Finally some good news!

If you have been a follower of my blog, then you might know how much I hate the apartment we are living in right now. You would also know what a struggle it has been trying to move out of here. Last year we almost had a subleaser lined up and we were going to move into a very nice condo, but then our landlord refused to let them lease our apartment because they weren’t 18 yet.

It’s time for some serious job hunting now that Corey and I are done with school. However, the hunt can’t be taken seriously because we’re stuck with this lease until July 31^st. If Corey was to find a job, say in Winston or Asheville, we would be out of luck because we can’t afford to rent two places at once. We have to find someone to take over our lease from January to July.

I’ve had the apartment listed on Craigslist since October, with a few bites here and there. We had several people come to look at it, but they were smarter than us and didn’t want it. The worst part? Every time we had appointments lined up to show it to someone, it snowed the day before. If you know about where I live, then you understand why that sucks so much. Our building sits on the side of a mountain. The view of Boone from our window is amazing, but the hill you have to drive up isn’t. In the winter, the thing on everyone’s mind is how accessible their home will be in the snow. Our side of the building never sees sunlight, so when our stair case is covered in snow, it never melts. It just keeps getting icier. Oh, and I live on the 3^rd floor!! Needless to say, it is very dangerous walking up and down the stairs in the winter. Every time someone came to look at the place, the stairs were covered in snow. We’ve had the worst luck.

Last week we had four people come look at it. I thought our luck might be changing. The last group of girls seemed very interested and told us they would be going to sign subleasing papers the next day on Friday. I couldn’t believe we were finally going to have someone take it. I was stressing out Thursday night and all day Friday just waiting for them to say they’ve started the paperwork. They texted me around lunch time saying they couldn’t go until Monday… I am the most anxious person there is. I was a wreck. Now I would have to wait all weekend. I wouldn’t be happy until I knew papers were signed to make everything official. Monday came around and I still didn’t hear anything. I sent them several texts, but never got a response. My hopes were all gone after that.

I went to our landlord’s website to make sure our apartment was still listed, but didn’t find it anywhere, so I gave them a call. I told the woman I was calling to see if maybe our listing was taken down because the girls had gone by without telling me, but she surprised me. Apparently a couple that came to look at it the week before had been in contact with them and were in the process of filling out paperwork. I had to make sure she was working with the right apartment because the couple had told me a few nights earlier they didn’t want it. I was so happy! All the paperwork was already done; they were just waiting on a check for a non-refundable fee. I was told she would call me in a few days to be officially released. Even though I felt a lot of weight lifted off my shoulders I was still nervous. Like I said I have terrible anxiety. I wouldn’t be happy until the check was in and we were officially released.

Corey and I really needed this to work out because we had the perfect situation lined up. We don’t exactly know where will be living in the future, so we needed a temporary living situation. We have an awesome friend whose dad bought a condo for him to live in while he was in school. He is graduating the same time are, so he’ll be moving home. His parents have offered to let us live in his condo until the end of April. That is the perfect amount of time for us to figure out if we will be living in Boone or moving somewhere else. We’ve been working all week to get things set up with that, but I was still so worried something would go wrong with the couple wanting to lease our apartment, because things like that always happen to me and Corey.

BUT!! I just received a call from our landlord officially releasing us from our lease!! You have no idea how much weight has been lifted from our shoulders. Not only will we be able to decide where we want to live in the future without constraints, but we will be living in a much safer environment. This is a great apartment for college students, but it’s not the best place to have a family. There are always loud parties going on, and the stairs are just so dangerous when icy, especially for a toddler and pregnant woman. I also want to get away from an apartment with fireplaces. I'm always worried a drunk student won't be taking care of their fire, and our living room always smells like a campfire.  Every time the people below us slam their door, our entire apartment shakes, and our floor creaks with every step we take...ugh! Can you tell I hate this place!

Now that we don't have to worry about this place, we have until April to figure out where in the world we are going to live (not to mention we'll be spending that time in a very nice condo!) It's been such a hard decision, but Corey has applications out and with the apartment being subleased, we have one less thing to worry about. I'm hoping within the next year we will finally be able to settle down and move into our first "real" home. For anyone who is still reading after this way-too-long post, thanks for sitting through it. I know it doesn't seem like a big deal to most, but we have been working so long to get this place rented out and to move into a better place. Moving day is the 29th and I am so excited!! Now my anxiety can finally chill out!

