Moving Right Along [10.31.11]

Our second floor got framed today.  I wish I would have gotten a pic of the house before they wrapped it with plastic, but oh well.  I am so excited!!

This shows you how our lot is configured.   We chose lot #445 for privacy.  We will only have to deal with one neighbor being close to us and that is fabulous.  Everything should work out great as long as #444 doesn't have loud, obnoxious kids or a yappy dog.  Our lot looks small on the drawing but it is actually not.  All of these lots are quite spacious.  Ours is just smaller than the rest.  We are already dreading how much yard we will have to take care of.  It is almost twice the size of our last yard in Colorado.  I am so glad we aren't on #441.  We hate big yards and the work that goes with it.

Drive-by [10.31.11]

The second floor is framed!!  Unfortunately, I don't have proof since I left my camera card in my laptop and my iPhone on the charger back in the apartment.  Sigh....  I will try to get a photo tonight before we trick-or-treat.

Well, Lookie Here... [10/28/11]

We suddenly have the ground floor framed! I am beyond excited!!

Drive-by [10.27.11]

Look what came today!!

Our builder pieced together the walls and trusses off-site in a temperature controlled warehouse before it got dropped off at our lot.  Now we just need someone to put the puzzle together and it will start to actually look like a house!

Hayden waving to me from the middle of the slab

The boys running around and goofing off on the slab

Drive-by [10.27.11]-part 2

Front porch

Garage

Drive By-10/26/11

 

The cement truck was at our lot today.  We now have a slab!!

House Options

I love the hardwoods, granite and cabinets we chose. :)

We visited the design center for our builder yesterday.  It took us 2.5 hours to choose everything and it was a lot of fun.  The hardwood flooring will be throughout the majority of the first floor.   It is hickory that is stained really dark Java.  I love all the grooves and scraping in it.  It makes me think of Pottery Barn.  I adore it and so does Clayton.  The cabinets look almost black but they are really a very dark brown called Espresso.  The granite is Santa Cecilia and it will help contrast the dark floors and cabinets.  I can't wait to see this combination together.  It's going to be fabulous!!

This is going to be in the master bath.  Clayton chose everything and I think he did a great job.  It will definitely be masculine looking.  The walls, shower and tub will all be tiled with the big brown ones.  The decorative tiles will surround everything.  The photo shows a soap dish but it will actually be a corner shelf instead.  We never use bar soap so the shelf will be of more use to us.

This pic shows the type of maple cabinets we will have in the master bath.

House Options-Part 2

I chose the guest bathroom on the first floor.  I fell in love with the beautiful blue glass tiles in this set.  The bathroom will have a spa feeling.  The floor and shower will be tiled with the big tiles shown (they are lighter in real life).  The decorative tile will go across the upper portion of the shower walls.  Once again, we chose a corner shelf instead of a soap dish since we use liquid soap.  

This picture is terrible.  Both carpets are frieze.  The bottom carpet is supposed to be a beautiful off-white color that will be in the family room, scrapbook room and guest suite (all on the first floor).  The carpet behind it is what I chose for the top floor.  It is a neutral mix of colors.  I chose it because it won't show dirt and spills as bad.  The kids will be on that carpet the majority of their childhood so I would prefer not to see the wear and tear as easily.  It will be in all 4 of the upstairs bedrooms, hallway, and the bonus room.

We opted not to upgrade the boys' bathroom to floor tile but they will get a white tiled bathtub/shower.  The cabinets are going to be maple and the flooring will be linoleum.

This linoleum is what we chose for the laundry room on the second floor.

Sunday Drive-By----10/23/11

The garage

The front porch and right side of the house

The front porch and left side of the house (garage is far left)

View from the farthest point in the back yard

Sunday---continued

The back of the house

The morning room on the back of the house

Our messy backyard

I can't believe how deep our backyard is.  It goes all the way out to the plastic fence barrier.

Surrogacy #3 Update

Everyone keeps asking about surrogacy #3.  Well, I have great news.  My IM is going in for her initial consult in January.  Providing that everything goes smoothly, we are looking at a transfer around March 2012.  There are 2 frozen embryos from the last cycle that we hope will work.  They are both girls so surrobaby #2 would be getting a little sister or sisters.  I can't wait to begin all the crazy drugs and getting things cooking. :)

Drive-by-----10/21/11

I drove by the lot today and saw lots of worker mans (as Emerson would say).  It looks like they are going to start getting down to business.

Development

I drove by the lot on this day to find it had been graded.  10/14

Our Future Home [10.11.11]

The lot we chose

Our lot is the first one on the right as you enter the back entrance to the neighborhood.  There will be no one across from it, only one house beside it and no one directly behind it.  This lot will be fabulous!  Our house in CO felt like a fish bowl since we were in a row of houses that were back-to-back with another row of houses.  I will never choose a lot like that again.  We had no privacy whatsoever. 

This is looking towards the front from the very back of the lot.  Christine's Denali (monster Suburban) can be seen out in the distance and it helps give you an idea of how long the lot is.

The back corner-The other backyards meet up here so that no house will be directly behind this one.

More Lot Pics

Standing at the back of the lot, looking to the left side

Back-side of neighborhood wall

Front-side of neighborhood wall, entrance into development

Back entry into the neighborhood, our lot is the first one on the right

So I have a concussion...

