First Mail out and first furniture set in

There was a 'vacant' mail in the mailbox that you can fill out when you move in and let the postal service know you're living there now and we're ready to receive mail. Sure enough I had to fill in our name and said... 'YES, we're here now. You can start sending us mail' and send it out. Our first mail out from our own mailbox... that was so exciting :)
And we got already our first furniture set, the only one that we buy new (ok, a king size bedroom set is on our list as well *g*. But we'll buy only the king size mattress with box spring for now and later on the bedroom set. Has to be well chosen). Just to give you an idea, the master bedroom is as big as the living room :)... can't wait to move in!!! I think we might switch around the setup of the living room set though... we were thinking this would be the best layout but I didn't like it that much when we placed it this way... so we'll have to move it around a little once we're in. We've decided to have our first night in the house on October, 17th!!! Party!!! :) Let's see... what can we do to celebrate that night and make it very special? Any ideas? What did you do when you first moved into your own house? Apparently we can't prost with champagne, that's off the list!!!
Frank just met with the tile guy how much it will cost and how we'd like to have it done. He also found a guy that will re-do our hardwood floor in the kitchen. AND he also found already a guy who'll do our loan and do the snow removal. I'm so excited about how the kitchen will look in white! We can have a taste of it already on the weekend :).

Today we switched electricity, gas, water and waste over to our name... that's checked off the 'to do list' as well... what else... yeah, tomorrow I have to go to the city and get my name written into the books. I still have to go to the Social Security Administration and change my name, get my Michigan driver license with my new name and THEN... I need to get my German passport changed as well... I should apply for the status change so I get a Greencard as well... oh man... I think I can just add and add to the list... I better stop now ;).

We bought the house

Yes, we got it. We bought a house!!! We're so happy. Tomorrow in the morning our couch set will be delivered and in the evening the tile guy comes around and checks out how much work hours he has to calculate for our kitchen backsplash and the laundry room. On Friday another guy comes in and works on painting the kitchen cabinets white, our appliances will be delivered on the 17th. And then we move our stuff as well... we're ready to get settled :).

Just came back from Florida to visit a client. I got some very great compliments from them about my 'performance' when I visited them in July/August in their Chicago facility and they wanted me to do the same in their facility in Deerfield, FL. Since Florida is not in our region I wouldn't be the one (normally) who'd fly out there and do the job. But since it was a personal request from them that I'll do that job in Florida, my bosses in CHI agreed to let me go for that trip. The great feedback I got from the client read not only my bosses in CHI but also my boss in NYC *big fat smile*... yeah Baby... life is just awesome.

The big day is coming up

I'm so excited. Tomorrow is the big day and this house will be ours!!! Can you believe that? We'll go through the house at 9AM to take a last look before closing and closing is scheduled for 10AM with the bank, our agent, our leander. Wow... I'm so thrilled... our first house together. What a great start for us and our little one...

Idaho City, ID for lunch

After our sales call and all the flying we decided to take our lunch up in the mountains and chill out for a little bit in the peaceful beauty of the nature...

The place we had lunch in had a few antiques for display. It was a cool atmosphere.

This town is so old (for american standards) that some of the old houses only had the front as display so we can get a 'feel' for the old wild west atmosphere.


That was a very good decision, we weren't really more awake afterwards but it was very good to not think about work for a little bit and take a fresh breeze with all the stress at work that is going on right now.

The bonus of traveling...

Here the proof again why traveling is so worth it, the hotel suite I stayed in:


Yeah, the first night in Moses Lake, WA we stayed in a Holiday Inn which wasn't the greatest but the best for that area ;). The Airconditioning was so loud, the bed so uncomfortable... but the next two nights we stayed in Boise, ID which was totally worth it and I slept like a STONE the first night in that hotel... awesome.

22 weeks

Greetings from the WestCoast. Uuuhh, I love it out here... we went on a sales call in Moses Lake, WA (flew to Spokane, WA and drove 2 hrs by car to Moses Lake) and had dinner on a deck with this wonderful view, isn't that awesome?

