's office and am so excited to have found somewhere good!!!) said the baby was in perfect position and that she was going to take the opportunity to use the "4D (3D in real time)" wand - she warned us that at 19 weeks the baby might look a bit elfish and that the best 4D face pics are usually in another two months once the fat has come in and padded the cheecks, but that she would take a peek anyway - and we were so glad she did! So cool!!!

This one still makes me think of *face palm* "Oh boy, you guys are going to take a lot of pictures...you're THOSE parents..."

What a sleepy sweetie!

Such a cutie! It was so exciting! At that point the technician did some of the formal checks that are part of the anatomy scan - and I was absolutely amazed at what they can do! They were able to do cross sections of the chest and actually count the chambers of the heart! We could see them pumping! She pointed out the baby's aortic arch, bladder, kidneys, stomach, hemispheres of the brain, cerebellum - it was really just amazing! And even more exciting - each of these major, critical, precious things looked great! They all were functioning, measuring to size, looked like they should, etc! How unbelievably amazing and awesome! She also checked size by measuring head, belly, arm, and leg...and my child's head, arm, and leg measured a few days ahead of due date and the belly a few days or two behind due date (wonderfully normal range)...but sounds like we have a lanky, tall, big headed, slender kiddo! :) Heartrate was a wonderfully strong 157 per minute. Amniotic fluid levels were great (which is another indicator of healthy functions), everything was deemed perfectly normal! We were so excited and grateful!

And then for the gender question!...Back story - at sixteen weeks, Daniel's dad (Gary) snuck me into the ER and tried to do a quick ultrasound to see if he could determine gender. The ER ultrasound machine was...let's say less than spectacular. So things were grainy, difficult to see, but Gary hazarded a guess and stamped it with 80% confidence. We were seeing my parents that night for dinner and decided to share - It's (probably) a boy!!!! It was fun and exciting! And we were supposed to be able to support it within the next three business days with the free-cell DNA test results - so isn't it more fun to tell in person? It was fun and even though it wasn't for 100% certain, we enjoyed talking about fun boy things and I showed my family the things I had in mind for a nursery if it was a boy. On the drive from SC to Maryland Daniel and I started chatting through our list of names again. And for the past few weeks I have tentatively imagined a boy, toyed with boys names, etc. And was super excited about it!

But! Fast forward three weeks to ultrasound day! And...the technician transitions from the anatomy check to the gender check and says - do you see this image and know what it means? It's a GIRL!!!!

While we hadn't fully committed to Gary's guess (and in his defense it was early and the equipment was quite crummy), it made the technician's proclamation that much more surprising! We happily laughed and told her the guess story and she assured us - this was a textbook picture with three perfect little lines that clearly translated as "girl." She also said that in her 21 years she has a 100% accurate guessing record and that she would "paint the room" on the textbook nature of the shot she got. So.... Oh my goodness, Baby Hals is a GIRL!!!!

I was so excited that she decided to do one more round of 4D pics...so I could see the face of...my daughter! It looked that much softer and sweeter to know whether it was the face of my he or she. This appointment was by far my favorite so far - and Daniel's too. He also marveled at how much more baby-like our baby looked! As we were leaving the doctor's office Daniel also said "well, I guess that's why none of the boys names we've discussed seemed right!" Ironically Pam and Gary had also mentioned with Daniel they couldn't agree on a girls name and with Emily they couldn't agree on a boys name...so well, there you go.

I immediately started calling the family - everyone was thrilled! And I gave my mother-in-law (Pam) the go ahead to get "bow making" lessons from one of her friends and said "bring on the bows!" And I didn't head home without swinging by Kohls to spend my Kohls cash on my first non-gender neutral purchase! I spent a good while marveling through the baby girl section and finally selected something cute and (yes, it was pink) adorable. :) YAY!

We honestly would have been thrilled with either gender - we cared so much more about just having a healthy baby! BUT! Knowing the baby's gender? SO FUN! I have already gotten to spend the rest of the day personifying my kiddo with "she" and "her" instead of "it" or "he/she" or just "baby"... how could that not help you feel closer to your baby?

Tonight we ate out at our new favorite Indian restaurant in the area and Daniel actually brought up names (what?!) AND identified his favorite (I think my jaw actually dropped)...which was on my top four list too! Sooo...not sure if it will stick...but for now we actually have a front runner! :) We'll see!

