Post and beam, plumbing, and heating . . .

  The foundation has been poured and the forms stripped off. The rough plumbing is done and also initial heating will be done on Friday. Things are moving so fast. It's so much fun to go and watch the people working. Jordan and my Dad hauled rock all day to fill the garage to the right level. 12 loads of gravel which is around 140 some odd tons. They were very busy. My Dad hauled it and Jordan moved the rock and compacted it in between each load. We are now calling for an inspection on the the plumbing, and when the heating guys are done on Friday the framers will jump back in and put the decking on (probably Monday). They said that they will mark out each room like Jordan had done and we can go through any changes we want made. I can't wait.

Here is our foundation

This is the post and beams on the foundation

Jordan and my Dad compacting the gravel in garage

Our first load of lumber. It's for the roof.

  Will keep trying to update the blog at each phase.

  I had a doctors appointment on Tuesday and everything was fine. I go next Thursday and he said anytime after that he is fine with inducing me. But I think I've waited this long, so I will just wait for little "Roy" to come when he feels like it. The time will go fast anyways since the house has started and going so fast. 2 weeks!!! I have had a couple of days where I have been so dizzy that I literally couldn't keep my head up and I was bouncing off walls. Ended up being Vertigo. It did go away, but that was really crazy. 2 more weeks for random weird things to come up. 

  Austyn and Jordan are both fine. Austyn has started a real whinny streak. Very dramatic as well. And Jordan is loving (from what I can tell) the progress of the house and all that comes along with it. I'll keep you updated. 

It's Started . . .

  The bank finally went through and we now have a foundation poured!!! Framers come in Friday and Saturday. Plumbers next Tuesday and Wednesday. Heating next Thursday and Friday. Can't believe it's started. This is so unbelievable to me I don't even know what to think. I'm excited and nervous all at the same time. Very Very excited and nervous.
Things I'm excited for:
-More space. It seems like we are running out of space by the day.
-A house that is custom made for how we live. Every aspect of the house is tailored in some way to fit our needs and wants.
-A walk in closet, walk in pantry and a utility sink in the laundry room. All things that I've dreamed about having.
-Our own place. Not that we haven't treated our place now as our own, but it will just be different.
Things I'm nervous about:
-Going over budget
-Our inexperience in home building causing more work and money for us
-And did I say not going over budget?!
I know Jordan will do an amazing job as the General Contractor. I can't wait to start seeing the progress.

The foundation crew getting ready to set up their forms

All the forms set up and ready for concrete 

  We also had another event take place recently. Jordan sold his truck and got the truck of his dreams (for the most part anyways, he is a boy and all). He had been talking about selling his truck for a couple of months and I never thought it would sell for the price he wanted so I agreed and told him that if it sells it was meant to happen. After a few deals falling through, it did indeed sell (much to my surprise). So he found this "dream" truck and he made the switch. It is very very nice and it will be so nice to have the extra room. The only down fall is it's extra tall too. I almost need a step stool to get in. But it looks nice and that's what counts right?! ;)

  Austyn is doing good. She communicates her EVERY need, want, frustration, thought, complaint, and emotion perfectly these days. The things that she comes up with are amazing. She loves the movie `Ol Yeller and she will sing "Ol Yeller, come back Yeller, best dog in the west" all day sometimes. It's so cute. She's beginning to roll play now as the mommy of her babies. Very cute to watch. I have moved all of baby brothers clothes and stuff into her room now. And almost all of the baby parafanalia has migrated back into the house. She is as prepared for baby's arrival as she can be I think. I think we all are. Just the last minute things like packing our bag and such.
  I have an appointment on Tuesday and I should find out a game plan for delivery. The doctor had talked about taking him a week or so early since my back is so bad, but I haven't decided if I can be that selfish or not. What's another week, when it's been this long already. I think I'll opt to wait it out. 3 weeks to go! Major things are happening. Story of our life I guess. Jordan told me the other day that come September the house will be done, the baby will be here, (knock on wood) he'll have his promotion, and we will just be fat, dumb, and happy (I told him I wanted to be skinny, dumb, and happy). But knowing us, we will have something else in the works by then. No down time here unless it's forced. We will always have some sort of  project going on at our new place.
  Stay tuned for house pictures. I am going to make it my goal to take a picture at every stage from the same spot so we can have all the progressive pictures of the entire build. Wish us luck!

