We accidentally sold our house!

Many of our readers know this story, but if we haven't talked to you in the past week and a half - a lot has happened.

So, after we had our house painted and it looked super cute, I posted it on Zillow using the "Make Me Move" feature where you basically name a dream price, write a short description, and include a few pictures. So we didn't even list it with an agent or post it as for sale by owner. I was just curious to see if the paint job increased the value and if we'd get any views and saves.

Within a few days, an agent contacted us and said he had clients who wanted to see the house. We said ok. A few days later they came back for a second look. The following day they made an offer, which we countered, and then they countered and we agreed.

Last week they sent an inspector and now say they are working on a repair request, but want to send a HVAC inspector first. So we should find out about that this coming week. We hope they don't ask for too much as we aren't planning on agreeing to anything big. The appraiser should come soon and we hope goes well and that the house appraises at the purchase price.

They are working towards an October 31 closing, but have agreed to rent to us for the month of November. This works out well for us as we'll close before having to move, which means we'll have the money to close on a new house if we can find one on time. We are excited about this unplanned life shakeup because if this all works, we stand to make enough money to pay off some debt and get a new house.

I was excited from the beginning, and though Miran was a little more cautious about the whole thing initially, at this point we are both really hope this works as we excited about a new house and changing things up.

Last week we went to look at one house with a realtor that was 85% ok. It was fine really, but neither of us was totally sure about it. The layout was nice and it had a great sunroom and multilevel deck overlooking the woods, but there was some exterior maintenance issues and the garage was very small. The neighborhood had great amenities, but all the houses seemed a little neglected. We are going out tomorrow to see a couple more houses, which are really different from one another, but each have things going for them as well as things we are concerned about. So we'll see. If we don't find something in the next few weeks, we'll probably just find a rental for a couple of months so we can look a little more.

It's a Boy!

We had our second screening ultrasound today. Between the technician and the doctor, we were looking at the baby for 45 minutes. He was pretty wiggly and was mostly face down so they had a little trouble getting all the measurements and taking good photos. They measured everything from different parts of his brain, to his lip, to the chambers of his heart, to the lengths of his limbs. He is perfect and all measurements were normal. They also checked my cervix and somehow how are able to conclude that I am very low risk for preterm labor, so that is good news as well!

Here is an overall shot - he is too big to fit in the frame now at 7 cms from crown to rump.

And here is the shot he'll be embarrassed about in middle school.  It is looking from below in what the technician described as "diaper changing position". But it gives a nice clear view proving he is indeed a boy. Apparently the umbilical cord is also wrapped over it and tucked between his legs. She labeled the legs to help with orientation.

I also had a lot of bloodwork done Monday when I finally met with my obstetrician for the first time. All those tests came back normal. This included the second phase of the sequential screening, which in combination with the tests from 12 weeks confirm he is healthy and there is very little chance of birth defects.

My obstetrician, Dr. Yavorski, seemed very nice and I was comfortable with her. She was very behind and I had to wait quite awhile, which was annoying, especially after taking 6 weeks to get an appointment. Maybe they have too many patients. But once we were talking she seemed patient and made time for all my questions.

I see the obstetrician again in 4 weeks and have another ultrasound in 6 weeks.

16 Weeks

Here is the 16-weeks bump photo a few days late again. Apparently the little guy is the size of an avocado at this point (from head to rump - so longer with legs included). 

It can hear and theoretically I should be able to feel it moving soon, though it may be a few weeks until I realize what that feeling is. Every few days we listen to the heartbeat. We had a little trouble finding it a few times last week but other days it is no problem. So I guess the baby is moving around a lot. I don't have much in the way of symptoms at this point. I guess I have a little less energy than I do normally. No food cravings or aversions.

I've begun researching all sorts of baby related stuff and its a bit overwhelming, but I'm keeping lists and notes for when we are ready to start buying stuff.

Looks like a New House!

The paint crew was super speedy and in two days finished everything. It looks like a totally different house!

Housing Painting - Day One

So the week we are having our house painted has finally arrived. I am so excited I had trouble sleeping last night! Today was just the pressure washing day, but it really does look nice and clean. They took the old shutters off because we have new ones to be installed after the painting is done. I guess the house was white before it was blue!

Tomorrow, when it is dry, they will caulk and scrape the peeling paint. Then finally Wednesday they will start the actual painting.

We did a lot in preparation for this, including massive bush trimming (because things looked crazy and so they can get to the wall better), moving everything out of the carport, and closing all our storm windows (which is a big project in this house because of their age and poor design). I also trimmed the monkey grass in the front so it would look neater in the after pictures.

The back of the house still looks chaotic even though the bushes are trimmed and thinned.

 

And a before and current picture of the front porch. I removed the mailbox and house numbers, and doormat because I've bought new ones - in waiting to accessorize the house once repainted! I think you an get a sense of how clean the white trim is in the after shot here.

Here is just a nice picture of the carport looking so nice with nothing in it - not its usual messy state of affairs.

And finally, this isn't really related to the painting projcet, but her is a picture of the very big, very dead tree in our front yard that we are hoping the city will remove soon (before it falls on us our our house or the neighbors cars).