Sunday, September 25, 2011

Baby Room - aka Nursery

I keep referring to his room as "the baby room" when I guess I could just call it the nursery. I've never really been fond of the word nursery for a baby room... maybe because "The Nursery" is where you go to, to play during church, or it's a place where lots of babies are held because their parents don't want them in the room with them :-/ anyway I think I'll stick with "The Baby's Room" or "___ Room" yes we know his name (well what we are pretty sure we are going to name him) but we don't want to announce it until he's here. I figure it's his name, he should be present when it gets told to the world :-P also we want to be able to change it last minute if we want without getting $h!t from people. :-)

Okay back to the blog post, sorry went off a little bit. So yesterday we made a trip to Ikea to pick up his dresser, night stand, and mirror. Grandma Cindy & Grandpa Del wanted to get him something that would last longer than one wear, so they purchased the remainder of his bedroom furniture. :-) Thank You!!!! Since the basement is getting closer to being finished (carpet is in) we were able to move some of the big things down there with help of two great friends, Michelle & Enoch. We moved the computer desk, sewing table, filing cabinet, and couch. This opened up the rest of baby's room so we can get closer to finishing that off.

Last night we put together our Ikea furniture:
putting together dresser 1

I had to take a break mid-way and read the directions to Kyle from the chair as my heartburn was killing me. It was the perfect time to eat an apple, which I had heard to help. BTW apple juice does NOT help, it in fact makes it worse. I'm not a fan of apples or apple juice, but I was to the point of trying anything. My sister-in-law suggested the apple and after some research I learned it's the fiber in the apple that is suppose to help. It took it a while, but I think it in fact did help. I was able to lay down last night to sleep instead of propping myself up most of the night.

Kyle is busy at work:
putting together dresser

We stopped last night after the dresser and nightstand and decided to wait until today to hang the mirror and artwork. But here is his room! All complete, minus hanging the closet door.
baby room 3

baby room 1

baby room 2 no closet

Here's the night stand and the cute little lamp I found a few months ago!
baby room nightstand and lamp

Friday night after we moved some of the furniture that was crowding the dining room downstairs it was like Christmas all over again! I found this lamp and we found the car seat we had purchased :-) We are so ready to be getting our house back and de-cluttered!!!

Here's the mirror and artwork:
baby room 4

And as you can see in the bottom left corner some new toys we picked up yesterday:
consignment sale finds

We went to a 'Munchkin Market' (baby consignment sale) at the State Fair Grounds yesterday. We didn't really have anything in mind to get, but I did want to go just to see if there were any good finds at a good deal. I ended up seeing this, which I have seen before in my years of child care. I love the little blocks, they are plastic hollow blocks and each one has something different inside. The hippo is a ride or push toy that actually picks up the blocks off the ground (a play toy and a cleaning tool - PERFECT!) We also got a couple of bottles and some wooden toy trucks :-)

While we're on the topic of baby I might as well post Baby's newest photo. He's got his daddy's nose:
photo (1)

Some friends and I at work were having a slow night and wondering what little baby boy was up to so we played around on the ultrasound machine. Mainly seeing this:
photo (2)
And things of that sort. It took us about 30 minutes to locate his face! lol but Rachel finally found it and we were able to freeze the screen to get a picture with my phone. Ultrasounds are hard to work, I have a lot more respect for those ultrasound techs in clinic!! It's not easy locating things in there, lol.

Also here's the latest belly timeline:
belly timeline up to 32

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Basement Update: CARPET!!!!

We have CARPET! YIPEE!!!

The carpet guy came and installed it today. Last week, after the dry-core was laid we noticed a little bit of a problem...
Sept14_11 uneven drycore tile
(sorry so blurry, this was with my phone)

The dry-core sat up a lot higher than the tile, then with the pad (the thickest one, mind you), and the carpet it was looking to be a LOT higher than the tile. I called the installers last week to give them a heads up so they could be prepared when they arrived today. Well of course I didn't really hear back from them, but luckily Andy (my contractor) and his main man Robert stayed around to meet with the carpet guy to workout a plan prior to the start of install. So this morning they figured something out, right now there is no transition piece, which is what we were hoping for. We originally just wanted the carpet to but up against the tile, but the dry core was posing a problem. I think it looks fine now, but I'll see what Andy thinks and we might end up using a transition piece even though we were trying to avoid that.