 

 

 

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Week 17 - Finding a rental!

Week 17 - October 3 - 9

One of the greatest feats of the week? Officially finding a place to live! I was hesitant to write about any of this until I new for sure we had managed to get the rental we were vying for, but! for once the advantage of blogging from behind? We got it...so now I can write it up with confidence!

First of all for the record...I moved five states north to Maryland site unseen (I did the same with Florida...I suppose I have a true sense of adventure!) and Daniel agreed to a townhome, signed a lease, paid thousands in deposits and fronted rent, and scheduled the movers site unseen. The Hals do not have trust issues!

On the last day of week 16 (Wednesday) I had visited a few rental options with my realtor Penny (wonderful! - if you need an agent recommendation in the area let me know) and as crazy as it may sound...the first place we visited was a resounding favorite! The other ones didn't quite match what I had envisioned or lacked some of the "must haves" that immediately crossed them off the list. So at the end of the day...there was one that stuck out in my mind. The only problem was that 1) we weren't sure if they would take Chance (case by case) 2) the monthly rental rate was just past the range we were hoping for. But here's why I loved it (and because it was past the target $ range I was really trying to not over think about why I loved it...but really...it was a slam dunk rental). So...townhome that is BRAND NEW, recently finished, never lived in and smells like fresh paint (mmmm!); 2100 square feet; 2 car garage and a driveway big enough for two cars to pull up into the drive way (visitors!); back yard access from the basement (yay for Chance!), no fenced yard - but there's grass and that's all we need!; living spaces were large enough for our couches and entertainment system and would be comfortably sized not cramped; actually had a dining room large enough for our dining room table; there was a decent size deck off the dining room/kitchen that overlooked trees!; the kitchen!!! - granite, stainless steel, lots of cabinets, cooktop stove; hardwood floors through kitchen and dining room; there's a half bath on the living level; upstairs three bedrooms (and the spare bedrooms are a nice size); two full baths including a four piece master ensuite; linen closet and nice size master walk in closet; lots of windows; - this place was just a WIN. I was trying SO hard not to get my hopes up and to realize it was just probably too good to be true. All of our must-haves were met and all but one of our wish list items too! (The one wish list no-go was having a washer/dryer on the bedroom floor...it's in the basement...more stairs and better fitness for us!)

Look at this kitchen!!! Yay!!! Enough space, a nice oven and stove top, hooray!

But...Penny called me Thursday and said that she had inquired further and 1) Chance was approved 2) the leasing agent dropped the price of rent by enough that it was in our range!!! and 3) all lawn maintenance is included and they said utilities tend to be about $100 per month...seriously. I told Daniel, thinking I was still going to have to sweet talk him because it was at the top of our price range and he said - do it! Ahhhh! Thursday night before I filled out some of the rental apps I looked through our MLS rental options one more time and it only solidified my belief that I had found something awesome. So...Friday was an insane flurry of paper work. I was getting certified checks, filling out rental applications and background checks, faxing things to my doctors office so they would release my records, meeting with the realtor in Maryland with all the paperwork, managing conversations with our realtor in FL and adjusting the price there, and there was a job that had potential that I had applied for that I needed to scan in about fifteen documents to fully apply. It was an insane day - but in the end I got every single thing done! Very satisfying! I was told that by Tuesday or Wednesday we would know if we had a home or not.

It's no wonder I have an obsession with monkey stuff...Daniel picked these up for me at breakfast (by the time I get down there they are out and it makes me sad) - wanted to pep me up Friday so I could handle all of the craziness!

Beautiful view on our way to dinner - at the Restaurants on the Lake area in Columbia, MD. It's beginning to look like fall!!!

I spent the weekend trying not to get my hopes up...but also starting to play furniture tetris in my head. Even though the square footage was greater than our home, we were loosing rooms and I was doing a lot of mental shifting of things to figure out what the best layout would be. Tuesday I got a call and...we got it! YAY! I set a move in date right away and contacted Daniel who called the movers and ...they were able to move on the day we wanted! It was all falling into place! We weren't going to be homeless! There was a room that I could start envisioning as a nursery! It had a wonderful kitchen and was a place that I would really enjoy calling home! If it was a different year in our lives I would have been less obsessed with where to live, but considering I am currently unemployed, and therefore home a lot more than normal, and considering I am going to be here around the clock with a newborn...finding a place that would be a good fit for us was really really important. I'm super happy and excited about what we managed to find...we kept trying to figure out how on earth this place hadn't been snatched up...but the one thing that I think was in our favor was the fact that the online listing description said "unit may still be under construction, please contact agent." Regardless...we won! :)

Quick glipmse of an early bird fall tree - they aren't all colorful yet,but there are a few like this that give you an idea of what's in store! Gorgeous! So excited!!!

Chance on a non-rainy day enjoying trouncing through the leaves to catch ropes and loving the cooler weather!

Other Maryland adjustments? Continuing to explore and learn the area - and I am increasingly happy with what I find! Weather this week was pretty crummy though - it rained almost non-stop for nearly a week. I though Chance was going to loose it. Poor pup. I donned the rain coat and took him on a long walk regardless if we had back to back days of rain, but still - he was super bored and over it.

And Baby Hals and myself? Baby Hals is still a wiggling, growing cutie in there! I can tell that my baby maker is getting bigger - it's almost at my belly button now and I had an evening where I realized my gurgling "tummy" (consider tummy a collective term for all digestive organs) was gurgling from different places than normal - it was seriously weird. But, upon some fruitful internet searches I realized how displaced my stomach and small intestines already are and that yep...gurgling just below my ribcage is where that carries on now! Pretty crazy.

I'm still struggling to get in with the doctor's office, but I finally found out toward the end of this week that my doc's office mailed the new office all of my records. Mailed....not faxed. Good because it means it will be thorough...but bad because it means that it's going to take even longer for me to be seen. Sigh. Some day. I finally looked up the test I need and while it's standard to occur between 16-18 weeks, I have until 22 weeks technically. So...my attitude now? Que sera sera. I'll call a week after it was mailed and see where we are.

I am still so incredibly grateful that all of this has been going on during the second trimester and not during my first. I have thought of that frequently. My adventures in my attempts to work out still seem to continue. I have had several days where I have had a really good work out. Not one where I pushed way too hard, but work outs where I got sweaty, felt good and refreshed, and was really glad I had worked out. Not knocked out for the day or anything. But...the day after...has sucked. And it is a different part of me every time. One day it was everything around my tummy - to the extent that I wanted to only take Chance on a mini walk because walking was just uncomfortable (but I had been FINE the day before) or another day after an elliptical work out (which for the record I own one and have one at home that I use all the time) my hips and feet were so tenderly sore I could barely walk...it was just ridiculous (and again I had felt GREAT after that workout the day before). So...working out during pregnancy is like Russian roulette...I honestly have no idea what to expect the next day, but I definitely should not plan on being able to pull off consecutive workouts. Good grief. I tried prenatal yoga on Tuesday night and really enjoyed it! The next day? Felt like I had had a light workout....so at least that one was a success! I guess the biggest thing I have realized is that even if a workout is good one day...my body changes...pretty much every day...so the next time I attempt that same workout who knows how my body will feel afterwards. It's a really bizarre notion for a person to grasp who is one of those creature-of-habit-workout-routine people. I'm very used to knowing how a workout it going to make me feel afterwards...this laughs at that! Rolling with it!

I think I am starting to have a bit of a bump! :) The picture on the left is Week 11, on the right Week 17! Six weeks makes a big difference! (Literally!)

 

 

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Week 18 - A Wedding and Moving In!

Week 18 - October 10-16, 2013

This week was another busy one! We made it down to Charlotte to see one of our dearest friends get married and enjoyed quite a weekend of festivities and after parties with Kate & Cj Huelsman! Chance was a hotel dog in Charlotte too and his hotel training was definitely apparent. We drove back to Maryland and returned to our hotel on Sunday night, finalized the lease and did a walk through of our new townhome rental on Monday evening, and I was at the townhome early Tuesday morning to act as "air traffic control" as the movers delivered all of our beloved things! Tuesday was an asbolutely grueling and exhausting day and I spent a great deal of it running up and down the stairs between the three stories of our new home, but I felt incredibly triumphant by the end of it! And, as our furniture was steadily delivered into the various rooms I was very relieved and excited that things fit the way I had hoped - I had not underenvisioned the size of the townhome - it was just right for our furniture and what we own. Yay! By the time Daniel got home there were very few things that needed to be done to make sure he would be able to get ready for work with ease the following morning. Oh and another relief or exciting thing? Daniel had fully trusted me and let me pick the townhome out site unseen - so Monday I was anxiously hoping he would see all of the positives that I saw... and he did! After another day or two he admitted how great a find it was. His commute is excellent as well!

