Half Way There...

So we've made it half way there.  Honestly, I thought the day would never come.  We've had so much going on lately that some days, my head spins.  Mid July we got our new office for the business.  Here are a few pictures before we moved in...

Store Front
This was a massage place...

 

Front Room (craft side) 

 

Front Room (computer side)

Hallway...
Left side door - Alex's Office

Right side front to back - Restroom, Storage, Kitchenette.

Alex's office

Back room

My craft space and future class area.

Many things fell into place, others, not so much.  Once again Heavenly Father was teaching us patience.  Over all things have come together.  We hoped (and budgeted) finding as much as we could used but had very little luck.

It took a whole day and a little frustration but I got Alex's desk put together.

While I worked on the desk, Alex worked on building/painting his workbench.  

The second day I spent putting the hutch together for the top of Alex's desk. 

Our front room was looking a little bare has we were having a hard time finding what we were looking for.  We finally found this little table and chairs that worked great for our front corner. 

We never were able to find a front desk that worked for us so we improvised and made our own and I have to say, it worked great.  This is half of one of our shelving units with board that we painted black and fixed to the front and sides. 

Please excuse the mess in the background, we were still moving in.

We created mini pallets using 1"x 2" wood to hang my jewelry on. 

A week ago we went in for our ultrasound.  Our child is a wiggle worm...I knew this.  What I didn't know was that it was going to take an hour and a half to get all the measurements and find out the gender...

WE'RE HAVING A GIRL

The ultrasound tech was hesitant to say it, in fact, at first all she said was "hmmm I don't see any little boy parts".  All this did was make me hold my breath.  Then she told us she was pretty sure we were having a girl but she was going to get a second opinion at the end.  In the mean time baby did everything she could to cover her face so they couldn't get a picture for us.  Finally she had me get up and move while she got the other technician. That lady was fast and she manage to get the above shot of her profile.  Then she went down and said "yep thats a girl".  I couldn't stop smiling, I'm sure I looked like the biggest idiot on the planet but I'm okay with that.  Alex was happy too, but he just shook his head at me and said "what have I done".  :~)

After we were done we went up to the birthing center where we were given a tour by a wonderful nurse (Praying she's my L&D nurse).  She gave us some information about what was and wasn't available, things to bring, things not to bring, and a little info on writing up our birth plan.  We'd written up our birth plan but now that we knew what we had as options we could finally edit it. 

FAMILY WEEKEND

On Thursday my parents headed up to see us and Luke was ecstatic.  It was nearly impossible to get him down for a nap but in the end his busy little body got the best of him and he passed out in bed.  It was perfect timing because they got here and got backed in before he woke up.  Each morning he got up he'd say "grama & papa come today".  We had to remind him that they were right out in the driveway in the trailer.  He usually tried to bolt out the door to go 'see dem'.  I have to say, it was cute. 

Friday we took my parents up to see the lighthouse.  Unfortunately Luke isn't quite tall enough to go up so we stayed down while they went up. 

You can't see them but they are up in the lens room now.

The next morning I had to go into work and Alex had to go out to the Run for the Light(house).  My parents were able to take Luke for a little while till I got off work.  Once I got off we went down by the marina to meet up with Alex and to take them through the museum before heading back home to finish up lunch. 

Alex's parents came up for a little while on Saturday and we got to take them up to the lighthouse and museum.  For the first time, I got to climb the light house and it was really neat. 

Looking down the 'floating' stairs.  These stairs are only attached to the wall at each platform to prevent any extra structural damage to the physical lighthouse. 

Where the old chains used to run up to.  This lighthouse used to work like a grandfather clock.  

The break room below the lens room.  You can see the base of the lens through the grate. 

The old fresnel lens.  It is no longer in operation but it is still beautiful. 

Looking down through the grates at the gears in the break room that use to turn the lens.

Our replacement for the fresnel lens.  It still flashes red/white at the same rate as the old fresnel lens (16 seconds) but its much smaller an is only on one side of the lighthouse.

Fact: All white light means to stay away as it was a dangerous area (i.e. rocks, ship wreck, etc), red and white means safe harbor.  Also you can see the light for 21 miles which is how far out it is before the curvature of the earth is too great to see.

The water used to be 300ft from the lighthouse.  When the jetty was put in for the Columbia River it caused the land north to grow and now the lighthouse is 3000ft from the water.  You can see the tree line in the picture below.  The trees are much shorter and have only grown there in the last 70 years. 

Below is the picture of the plaque stating that the lens for this lighthouse was made in France for Westport, WA. 

From the bottom looking up.

It was really neat to see it from the inside out. I love the history of our little town.  

Alex's family got us these cute outfits, a pack of diapers and a teething toy for our sweet little girl. 

 I have to admit, I'm still a bit giddy about the whole having a little girl thing.  

I'm not the only one though. :)  Oh and I do not remember Luke ever being this small...

It was nice having everyone up to visit and for the most part the weather was pretty good.  Right before my parents left on Sunday the sun came out and we were able to go out on the beach for a short while.  Tide was coming in but the boys were having fun playing in a hole someone else dug out.  Luke was itching to get int too but he'd easily been underwater once the waves got up high enough to really go in the hole.  

20 Weeks and Counting

   On Monday we went in for my 20 week doctors appointment.  I expected a little bit of a wait because we were about half an hour early.  When I checked in the lady at the front desk said that they'd had 5 to 7 no shows and doctor was running on time so they should be able to get me in a bit early.  I honestly wasn't going to complain...that was until two of these no shows rushed in a few minutes before my appointment was supposed to start and they still let them go ahead of me.  I was a little irritated because I really try not to be late, and if I am, I shouldn't hold those who were there on time up. 
   In the end it was worth the wait though because my doctor was able to sit down with us and look over our birth plan.  He helped us edit it a little to word things better and make things more clear for the nurses that will be there during labor and delivery. We discussed with him a little more about birthing in a hospital and what to expect.  We also went over more of what we wanted and he was SUPER flexible, and really supportive of having a natural birth.  :-D
FACT: About 90% of mom's have an epidural in the U.S.

While I wasn't (and still really am not) too thrilled about having to have a male OB, at least I've found one who listens, is flexible, and really tries to avoid C-sections.  I feel like he was the answer to a great prayer because I had a lot of fears about giving birth in a hospital and being pushed into having a c-section that I don't want. 

20 Weeks

I look NOTHING like I did at 20 weeks with Luke.  I've gained almost as much weight this time as I did the entire pregnancy with him. 

GRAND OPENING

   This week was our grand opening for the new shop.  Because it was a Tuesday we figured it would be a little slow but we did get a decent amount of people dropping in for what it was.  We decided to carry out our special offers and drawings through the weekend.  Today was also a good day, we're being seen and gaining new customers which is a huge help to growing a business.  

   I've even managed to sell a couple items which feels great.  We've been praying for a way to grow our businesses while I am still working and this is it...although I do love the kids and I'm not sure that I want to give up my job any time soon, especially since its only part time.  Best of both worlds right?