tiny little fighter

My son is sick... Poor little guy. He has whooping cough and has been feeling rotten. Luckily the DR got him on antibiotics right off so we're hoping he kicks it very soon.
But I need to say something! As a mother I am making a request! If you are sick or have been around someone who is sick DO NOT VISIT A NEW BABY!!! And if it's impossible to avoid the visit WARN THE PARENTS SO THEY CAN MAKE SURE TO KEEP THAT CHILD AS FAR FROM THE SICK PERSON AS POSSIBLE. It's not fair to that child or the parents to expose that child to your cold/flu/ANYTHING possibly contagious.
Now with it being flu season, RSV season and whopping cough is running rampant wash your hands whenever possible... after going out of the house, getting the mail... ANYTIME you come into contact public high traffic areas or objects.! and if you are out and about with lots of people don't come to my house please. I won't have that around my child if I can prevent it. He hasn't been vaccinated yet because he's still not 2 months. So... lets make this real simple. We can skype but we won't have you in our home. Thanks.

back in the saddle

I'm back behind the camera! After taking a break to have my son and recover I'm up and running again! Check out my latest shoot!

FALL SPECIAL!!!

Family pictures (2-10 people) usually run for $150 and that includes a CD at full resolution is available from now till December 1st for only $75. Book your appt now!!!

Send me an email @ stewartlaurenf@gmail.com

BellaClassico.Blogspot.com

my little sweetie pie

Chase... my funny boy. His little personality is really coming out. He loves when he does something that makes us laugh. He will continue to do it over and over till he's tired of it. It's really one of my favorite things. Here are some new pictures of him, my little love.

TUMMY TIME! Chase doesn't love to spend time on his tummy when he's awake

BUT it's how he sleeps. The ONLY way he'll sleep.

Here are his little shoe/socks! Converse for my son.

Pictures don't even begin to show you how cute they are. Fresh out of the bath and smelling so clean!!!

He's warming up here and getting dry before he gets all lotioned up!

a little me time

While trying to get pregnant Sean and I tried a few different methods. The one that finally worked caused some unwanted weight-gain. Well.. I've always been really small so for me that was a really hard thing to accept. I've always been in really good shape and happy with my figure. That weight, plus what you gain from pregnancy, was of course all worth my beautiful son. But now? It's time for that to come off. My wonderful dad gave me P90X right at the end of my pregnancy so that I could do it once the baby was born (he knew I would have NO time to make it to the gym) So doing that 3-5 times a week has been great for me. I still have 20 pounds to go. BUT I'm finally feeling better and my clothes are looking more like they used to when I put them on.

I had gained 20 pounds doing our fertility treatment and then 25 during my pregnancy... So I'm down all my pregnancy weight and I've just got that fertility weight left to go. WISH ME LUCK!!!

Here I am the day we found out we were pregnant,

20lbs over my normal DR recommended weight.Here I am at 39 weeks, this is 2 days before I went into labor.

My belly really popped that last week. This is me at 25 more pounds from pregnancy.

Here I am 3 weeks ago, this was 4 weeks after giving birth.

Still a little more to go here

before pre-pregnancy weight.

I still have more to go but I'm getting there. With Chase finally starting to sleep better because his reflux and allergies are under control I have more time during the day and I'm loving it. I have one happy little baby and he's finally adjusting to life outside my belly and he's happy to see everyone. He smiles and he laughed for the first time for Sean the other day. I still have yet to hear it. He's my little angel! More pictures in the next post. ALL of my baby!!!!

FINALLY!

We haven't had internet in our home for 2 months! I've been using my phone as a wi-fi hot spot and our neighbors! AND WE're BACK UP AND RUNNING! I'm thrilled. Now I can update my blog and get all my pictures on here and show off my baby is true mommy fashion!!! LETS GET THIS GOING!

my beautiful son

Now that the medicine has kicked in and he's a little older Chase is doing much better. He has started smiling daily and crying less and less. The constant throwing up has almost stopped as well. That is... As long as he's not laid down after he eats. Also because of that diaper changes need to be fast and furious to get done before food comes back up. This happens no matter how long it's been since he ate. Dumb acid reflux. We will get rid of you someday!!! We've got medicine and lots of prayers backing me up on this. My little angel will kick you. Chase has been the light in my existance I have been waiting for. He has been the largest blessing in my life, second only to my wonderful husband who is the perfect father to my baby boy. I wake up every morning ready and happy to see that baby of mine. And since he's started sleeping in his own bed I really miss him when he wakes up, even at 2 or 4 or 5am. I am always happier than I was last time I got to see him. He is a special little boy. He brings such joy to our home and I can't imagine our life without him here. He lights up the lives of his parents in such a way neither Sean or I ever though possible. He is my gift straight from Heaven. I needed this little one in my life. I am so thankful he's finally here.

