DECISION MADE...

Hey everyone!! Hope all is well. Well, we have finally made a decision on our baby girl's name.

We decided to go with MADILYN :) We will call her "Madi" :) I'm excited to have a name figured out so we can starting calling her by name when we talk to her :) Scott actually made the final decision. I couldn't decide between the two, so I let him pick which one he liked the best.

Also, I think I felt Madi move for the first time the other night! I'm not sure, but it felt like a little bubble in my tummy, which is what a bunch of people said it would feel like. I was all excited!! :0) hee hee. My last doctor's appt, I was told that I have an anterior placenta, which means that it will take me longer than usual to start feeling her move because she has more "layers" to kick and move through. I am 22 weeks now, so maybe I'll start feeling her move more now :) My doc told me it would be closer to 6 months before I felt movement probably. It was way cool to feel it. I felt the same thing again last night, so I woke Scott up and he felt it too :) You have to wait a while between movements when it happens, but Madi did move for him :)

Lastly, inquiring minds want to know if the neon green car outside our house in the pictures posted, comes with the house.........YES!!! That will be our new car when we get to Charleston! hee hee. We just love the neon green car and couldn't resist the offer to keep it! We will take you all for a ride in it when you come visit us! :)

Ok, I hope everyone has a good week. I will update again soon. I have a doctor's appt Thursday, so I will let ya'll know how that goes.

Take care.

LOTS OF NEWS TO TELL!!!

Hey there everyone!! So, I haven't done so well with updating often, but I will try and do better :) There is a lot to tell now. Scott and I have been VERY, VERY busy this past week and a half, two weeks! There have been lots of things going on, crazy emotions, and lots of traveling :) Lets just start from the beginning :)...

First we went to Fairhope. That was 2 weekends ago. They have a big Arts and Crafts Festival there every year that Scott's family really enjoys, so we finally got to check it out! It was AWESOME!! If any of you like arts and crafts, this is the place to check out!! They have a ton of people there and great stuff! We also got to spend time with Scott's family that lives down there and just relax! It was a beautiful weekend. We are wanting to be back for it next year already :)

OH, I forgot to mention that before we left for Fairhope, we got our house on the market!!! Jamie, our realtor, came and took pics before we went out-of-town, and it was put up on the listings to start showing while we were gone. We are excited about it. It was a lot of hard work, but we finally got done what we neede to, and we think the house looks great! Scott did extra hard work! I'm so proud of all he did. I've probably said this before, but you truly never realize how much stuff you have to pack until it's time to move!!! We found so much stuff!! :) Some things we are giving to charity cuz we really don't need them and it's time to let go of some stuff! :)

So, after Fairhope, we picked up our dogs from my parents house on the way back home. We spent the night in B'ham and then the next day headed to Atlanta cuz we were flying out Tuesday to go to Charleston....no, there was not much down time!! :) This trip, the dogs were unable to stay with my parents, so we had to board them for the FIRST time!! It was sooooo very sad for Scott and me!! :) They didn't seem to mind too much until we went back and took a lil' tour of the place and saw them where they were staying....they were not happy! They looked sooo sad!! They did get to stay together, so that was good. We also got to take some of there toys with them. They stayed at The Pampered Pet Resort. It seems like a really nice place. They got to go out and play with other dogs during the day and then we got someone to spend "alone" time with them one day so they felt special :) We were definitely parents leaving our kids for the first time!! hee hee. Now we get to do this all over again at some point with Baby Girl Russell!! Oh geez!! :)

Next, we were off to Charleston for a few days. We were there last Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. We flew in Tuesday late morning and the fun began that afternoon! :) We met up with our realtor there, Mark, and began the search for houses! How overwhelming that is!! Mark was great. We enjoyed meeting him. We definitely think he's a better fit for us than the other person we had talked with a one point before. Since Scott has gotten in touch with him, he's been very in-tune with looking for what we want, and keeping us updated on what's out there. We knew which neighborhood we wanted to live in from looking the couple of times we were in Charleston for Scott's interviews, so we stuck with that neighborhood.

