These are not photos of the actual unit, it's another one on sale in the unit, but the layout is identical and the kitchen and flooring are the same.

The asking price is $45k. The only things that we can see that aren't in great shape are the walls and the upstairs carpet. It has a few scrapes, so we will want to paint. And then there is something yucky in the carpet, so we'll want new carpet in the 2 bedrooms. So... unless the inspection reveals some major defect... seems like a pretty sweet deal.

With our mortgage and escrow for taxes and insurance together with HOA fees, we will barely be paying more than we did to rent our apt back in Provo. Sweet.

Property Hunting

Today was our first day looking at properties with our realtor Cindy.

We were concerned at first because many of the places in our price range were 1)scary and ghetto 2) complicated sales that could take up to 6 months to close 3)not approved for FHA financing. So, we started out the day looking at a few places and then coming back to the office discouraged.

We then started searching within specific communities that our lender told us were definitely FHA approved rather than searching by price for all of Sandy Springs. We also decided that we would be willing to go up in price, since we were preapproved for much more than the 50k range that we were originally sticking with. Going up in price opened up a lot more properties and searching by community also helped us find places that we had previously overlooked that were around our original 50K hopes.

Of the gazillion places we looked at (okay, maybe it was only 13, but it was exhausting!) we found a few that we liked and one that we both LOVED.

There were quite a few in this large condo community called Foxcroft. It has been around since the mid 60's and has a very established and active HOA community. There was a nice pool and clubhouse, the exteriors were very decorative and the grounds were very well kept. There was one place ther that I really liked that was 56K with 2 beds, 2 full baths and an office with a fireplace that was as big as the living room, a bay window and a huge dining room. All of the rooms in these condos were very spacious. Unfortunately, most of them were very outdated. We saw everything from metallic wallpaper to cracked tubs, bright cerulean carpet, missing tiles and everything in between. There were a couple units that were very nicely updated, but they were asking 85k. Another deterrant-they had a very apartmenty feel, with a common indoor hallway entrance.

So, we ot some lunch at Steak and Shake (my first time. It was pretty darn good) and then headed to a complex called the Arbors at Sandy Springs. It was right in the same area, like a block away from Foxcroft, close enough to the train into town and also pretty near the temple.

We immediately liked the simple architecture and the 2-story townhome layouts here. Each building had bushes and a little bit of grass immediately in front of it, with a larger grassy area in a courtyard between each building.

We were very surprised to find that they were build around the same time as the foxcroft condos. They seemed much more upkept. Both of the units that we looked at had very up-to-date kitchens, with a stackable washer and dryer under the stairs, pristine cabinets, stainless steel fridge, stove and dishwasher and a sweet granite bar seperating the dining space and kitchen. They also had a cute little back patio with a gate going out into the courtyard. There was a little pool, newer double-paned windows. Also, it seemed more diverse. Foxcroft had lots of elderly occupants, but we saw a variety of folks at The Arbors.

Smaller, but in a nice location, good community, few necessary changes. We plan to make an offer tomorrow!

Hello, Peanut

To avoid awkward gender ambiguity ("he or she"), we simply refer to the baby as "peanut" now.

This is one of the best pictures from the ultrasound today. If you can't make it out, it's a profile view of the whole peanut, the back is towards the top of the picture, the head to the left. You can see the eye, ears, spine, arms and legs. The hand has 5 fingers, so that's good. Also, that little dark shadow on the chest that looks sorta like an airplane facing west is the heart, which has all 4 chambers, beats strong and circulates blood straight down the spine. It was cool seeing that in live action. Also, peanut likes to move around, making most of the pictures blurry.

The charts say that average length at this age is 5.5 cm head to rump. This image shows that our baby has already reached 6.69 cm, more than 20% longer than average. That's right, after only 12 weeks in utero, I have already begun to brag about my child's accomplishments.

First OB Visit

Well, there's officially a little squirmy creature inside of me.