Now.. Time to show off my little guy!! Seriously. Get a load of these pictures. He's perfect!

baby Chase's birth

Tuesday, August 16, 2011. What a day this was. It started really early for me. 2am bright and early.. OK not bright at all. It was still dark and we'd only been in bed for a couple of hours. I woke up with some really severe cramps. O boy did these hurt. I stayed in bed for a little bit but finally it was too much for me. I started walking back and forth in our upstairs. This did not help the pain one bit. So finally I got out my phone and started timing them. Sean was sleeping so I called my mom and she talked to me for the next half hour or so till I decided Sean shouldn't be asleep. He needed to be awake if I had to be awake.
O dear... Those cramps just kept on coming. Finally after timing them and seeing that they were only 1 minute to 3 minutes apart we decided to head to the hospital. (We called the DR first to ask) This was about 3:30. So... in we go and it takes a bit to get registered and all signed in. So around 4:30 the nurse was able to check me. HOLY CRAP. This was the worst so far! Nothing hurt me this bad. Apparently my son had drooped so low, AND all my parts are in my back pretty far, they had to do some serious digging to see where we were at. Nothing. To make me feel better she told me I was at a 1. nice... All that and NOTHING. They had to send me home. Dang dang. The sweet lady that she was gave me a shot of morphine in my butt and sent us on our way. That was about 5:30.
We got home right around 6 and went to sleep. 7am rolls around and those contractions are coming right through that morphine. O dear... So up again and walking. FINALLY around 9am when I was talking to my mom she says "LAUREN! why are you not timing your contractions!??" UM HELLO!! they just SENT ME HOME! I HAD NOTHING! But I started timing them anyways.. They were about 48 seconds apart... O great. my goodness. OK.. That's very close. So I go downstairs to tell Sean we need to head to the hospital. His response? "Why?? Are you hurting again? or.. are they closer together?" I informed him he wasn't allowed to ask questions. And Sean's little sister who happened to be spending the night let him know all he was allowed to do was say "Yes dear, lets go to the hospital." So we left at about 10:30 am
Upon arriving to the hospital (I couldn't talk at this point.. and walking?? I think I crawled) In I go and GREAT NEWS!! I'm at a 4!!! Fantastic! So immediately I asked for my epidural. Yes yes they tell me! We just have to empty half a bag of liquid into you first. So in goes my IV and I had to wait a little longer. About 20 minutes longer. They moved me to my room where we were delivering and checked me again while waiting for my very favorite person alive, the anesthesiologist, and I was at a 6. O dear.. 4 to 6 in that short time.. and BOY did that not feel good. But Luckily I had just met my nurses and they were fantastic. We got two. Michelle and Becki. (SHOUT OUT TO MY LADIES! I TELL EVERYONE HOW GREAT YOU ARE!) We got two because Michelle was transitioning to Labor and Delivery from the ER. I'm so glad she was.
SO.. Epidural. FANTASTIC! Who is wonder woman and pushed out a baby!?? Me! O yeah.. Because I had an epidural. Yep. I'm certain I couldn't have done it without. In comes the man of the day and gets me all set up and pain free in no time. I was still waiting for my epidural when they said "ok you're ready. Go ahead and lay on down." um? HELLO! I still wanted my epidural. LUCKY ME HAD ALREADY GOTTEN IT! Great news!
So I went to a 10 in next hour and a half or two hours I think. Maybe longer I can't remember. But I was really enjoying my time with the girls. We were so blessed to have them. I was able to talk and share my feelings and excitement with them. And after hearing about our road to babyhood, they were excited with us our our day.
4pm, I started pushing. My DR has the baby slide down naturally for 2 hours before you start working on getting him out. I was only able to push for a few contractions. Baby Chase's heartbeat was dropping pretty steep. So we had to wait for the DR and when he came I no longer had the option of pushing. He immediately took the necessary actions and pulled Chase out. I saw my son! His head of course out first, he was beautiful! Even all covered in the birth goo. He had a little rough start, fliud in his lungs and really fast breathing. Also his heartrate was low for about the first 24 hours. But he was here!! O my goodness he was perfect. A little blonde hair and a mineature of my husband. I was the happiest girl in the world! I had my husband and my son! Everything I could have ever wanted. And the best birthing staff ever put together. My DR, his nurses and my nurses. Sean and I can't say enough about those wonderful ladies who took care of me and my son. They even made sure Sean was fed.
Even when we changed nurses the service level stayed the same. We were so blessed those two days in the hospital to have their care and compassion. Our dreams of parenthood had finally come true. Great great. I love my son.

