Weekly Randoms 5/8

TallMomma29 · May 2017

I just started tearing up because a coworker sent an announcement that his baby was born this morning. We're not even particularly close but I couldn't hold back the waterworks. Ahh, pregnancy hormones.

VLillyV · May 2017

@TallMomma29 Awww, don't worry. I am all emotional too. Any little thing unforeseen will trigger the tears.

ariz17 · May 2017

@TallMomma29 & @VLillyV I've been so emotional about the strangest stuff. I cried at a TV show the other day and I typically am not like that. Gotta love the hormones.

mrs_fogue · May 2017

@TallMomma29 all the sappy "I'm so ready for that little squish to hold and smell" feelings have hit. Last time I didn't get them until the month before and I was seriously doubting if I would even love the baby.

mrs_fogue · May 2017

O17ers better step up their game! Not a single one of you are on the leader board!

sdarling2010 · May 2017

I have to say, I was surprised at the lack of posts on this thread and it's past noon on the east coast! Where is everyone?? (Although it was nice not to have 40-60 posts to catch up on right away

)

canonmom413 · May 2017

I had a really long and tough weekend. My kids skipped school Friday because DD1 competed Friday night. Awards weren't over until 11:40 pm. We had to be up early Saturday and dressed and ready at venue by 12 noon. Then the last awards we were in Saturday weren't over until 10:30 pm. We had to be up at 5:30 am Sunday and at venue by 7. DD2 competed her solo at 8:01am then of course groups throughout the day for both. The last awards yesterday for us were over at 6pm. We didn't get home Until almost 8pm. I'm toast!!! I let my kids sleep in slightly this am and drove them to school a little late. I need to have a full day of rest. I feel hungover, that's how exhausted I am. Headache, nausea, the works. Upping my water intake and just taking it easy today.

ariz17 · May 2017

I don't know if its a combination of my pregnancy brain and extra long nails, but every text i send, especially to DH, ends up not making any sense! Mostly I end up with the wrong words or bad misspellings. Today i meant to say, "I'm going to this lunch and learn thing" but instead I said, "I'm going to this lunch and learn thug." Lol.

I guess I need to proofread!

FYI I had to edit "proof read" to proofread. Yikes. I am not doing well today!

carries2018 · May 2017

i am lurking in the shadows.

DD2's party went well. last people didnt leave until 10pm last night so i am pooped and my feet hurt. the petting zoo was fun but the kids got sick of it after 30minutes. damnit children i have paid for another 30 min. you will pet these animals and like it! also i have 3 full pizzas left. i dont hate it.

sdarling2010 · May 2017

@canonmom413 you deserve all the rest and relaxation today. That is a rough weekend!

@carries2018 you creepy lurker, I knew you had to be around somewhere! Glad the party went well!!

Our party on Saturday went great! And the sun was shining the whole time so people were outside on the deck! We had family and friends come midday and left by 5:30. Then our "inappropriate" friends we don't have to filter ourselves around came at 6:00 and we played games and "partied" til midnight. Yesterday was a chill and recover day - I was super sore and worn out from the party's, plus tired. We have so much food leftover we will be eating Mexican all week! Which may not be the best thing ... I had heartburn so bad last night I threw up. It was horribly disgusting. And now my throat is killing me. I hope this isn't a permanent symptom now, like it was with DD ...

bluejeanbabi05 · May 2017

I woke up today super stressed about work. School is over until the fall and my internship is over too, and I've really prioritized both of those over my job this past semester, so I'm feeling the fire under my ass to get work back into high gear.

To that purpose, I have to drive two hours tonight to Fort Myers to work there the next day or two, haven't decided yet how many nights. Blah. Hotel rooms alone suck even more when you can't drink, lol.

VLillyV · May 2017

Let's see.. well. I have started more seriously house shopping. Looks like our rent will be going up in various amounts depending when we renew our contract. At this point, we feel it's a better time to get a home since the mortgage will be about the same. Plus, with LO on the way, it would be nice to have our own digs.

Being a first time buyer has been a bit confusing though. Does anyone here know what steps you should take? I've read that you should get pre-approved and then find a realtor... but I've also read the same vice versa, realtor first then mortgage approval. Our lease is up in less then 3 months so we've got to move! Any advice would be helpful!

@bluejeanbabi05 sorry about the stress, I had that going on last night too. It's awful.. Good luck at the hotel!
@sdarling2010 really hope that your heartburn goes away. I had it last night too but not as bad as having to puke.
@carries2018 I'd say your abundance of pizza is a big win.
@ariz17 You should still learn thug. It could come in handy! JK
@canonmom413 feel better momma. Some R&R is in order today!

