Life has been, well, life. Busy, fun, and always changing.
Baby update: we have a heart-healthy little boy coming in the fall! We've had several in-depth ultrasounds, including a heart echo, and everything is perfect. His name is Jaydon, meaning "God has heard." Aly is coming around to the idea of having a brother and we are starting to let ourselves get excited. I probably still won't fully relax until I am holding a screaming baby, but it is nice to have some reassurance.
House update: WE ARE MOVING! Seriously. After all this time we are finally getting everything worked out and we hope to move within the next two months. Our plan is to rent out our current house using a property management service. DH's income has gone up enough that now we qualify for another mortgage on top of our current one, because the lending rules have changed and now we can't count renting out our current house as "income" until it's been two years. So both mortgages fit into our overall eligibility range. Even though we plan to rent out our current house we could still technically afford to make both mortgage payments each month. Not that we would want to, but we could.
We went to see houses today and found one that we absolutely fell in love with. The disclosure looks great, the price is right, and the neighborhood is the one we've been dreaming about living in for the past four years. The schools are great for DD, the area of town is one that will be retaining it's value for years to come, and the neighborhood is full of young families so DD and DS will have plenty of opportunity for friends and playmates. So now we are in the process of making an offer!
Work is going well for DH and for me. I feel like we've finally made it to the point where we can breathe and things are finally running on a good note for our family.
Our journey...
Sunday, May 25, 2014
Sunday, March 9, 2014
February Update
The financial updates aren't nearly as fun now that we've paid off so much debt. We are to the point where all of our remaining debts are under $10,000 each and just about to be under $40,000 overall. At this point our focus has shifted from paying off the remaining cc's (3) to paying off the car since that will open up the most in terms of monthly obligations ($360 payment on the car vs. $200 min payments on the CCs). Then we will start socking away cash as much as possible while we look for a new house so that we have the funds ready to go when we find a deal.
As for the house, the plan right now is to do a trade if possible. The good news is that we don't really have a timeline. We can be in this place for another two years if we have to. But we are also ready to jump on a trade deal and close as quickly as possible if we get the deal. It wouldn't take more than a weekend to move out of this house and into another (one heck of a weekend, but possible!).
We had an ultrasound on Wednesday and baby is right on-track at 8 weeks. And baby had a normal heartbeat! We still have to wait another month to get the full genetic test done and the 12-week scan to check for brainstem issues. From there we will have a level 2 ultrasound around 17-18 weeks with the specialist, and then a heart echo at 24 weeks. Hopefully things all check out fine and we can continue with a normal pregnancy after that point. I haven't really even let myself think about actually getting to bring a baby home. I guess we will cross that bridge when we get to it (hopefully we get to it!). We have to figure out daycare, re-arrange Aly's room and things to make room for baby, etc. But there's plenty of time to figure out the details. For now I am just trying to enjoy the fact that today I am pregnant and trying to keep the anxiety at bay as much as possible.
As for the house, the plan right now is to do a trade if possible. The good news is that we don't really have a timeline. We can be in this place for another two years if we have to. But we are also ready to jump on a trade deal and close as quickly as possible if we get the deal. It wouldn't take more than a weekend to move out of this house and into another (one heck of a weekend, but possible!).
We had an ultrasound on Wednesday and baby is right on-track at 8 weeks. And baby had a normal heartbeat! We still have to wait another month to get the full genetic test done and the 12-week scan to check for brainstem issues. From there we will have a level 2 ultrasound around 17-18 weeks with the specialist, and then a heart echo at 24 weeks. Hopefully things all check out fine and we can continue with a normal pregnancy after that point. I haven't really even let myself think about actually getting to bring a baby home. I guess we will cross that bridge when we get to it (hopefully we get to it!). We have to figure out daycare, re-arrange Aly's room and things to make room for baby, etc. But there's plenty of time to figure out the details. For now I am just trying to enjoy the fact that today I am pregnant and trying to keep the anxiety at bay as much as possible.
Monday, February 17, 2014
Update :)
Wow, it's been awhile! Time for an update I guess :) Here goes:
1) Refinance finally done 12/31/13. First they said we lived in the wrong city, then they had our street name spelled wrong. Fannie Mae is seriously annoying. They never confirmed it but I honestly believe this was the reason we didn't qualify for the principal reduction when we had called about it since so many others in our neighborhood/area did. Ughghg. So glad all of that is settled and corrected now and we can move past it. Nice, lower payment and everything is finally set up in our bill-pay.
