Starting Up The Blog Again!

We've had lots of ups and downs in our lives since Abu Dhabi when I last blogged. I'll go ahead try to summarize them here, so I can be caught up. Warning: This is basically a book.

Abu Dhabi was a great adventure for our family, but it did not last. We found out the contract Doug was working on was ending the beginning of February. Doug was offered a very nice job in Abu Dhabi and we had the option of staying, but there was an even better offer made by a company back in the US, so we packed everything up and returned in March just about a year after we arrived. It was crazy leaving so quickly. I was barely able to leave my two weeks notice at the nursery.

Leah and I taking pictures during a desert safari on our last weekend in Abu Dhabi

Last Day at Friend's Nursery

Our shipping crate packed up and ready to go!

Once we were back in the US, we decided to start house shopping immediately so that our shipping crate when it arrived in 6 or so weeks could just be unpacked into a new house. It also gave our house sitter a little bit more time to find a place to live since everything ended so abruptly. We stayed with my parents for a few weeks in the transition. We found a house that we loved and signed a contract on it. Before the seller had the chance to even sign it, Doug got a phone call saying that the job that we came all the way back home to the states for was not going to work out.

We were suddenly without employment and health insurance and the home that we wanted to purchase was no longer an option. It was a stressful time, but fortunately we had plenty of savings which allowed us time to figure everything out. We were still trying to jump through hoops to get the original job we came home for, but nothing was working out and we were left with more questions than answers. In the meantime, we moved back into our home and Doug went ahead and started applying for several jobs. Unfortunately, the same problem came up with all of the government jobs that he applied for, so he decided to look in the private sector.

After six months of unemployment and still no answer in sight for his government job issue, he decided to take a private sector job that he wasn't all that thrilled with. We were tired of our terribly expensive health insurance plan from the government marketplace and he was just plain bored. He started his new job in August 2016. The job came with a good salary and benefits, was work from home, but also required more than 50% travel... And it was only domestic travel which Doug finds rather boring.

Leah turned 4 in April and I was concerned about how long it would take to get pregnant again, so we decided to start trying once he had started the new job. I had a lot of anxiety that it wouldn't work out and started out very proactive fastidiously tracking everything with an app.. even purchasing OPKs online to help track my cycle even better. After three months of trying and tracking I was concerned that my cycles were too short. (Side note: I was training for a half marathon and had been running about 5 miles a day which probably was affecting this.) I scheduled a doctor's appointment to discuss my concerns and was told by my doctor after she barely looked at my chart, "You're young and healthy. I think you can get pregnant!" And left it at that. I fumed. I was SOOO upset... Aaaand I got pregnant the next month. Stupid doctor. I'm just glad she ended up being right!

My pregnancy was for the most part uneventful. I decided that I wanted to continue to run through my pregnancy. Leah and I took a month long vacation to Hawaii to visit my sister and we ran a few races including the 8 mile Great Aloha Run. When we got back, I had my 12 week ultrasound and when I asked, the tech told me that she thought we were having a boy. Leah wanted a baby sister, so we started preparing her then that it might be a boy. It was confirmed later at the 20 week scan that we were indeed going to have a boy!

It was around this time, that Doug finally made the decision after hating his job for nine months to leave. It paid well and had good benefits, but he had no passion for the work. He started working at a small start up company that he had done 1099 work for in the past. I was initially hesitant of him working for such a small company, but it has worked out very well. He feels valued and appreciated and he is able to do some work that he is passionate about. The company has also tripled in size since he began and has a promising future. The new job is work from home as well and we were finding our existing home to be too small for all of us to be there 100% of the time. Doug needed space. Leah and I needed space.

I've always kept my eye on the housing market. I have several real estate apps on my phone and I regularly check out properties in our area. It all started with a home in our price range that had a detached garage with an office above it on an acre of land. I talked Doug into coming and looking at the property with me (which had issues unfortunately) and then we were somehow officially looking at homes. I knew that the market was in a good place for us to get a return value on selling our current home, but we were staying uncommitted until we found THE home. All of the homes that we had been looking at ended up having age related issues so I decided to start looking at new builds. There was a community that I drove by frequently that I didn't think we could afford, but when I looked closer I found that the floorplan I liked was in our price range. I decided on a whim one Friday morning to visit and found that there was only one lot left in the neighborhood and it was already spec'ed out and permitted with a floorplan (the one I liked). Time was going to be an issue though if we wanted to be able to pick other features on the house though.

To my surprise, Doug was willing to come and look that next day on Saturday morning. We looked. He seemed interested and then we left and got home and he was like. It would be NICE, but nope... We're not doing it. We'd have to sell our current home quickly for $__ and you're 7/8 months pregnant. I however was not to be swayed and made an appointment with a listing realtor to come to our current home and tell us what we could sell for. To both mine and Doug's absolute surprise, we were told that we could potentially sell our house for $45k more than we had originally thought. We were using Redfin which was not commission-based so we felt confident in their estimate of the market value.

We signed a listing agreement with Redfin and the next day we were over at the model home signing a contract on a new build. It was all rather exciting and stressful at the same time. The new build would not be completed until December which meant that we would need to live with my parents after our current home sold and while our future home was being built... And I was supposed to have a BABY during all of that!

Also to add to the stressful situation, we had a beach trip planned with Doug's family who were flying all the way out from Utah. We were supposed to leave for the beach the week before our house was to be put on the market. That meant we had 10 days (TEN DAYS PEOPLE!!!) to prep and stage our current home to be sold. Also, during the time I would need to choose all of the design options for the new house. My family stepped in and helped us paint, clean, and repair as well as move any clutter into a storage unit for staging purposes. We got it all done and were able to enjoy a few days at the beach.

The day we drove back from the beach was the day our house went "live" on the market. The unsurity of finding a buyer was very stressful on Doug and I especially knowing that our contract on the new build which would be ready in December was not contingent. That basically meant that if we didn't sell our home by then, we would be saddled with TWO mortgages in December. Merry Christmas.

We decided to boldly drop our asking price 10k and include closing costs since we had wiggle room. We were able to find a buyer in under a month on market that was willing to abide by our terms as well as do a quick 21 day closing... Which meant that we would be able to close on the house before my due date. We hurried and packed everything into a storage unit (very uh.. interesting.. when you're 36 weeks pregnant and not supposed to lift anything) and moved what we would need for the next few months into my parents' house. With Doug working for a small company, he could not really take time off (which I completely understood), so I had a lot of responsibility on my shoulders. 

Fortunately, my family stepped in and really saved us. Local friends in the neighborhood came and took Leah for multiple hours without being asked. My ward's Relief Society came and helped me deep clean. We were VERY blessed.

The selling process was not without its own set of stressful problems. (We even had a scare that the deal would not go through less than 24 hours before signing papers), but in the end it all worked out. Whew!

Now I have a newborn and plenty of time to document everything on my blog during the tons of nursing sessions I have with Peter.

If you made it through that book, you're basically all caught up. Hah.