ForwardnBackward · May 2017

I'm single-momming this week. Hopefully I stay afloat since DS is crushing on DH bad lately. Sometimes it makes me feel like shit but then i get over it. DH is just better at playing than I am.

bluejeanbabi05 · May 2017

@vlillyv house hunting is fun! For a few minutes. Putting in offers is not fun. The buying process is not fun. But once you're in, it's worth it!

A few tips from me, not that I'm a realtor or an expert by any means:

-Def get prequalified before you start looking. For sure.
-Try to use a realtor you either know or one who has been personally recommended, if possible.
-Along w the realtor looking, download a few apps and look on your own as well. I actually am the one who found our current house, not our realtor.
-Go to lots of open houses. They have cookies.
-Expect the process to suck, and try not to get too attached to houses until your offer is accepted.

Good luck! It's definitely nice to have some of the money you pay every month going back in your pocket, vs throwing it away on rent.

Eta to the "expect the process to suck" part- I don't mean to sound negative haha. When we were looking, I had all these romantic notions of what the process was going to be like and when things didn't work out it really stressed me out and upset me. I wish I had had more realistic expectations up front!

natleilynn · May 2017

@VLillyV I just bought my 3rd (1st was by myself, 2nd and 3rd were with DH).

I would honestly find a realtor who could help you through everything. They are supposed to be the experts, so lean on them with everything (reason 320349283740 why you find one that you are comfortable with and trust - preferably find one based on a personal recommendation of someone you know/trust). Most realtors have lenders that they are comfortable with anyway so they can get you set up with the pre-approval process. If you have to move in 3 months, I'd definitely move fast! Sometimes the buying/selling process can take awhile, especially if you aren't finding the perfect fit.

With this last (and FINAL) house, we had an idea of what we wanted to spend, which was less than we were pre-approved for. So make sure that you talk to the lender about how much you are willing to spend each month on mortgage (it's more than just the estimaters online will show you - you've got to include escrow for things like insurance, taxes, etc). Just because a lender tells you that you can borrow up to $300,000, you may not want to be on the hook for the monthly payments that come along with a $300k+ house. Also remember that if a lender says they will lend you $300k, you still may need 20% down payment for a home, so take that into consideration, too.

Whew. I'm not an expert, a lot of it I'm still fuzzy on. But I bought a townhouse on foreclosure right out of college and have been in the real estate game basically since then every few years so I've have some experience with it. Plus I had a super awesome realtor who helped me buy/sell my townhouse and then helped us buy/sell our current house, which I am living in until DD and LO have to pry me out of when I'm dead and gone. Seriously not moving ever, ever again.

natleilynn · May 2017

mrs_fogue said:

O17ers better step up their game! Not a single one of you are on the leader board!

And @bluejeanbabi05 is on the board!

VLillyV · May 2017

@bluejeanbabi05 this is immensely helpful already, thank you! I at least need some pointers, because no one around me has bought a home. They all just rent or bought a home decades ago. The open house cookie factor sounds like a big plus.

bluejeanbabi05 · May 2017

Oh also look into the FHA program (3.5% down payment) if you're low on funds for a down payment- we used that for our first home and it really worked out. We had to pay around $200 a month in mortgage insurance, that's the thing to keep in mind.

bluejeanbabi05 · May 2017

natleilynn said:

mrs_fogue said:

O17ers better step up their game! Not a single one of you are on the leader board!

And @bluejeanbabi05 is on the board!

This makes me scratch my head. I've commented like twice today.

mrs_fogue · May 2017

@VLillyV I would talk to the bank first but download a few apps and start looking for houses you want to look at. There isn't a ton of options in our area so I already knew which house I wanted from the get go. We used the sellers realtor who was a good friend of my cousin/new next door neighbor. The part that sucks is making an offer and negotiating. It was so stressful and left us both deflated. Also talk to your realtor and lender about all the fees. Not only are you responsible for your down payment, but closing costs as well. We weren't 100% aware of what all that would entail and coming up with that little bit of extra at the end was tough.

Oh and don't be afraid to ask for things in your offer. We got the seller to pay 50% of our closing costs as well as keeping the fridge.

Edit because spelling has been hard lately, blame it on the preggo brain

VLillyV · May 2017

@natleilynn ahh thank you for this also! See now this is also helpful - @bluejeanbabi05 we were def. looking for down payment assistance (this is a pretty sudden jump) and didn't know quite where to look. I am looking through my contacts to see who may know a few realtors personally as well. Technically we can stay after our lease is up but it will cost us a lot more then we are comfortable paying on a month to month basis.

VLillyV · May 2017

@mrs_fogue score on the fridge! That's pretty awesome!