Oh and Chance?! Couldn't be a happier dog! When I let him loose in the townhome it was like "he knew". He happily sprinted up and down the stars all day, checked out all the windows in the house, and spent the day laying in the sunshine (he didn't get much sunshine while in the hotel aside from walks) and surveying the movers work.

Baby Hals? Doing great! On the super busy days I haven't been able to feel him/her wiggle all that much, but then in the evenings when I sit down BH is back at it (or I am still enough that I can feel the wigglings). I am feeling really good and luckily full enough of the energy I need to pull off these crazy move-in days and our trip to Charlotte!

Here's some of the highlights - I am going to let the pictures speak for themselves -

Part of the Chapin crew with Mr. and Mrs. Huelsman!

 

Sporting my little bump!

 

 

Front of our new home! Two car garage baby!

 

basement area

backyard access behind the townhome - look at all that space for Chance!

back of our townhome

living room

dining room and kitchen

stairwell number 2 - heading up to the third story

master bedroom

nice size walk-in closet

four piece master ensuite with double sink!

Baby Hals' future bedroom!

Our possessions...all 8 cargo boxes

Chance sunning himself and monitoring the movers progress

 

yay! the dining room table fits!

living room - yay we got our awesome couches back!

master bedroom - furniture fit! whew!

classy dining the first night - tupperware lids double as decent plates in a pinch!

 

And there was a lot of this...I think that's the paper from three boxes.

Most random box ever. Bedroom slippers, cookbooks, IB profen, Chance toys, caulk gun, pyrex, tupperware, toothbrush holder, cake cutter from our wedding...seriously.

playing with paper - Chance is not so amused

 

it'll eat you alive!

that look in his eye...yep, this is a lot of work...

 

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Week 16 - Sweet Sixteen!

Week 16 - September 26 - October 2!

I swear I don't think this about every single week...in fact week 15? week 17? ...but something seems monumental about being able to say that your pregnancy is 16 weeks along. Maybe it's the fact that if I were to go for an ultrasound it is time to look for gender or...I don't know what it is but it seems like a big deal! In my head I think the next big landmark is week 20...

 

Anyway - week 16! Holy cow! Part of me really can't believe I am this far already - it seems like the past few weeks have slipped through my fingers but...I guess we have kinda been putting our house on the market and moving North by five states... I'm going to claim that's a pretty good excuse. I also think my bump is growing and that I am not fully aware of how much it has grown...if that makes sense. There has been a lot less time to obsess and take stock! There's definitely a bump though - I'm just still pretty sure I look like I am in between questionably pregnant or girl with quite the pot belly. Getting there though and not rushing it! I feel like every week I am still moderately sized is another week I am not huge! Again...not sure if that makes sense to anyone else...but it does in my head! Baby Hals is an avocado now too! I have found that the fruit/veggie sizes are really frustrating because...fruit/veggie sizes vary so widely! Ever since I bought a peach at 13 weeks (that was evidently a mega size peach) all of the other comparisons have been way off...I mean at 15 weeks one of the things said apple - which again can widely vary in size...and almost all of them were smaller than my mega peach. But avocado? Aside from the really large/jumbo ones, most standard avocados are pretty similar in size - I feel like it's a baby size I can wrap my brain around! So...my little avocado has been wiggling away this week!

Enjoying a beginning of fall boat ride with our families!

 

Packed back up and heading out! Chance is not so sure about another day in the car...

Time to head out on our next new adventure!

 

And we're off! Maryland or bust!

 

The beautiful happy balloons the Kunkles had delivered to our room!

Thursday of this week we were still in SC visiting family. We got to spend the afternoon and evening visiting with my parents and the Hals family and even got to enjoy a beautiful it's-starting-to-feel-like-fall boat ride on the lake. And then Friday morning we packed up and headed out - Maryland or bust! It was a long drive - and the last two hours are the worst (from Fredericksburg through DC into Maryland is just busy no matter what you do), but we made it! We checked into the Residence Inn with no problems - they gave us a magnet to put on our door that was an alert that we had a "furry guest" (Daniel's company had reassured us that things were set up for our pet, but I still was relieved to know Chance was officially a welcome guest). And then! When we got up to our hotel room there were two big surprises that made our night! First! Our dear friends Arthur and Kristina (two of the originals from the Florida Family who have since moved to this area of Maryland) had balloons and a card delivered to our room which read "Welcome Home!" What a perfect greeting! :) And second (it's going to seem silly in comparison to such a sweet gesture) - when Daniel had found out where we would be staying he said it was good because it was newly renovated (he had stayed there for work several times) but he bracingly told me that his rooms were always one room - with no door between the bedroom and the sitting/kitchen area (which would be really tough for us!)...but!!! The second thing - there was a DOOR between the bedroom and the living area - hooray!

