Showing progress

After a bit of waiting, both of our "projects" are showing signs of progress.  On Friday, we celebrated 12 weeks of pregnancy.  I took this picture of Kristina, where I think you can start to see a baby bump.  She wanted to blame it on eating too much or being bloated with gas, and my reply is, "I think it's because there's something growing in your stomach."

 After what seemed like ages of no progress on the house (it was more like three weeks), our concrete guys have started working on our foundation.  As of now, it is just footings, but they've got all their stuff at the site, so we should have basement walls by the end of the week.

Slow Progress

The last two weeks have seen slow progress on our two developments. Kristina has mentioned a couple times that she would like more evidence that the baby is growing. Having to wait four weeks between appointments where we will see or hear the baby is just too much. But soon the baby will be big enough that she'll get more frequent proof that the baby is growing and well. In general, she's doing well. Mostly a lot of exhaustion. She gets occasional nausea, but ever since I found Schweppes Ginger Ale, she's been able to take care of that.

It was actually kind of funny when I found it. We were together at the grocery store and waiting in the checkout line when I remembered that we wanted to look for ginger ale (it was on the list of things to reduce nausea the doctor gave us). Kristina really likes ginger ale, but only good ginger ale; Schweppes being her favorite. I went back to the beverages to look for it, and after a bit of searching, I found a 12-pack box of Schweppes. I come back carrying this big package, and Kristina's first reaction is a look of disbelief at how big it is. Then as I get closer, her expression changes to pure delight as she realizes that it is Schweppes. It was cute to see that complete reversal.

As for the house, not much has happened. Our concrete guys have been backed up and delayed some from rain. I called my contractor on Friday, and he said they promised to get to us this coming week. He's as frustrated as I am, but seemed certain things would start moving forward this week. Hopefully my next entry here will have a picture of the completed foundation and basement.

New Beginnings

I haven't written in a while, but this one will make up for it.  After nearly four years of fertility treatments and a year of seeking an adoption, Kristina has become pregnant.  On Monday, we had a doctor's appointment and got to see our little one.  It was 1.9 cm long.  In the pictures below, the baby's head is on the right side.  The pregnancy was judged to be at 8 weeks and 3 days, giving us a due date of November 8th.

 

We also got to see the little heartbeat.  That was such an amazing experience.  And a great relief to see that the child is developing normally, and I can start to really, truly, take joy in this great blessing from my Father in Heaven.  On the left of the picture below, the heart rate is being measured, and you can see that it is 162, which is excellent.  We are so happy.  Kristina has been doing well, mostly just feeling exhausted all the time.  I've been trying to step it up and do more.  Kristina tells me I'm doing a great job, but I can't help feeling like I should be doing more.

As if that weren't enough, we're also building a house.  (Well, having a house built.)  We've been hoping for this for a while now.  I started meeting with builders last December, but the first one fell through.  I'm really happy with the builder we have now.  We worked out the house plans in January and February, then March was taken up with working out the loan and buying the lot.  That was more complicated than I had hoped, but I ended up getting the lot for just a bit more than I originally offered.  Once we had agreed on a price, they staked out the house walls (the first picture below).  The orange stakes are the corners of the house.  Then after closing on the lot last week, they dug it out.  Now we own a big hole and huge piles of dirt.  And a mailbox.  The building permits should come through this week, and then the foundation and basement can be poured.

 

 

It's an exciting time for us!!