pictures

learning at a young age, life's not always easy

My dear little Chase was born three weeks ago tomorrow. I haven't had time to update anything since then. His birth was up to this point the highlight of my life (aside from finding then marrying my best friend) Chase had a little rough entry, trouble breathing, low heart rate and eating... That was hard for him. The first few days with him after we came home were very surreal for us. We couldn't believe he was finally here. And we were enjoying every minute!
Soon after we came home he started having trouble. He was miserable. Throwing up every feeding BIG TIME and soon it became throwing up every 5 to 10 minutes 24 hours a day. My poor son has been to see his DR 4 times in the last week and we ended up in the ER once. He was projectile vomiting across our whole room. Like.. 10 feet EASY without losing height. And he was crying all day long. He chocked when he ate and couldn't get any air. My poor son was really struggling. We were told he was probably allergic to my milk right off. We changed him to formula, that seemed to work for about 15 hours. The throwing up then started again. Not near as bad as with my breast milk but really bad. You could tell he was in constant pain. He was only 2 weeks old at this point. So again, we headed into the DR and they changed his formula again. This formula seemed to calm his belly. So not only was he not throwing up he had nearly stopped crying. Till that next morning. He was again throwing up just this last Saturday so off to the after hours clinic we went. It seems he has very severe acid reflux on top of his extremely sensitive stomach. My poor son.
Interesting this about this is Sean and I both said this was the problem at the first DR's appt. So... Finally the DR we saw Saturday (he was not the regular one Chase sees) had us feed him then he held him to feel his back and belly while he was trying to swallow. Immediately he said this was the problem. Chase was diagnosed in 5 minutes... After nearly a week of the run around from our other pediatrician. So needless to say we'll be switching. BUT FINALLY!!! my son is on medicine that is helping! He's still on the special pre-broken down formula for his tiny tummy. BUT he's also on meds for the acid reflux. There has been a night and day difference for him. He has been awake without crying!!! This hasn't happened for him since he was about 6 days old.
We've got two very happy parents. I have never hurt so bad watching another person as these last 3 weeks watching my son suffer. It has been the very hardest part about being a new parent. I don't mind the late night feedings, the sleeplessness, the diapers, the spit up or the crying. It's the pain he's been in. On the night we went into the ER I held him over the tub while he threw up. It was the worst thing I've seen in my life. My tiny little son, barely 6 lbs at that point throwing up so bad. It was awful.
Of course there have been many, many good things as well. And the good outweigh the bad. My son is so sweet. When he's not hurting, he laughs in his sleep. Not a little baby laugh. A big person laugh. It scared me the first time. But it's so funny. That laugh is always followed by a smile for about a whole minute. It's the cutest thing. One of my favorite things???? When other people hold him and he fusses... THEN mommy gets him back and he stops instantly, the quickly looks up towards my face. I love that my son knows who I am and wants to be with me. He's already a mamma's boy.
Another thing, everyone has said you fall in love with your husband all over again when you watch him become a daddy. True true. I love seeing them napping together... Or Sean trying to change his diaper before Chase cries. And how he talks to our son and plants those kisses all over his little head. It's sweet as sweet can be. So yes, Chase learned nearly immediately that life is not always easy, he has brought love and happiness in a way we never imagined into our home. Right now while I'm typing this up my son and his daddy are napping on the couch. I'm in love. LOVE LOVE LOVE with those boys. I'll never get enough.

Presenting our son!

Chase Christopher Stewart
5 lbs 15 ounces

18 1/2 inches long

Born August 16 @ 5pm

nothing....