It doesn't look like I am the only one, lol.  Poor Emerson was so tired after school.  He fell asleep like this during my visit with the doctor.  Seriously, how can he sleep like that?

Last Thursday, I hit my head which resulted in a concussion.  I was bending over to pet Christine's dog, Rocky, in the kitchen.  He started to jump and lick my face so I jerked my head up to avoid his death breath. When I did that, I hit the corner of the kitchen island with the back of my head.  It hurt so bad.  I iced it really well and took some Motrin to ease the pain.  All was fine that night but things got worse over the weekend.  I started having horrible headaches, my vision got noticeably weaker, and my stomach would occasionally get nauseous.  I knew something was up but I decided to hold out until Monday.  I felt fine that morning but the headache kicked in that afternoon.  On the way to get the boys from school, I decided that I should go see a doctor on my way home.  I am so glad I did!  She diagnosed me with a concussion after asking lots of questions and doing neurological testing on me.  I got a couple prescriptions and was ordered to take it easy for the next week.  The pain med she gave me has taken all of my pain away but it makes me a bit woozy and the muscle relaxer makes me incredibly sleepy.  I hate the side effects but it is nice not having to deal with the awful headaches.  

Franken-Hayden (10/13/11)

I kept my cousin's twin boys last week and stayed in her house.  It was kinda nice to pretend to be homeowners again, lol.  My boys and her boys get along really well so they opted to sleep 2 boys to each room every night.  Hayden was goofing around with his cousin Aaron when he got pushed off the bed.  He ended up hitting one of the bed posts.  Clayton and I had just gotten into the hot tub outside when Josh ran out the door to tell us that Hayden was bleeding from his head.  We were panicked.  Clayton ran to check him out while I grabbed medical supplies and pain medicine.  He had a nice gash on his forehead.  I wasn't sure if he needed stitches so I texted a photo to my sister-in-law Stephanie and my cousin Christine (they are both nurses).  Both agreed that we needed to take him to a doctor.  Unfortunately, it was after 10pm and most urgent care places were closed.  I tried to get to one in Huntersville but it had just closed at 11pm.  I got there at 11:04pm.

We ended up going to the ER at Carolinas Medical Center-NorthEast.  The waiting room was full of people but we didn't have to wait very long.  The doctor and nurse that he had were phenomenal!  They kept him calm and distracted throughout the whole ordeal.  He did so good.  After Hayden was all stitched up (a total of 3 stitches), he was discharged rather quickly.  We got home just after 2am.  I can't say enough about what a great experience we had there.  I highly recommend that hospital.

H looks so cute with his wound.  He didn't want me to remove the stitches tonight but it needed to be done.  Hopefully he will make it through childhood without needing any more.

SOLD!!!!

After 5 months of worrying, the Colorado house finally closed this past Friday.  We are ecstatic!!  It is wonderful to finally be done with that chapter of our lives.  We didn't have to be at the closing thanks to the relocation company being there on our behalf.  It is a little bittersweet though since we will miss our awesome neighbors and nearby family.  I will just be glad to not ever have to slide down that iced-over driveway ever again. :P

I have many updates to tell you all about (surrogacy, becoming a Scentsy consultant, Hayden's stitches, I got a new job, etc.) but I don't have time right now.  I will post more this week.

Lake Day-9/10/2011

I am in the process of cleaning up my camera cards and these pics are from last month.  Better late than never, right?

We went to Lake Jordan with our besties, the Barnes'.  Jason bought a new tube for us to play on and it was a hit.  It was a perfect day out on the water. :)

Jason and Clayton pushing the boat out of the deep sand

We had a few funny mishaps that day.  Jason threw in the anchor using the rope but then quickly realized that the rope wasn't tied to anything, lol.  It fell to the bottom before Jason could retrieve it (he jumped in after it).  Clayton drove the boat at one point while Jason skied behind.  Well, the water was low in the lake so he ended up hitting a patch of sand.  It immediately stopped the boat.  All I saw was Natascha hanging on for dear life as she was almost tossed from the front of the boat.  It was scary when it happened but now we all laugh about our Griswold adventure at the lake.  

New Belgium Brewing Company-Fort Collins, CO

Clayton and his sister, Stephanie

We flew back to CO on 10/1 to see the movers pack up our house.  Since we had never done the New Belgium Brewing Company tour, we decided to try and fit it into our schedule before we left.  Stephanie came down from Wyoming to join us on Wednesday (10/5).  We had a few beers and then took the tour, which was awesome!!  They showed us around their amazing facility and gave us many samples of the beers to try.  I can't believe how cool it was.  If you are ever in Fort Collins, be sure to stop in.  You won't regret it.  At the end of the tour, you get to slide down a metal twisty slide (which is crazy when you are intoxicated, lol).  

 

The beers on the left are Hoptober (my personal fave) and the one on the right is a special edition Hefe that was my second favorite beer of the day.

New Belgium-Part 2

These bottles of Fat Tire were only 20 minutes old.  They came straight off of the bottling line.  How cool is that?!

Bottling area (we were looking down through a second floor window)

This was our awesome tour guide.  I can't remember his name but he was fabulous.  He made the tour a lot of fun. :)