2013 Here We Come . . .

  I can say Austyn has mastered her pooping on the big potty. No more poppy diapers (for another month or so I guess). We are all very excited she decided to accomplish this milestone before baby brother decided to grace us with his presence.

  We also made it through the holidays. Like always very busy, but so much fun with Austyn this year. She loved it. It seemed like she was getting presents from someone all month long. She got into it a little more than I thought she'd be able to at her age. The cookies and milk for Santa, and him leaving presents in her stocking, turning on and off the Christmas tree was all so fun for her. I almost think the liked all the hype and people around more than the presents. She is her fathers daughter when it comes to any kind of get together. I would notice that when we would go to a Christmas party as soon as we walked through the door Jordan and Austyn would just disappear and I would find myself thinking "I know I came with a family". I wouldn't see them for the rest of the night until I was trying to round them up to leave. I would go and check on Austyn and ask her if she wanted me to play with her or get her anything and she would tell me " No Mama, I'm fine". It was really funny. New Years was also a success. We lite fireworks early in the evening for Austyn, and Jordan and I both stayed up and watched the ball drop. I love the holiday season so much, but it's also so relaxing when it's over.

Austyn in her adorable Thanksgiving outfit

Making a gingerbread house with Daddy

One of her many Christmas dresses

  Austyn is doing great. She is so amazing. I just stare at her in awe sometimes. We went to the coast last weekend and played for a few hours on the beach. She rode a quad all by herself for the first time. She did great. She refused to drive over any kind of stick or seaweed though. So Jordan had to walk in front of her and move EVERYTHING out of the way. She loves to sing and dance. She can count to 11. I'm not sure where she got the number 11 from. I have only counted to 10 with her, but she found/heard it somewhere. She knows all her colors and is pretty good with shapes. And her ABC's are coming along. She knows all of them, but will put them in strange orders. It's so cute. ABC HIJ LMNO QRS Z know my ABC's sing with me! I love how everything to her is so exciting and fun. But sometimes I think it would be so exhausting to have everything in your life be that exciting. We were eating dinner the other night and she looked over at me and said "Mommy, my baby brother hurts" as she was rubbing her belly. Sometimes I just can't believe what comes out of her mouth.

Our first snow. She was so excited to go and play in it.

I usually beat her eating breakfast, but I had to give

her seconds just to have enough time to finish

eating my cereal. I guess I shouldn't have told her 

as soon as she eats breakfast we can go play in it.

We made a family trip up to the snow, so Daddy could

play with us.

And play he did!

We also got to go to the coast with some friends. So fun.

  Baby Brother is doing fine. He is over 5 pounds now and already head down. We had an ultrasound a couple weeks ago and everything checked out perfectly. I only have 6 weeks left. I think we are ready. I can't think of anything else that we need or need to do. Besides name him!! My back is hanging in there. I think I've gotten so uncomfortable everywhere else that I have stopped noticing my back as much. I don't like to complain about being pregnant, but I can't wait to be able to move and breath again. I feel so bad when Austyn wants to play and I can't get down on the floor because it hurts too bad. But it will be worth it and it's almost over. Thankfully Jordan and the rest of my family have been outstanding with all the help I mooch off of them. I would not have made it this far without them. I can never ever express how greatful I am to have the love and support that they give me. I often think that I take advantage of living so close to my parents, but when Jordan works I need help (physically with my back) so I just mozzy on down to my parents. Sorry Mom and Dad, but it will be over soon and my back will get better again. 

  Jordan is doing great and still waiting for someone to retire so he can step into their position as an Engineer. He also is getting ready to build our house. We just have to show the bank we have flood insurance and away we'll go! Should be final in a week or so. We just purchased all of our appliances and were able to take advantage of the End of the Year sales. It did indeed save us a substantial amount. We've been making our final decisions on things and choosing colors, basically trying to pick everything out so we can just go with it and not have to hold anything up with these decisions along the way. Each time we think we've got everything picked out and done, something else comes up that we've forgotten about. But better now than in the middle of the project. MY projection for a finish date is June or July. Jordan says by September. I hope I win.

  I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Years. We are going to start this year off with major events. Hopefully we'll have a successful 2013! New baby and new house, hopefully a promotion thrown in there somewhere. It's amazing to me when I look back over the last five years (2009 to 2013, including this year) how busy we've been. We both graduated college, got our careers, moved a couple times, got married, had two babies, built a house, and got a huge promotion. I wonder if the next five years will be as busy. 

The Power of Impression . . .

WARNING: This blog contains heavy descriptions of bodily functions. Reader discretion is advised!  
  So as you know Austyn has been pee trained since last March. We have been trying everything imaginable since then to get her to go poop on the big potty, with no consistant success on her part. Since she still sleeps in a diaper, she waits until then to do her business. But since I got pregnant and my back has been bad I kind of gave up and thought that she will get it someday. It's not like she will be crapping in a diaper at 30 years old during bedtime (wouldn't that be awkward). But the other day we had some friends come out and they have a 3 year old girl that Austyn hasn't seen for a while, but loves to play with. The girl asked to go poop so I sent Austyn in to watch (nothing like pooping under pressure) and then we made a big deal over it when she was done. So then Austyn asked to go poop and nothing happened of course. That night I told her that she couldn't poop in her diaper anymore at bedtime and she has to go on the big potty now (something that she has heard numerous times). In the morning I was pleasantly surprised that she hadn't pooped during the night. So after breakfast  I moved the potty chair to the living room and put The Lion King on and told her today was the day we were going to poop on the potty. Who wouldn't like to poop in front of their favorite cartoon. So after two LONG sessions of sitting on the potty chair I thought it was over with for the day, until she ran up to me and said mommy my belly hurts. I sat her down on the potty and presto a turd! So of course I made the biggest deal out of it and gave her a blue sucker she had been wanting. She was so proud of herself. I didn't get my hopes up that it would continue, I just thought this is good progress that she wasn't devastated and scared when she did it (like previous times). But it has been three days now and she has pooped everyday on the potty. And once at the doctors office. I'm in complete shock. I guess I should have had her watch another little kid poop ages ago. It's amazing to me how impressionable they are at this age. I hope she keeps it up. Cross your fingers. This was my last "To Do" before little brother shows up. Could we possibly be done with diapers for another two months?! We'll see.
  Another piece of wonderful news is that we got our permits!!!!!!!!!!!! Holy smokes, we can't believe it. We are still doing the last little bit with the financing and then we will be pouring our FOUNDATION. So exciting. Everything is coming together.
  Things are also winding down finally after all the testing. Jordan is back to normal now. His new hobby is growing a mustache. I think he's doing it just to bug me. We got our Christmas lights and decorations up, and are going to get a tree on Sunday I think. I love Christmas. Hope everyone will have a stress free Holiday Season. That's my goal any ways.

Family Time. . .

  It's been amazing having Jordan back (physically and mentally). We missed him so much while he was working so hard towards his promotional tests. He is still trying to wind down from all the studying though. He finds himself going over all the material in his head and then remembers that he's done and doesn't need to be thinking about it anymore. Or if he sees a fire hydrant or a certain street sign it will spark his mind to start rambling off information about that certain color of hydrant and the specific laws regarding the street signs we pass. So in the process of all this, I have learned quite a bit from his random thoughts as we are driving. I'm still so proud of his huge accomplishment. I'm interested to see what's next for him. Because you know Jordan, he doesn't sit still for long.

  We got to go to the coast one day and ride. It was a beautiful day. I had so much fun playing and riding with Austyn. She absolutely loved it. After we were done riding, my parents took Austyn home and Jordan and I drove to Lincoln City and stayed the night. It was so nice and relaxing. We stayed at an ocean front motel so we could hear the ocean all night. Very cool.

