Week 15 (9/4-9/10)

Still processing Hov moving so soon and me being alone. We're still figuring out the living situation.  We have to figure out what to do with the house up here. We'll try to rent it but who knows if it'll happen. Time to start selling everything and just keep the very basics for storage. I feel so unsettled now and that's the worst feeling- seriously no nesting going to happen. Our house up here is perfect. We would have a room for the nursery and a guest room and plenty of living space. In Miami we'll have one room in a family member's house or a small apartment to squish in with a screaming baby and a retarded Schnauzer. My mom has offered her house which is so sweet but she's two hours north of where we need to be and his dad's house is currently full- no room at the inn. If we can rent the house out then we can afford to rent a little apartment and it wouldn't be too terrible. The problem comes if we can't rent the house, in that scenario we can't afford to carry the mortgage AND pay rent on an apartment. Until I move down (which would be the earliest in December) he's going to make do wherever even if it's on his dad's couch. Once I move down we have to have a plan.

After talking to my PI and contacting a property manager I feel a little better. It's certainly not the ideal situation but it's the best for everyone involved. My PI has given me the green light to semi-commute. I can spend most my time in Miami if necessary as long as I can come back when needed for meetings. I contacted a property manager who is coming Saturday morning to take a look at the house and get things in order to rent it out starting in January. The plan is to rent the house out and then sublease a little place for Spring semester only. I figure even if it's a tiny 1/1, it'll be fine that way I have a place to stay when I come up and also once the baby comes. Hov and I agreed that once I get too big/uncomfortable to be traveling back and forth I would stay in Miami and have the baby there. Until January he'll be with his dad but starting in January we'll be getting  a little place down in Miami so we have our own space. We ran the numbers and it looks like it'll work out.. Looks like it's happening. I'm not too happy I have to change doctors and will be giving birth in Miami. Not sure why but having the baby in Miami really doesn't sit super well. The cesarean rates are off the charts down there it makes me wonder what's going on... After the baby comes I'll have a month more in Miami before I have to go up for the end of the semester and defending. Once the semester ends we go back down for good.

That's certainly a lot to take in but seems like the best option for us to be together during the pregnancy as much as possible, his ability to take the job and also my ability to stay on track with school. Of course a hundred things could go wrong but for now that's the idea.

After a jam packed week I came home on Thursday to the best surprise ever. So of course it started with my key getting stuck in the door which has been happening a lot and so I was literally cursing as I was opening the door and then I saw the trail of rose petals and candles... Of course that stopped me mid "f*ing KEY!!!" curse. I followed the petals down the hallway to see my love on his knees (on a couch pillow lol) where he of course proceeded to tell me how much he loves me and wants to spend the rest of his life taking care of me etc. It was beautiful. After we have our sweet moment he then shows me that on top of it all he got me a box of doughnuts. Perfect ending! He jokingly said he had thought about holding a donut in one hand and a ring in the other- after seeing my face he said "don't worry babe I wouldn't have made you choose"... Am I that predictable? It's OK, that's when having two hands comes in handy ;). I wasn't sure if you could really appreciate it with/without flash so I put both options. My man is so sweet.

The property manager comes tomorrow at 10:30, that means today is a super spring cleaning/organizing day after work to make everything look nice and clean and Hov can get his sweat on mowing the lawn and whatnot. We are limited by our neighborhood but at the very least we can make everything else as presentable as possible. That's where all the sweat equity will hopefully pay off. Fingers crossed.

As if the end of this week couldn't get any better- today was the day I was supposed to pay my semester fees (roughly $940/semester) and I log on to put it on the credit card and cry when I notice that what I owe is only $440. Thinking this was a mistake I email the graduate student advisor person asking wtf was going on since I didn't want to be penalized later on. She told me to just pay it to avoid a late fee and she'd look into it. Well after a little searching I realize I had received a $500 grant which was automatically applied to the fees!! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! $440 is certainly more manageable than $940 (although $0 would be best), that really was the cherry on top of my Friday. Hopefully the same thing will happen in the spring semester. :)

The belly is getting bigger by the day. This week the baby should be the size of a navel orange (or the size of my fist), I guess depending what website you use, the measurement references are a little different. I can't stop eating. I can't stop. Grilled chicken wings, pho, colombian food, etc. The list never ends and the credit cards keep swiping. I don't want to see the bill at the end of the month. I've also been craving Ace's Icees from the grove, no clue why but all things lemon-slushie are on my radar. I come home today and Hov is squeezing fresh lemon juice to make me a slushie. I could definitely get used to this pregnancy spoiling. Please forgive my appearance in this picture- I've stopped caring about make-up (not that it was a priority to begin with) and have turned my attention to food full time... I thought about superimposing a happy face over mine but then I decided I don't have the energy to do that.

15 weeks pregnant, baby is the size of a navel orange, baby can wiggle his/her fingers + toes!

Tomorrow we have our next check-up, no ultrasound, just a regular check-in. For the next visit my dad will be here to video the ultrasound so we'll have a nice image from that one.