So far.. here is what my body has done in the progress of labor:
1. NOTHING

and I'm due in 4 days... I have another appt today to see if any tiny little thing is happening... But so far no dice. no luck.. no hope of the end.. we're still very pregnant. dang dang.

Well... it's given me time to do some "me things" before his big grand entrance so I can't say all the waiting is all bad. I have gotten my toes done! and gone swimming and laid out by the pool! And I took my time cleaning everything like I have wanted to! AnD I have been able to spend some quite time at home reflecting on the last couple years and months and time I've been able to spend with my sweet husband.

When we got married and wanted kids right off I had no idea what I might be missing out on if they had actually come when we wanted them to. Sean and I have spent the last 3 years (well.. 2 and 3/4) playing house and getting to know each other. We have become better friends and great loves. It's been wonderful. Of course being a newlywed is fantastic but can I say IT GETS SO MUCH BETTER!! I love my companion... my husband... my very best friend... and I love that he knows me so well. I can't put anything past him. And he thinks I'm funny.. Even still. He is a great man and I love the time we've had as just husband and wife. Don't get me wrong in any way I would have LOVED to have children instead of the emotional roller coaster we had in trying for so long.. BUT i have been very blessed to have my husband to myself for the last few years. And now? I'm ready to share him with our son!!! I can't wait for baby Chase to finally grace us with his amazingly sweet presence. Sean keeps saying "It's finally our turn!! Its OUR turn!!" He's so excited to be a dad and I can't wait to be there to see that day!!! So.. Mr Chase... PLEASE ARRIVE SOON! MOMMY IS SICK OF BEING A HOUSE! (the throwing up and passing out and not being able to sit even until the sacrament is passed is getting old!) Hurry up and arrive... We can't wait to see that face!!! LOVE YOU SON!!!!

all ready!!!!!!!!!!

So this morning I got up bright and early I couldn't sleep... So It started. I went through every single room and my entire house is now ready and done for my son's arrival! Now.. if only he would decide to come see me. My DR said there was maybe a 5% chance of him coming anytime before my next appt. So I'm not really hoping for a birth before next Wednesday,... BUT I'm hoping it will happen very soon after that. I have a shopping trip planned for today to pick up the last few things I need for his arrival. I just got my breast pump ordered and so that should be here next week!! Then... HOPEFULLY SO WILL MY SON!!!

arts and crafts!

my sweet sister in law, Erica, and I have been working on some things for the home and this was our first project! more to come... don't you worry!

Bella Classico

So I have been slacking on updating my pictures online. I have them done and edited.. I just didn't post them. Check out my blog they're up now! www.bellaclassico.blogspot.com

what to do what to do

Today was quite eventful. Lots happened and it just added to my to do list that is a MUST before baby arrives. First, we had a DR's appt and it looks like baby is down and so ready but mom's body isn't quite ready to let go of the little dear. Nothing. No dilatation, no thinning of the cervix. Nada. Dang dang. BUT I guess that gives me more time. So I got to have my first day home today from working full time. I am now a stay at home mom (just waiting on my son) and a house wife. Wow. What a weird feeling. And now after spending a whole day at home I have lots of projects I found that I want to do. I decided to rearrange each one of my cubbards.. This will actually be a long process. You see, Sean, my very helpful husband puts things in different places from where I do. So... I'll just be fixing that. THEN after all those things are done?? I want to clean my carpets. And on top of all these things??? My brand new car we bought just for the baby's arrival?? Was side swiped BIG time tonight. It was a hit and run actually. I was parked at my brother in law's house and I was inside doing crafts with his wife and sometime during this time someone really did some damage to the drivers side rear door.. I mean.. it was really bad. The dent was so deep and long you could see it when you were walking up to it in the dark from over 30 feet away. Let me just tell you I was livid. We looked for a note.. There was none. SO... we walked around the parking lot and looked at all the cars till we actually found the one that hit us. So we got pictures of both cars and called the police. While we were waiting for the cops the person who owns the car? His roommate showed up and told us who's car it was and called him to come home to take care if it. So we called the police back and told them we'll take care of it and don't need them to come out. So We waited over 20 minutes for them to show and apparently it was his girlfriend who hit the car. She said these words upon walking in the door " WHAT HAPPENED!!???" um.. come on lady. You tell me!!!! YOU FREAKING SMASHED AND DENTED AND COMPLETELY RUINED MY ENTIRE DRIVERS SIDE OF THE CAR! I was so mad. SO i just waited for her to tell the rest of the story patiently. Finally she says "so I was pulling in, and like.. i couldn't tell if the car was in reverse or drive cause like.. it's broken, so I thought I smashed something but I didn't think I did so I just drove away and parked down the street" um.. yeah... you THOUGHT you SMASHED something?? AND conveniently you drove away and parked so that you were not by my car!???? HELLLLLO!?? The damage to my car is so bad and DEEP there is no WAY you didn't feel that when you ran into it. AND the funny thing is? When his roommate called him to come home his roommate asked him if they had hit a car and they were like "yeah. why?" and when he told them we were waiting at the house that didn't get a response... so... they finally came home. We got all their info and called in the claim tonight. But now I have to take my car in and get it fixed and we don't know how long that will take. I'm just hoping we have it back before the baby is born. But we have to wait for them to talk to the insured and hear them admit fault. So... hopefully this goes smoothly or we'll be going to court. BUT we have been to their house we know where they live and have all their insurance info and their roommate will testify on our behalf if we need him to.. So... This just went on my long list of things to do before the baby comes. But it looks like we have time since as of right now my body wants to keep him a little longer.

