House #1- The Palace

Before I start posting photos of the new house and her progress I thought it would be fun to take a little walk down memory lane. We are currently in our fifth house together in three years. The other 4 were rentals but played a part in where we are today so let's have a look.

Our first house we lovingly refer to as The Palace. It was anything BUT.

(Layla and the little girl I used to nanny for having a stare-down)

As much as I hated that house I'm bummed I don't have better photos of it. You can see in the picture above that the kitchen was painted green and orange. For some reason I thought that was a great idea and I'll never forget my mom and Jake staying up till 2 am painting it while I slept. We soon found out that no color looks good with orange laminate trim.

That house sure holds some memories. Like the night we had just moved all our stuff in and the fuel oil furnace exploded in our landlord's face. I thought he would go blind. Didn't know fuel oil was still used to heat homes in 2009? Well, it was. There was oil EVERYWHERE and the house reeked  so we spent that first night back at Jake's townhouse asleep on the floor. Then proceeded to spent the night week at an extended stay motel while propane was being installed. Fun, fun.

(The kids taking Layla for a walk around our big backyard.)

I should also mention that the house was damp all.the.time. It was close to swamp land and I swear the foundation was sinking. We used our dehumidifier constantly and would have to take turns coming home at lunch to empty the water. It was that bad. One time I even found mold growing in one of my favorite pairs of shoes.

The house did have its perks though. The location was good, out of town but not too far, it had a nice big deck on the back, a huge yard with the perfect spot for bonfires-which we enjoyed. The yard really was ideal for Layla and was definitely our favorite thing about the house.

(My favorite flowers on our first diningroom table)

We lived there for a total of four months.I found a new place and had a our stuff moved out before Jake even realized what was happening. We said goodbye to The Palace and moved on...

22 Weeks

How far along & size of the baby: 22 weeks along and baby is the size of a papaya

Cravings: Ice cream has been sounding really good lately. And the last couple of days I've been craving coffee even though I couldn't look at coffee the first 4 months. Well yesterday, I stopped at McD's for a small latte and felt terrible the rest of the day. So, I guess I'll be retiring coffee for a while.

On my mind: How much I have yet to get done from now until May. Jake and I were going over our schedules the other night for the next couple of months. There are not even a handful of available weekends from now until D-Day. One of my unofficial resolutions was to work on a home/nursery project every available weekend until the baby comes. Yikes.

21 Weeks

I'm thankful to be halfway through this pregnancy already.

How far along & size of the baby: 21 weeks, baby is the size of a pomegranate and the length of a carrot!

Cravings: Special K fruit and yogurt cereal, frozen Capri Suns

On my mind: Breast pumps are overwhelming. You not only have the pump (electric? Manual? Double? Single? Brand?), but you also have the tubes, other attachments, bottles, gel pads, soothies, breast pads, nursing bras, storage bags, ointments, etc. Oh my gosh. My head might explode.

For comparison's sake:

15 weeks

21 weeks

End of 2012 and Some News

Last year was full of ups and downs. Here are some of the highlights:

I went to Florida in February for a jewelry show with my employers.

Jake and I went to Florida together in May, where he was a groomsman in his friend's wedding.

Jake accepted a job transfer to Petoskey, so we packed up and left Houghton Lake after 1 year there.

My parents bought a new boat and we enjoyed several sunny days over the summer.

In October we closed on our NEW house (after a grueling search and being outbid on the first house).

Perhaps the biggest announcement of 2012 is that we're having a baby! 

Here's baby BOY and I half baked! 

Due in May.

See my 2011 Recap HERE

Christmas in our new house

Well, this has been quite the year and as it comes to a close, I have a little announcement.

We bought a house. In October.

It's a little white house, just like I've always wanted. I wrote about white houses HERE, HERE, and HERE.

We've done a lot of painting and have MANY more projects ahead of us, but here's a little sneak peek at our house this Christmas. The outside is covered in snow so I probably won't get any good shots till spring.

Merry Christmas!

The Island & An Anniversary

As the official end of summer we spent Labor Day weekend on Mackinaw Island. The whether was gorgeous and every time I'm there (it's probably been 10 years) I'm amazed at the perfect scenery. We planned to go, along with my mom and dad to attend a wedding for two of my mom's friends from Jr. High. They reunited after almost 40 years and got married in a beautiful, quaint little white church. I was honored to sing two songs during the ceremony.

And on the 5th Jake and I celebrated three years as husband and wife. Here's to 30 more!

Life Lately

We have had a crazy summer. The first two months were extremely rough and August started turning the corner. Jake accepted a job transfer to Petoskey and a week later we were moving in with my parents and commuting to our jobs while searching for a house to buy. That process has been quite interesting but we're nearing the end:) Here are a few photos of our summer: