{Coming in October}

It's true!  We are happy to announce baby Hoff arriving sometime in October 2012!

The last three months have been insane.  Between being tired and sick, I'm not sure how I've made it this far....Chad has been a great help! 

We've been getting a lot of "It's about time!" and "We didn't think you two were ever going to have kids!" Well people, God doesn't give you more than you can handle.  After the loss of our home to the flood we also lost our baby last summer.  It wasn't our time.  Chad and I focused on getting our lives back into order and getting our house rebuilt so we could see if God had a great plan for us in 2012...turns out he did =)  HE knew we couldn't handle both life changing events last summer and had us focus on getting a roof over our heads again so that we could focus on the next plan he had for us.

We got to see the little bugger at 7 weeks (thought we were only about 6 weeks) as just a little peanut and again at our appointment on April 5 (where we measured ahead again, now at 13 weeks!).  Chad was too cute, "It's got arms and legs now!"  He sure is going to make a great dad =)  

I've been sick, and thankfully if I remember to take Zyrtec that somehow makes it more tolerable.  Chad's been doing the grocery shopping for us (as long as I make the list out to what we need from each isle specifically) and helping out with laundry.  I've had severe cramping, bleeding, and a hard time drinking water (apparently when you know you have to drink it it just doesn't taste as good....) but the little bugger is growing, and growing fast!  Some say the sicker you are the healthier your pregnancy...I beg to differ...I sure don't feel healthy.  

Cravings? Yeah.  Nothing crazy though.  Each week it's something different.  Peaches, pretzels with dippy cheese, cheeseburgers, summer sausage, Arby's cheese sticks,  the list goes on.  I've just been eating whatever sounds good because if it doesn't sound good, it doesn't sit well in my stomach.  I haven't gained much weight, but I haven't been able to each much before 3:00 in the afternoon!

Chad's on edge. I'm on edge. We have a constant worry that this won't be our take home baby.  But after seeing the little bugger on the ultra sound chilling out sucking it's thumb, somehow I just know this one is it.  

It's been a hectic journey for us....we wouldn't change a thing.  Thank you for all the thoughts and prayers you've had for our little family.  We appreciate it!

love--

Chad, Brit, Sadie, and baby Hoff

long and short

I know, I know. You are all waiting for an elaborate update, right?  Well here's the long and the short of it:
Construction is supposed to start this coming week...last about 4 weeks, then we can FINALLY put the house back together and not live in a cluster! 

Chad's doing great with his teeth.....his back is doing great......apparently he's got a stomach ache tonight though...hopefully not the flu that has been going around---if so, I've got the lysol READY.

Trying to find a landscaping company to come and give us a quote is like pulling teeth--if our yard wasn't so large it wouldn't be such a daunting task but geesh it's huge back there!!! 

Hopefully when grades are finished I will be able to post more March Challenge pictures! I've been so busy this week with trying to get all of my assessments graded, entered, and report cards filled out! YIKES!  I'm tired.......

Stay tuned for more updates..........

I can't wait to put up progress photos of the basement! Oh! And I've talked Chad into repainting our bedroom....I just can't sleep when it feels like I'm surounded by walls of skin--because literally if you look at the peach (skin tone) color crayon, it's an exact match to the color of the walls!  I've got him talked into a nice gray/blue =) calm, serene, sleepy time.

March Photo Challenge Week 1

Here are two photos from week 1! I can't post the others.....I didn't realize a few things before I took a few of them, and I wasn't able to do a day because of Chad's surgery, so for now, this is what you get =)  

 Yep, left the date stamp on *face palm* realized this AFTER.... 

This is my version of Up.  I see these tree's out my front window everyday and they are SO tall! Plus, I like watching the HUGE blackbird/crow that lives up there.  Can you spot him?

And bedside. This is what my nightstand looks like...with a few things removed because the world just isn't ready for some of my reading material just yet.  This is what currently sits on my nightstand with two books missing.  This is what I roll over to every morning.

Camper livin'

My dad was kind enough to let us live in his camper during evacuation 1 & 2 AND until we got the FEMA trailer in October! It was pretty tight quarters, but we are so very thankful for it! 

 I can't remember, which means I probably didn't, if I posted these or not, so bear with me. 

 We spent three glorious months living behind NW Tire....

Even had a few neighbors!

bedroom....

living space....

View from the kitchen towards the bedroom.....

View from the bedroom towards the kitchen....

\

Couldn't beat the view though! That's one thing I do miss!!!!

I can't say I miss the garbage being picked up....or the truck coming in on truck days......although I was able to finally sleep through those things about two months in!

FEMA dreama

Yeah, not so much our dream home, but, alas, here is the tour...from move out day!!!

Master bedroom......

Looking into the living space from the master.....

Living space from the bathroom!

Bathroom

Hallway that lead to the second entrance and spare bedroom/storage area

Spare room that we used mainly as storage/pantry

The entrance that got a breeze way built on 

(this is in the spare room)

Chad exiting through the main entrance in the living space

There you have it.  That was our living quarters for 3 months!  We had been living in the house for about a week once I took these photos.  We were just getting the last of our stuff out this day.

March Photo Challenge

One of my classmates from high school had this on her blog the other day, so, I figured what the heck! I need something to work on other than work and this seems like an interesting project. Thanks Leah!

...cleaning...et all

I really want to just scrub the crap out of my main level, but, alas, I cannot. 

I'm tired of seeing the dirty streaks and prints ALL OVER the nice pretty floor and seeing all of our stuff in piles everywhere.  Not being able to eat dinner at the dinner table.  It's so cluttered and clustered and I'm not enjoying it.....one bit.

Our basement cannot get finished soon enough.  All the stuff that is down there right now though will have to come up...which makes for more clutter...*sigh*.   On the bright side once it gets finished we can finally save some $$ each month because we won't have to pay for a storage unit anymore... Which, you may now be asking yourself "Why is all your stuff cluttered at your house when you have a storage unit?" Well, because we only had help for a few weekends and I can't help move any of the big stuff anymore so we took the help when it was offered.  We still have stuff left in storage, mainly because there was no room for it in the house yet.  Which is somewhat nice, as I was able to go through a good portion of what we did bring home and made quite the donation pile.....

I'm also ready for something to go right with the house. We now have to change some of the pipes in the bathroom because they are crumbling--according to the roto router guy who wouldn't roto router because of this.  So, the amazing plumber friend we have is coming over this weekend to see if we have to change it all or if we can just change an elbow and be good to go....the bathroom sink does.NOT.drain at all currently. 

We also need to figure out what to do about the landscaping.  Spring is near and we have A LOT of work to do in order to keep water out of the basement.  We know we have to add more dirt, slope the dirt, and number one fix priority is to fix the gutters and one of the corners of the house.  So, if you've got some great landscaping tricks/tips/ideas LET US KNOW. 

I guess my anxiety and restlessness are getting to me today.  Chad has suggested we "get out of town" this weekend for the day at least.  So, we may be heading to Bismarck for the day on Saturday....depends on how I'm feeling.  We need to hit up Sam's Club something terrible, and need a quick filling of baby Weston--okay and maybe his parents too.  I guess we will see.

Thanks for letting me vent! I hope you all had a fabulous week!