Jordan thought that since we didn't have Austyn it would be a 

good idea to HIKE (need I say more) down to see the Devil's

Churn. Why after 10 years of being with the man do I not know

 better by now? Needless to say, it was quite a hike out for a 

7 month prego lady who isn't and wasn't in any kind of shape 

to begin with.Yes, it was pretty to see. Would I do it again? NO!

(This might be your one and only belly shot)

This was before the hike out :)

  Still waiting on permits and financing. But we aren't being impatient, because we are continuing to save money in the while we are waiting. Hope everyone is doing great. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. 

 

The Results are in . . .

  Jordan successfully completed all of his tests for his promotional. He ranked #1 out of #24. I am so proud of him and how hard he worked at this. You wouldn't believe how much time and effort he put into studying for this. This is so unbelievable that he got #1 (not that he isn't capable). It's such a big deal. It is so nice to see him be himself again. There for awhile he was a total different person. What a load off. At the end we were both having many sleepless nights and nightmares about the tests. It's finally over! WooHoo. Now all we need is someone to retire.

  We are still waiting for the wonderful county to take their sweet time reviewing our permits. And the wonderful bank to figure out how to actually give us a loan since we are owner/builder. Something that particular bank is capable of, just not the employees apparently. Sometimes I wonder what this world is coming to.

  I'm hoping to keep up the quantity of pictures through the whole building process. I have pictures of the bare land and will try and take pictures from the same spot at each stage of the build. Here are a few pictures of some of the progress that's been made:

Our well being drilled

Our road being built

Austyn was having a blast playing in the rain, while

we watched the road being built

This is our house pad. Jordan parked his truck

on his side of the garage.

  Jordan was so nice that he spent 3 hours measuring out each room and painting it, clear down to the closets, for me to see on our new house pad. It is so cool to see each room in the actual size. I love it so much. I just want to move in right now. I asked if we could get a different color paint and paint where the furniture will go! He didn't answer, but I think he was thinking "NO". 

  Austyn had a wonderful time Trick-Or-Treating. It was so much fun. Started out at my Aunt and Uncles house, then to a fun neighborhood with a bunch of our friends. It was so much fun to see all the kids running around. Austyn got pretty into it at the end. She went as Tinker Bell this year. She LOVES Tinker Bell! It's fun to see her prefer certain things over others. She would probably watch the Lion King 10 times a day if I'd let her. But if you try to put any other movie in, she will protest intensely. One evening Jordan wanted to watch Cinderella and Austyn wanted to watch the Lion King (again). I was trying to work on the computer and for some reason I found myself in the middle of  Jordan trying to talk Austyn in to watching Cinderella and Austyn crying because she wanted to watch the Lion King. They were both looking to me to convince the other one to have it their way. Finally I told them both to figure it out themselves and went back to my paperwork. Wow, I swear to God it was a flash forward of how it's going to be in a few years with two kids (but I'll really have three).

My little Tinker Bell

Here they are blowing the leaves. Clever Daddy!

That's quite the load he has. Can you imagine little

brother in a front pack too.

  I finally had my second opinion for my back problems. Nothing like a month later. This doctor was awesome. He explained everything so well and took his time with us. He showed us the actual images from the MRI which really helped understand what he was saying. He said it isn't my SI joint giving me the problems, it's still the nerves from my herniated disc that I had fixed. He said that when I herniated my disc, since I was pregnant and had to wait so long to have surgery and the weight that I gained while I was pregnant, the pinched nerve is still trying to recover. It might be 2 to 5 more years before I have no symptoms. So when I got pregnant this time the hormone flux that happens in the first trimester aggravated the nerve so much that it was causing me all that pain. And he said that the reason it has gotten better is because the hormones tend to level out towards the end of the pregnancy and because I have been taking it easy. So the first doctor was right that when he said "It's just hormones and try not to gain weight". But this doctor was a little more sensitive about it and he actually explained and showed us what is going on in there. He said to expect it to get worse again towards the end and after delivery. But at my age another surgery isn't recommended. He wants to see me control the pain by exerciser and stretches. Jordan said he's going to make me start the Insanity workouts after I have this baby. What a nice guy he is! So it's good that it's not my SI joint, because there is nothing they can ever do for that. But still bad that I continue to have break through pain. Hopefully if I get into some kind of shape, I will be able to control most of the pain that way. I asked him about work and he said if he were me, he would not go back because of all the standing I'd have to be doing. But he left it up to me. I'll have to think on that one for awhile (maybe I'll think about it for another three months :) )

  Hope all is well with everyone. Hopefully my next post will be us starting on our house!?   