Halfway There!

I can't believe I'm already halfway through this pregnancy. Kynlee makes life go by pretty fast, so I figured it would go by quickly, but I didn't realize how quickly. I'm already 21 weeks, when I feel like I just found out we were having another one.

I've been very fortunate to have another easy pregnancy (so far). Besides suffering through a stomach bug this past weekend, I haven't had any morning sickness! If I had to go through what I went through Saturday, every day, I would be miserable. I don't know how mama's who have morning sickness do it. They deserve a prize.

We had our 20 week ultrasound yesterday. I would have been way more excited if we were finding out the gender, but we found out very early that it was a boy! It's very unusual to find out the gender at a 12 week sonogram, but there was absolutely no way to deny that this is a little boy.

That's him at 12 weeks. You can even see his pee pee....dooter....package? from the side. Definitely a boy :) Our ultrasound yesterday confirmed it.

What a creepy face, right?

Ultrasounds are fun because you get to see your little bun in the oven, and find out the gender, but they are also important for making sure the baby is healthy, and to look for problems. Unfortunately right now I have placenta previa.

If you have placenta previa, it means that your placenta is lying unusually low in your uterus, next to or covering your cervix. It can cause bleeding and lead to other complications, and means you'll probably have to deliver early. It's even more dangerous for someone who has had a previous c-section. Fortunately for some women, this problem fixes itself along the way, and there is no other cause for concern. I have another ultrasound on Dec. 27th to follow-up on it. If it is still there, then it's very likely I will have to take precaution for the rest of my pregnancy, and I'll definitely have to have another c-section, probably around 37 weeks. I had Kynlee at 37 weeks as well. It was a nice surprise to see her early, and not have to suffer through 3 more weeks of being huge, but I would prefer that Avett cook as long as possible. BUT hopefully, this will all go away and I won't have to worry about it!

Other than the placenta previa, things are going well. I'm past the stage where I'm exhausted, and have to go to bed at 7:30. Now I’m having to get used to moving around with the growing belly. I didn't get to post the first picture of my baby bump, so here it is at 14 weeks. 

And here it is again at 20 weeks :)

And of course I have to share a picture of me and Kynlee Bear :)

(Ignore the weird change of font in the middle of the post, I have no clue what happened, and I can't fix it.)

Life After College

Graduation is quickly approaching, in 27 days to be exact. Not that I'm counting. I finished my internship last week and I don't have any work for my last 4 days of classes. 4 DAYS! So after I write a paper for my internship, I'm done. Four and a half years of college, and I'll finally be done!

It all seems so nice, until I start to think about what's going to happen after I move that tassel from right to left.  I'm not worried about jobs. Corey is looking and applying, but he's is going to keep his job as a backup if we don't find anything.  The main thing I can't stop stressing over is where we're going to live. It would just be nice to know what city it will be. I go to bed thinking about it every night. 

Even if we stay in Boone for a while, we have to get out of the apartment we're living in. This is a great place for two college students, but it's not the right place to live for a family-- especially one that is about to grow. When we signed the lease, we had no clue our apartment would be on the third floor. I didn't think it would be an issue until I had to climb up three flights of stairs with a car seat while recovering from a c-section. It's getting hard enough now that Kynlee is 16 months old and I'm getting more pregnant every day. There is absolutely no way I can make it up the stairs with Kynlee and a car seat. Not to mention if I have to carry bags or anything else too. Winter is awful too because of snow and ice. Corey has already fallen down the stairs, and it wasn't even that icy. I am terrified one of us will fall down the stairs while holding Kynlee, and you might have heard falling down the stairs can be bad for pregnant women. The stairs isn't our only issue, but it's definitely one of the biggest.  I also don't feel comfortable raising small children in a building where there are constantly drunk college students hanging out and partying. 