2) Our remaining non-mortgage debt is down to $43,000, from a high of $88,000 a few years ago. Our 401k balance is now higher than the remaining debt! Nice to be moving in the right direction. We have our tax appointment later this week and then we can start hitting the rest of the CC debt after taxes are settled.
3) +hpt last week confirmed that baby #3 is on the way and due in October. We have nearly the same due date a year later. I thought I would be excited but I am ambivalent at best. I don't think I will believe it's real until I get to bring a healthy baby home. This is the point of development where everything went wrong with Aubree, and there's no way of telling if we have the same situation or not for at least another 10 weeks. I am going to push for an induction at 38 weeks this time. I've met too many mommas in my loss group who lost babies at 39+ with no explanation. 1:160 babies are stillborn and more than half have no explanation, and I am at even greater risk now that I've had one baby stillborn. I am just not risking it. I am sure the doctor's office already hates me since I am refusing the first intake appointment with the nurse. I am not watching some video that tells me not to eat raw meat or drink while pregnant. And they already know my history pretty well - nothing has changed in the last 6 months that I know of. There's nothing they could get from that appointment that could help prevent an early loss for me anyway. I am not wasting my PTO on a worthless appointment. They work for me anyway, right? I would hate to have to get another doctor but I am not going to put up with crappy office staff either.
4) We are starting to look again at new homes. There are a couple of builders doing trades and we are in a much better position to do that this year than we have been in the past. Trading in a home is sort of like trading in a car - we won't get as good of a price for our house as we would if we took the time to sell it on our own, but the benefit is getting it all done in one transaction. Our other option is to rent this place out with a property management company. DH has been looking in to some that cost a bit more, but we would NEVER have to see this place again unless we wanted to. They take care of absolutely everything. For about $100/month that is well worth the cost.
1) Refinance finally done 12/31/13. First they said we lived in the wrong city, then they had our street name spelled wrong. Fannie Mae is seriously annoying. They never confirmed it but I honestly believe this was the reason we didn't qualify for the principal reduction when we had called about it since so many others in our neighborhood/area did. Ughghg. So glad all of that is settled and corrected now and we can move past it. Nice, lower payment and everything is finally set up in our bill-pay.
2) Our remaining non-mortgage debt is down to $43,000, from a high of $88,000 a few years ago. Our 401k balance is now higher than the remaining debt! Nice to be moving in the right direction. We have our tax appointment later this week and then we can start hitting the rest of the CC debt after taxes are settled.
3) +hpt last week confirmed that baby #3 is on the way and due in October. We have nearly the same due date a year later. I thought I would be excited but I am ambivalent at best. I don't think I will believe it's real until I get to bring a healthy baby home. This is the point of development where everything went wrong with Aubree, and there's no way of telling if we have the same situation or not for at least another 10 weeks. I am going to push for an induction at 38 weeks this time. I've met too many mommas in my loss group who lost babies at 39+ with no explanation. 1:160 babies are stillborn and more than half have no explanation, and I am at even greater risk now that I've had one baby stillborn. I am just not risking it. I am sure the doctor's office already hates me since I am refusing the first intake appointment with the nurse. I am not watching some video that tells me not to eat raw meat or drink while pregnant. And they already know my history pretty well - nothing has changed in the last 6 months that I know of. There's nothing they could get from that appointment that could help prevent an early loss for me anyway. I am not wasting my PTO on a worthless appointment. They work for me anyway, right? I would hate to have to get another doctor but I am not going to put up with crappy office staff either.
4) We are starting to look again at new homes. There are a couple of builders doing trades and we are in a much better position to do that this year than we have been in the past. Trading in a home is sort of like trading in a car - we won't get as good of a price for our house as we would if we took the time to sell it on our own, but the benefit is getting it all done in one transaction. Our other option is to rent this place out with a property management company. DH has been looking in to some that cost a bit more, but we would NEVER have to see this place again unless we wanted to. They take care of absolutely everything. For about $100/month that is well worth the cost.
