August 2006

Lots going on around here these days. First, and foremost, after over four years of trying, including two surgeries for me and seven IVF cycles, Amanda is actually pregnant. If you’re family, of course, you already know all about this. Needless to say, Amanda and I are ecstatic, but definitely still a little in shock. Our multiple past disappointments have made us cautious, and even after a positive pregnancy test we knew we weren’t out of the woods. As of last week, though, Amanda is officially into the second trimester, and we grow more optimistic each day. We recently received the results of Amanda’s ultrascreen, which combines a high-resolution ultrasound with several blood tests to forecast odds of various genetic disorders. Our odds for those, fortunately, are very low. And, it looks like we’re having a boy! Here is a slideshow of our ultrasounds so far:

As if preparing for a baby isn’t enough, we also closed on a new house last week. We’ve been looking, of course, for several months, and closing was the culmination of that search. Everything went smoothly, and now we just need to worry about actually moving and, eventually, furnishing the house. We’ll spend our first nights in the house this weekend, although we won’t have any furniture. Appliances and window blinds are being installed on Friday, so it should start to feel like a real house. After having lived in apartments for the last ten years or so, moving into a house of our own—especially such a big house—is almost as big a shock as finding out that we’ll be having a baby. The house is brand new, so it’s really a blank slate on which we can work. Although we put a contract on the house only a few weeks before it was completed, the builder took pictures throughout construction. Here is a slideshow of those pictures, from framing to closing: