My tour from one John Denver song to another...

What an eventful week!  I returned Saturday from a weeklong trip with a dear friend of mine.  We went to Colorado to drop off her cousin; I went along for the ride so she wouldn’t be alone on the long drive home.  The whole trip, between "Rocky Mountain High" and "Country Roads," I couldn't get John Denver out of my head.

She showed me the sights of Pueblo and Denver before heading back.  The scenery was amazing!  I got to see some tumbleweed; though, they moved too fast for me to get a picture.  The plains of Kansas were stunning and I just couldn’t get over how huge the sky looks when there are no mountains or buildings in the way.  We took a drive through the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and got some AMAZING views of the changing Aspens.  There was a handmade castle, Bishop Castle, which was simply unbelievable!!  I’m terrified of heights so we didn’t go up, but I did get to see the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.  I’ll add some pictures to the bottom of the post. 

In house news, we did get some good news last week while I was gone.  The financing has been approved!!  The appraisal has already been completed, which happened a lot faster than we anticipated.  In a shocking turn of events, the appraisal came back LOWER than the listing price.  We asked for a price reduction based on the appraisal and just heard back this afternoon that the bank is willing to lower the price of the house.  In doing so, however, they want to reduce what they pay at closing.  So, Richard and I had a quick conversation while he was on break at work and we’re going to go with it.  Odds are we’ll owe very little at closing (maybe around $400) and we can handle that.

Dave seemed to think we could get a closing date of October 20th, if everything happens smoothly and quickly.  Now that I’ve looked at a calendar, I’m starting to get nervous.  We’ve got to get our house packed and ready to move, get his mom’s stuff moved in, and coordinate getting her down here all at about the same time.  Yikes!  And without Richard taking more than one day off work.  And I didn’t want to start doing any of it until we’re certain that we’re going to closing.  I guess now that we’re pretty sure that we’re going to close on the house, I could probably start packing.    

In baby news… well, not much is happening.  I’m feeling surprisingly normal.  Well, aside from the growing waist line.  We are almost to 15 weeks (tomorrow)!!  Our “gender ultrasound” is schedule for November 8th and I’m crazy excited about that!  I feel like I haven’t seen Lil Pea in AGES and it’s killing me.  I had an appointment today and got to hear the heart beat again today.  Lil Pea was pretty active as the doc had to chase down his/her heartbeat, lol!  That made me smile!  I would listen to it every day, if I could.  Still don’t think I’ve felt anything…  I have had two weird sensations that got me excited, but I can’t say for certain if it was baby or not.  There are a lot of twitches, pinches, and pulling sensations, but these were different.  Felt more like knuckles rolling across my skin from the inside.  Lol!  Sounds weird, I know.  Who knows, it’s early yet to be feeling anything anyway. 

I’ve lost a total of seven pounds since my initial appointment, but my ketones have been negative so they aren’t worried.  My sugars have been a little higher than they’d like (mostly, from my road trip), so they’ve given me a VERY low prescription that I only need to take half a pill before dinner.  Just to see if we can drop my evening sugars down some.  But, more good news, I don’t have to go back to the doctors until our November ultrasound.  I’m excited about that because they’ve been seeing me every two weeks so far. 

Sooooooo, the next couple of weeks I’ll be focused on getting our family moved.  If anyone has any boxes, we’d be most obliged!! 

And now, for some Colorado trip pictures.  :o)  There are a lot.  I took over 500, so it was hard to narrow it down to just a few... 



Kansas: driving through... so straight and flat and sunny and beautiful!  I really loved Kansas.



Kansas:  "amber waves of grain"

Kansas:  There was a huge field of wind turbines.  They were HUGE! 

Kansas: Yes, that's an oil rig...!  How cool is that!?  (I am such a dork..)

Colorado:  Still in the plains, but there were all these cool spikey bushes all of sudden. 

Colorado:  Rocky Mountain High

Colorado: Garden of the Gods.  Breathtaking red rocks.

Colorado: Garden of the Gods.  More rock, wish I could post all my pictures. 