We headed out to the Leland branch of our OBGYN clinic to meet with the doctor today. It was kinda cool because the office was right next to the medical office where LeAnn works, so her coworkers would pass in the hall and give us a thumbs up while we were waiting at the recptionist's and then afterwards we got to check out LeAnn's work.

So, first of all- am I the only one who finds it difficult to do a urine sample?
They say that you should start peeing and THEN move the cup under the stream, in case the first bit of urine is contaminated. For some reason I can't seem to coordinate maintaining a steady pee stream and moving a little cup under me at the same time. The best I can do is start peeing, stop peeing, move the cup into place, and then start peeing again. Of course, by then I'm so worked up by trying to stop mid-pee that I can't seem to pee that much and I feel embarassed about the pitiful size of my urine sample.

So, they take us back to the room and ask me to get completely undressed and put on their little paper coverup. As I was sitting there waiting to meet the doctor, I kept seeing myself blurt out, "Hi, I'm Sarah. I'm not usually this naked" as soon as the she came in. Fortunately our doctor was friendly and charasmatic and so I felt slightly less awkward.

Also while we were waiting, Micah and I were ever so maturely making fun of this instrument next to the table which had a long probe, covered in what very much resembled a condom. Little did I realize then that this probe actually goes up your hoo-haw, and the plastic sheath pretty much was a condom. The doctor noticed me laugh and I lied that it was because the probe tickled. So that's how they do ultrasounds! Nothing at all like that scene in Marley and Me where Jennifer Aniston is sitting there fully dressed with a nurse running the probe around her belly at 10 weeks.

I thought it was pretty cool seeing the baby, but Micah was particularly impressed. He sang improvised songs about it all the way back to Wilmington. We saw it's brain, which is shaped like a butterfly. We also saw the heart pumping blood straight down the spine, so all essentail functions seem well. Micah has already determined that it is a boy, based on how it moved around.

They claimed that it was long enough to be 13 weeks instead of 12, but probably it wouldn't change my estimated due date of January 5. Even though 90% of first-time babies are born AFTER their due date, I refuse to give up hope that the baby will be born by the end of the calendar year. If we miss out on the tax break and have to pay our way-too-high annual deductable twice, I'll be so bummed!

Progress

I am officially 12 weeks pregnant today. Tomorrow we will be going in to get the butt-naked check up (that's what the nurse politely called it, I guess it's pretty thorough) and have the first ultrasound test. If all is going well, there should be a heartbeat.

By today, our baby is the size of a plum. I hoped to find a picture of someone holding a plum, or perhaps a plum next to a quarter to get an idea of scale, but no such luck. I did find this picture, though:

Now that we are all thinking about a squirrel eating our baby, Micah got an email from a professor that he visited with when GATech flew him out back in April. The professor was essentially inviting him to do research under him. Micah needs to think about it because there was another professor whose research aligned more with his interests (biofluidics), but this other professor's research area (optics) is also really appealing. At least he doesn't have to worry about not being able to find anyone who will take him on as a Faculty Advisor for his program.

Micah moves into the next phase of P90X. Its exciting that he is getting results, but I'm cranky because P90X means that for an hour or two each day while Micah is working out, he is very irritable. Plus, he is constantly talking about what is is/has/should/shouldn't eat- as well as critiquing my diet.

In other news, I am getting sriously irritated with the weather. It's hot as anything here in Wilmington but any day we want to go to the beach the sky is overcast. So much for getting a sweet tan while we're here.

Picking Up Again

Well, I stopped blogging shortly after we got married because there was so little to report.

"So on Monday we went to school, worked slept. Then Tuesday, we went to school, worked slept. Wednesday was really crazy. I didn't have work after school so I spent 8 hours doing homework..."

But I guess with graduating and making our way in the world and whatnot, there will be increasingly more new and interesting things to share. Oh yeah, and since we're having a baby, I imagine that doting grandparent, aunts, uncles and cousins everywhere may be interested in keeping track of the latest member of the family.

So here I go, trying to pick this whole blogging thing back up again...