Yes, I know, it's time again... here is a picture of the 22 week baby belly. I'm telling you, she's growing, my belly sometimes feels like it explodes. Yesterday was one of those days... like she's making herself some room there... but she's very good while travelling, doesn't move so much, just kicks sometimes here and there. Very good behaviour already *GOOD GIRL*. And yeah, I love those maternity clothes... I think I'm gonna continue wearing them when she's out. They're so comfortable, shopping was never so easy for me than it is now!!!

So today another sales call (we're in Boise, ID right now) and then tomorrow morning we fly back home. A one day trip :(... but my car was in the shop this week and is already fixed and we can pick it up when I'm home on FR. That's so cool... and on Monday we're going to get our HOUSE :)... uiuiui... that'll be exciting...

Expectant Mothers' Parking

Today we went to Babies 'r us and got a parking lot right in front of the entrance *lol*... the parking lots for 'expectant mom's' are closer than those for the handicaps... too funny.We looked at car seats, stroller, bed sets, playpens etc.! We're getting ready to look into stuff for Zoe ;). Very exciting...

Some inside pics of our dream house

The laundry room Master Bathroom:

Guest Bathroom:

Master Bathroom:

Kids Bathroom:

Fireplace in the living room:

Kitchen:Dining area:

All good

Just a quick update on all the exciting things that happen right now.

The car accident gets covered by my insurance and I can fix that ugly bumper... very nice :).

Finally we got the marriage certificate back but with the wrong date!!! Sure enough I called them right away and blubb... the new certificate was in our mailbox 2 days after I complained. That was quick :).

House is ready to get bought. The loan got through and they wanna close already next week... which is not gonna happen because I'm gonna be out of town. I have to fly to Spokane, WA and Boise, ID so I'll be gone TUE - FR. And then on Monday, 28th we gonna close as planned and TUE I have to fly to Miami, FL for a one day trip.

All looks AWESOME as you can tell. You can find us most of our free time in hardware stores *lol*... finding the right tile, hardware and colors to pimp up our house. It's already all planned out in our heads, once we have the keys, we're going nuts. Frank wants to take off one day to take care of the house and the works in there. He has already handy men on hand that have to come in right away and do their work. How exciting :)... CAN'T wait to get settled. We gonna move all our stuff in the middle of october and then we can make it our 'home sweet home'. Frank took some pictures of the house while the inspection was being done, maybe I'm gonna go on his computer and upload some pics for you guys so you can see our dream house from the inside...

Oh, last but not least... almost forgotten... Zoe is moving like crazy! I still like it much better when she kicks. But I'm getting used to her moving around... it's pretty funny! I'm growing!!!

There is always a first time for everything...

... also for the first accident... no worries, I'm fine... no damages on me or the baby. Since I have my driver license I have had no accidents but today my clean record got screwed up. It wasn't even my fault because I got hit. I was on the left lane, passing cars and saw it coming already that the line of cars in front of me were going into their breaks... so I prepared and hit the breaks as well. Actually it was a harder stop than I expected but nevertheless... I was ok... not when I was looking in my review mirror... the car just seemed to fly into me. I tried to go to the side a little so he won't hit me as hard or will make it to slow down next to me. But he didn't make it... and plong... :(... I mean nothing really happened to us so that was good and I wanted to call 911 right away since I've heard too many stupid stories about accidents and insurance stuff. He had to make an appointment (he was with his girlfriend) in Ann Arbor but I didn't care. Then his girlfriend said that he has only an international driver license. I told them no problem... won't be bad, just want to have it reported the right way. I'm not leaving here until we have it reported the right way ;).

911 is never quick, let me tell you that. It's the second time I called them and again... waited 30 minutes at least. Called them a second time but they told us they're already on their way. Ok... I guess the guys missed their appointment, not my problem though, they shouldn't have hit me ;). So I don't know how I should feel. I'm glad nothing happend, I'm sad that it happend and that I have an accident on my previous clean record and I'm totally pissed that my car has these scratches now :(. What a mess... it will bother me every time I see it. Sure enough I'll call the insurance company and will see what's in for me. I might even let it repair or just take the money. The car has already so many 'other cars opening the doors and I don't care who's next to me' dents and now additional scratches... nice!!!