The very sweet and thoughtful welcome from Arthur and Kristina!

 

I took Chance out for a late night walk - we both really needed to stretch our legs - and I was all smiles! I needed a light jacket to be warm enough on the walk! And! There were deciduous trees everywhere! And! There was an early bird tree that was turning ahead of all the others and I was able to pluck a delightful brilliantly red maple leaf to take back to the room with me! Yay!

 

I feel like the past few weeks I have been writing a very formulaic daily play by play of our days - mainly because it's the only way to not leave things out...and we have so much going on I can't help but to feel like lots of the things were big things...but I'm going to try to get away from that soon - really! We spent our first weekend on the go! (Surprised?) We were really excited to try to restaurants and had high hopes that we would be able to find a wide variety of quality ethnic restaurants -so we set out to find try a Middle Eastern style meal to start. After a day of "road food" (it doesn't matter how healthy you try to be...it's still quick, convenient, processed, makes you feel crummier than other food would food) we were craving something with a fresh, healthy twist and were hoping that would fit the bill - and what we found was pretty tasty! We were off to a great start!

No, this is not the Middle Eastern food - but is one of the many other ethnic restaurants we have found in the past week! Mmmm Korean BBQ! It was so fun to take Daniel here and finally get to show him how it was done in Seoul!

Poor Chance was still shell shocked and not himself at all - the tell tale sign that the pup has shut down is that he stops eating - and he had skipped multiple meals at this point. So, we decided to try the local dog park (which requires a daily fee or an annual pass - so trying it was worth a shot, but it's not an everyday kind of activity unless we are residents with an annual pass). Chance loves dog parks, he loves doggy day care (on days when there are 50-70 dogs!), and today? He wanted to hang out at our feet. He warmed up eventually...ish...and we managed to get him to frolic and run about a bit and even played a little rope - but our dog was just not himself. However, when we returned home? He ate! Win!

 

Knowing our emo pup was on the road to recovery we felt much better about heading out for the night - so we were off to meet the Kunkles! I was finally going to meet Miss Lillian!!! She's an adorable sweetie! And we had a great time catching up with our dear friends Arthur and Kristina (who we met during the first month we all lived in Florida back during the summer of 2006). We enjoyed a tasty meal at the adorable Savage Mills shopping area (evidently Daniel had been before), but they enjoyed showing me a favorite local place - the Rams Head. It was fun to catch up and get some local insight and some pearly parenting wisdom and left the Kunkles excited to know we were near them again and that this was not a once a year kind of catch up! From there Daniel and I even headed down to the Ellicott City Fall Festival and enjoyed a long, lengthy stroll - with crisp, fall air!!! through the moderately hilly downtown sprawl of Ellicott City. It was neat to finally get to walk the area - lots of fun quirky character. We have some exploring to do! With all the traveling we have done it really is hard for it to feel like we have actually moved...we're just on a trip, right? ...I'll let you know if that feeling changes.

Enjoying a meal at the Rams Head while catching up with the lovely Kristina and adorable Miss Lillian!

 

Sunday we finally slept in! It had been days and days of craziness, but the whole family slept in so late we barely made it down for breakfast! After that it was time to head to the mall to find Daniel some more grown up clothes (new job, new climate, new wardrobe - he is embracing the snazzy and I am enjoying the challenge of trying to find him some nice new outfits!), grabbed some Chipotle from the food court (a tried and true healthy enough lunch) and then hopped in the car to drive through some of the neighborhoods and get a better feel for the area. Side note - I love the mall we have nearby - lots of options, huge food court, will definitely come in handy - I love suburbia!

