Finished!

I can finally say Joel has officially finished his part of the basement. (... I thought of a much better idea for our laundry room, but it will have to wait for now)  We just have to wait for my cousin to finish the drywall and next week we will go look at carpet and lino.  If all goes well, hopefully by the end of the month the dogs will be downstairs. This means I can start setting up and decorating our nursery. Right now everything is in boxes in our spare bedroom downstairs (previously stored in my parents garage but since their house went up for sale we moved it into our place), so it will be nice to have order back in the house.


We unofficially bought a car on Tuesday night from Pembina Chrysler Dodge Jeep. We had test drove a Grand Caravan from Gauthier’s on Regent last week and were quite happy with it. The back sto-n-go seats were easy to set up and take down, there was plenty of room for the dogs, baby, stroller, groceries and any other items we may be hauling. With (automatic) sliding doors on both sides and a power lift gate, it makes it easy to access any part of the vehicle. The ride was comfortable as most vans are, and the one we drove even had a DVD player in it. Joel and I both thought if we are going to get a van, we wanted a “pimped” version (I still think I am too young for a van, but such is the choice when you have 3 “kids”). When it came down to negotiate with the dealership on Regent, we couldn’t believe their “tactic”. We had to write up an offer before they would appraise our trade in and put down a $500 deposit. We had to tell them what we wanted for the trade rather than them providing us with a figure. After writing up our offer, and putting down the deposit, they came back and said they would not give us what we wanted for the trade in. No problem, we can work with you on that. But the next steps are where it gets sketchy. They wanted us to make another offer with a lowered value on the trade in to see if they would accept it. Joel told them there was no way he was doing that and to come back with an offer on the trade. They did, and it was a joke! Joel actually put on his jacket and was walking out the door. So our salesman went back “on our behalf” to the business manager and the new offer was $2300 more than the first! Joel knew they were trying to play games and was not impressed. We ended up leaving knowing that we could find a better deal either in Steinbach or at the dealership on Pembina. We decided the try Pembina first and everything there went so smoothly! We told them what we were looking for, the reasons we wanted it, and asked them to locate one that had the options we were set on. They appraised the trade in at $2700 more than the best offer from Regent! The payments are still less than those pitched at Regent, and the salespeople, business managers, and finance people were so helpful. I would recommend this dealership to anyone; it was a great experience with no hassles.


This Saturday we are planning on visiting our friends Chris and Sarah who live in Steinbach. They built their house just over a year ago (the same time we moved into our house, they were moving into theirs) and had a baby boy last March. They have probably been (with the exception of family) two of the most excited people for us when we announced we were pregnant. Sarah and Chris are both so “into” being parents. So before we head out to visit, we will pick up the van and hand over the Jeep.


The baby is kicking more and more and seems to have a schedule when it comes to eating. Our peanut kicks a lot around 8:30am for breakfast, 11:45am for lunch, and then somewhere around 6pm to make sure dinner is coming. Peanut also enjoys kicking while I am lying down watching TV or reading in the evening, but has a new routine which is waking me up at 5am kicking away. Not surprisingly, Joel and Martin are both early morning people. If Joel “sleeps in” until 7:30am on a weekend, it is a surprise. He is usually up for hours before I crawl out of bed.....


Sunday I have big dreams of tackling the basement storage area. Since the house is a 4 level split, we have storage below one of our levels. It is only about 3 feet tall, but works perfectly for those big Rubbermaid bins full of once a year items like a Christmas tree and decoration, etc. Since we knew we would be finishing the basement this year, we kind of slacked in the organization of these items, so this weekend I am hoping to have enough energy to tackle the job. Joel will pull everything out for me, but I will need to sort, repack, and label our storage containers. I would also like to get our upstairs linen closet back in order. I usually straighten it once a month, but I need to actually pull everything out and start fresh. We have accumulated so many odds and ends that don’t have a home so they end up in that closet.


Once the basement is finished, Joel have I will move the 2 large chairs we have from his grandparents out from our office. Hopefully that will free up enough room to move our dresser (which is completely empty after my organization this past weekend) to that room. This will leave more room for the basinet beside the bed, and will allow Joel enough space to finally get a night stand.


So I am still nesting and organizing and cleaning, but have found I am starting to get tired again. I was feeling better than I had in months, but really feel drained lately. Might be time to start having naps again….


Oh further to the predictions, my dad is guessing a boy because of all the movement. He is still unsure of the date.


So now, that is all, enjoy…..