Life Update...

Since it's been a couple weeks since my last post, I figured I would update everyone on the latest in the life of the Dough's. Bulleted lists makes things easier to read, right???

• The House - We officially closed on our home in Branson yesterday. I'd like to tell you that it's bittersweet, but that's not true. It's just sweet. After the waiting process, we are more than relieved to have that burden removed. It was a wonderful home and we'll carry some sweet memories from it, but I know we will eventually have a wonderful home here too. (Oh, and we made $600 more than we were expecting...not much to some people I'm sure, but that's A LOT to us. Thank you Lord!)
  
• Back to 2 Cars - After the crazy sale of the jeep, we went on a hunt for a more "family-friendly" car. We already knew what we were looking for, and it only took us about 2 weeks to find the right car at the right price. We now own a 2005 Nissan Murano. We were looking more at 2007's and 2008's, but they all had more miles and cost way more. Our 2005 only has 50,000 miles on it and was way cheaper. And you can't beat not having a car payment, right?!? Obviously, we've only had it for a week, but so far, it's been great and we love it. One more step closer to Baby Dough!!! :)
  
• Our Stuff - Yes, we closed on our house and if you've kept up with previous posts - no, we are not in the rental house yet. Still a few weeks before that move (fingers crossed that Baby Dough waits to make a grand entrance until we are in there...we'll see.) So, most of our stuff is in storage for a few weeks - yes that means we'll be moving it multiple times in a month. So fun. But hey, on the bright side, the sweet family that owns the house we'll be renting (and still currently lives there) moved their stuff out of one room so we could put all our BIG pieces of furniture in there and not move them twice. That makes things a little less complicated.
  
• Baby Dough - Baby Dough is doing great and getting BIG (at least in my opinion.) I start my weekly exams next week which means we are definitely on the home stretch. We now also have all of our baby stuff in one place - that's a good feeling. Definitely not organized and not set up, but at least it's in 1 place, not 3. Now if I could only find a pair of shoes that fit my fat feet. I have to squeeze them into every pair. Not cute, I can promise you that...but worth it, I'm sure. Sorry no pic, this time - I'll try to post at least one more soon.

I'm sure there's more to tell, but that covers the big stuff. Well, other than how excited we are that college football starts in less than a week. Go Hogs!

Jeep-less...

So, like I promised...here's the update on the vehicle situation. As stated in the previous post, we've had a lot happen in the past couple weeks. All great things, just A LOT to take in. Including what happened on Tuesday.

We've known for months now that we would need to reconsider our current vehicle situation. Josh has driven a '99 Jeep Wrangler for the past 3 years, and it's worked great b/c he didn't drive it very much. Just to work (which used to be a 4-minute drive) when we weren't driving together and around town on a really nice day. The Jeep seriously only used a tank and a half of gas every month - max. So no biggie!

Well, with the new job and baby on the way, we knew it was time to sell the Jeep. Josh drives around (town, not long-distance...don't be confused) like crazy for his new job, and the Jeep was KILLING our gas budget. Let's just say it got about 12 miles to the gallon. Yep, I know. We'll blame it on the huge tires. So anyways, we started fixing up a few of the things that needed fixing (not the big things, just the affordable ones) and cleaned it really well on Saturday.

I, being (slightly Type A) added "Put the Jeep on Craigslist" to my to-do list, and Tuesday afternoon I was really wanting to cross another thing off, so I told Josh that we should go ahead and list. So we did.  I assumed it would take a while to sell. I was wrong.

Josh jokingly told me as soon as we posted the ad, "Okay, start the timer. Let's see how long it takes to get our first call." Well....

18 minutes later...we got a call and an offer at our goal price. The guy showed up at our place within another 10 minutes, and they were off to the bank 20 minutes after that. So literally, in less than an hour, the Jeep was gone and we had cash in hand. 

This is a good thing, I know. But it happened SO FAST that I didn't feel like I had time to process. I called my dad b/c I still don't feel like I'm old enough to make these big decisions on my own even though I'm 28 and have been married for 5 1/2 years. Do you ever feel old enough to feel confident making huge decisions like that? I don't know.

So, we're currently down to one car (which we can make work for a while) and on the hunt for a crossover vehicle that will serve as more of a family car. I'm excited.

I realize this sounds silly, but I feel kind of bad for Josh. If you know him at all, you know he is OBSESSED with Jeep Wranglers. I mean, wrangler owners seriously have their own club. They wave at every other wrangler (and ONLY wranglers) they pass on the road...and get offended when they don't wave back. It's like improper etiquette or something. But he told me it was worth it - he gets a baby out of the deal! Anyways, I hope that someday we can afford to get him another wrangler - even just as an extra vehicle.

