Settling in

The past two weeks I have been busy unpacking boxes and finding a home for everything.  We had a lot more stuff than I remember having! I am not sure how it all fit into our small Japanese home, much less where I was going to put it in this one.

One day in the mail I got a flyer from Big Brothers Big Sisters looking for donations of clothing, household items, electronics, etc. The organization will be sending a truck through our neighborhood this Friday and will pick up anything we have sitting out on the curb marked with BBBS for donations. Great, I have tons of things to give away that are perfectly useable just not needed for us anymore. Them picking everything up is perfect, with Jared being gone, I won't have to worry about hauling it all away somewhere on my own.  So I rounded up 8 large boxes and a couple small furniture items for them. 

The house is coming together, still have pictures to hang and a couple rooms to finish decorating. One being the baby room.  Now that we know the gender I can start shopping for bedding and anything "boy" related we will need.  

We have met a few of the neighbors, they all have older kids and have offered to be available for babysitting, lawn care, anything I need in the event Jared is gone.  It is great to meet these nice people and I look forward to getting to know them better over the next couple of years. We have also met a couple of families from the squadron, one has a little boy Cydney's age and was gracious enough to watch Cydney a couple days this week while I went to doctors appointments and job interviews.  Cydney has made a new friend and is excited to be able to play with him more.


Cydney enjoys running around the house, up and down the stairs, and scattering toys throughout while I try and get things picked up and put away.  She has also enjoying playing in the backyard. When the sellers sold us the house they included the trampoline. I was not too sure about keeping it, and figured we could just sell it at some point. Cydney seems to enjoy it though, so it may be staying with us at least for now. 

Baby is doing great and growing right on track.  All looks good. Still trying to find a name we like, it is harder for us to find a boy name for some reason. We chose Cydney within a couple weeks of finding out I was pregnant.  We had been in Sydney, Austrailia when we found out and loved the name. This time were were in Vegas when we found out, but I am not to fond of naming a child Vegas, so we have to come up with something else. :) 

24 Weeks! It's a.....

Went in for my 24 week checkup on Monday and to meet my new doctor. All is going well with baby, growing right on track and very active.  I have been feeling great, trying not to push it too much getting moved in and everything unpacked.  


Today we went in for the anatomy scan and gender reveal.  Cydney was able to go as well, she was very interested in watching the screen as the doctor performed the Ultrasound.  We asked Cydney if she could see the baby, she responded "No it's a monster."  Getting started name calling already!


So the big news everyone has been waiting.  We are having a.....

BOY! 

We are very excited and happy to be adding a boy to the family.  

Cydney is having a lot of fun in the new house, opening all her toys and books have been very exciting for her.  She recently found and pair of earplugs and some stickers and immediately put them in.  She wore these around the house most of the day yesterday.

 

We are Homeowners!!

We closed on our house this past Thursday! On Friday afternoon we got the keys to the house.  We began moving in on Saturday morning with the few things we had put in storage ourselves. Monday and Tuesday we will be getting our shipments of Household Goods.  Below are pictures of the house:

Front:

Entry:

Office area:

Living Room:

Kitchen and Dining Area:

Laundry Room:

Half Bath off Living Room:

Master Bedroom and Bath:

Cydney's Room:

 

Baby's Room (may need painting):

Upstairs Bathroom:

Basement Entry:

Basement Sitting Area: 

(Will be Theater Room)

Guest Bedroom:

 Spare Bedroom:

Guest Bathroom:

Garage:

Backyard:

Making the most of TLF life...

Since arriving in Utah we have been living in the Temporary Lodging Facility (TLF). Thirty plus days in a small one bedroom suite can take it's toll on patience, especially with a toddler.  We have done our best to keep Cydney entertained both in and out of the room.  We have found tons of kid friendly activities and places to play.  Cydney especially loves going to the Treehouse Museum to explore, play dress up and play musical instruments; and the Classic Fun Center to skate, bounce, and climb. 


In the room she has found a few ways to keep herself entertained when it has been too cold to be outside.

Doing somersaults on her bed.

Jumping on the bed.

Building a tent in the bedroom to play with stuffed toys.

Creating a tunnel under the pull out sofa bed.

Making costumes out of paper bags.

 "Hmm, what can I be?"

 "I'm a robot!"

The most fun of all is being about to go outside,

to run up and down the hill.

 

Play with sticks and pine cones,

or run through the snow.

This week we are closing on our house and hope to be able to move in on Saturday, although the current owners have until Monday morning to turn over possession.  They have been great working with us to make this process move as fast as possible, we are closing a week earlier than previously contracted.  Yay!!  We are all excited to finally be able to get settled into our new home and get things ready for baby number two.  

(Inside pictures of the house to follow as we begin the move in process.)