We've had our condo listed on Craigslist for a few months now, and there are no interests. We went in to our rental company's office to talk about our lease options a few days ago...let's just say I left in tears. They have been nothing but flat out mean to us. Even if there is nothing we can do to get out of our lease, we just want understand it, and know all of our options. No one there will even sit down and talk to us about it. Luckily our campus is awesome and offers free legal advice to students, they even have off-campus living legal advice. We called to make an appointment, and they set us up with a woman who specializes in our rental company! We're going to see her tomorrow, and I'm actually excited. This is the most hope I've had since all this mess started.

 If we get out of this apartment I will feel so much better about our plans after graduation. This way, whenever we're able to make final decisions about where we're going to live, we can go ahead and find a house instead of being stuck here. I'm just ready for this stress to be over!

Other than our housing issues, I'm going to try and enjoy these last few weeks leading up to graduation. We will still be using Kynlee's childcare for December, so the days that I don't have class I'm going to RELAX and I'm so excited about it. I'm going to nap, read, and hopefully craft. I took these things for granted before I became a mom. I know it sounds pretty awful to think about sleeping while Kynlee is at daycare, but we're paying for it so we have to use it, and I worked so hard at my internship and school, I feel like I deserve a little bit of rest. After December 16th, though, I will finally get to be a stay at home mom! I'm really excited about it! I already feel like one since Corey works at night, but now I get to play with my baby girl, and soon baby boy, all day. 

Wow, I just realized how boring all of this rambling is. I'm just so stressed out, and I guess blogging about it makes me feel better... At least in theory. Wish us luck with the lawyer tomorrow!

Bet you thought you would never see me again!

Oh my life has been crazy. I've been leaving my blog for longer periods of time. Sometimes I think I'm done for good, others I regret not documenting our life. I especially hate that I have blogged so much about Kynlee growing up, but not so much for the new baby. New baby? Yup that's right, we're pregnant again!

We were very surprised with our new addition but so happy. We were lucky to find out at a 13 week ultrasound that it's going to be a little boy :) Most people would say that's not very accurate, but if you saw the pictures you would agree that there is no way to deny the gender. We have another ultrasound in 2 weeks, but I'm very sure it will still be a boy. If so we have decided on naming him Avett Grey!

A lot of people probably have a hard time understanding why we're having another baby and we're still in college. We didn't plan on this happening and I won't lie, I was a little worried about it at first too. I realized, though, that we're graduating in December, and we already have plans laid out for how we're going to support our family. I think it all comes down to the love and support we can provide for baby #2. I don't want to toot our horns but I feel that Corey and I are wonderful parents to Kynlee. She is happy and healthy, and there is nothing stopping us from giving that to Avett too. I absolutely love being a mom, and I can't wait to have another baby to love.

I had the easiest first pregnancy, and this one has been almost the same. I am so fortunate that I have never experienced morning sickness. There have been several times when I've felt like I needed to, but luckily nothing has happened. I think God knows how much I hate throwing up, and has blessed me with a strong pregnant tummy! The only problems I have had this go-around is blood pressure issues. I have been extremely hypotensive. My blood pressure has been consistently around 80/40, when normal is 115-120/80. This has caused me to feel faint about 50% of the time. It was really difficult trying to do my internship while feeling this way. I'm so embarrassed when I have to sit down because I become so pale and light headed that I might pass out. Unfortunately this happens with some pregnant women and the only thing I can do for it is learn to manage. I've been drinking a Gatorade every morning, when it's the worst, because that helps me get salt into my system to raise my BP.

Other than that, I can't complain about my experience. I think my favorite part about being pregnant is how easy it is for me to sleep. I have suffered from insomnia since my freshman year of college, but when I have a baby inside of me he sucks up every ounce of energy I have. I struggle to stay awake past 9:30. It's hard because Corey doesn't get off until pretty late, and I don't feel comfortable going to bed without him here. It took us 4 nights to watch Water for Elephants because I couldn't stay awake long enough to finish. That's pretty ridiculous! But I am LOVING all of the sleep I'm getting!

I tried to upload a picture of the baby bump, but it's not working. Maybe next time!

I meant for this to be a much longer post since I have sooo much to catch up on, but it's 8pm, I'm getting tired and I have a good book to put my nose in :) I promise I will be back more often though!