11 Weeks.

11 Weeks!

How far along? 11 weeks, 5 days (in this pic)
Total weight gain/loss: I don't own a scale, (for good reason) but I got my butt on the elliptical the night of our first appointment.  Holy cow.  Literally.
Maternity clothes? I purchased a belly band and a few pairs of maternity underwear a few weeks ago.  So far, everything is still fitting, just a little more tightly. 
Stretch marks?  A few in the -uhm- chest area.
Sleep: Sleep great at night except for the fact my uterus presses on a nerve when I lay down that makes my right leg all tingly.  It is getting better, hopefully that will go away in the next few weeks.
Best moment this week: Realizing the first trimester is almost over!  It goes by SO fast!
Have you told family and friends: But of course.
Miss Anything? I didn't realize how much I enjoyed a glass of wine after work until now.
Movement: Not that I can feel.
Food cravings: Cheese and random everything.  If I see something I want, I think about it all day until I get it.  It's ranged from nachos to Little Debbie Swiss Rolls to chili-cheese fries.  Yum.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Brian's farts.  Seriously. 
Have you started to show yet: Not that I can tell.
Gender prediction: Hard to believe, but I have no idea.  Nor do I care.  Healthy, ten fingers and ten toes is all I want.
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!   A few lame commercials make me cry.  Of course.
Weekly Wisdom: Water, water, water!  I don't think you can get too much when pregnant.
Looking forward to: When I finally start showing.  So it will look more like a human baby and less like a food baby.

Some Good News

Well, our prayers have been answered and we are so excited to announce that we......

ARE HAVING A BABY!!!

After thirteen months of marriage we found out on October 16, 2012 that I was indeed pregnant!
I will likely not forget that day.  It's quite funny.  Here's the story:
A little backstory first:
We got married in September of 2012.  Ever since then, we have been, shall you say, NOT preventing a pregnancy from happening.  We just thought we'd see what would happen.  Well, my neurotic self did some research and decided it would be a good idea to take prenatal vitamins.  Increase my chances I guess you could say.  Well, that sure did jack up my 'cycle'.  At one point my period was 37 days apart, the next month it was 18 days apart.  Holy-what-the-crap.  Needless to say I quit taking those in July and my cycle returned to normal.  But still no baby.  Every month was a disappointment.  I was really starting to get down on myself; I had had abnormal pap smears in the past and I was convinced something was wrong with me.  However, we continued to pray that God would someday bless us with a little bundle of joy.
 Fast forward to October 16th.  I woke up at 3 am having to um, use the restroom.  And I'm not talking about your run-of-the-mill early morning potty break.  I'm talking about my insides are on fire and if I don't get out of this bed right now I am going to sh*t myself.  Spent thirty minutes in the restroom.  FINALLY fell back asleep around 4 am.  Did this routine again at 6 am and woke the hubby up and told him I was pretty sure I was staying home from work that day.  By this time I was two days late for my period and CONVINCED I was pregnant.  Brian made me promise not to take a pregnancy test until he got home.  One thing you should know about me:  I am by no means patient.  At all.  So at about 10 o'clock I took my first test.  Came back positive!  I didn't know it was possible, but I was laughing and crying all at the same time.  Our dog, Tank was giving me some pretty funny looks.  About an hour later I was so pissed at myself for taking the test without him!  I had this awesome news and no one to tell.
The best experience so far has been telling everybody the news.  I'll write about that in my next post.  Until then, here's a (non-existent) belly pic!

One year ALREADY!?!

I can't believe how different our house looks now.  I also can't believe Brian & I have been married a year!  Time really does fly by.  I think we have accomplished quite a bit in the short year.  I mean, we bought a house!  A lot of people go a lifetime without doing such a thing, especially in this economy.  I have to remind Brian that every time he gets a little overwhelmed with the bill/credit situation.  But, I have to remind him that we are lucky, our bills are paid every month, we have food on our table and a roof over our head.  We really don't need much more.  Soon the loans and credit cards will get paid off, no worries.
We spent a couple of days the weekend before our anniversary at the Inn of the Mountain Gods in Ruidoso, which is where he proposed.  It was nice and cool, and very relaxing!  Just what we needed.

Like I thought, we have been running around crazy trying to make this house feel comfortable and be 'us'.  

As you can see, the rug from Overstock.com wouldn't lay flat. :(

Our very first project was our red accent wall.  I could not be happier with it!  We got the living room painted the first weekend we were living there.

#TEAMWORK!

I like the new rug a lot better.

I think every day I find something I want need to change.  The carpet in the master bedroom desperately need to be replaced, as does the baseboards.  Oh, and the ceiling needs painted, along with the walls.  I think it's coming along great though!  I love spending my time here.

Last time I move for a loooong time...

What. A. Week.  We have been in our NEEEEW home a little over a week now and I cannot believe how happy I am.  Seriously.  Brian even noticed.  He said I don't get upset about things as often.  That's cuz there is nothing to be upset about!  There is so so so so much storage in this place, I am in love!  The best part is that if we don't like something, we can change it for the most part.  Cuz we OWN it woo woo!

Case de Cox

Number one on the list of things to do is paint.  These people.  I dunno.  Every wall is white.  Every wall.  And it's not off white or eggshell.  It's white.  We are planning on doing a dark red accent wall in the living room and tans for the rest of the house.  I would love to paint the guest bedroom grey or something, but we'll get to that later.  We also plan on re-doing the countertops in the kitchen and the master bathroom.  They are the original, we would just like something a little newer and nicer.

Living room.

Dining area off the kitchen.

The kitchen with lots of cabinet/counter space.  So happy!

