January blues ...

I think this is my longest stretch without blogging. I haven't done anything fun or exciting, and I haven't felt up to thinking of anything positive to write. Usually I glide through the winters without any blues, but somehow this January feels more depressing. So forgive my orneriness ...

I think this year is especially hard because I am in my third trimester of pregnancy. I feel great wrt the pregnancy, I'm just sad that I have another 2.5 months of a gestational diabetes diet. And if Austin follows the pattern of my boys, that'll be another 3 months of watching what I eat and pricking my finger 6+ times a day. Hopefully he'll follow Shayla's lead and come early ...

In any case, we've had more stress (enough for me to gain four pounds!) and a great miracle in the past month.

Our refinance (which we've been working on since September!) looked bleak at the end of December. The underwriter didn't like the appraisal that was done and said we needed a second to get their buy-off. Yes, we didn't like the appraisal, either, but with the new system it's not like you can choose who you want to come! Fortunately the company we went through was good about saying they'd do a second one for free if the first one wasn't acceptable. Phew, because I was not about to pay another $500!

So, we crossed our fingers, spent the weekend cleaning (which always makes me very grumpy), and had a second appraisal last Monday. Good news -- it came in $41,000 higher than the first one. I KNEW that first guy was wrong!!! Now the concern is that the underwriter won't like the difference (ugh -- underwriters!). We also have to hope and pray that rates drop, because in the midst of this we lost our lock and rates went up. All this to lower our payment $140/month. (It cracks me up they cover their bases so much for us to LOWER payments when we've paid on time for 9 years now. I can understand the concern if we were increasing payments, but to lower them? Sigh ...) In any case, I feel very justified in believing that our house was worth more than the first guy said, even in the current economy. I KNEW IT!!! So, even if the refinance doesn't end up happening, I am happy to know that my house appraised more like I expected it to months ago.

We're also still waiting to hear if our new health insurance will allow me to stick with my midwives and hospital. We haven't heard, because they're "busy and have a back-log." Tell my high-risk pregnancy that, and I'm sure it will just pause for you to get everything in order ...

But on to the huge blessing! Paul's car repair, which jumped in cost from $500 to $1,500, ended up not being needed to pass emissions. Hooray! The check-engine light stayed off after we disconnected it from the battery for a short time. The first time they checked it they said it hadn't run enough miles to get an accurate reading. So Paul drove the car to work and back and it still hadn't come on yet. We felt SOOOOO blessed!!! And interestingly, after driving it for another two weeks it still hasn't come back on. It was a happy day! (I've never been so happy to pay my $140 to register a car. Yes, Washington friends, $140. We need to get Tim Eyeman down here to get them to a flat $30 like they are up there!)

Another thing that always makes me happy is cute pictures of that cute girl of mine! We got her hair cut, and it's adorable. We took a bit off, too. Look at the before and after ...

Before (modeling her new $2 skirt):


After:


And here she was yesterday after she did her own hair. What a cutie!

And the last cute pic is with an adorable hat my niece Alyssa made for her:


I hear we're supposed to get more snow, so maybe a little sledding with the kids will cheer me up even more. If not, I recommend steering clear of my house until I'm in a better mood! (That excludes you, Paul! :)