1 Month!!

Baby Girl's due date is one month from today!! I feel like this has been a pretty slow pregnancy, but suddenly, we only have a month left and that's not very long (although, I have let her know that the 22nd, in the evening, would actually be a good time to come...so slightly less than a month).

Physically, we are doing great! All of our Dr. visits are very boring and routine (thank you, Lord!). I have a pretty decent amount of energy and I am both shocked and blessed by that! There are days I go to bed at 8, but not everyday. I'm moving a bit slower and bumping my belly into things, but I am very thankful that the second half of this pregnancy has gone so well.

I am excited to meet Our Girl and have her join our family, I feel mentally and emotionally ready to begin The Year Of The Baby. I am also not in a rush for her to come right now. :) Her crib is now pink, we have a place to live, she has clothes for the first 3ish months and everything she needs upon arrival. Once I pre-register at the hospital, buy a vehicle, pack up most of our belongings, figure out some easy meals, schedule movers, take M to his well check, get in at least 2 more good dates with G, plan her naming ceremony and a few more neurotic things, then I will be ready!

Yesterday, George's co-workers gave him a mini-baby shower of sorts. They had sweet gifts for Baby Girl, a fun present for Big Brother Makafui and hot pink cookies!! I am so overwhelmed by their generosity and genuine care for our little family. This has been a week full of little blessings and I am just so grateful for this season of trusting, growing, watching God do His thing.

Makafui has been extra snuggly and even clingy lately. Poor boy, I know he can feel big changes are coming. I also know he will be okay with adding a baby and moving, but it will probably be hard for a little while. I'm praying the Lord prepares his little heart, gives G and I great wisdom and patience and that these transitions go smoothly!

Taking selfies to send to Daddy at work.

The Little Blue House

Last week, I eliminated more than 50 apartments from our list of possible homes. In case you are looking for a 3 bedroom apartment in Austin, you should know, they are REALLY hard to come by. Overwhelmingly, there just wasn't any availability.

So we broadened the geographical search and added houses to the list.

And there was this cute Little Blue House.

The landlady didn't want the house to be vacant as long as we needed and had a lot of other people interested, so it was a no-go.

Then, the closing for the current Little Blue House renters fell through. They decided they would stay through their current lease. The house would be available the first week of December.

The landlady asked if we were interested.

We were. Kind of. Our apartment was not accommodating AT ALL though, which meant The Little Blue House was a no-go...again.

On Saturday, G and I were going to leave Makafui with my mom and not return until we had a place to live. We needed to give our notice to our apartment that day.

I checked my e-mail right before we left to see a message from the Landlady of Little Blue House. The renters had found another house and would be moving out after all. It was final this time and their closing and relinquishment of the house fit PERFECTLY with our timeline.

So we went to The Little Blue House. We walked around, we sat on the back porch and we imagined our life as a family of four there. 3 bedrooms, exactly what we need. It's not too small and not too big, enough room to move around, but small enough to keep clean. A patch of grass. A two-car garage. A sweet little walkable neighborhood with parks and a pool. Closer to George's work than we are now. No. Shared. Walls. It seems pretty perfect.

Last night, we signed our 2 year lease! I am relieved. I am excited. I am feeling so, so blessed by this sweet Little Blue House.

Moving day is 13 days after her due date. :)

Wait and See

We are supposed to give our 60 notice to vacate our current apartment (woot! woot!) by this Saturday. We have chosen our desired location and a month-ish ago, I toured several places and got going rates and a good feel for what we like/want etc. We knew we had MANY options, so I wasn't too worried about the timing of securing a new place and giving our notice here.

Today, we went to our favorite apartment complex after church and guess what? They got nothin'! No 3 bedroom apartment, no 3 bedroom townhome, no 2 bedroom townhome and no 2 bedroom apartment with study. Like, at all. With no availability in sight.

So we went to two more places. One had one available, but it was ugly, overpriced, we needed to take it on my due date or pay an even higher rate for the length of the lease, we needed to buy or rent washer and dryer and Makafui fell while we toured and I got covered in fire ants when I was picking him up. It was definitely a sign-that place was not for us.

After checking online and inquiring with 14 places (that offer 3 bedrooms, I checked many more, but they only had 1s and 2s) in our desired area, we got nowhere! Mostly, there is no availability. There were two I didn't even check because they had really, really terrible reviews and there was an option or two that were a solid $1,000/month above our budget...but they may not have had any availability either, I forget.

In short, I have no clue where we are going to live. However, I know it will work out beautifully, we just have to wait and see....

Picture, picture!

He decided to take the "coo" sunglasses and let me wear the goggles.

Typical Makafui...although the diaper and no clothes isn't...not sure what's up with that!

So in love with his new Firetruck shoes!!

Makafui loves sticks!! This one was a little too gun-like for me, but he didn't know any better.

Cousins playing where their Mamas grew up. :)

Our swimming play date got rained out, McD's to the rescue!

I was allowed in on one of M's Selfies.

Back from the Ghana v. USA game...pretty sure this has something to do with toots and not soccer.

You know you're the Mama of a boy when your Mother-Son dates include a dinosaur and a car.

He is OBSESSED with the Old Navy dog! He also decided that dog needed some fashion too!

My belly with chocolate on it. I'm classy like that.