All afternoon Tuesday we looked at previously owned houses in Hamlin Plantation (that's the name of the community/neighborhood we like). That night we were a little bummed cuz we didn't really see anything that jumped out at us. We saw some things we could "make work", but we didn't want to have to settle for something. I prayed that night after we got back to the hotel, that a direction would be shown to us as far as where we were to go from here. Were we to stick to pre-owned hoses, or could there be something for us in new construciton? So, Wednesday was a new day with new things to check out. The neighborhood we like is also building and doing new construction right now, so Mark took us back to Hamlin, but this time we went and talked with the builders to see what might be available for us. They showed us their site map and what was being built where at this time. Just being there in the sales office place had a whole new vibe for me than the day before! We had been looking on the computer at the floor plans that were available where they were building and had fallen in love with one particular....The Granger. So, of course we asked about it. There was ONE that was currently under construction and available when we were there. We got to check out the model home that was a Granger and then went out to the house under constrution. Just seeing the model home was enough to make us fall even more in love with that floor plan! All they have on the website is a layout of the floorplan which we really liked, then to see it in the house was even better!!

When we went out to the house under construction, and saw the plot it was on, we knew it was PERFECT for us. It backs up to woods and no other construction will be done behind it, and out front they are putting up a minature park literally across the street from the house. That was really appealing! We even got to go through the house under construction. I really felt like this place was suppose to be ours, but was trying not to get too excited about it, cuz it was DEFINITELY NOT ours!! :) So, needless to say, we left Wednesday with a totally different feeling and were really excited.

Thursday, we met up with Mark again just to wrap things up before we left. While we were with him, he mentioned that the builder guy that we had met with on Wednesday had called and left him a message saying that there was "news" on the house we looked at yesterday. That was a little scary! Was it good or bad? Well, he didn't call us back until we were on the way to the airport....and the news was BAD! Someone else was interested and gonna put on offer in on the house. We were both really bummed! Scott was sooooo sad that he didn't even really talk much the rest of the day...not on the way to the airport, on the plane, or back in Atlanta. So, I did the only thing I could do....started praying and asking for direction again. If this was not meant to be for us, then something else was out there. That gave me a peace. If we could still have a shot, I prayed things fell into place for us to let it happen. We had nothing in place to even consider having it be ours....no pre-approval, no money to put down with a contract and our house hadn't sold yet either! (but we did finally close on the townhouse...so there was some hope...)

Anyway, we got home and talked to our agent in B'ham, Jamie, and she looked at all the info and told us that if we really liked the floorplan and liked the lot that we should go for it...so we worked really hard on the offer and prayed really loud and long and.....WE GOT IT!!!! Our offer was just higher enough (and Scott says we are just cooler enough...) that they gave it to us!!!! We are soooo happy! We put up some pictures for you all to see, but it is still early. We will try to update the pictures as we go. Now all we got to do is sell our house, so if anyone reading this wants to move, just drop us a line!!!! Ha, ha...

I guess the lesson we take from this is just to continue to TRUST GOD and have patience!! I saw with patience and time we see that God always knows what is BEST for us!!!!!!!!!!!!! How awesome!

Now we are looking forward to having you all visit OUR new home in Charleston!!!!!!

Here is OUR house being built (that's so cool to say!!!):

Look....I even look pregnant now! hee hee (21 weeks in Downtown Charleston)

BOY OR GIRL??!!??!!

Hello everyone!! Well, today was an exciting day for Scott and me. We went to the doctor's office today and got to see Baby Russell moving all around and being active. The ultrasound tech says that it looked like baby was just waking up cuz he/she would stretch its feet and rub its eyes and have a good ol' time inside mommy :) Everything looks as if it's developing normally and coming along just fine according to the tech and Dr. Alten. I'm right on schedule for my due date! That's pretty neat. So, the burning question that you all want answered....Is it a boy or a girl???? Here is your answer:

The color of the day is: PINK!!! Yes, we are having a baby girl and we couldn't be happier :) Scott is just as excited as I am about having a little girl :) We were so excited we went after my appointment and started registering for stuff :) hee hee. It was fun even though we really didn't know what we were doing or what to put on there :) I can't wait to start buying some little girl clothes! Our parents are just as excited as we are. It's funny how everything changes to one color almost when you find out what you are having :) I'm not a huge, huge pink fan, but after finding out we were having a girl, everything I found was pink!! :) We are thinking we like brown and pink for the baby's room. It's very modern and won't be overwhelmingly pink that way :) Now we just have to find the stuff to go in the room. It's decorating time now! I'm pumped.

