Positive thoughts... Positive thoughts....

Man... What an insane, short week its been. Going from apartment contract signed to apartment contract cancelled and now back to having an apartment in Erlangen. We are so blessed!! So we've been in contact with a few people from the ward in Erlangen and on the same day that we had this HUGE bill in our hands that we never agreed to pay, we got an email from them saying that they have an apartment ready for us if we wanted it and if we could get out of our other apartment contract. AH! How lucky is that?! Oh, how I love the church and all the connections we can make within it. The Lord has truly been with us.
Other things in the Hulet house... I have another doctors appointment on Monday! YAY! Those days make me so happy... weird right? Well, we get to FINALLY hear the heart beat of our little baby and I seriously cannot wait. I'm thinking of renting/buying a doppler for while we're in Germany so I can listen to the heart beat all day long. Wouldn't that be nice! According to my Pregnancy Week by Week book, the baby is about 3.5- 4 inches now and looks like a little human. So cool. I've been looking at baby names like crazy and have found a few that I like... if its a girl I think we've picked a name that BOTH of us really like (still don't totally agree on boy names) but we don't want to name the baby until he/she is here... so we'll see. We might be able to find out the gender before we leave which would be so awesome; then I can buy all kinds of things for him/her in Germany!
Also we posted an ad on craigs list for our apartment the other day and have already gotten four responses which is amazing. There are four other vacant apartments in our building and they've been there for almost a month now. So the fact that we have people interested already is pretty amazing to me. I think our apartment manager and/or the owners just don't care or something.
Anyway... thats pretty much all thats going on with us. My Auntie Liz is out visiting from New Jersey which means I get to spend a lot of time with my family while she's here... that also makes me really happy. I love my family so much. Jordan and I are sooo grateful for all the support we've received from everyone, its overwhelming. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!! We pretty much have the best in-law/parents/siblings/Aunts/Uncles/Cousins ever. For real.

SO frustrating....

So getting this trip together finally has been a relief. But now it seems like everyone we have to deal with is trying to screw us over! First of all, our apartment manager. Almost a year ago, trying to move into our current apartment, it was a nightmare just trying to move it. They took three weeks to process our application. They wouldn't give us the contact information of the owners of the complex and they NEVER called us back. THEN the morning we were moving in, they called us two hours before people were coming over to help us move and said that the apartment we wanted wasn't going to be available for another week. Um... REALLY? Oh and after we started freaking out they mentioned that there were two other apartments available... they couldn't say that first? During the time we've lived here they've lost a rent check, told us they'd fix things and haven't. Now, almost three weeks ago we talked to them about possibly keeping our things in the apartment rent free while we are in Germany and we'll sign another year lease when we get back (there are FOUR empty apartments the the complex... we'll be the fifth). So every time my husband talks to the apartment manager she says things like, "I just called the owners" and "I just emailed the owners" but still hasn't gotten a response... how is that possible.. for THREE WEEKS?!? So we have only a month left to find someone to take over our lease and we just found out yesterday that we can only be rent free for one month but will have to pay for June and July... which is something we CANNOT afford. Now we have a month to find someone to take over our lease.
Now onto the drama with the Germany apartment. I guess the companys that lease furnished apartments in Germany charge commission  to the tenants. No one told us! So we sign a contract (this wasn't  in the contract) and then they send us a bill for 556 euros. Thats a little over $750.... an extra months rent. I just LOVE that people tell us these things! URGH!!!!!! SO if we don't find someone to take over our current lease for June, we'll be paying an extra months worth of rent for two places we wont even be living in. Nice.
So on top of those things within a year, we've had four tired stolen from our back porch, gotten screwed over on a car we bought from a friend (we spend $2000 fixing a car we JUST bought from a friend and they refused to pay us anything back or give us the name of the mechanic who broke our A/C and didn't fix an obviously broken fan so our far was over heating everytime we drove it).
And now that I wont be getting paid at all this summer, I have a HUGE maternity deducable to pay for when the baby gets here and all this mess with two apartments.
People just make me furious sometimes. It makes me not want to trust ANYONE anymore! It feels like they are just out to screw us over. And there's nothing we can do.

Favorite Things...