 

Impressions as we drove? It's a beautiful area! I LOVE the deciduous trees - I cannot fully express how much they've been missed! We happened upon a townhome open house and popped in - it was a pretty nice one and it was good because Daniel was able to get a feel for what a townhome layout is like and we were able to talk about what we would want. (Especially good considering I would be doing the majority of the looking during the next week). While cruising around we drove by Daniel's work and he pointed out the building he was going to end up in. From there I talked Daniel into driving to the furthest neighborhood I was considering for our home search to a) see if it was a reasonable commute and b) see if it was an area we would actually be interested in - I had noticed our money went further when I was rental hunting in this area (less money for pretty nice single homes...but I had a feeling that was a bad sign). By the way - my hunch? Was right - I crossed it off my list. We drove through a few more areas of interest and headed home - I had a bit more to work with when I contacted a realtor and had a slightly better sense of the area. Success!

 

It was at that moment that we realized the moment we were looking forward to was not going to work out as planned. First of all in FL we did not have cable TV. We had the internet and it was plenty. In fact, it worked pretty awesomely for us. Watching episodes a day after is just not that big a deal for us...most of the time. However, the grand finale of Breaking Bad? We wanted to watch that live - and conveniently we were going to be in a hotel with cable/satellite TV for that exact occasion. Except...that of all of the channels we had...AMC was not one of them. Ahhh! We immediately went to the internet to try to creatively solve our problem...but no. We were in trouble. So who saved us?! The Kunkles! Hooray! Kristina and Arthur let us come over for dinner and delightful chocolate chip cookies and we all crowded into the living room to watch the epic ending to an amazing show. (Super grateful for the spontaneous accommodations - thank you A and K!)

 

Monday and Tuesday I sunk my teeth into hunting for rentals in a big way. I had been looking for weeks - but now it was go time. The trickiest thing for me was actually finding a realtor - not all of them deal with rentals - and we had tons of recommendations, but mainly for someone to help us buy a house...not for rental hunting. We decided to rent for a year for multiple reasons - 1) we haven't sold our home yet and don't want the responsibility of two mortgages, 2) we are still adjusting to living with one income not two 3) we are about to throw a baby into the mix on top of everything else and don't know how that will directly affect $ 4) we don't know where we want to live for good yet 5) if I do get a job we don't know where that is going to be yet...and we wouldn't want to buy in the exact wrong direction for a commute. Solid reasons. Enough said.

 

It's also way easier to write a list of what we have to have and what we would really like to have - now that we've lived in an apartment and later bought a home...I feel like I have a pretty good idea of what we need, what we like, and what works for us. A rental isn't permanent - so I'm trying to find something we can enjoy - and something that will work for the life changes we have up ahead too (aka - enough room for a nursery!) I know that I love to cook - so the kitchen is super crazy important to me (and the HORRENDOUS kitchen at the Residence Inn reminds me of the importance of this daily too!), we aren't interested in a place that doesn't have a big enough living space for a dining room and living room - those were the two rooms (other than the kitchen) that we used with high frequency. We truly need a place that has door that opens to access grass so that we can let Chance out. (And not two square feet of grass on the edge of a street so that I have to leash him so he can pee). Fenced in yard isn't necessity - but ability to let the dog out without leashing him up is a major requirement. So lots of things like that - only a few requirements (actually that was most of them) and several wish list items... we'll see how we do!

 

Tuesday afternoon I took Chance on a big multi-mile walk around the lake at Centennial Park - it was beautiful! There were deciduous trees!!! (Again, obsession with the trees - they're so peaceful - there's a hush about them and it's just...awesome!) It was beautiful weather - still quite warm in the sun, but perfect in the shade - Chance was super happy and so was I and we both got a great workout it.

Enjoying a beginning to be fall walk at Centennial Park

Daniel had a great first few days! He was really excited about the job and had always had a great impression when he visited the company as a representative of his former employer, but I was super relieved that he was still really happy about his decision even after the orientation and all the nitty gritty details about policies and how things "really are." We sat down after day 1 and filled out all of the benefits information - and as of midnight this pregnant lady was covered! Win!

 

I was really relieved to have a realtor appointment set up for Wednesday. At first I was worried I wasn't moving fast enough, but then I told my head to shut up. I really loved one of the places we saw (honestly it was perfect...really it met all but one of my extensive wish list items!) and the realtor was going to inquire about whether Chance would be welcome or not (case by case) so until we hear about that...I'll keep looking but keep that place on our short list! It was exciting to find something awesome on day one! I would feel like I'm "doing it wrong" - but as mentioned about - we know what we want, it's just finding it.

 

Wednesday we also met up with my sister Ali and her fiance Brad, who moved up to this area back in March and we enjoyed getting our first (of many) chances to meet up with them. Daniel and Brad both work in computer software areas so foundationally they have a lot in common. We are excited to have the opportunity to get to know them better! Ali and I haven't lived in the same town in over a decade...and back then I was in high school and she was a middle schooler. Yeah...it's been a while.

 

Baby Hals is still doing well! Toward the end of this week I think I grew a bit - my belly has been feeling heavier...(if that makes any sense?) and I feel like there's more pull and stretch going on all of a sudden. I also had my second mega crash of the pregnancy on Sunday night (sadly the Breaking Bad night) - I had a nagging headache (that nothing touches that intensifies with movement) and just steadily felt worse and worse and worse through the evening - like I was having another major hormone surge of some kind. It had happened once before and like the other time - sleep was the magic fix. I felt 100% better the next morning...but it was crazy how rapidly my body revolted and shut down.

 

But otherwise? I really can't complain - aside from that one night of weirdness, I have been feeling pretty great. We are loving the weather and the beautiful trees! Chance is doing MUCH better - it took him a day or two, but he seems to be adjusting and settling in. We've found a few places to unleash him and play rope and really that makes a huge difference for him too.

 

The only negative this week? I was supposed to find out by Monday or Tuesday at the latest the results of the free-cell DNA test - and really I had been counting down! I was SO excited to know with nearly perfect, scientifically based certainty whether Baby Hals was a boy or a girl! That was part of what I was so excited about - since sometimes on an ultrasound they can't tell because baby doesn't cooperate...or they aren't sure about what they see - I was just so excited to be able to KNOW with "you can paint the baby's room" confidence. So...when I called on Wednesday to find out what was going on I was told that a) the 13 week test they said hadn't actually been done...had actually been done after all, the results had just come in rather late; b) therefore, my insurance wouldn't have covered the free-cell DNA test, so the doc's office cancelled it immediately to avoid me being double charged. I.was.crushed. And then I felt guilty for being crushed. Then I realized I was being very realistic...I was really glad that the 13 weeks test was normal (although they don't tell you the results for most of it because they pair it with a later test and then give you the complete results), but I had been told I would know the gender with certainty if I patiently waited two weeks only to be told...oh...right - yeah - you're not going to find that out. That's a HUGE violation of expectations - and when it's tied to your baby's identity and getting to know your baby better - how could I not be crushed? What made it worse was that I didn't have a doctor set up in this area yet...so it's not like I had a scheduled anatomy scan to look forward to...I had nothing. And then...when I posted my disappointment on facebook I was further crushed by everyone's reactions...I should have never ever posted about such things on facebook. So many people didn't understand. I know I will eventually find out Baby Hals' gender, it was that I was promised that information, anxiously waited two weeks, and was then told - oh, no - we have no idea when you will officially find out. It was another unknown - and an additional unknown for a currently homeless pregnant lady...made for a bit of a meltdown. And one that I'm not remotely ashamed of. I felt lonely because I felt like there were hardly any people out there who understood why I was disappointed, lost because I had no idea when we would know more, bummed because if I had the scan at 20 or 21 weeks my husband was going to be out of the country and would miss the whole thing, and homeless...add in pregnancy hormones and...you have a crazy pregnant lady sobbing in her car. Yep. What's the happy thing I can cling to? The tests didn't tell us much...but the things it did tell us is that Baby Hals is healthy and normal as far as they can tell. In the end that's all that matters. (But for that day? I was disappointed).

 

Why am I not rushing out to a gender sneek peak place? Because we just moved 1,000 miles and Daniel is going like a month without being paid in the "in between" time. I'm writing all this from behind...because that's just how I seem to roll as of late and sadly...it's almost been another week and I still don't know when I'll even get in with a doctor - I am still in the hell of trying to transfer my medical records and get a doctor to agree to take me. I'm probably going to miss the window for the second genetics test - and honestly - all I can do is shrug. I've filled out forms, I've made phone calls, I've faxed stuff, I've done everything I can - but things are just not moving quickly...even though I am (in that I turn things around on my end instantly). I think I have like three days left for the blood draw - I'll call again tomorrow - but considering I called today and was promised to be contacted today...my hopes? Not up. Keep your fingers crossed on our rental search though!

 

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