Design center

Today was the day I've been looking forward to for about 3 weeks! I couldn't wait! Today Brian and I got to go to the design center for our house.
We started the day by dropping Maddie off at preschool and driving down to Grapevine where we would be picking out everything for our house. Reese went with us and surprisingly, she did ok playing in the stroller while we talked.
The design center was SO FUN! We had a two hour block for picking house things, then we had another two hour block for picking out the electrical things, but that only took about 30 min. The electrical consult wasn't near as exciting as the other one and we weren't buying any electrical upgrades seeing as my dad used to be a master electrician in his hay day. So if we want any add-ons, we will ask him to do it for us later.
I didn't quite know what to expect before we arrived at the design center. All I knew was that I had a design idea in my head that I wanted to go for.
Our design consultant was so nice and helpful. She took us step by step and room by room showing us our choices and giving her opinion only when necessary.
About an hour into it she told us (me) how impressed she was about our (my) decisiveness. I never told her I had a background in design and that I had been planning this moment for YEARS!
The only thing that was tricky for me was that I wish I had more choices in granite and tile colors that  where not considered upgrades. Of course the ONE cabinet color I wanted was an upgrade. We went in there thinking we would not do any upgrades except for adding extra tile to the entry way. We walked out with that, the cabinets I wanted and an extra set of kitchen cabinets for above the refrigerator. I won't be able to reach them, but the extra storage will be nice. For all the add-ons they had to offer, I think we did good.
We go back to the design center Friday to make any changes we might want to make and sign off on all that paperwork.
We also have a couple more meetings with the builder next week. They should be laying down the pipes within the next few weeks and they will be pouring the foundation by the end of May. This should be a fun process and I'm excited to see how the house progresses.

 

 This is the frame for the mirrors in the master bath, the counter tops for bathrooms and the large tile in the back is going in all wet areas and kitchen back-splash.

This is pretty much everything we picked. The white cabinets, counter tops, and the small rectangular decorative tiles will go in the master bath.

Our brick color

cabinets and a little of the counter tops

decorative tile in bathroom

Fireplace, carpet and a small view of the paint color. I'll get a little more bold once we move in. But I'll do that myself. 

The countertops

New House

Brian and I also have some awesome news to share.
Last Thursday we bought a house!  YAY!
It still hasn't sunk in. We had been house hunting for about a month, and even had received a counter offer from another house, but we soon realized it was not the place for us. I loved the location of that first place, but it just wasn't meant to be. We searched some more but just couldn't find anything we REALLY liked so we decided to wait until this summer when more homes come on the market.  The whole process was quite exhausting. A few days later, on Good Friday, Brian just happened to be looking at houses on line and found a great house in our price range. It was a new build home, so Brian called the sales guy and he gave us the code to go look at the speck home they had already sold. 
We immediately got in the car and drove by and walked through the house. We loved the neighborhood and loved the house. The area is great and the school Maddie would be going to has nothing but great things to be said about it. This is the first time we felt 100% about a house and its location. We immediately called our realtor and he set up an appointment to talk to the sales guy the following Monday.

After the appointment on Monday, our realtor called Brian and told him it was a great deal and we should take it. They made another appointment for us to go sign papers on Thursday. I could not wait!

On Thursday we drove to the model home and met the sales guy and our relator there. It took us 1.5hrs to sign and talk through everything. We wont actually close on the house until its completed, but we signed "intent to purchase" papers so its pretty much ours. The only way it wouldn't happen is if we lost our financing, which I don't see how that would happen unless Brian lost his job for some reason. After we were done at the model home we drove up to our lot and stuck a "SOLD" sign on the "AVAILABLE" lot sign.

We have also made our appointment with the design center for the end of the month. We will get to choose everything from our brick color to cabinets and counter tops. That part should be really fun! We even have an electrical appointment.

After we came home from signing the paperwork, we got a little freaked out and wondered what in the world did we just do. But ever since then, we have been getting reassuring feelings and we feel at peace about our decision. Everything will work out. God has never forsaken us and He's not about to start now. I still don't understand His timing, since Brian and I have been dying to buy a house for YEARS now, but I do know that especially with all the medical issues I have been facing it was a blessing to be here and had we owned our own home then, it would have been a terrible financial burden. Not to mention Brian was still trying to climb up in his career and I have been blessed to do what I've wanted to do since I was little. Be a stay at home mom.

Living here as really taught us that God is in control and His will be done no matter what. I have learned how to be OK with whatever the world has to throw at me because God is bigger and he can handle it. I don't have to. Even living with Meniere's has taught me that. Its a concept I feel we are taught over and over again, but you don't really get it until you live through it. Kind of like having kids. Or getting married. You THINK you know what its going to be like. But then reality kind of slaps you in the face.

Since we wont move in till probably end of August or early September, I'm having mixed emotions about this summer. I'm dying to make the move, but I'm not ready to send Maddie off to Kindergarten. I will have to take it one day at a time. Hopefully in a nice cool swimming pool. :)

Our lot

Putting up the SOLD sign!

The sales guy hasn't been up there putting sold signs on the lots, so I had to ask if we could go do that. I've waited so long for this moment, I was determined to have a picture with that SOLD sign! 

Reese-6 Months

Reese is 6 months!

I cant believe she is halfway through her first year!
This has been one crazy month! Since my last post Reese popped out two bottom teeth. Pretty much the same week she turned 5 months. I was as shocked as ever. Now we've been waiting patiently for the top ones to come in. She's biting and shewing, but nothing so far.

At Reese's appointment she weighed 17lb's -85% and she is 26in -50%. Her visit went well. She is on track developmentally and becoming more and more social. She has also started to babble. She says dada, gaga, and mama so far. She mostly does this in the mornings when she wakes up in a good mood and talks and plays with herself. She is such a sweet girl. She loves interacting with the people she knows yet still lets me know when she's tired or is uncomfortable in a situation. 

Since she has started solids last month, she has tried rice cereal, bananas, apples, sweet potatoes and pees. She's not to crazy about bananas or rice cereal. Surprisingly, she loves pees and sweet potatoes. Today I made and froze avocados, carrots and pears for her to try this week.