Organized Chaos

I feel like the title of this posting accurately sums up the life of Jim and I in the past few months. Given the title, it is only appropriate that I organize the summary of our chaotic life by numbers.

Let me bring you up to speed...

1. Our condo sells in March (yay!)

2. We move to an apartment in Wrigleyville (boo!) where I can look into the rodent-infested kitchen of the place I lived when I was 22 from my current back deck. By a cruel twist of fate my living situation has come to a full circle in 8 years (insert a picture of me kicking and screaming).

3. Days after signing our apartment lease, Jim and I find out that we are pregnant (yay!).

4. I realize that I now live in Wrigleyville pregnant (boo!) which I equate to being pregnant in a frat house. Panic sets in as I frantically explain to Jim that seeing our lease to the end is no longer an option...WE MUST BUY A HOUSE!

5. Our landlords are a very cool married couple and the wife (Marta) happens to be a real estate agent whose main territory is Lincoln Square. (yay!) We happen to want to move to this coveted neighborhood.

6. Marta helps us find our single family home in the city. (yay!)

7. The house needs some fixing up but is a foreclosed/bank owned property so it is still a great deal. (yay!)

8. The inspection takes place and the "fixing up" turns into needing a general contractor, architect. electrician, plumber and a few others I am forgetting. (boo!) We have to hire someone to rewire the entire house...that sounds involved and messy and oh yeah expensive.

9. Marta's husband (our other landlord Patrick) happens to be a general contractor and connects us to all the people we need to get this project started (yay!). It turns out that living in this Wrigleyville apartment is a blessing that is leading us to our first house.

The project is supposed to take 90-120 days and I am currently 26 weeks pregnant. The odds of finishing this house before the baby comes are slim. Instead of decorating the nursery, Jim and I are looking at appliances,sinks, faucets, light fixtures, back splashes, granite and cabinets every spare moment we have. I have learned so much about the random details of what goes into remodeling that I am afraid that I will never look at a house the same way. Forget about furnishing and decorating this house (the actual fun part)...we have bigger fish to fry! To make this all real, the baby began kicking a few weeks ago as if to say "ready or not...here I come!".

Although our situation is not ideal, we feel incredibly blessed to be creating a family and our first home. We can't wait to get started this week!