Anyway so here is the pad installed:
Sept20_11 carpet pad

Sept20_11 carpet pad 2

Their fix was to have Robert cut an inch or so back from the dry-core and lay just a little piece of wood there so it gradually goes down to the tile and the carpet guy and just do a turnover tack on the carpet:
Sept20_11 carpet pad close up 3

HERE is our CARPET! Isn't it beautiful :-)
Sept20_11 carpet 4

Sept20_11 carpet 5

Sept20_11 carpet 6

It's going to look even better with trim around the base.

Home stretch!! We have just a handful (or two) of things left to get finished.

Project 52 {weeks 29-37}

Week 29
(July 16-22)
29 NM camping
We had a weekend camping trip with our church's newly married group. It was a hot weekend, but nice to get at least one weekend of camping in this summer. In this photo Kyle & Enoch are out in the kayak's another friend brought for everyone to enjoy.

Week 30
(July 23-29)
July29_11 overview 5
Yeah for visual progress, it's so nice having the framing up to actually get a visual of what our new basement space will look like. They also installed the EGress window today, which you can't see in this photo.

Week 31
(July 30-Aug 5)
31/52 D1 galvaston beach
Spent a lovely few days visiting my friend Blair in Houston. The first day I was there we went to a beach in Galveston. Of course I was visiting in almost the hottest time of the year!

Week 32
(Aug 6-12)
32/52 moon over field
First baseball game of the season we attended. It was a beautiful night!

Week 33
(Aug 13-19)
Birthday Flowers
My mom sent me these beautiful flowers for my birthday :-) only one year in the 20's left.

Week 34
(Aug 20-26)
34/52 Lake Superior
Our only trip up to the North Shore this summer, was a day trip to Gooseberry Falls State Park for a short little hike around their hiking club trail. As usual, it's beautiful up there! So glad we were able to make it up for a visit this summer.

Week 35
(Aug 27-Sept 2)
D4 tide pools beach side
We spent a week visiting my brother in Los Angeles, California. This picture was taken in Newport Beach near the tide pools.

Week 36
(Sept 3-9)
36 bubble_boba tea
While in LA, I tried some Boba Tea while we were out at a Thai restaurant. It is basically Thai iced tea with tapioca pearls in the bottom. When I came home I was determined to find it for sale here. I found two placed, one being the Tea Garden where this one is from. I found out here they call it Bubble Tea.

Week 37
(Sept 10-16)
37 Harpo sleeping on my belly
Harpo has been fond of my growing belly, it hasn't seem to stop him from snuggling up with me. Here we are relaxing in the new recliner in the baby's room and he is napping on my belly. He'll even lay there and feel the baby kicking, doesn't phase him at all. I can't wait for Harpo to get to meet his little brother soon!! I know Harpo's going to love him just as much as he loves us.

Project 52 {weeks 25-28}

Well hello there photo project 52! I have somewhat been neglecting you... I just looked at my list, knowing I had a lot to get caught up on and realized my last posted week was Week 24!!! Although I do have photos identified for 25-28 already, the rest (we're at week 38 now) I do not. So here are my 25-28 photos. I'm going to go through my past photos now and try and get caught up today! You've most likely seen them all as I've been pretty consistent with blogging and taking a picture each week :-)

Week 25
25/52 kyle install closet door
Kyle installing the closet door. We installed all new interior doors this weekend! We didn't get the trim around the doors on yet, but at least the doors are hung :-)

Week 26
26/52 big brother
I just couldn't help myself :-) I had a heck of a time trying to find a little plain white dog shirt, but alas Ebay to the rescue!!! This iron on was something I found at Michael's.