ChocolateIsLife · May 2017

@vlillyv yay on preparing to buy first home! We were pre approved before we reached out to a realtor/broker. We wanted to make sure it was something we could actually do before diving in to the process and getting excited. Since it was our first home, we chose an FHA mortgage loan, which allows for 3.5 down payment instead of 20%. The downside to this is that we have to pay private mortgage insurance which is about $200/month. As far as getting a realtor/broker from a friend referral, make sure they are legit. Next time we purchase a home I would personally only use a referral from a friend/family if they have used them. Also I would check reviews for them as well. The only reason I say this is because we initially went with a broker/realtor duo that a family member referred and recommended us to. It turned out that this broker was just a casual bar buddy, and was just starting out. She kept losing our paperwork that we would send her, even though the document was in the email, so we just ended up forwarding the same email that had her initial response in it. This happened a handful of times, and consequently lost a holding on our interest rate because she forgot to lock it down, so it is nearly 1.5 points higher than it would have been. I know that most cases aren't this way, just make sure you don't blindly trust a referral like me and DH did. It will save you the stress in the long run!

beezeee · May 2017

I'm working at home today due to a migraine. Although the migraine sucks, it's nice to be at home! We were out of town this weekend, so I'm also trying to get a few things done around the house.

melarowan · May 2017

I had a tupperware party at my house on Sunday and am ridiculously happy that most people didn't come or shopped online. I had no energy to clean my house, so I did the bare minimum and was still feeling bad about how shabby I felt my house was.

VLillyV · May 2017

@ChocolateIsLife thanks for the tip. I want to be very careful with who we go with. I have seen that happen to a couple of coworkers with different business ventures. It's not fun at all

purplestarz · May 2017

@villyv congrats on house hunting! It's so exciting (and also stressful, but mostly exciting). For us we Had better luck when we found the realtor first, who then introduced us to their preferred lender. The first time we tried to get approved first but we're having issues because DH hadn't been in his current career for X amount of years (5?) so lenders didn't want to use his income even though it was twice mine. But once we got hooked up with the realtors lender it was fine (this was also 2009 when I think lenders were started to get more strict after the housing market crashed). I also second using apps (I liked Redfin) to find houses that you want to look at. I also found the house we live in now, not our realtor. Mortgage insurance does suck initially if you can't put down 20%, but you can always think about refinancing later.

bluejeanbabi05 · May 2017

ChocolateIsLife said:

@vlillyv yay on preparing to buy first home! We were pre approved before we reached out to a realtor/broker. We wanted to make sure it was something we could actually do before diving in to the process and getting excited. Since it was our first home, we chose an FHA mortgage loan, which allows for 3.5 down payment instead of 20%. The downside to this is that we have to pay private mortgage insurance which is about $200/month. As far as getting a realtor/broker from a friend referral, make sure they are legit. Next time we purchase a home I would personally only use a referral from a friend/family if they have used them. Also I would check reviews for them as well. The only reason I say this is because we initially went with a broker/realtor duo that a family member referred and recommended us to. It turned out that this broker was just a casual bar buddy, and was just starting out. She kept losing our paperwork that we would send her, even though the document was in the email, so we just ended up forwarding the same email that had her initial response in it. This happened a handful of times, and consequently lost a holding on our interest rate because she forgot to lock it down, so it is nearly 1.5 points higher than it would have been. I know that most cases aren't this way, just make sure you don't blindly trust a referral like me and DH did. It will save you the stress in the long run!

+100000000 to this. Our first broker screwed up as well, so badly we almost lost the house until the new broker we had found saved the day. She was amazing.

carries2018 · May 2017

lololzzz my sister just sent me this pic, DD2 last night after her party. i felt the same.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5020794/uploads/editor/p7/u4amok8a5koo.jpg

VLillyV · May 2017

@purplestarz Thank you! I may have this problem... DH has only had his job for about 2 years now although I have had mine more and make slightly more. Hopefully it is a non-issue. I will be on the look out for the right team though! Thank you

You ladies are so immensely helpful!

mrs_fogue · May 2017

@carries2018 random, how do you like that bookshelf/toy box? I've looked at getting that several times for dd's room. We are fixing to move the dresser into the new nursery so I need to make my mind up about what we want.

natleilynn · May 2017

purplestarz said:

@villyv congrats on house hunting! It's so exciting (and also stressful, but mostly exciting). For us we Had better luck when we found the realtor first, who then introduced us to their preferred lender. The first time we tried to get approved first but we're having issues because DH hadn't been in his current career for X amount of years (5?) so lenders didn't want to use his income even though it was twice mine. But once we got hooked up with the realtors lender it was fine (this was also 2009 when I think lenders were started to get more strict after the housing market crashed). I also second using apps (I liked Redfin) to find houses that you want to look at. I also found the house we live in now, not our realtor. Mortgage insurance does suck initially if you can't put down 20%, but you can always think about refinancing later.