August????

So yes... the end is drawing near and soon my sweet baby will be here. (that rhymes) It's becoming surreal for me as a women and wife that soon I will not only be taking care of the needs of my husband (and dog and cat) I'll have a son. Sean and I spent so much time waiting and wishing and praying that I can't believe my sweet little boy has finally decided he's nearly ready to join our family. Years of tears and watching everyone else's joy, then months of waiting and enjoying being pregnant and not having to share my son with anyone is all coming to a head to the big "D day" that is just around the corner.

Fears:

1. my baby being healthy

2. not knowing when or if I'm in labor
3. having a fast hard labor and not making it to the hospital or a 48 hour labor...
4. the unknown of labor and delivery (i don't know much so.. that's quite a bit) (PLEASE don't share horror stories with a first time expectant mother)
5. my epidural running out or not working....

Exciting moments I can't wait for:
1. Seeing my son for the first time
2. Holding him and introducing myself to him for real and not just through my belly
3. Looking at his little hands and feet
4. Becoming a mother
5. Watching Sean with his son for the first time
6. Sean becoming a father (he was born to do that)
7. Seeing my family together for the first time as father, mother and son
8. Introducing my son to his grandparents and aunts and uncles.
9. Learning how to breastfeed
10. Getting to wake up at night with MY SON
11. Being the one he cries for (cause you know baby boys love their mama)
12. Bringing Chase Christopher Stewart home
13. Changing MY baby boy's diapers
14. Sean getting peed on.... (hAAAAAAAAAAA can you just imagine!?)
15. Looking at my son and knowing he is mine and Sean's and he made me a mother and Sean a Father.
16. The baby blessing... It will be so fantastic and also the 1st time my dad and siblings will meet my son, and to hear what Sean and Heavenly Father say to my son
17. My mom coming to stay with us (Sean, myself and baby Chase)
18. Giving my baby baths (he might not be excited about this but I sure am!)
19. Showing off my little one to everyone I love
20. Being a family for the first time.

So obviously the exciting things WAY outweigh the fears. So at this point i just cant wait to my son's safe and timely arrival (I'm hoping...) I just want to see his little face!!!!!!!

baby Chase's bedroom!!!

pregnancy thus far...

has been... a long ride! But I have enjoyed it so much. I was really luck to not be sick at all in my first trimester. Yet... now that seems to have come back to bite me. Lots has been going on the last couple weeks. So the last few weeks I have been getting light headed and dizzy and that has turned into passing out and throwing up. It turns out that my baby cuts off my blood flow to my brain and there's nothing i can do about it. So... I pass out and then wake up throwing up... so fun! And I was put on bed rest, yet... sitting or laying for too long is what causes this problem. So.. walking is the only thing I can do to help it. But I can't walk 24/7 so... it seems i just end up getting sick. Sean has been great. Really willing to help and worries about me like any good husband. So I have been told NO TRAVELING. NO SITTING. NO WORKING. NO ANYTHING. So... I have one more day of work after today then i'll be done and I'll be able to follow DR's orders. Then I have an appt on Tuesday to see if I have started progressing at all so we may have the baby early!! YAY!!! We shall see. So that's all!!!

baby's room!!

DR's appt updates!

