Like a weed...

Well she may have gotten off to a slow start, but little miss Finley is certainly growing now. I took her in for a weight check at three weeks to make sure she had regained her birthweight and she was at 7 pounds 4 oz... woo hoo!

At one month she was 20.5" and 7 pounds 15.5 oz - so I think she's continuing in the right direction. She has her next doctor's appointment at two months so we'll get more official weights at that time.
Finley has brought many new visitors to the hood. Aside from the numerous visits from the grandparents and local relatives, Julie, my BFF from high school, came to visit for a week and brought along her 1 year old daughter Lily. Although Finley wasn't much of a playmate for Lily, Moses certainly loved the attention. Finley had her first exposure to daily shopping and was a trooper... most of the time.

Uncle David and Aunt Caroline (along with canine cousin Scooter) came up for Aunt Molly's wedding. We tried to go apple picking but it was too windy, so she just got a tour of the orchard's barn. But we did get a bushel of apples for applesauce and apple butter.

All dolled up for Molly and Nick's wedding

In two weeks, Finley is excited to meet the last of her aunts and uncles when Uncle Brad, Aunt Andrea and cousins Bridget and Spencer come out for the weekend. Hopefully the weather cooperates a little better so we can show them a true Michigan fall orchard experience.

New Kid on the Block

Just two short days after my last post, where I hoped for our baby to wait until her due date, we welcomed our daughter into the world.

Finley Joy was born two and a half weeks early on August 19th, 2010. She was 7 pounds and 19.5 inches long.

We've quickly acclimated Finley to the 'hood. I try to take her for a daily walk up and down the cul-de-sac and usually she gets to see a few neighbors each time. Moses is getting used to the idea that there is a new girl on his turf. He doesn't really bother her much, but doesn't love her being here either.

Finley had her 2 week check up today. No shots - thank goodness but she still is quite the peanut. She hasn't quite regained her birthweight yet and was only 6 pounds 13 ounces. I'm not quite sure how this is possible considering I feel she feeds ALL THE TIME! But we're just going to keep working on it and take her in for a weight check next week.Needless to say, some of our house projects have gone by the way side. We still have a few last minute decorating things in the nursery, Paul's man cave is coming along nicely and the craft room is a disaster area. Oh well... I've got maternity leave to figure it all out and get all the details in order :)

Patience is a virtue

For all you loyal readers out there (or maybe this is just for Ron....) I promise I haven't forgotten about the blog. It's just amazing how busy life can get when you're trying to make new construction home-y and preparing for your first child!

We've decorated all the rooms we're going to decorate and have just a few finishing touches on the nursery. I've decided I want to rearrange the furniture in the nursery, so its a good thing I didn't hang anything on the walls yet. Once we do this, I'll take some pictures and post them on here.

Paul has been working diligently on his "man cave" and it is turning out AWESOME. I am so impressed with the skill and craftsmanship he is putting toward this project. I hope to be able to include pictures of this area as well.

As a family, we are anxiously anticipating the arrival of our little one who is due in just three short weeks. Unlike many pregnant women, I'm not at the point where I am just done being pregnant. In fact, we want her to stay baking until AT LEAST her due date so we can mentally prepare for our parental duties. We'll see if she complies.... We have had FOUR showers for this little girl and she was definitely showered with gifts. There is very little that we still need, and even those are really NEEDS just more desires. I plan to get those taken care of this week.

Here's to hoping I'll update sooner than almost 2 months apart!!!

What we've been working on...

We've had lots of projects completed in the last two months and many projects still in the works.

So far we've painted the family room, kitchen, foyer, powder room, master bedroom and nursery. We've partially built a deck (it still needs railings) and worked diligently on our yard (including getting a sprinkler system, patching up bare spots and deciding where to put the flower beds).

Here are a few pictures of our works in progress... I'll update again when I have some pictures of them more fully decorated.

Powder room - put up beadboard and painted

Nursery - paint and bedding

Hauling topsoil and mulch (yes its good to do this when you're 7 months pregnant)


Working on the deck

Not abandoned

So after giving it a little thought, I've decided not to abandon our blog after moving to the hood. There are a lot of exciting things going on with the Koutz house and its worth documenting! So I've decided that over the next several weeks and months this blog will highlight projects that we've completed in the house and our growing family.

As I'm assuming most readers know, I am expecting a baby girl on Labor Day - September 6th... which makes me 26 weeks along. I'm sure we'll have lots of updates on that.

In the house, we've done a lot of projects so far, but none that are really picture worthy. (Unless you want a picture of our garage door opener, installation of a microwave, or our torn up yard). BUT in the future, I hope to have news of our finished deck, lawn, painting/decorating a few rooms and even a completed nursery. So until then, hang tight... more updates to come!

It's ours!

Well we officially closed on April 14. We are no longer debt free with nothing to show for it. Instead we are back in debt with a new home - wooo hoo! The closing went smoothly with no big surprises. We quickly went in the next day and taped and edged the kitchen. I went back in on Friday to paint the kitchen and give it another coat on Sunday. This week Paul's dad has so generously volunteered to help paint the family room and stairway. It will be so nice to have some of the big rooms painted before we move furniture in.

The upcoming days are going to be jam packed with new house activities. Friday will be busy with all of the appliances being delivered and our cable/internet being installed (NECESSITY). Saturday will involve more painting. Sunday is the big move day. Paul and a bunch of our friends have graciously volunteered to pack up the apartment, load it into a U-Haul and unload it at our new home. 5 days from now we will officially be spending the night in the new Hood!

Down to the Nitty Gritty

Well no new pics for this week. Everything is pretty much the same as last week - just cleaner! We're going through all the motions of getting ready to own the place!

The house was appraised early this week and came in at a good number - high enough that the mortgage will all be covered, but not too high that we have to pay extra taxes. We plan to have a professional inspector (...ahem...Paul's Dad...ahem) go through and inspect the house for structural/electrical/plumbing, etc type issues tomorrow night. We hope to close in the next week or two (do I sound like a broken record saying that?).

Hopefully we'll be able to take possession soon so that I can paint a few rooms before our move in date. We've been brainstorming of what colors we'd like for the kitchen/dining area/family room/foyer. We're currently considering a light smoky gray for the kitchen (I know ... that is the same as the old house!) and possible a light celery green elsewhere in the downstairs, I'm not quite sure they'll coordinate, but we'll see.

We also plan on painting the master bedroom before we move in which will be the same as the old house - tan / chocolate brown - to go with our bedding and gigantic furniture. I plan to start using this blog as a decorating update instead of a construction update, since that phase is now complete.

The sun is shining, the daffodil's are coming up - Spring is in the air! Great time for a new home. Happy Easter :)