In the meantime though, thanks for sacrificing babe! The Jeep will be missed. :(

Life Update...

Well, this post is (as most) overdue. I should have shared all this news as it was going on, but more keeps happening so maybe it's good I waited. I'll try to keep this short and to the point, but God has been so faithful with the little details, I'm not sure if I can. So, here goes...


The House-
I finally posted about our journey and battle with waiting on July 24th (specifically about our house), and we got an offer on our house 2 days later. CRAZY! We didn't even know someone looked at our house. Our realtor text Josh on Tuesday saying "the showing last night went really well, think you're gonna get an offer today." This was the first time they hadn't told us about a showing - somehow just slipped through the cracks, I guess. I'm not complaining though. Maybe not knowing was best. Apparently. Well, by Thursday we were under contract - for a great price that we were very happy with. Praise the Lord! Our closing date is set for August 26th and everything looks good to go through at this point. :) 


Where to Next?
So, once that was under way, we needed to find somewhere to live. Reminder that we are still currently staying with our friends in their guest house. They have been SO gracious and hospitable to us, but we can't stay once Baby Dough arrives. We decided we don't want to buy anything immediately (unless we found the perfect house for the perfect price.) Unfortunately, the market isn't looking to get any better any time soon so we don't want to rush. Especially since we would be closing on a house around the same time I would be having a baby. CRAZY! 


So our decision was to try and find something temporary and affordable to rent so we could transition through this crazy phase, save a little money, and be looking for a house in the meantime. Of course we preferred to rent a house or a town home, but it was looking like the only "affordable" option that would allow us to save money was going to be a small apartment. We didn't move forward with this, as we were still putting feelers out with people, and God, once again, came through BIG time!


Long (long) story short - a couple from our church has bought a house and is moving to Prairie Grove. They've been trying to sell their current house in Springdale for over a year and decided to take it off the market for a while. They said we could rent it (for SUPER affordable-basically what we would be paying for a 1-bedroom apartment) under no contract or commitment. We can stay for a month or 6 months - whatever we need! They are the SWEETEST couple. So anyways, we'll be able to save money and keep looking for a house. We're so excited!


Oh, the only catch - they don't close on their house until Sept. 19th. Yep, you guessed it. That means we can't move in there until 10 days before my due date. We'll pray Baby Dough is closer to the 29th so we don't have to move in with someone else for a few days until we can move into this house. Believe it or not, I'm actually not worried about it! The Lord has worked out every detail so far. He'll work out this one too. :)


So...............
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your prayers and support through this process. It still seems a little surreal that these prayers are finally answered after months and months of waiting. We feel incredibly blessed. 


"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine...to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever!" Eph. 3:20-21


Oh, and we have a crazy vehicle update to give you too, but this post was getting too long. So, more on that tomorrow. :)

32 Weeks...

Well, technically over 32 weeks. Per request, here's the most updated belly pic, taken at about 32 1/2 weeks. Pretty big difference from the last time, huh? Or so I think. It's hard to believe I have less than 8 weeks left until Baby Dough is actually here. The time has flown. It's definitely becoming more real, and we get more excited everyday. 

For those who are interested, here are a few other updates about the pregnancy. I still feel really good. People are sweet to ask me all the time how I'm feeling, but they always ask in a tone that makes me think they expect to hear the worse. I mean, I really feel pretty normal. Obviously bigger, but not too bad. The only other major changes are swollen feet by 8pm every night (of course, it's 108 degrees outside), starting to lose sleep at night (I'm assuming that's one way the Lord is prepping me for lack of sleep for the first 2 months), and a belly button that sticks straight out. I HIGHLY considered photoshopping that out of the picture, but it wouldn't be true to what I really look like. I mean, the top of my belly button sticks out so far - at least in my eyes it does. Josh is sweet to tell me it's cute and expected, I just think it's a little gross. And definitely not cute in fitted shirts and dresses. Oh well, it will be worth it when I finally get to hold this little one. :) 


Other than that, I am in the healthy range for weight gain, I'm still exercising, and I really don't have any cravings. Not saying I don't believe women have cravings when they're pregnant, I just haven't. Certain foods will sound good at certain times, but that's no different than when I wasn't pregnant. Stuff sounds good, but I don't CRAVE it. However, I do use my extra 200/300 calories per day that I'm supposed to have as a great excuse to have another bowl of cereal. Cereal continues to prove itself as my favorite food. I get almost as excited about picking out my cereal on grocery runs as I do about going to Hallmark. Just a couple random facts about me. :)


So there's the update. I'll do my best to post one more pic, closer to the end. (Depending on how big I am.) ;) Thanks for all the prayers for Baby Dough. 


Oh and life update coming soon. Lots of changes since the last post. (GREAT ones, too!)