February 24, 2017 by Stephanie

Bachelor Nick Week 8

Oh the hometown week…

Nick does not play by the traditional Bachelor rules.
WE ARE GOING TO MEET RAQUEL!
Raven, you already told Nick that you were in love with him.
Yea I don’t think you ever quite know what you are getting with Raven.
What a special moment that Nick got to be a part of Raven’s dad telling her he is cancer free. Tear alert.
That was such an awkward goodbye between Raven and Nick.
What moment Raven? You have already said I love you.
Nick does not look comfortable in that church initially.
Nick said “I grew up in church,” but he doesn’t seem to mean that he goes now. However, I think that what he said about wanting to grow with Rachel on faith seems genuine. But I can’t get over the fact that she is the next Bachelorette. What happens?
Rachel’s family is bringing the fire.
They seem like they are really fun.
I think the producers rigged Corinne staying on so we could all experience Corinne’s hometown.
Shopping where there is champagne?
I could not imagine spending $3000 on one outfit. I didn’t even spend that much on my wedding dress.
Corinne saying “I love you” was sweet.
I want those olives.
I mean I kind of love Raquel too.
Corinne could not think of what Nick’s job would be. Shouldn’t this be something they talk about?
I loved watching Vanessa with her classroom. It made me really miss my time with Special Olympics.
I really appreciate that Vanessa is showing what it means to have divorced family. Having to split your time is hard for others to get used to. It is still hard for us sometimes.
I agree that Nick and Vanessa should have the conversation about what life would be after the Bachelor. How have none of them had this conversation?
Vanessa’s family is intense and so very protective.
Vanessa’s brother was so sweet.
Ha I love dads. How are you respecting my daughter when you are dating 3 other women?
So did Nick only ask Raven and Vanessa’s dads for their blessings? Did I miss him asking Rachel and Corinne’s family?
I think Vanessa’s family is going to scare Nick away.
Do these women really forget that this is a competition and there are other women involved?
Vanessa isn’t going to say anything about her feelings?
This season is the worst at cliff hangers. WHYYYYY?
Andy is the one who knocked on the door? WHAT DOES SHE WANT?

Favorites: Vanessa, but now I am thinking Raven may win.

February 23, 2017 by Stephanie

Baby Girl Isn’t the Only Addition For Us

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Last summer, Tom and I started talking about whether it was time for a new baby. We felt that we were ready emotionally and financially to add another little person to our family.

However we also knew that the space we had currently in our home was not super functional for a family of four, for us anyway. We could make it work, but we wouldn’t like everything about it. So we had some serious conversations of whether we eventually move to a bigger space or whether we embark on a construction journey to add on to our house.

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There were some things we had to consider:

What were our musts for a 4-person home?
What was the likelihood of finding those?
Can we adjust our current house to fit those musts?
What did we love about our current house that would be hard to find elsewhere?
What would our dream house have that we don’t have?

It honestly came down to two things: we hate moving, and it would be nearly impossible to find a better location than our current house. (We work in different cities so location is extremely important.)

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So last fall, before we found out about baby 2, we started the renovation process. We both really wanted this done before we had another baby, and we thought we had time. Ha oh life.

The first step was meeting with someone to draft up blueprints of the addition. We are adding quite a bit, so this required more than just our dream sketches made at the kitchen table. The upside of adding to our house is we can get exactly what we want so we are not taking any short cuts to make this our dream home. It took several attempts to get the blueprints where we wanted them and have them fit into our budget.

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Then came the arduous process of figuring out a construction loan. We had to go to two different banks to settle on a loan agent that was willing to work with us (and that we liked/trusted) because we will be consolidating and refinancing our original home loan once the construction is done.

We finally got the loan squared away after the holidays, and then came the waiting period for the weather and the construction crew’s availability to line up perfectly.

Which happened last week.

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They hope to have it under roof by the end of next week.

So many changes around these parts, and I couldn’t be more excited! Tom has been amazing and really spearheading the construction part of this process. I will come in more when we have to pick out the design details on the tail end of the project.

And George is loving all the construction stuff. He was home with Tom most of last week when they were digging, so he had a blast watching it all.

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February 19, 2017 by Stephanie

Baby 2: Twenty-Four Weeks

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How far along: 24 weeks and 1 day

Sex of Baby W: A little lady! Her initials are DCW, but we aren’t publicly sharing the name just yet.

Weight gain: I have gained a total of 3 pounds.

Size of Baby W: ear of corn or a puffin.

Maternity clothes: All the time. My last pair of regular pants this week decided to be too uncomfortable to make it work.

Baby items: I bought a pack of headbands. We have also gotten several hand-me downs from friends.

Stretch marks: I have a couple stretch marks on each of my hips. Bummer.

Belly button in or out: It’s still in.

Sleep: Either I have to wake up to pee, or George starts stirring around 3 or 4 am. I generally don’t get back into a good sleep after that. We are adjusting George’s nap (he was still at 4 hour naps), and that seems to be helping with him snoozing a little later over night. I slept really well at my conference though!

Best moment the past few weeks: The conference I went to was really good, and it was really nice to have some time to myself before we become a family of four. We also started construction on our addition to our house.

Worst moment the past few weeks: I haven’t really had anything bad the past couple weeks.

Miss anything: Not really anything right now.

Cravings: I have been wanting chocolate baked goods. Bring on all the donuts, cake, and brownies.

Movement: She moves the most after dinner, but I am starting to feel her a lot more during the day. Tom has felt her several times, but George never stays on my belly long enough to feel her.

Symptoms/how I am feeling: I have been feeling pretty good. I did have a little morning sickness on the flight back from my conference.I have a lot of round ligament pain on my right side. I have had some cramping too. Thanks growing uterus.

Looking forward to: Seeing our addition get further along. I need to blog about how it all came together. We should be under roof here in the next couple weeks!

George knows that Sister is in my belly. We give her kisses and hugs every day.

Here is George at 24 weeks.

February 17, 2017 by Stephanie

Bachelor Week 7

I had full intentions of writing other posts this week so that my Bachelor posts weren’t back to back, but alas life.

Anyway, this week I got to watch the Bachelor in a hotel room with Moe’s as my cuisine. Bring on the queso and drama. Also I think this brought my obsession of this show to an all time high (or low) with watching it alone in a hotel room…

Nick you have to keep doing this. There is so much doubt, why not just finish this and see where you end up. You will never get this opportunity again.
Where is Bimini?
Vanessa is going scuba diving. Air and Sea dates.
Everyone looks pissed at Vanessa.
Vanessa has a lot more depth than you have shown Corinne. All you can say is I have a nanny and you run a multi-millionaire dollar business.
Okay they are just going snorkeling, but I was close!
Of course that feels like love when you are in a romantic setting like that snorkeling…it’s called the fantasy affect.
Nick is just spinning words to Vanessa. You can tell she is just torn.
That is so awkward that Nick was touching Kristina’s inner thigh in front of the other women.
Swimming with sharks…Are they toothless? Really Corinne?
Raven seems to be in the background of this date.
I am pretty fearless when it comes to ocean stuff, but I don’t know if I would freely swim with sharks.
Raven would just beat a shark with her stilettos.
That was sweet that Nick was comforting Kristina.
Kristina gets the group rose.
Oh wow! I was not expecting Raven getting that rose.
I think Danielle would mellow Nick out, but I also think that she may not be able to call him out on his crap.
That basketball hoop is short.
Danielle is going home on this date…
I like Danielle, but I think she is a little dry for this.
Nick’s facial expressions are so telling.
I hate it when the woman says they aren’t great enough when they are getting dumped. I mean I get it, I have been there, but we should think higher of ourselves. This just wasn’t right for either of you.
Where was Vanessa in the goodbye to Danielle? Aren’t they besties in this?
Corinne sneaking off to seduce Nick.
Nick acts differently around Corinne than he does with the other girls. It seems like it is drunk college flirting.
Nick is saying NO to the platinum vagine! Maybe he is learning from his past mistakes.
Corinne your idea of cute and nice is just sex. There are so many other ways to show nice affection besides throwing your body at someone. No wonder she is so self-conscious. We have to be teaching women differently about how to respect themselves.
All she is doing is making me think about how to raise my daughter.
Seriously where is Vanessa?
Nick is terrified of Rachel’s dad and family.
I love the bartenders that the Bachelor people find.
Corinne is going off the rails.
NOOOOO not Kristina! I could have sworn there was more there.
Kristina, you do deserve better than Nick.
I think Jen is the mystery woman coming back from BIP.

Favorites: Vanessa and Rachel (Although I know she doesn’t end up with Nick because she was prematurely announced as the next Bachelorette. I am excited for her! But I am mad at ABC for doing it before she left this season.)

February 10, 2017 by Stephanie

Bachelor Nick Week 6

This week I have no words and all the words. This show is absurd, and these tweets say it all.

Here it goes anyway.

“Open your eyeballs” Nick.
Watching Corinne’s reaction while Taylor was talking to Nick was great.
Did Nick not hear anything that Taylor said about Corinne? What potential do you see?
I think Corinne is always having her own personal cocktail hour.
I am ok with everyone he sent home.
I think Jaimi will be on Paradise, and maybe Alexis too.
Oh the Virgin Islands. I went to the British Virgin Islands when I was in high school, and I want to go back so badly!
Why are they screaming out the balcony at Nick’s plane? He cannot hear you.
Kristina is gorgeous.
How is Corinne able to function taking care of other human beings?
I don’t even know what to say about Kristina. No wonder she is a more quiet person in attempts to shield herself, that is a lot to live through.
I would not want to play volleyball in a bikini
Wow they all got dramatic about this volleyball game and competing for time.
YOU ALL SIGNED UP FOR THIS: for a reality competition on love….This cryfest is silly.
This show makes people get ridiculous.
Jazmine, you are still there so you are getting reassurance. She won’t stop talking.
She is losing it as she is talking with Nick.
No surprise that he is sending her home. Why would she do the “chokie?”
Did I miss him giving Raven the rose at the group date?
This is an interesting 2 on 1 date. I think they both go home. Whitney is going for sure. I didn’t even know her name until this episode.
I can respect that Nick tries to keep every rejection between him and the woman.
They really like leaving women stranded on beaches.
Why is Whitney now bashing Danielle? Weren’t they friends before that?
No that wasn’t a great first date, Danielle. It was a tour of all Nick’s past relationships.
Danielle, you aren’t on the same page. The music tells it all.
I knew he was sending them both home.
Nick is in his head.
Wait, WHAT?
He can’t keep doing this??? What does that even mean? You are the one that keeps coming back to this ridiculous show! I’m going to need you to pull it together and not sound like you are drunk every time you open your mouth.