Sunday Updates

Busy, busy, busy.  That pretty much sums up life at the moment.  I don't know where the weeks go, but they seem to be flying by.  I always have the best of intentions to post, comment on blogs, email, etc. during the week and it's just not happening at the moment.  I'm still reading blogs, but not finding much time to comment or respond to those of you that have emailed me.  But- here's a brief update on what's been happening (this was meant to be a Friday Quick Takes post, but here I am 2 days late.)

1. The house projects are driving me insane!  We've had 3 contractors come out to give us estimates on finishing 1, 2, and/or 3 of the rooms in the basement.  The guy we liked the best didn't even send us a bid because he said he didn't have time to do our work.  He was the cheapest, based on his advertised price of $14 a square foot.  The other 2 guys differed in amounts by 2,500!!  We're not talking a ton of square footage here.  It's about 250 square feet for all 3 of the rooms.  We're meeting with the guy of the lower of the 2 bids tomorrow to see if we can knock some things off and lower his price.  His price included everything...drywall, electrical, plumbing, flooring, one-tone paint, and all the hardware for a bedroom, bathroom, and laundry room. It's probably a really great deal and will add a ton of value to our home when we move, but it's just more than the 1st guy we thought we could go with for such a great price.

2. After I finish one work item today, I will officially be on Spring Break for the rest of the week!  My dad is arriving Tuesday, and I'm so excited to spend Spring Break with him doing more house projects:-)  This is his first solo plane ride, so I'm praying for a smooth flight Tuesday afternoon for him.  He'll be here until the following Wednesday, so it's a fairly long amount of time.  His task, along with my DH's, is to prime and paint the entire nursery and upstairs room.  It doesn't seem like too big of a job until you learn that the entire room is blue.  I'm talking walls, doors, closet, trim, and textured ceiling!  Blue!  Blue!  Actually, the whole house was this color inside, and my DH and I have painted most of it to my liking.  My DH is color blind, so it actually looks like a neutral color to him, which is why he picked it out when he had the house built!  He didn't realize he was picking out a one-tone paint scheme.  We laugh about the story now, but when we got married, I moved into the entirely blue house and am ready to have all remains of that color gone!  I'll post before and after pictures in a few weeks, so you can see for yourself:-)

3. If the painting goes smoothly and quickly, I have a whole list of other small projects my dad can work on.  We'll see if that's the case, but he's super handy with all things house-related, so I'd like for him to have time to do a few more things.  Like check to see if we have a bird in our attic!  That's the latest house issue from this week.  Lovely, huh.  If it's not in the attic, then it's in the rain gutter right outside our bathroom.  I'm hoping that's the case.

4. Last week we met with our fee-only financial planner for our annual check-up and retirement review.  I love our planner because we just pay him for his time and the advice he gives us is not based on commission he earns or products he sells.  He helps us choose which mutual funds to be invested in for our Roth IRAs and looks at a whole lot more related to retirement planning, insurance, wills, college funding, etc.  I'm the money person in our marriage, so I love meeting with him.  It gives me the confidence and information to carry us through the next year.

5. Baby seems to be doing fine.  8 weeks until his/her arrival....ahhh!  I'm starting to feel like I'm slowing down a bit, am becoming more tired, have more aches, and pains, etc.  My OB said this would happen around 32 weeks, so I guess it comes as no surprise since I was expecting it.  My latest progesterone draw was good at Zone 2, so now I've had 2 draws in Zone 2 (I'm getting the labs done every 3 weeks now instead of every 2 weeks).  This is the first time all pregnancy I've had two good draws in a row.  I think it may be because of my modified protocol because I'm not following my Napro Dr's advice of 100mg twice a week.  I've been doing 150-200mg twice a week, and have been guided a little bit by Matching Moonhead's experience with PPVI who has her on 200 mg twice a week AND suppositories for a progesterone level that is similar to mine.  I don't feel too bad not following my Napro Dr. for this reason and my level seems to be rising as it should be.  5 more weeks of shots and then I'm off them.  So crazy to think about.

6. I'm so ready to be done with house projects and rest these last few week of the pregnancy.  Our garage is full of all the furniture and items from the 2 upstairs rooms and the 3 downstairs.  I feel like it's an great visual of the utter disarray I feel I'm in at the moment.  Once my dad leaves, the nursery should be complete along with the rest of the upstairs.  Our goal is to be done with all house projects by the end of March, celebrate Holy Week, and then begin thinking about Baby's arrival, packing a hospital bag, etc.  Here's to hoping that works and that I don't need a Plan B:-)

Hope you're all having a great weekend!