Week 27
beach
Had a lovely evening walking around Lake Harriet.

Week 28
28_52 cloth wipes
I had a LONG post about my cloth diaper stash, which has since grown. These are the cloth wipes I made, I think there ended up being a total of almost around 50! I won't be needing many more of these, but luckily these sort of things can be used for wipes, washcloths, burp rags, spit up towels, etc!

Friday, September 16, 2011

Naval Gazing

I'd been thinking about getting down some of my random pregnancy thoughts, and am finally sitting down to do that. Although I'm not sure if I can remember all that I've been thinking... ahh lovely pregnancy brain. My brain hasn't been as 'holey' as it was a few months ago. I remember checking out at JoAnn's, probably mid July, and instead of hitting "Yes I accept this amount on my payment card" I hit "No I do not accept" not quite sure why because then I had to repeat the whole payment process, lol. That was probably the first big, clear as mud, moment of pregnancy swiss cheese brain. Followed by main drifting conversations, statements filled with "umms", and repeatedly retracing my steps trying to figure out what it was I was in the middle of doing.

A lot of people have been asking me lately if I'm nesting... truth is I've always been a go-go-go person, filling my time with projects, filling my husbands time with projects as well :-P So honestly lately I have had to force myself to sit down with my feet up and try and not go as much, which is killing me. Especially with how the house is a mess, but I'm kinda stuck until the basement is finished. I did manage to sit still long enough for a 30 minute TV show today (okay minus the commercials I fast forwarded through). Maybe I'm just getting the errand running out of the way, since when little baby boy comes I won't be able to just go-go whenever I please.

My belly continues to grow. It's amazing how life is created in a woman's belly! Kyle and I have noticed since around week 12 the little bump starting to form, where as the outside world has just started to notice the past month or so. I think I am clearly out of the stage of "is she fat or is she pregnant" Although to Kyle and I it was always clear I was pregnant, I don't know any pudgy bellies that feel this HARD! I still get the "How far are you?" "7 months" "REALLY! You're tiny" Yes thank you! What the hell is that suppose to mean? Luckily I haven't been getting any crazy strangers wanting to touch my belly, I might freak out if that were to happen. But I do get plenty of friends and co-workers copping a feel. Which I'm fine with, I'm happy to share in the miracle of life. I enjoy feeling him bounce, kick, jab, twirl, and spin all day - and I love being able to share that with people, that is when he's willing to perform. Somehow he knows, he knows when people are watching my belly waiting to see him move, or if a hand he isn't familiar with is resting there. He used to do this for his daddy, anytime Kyle would put his hand on my belly he'd stop all movement, lol. Now he's used to Kyle and doesn't let that stop him from his 'bed making' we call it. When Harpo is trying to make his bed for the night he will turn, turn, kick, and paw at the spot he is about to lay down in, for a good minute before he finally lays down - he's making his bed. We've thus decided this is what baby boy is trying to do inside sometimes when he is just twirling and going to town, lol. The past few months I was mainly feeling him when I would sit still, or late at night or around the time I went into work. The past week it's been NON-STOP, lol. I'll be walking into the grocery store and he'll be fluttering along. Oh, he LOVES church! He loves the praise and worship time and just dances away in my belly!! Also the past month he's been easier to spot just by looking at my belly, which we (kyle and I) almost find more entertaining that feeling him. My belly will move in waves as he's turning or kicking or punching. I wish I could see what he was up to in there, it's pretty cool.

Although even with all this fun belly movement, I just CAN'T wait to meet him!!! And hold him! And for Harpo to meet him! I know Harpo knows he's in there because he also loves feeling his kicks. Harpo will just lay on my belly and it won't even phase him to feel baby boy massaging his neck, lol.
Harpo on belly

I have been lucky enough to not have any sickness at all during this pregnancy :-) For about a week in July I was getting 2-4 hour headaches once a day, but that didn't last too long. I never really 'felt' pregnant until this belly started getting in the way. But still then I only had a few nights of uncomfortable sleep before my body adjusted and I felt like myself again. Oh there is the heart burn! I guess that has been the one thing that I've never had to deal with before and is quite annoying now. I just have tums everywhere, although it goes away as fast as it comes on so sometimes Tums aren't even necessary. Or I'll just have a glass of milk to help it subside.