Water, Power, and Driveway. Oh my . . .

  This past month has been the busiest, most productive, and stressful month of our lives. A few tears (Me, I'm sure the pregnancy had something to do with it. Right?) and canker soars (Jordan) later, but we powered through it like champs! We are coming along pretty well on the house stuff. We got a well put in, and our power ran, and a driveway and house pad made. Feels so good to see some progress being made. It has amazed me on the amount of unexpected costs that have already popped up. But we expected that to happen. I've already learned so much. As soon as we finish the financing and get our permits from the county  (which should be in the next couple weeks) we are ready to start building.

This is our Power pole. I know it's not too exciting

but we are pumped about it.

This is our Power meter. One day a shop will be where 

the pile of dirt is.

This is Jordan and the well guys deciding where to put

the well.

  Lone Pine came to an end this last weekend. I'm going to miss it, but I'm sure the rest of my family WILL NOT! They put in so many long hard hours there, that they are ready to relax and do nothing for a while. I don't blame them. Austyn and I just have so much fun there. We will have to find something else to do now, like build a house:)
  Austyn is doing great. She is so amazing, the joy of my life. This is the best age ever. I keep telling everyone I don't want her to grow up. She is so cute and funny. And she is such a good girl. I absolutely love how innocent she is. I have never been a fan of sleeping with your kids when they are young (not saying it's bad, I just choose not to do it), but I started letting Austyn sleep with me when Jordan would work at Lone Pine on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. I knew he would come home in two or three hours and move her to her own bed anyways. I never get to see her sleep anymore and she is so sweet. I think that's the part I'll miss most about Lone Pine. And seeing her run around scaring the crowd in her Jason mask and mini chainsaw.

She really got into the Haunted Corn Maze

Austyn all dressed up

A few pictures I snapped of her

at Lone Pine.

This one made me laugh. I have been told

she looks just like me when I was her age in this picture.

I was thinking pouty, my family was thinking sassy.

  Baby brother is baking away quite nicely. He is always moving around in there, letting me know he's there. We haven't decided on any names yet. But now that things are slowing down a bit maybe we can start really realizing that I'm pregnant and come up with a name. Sometimes I think Jordan has been so busy with everything that he doesn't really get that I'm pregnant. And we will have a baby in less than 4 months. Ready or NOT Jordan! Ha ha, that will be quite a wake up call.
  My back has gotten better. I don't have to wear my brace all the time anymore. But I still avoid doing anything extra. If I do clean the house or do anything extra, I definitely pay for it for the rest of the day and the next. But I'm not in a constant pain like I was. I still haven't been working, but am thinking about going back and doing lunch relief for a few hours and seeing how that goes. We'll see.
  Jordan has been spending his time studying, working at the Fire station, and working at Lone Pine. Unfortunately Austyn and I took a spot on his back burner for a while, but that's just what had to be done. If he wasn't working at the Fire station, he would eat breakfast with us, go study, eat lunch with us, go study, and then come home about 6 pm or 7 pm. He also squeezed in 12 mock interviews to prepare for the interview section. I'm so proud of him and how hard he has worked to prepare for this promotion. I think I heard 30 people are applying for the same promotion. So we are crossing our fingers that he gets good scores and a lot of people retire to create openings. And I guess if people aren't retiring fast enough, I might have to take matters into my own hands (Ha ha ha). We will know how he placed by the 9th of November I think.
  That's our busy little life for the past month. We have become so accustomed to this busy life, I'm not sure what we will do when it slows down in a few weeks. I know, build a house!!!!!!! As you can tell, we don't slow down for long. I'm so excited. Can't wait to post about that. Hope all is well as we enter the Holiday Season. WooHoo!