So met with my great DR yesterday and everything' is looking really good! Baby Chase is head down and ready to fly on out. Or... crawl out at a snails pace. We shall see. We have no idea. But he's about 5 lbs and right around 20 inches already... so.. DR did mention that we're going to be looking at going early since he has so little room to move. He's been extremely uncomfortable in my belly since about ... week 33 so we'll know more the beginning of August but he'll probably be here soon after that! Can't wait to meet my little monster/son!!!

Book club... yes I'm in a book club

I have officially joined a book club and I purchased the first book for a group read! Funny thing.. I love to read. I read maybe 3 to 6 books a week depending on how fast I can get my hands on them. So... I'm excited and so is Sean. I'll finally have some lady friends to get together with! AnD I'll be able to talk about the books I LOVE and hate and my kid that I'll have soon! I can't wait. The first book we're reading is The Geurnsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. I can't wait. I have been running out of things to read so I am really looking forward to not having to pick every single book I read. So I think I'm going to start doing a book review on each one. Not that I'm qualified! BuT I do know if I like something or not my mom taught me how to be picky but to really give it a chance! So here goes NOTHING!!!

packing plan for the pregnant lady

So I know I'll need to be careful and do this slow so I really need to use the time I have left for packing. Here is what I came up with
Friday 7/08
Picture frames
Hospital Bag

Saturday 7/09
Chase's bedroom
Dining room

Saturday 7/16
Family room
Food storage
Laundry room

Saturday 7/23
Master bedroom
Upstairs bathroom
Downstairs bathroom
Kitchen
dry foods
dishes (leaving only a set for Sean and myself till we actually move)
Under the stairs boxes
Attic boxes down


THEN 7/30 CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN

and pack up the animals

hospital MUST list..

what do I take with me to the hospital??? Because we're packing and moving I want to have that done BEFORE I pack away all my things.. HELP!!!

Thanks!!

pregnancy up to this point..

Well life seems to be flying by as does this pregnancy. I mean... 10 months is a long time but I feel like it's going by really fast. I don't know if I'll be able to get everything done I want to! O dear... I hope I can. Maybe I'll have some extra help (any lady volunteers to help a 8 month pregnant lady pack and clean before the move!!!???) I know Sean will try and I love him for that.. HAA
baby is now?? over 17 inches long and about 4 and a half pounds. He is super healthy and very active. My DR did say at this point with how small my torso is and how close my ribs are to my hips I have a very uncomfortable baby and the rest of my pregnancy will be even harder than it is today. I can't imagine that. I've been hurting pretty much 24/7 for the last 3 weeks and my ribs on the right side are really sore and sleep is not happening. And breathing?? I guess I don't need as much air as I thought because I'm sure not getting it. Bending?? Who needs to bend. If I drop something that's where it stays. Right there on the floor. Unless I have a willing do-gooder there to rescue my pen or phone or anything off the floor. Let's see here.. Lowering myself into the bathtub?? O dear... haaaaaaaa. I'm sure that's funny to watch and if only you could be a fly on the way (IF it were appropriate) to see that art of bending and breathing and hard work in action... it's pretty funny.
Baby acrobatics. My child keeps me up and he wakes me up and he plays games all day. You can see just about every move he makes at this point and I love watching that. He's so funny and cute and I can't wait to see what he looks like.
Moving.. yes we should be the last weekend in July. Any men who have availability to come to the house to help!!??? I'll buy you pizza and pop for the help!!! July 30th!! lend your trucks or trailers or hands and backs!! whichever you can!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and of course you'll be showered with blessings for helping the pregnant lady out!!!
here goes the packing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

news news news...

so... after waiting to hear back we did end up going under contract on that house!!!! so exciting. AND it's all coming together. This last week we had the inspection done and only a couple things needed to be fixed.. The water heater, the master bedroom sink and a broken window in the garage. After waiting for 4 days to hear back because of the weekend we finally heard back that they are paying for everything! And that was what needed to be done we're just glad they didn't put up a fight. So now we're waiting on the appraisal to make sure it's worth what we're paying (and FOR sure no worries there) Because it's been on the market for so long the price came down from 210,000 to something we can now afford.. It was quite the drop. I guess 145 days on the market with no movement will do that to you. Price was dropped 5 times and of course like a good buyer we offered less and got it for less. So if all the pieces keep falling into place we should be homeowners soon!!!