Well there is some good progress being made at the house, though, not to deviate from how things have gone so far, the progress feels very slow. During the first week of December, they finished clearing the lot, and dug the hole for the foundation.
It was around this time that they figured out that an unexpected problem had come up. They had to dig further down than anticipated, in order to reach dirt that was "build ready" or structurally sound. This means that they were going to have to change the elevation of the foundation. And since the driveway slope could not be altered at all per city code, that limited how high the foundation could go since the garage could not be raised (otherwise the driveway would be too steep). Thus we were presented with two options:1. We could have the garage be much lower than the rest of the house, with a high wall of foundation along the back wall, and a set of 4-5 stairs going into the house from the garage. But doing this would allow us to enter the backyard from a level point, with no stairs.
2. The other option was to lower the entire house to match the garage elevation, but doing this would mean that to enter the backyard, we would have to dig a trench around the back of the house, build a retaining wall to hold back the dirt, and then climb a set of stairs to reach the level part of the yard.
Obviously we didn't love either of these options, but of the two, it sounded better (and cheaper) to just lower the garage and not the rest of the house. So we will be able to access the backyard easily, but to get from the garage into the house, we will need to climb some stairs. Oh well. All this just makes me wonder what other unexpected "surprises" will come up and what other decisions we will have to make.
Getting back to the construction schedule, by the second week of December, they had poured the footings, and just two days ago, they finished pouring the actual foundation. I never would have guessed that it would take an entire month to pour the foundation, but between trying to schedule several different crews to work, and waiting for city and bank inspectors to make sure the work was up to snuff, the process just takes a while I guess. There will not need to be any more inspections for a while after this, so I am hoping the next phase of construction is able to go a little faster. Next the framing begins and they start building the actual wooden structure. I am most excited about that! 
Its funny, when we very first started this venture, I had this glorious
image of what our "dream house" would be like. And little by little, as
we have gone through this process, that dream image has been altered
time and time again. First we had to pick out and compromise on a design
that was slightly less than ideal from my perspective. Second we had to
change the look of the front yard and entry to comply with city
regulations, and now this elevation thing. In the end, these are all
small changes and I will learn to live with them (in fact I feel like
the world's biggest spoiled brat for even daring to complain), but still
its a little hard to see the reality deviate from the dream. I suppose
this definitely falls under the category of first world problems! I do know that once we are ready to move in, I will be the world's most excited lady. We have both been dreaming about this (literally and figuratively) for more than 2 years now and both feel very ready to make it a reality!Prior Updates:
Dream Home - The Beginning
Update #1
Update #2
Update #3
Update #4
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