Colorado: Historic Arkansas River Project (HARP).  We took a walk along the HARP...

Colorado: Historic Arkansas River Project (HARP).  Really cool statue.

Colorado: San Isabel National Forest.  We took a drive through the mountains and saw the Aspens changing colors.  Beautiful.  

Colorado: San Isabel National Forest.  A beautiful lake; we stopped here for a few minutes and listened to the wind in the trees and the fish popping. 

 



Colorado: San Isabel National Forest.  More changing Aspens.



Colorado: Casa Bonita.  An awesome Mexican resturant with live entertainment, a bunch of cool rooms, a waterfall, a magic show, divers, a cave to explore, and so much more!  It was awesome!




Missouri:  St. Louis.  Just a garden on the way to the Mississippi River and Gateway Arch.  Thought it was pretty.

 

Missouri:  St. Louis.  Gateway Arch! 



Missouri:  St. Louis.  Gateway Arch! 




Missouri:  St. Louis.  Mississippi River! 









Our move is movin' along

La, la, la, la, la….  La, la, la, la, la….   

So, it’s been a good news kind of week so far!  Let’s hope it continues.  How things are going so far:

First up, the house!  All the loan documents have been completed and are heading to the underwriter for approval.  Things look favorable since they had calculated Richard’s income lower than it actually is.  Woot!  We should hear back about that in the next three to seven business days.  In the mean time, we are able to start doing the inspections and such.  So Richard made an appointment on Thursday morning for the home inspection and radon test.  The broker we’re going through thinks we should still be able to close in October, which would fit perfectly into our plans of getting Richard’s mom down here.  So that’s moving right on schedule, so far. 

Next, Lil Pea!  I had a follow up appointment with the Diabetes Management group today.  My numbers have been stellar, I’m proud to report!  She was pleased with my number drop and my creativity in how I get my fruit and carbs into my meals.  I really enjoyed chatting with her and feel really comfortable with her.  I did admit to skipping breakfast here and there, and usually skipping the snacks.  She said that wasn’t a problem as long as I didn’t start spilling ketones (which I have not).  I lost 3.4 pounds, which was a little surprising.  But I’m still circling the same 5 pound drain, in that regard.  She said she didn’t see the loss as a problem, but that I’d need to talk to my OBGYN to be sure.  I’ll keep an eye on it to make sure I don’t start losing consistently.  Now’s not the time for weight loss, they keep telling me.  :o) 

Also, we are safely into the second trimester and heading on to week 13 (or 14 depending on how you count).  We’ll be 13 weeks on Thursday!  I’ve bought my first bella band, so I can open my jeans.  Ahhhhhh, the comfort!!  Brilliant invention, that is.  Everything this week has seemed just a little bit brighter.  I feel just a little less tired.  I have a little more energy.  I feel a little more normal.  Overall, feeling pretty fantastic!!  The only aspect this week that I’m not enjoying is my waist line.  I just feel crazy bloated.  I can’t “suck it in” like I used to. 

Lastly, something super fun!  So a dear friend of mine, Terri, has had her cousin here over the summer.  She was visiting from Colorado.  This coming Saturday, Terri had planned to take Trisha back to Colorado.  Terri and I had been planning dinner, but she needed to cancel to prepare for this trip.  When I found out she was going alone, I worried about her – at least felt bad for her having to drive over 1600 miles back all alone.  Between some back and forth emails, I mentioned how I would have loved to have gone with her.  Long story short, she said “then why don’t ya!?” and now I’m going to Colorado!! 

I’m crazy excited!!  I love road trips and I love Terri, so what an excellent combination!!  I’ll get to see the Rocky Mountains, the plains of Kansas, the Mississippi River, and the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.  Well have some much needed girly bonding time, too.  I can’t even express how grateful I am that she’s taking me with her, considering my financial contributions will be minimal.  So look forward to fantastic pictures in the next week or two as we cruise across these great states! 

I will also try to update from the road as we learn more about the house.  :o)