So I ran across this blog on FB and thought it was a fun thing to blog about. If there is ANYONE out there who reads this.... does anyone read this? haha Oh well... I have fun blogging anyway...
Here are a few of my FAVORITE things... :)

 

double chocolate chip frappuccino... This might be something I'll require when I'm in labor... haha

Calla Lilies... there's just somthing so beautiful and peaceful about this flower. I love it.

Black nail polish... sadly my O.P.I. black shattered in my bathroom sink. sad day.

30 Rock... could this show get any better? It does every week.

Strawberries... to me, this is Summer!

Coconut Lime Verbena from Bath and Body... mmm...

Atonement... I could watch this over and over. And the chemistry between my two favorite actors is... amazing. :)

Doughnuts... my guilty pleasure. Banbury Cross cinnamon doughnuts are the best.

 Getting massages... I give them all the time but rarely get them... hmm.

Venice, Italy...My dream vacation! I'm Hoping we'll be able to go here while we're in Europe this summer!

Audi... maybe one day I'll be rich enough to get one. haha

Harry Potter series... LOVE IT!!

Kindle... Jordan got me one for my 22nd b-day and I'm addicted.

LOST... my family thinks I'm crazy for still watching but I cant get enough. And come on, its the final season!

and of course... My super hot husband, Jordan. He's such a babe and I love him so much. :-D

Finalizing plans....

So this week we have a LOT to do!! Here's our game plan...

 The bedroom in the apartment we'll be renting in Germany

~Sign and close the deal on this Apartment in Erlangen. We only found one apartment that can house two people and its super tiny! And it looks like something out of an Ikea catalog... but thats europe right? haha They are trying to talk to the landlord right now about when we can move in and we might have to be there in the middle of may. But we'll see. The rent is 550 euros which is about $730. 

 This is a Erlangen... isn't it beautful!? I'm so excited!

The company Jordan will be doing research for

South Eastern Germany, Bavaria where Erlangen is located

~Post our Toyota Camry on KSL. We just need to get it looked at for problems (the mileage is super high!) and get it cleaned up and posted! Hopefully we can sell it really fast! If you know anyone who is looking for a cheap/old car, let us know!

~Buy airline tickets! Its going to hurt, as tickets to Paris are over $1000 each, but luckily Jordan's professor has offered to pay for Jordans air fair (SOOO nice!) so basically our only cost will be my air fair, train fair, rent, and food (and probably clothing because I'll be getting big around June and will need maternity clothes.)

~Try to get out of our current apartment contract. We've decided that moving out of our current apartment would be better than trying to find someone to stay in it for us. We'll need a two bedroom eventually anyway so this is the best way to do it. It'll be super stressful but what can ya do?

~And odds and ends... finding health coverage for me for while we're in Europe, canceling things like cable, netflix, putting phones on hold...

Man... there are so many little things to take care of before we leave! and we only have a month left so we really need to get going on things. I really thought that we'd have more figured out by now! I come from a family of super-planners when it comes to big vacations like this so its been stressful for me. Luckily Jordan is the best husband ever and can handle my mood swings and hormonal rages. haha Hopefully he'll still want more kids after this one comes (not for a few years of course). I am so grateful for my husband and my parents and my in-laws for the tremendous support we've received through all of this. Our parents have offered to store our crap while we're gone and I'm sooooo grateful! I can't thank them enough!

~Caroline

Deliver by Oct. 31, 2010

Well, now that I've told pretty much everyone and I guess I can start blogging about it! Jordan and I are having our first baby! The due date is October 31st (Halloween!!!) and we couldn't be more excited. I don't think its quite sunk in with Jordan yet but seeing the baby in the ultrasound today, I had tears in my eyes and couldn't help but laugh out loud. There's a little living thing growing and developing inside me! Words cant describe the feeling. We didn't get to hear the heart beat yet but the little one was waving at us and moving its legs like crazy! It was amazing. Jordan thought that the baby would just be chillin' in there, not really doing anything so he was amazed when he saw it moving. My next ultrasound is in four weeks and by then we'll be able to hear the heart beat and before we leave for Germany my doctor said we can most likely find out the sex (if the baby cooperates of course). I'm so happy!! This year had definitely been good to us.
~Caroline