Our New House!

So we got the house, they excepted our offer,now what's next!!! A WHOLE lot of work!

Here are pics from our final walk through. The house is in a cul-da-sac and we love it. As you see from the pictures there are things to be changed... #1.. the paint color!!! ;)

As we put our TLC into it, enjoy the photos of the"makeover".

Our House ; )

front enterance

Fireplace in living room

Entrance from living room into Dining room/ Kitchen area

Tile through out the dining room and Kitchen

Kitchen

Half of the dining room from inside the kitchen

Other half of dining room from inside kitchen

1/2 bath downstairs

Dont you just love that Medieval light fixture? ; ( Yuck

Full bath at top of stairs

Check out that 80's Oak cabinetry!

The Master bedroom across the hall from Full bath

Who ever said these colors looked cool?

Hallway of closets into the sink area and 1/2 bathroom

Shower and toilet at end of hallway from inside Master bedroom

Hallway out of master into the 3 other bedrooms

New windows in the whole house!

Cosets and ceiling fans in every room!

Patio covering under back door

2nd patio covering on other side of house .

Side rod iron gates

Other side of house

Inside Garage . Work bench and Cabinets. coming out!

James found this piece of a football helmet lying around in the backyard

so of course I had to snap a shot!

My turn to pose :)

For the past 10 years I've been the photographer on the other side of the camera to take maternity photos of my clients or closest friends. Now it is my turn to be the "model". Reversing the roles was definetly a change.
Being 38 weeks pregnant, I didn't really feel my "best" but it was still very important to me to document this special moment in our life . James was working away on our new house so he couldn't be in these photos. But, If you know me,I will do many photo shoots when Jacob arrives. :)
Yesterday, I had my weekly Dr. appt and he says that Jacob hasn't dropped. This was (kind of) good news for daddy. He has been working everyday to get the house all ready for his arrival. We'll see what happens at next weeks appointment. :)

Been Showered with Love!

On, June 6th my sister, Shannon, hosted a baby shower at her house. She and my mom decorated the house very cute including all the baby themed items to go with it: ) There were about 20 family memebers and friends there and everything was fabulous. It was so great to see everyone and catch up. We apprecaite all that you gave us to help us raise our baby boy!
He's going to the" best dressed" on the block ! :)

Me & My mom

Me & Grandma Krause- She drew this picture.

Brenda & Beverly - Ultrasound of Jacob!

We love our baby boy! ; )

James as a baby in the bath tub

( My other prego friend Gia-due about a weeks after me , Me , and my sis-in-law Joni ( prego with Twins- due in January)

Stephanie & Amy

( swollen feet) :) ; (

Free $8000. We'll take it!

After hearing about the $8000 tax credit for 1st time home buyers, we got the itch to start looking for a house. We started the search on-line and driving around different neighborhoods to see where we might want to buy. With our approval letter in hand, we met up with our awesome Realtor (Jessica Amber with Zip Realty) who walked us through our house hunting adventure. I also can’t forget to mention the most amazing lender ever, Daniel Crosley, from Bank of America Mortgage Loans. He is ranked the 2nd highest in Mortgage Sales in all of Southern California. He is very efficient and on top of things during the whole process. If you are looking for a Mortgage loan, let us know and we will hook you up with him.
As we walked through each home we saw a few good, a lot of bad, and even more ugly. We put a few bids on some houses and prayed that God’s will be done. The first one we were out bid, the 2nd and 3rd ones we just never heard back on so we continued our search. Then I found one on-line that was on the market for 2 days. So I said to James,
“Let’s go check it out NOW!!!” We learned that the fewer days a house is on the market the better your chances were to put in the 1st bid and /or best. So we put in our highest and best offer and continued to pray. We found out within a couple of weeks that they took our offer!!! Really?? Are you serious??? We could be home owners.. for real?? We were so excited to hear this great news. Now may the process begin! Waiting and waiting and faxing and inspecting and signing and emailing and waiting and phone calling and urgently faxing and signing and signing and signing and waiting and dropping off forms and did I mention.. Waiting?

God has definitely taught us patience through this process. The whole process was going really smooth until the last month. There were some set backs with the escrow company which had us on our toes and biting our fingers nails as the days continued to pass. It’s getting closer and closer for me to have the baby and we knew that we needed as much time as possible to get the house all clean , painted, wall paper removed, ceiling scraped, moved and ready to go by our move out date of July 5th and before the baby comes (due July 9th).

Ahhhh , so much going on at one time.
It’s crazy what happens when you sit back, be patient and just put everything in God’s hands. Worrying about the time frame wasn’t helping the process go along faster.

So saying all that, we officially got our keys on June 16th! We were super excited to get started on the house that very night. We have an amazing group of people who have already started and volunteered to help us through this transition in our life.

You all have no idea how much we appreciate you.

It's crazy to think that we have been married for a little over a year now, we are turning 31; becoming parents for the 1st time, driving a “cool looking, fast” wagon, and own our 1st home! We are extremely blessed and are excited to see what God has in store for us in these up coming years. Please do keep us in your prayers through all these new endeavors. We really appreciate every one of you. We can’t wait to have our first get together!!!

Jessica and Daniel we can’t even begin to thank you enough for all that you have done for us. You have been amazing this whole time.
We will refer you to anyone that comes our way.

The house is located in Riverside off the

60 fwy and Van Buren. Its about 15- 20 mins away from where we live now.