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Fannie Mae Sucks
Yeah, probably no surprise there.
We've been trying to refinance our house for two months now. Paperwork all submitted, credit reports ran, things all lined up the way they should be. But for two months our appraisal has been held up by one tiny detail.
Fannie Mae says our house is in another city.
This should be an easy thing to fix, right? Our original loan documents, appraisal, and deed all show our home in the correct city. All county documents for our house show us in the correct city. But somehow, somewhere, Fannie Mae got their records confused. I could see how this could possibly happen as our current zip code covers two different cities. And we are about a block away from the city limit.
But no matter what documentation we provide or how many times the mortgage broker calls, we are sitting here 8 weeks later with nothing to show for it. Eight freaking weeks! What the hell?
So maybe by March we will have this mess done. I am so annoyed right now it's not even funny. I know it's not the mortgage guy's fault but at this point I want to throw in the towel on it. Fannie Mae is the reason that we've not been able to get a principle reduction or refinance in the past. I freaking hate them.
We've been trying to refinance our house for two months now. Paperwork all submitted, credit reports ran, things all lined up the way they should be. But for two months our appraisal has been held up by one tiny detail.
Fannie Mae says our house is in another city.
This should be an easy thing to fix, right? Our original loan documents, appraisal, and deed all show our home in the correct city. All county documents for our house show us in the correct city. But somehow, somewhere, Fannie Mae got their records confused. I could see how this could possibly happen as our current zip code covers two different cities. And we are about a block away from the city limit.
But no matter what documentation we provide or how many times the mortgage broker calls, we are sitting here 8 weeks later with nothing to show for it. Eight freaking weeks! What the hell?
So maybe by March we will have this mess done. I am so annoyed right now it's not even funny. I know it's not the mortgage guy's fault but at this point I want to throw in the towel on it. Fannie Mae is the reason that we've not been able to get a principle reduction or refinance in the past. I freaking hate them.
Monday, November 11, 2013
Getting Healthy
DH and I had checkups recently. We've not really had them in years, but we were encouraged to get some extra tests done due to the genetic results from Aubree. She received a defective gene from both of us that could have contributed to her heterotaxy. Thankfully, it appears this gene is recessive in both of us and neither of us have heterotaxy. So our chances of us having another baby with issues as severe as hers were are back to around 1:10,000. Which seems comforting, unless you've been that 1, and then statistics seem irrelevant.
We have really let our healthy habits slide over the past few months. Instead of cooking dinner we've been going out to eat or ordering a pizza. As a result, our checkups showed some unhealthy cholesterol levels. Boo! The doctor recommended a healthier diet and exercise. With DH's broken foot, he really can't do a lot physically right now, but we can work on eating better. We will basically be going back to the gluten-free diet that we did awhile back. Only because it immediately cuts out a lot of the bad foods we were eating (fast food, fried foods, desserts, etc), and helps us focus on eating lean proteins and veggies instead.
Tonight I have a pork roast in the crockpot with a bag of carrots and an apple. I have the day off today, so Aly and I are cleaning the house and getting things organized for our week. And I am hoping when she's napping that I can run out to clean the gutters a bit, which will save us some $$ in not paying to have it done.
We have really let our healthy habits slide over the past few months. Instead of cooking dinner we've been going out to eat or ordering a pizza. As a result, our checkups showed some unhealthy cholesterol levels. Boo! The doctor recommended a healthier diet and exercise. With DH's broken foot, he really can't do a lot physically right now, but we can work on eating better. We will basically be going back to the gluten-free diet that we did awhile back. Only because it immediately cuts out a lot of the bad foods we were eating (fast food, fried foods, desserts, etc), and helps us focus on eating lean proteins and veggies instead.
Tonight I have a pork roast in the crockpot with a bag of carrots and an apple. I have the day off today, so Aly and I are cleaning the house and getting things organized for our week. And I am hoping when she's napping that I can run out to clean the gutters a bit, which will save us some $$ in not paying to have it done.
Sunday, November 3, 2013
October Update
Ten months down and two more to go. I could never have imagined all that this year held for us, but in spite of everything I think we have done an amazing job!
