3's Company

3's company and 4 is a crowd? Is that the saying?

I had hoped to post ultrasound pictures along with this, but we still have no scanner or printers here at the temporary Grieshop homestead...words will have to do.

We'll be welcoming another Grieshop BOY into our family in mid-March!

We weren't going to find out, then I decided as we walked into the ultrasound room that I needed to know and I feel much more relaxed knowing the sex. We're excited...and a little scared!

Out of Touch

We moved into the new place and while having a nice living space has helped all of our stress levels decrease....I have been way out of touch without internet!

Pat and Jim are here visiting and helping a lot, as usual and are watching the boys while I am at a local coffee shop taking advantage of free wi-fi!

This will be short, but we should have our own wi-fi on Friday and I can update more regularly...including pictures of the progress on the house!

If you need our new, temporary mailing address, please send me an email and I'll give it to you!

More later...

We have a home!!

Today we found a house to rent for the next six months while our house is being repaired! 

This place is amazing!!

(click the link for detailed photos)

My good friend Jane went to see her chiropractor, mentioned our situation; he mentioned that he has a friend that leases homes for sale; she gave me the contact info; I gave it to our housing guy; he called the woman....and by 4:00 this afternoon we had a beautiful house to live in! We move in Friday.

The amount of stress that has been relived from my body is amazing. I feel younger, lighter and so much more at ease.

House Fire: Update

We met with our insurance adjuster and a fire restoration company on Monday and we learned a lot...some of it was good news and some of it was not so good news:

• At the earliest they see us back in the house by February 1st.
• The dollar amount of damage is LARGE! More than I had expected.
• We lost 95% of the things on the second story. Some of the stored items in one of the bedrooms will likely be able to be restored. We all lost all of our clothes and shoes. Winter items were in closets on the main level, so they are ok.
• There is extensive water damage on the main level, though the furniture should be able to be restored.
• When we begin reconstructing the house the city will force us to get everything to code which is part of the reason it will take so long. However, when it is all done it will be so nice to not have to worry about those things anymore.

This first image was taken on Friday night, before the fire and the second image is of the same spot in Sam's room. The following images are from around house. They are fairly disturbing, so be warned. I only post them as a sort of closure for me and because so many of you have asked.

Yarn...

I have so many wonderful knitting friends asking about yarn...the most common question I get is, "Did your yarn survive?"

I must really be known as a knitter now!

Survive is a tough word to define...physically it is there. Will I ever use it again, no.  

We were told today that we lost everything on the second floor of the house....that is all of our "things". Structurally there is a lot of damage, but a lot of the walls and floors can be refinished and what needs to be will be rebuilt.

I can claim the loss of yarn in our insurance claim and purchase it all over again....so there is some yarn shopping in my future.

Not sure about needles and things of that sort...I would imagine some of that can be cleaned.

More later...

House Fire

We had a house fire last night. It was very scary, but we are all fine. Even the cat and the dog are fine. 

The fire started in a light switch in Sam's room and it spread very fast. 

There was a lot of damage from fire, water, and smoke, but most of our valuables and furniture on the lower level are okay. 

We stayed with close friends last night and will be here tonight and then the insurance company is putting us up in a hotel for 11 days after which they will find a house for us. It will likely be 2-3 months before we can move back in to our house.

The boys are doing really well. They were very freaked out yesterday, but they are very comfortable with our friends and seem to be adjusting to the changes okay.

I'll post with more detail later. In the mean time, just know that we have been taken care of very well. The Red Cross gave us disaster funds for food and diapers, friends have brought clothes and shoes for all of us, and we are fairing with grace.

I do have photos and will post them later, but they are pretty disturbing. Please don't worry, call if you want and I'll talk if I can.

Additions

Just a few things that I have been meaning to write about, but have either not had the time to do it or felt that there were more important things to write about!

Pregnancy Update:

Last Tuesday I took the boys and met with Kip, one of the three midwives at the Greenhouse Birth Center. We finally decided that the home birth midwife we interviewed didn't feel right and our other option locally for a home birth is the birth center. They will do home births if requested as long as there are no other mothers in labor when you go into labor. Their policy is such that they have two midwives at every birth and they can do multiple births simultaneously at the birth center, but not at individual homes. An average birth month for them is about 8 births and due in March, including myself, there are 14 women!  There is a good chance I will be making the trek to the birth center; however, they have great birthing tubs and the prospect of a water birth excites me. The other bonus is that I have been so involved with the birth center in the last year I already know all the midwives quite well and I love them all. I feel very comfortable there. I  am a board member! Some home birthing women would never settle for this situation, but both Matt and I feel very certain that this is the right decision for us.

The meeting with Kip was wonderful! We went over the usual health/birth history info while the boys played in the toy room (and Arlo played everywhere). We had easy, comfortable conversation, except for when I had to stop Arlo from getting into something, writing on something or eating something he shouldn't! I heard the heart beat and it was in the 130's/140's, very normal, healthy and strong.

I'll go back in 2 weeks for my 16 week check up and this time I am not bringing the kids!

Knitting Update:

While I was in my 6 week stint of ick, I didn't do any knitting and it has taken me a couple weeks of feeling good and catching up with everything else to reach a point where I feel like I can sit down and knit. But I finally made it to that point and I have been knitting!

I finished this sweater for my friend Stacy and her new baby, Carter. It only took me 8 weeks! Now I just need to mail it and I hope that doesn't take me another 8 weeks...

I started my next project, Ginger's baby's sweater, last night. I am finally knitting with actual Debbie Bliss yarn; something I have wanted to do for years, but could never really afford. It is such a pretty color and so nice to knit with.

Chicken Update:

We finally have eggs! But our silly chickens laid the eggs in a mud puddle outside! I conferred with my friend Ann and she suggested putting a wooden egg in one of the nesting boxes to encourage them to lay in the appropriate place. We'll see...so far no more eggs, but the weather has been dark and gloomy and cold and wet.