Malachi is super helpful when it comes to home remodel

Watching Malachi with each of the changes at our new house has been quite funny. Everytime we move a piece of furniture, even a few inches he must smell every inch of it. We put this great low shag carpet in our bedroom and I thought he might never step off of it. I'm not sure what he's seaching for when he sniffs all over the house, but he seems to appreciate that the same people are still in the house... he likes us and he is not afraid to let us know. Here's hoping he likes the baby too!!

New House Fabulousness!!

Here are a few pictures of our semi-settled in house. They are pretty terrible collages because I'm still learning what's on Samantha's old laptop that I have now.


The front of the house!


When you walk in the front door here's the living room/dining room with the back door leading onto the front porch.


Our bedroom which Paul painted and laid new carpet in


A bathroom (not pictured because it looks like all bathrooms)leads off of our bedroom and into the baby's nursery. Right now it's full of boxes and unsorted baby stuff so it's not much to look at. This room will be painted green and I'll definitely post pictures when this room is finished. It probably won't be done for a couple more weeks so let's just pray the baby doesn't come before then!


The nursery leads into the hallway where the washer and dryer are. That door leads to Paul's office and another bathroom. I didn't take a picture of this room because... trust me... you don't want to see it.


The hallway leads into the kitchen when takes you back to the great room!

I've got pictures of the first time we looked at it so we can eventually go back and tell how much work has been done. There's still a lot mre to go though!! Paul has been amazing and so handy... building out closets, painting, installing carpets and much more! It's so fun to come home to our own house and see how much the Lord has blessed us. Come by and see us sometime!!

I'm going to open a baby store and only give you one option on everything... you will NOT have a wall of pacifiers to choose from

Yay for a new house! We are loving being home owners and we love our happy little home. I'm hoping to get pictures up soon, but we still have a lot of work to do. The living room and kitchen are set up, though could still use some decorating. Paul is currently painting and carpeting our bedroom so we can set that room up and move the extra bedroom furniture out of the living room. He has a lot of sorting to do to get his office ready and a lot of that stuff is currently in the nursery. We picked out this really cute bright green color for the nursery and hope to paint it sometime this week or next. And tomorrow they are set to deliver our.... WASHER AND DRYER! Apparently Lowe's "next day" delivery is actually "one week" delivery if they are running behind.

There are so many fun firsts in our first house... here are a few:
- the first time we got real mail in our real mailbox!
- the first time the real trashtruck picked up the trash from our real trashcan (soon we hope to be able to recycle too)
- the first time Paul got to find Malachi after he left the house
- the first box that got unpacked (it had kitchen stuff in it)
- the first movie we watched from our two recliners (Sherlock Holmes, if you must know)
- the first time I chased the cat out of the baby's room
- the first time we got to drive only 10 minutes to get to church instead of 45!
- the first time we both got to pee at the same time cause there are two toilets!!
Ah... so many good memories!!

In baby news we had another prenatal visit. Everything went well except for I didn't pass my glucose test. I went yesterday for a longer test at the lab and since I haven't heard anything yet I'm assuming I passed this time. I know it saves on phone calls but I hate the "no news is good news" policy that doctor's offices have. The baby kicks a lot now and it's fun to watch if you happen to catch him shaking my belly. This morning I went to two different stores to start baby registries and it was super stressful. There are just two many choices! Plus I don't know yet what I will like or need or what the baby will prefer or if my baby will have any special needs or requirements. I think mommy is ready for a nap!

I can't remember the last time I have been THIS tired!

We are now officially homeowners in Tallassee! All our stuff is moved and our trailer is sold... Praise God!  Now that o have started this blog entry I'm not really sure I even have the energy to finish it. My mom has been in town and we have made great progress unpacking, but as a result I am now the proud owner of two beautiful cankles. My legs go straight down from my knees to the top of my feet and they are pretty painful.  They do feel much better when I elevate them but from an elevated position all I can see is how much work there is to do! Ah well... I love to work in my own house!

T-minus 3 days until moving

The appraisal came back fine and everything is in order to close Friday afternoon.....

Still need to sell the trailer

Housing Update

For those who have been faithfully praying for us, or just following our blog and thinking about us now and again.... we need you to lift us up to the Father this week!!