Overall Debt:
Overall Debt:
Starting 1/1/2013: $62,300.13
Current 10/31/2013: $42,404.91
Total paid: $19,895.22
I can not believe that we have paid off nearly 1/3rd of our debt in just one year! And we will hit $20,000 as soon as I get my next paycheck (but that will go towards November's update!).
And on the "racing" front, the debt we are paying extra on and trying to eliminate as soon as possible, here's where we stand:
Starting 1/1/2013: $24,500.00
Current 10/31/2013: $9,900.00
Total paid: $14,600.00
Obviously this is where most of our payoff has taken place. We had wanted to have this at $0 by the end of the year, but life happened. We still got it down under 5-digits. This is all at 0% until June 2014, so we are taking our time here and will have it paid off by then.
We are also making some changes to reduce our monthly expenses. We changed up our daycare arrangement a bit which will save around $200, and we are in the middle of refinancing the house which will save another $100. We are also considering trading in our Explorer for a nice sedan that DH can drive to save on gas mileage. We like the big car, but with me driving downtown every day and DH driving all over the place for appointments, it does not make sense for us to have a car that only gets 17mpg on a good day. We don't need the car to tow anything and it only snows 2-4 times a year here. A front-wheel or all-wheel drive car is really all we need to get around if we do have to get out. While trading in the car would be a setback in our overall amount owed for awhile, it wouldn't take too long to catch up. We may save a bit on the monthly payments and we will definitely save on gas each month.
Back to square one
DH and I have officially started trying again for another baby. Aubree's due date came & passed, and it feels like that part of time was reserved just for her. Any baby from this point forward could have been here even if Aubree was still here (although I would have been insane to get pregnant again that fast!! lol).
In some ways I am more relaxed this time around, and in some ways I am a bit more neurotic. I am super strict about taking my daily handful of vitamins, and I tracked ovulation religiously. But now that I am in the dreaded TWW (two-week-wait), I am feeling more calm about the process. We've done all that we could possibly do and now we just have to see if it worked or not. One more week to go to see if we will have another July baby or if we will be trying for August. I am trying to not read into every pinch or twinge I feel, but just focus on whatever else I can to keep myself occupied. We have a couple of baby showers coming up at work and I need to get some yarn to start in on some baby blankets. That will keep my hands busy enough to keep me off the computer and prevent me from googling things to death ;)
Sometimes I feel ok, and other times grief will come out of no where and knock me to my knees. Thankfully those moments are getting fewer & farther between, but it still happens. Yesterday I was surprised to discover that going to the baseball stadium made me sad. We got a partial season ticket package this last year and DH wanted to do it again for next year. They held open stadium day to come try out the seats and see what was available. We took Aly along and thought it would be a fun family outing. But walking through the stadium made me think of the night we took Aly to her first game when I was pregnant with Aubree. Both girls got first game certificates, and Aubree danced around to the sounds of the stadium. I am glad we had that night all together as a family, but it still makes me sad knowing that Aubree won't be with us for the games this next year.
In some ways I am more relaxed this time around, and in some ways I am a bit more neurotic. I am super strict about taking my daily handful of vitamins, and I tracked ovulation religiously. But now that I am in the dreaded TWW (two-week-wait), I am feeling more calm about the process. We've done all that we could possibly do and now we just have to see if it worked or not. One more week to go to see if we will have another July baby or if we will be trying for August. I am trying to not read into every pinch or twinge I feel, but just focus on whatever else I can to keep myself occupied. We have a couple of baby showers coming up at work and I need to get some yarn to start in on some baby blankets. That will keep my hands busy enough to keep me off the computer and prevent me from googling things to death ;)
Sometimes I feel ok, and other times grief will come out of no where and knock me to my knees. Thankfully those moments are getting fewer & farther between, but it still happens. Yesterday I was surprised to discover that going to the baseball stadium made me sad. We got a partial season ticket package this last year and DH wanted to do it again for next year. They held open stadium day to come try out the seats and see what was available. We took Aly along and thought it would be a fun family outing. But walking through the stadium made me think of the night we took Aly to her first game when I was pregnant with Aubree. Both girls got first game certificates, and Aubree danced around to the sounds of the stadium. I am glad we had that night all together as a family, but it still makes me sad knowing that Aubree won't be with us for the games this next year.
Aly was really enjoying her hotdog. Hahah!! Aubree enjoyed her's too ;)
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