Sunday, February 27, 2022- 7 weeks

"The yard is bigger than I was expecting," points out Sheldon as we approach the door of the house we're looking at this morning.

I slip my hand into his, squeezing it while ringing the bell. The realtor opens the door, greeting us, "Hello, you must be Sheldon and Amy. I'm Olivia, please come in." We stand at the edge of the sizeable living room, already able to see into the dining room. "I hate hovering salespeople, so feel free to look around on your own and please don't hesitate with any questions."

"Thank you." I'm impressed and we've only seen the living room. We begin walking through the house, first coming to the dining room which is big enough for a full dining table. I love the built-in China hutch, but the wallpaper is a bit much.

The kitchen is the next room we come to. It's bright and full of natural light. "Amy, look." Sheldon's pointing at the breakfast booth in the corner of the room. We peek outside through the kitchen windows and notice a pergola in the backyard. That would be perfect for having our friends over, especially once our kids start to get older and can play in the yard. The garage isn't attached, but we've found that's not as common as I'd been hoping in the area we've been looking.

We head back into the living room, and I notice the study off to the side and pull Sheldon in that direction. There's a large built-in desk, surrounded by windows. This would be perfect for the home office Sheldon mentioned. "This is nice," I mumble, noticing Sheldon's smile. I can tell he likes this house despite only seeing half of it.

"The bedrooms are that way," the realtor points to the left of the living room.

Sheldon leads me to the end of the hallway and pushes open the door that leads to the master bedroom. "Ooh, I do not like that ceiling fan or the wallpaper." I chuckle, having the same thought, but those are things that can easily be changed.

It's a large bedroom, with an ensuite bathroom. "That tub looks amazing, Sheldon. I would love that, especially when my back starts to hurt. I didn't know even think that was something I wanted until I saw it."

"The separate shower is nice. Let's look at the other bedrooms. Do you think they're the same size as this one?" I follow Sheldon from room to room, stopping to size up the closets and second bathroom.

We're in the last bedroom when I look at Sheldon. "I really like this house. What about you?"

"While the yard is larger than I'd like and the garage isn't attached like you wanted, the rest of the house would be perfect for us. It is under our budget; giving us lower monthly payments than we were budgeting for. That would offset the costs of needing to pay more for yard service." Sheldon's been pacing the room, speaking with each step.

I think this might be my dream house. I ask what we're both thinking, "Should we make an offer? We're pre-approved, we can tell the realtor now."

He's grinning, almost as big as when I showed him the pregnancy test. "Let's do it."

Olivia stands when we re-enter the living room, "So, what do you think?"

"We love it," I answer for both of us. "We'd like to make an offer."

"Wonderful!" She's very enthusiastic while opening her laptop. "We'll get the paperwork started."

Monday, February 28, 2022- 7 weeks

The past twenty-four hours have been one of the longest days of my life. I'm keeping busy in my lab when Sheldon bursts through the door without knocking. "Amy! Amy! Amy! They accepted our offer. I was expecting a counteroffer."

"What?!" I drop the instruments from my hands onto the counter in front of me.

"They accepted our offer. One point one million. That's nearly one hundred and fifty thousand under the asking price. Olivia just emailed me."

One hundred and fifty thousand is about how many thoughts I have running through my head right now. "What do we do now? I know it's not as simple as writing them a check."

"We need to get an inspection. Olivia sent a few names of inspectors she's worked with before." He handed me his phone to read the email myself.

"Looks like we need to send proof of our pre-approval and we need to let the bank know we put in an offer that was accepted." I was hopeful our offer would be accepted, but I'm overwhelmed now that it has been.

Sheldon takes his phone back from my hand and wraps his arms around me, tucking my head under his chin. "Do you want to leave early so we can start working on all of this? The sooner we get started, the sooner everything will be finished and we can move into the house."

I nod against him. "Yeah. Let's stop at the bank on the way home to get that started."

I'm exhausted by the time we get home several hours later and Sheldon is also looking rather run down. Who'd have thought talking to bankers all afternoon could be so draining? At least we got the down payment taken care of and Sheldon scheduled our inspection for Thursday after work. It's mindboggling how quickly this is all moving for us.

Leonard walks in with Ava as we're waiting for the elevator. "Hey, guys. I feel like we barely saw you this weekend. What were you up to?"

"We had to go to my parents' house on Saturday, and I had some errands I needed to do on Sunday that Sheldon decided to tag along for." I lied, well only partially since house hunting was an errand that Sheldon joined me for. Sheldon and I haven't discussed when we want to tell our friends we'll be moving.

"That sounds exhausting. Not only dinner with your parents, but errands with Sheldon. You have my condolences, Amy," I know Leonard was joking, but Sheldon's expression makes me think he doesn't understand that.

We're quiet until we get off the elevator when Leonard speaks again. "I think Penny and I are going to order something for dinner. Do you guys want to join us?"

Sheldon looks at me and I nod slightly before he answers for both of us. "Okay. What do you want? Amy and I can put in an order for all of us."

"I could go for a burger," I chime in. Even if our friends don't know I'm pregnant, I know Sheldon will order whatever I want.

"Sounds good." Leonard is opening the door of apartment 4A. "I can run to pick up the food if you'll watch Ava until Penny gets home. She shouldn't be too long."

I smile at the toddler who is clinging to Leonard's leg, watching the interaction between us. "Can I hang out with you until your mommy gets home?" That's all it takes for Ava to detach herself from Leonard and run into the open apartment. "You guys order food. I've got Ava."