Here are some pictures of our house on the first day we got our keys.. I will be posintg more of the “Before” and during the demo. I will continue to update the blog as the house gets it’s “makeover”.

Enjoy!

Our friend Jade said that she would approve of any house that we bought as long as she got to demo something with a sledgehammer. We put her to work right away on a 3 sided wooden wall that was built under the patio cover. I was very excited to see that go down!

And there it goes.

She also took out some shelves that were in the garage. I was so bummed that my camera wasn't charged on the first day. Her boyfriend Kris took these with his Iphone.

Family Wagon.

Wow a lot has happened since I last posted a blog. If I didn’t HAVE to sleep I would be able to post a lot more and get a lot more done! ;)

But sleep is very much a necessity at this point in my life.

As we’ve been preparing for the arrival of our precious baby boy, Jacob Mitchell, we picked out our new family car; a car that actually fits a baby seat. The car seat just wasn’t going fit in our Mini Cooper nor does it fit with James & me in the Honda. So back in April, we sold the Mini Cooper and are very happy with her new owner. A dad bought it for his daughter’s 18th B-day present. She was very excited when they came to pick it up!

In the mean time our friend Nick was very generous to let us borrow his “hoopty” for a couple weeks until we found the “right” car for us! If you know James, he researched and searched for the best car and price range for our “budget” and our family’s needs! After wheeling and dealing with the car salesman we walked off the car lot with a Red 2006 Dodge Magnum SRT8. Now only you car buffs even know what SRT8 even means. Trust me.. I’ve learned through out the years the meaning of a lot of “car” stuff. Oh it has a HEMI too. I just know that that means MORE POWER!!!!
James and our friend Kris took the car on a little photo shoot! Here are some of the pictures that were taken.

I am in my 38th week now. We already have the baby seat strapped in tight in the back seat ready to go. Baby Jacob, daddy is ready to take you on your first car ride ;)

Precious times

James and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary on Easter this year, April 12th. Wow, time sure flies . To celebrate we went on a mini vacation up the coast to Pismo Beach. We stayed at a wonderful resort called The Cliffs Resort . James had heard about this place in the
" Dad's Pregnant Too" book he read. It mentioned a getaway weekend is good before the baby comes :) They recommended this resort because of a package that they offered that's called
" And Baby Makes Three".
It includes..........

• Overnight luxury accommodations
• Welcome basket with diapers and a onesie
• Ice cream
• Commemorative bottle of wine
• Two one-hour massage
• $50 dinner voucher
• Movie
• Breakfast in bed
  

We completely recommend this place to anyone expecting or anyone who just wants to get away for a very affordable weekend! Everything was amazing.. the food, the massages,the view, the location, the room, the ICE CREAM and most importantly the quality time we got to spend together. The 2nd day we were there we drove to San Luis Obispo to walk around the town and have lunch. It was such a nice time. We definitely want to go back there again.
Maybe enjoy the spa and pool next time.

Here are some pics from the trip.

kissy kissy ;)

Lounging area past the lobby

This looked like so much fun!

James checking out the view

The view from our room

Another view

The back side of the hotel .

The heated pool & spa area

Dinner at the restaurant. The food was exquisite!

Before we drove up to Pismo we went in for our 2nd visit to the 3D/ 4D ultrasound. This time he was sleeping so I had to get up and walk around a little to wake him up . It was another special moment in our lives. The things we get to see these days with technology is just amazing. We saw him open his eyes, yawn and even smile a couple times. It was a priceless moment and we can't wait to see him in person. I'm officially in my 3rd trimester (28 weeks). I have another monthly DR. appt next week and then I will go every 2 weeks.
Wow, it's getting closer! We are getting things ready and can't wait.
We go for the Maternity tour at our hospital next week and
start our 5 week La Maze classes on April 27.... this is the "fun" part!

Here are some pics from the visit!

Our growing boy!

"It' s a sleepy time!"

I love when babies yawn!

The next photos I will be posting of him will be when he is born. Please be praying for these last few months as he continues to grows into a healthy happy baby! We love you all and appreciate everything that everyone has done for us and given us already.
You are truly a blessing.

Childhood friends!

Last week I was able to hook up with my old childhood friend Emily.
(I called her Em & she called me E-ca).

She was out visiting from Boston, Mass.
Em & I lived down the street from each other for about 8 years. We met when I was 4 and she was 3. Our moms met at a Bible study and we were friends ever since. We used to hang out all the time and play with our Cabbage Patch Kids and watch Wizard of Oz ... enough until we memorized it ; ).
We liked to play dress up a lot . One time we stuffed our Pjs with pillows to pretend like we were pregnant!
Her mom dug out these photos to show us how silly ( and cute) we were!

Em moved when we were in elementary school to Chino Hills. It just seemed so far at that age to have your best friend who was only walking distance from home, move away.
As the years went on through Jr. High , High school and college , we still have managed to keep in touch.


Now at 29 & 30 years old, Em and I are both married and both pregnant! Now our days of "pretending" are true. Although this is Emily's 4th child and my 1st!
Here are some of the pics we took together!

Emily- Final score-3 girls, 1 boy ** Erica- 1 boy (s0 far)

My most recent "belly" photo. I'm 24 weeks !
It was great catching up and reminising with an old friend.
Hope we get to do it again some time.