Three weeks ago we submitted an offer on a house in Tallassee and things have really been rolling since then. Our previous attempt to secure a mobile home fell through and this time it is a full fledged house we are buying... a brick house nonetheless! It has all the things we were looking for, including three bedrooms, two FULL bathrooms, and a nice place to entertain! It has a few things we can fix up and plenty for us to personalize! So tomorrow we should get word that the appraisal is complete and we are a go. The closing attorney has set closing to be Friday at 3:30, please pray that this works out. We (nor anyone involved) don't see reasonable delaying our plans, but you never know. If we do close Friday my parents are coming down this weekend to help us move and I am so very (cautiously) excited!

So prayer request #1... no surprises before Friday so closing can go smoothly

Prayer request #2... we need to sell our current home (we don't need two!)

For the past two years our home has been a trailer in a student trailer park near campus. It has been a blessing but now we're ready to turn it over. If a student buys it, it can stay in the park or we'll hear any offer if someone would like to move it. We're asking a great price and have been advertising it everywhere we can think of. A couple families came by to look on Saturday and the only guy I've found that will buy one this old came by to look at it tonight but no takers yet. Since it looks like we won't sell it by Friday we will have to pay to leave it here another month. Please pray that the Lord will send just the right person that needs to live here as much as we need to sell it! It will make someone a great home

"Maternity" is not a size

Prenatal appointment number five went down yesterday. It was pretty standard and everything is still good with me and the baby. I've now seen a number on the scale that I've never seen before so that's been slightly difficult. The doctor measured my tummy with the tape measure for the first time and I guess that's good because it means the baby is growing! Heartrate was 160 this time. I have another appointment in three weeks and this one will be my blood glucose test so we'll see!

We had another pregnant photo session and Paul took lots of fun pictures of me and my lazy eye and my belly. Here is the one from 8 weeks versus 23 weeks:




And here are some more good ones:


Malachi had to get in on the action








"I think my feet are down there somewhere"







"

Over halfway there!

I can't believe we've passed 20 weeks already! In a couple of weeks we will reach the point that if something were to go wrong our little boy could survive without me... I am just blown away by that! Of course my prayer is that he gets another three happy months in my tummy because I know that I'll turn around and he'll be graduating from high school and leaving home. So I don't want him leaving me ANY earlier than necessary!

He moves a lot now so I am constantly reminded of his presence, especially when I lay down to sleep at night. Paul, Samantha, and my mom have been able to feel the baby kick... yay! It's so fun to get to share this with other people too. I've only got five more weeks of preschool which is good because I'm starting to get some back pain and the warmer it gets the bigger my feet and legs get! It's a long hot summer ahead of us! Last week I bought a maternity bathing suit and I am pretty much unable to wear any of my regular clothes anymore. I'm pretty much caught up on my weight gain and baby weighs over a pound now so we are a hefty pair! No intense cravings, but I'm always wanting food that's bad for me... cheeseburgers, french fries, bread, ice cream, chocolate cake... oops I need to stop drooling on Paul's computer!

In housing news, we have found another house in Tallassee that we like and we've settled on a price with the sellers so we are officially under contract again! We have a house inspection scheduled for 8:30 Wednesday morning so say a prayer that everything will check out good and we can move ahead. Our loan stuff is under way too and our ideal close date is April 23! We aren't holding our breath after having such major issues in the past but there might be a little light down there at the end of the tunnel... somewhere! Our lease here expires on May 1 so if you know anyone in the market for a trailer, let us know.

Malachi likes the baby bump

Pregnant thought of the day

My belly button is a lot shallower than it used to be. What happens when I am no longer an innie but I'm not yet an outie? Am I a flatie?

Let it begin... again!

So here's the short version of the last week of our life:

Though we "as the individuals known henceforth as Paul Edward and Jessica Joyce Mays Caspers" were "approved" for our loan, FHA refused to sign off on it for a lack of comparable sales in the area. After much "we might be able to work something out" on Wednesday afternoon we just said we're done. So we are waiting on our declination letter to get our earnest money back on the first house, but for all practical purposes that is OVER! We are both excited to be done with a five month long process that resulted in nothing but frustration. We did learn a lot of valuable lessons and we know that the Lord's sovereign wisdom will always win out for us. So that chapter is closed and new one has opened! We met with a real estate agent on Wednesday night who is familiar with the area and related to some people from our church and she will be helping us from now on. We like her very much and I think she's really going to be on the ball to get us a house. She found a bank for us and today I spoke with the loan officer about prequalification so hopefully that is going as well. We have a number of deadlines working on us now: our lot lease will expire in May, the tax credit for first time homebuyers ends in April, and baby more Caspers will be here this summer. Please pray that this process will go smoothly and we can have some housing answers soon.