Now, we have a job for all you out there!! :) We have two names that we are thinking of. Yes, we have already picked out names :) We were ahead of the game on that part only :) We want to take a vote and see what name ya'll like best. We really like both, so who knows when the decision will be made, but we thought we'd put it out there to see what ya'll like too :) Here they are:

1. Bevin Ann Russell

2. Madilyn Ann Russell

Ok, that's all we have for now. We continue to thank God and be so blessed to have this wonderful miracle growing and developing as she should. Let us know what you think!! We love ya'll!!

Guess What???

GUESS WHAT?!?!?!!??......We DID NOT close on the townhouse yesterday!!! Surprised? Not me!! That's how it's been going with them. Our realtor called Monday afternoon and they are still working on getting the loan to go through. "Don't worry though" is what the loan company and other real estate agent keep telling us. YEAH RIGHT! This is getting totally crazy! Scott and I are very lucky to have an AWESOME agent though, that is going above and beyond her duties to look after us!!! She is on top of it and is making sure that are best interests are being looked after. Probably half the stuff she has done for us agents really don't have to do, but she is the BEST! Many, many thanks to Jamie and all the trouble she has been through to help us get this thing sold! So, we will see about closing sometime next week. I'm not getting my hopes up on anything!

As far as exciting news....We go tomorrow for my doctor's appointment and hopefully to find out what we are having!! :) We are way excited. Now we just have to hope baby cooperates so that we will be able to tell the sex. If we are lucky enough to find out, we are gonna go baby shopping afterwards :0) hee hee. I'm pumped about that too! :) Well, I'll let ya'll guess what you think I'm having until I get the next post up :) Until then...

Another Delay

Hello all! Well, as many of you might know, we were suppose to be closing on my townhouse yesterday (Friday). That didn't happen! We've had another set back. The realtor for the buyer called and said that the guy couldn't get off work to close, when he was the one that had set up this closing date at the beginning of February to begin with! So, we weren't sure whether to believe that excuse or not....which ended up not being the real reason for the delay! Come to find out, his loan that he is getting wasn't ready and could not be processed by that date, so we had to put it off! So, although not much of a delay, we will now be closing...hopefully!...on Tuesday, March 4th. The day and time are scheduled, so we hope no more set backs :) I will be so happy to have one mortgage off our hands!

Well, it has been a pretty good week for us. Nothing big going on. Sorry I haven't updated till now. We went out-of-town last weekend and then when we got back we had that big storm and didn't have power for like 2 days! That was crazy! :) We went to New Orleans for Scott's medical conference and had a good time. New Orleans is still pretty rough in some areas from the hurricane. It's amazing how long it can take to recover from devastation like that. The main attractions were up and going though....Bourbon St., French Quarter, Jackson Square. It's still crazy at night like it's known for! haha. It was nice for us to be able to interact and be social with Scott's collegues and co-workers outside from the hospital. It was also a nice little vacation for us. We enjoyed it, but both agree it's not somewhere where we might vacation on a regular basis.

Since we've been back, Scott and I have been working all week and getting ready to put our house on the market. Just when we get one sold, we start the whole process again! :) haha. We had our realtor come by and give us advice on things to touch up and get rid of to make it show the best it can. There is a lot more that goes into getting a house ready to sale than I ever thought! There are some touch up paint jobs that she suggested, so we are getting an estimate on that, and we have been packing up some things or making piles of stuff to pack or get rid of that she suggested should not be out for saleing purposes. I'm glad we have a storage unit to put some of this stuff in! You never realize how much you have until you get ready to move and nowhere to put it once it's all packed up!

Well, as for baby news, next week is the big week for us!! We are supposed to find out what we are having my next appointment which is Thursday. We are both excited. Now we just have to hope that baby cooperates so that we will be able to tell. I am doing fine and growing! I have a little belly, whether some people think I do or not! hee hee. I love it!

I hope everyone has a good week and I will be updating again soon. Take care!!