A Warm Place

Every year we try to get out of town and somewhere warm in the midst of the cold, crazy time that is budget season at work, and every year I think I have never needed this more.  Well this year, we have never needed this more.  It hasn't even been cold this winter, but oh to get out of our crazy, topsy turvy house and not talk about which car seat or stroller to buy for JUST TWO SECONDS...it was heaven.

Beach number one, near our hotel

Beach number two, with Nook in hand

We hopped down to Puerto Rico for a couple days, where we basically sat on the beach and read.  Between us we finished all three Hunger Games books, only got slightly sunburned, slept many extra hours, and got a huge kick out of the way our British-voiced GPS mispronounced all the Spanish street names.  We've spent so much time in serious conversations lately--siding colors, daycare options, how to manage the latest crisis of our house project--that it was a relief to just enjoy each other's company in quiet.  We spent one evening with old friends from our old church who are currently living outside of San Juan, and on our last night we splurged for a charming and delicious French dinner in Old San Juan.

Delightful dinner in Old San Juan

The gorgeous view from Old San Juan

We both came home with extra air in the lungs and a bounce in the step, ready to face all the decisions and chaos and late nights coming our way for the next few weeks.  Bueno.

Lunch in Richmond

After trying and failing to find a weekend pre-babies when we could go down to North Carolina and return the Kings' visit, Jason had the brilliant idea to meet halfway(ish) and have lunch in Richmond. 

Enjoying the sun in Richmond

Seriously, how fun to have friends who jumped at the idea of two or so hours each way for lunch!  We all met up last weekend at a cute and delish little diner for lunch to catch up, exchange possible baby name ideas, and just hang out.

An excited Carter and Hudson

Three bellies, after a good meal

It was a gorgeous day (perfect for taking off your roof!), and it was so nice to get away from our crazy house and spend a little time outside.  Carter and Hudson had a ball together--crazy that not too long from now there will be FOUR little boys and a little girl in this bunch!

Hudson and buddy Jason

I just want to say that I'm due first...

We topped off the afternoon with ice cream in a cute area of Richmond.  (Dawn!  It was the place we went years ago!  I thought of you!)  An absolutely perfect day together.

P.S.  Thanks to the Kings for the great pictures, as always.  Ours didn't even compare.

Raise the Roof

North (Back) Side of the House - Pre Construction

North Side - New Roof Framed out and wrapped

Giant 2500 lb. Ridge Beam for the New Roof

Our second floor renovation project is earnestly underway.  To structurally support the roof of the new "shed dormer" bump-out at the back of the house, the contractors had to bring in a crane and install a 2,500 pound ridge beam (for reference, those are 2x8 rafters connected to it).  We've already encountered a number of surprises that we've worked through, including finding out there were no masonry walls behind the brick veneer and there was absolutely no insulation in the upstairs walls.  (We intend to correct the lack of insulation).  More updates to come ...

Every Nook and Cranny

We've been dragging out every box, bag, and basket in our house, cleaning it out, and, possibly giving it away.  Or selling it--Jason has become a Craigslist fiend over the past month or so, getting rid of everything from a set of hockey pads to a filing cabinet to most of our bedroom furniture.

All this cleaning.  All this purging.  Possibly it is nesting season.  Certainly it has been (until recently) January, when cleaning and purging and organizing are top of the list.  Definitely we have to find room for another inhabitant at our house soon.  But mostly, it's The Project.  After a month of delay, today was (hopefully) D-Day in our upstairs.  That's Demolition Day, as construction begins on the dormer shed bump-out of our upstairs, creating closets, a bigger bathroom, and more living space in our house.  Yes, we are those crazy people trying to race the due-date clock with a construction project timeline.

Moving out of our upstairs means moving into our downstairs...which means moving out of our downstairs, too.  We have a clothes rack in the dining room, we've moved our light-blocking shades to the spare room, and our basement...well, our basement looks like we're preparing for a yard sale (possibly because there is a pile of stuff awaiting hits on Craigslist--anyone want a fire log holder?).

I don't do chaos very well, so this is a bit of a psychological challenge for me.  But it helps that we've dug up some fun treasures in the process.  Like the above "Growing List of Possible Jason-Missy Activities," penned very early in our dating relationship, which we totally lost track of and yet have still managed to check off most of the things over the past nine years.  Or the only-funny-to-us "quote wall" from Oxford I found in a box of pictures.  Or a series of emails between Jason and me (long deleted) written in the first few months of dating when he was stuck in Kenya for three weeks.  Or the fabulous mixed tape I put together in high school of all the best songs ever (Michael W. Smith?  Check.  Songs recorded off country radio?  Check.  Tinny sound and songs that are slightly faster than they are supposed to be?  Double check.). 

For now, I'm just living for that day when my whole self can fit in the bathtub, and I can actually put my laundry away in the closet.  It will be all worth it then, right?

Bad and Good

I've reached the point of pregnancy where random people in the elevator tell me congratulations--which is preferable to the stage where my boss would tell everyone who came into the office, "Missy is pregnant, she's not just gaining weight" (and this is well-meaning).  Yesterday at the eye doctor I experienced an interest contrast in pregnancy comments.

Bad
The assistant told me congratulations (before blowing uncomfortable puffs of air into my eyes) and then asked me when I was due.  When I said, May, she looked shocked.  "Wow, you still have a long ways to go," she said, "and you're already so big!"

Sigh.  As if I don't already feel awkward.  It is just impossible not to take "your baby bump is big" and hear "you are becoming a chubby giantess."

Good
After my appointment, the second assistant adjusted my glasses (which have been slept in a few too many times).  When she had me put them on, I asked if they were straight enough, and she said, "Oh, they could probably be a little straighter, but you just look so fantastic and glowing that no one would notice.  When are you due?"

That, my friends, is how you talk to a pregnant woman.  No, she is not bigger than your niece who is having twins and due a week earlier; no, her face is not "getting rounder"; no, she is not making the elevator stop on every floor because she is so heavy (thanks, boss).  She looks so great that you wouldn't even notice if her glasses were crooked.