I'm Still Here

I didn't intend on taking a hiatus from bloggerdom this long, but things have been crazy around here and time on the computer has been limited.

We are going to move from my in-laws into our house this Sunday so we have spent every free moment doing what we can on the house before then. It took six of us over eight hours to move all of our stuff from our apartment into the U-haul and then into a storage unit back in January. Everyone was exhausted and it was bitter cold (sleeting that day, if I believe). This time around, I'm hoping it won't be as hairy. First, we plan on splitting things up between two days. Secondly, we have a lot more help, which is such a blessing. On Saturday we have family that will assist us in loading up the U-Haul; then on Sunday after church, our small group (and more family) have offered to come and help unload. I'm really thankful for all the extra hands. I don't know why, but I'm always apprehensive to ask for help so it was awesome when several people volunteered to help us in the endeavor.

I've been ready to pull my hair out at times this week with how much there is to do before we move. Nick and I have made the mistake more than once of creating extra work for ourselves with the house which is the last thing I want to be doing when there is so much else to do. For example, I was so excited to get to painting the walls, I did our bedroom before we worked on the ceilings in that room. Of course, when I did the ceilings next, stuff got on the walls and I then had to re-do the paint job on the walls. The same thing happened with Nick in the living room... he was so anxious to get the walls done, he did them before he put the last coat on the ceiling... and of course, that meant lots of touch up on the walls later. The wood floors were no exception. We both just figured we'd have them refinished, so we didn't bother covering them much while doing all of our painting, ceiling work, and reno. They've become absolutely abhorrent in the process... dusty, caked in paint, etc. but we thought it wouldn't be a big deal because we'd just have them sanded down and refinished in the end. Well, as it turns out the floors weren't in need of being refinished (so we were told) and it costs a lot and it's not recommended to do by yourself... on and on it goes. So as is turns out, I've spent hours on my hands and knees scrubbing the floors with a plastic scraper and a tub of water this week. Sometimes I just want to shoot myself when I'm doing work that wouldn't have even existed if we had just been more careful, but oh well. I feel like I've definitely gotten my "Cinderella groove" on scrubbing floors as long as I have (though I wasn't exactly singing Sing Sweet Nightengale while I was working!).

Last night was exciting as we purchased our new kitchen appliances. Lowe's is having a 10% off sale on Energy Star rated appliances this week, plus in Missouri they're offering no sales tax on Energy Star rated items as well, so we jumped over the state line for the extra savings (which ended up being close to $200!). One of the things we've learned after living with Nick's parents for over four months is that stainless steel isn't for us. It was a good lesson to learn before investing in such a big purchase, though I was originally pretty bummed about that; I was so excited to have the "latest and greatest"... however, we've done the math and toddler + stainless steel = cleaning nightmare. It takes so much time to wipe away streaky finger prints, the upkeep was just not functional. We ended up getting our dishwasher, range, and fridge in black and I'm pretty happy with the decision. It may not be as hip as stainless steel but so what? It will be a matter of a few years before something newer and more expensive than stainless steel comes out and then it will be old hat (plus, it's probably in my best interest to chuck the idol of having the hippest kitchen out the window...not gonna happen!).

Of all the big stuff that's going on in our lives right now, nothing quite prepared us for what happened early on in April. As some of you know, we found out we were expecting at the beginning of the month. I am not one to keep things to myself and I just wanted to shout it off of the rooftops I was so excited! It was a matter of a day or two before I announced it on Facebook and called all of our extended family. Nick and I were not surprised in any way with the news... we've always known we wanted to have our children close in age and Luke has quickly grown from baby to toddler in no-time flat. The timing seemed perfect. Then things took a turn for the worse a week after. I starting feeling really odd, my heart would race, I couldn't sleep. I tried knocking it off for a few days as nothing but grew increasingly concerned and ended up calling a doctor soonafter. Throughout the week, it was determined that the progesterone hormone levels in my body were incredibly low (should have been around 15... mine were a 5) and the baby's HcG levels were not where they should have been either. I ended up working with two different medical systems throughout the week, trying to do what we could. I was put on hormones and had bloodwork done daily, but by the end of the week we ended up miscarrying. Perhaps the hardest part of the experience was that as I began to do research I found out that low progesterone can lead to multiple miscarriages and both doctors I spoke to said there was nothing preventative that could be done in the future and that it would just be considered a fluke (my miscarrying) until I had three consecutive miscarriages. In no way, am I hoping for that outcome. Having gone through this makes me increasingly thankful to be Luke's mommy. I have always loved and cherished him, but I am just so overwhelmed with gratitude that God would give me such a blessing as him.