Yes, in the middle of this we also found out that we have a healthy baby boy!!


I can't believe I'm getting yet another man in my life

It's... very obviously... a boy!

On Saturday all my family and in-laws gathered at my parents house to find out the gender of the baby! We all voted on if we thought it was a boy or girl and I think the vote came out 8 to 9 girl, though I'm not sure baby niece Laura actually voted for another girl (maybe she wants to be the only one). My dad grilled us up some lunch and after some socializing and chasing the nephews around the house, we gathered in front of my dad's very nice large tv to watch the ultrasound dvd. We again saw all the sweet miraculous parts of our baby and apparently right at the end the people who were still watching got a glimpse of a little something revealing too! Paul immediately started saying he knew what he was because he had seen "it". So I opened the envelope that the ultrasound tech send and the picture you see is what we found! "It's a boy" We are all so excited to finally know and after the party ended my mom, sister, Paul and I went to Belk and bought some way cute little boy stuff. My sister-in-law also gave me a bag of boy stuff so now I can't wait to get into the nursery and hang all his cute little things up! I think I am still in a little bit of shock since this just makes it even more real now. Now we just need to settle on a name so that I can really start calling him something!

It's a.... baby!

We had THE ultrasound today at our prenatal visit! This is me waiting in to go in. If I look uncomfortable it's because I have to go the bathroom really bad, but you need a full bladder for the ultrasound. I definitely have a baby bump now and am having to choose my clothes very carefully. The ultrasound technician was great and she explained everything about what we could see on the baby. Everything is the right size and in the right place which was our prayer for this visit! She says though she can't guarantee anything at this point, it looks like we have a healthy baby. I was so thrilled to hear that, I felt like jumping off the table and praising the Lord for his handiwork with our beautiful baby! For those of you who are freaking out wanting to know the baby's gender... I don't know yet! The photographic proof is sealed up in an envelope waiting to be opened on Saturday when the grandparents, great-grands, aunts, uncles, and cousins have assembled to hear the news. Until then we are waiting and reveling in our healthy baby and all his/her beautiful photos. Here are some of the best and what you are looking at:


Baby has two arms and two legs and bone measurements rule out drawfism and giantism.




Aunt Manthy says that these face pictures are creepy looking. I think it's because you can only see the baby's eye sockets and not it's actual eyes, though it does have them!


How adorable is that!?
All ten fingers are accounted for and though the toes are very small, we're pretty sure all ten are there.


The leg of a champion athlete!


Which way to the gun show?


"hm, this thumb would make a good thing to suck"


In other news, I have now gained five pounds so I'm doing good and can eat pretty freely and all my stuff looks good. The baby's heart rate was 159 and like I said, everything on baby looks great. We didn't have a picture of it but a zoomed in scan of the heart shows each chamber beating perfectly! Who could ask for a better birthday present!?

Stay tuned for new house news to hopefully come in the next few days!

Who is that poking me?

This weekend I am at a girls conference with the youth girls from our church in Montgomery and sitting in our first session tonight I felt that little feeling I have been waiting for! At first I just thought I felt something poke me just below my belly button and then after a minute I felt it a bunch more. I just burst out laughing in the middle of the session because I knew exactly what it was. The baby kicked for a little bit longer and then went still when I got up to more to the next session. He/she even scared me by hitting me kind of hard one time. Maybe it's a little girl and she is just super excited about being at a girls conference.... The speaker was very good! Laying here in bed I feel it everynow and then. It almost feels like a muscle twitch and it kind of tickles just a little bit. Mommy says that you get used to it after a while but I think it is definitely going to keep me up for a while tonight! Yay for my little kickboxer!

The stomach bug has our family in a headlock

In two years of marriage Paul has seen me suffer through the stomach bug a couple of times now. I think it's probably just one of the joys of working with little kids. So early Thursday morning after a nice round of food removal I asked Paul when I was going to get to see him throw up. Well I only had to wait 48 hours. Paul officially has it to and since I am pretty sure I gave it to him, I'm hoping I can't get it back since it took an extra harsh toll on my pregnant body. I'm still not feeling fabulous but better each day. I hope Paul gets to feeling better soon because with only one couch to lay on, it's hard for both of us to be puny at once. Plus we are going to have to miss church tomorrow which is no good cause it's a day Paul really needs to be at work. I guess it's good though that we didn't try moving this weekend cause that would not have happened in our current condition. Pray we will feel better soon and that the house will close next week!!!