My favorite part of Redfin was the app - so when we were out driving around I could follow along on their map and see how much houses were on the market for quickly without having to look up individual addresses. It made for some awesome Sunday afternoon drives

carries2018 · May 2017

@mrs_fogue i LOVE it! great storage and not sore on the eyes. we are tight on space so the play room is in our living room so i can easily throw things in there. and it looks clean/organized when guests come. i can stuff like 15+ stuffed animals (for the love no one ever gift a child stuffed animals...or blankets for that matter) plus all their games and shiz.

for inquiring minds.
https://www.amazon.com/Sauder-Bookcase-Footboard-White-Finish/dp/B00B2QU5YW/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1494266818&sr=8-11&keywords=toy+storage

natleilynn · May 2017

@mrs_fogue we got DD this for Christmas and she/we love it. She has a ton of books so the shelves are all for books, but we have her stuffed animals lined up along the top two. It's in a little dormer in her room, which fits perfectly. She's 3 and it's small enough for her, but big enough to grow into a little. She's tall but tiny for her age so I'm thinking we might have to upgrade at age 6 or 7.

https://www.amazon.com/KidKraft-Bookcase-Reading-Nook-Furniture/dp/B01LIRL4C6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494266812&sr=8-1&keywords=book+nook

ChocolateIsLife · May 2017

@bluejeanbabi05 i'm glad you ended up with a good broker to save the day!

I've been researching different bassinets/co-sleepers and it is overwhelming. I really like the Halo swivel sleeper as its one of the safest by SIDS standards, but I don't like that I can't easily move it if I'm going to be in another room. Also, I hate that these are so expensive when we will only be able to use up to 5 months. I guess I just have to look at it as one less thing to purchase for the next baby we have. Neither me nor DH want to sleep with baby on the bed, so we are narrowed down a bit. I would just put the crib in the room, but we are looking for something where she can be closer and easily accessible from the bed after c-section. Too much stuff to think about.

jessafishy · May 2017

carries2018 said:

@mrs_fogue i LOVE it! great storage and not sore on the eyes. we are tight on space so the play room is in our living room so i can easily throw things in there. and it looks clean/organized when guests come. i can stuff like 15+ stuffed animals (for the love no one ever gift a child stuffed animals...or blankets for that matter) plus all their games and shiz.

for inquiring minds.
https://www.amazon.com/Sauder-Bookcase-Footboard-White-Finish/dp/B00B2QU5YW/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1494266818&sr=8-11&keywords=toy+storage

We have this same toy chest and I love it. It's surprisingly heavy and sturdy for the price. I would definitely buy it again.

carries2018 · May 2017

@ChocolateIsLife you are having a shower right? i would just register for it, and then make your decision if no one bought it/you see your gift card situation. for us it didnt make sense bc we were looking at 6 total months for all the kids. but you are looking up to a year-ish figuring 2 kids. so the cost makes more sense for you.

keiraanne · May 2017

I'm like carries2018: lurking and reading but feel like I haven't got anything huge to contribute at the moment!

Congrats on the house hunt though, VLillyV! It can be a lot of fun and stress at the same time. We just went through it last year and, while I don't have anything to add that hasn't been said before, try to enjoy it and make sure all your ducks are in a row first (financing, etc.). It'll make the process a lot easier. And also be willing and able to walk away from something that doesn't feel right. We had to do that twice in the hunt. Good luck!

purplestarz · May 2017

VLillyV said:

@purplestarz Thank you! I may have this problem... DH has only had his job for about 2 years now although I have had mine more and make slightly more. Hopefully it is a non-issue. I will be on the look out for the right team though! Thank you

You ladies are so immensely helpful!

Depending on how closely related his last jobs were it might be ok (for example all of my past "office jobs" could be counted even though they were all pretty different). His jobs were night and day with zero relatable factors so he was considered high risk I guess.

bluejeanbabi05 · May 2017

@chocolateislife I did what @carries2018 suggested and threw it on my registry. We will re-evaluate after the shower.

ariz17 · May 2017

@ChocolateIsLife We finally went to Babies R Us to start registering this weekend and I was so confused about the bassinet situation. More or less I was confused because there were like only 2 options in the store. I was planning on doing some research too and maybe register for one at another place?

Let me know if you find a good one or come to a good conclusion.

Also, your Bump name just made me crave chocolate

Luckily I have some in my "snack" drawer at work!

Want a personalized experience?

Weekly Randoms 5/8

Re: Weekly Randoms 5/8

Choose Another Board

Search Boards