We ordered a new living room and a new bedroom set about two weeks ago.  We are going to Lubbock to pick them up on Tuesday.  I can't wait because as soon as we have all that, everything will fall into place.  We will be able to paint and unpack the rest of our boxes!

Master.  As you can see, no furniture. Soon, though.

Master bathroom.

Our little soon-to-be Oasis.

That's a pool.  Woo Hoo!

I fell incredibly blessed that Brian and I were able to buy this house.  We are very fortunate to have a wonderful support system.  I can't wait to entertain them all in our new home!

Blood Sample??

I swear.  When you buy a house, they want a urine sample, blood sample, eye exam, physical, bank statements, your dog's name, references, hair sample, and the kitchen sink.  Oh wait, WE get a kitchen sink when this is all said and done.  Thank God.

ALL the paperwork for the purchase. Loan officer's is about three times the size.

Seems like we started this process years ago.  We kind of actually did.  Except back then we thought we were going to build.  It actually hasn't been that long since we first put in an offer on the house.  *gasp* That was a scary 24 hours.  Tears came when they sent their counter offer.  I am a complete cry baby.  At least I HAVE emotions.

We are a little over one week away from our closing date and I am so excited I could pee.  I have a feeling we are going to be running around like chickens with our heads cut off in the months after we move in.  We have living room and bed room furniture picked out already, and most of the colors picked out for paint! (white walls? ugh)  I love love love putting a house together though, I'm just so excited to finally have one I can do ANYTHING to!  No knocking down walls, though.  Yikes.

Bedroom set we love! From Oak Express!

Tulips??

What an awesome weekend we had!  Me & Brian checked out the Home & Garden Show in Clovis on Saturday.  Let me just say I cannot wait to get into our house and start decorating/painting/drive Brian crazy.  I love making a house a home and I can't wait to put things on the walls of a house that we will OWN! 

I also love love love the outdoors.  I could not be more thrilled that this house we are buying has an already awesome back yard with LOTS of possibilities.  Oh AND a patio!  I love relaxing on the back porch on a beautiful summer night.

So we saw a lot of awesome things at this show and got some great ideas.  The one I am MOST excited about is a new greenhouse in Clovis called Traci's Greenhouse.  She had a booth at the Home & Garden show and I can't wait to check out her store.  I have a feeling we will be spending a fair amount of money there!  Not only does she have gorgeous plants, but she also has outdoor decor, even jewelry!  Right up my alley.

I could not be more excited to plant some.

I found her on Facebook and she had this picture up of some beautiful tulips.  Tulips!!  I didn't really think I liked Tulips till I saw this picture.

I really can't wait to visit this store.

As you can see, she has some fabulous stuff.

Here is the link to her Facebook page - -

http://www.facebook.com/dumoon?ref=ffa#!/pages/Tracis-Greenhouse/294729740548393

Anywho, I am just so excited about this house and I can't wait to make it ours!  We have so many plans for it already and I just can't wait to get started.  I may have even packed one box today.  Just one though!! :)



Home suweet home... hopefully

I'm the worst.  I start things and don't finish.  Whoa is me...

I was reading someone else's blog and decided Brian & I are going through a lot here lately, so I better blog about it.

So, like I said, A LOT has gone on in just the last couple of weeks alone.  Right now we are living in a rent house that Brian's grandmother owns (MUCH more room than our previous apartment).  But, alas, it is time to grow up and join the real world.  Time to purchase our first home.  I was on that like white on rice.  I scoured the world wide web looking for local listings and found a few that suited our needs.  Spent a day walking around people's homes and found the house that was calling our names!  Had everything we were looking for plus some.  Best part?  Oh ya, we'll be neighbors with our good friends Zack and Shari.  Can I get a woot, woot!!??

The outside of our soon-to-be-home!

So, the ball is officially rolling on this sucker, just gotta wait on the loan peeps and sign some papers.  With the help of the good Lord, (and some decent credit) this house will soon be ours!  I just can't wait to decorate, it has some g.o.r.g.e.o.u.s wood floors.

Obviously not our furniture, but look at the floor!  Soo pretty.

We're married, now what?

Hey there, Sara here.  I decided to start this blog mostly to take up some time, but also because I love sharing. Sharing is caring.  Any-who, obviously, yes, I am a newlywed.  Previously an Allison and now a Cox.  Brian & I  married on Sept. 10th, 2011.  Ya, 9/10/11.  Aren't I clever?  Hopefully he'll remember our anniversary in the years to come.  

We started dating in February of 2009.  By September, he was living with me because, well, I knew I wanted to marry him and you gotta test out the waters, right?  Two years later on March 24, 2011 (my b-day!) he proposed and I had already picked out a date 6 months away.  

My dream wedding came to life (many thanks to our families) and we were so very excited to start our new life together (even though it felt like we'd been married for a year already).

So the honeymoon is over and we look at each other like, now what?  We need to move that's what.  We had very quickly outgrown our two bedroom apartment (who knew two people could acquire so much junk stuff property).  The rent situation in the Clovis/Portales area is ridiculous.  I'm talking $1,000/month for an apartment ridiculous.  (Thankfully we had a good deal on our previous place)  Brian's grandma owned a two bedroom house in Portales that was currently occupied.  But the lease was up and guess who got to move in!  Whoop!  Cardboard box jungle, here we come!

The extra space was unbelievably amazing.  Hopefully I'll get some pics up soon.  So the unpacking process probably took about 3 months (I literally just got the spare bedroom in order this past weekend).  We love it so far and it really feels like a home we could start a family in. Eeeekkk!!!!