It seems that the guy 'picked me up'... here my damage:
Luckily if you look from the standing posistion you don't see it that badly... but if you look from the back :(... DAMN IT!!! I need to let it all checked out by a car shop if it's just a cosmetic damage or if the 'frame' changed at all. I'll get all the details and when the homework is done, I'll call up the insurance :).
He had a 2005 Infinity, pimped!!! Tja buddy... I'm sorry for your nice car... Just for the records, a 20 year old boy with a license for 3 years. But he was nice, can't say anything bad about him.

so many exciting things happen

Yeah... i can tell you. Our life is totally not boring and I bet it will never be ;). Last weekend we drove by the house almost every day to take a look at our dream house :). 

This week (Monday we had a holiday - Labor Day) we have so many things put into this short week. The house inspection will be done tomorrow morning (4 hrs because of the size of the house), the house appraisal and then signing a lots of documents. Our lender, our agent and my wonderful husband are doing a great job getting everything done asap. I just sit here in Chicago and have to sign the docs every now and then when I get an email ;). Yeah... if you would see the Trio rocking you'd be surprised how fast things are getting done here. I bet it won't be any issue to get the closing done on Sept., 28th. I even think they'll be done earlier... but you never know with all the paperwork that needs to be done. 

This week I work in Chicago. A two-day-meeting is already done and the next two days won't be any different... my calendar is crowded!

Tonight I've packed my apartment into boxes again (yeah... the moving-Queen is on the move again) and I have to say... I don't have that much stuff... it's pretty easy to pack. I'm very glad about that.

Zoe is getting bigger and is moving more and more. Tomorrow we enter already the 20th week. Half of the pregnancy is already done! Wow... that went quick! Yesterday night I was laying in bed (on my belly) and Zoe totally didn't like it at all, but I did so we arranged the position a little that we both were ok with it. When I was ready to go to sleep (on my back), hands on my belly, I felt this huge big bubble and then a kick at my hand... yeah, she kicked me :(... couldn't believe it. Probably the revenge for laying on my belly ;). But it was funny to feel. Don't know if you can feel it with only the hand on my belly if you don't feel the inside... she's moving a lot lately. And I think she's more like her dad, needs time to 'wake up' and when the day goes on she's getting active and moves around a lot. I'm the total opposite, in the morning totally active and I'm getting slower towards the night. I'm glad I'm getting used to the baby movements step by step... I still think it's kind of weird feeling her moving. Specially when you're at work and concentrate and need to do things and then somebody is moving around in you... 'hey, can you please keep still in there? I have work to do here' ;)... hihi... she's probably bored in there... I can understand that... I would be!

We still need to find our next doc/ midwife. Next week I'll take care of that when I'm back in DET.

We got married

We got married on August, 27th in Toledo, Ohio. We dressed up and met with our coworker who takes professional pictures at 9 AM in the morning and then headed out to start our adventure of getting married. It was very exciting... first we needed to get our Marriage Certificate at the City Hall and then we needed to wait about 2 hrs to get a few minutes with the judge at the court house who legally married us in the room next to the court room (I was glad he didn't married us IN the court room, I would've felt very weird and as if I've done something wrong *lol*). That was my first time in the court, I only new it from the movies but was never there in person.

After our marriage we went back on the road and headed towards Baltimore to surprise Frank's family with the news :). We had a great weekend but you know about that already because I've posted the Baltimore weekend already. Enjoy the nice shots... 

Our new house

Ok, just came back from taking another look at the house :). We love driving by our new home ;). Here a look into the neighborhood, (I took the picture standing with the back to our house).Tadaaaa, our dream house:



The patio has two levels and everything is very open to the other neighbors but we have some nice trees giving some shade and coziness
In the neighborhood we have a little picnic area were also a dock for boats is located. 
Here the lake, this lake is only a few houses away from us :)... some of the houses have their private dock area as you can see here in the picture:
Here my cute husband, look at him *big smile*

19 weeks

I think Zoe is growing... I can't really feel the difference of a bigger belly or not and the scale doesn't say I'm gaining either... but I think she's growing :). She's such a good baby ;)... sometimes I feel her moving (still very lightly, but I can feel her). Pregnancy is easy going... sometimes I even forget I'm pregnant.