Maternity Series |29 Weeks|

Woah, talk about late! I took these shots at least 2 weeks ago but forgot to post them on my blog here (you can see them on my photography blog, along with an explanation for the 'raciness' you see here, haha).

Too tired to post much else, I'll try to be back with a point form update on us all and our crazy busy lives, but I can't promise that packing, working, tending to a needy baby, and growing another needy fetus won't take place first. Perhaps in the dead of winter when things slow down I'll be able to take a breath, but for right now, it's just go go go. I have to tell myself Dorie's old motto "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming..."

Have a good one!

G.

House Update

I said I would be back to update you all on the house, so here I am, and I'm VERY happy to say that everything worked out and WE GOT IT!

The last 2 weeks were very hectic for me, getting all of the conditions met, finding insurance quotes, going to inspections, paying appraisers, finding lawyers, and a bunch of other things I had to do to line up our mortgage and 'close the deal'. It was stressful (and pricey), but it's done now so all we have left to do is prove our downpayment to the mortgage folks and get our insurance lined up before we move on August 22nd.

The inspection went well, all of the majors were old but ok, the only thing we weren't really expecting was some (well, a lot) electrical issues, so that was a bit stressful, we had electricians in telling us different things, but in the end we managed to get a bit off the price of the house to bring it up to code, so that's good at least. Plus we got some extra money from the mortgage folks to do a few repairs that we felt were necessary (gutters to draw water away from the basement, replacing the pump that's outside in the shed, and adding a railing to the staircase). Those repairs, plus getting the house ready for winter (and a garden patch ready for next summer), will probably be the only things we'll do for the rest of this year, but we have our whole lives to work on it, so we don't need to be in a rush. The inspection report is really useful, we're going to use it as our 'long term to do list', checking off things here and there as we get them done (trust me, there's A LOT to do).  But it doesn't matter, the important thing is that's it's OURS.

So yeah, 6 weeks 'til we move again, which means we're back to having boxes everywhere and I'm packing up what we don't use on a daily basis. I'm also purging as much as possible, I really don't want to bring anything into the house that I don't either love or find useful...old sentiments and gifts included. This is our fresh start, I want to make it our home and not just a place where we keep our stuff, so only having what I want in there will be very important.  Many trips to the Salvation Army drop-off are planned :)

I think that's everything, I'll be taking LOTS of pics of before and afters, and our progress as we head down this journey of home ownership.  I can't wait :)

G.

PS-The layout above is my first attempt at digi scrapping, yay! I got the template for free from Cathy Zielkse over at Bits and Pieces...she's a cool lady, that one, I'll be using the template again very soon!

Maternity Series |26 Weeks|

Two words for this week: Leg cramps. I had completely forgotten about them from my last pregnancy but in the past couple of weeks they have come back with a vengeance! Terrible Charley Horses that almost bring tears to my eyes, usually first thing in the morning, waking me up and leaving my legs sore for the rest of the day.  Yes, 26 Weeks in my mind has been defined by Leg cramps.

(Shots taken at the old abandoned mall near my house, also where I took my 16 Week shots...it has come quite in handy as a play area for Victor and as a photo backdrop for me! You can see my new hair a bit in these shots as well, though it's definitely not 'styled' as well as it could be, tisk tisk. I suck at hairstyling and personal grooming, what can I say?!) 

I love my little helper :)

Be back later this week to let you know how all this house stuff is going, we're sooo close I can taste it!

Until then,

G. 

Maternity Series |24 Weeks|

Oops, falling a bit behind in posting these (at least I'm taking them!) These shots were taken when I was out location scouting for this maternity shoot I did the following evening. I find it funny that the client and I both wore a similar pink shirt, I guess it's a popular colour (and it popped against the background, so it works!) I'm not sure if there's much of a difference in my size from week to week, I mean there must be, but looking at the pictures sometimes it doesn't seem like that much...but he/she's growing, I know that for sure!

There were several tractors and cars going down the road as I was taking these, and I always made sure to look busy 'adjusting' my camera settings until they were gone...I don't think I'll ever get used to taking self portraits in public.  Hence the far out locations, they tend to offer some privacy.

Back in a bit with Week 26.

Until then,
G.