I also have a lot of people asking if we've thought of names yet. Yes we have, and we have one picked out but we are choosing not to share it until he is here :-) Although the closer his estimated arrival approaches the more excited I am to share :-P

I think that's all for my naval gazing recap, my brain waves have just encountered a patch of swiss cheese and I can't think of much else to write, hee hee.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Basement Update: Cabinets & Dry Core (and overall pictures)

I have lots of pictures to share tonight!!! They got the upper cabinets hung. They were too long, so the cabinet guy Joe (who did a spectacular job on them by the way) had to come out yesterday to do some adjustment. Here they are:
Sept13_11 cabinets 1

There is a space under the front bar for a mini fridge, which we still need to get. And you can also see the outline on the wall by the floor where the air duct will get put. It originally was behind the cabinet area, but when they put the cabinets in they found that it was fully covered so they are having to shift it over a bit.
Sept13_11 cabinets 4

And there's a little story with the sink. The plumber was out Friday to get ALL the plumbing done... the bar sink we ordered arrived Thursday afternoon. I ordered it August 5th, it arrived September 5th... it was on back order so it took forever to get here. Well when Robert (Our contractor, Andy's right hand man) opened up the box, he noticed some rust spots on the back part of the basin... NOT GOOD! So I spend about 30 minutes on the phone with the company and they were contacting the manufacture who is going to replace it.... that just means more delay. So here you can see the hole is cut for the sink (which is why we can't just go get a new one) but there is no sink. So the plumber still has that one thing to do as soon as it arrives.
Sept13_11 cabinets 5

Here's the lovely bathroom! All in working order, WE HAVE TWO TOILETS now! YAHOO!!!
Sept13_11 bathroom 2 Sept13_11 bathroom 3

Here is the rest of the basement, you can see they've started to lay the dry core flooring that goes under the carpet:
Sept13_11 6

I put the plastic back up over where there will be a door to the storage area to prevent dust from getting back there since I have it all cleaned already.
Sept13_11 7

The drycore was an addition we choose just to help the flooring not feel so 'basement-y'. We have yet to have any sort of water problem (knock on wood) but if we were to, this would help. Close up of the drycore:
Sept13_11 drycore 8

And the underside which is touching the cement:
Sept13_11 drycore 9

Like I mentioned I cleaned out the unfinished storage area, and last weekend we got some of my arts, crafts, sewing, photography, & office supplies moved down. Not all but a good chunk which opened up more of a walk way space upstairs :-)
Sept13_11 unfinished 10

Here I am turned around with the above space behind me, looking at where the door will go and our laundry shoot
Sept13_11 unfinished 11

Here's our laundry - unfinished area. The wire shelf in the back was another check mark we accomplished this weekend. I had been wanting this hung for the past few years, we finally did and it makes for great storage :-)
Sept13_11 unfinished 12

Here is the under the stairs storage which I cleaned out a while ago. The shelves may look a little empty but that's because what is going on them is up in boxes upstairs. I didn't want to get it all in there as they still need to get in there to get the electrical over to the mini-fridge whole and re-route the air duct.
Sept13_11 unfinished 13

I also have pictures of our new plumbing to share. Like I mentioned with the remodel the plumber re-piped ALL our plumbing to replace the galvanized pipes with this better dura-plex stuff:
Sept13_11 plumbing 15

You can see all the red and blue pipes:
Sept13_11 plumbing 14

Here is over under the upstairs bathroom:
Sept13_11 plumbing 16

So that is where we stand right now. What is left:
  • finish laying the dry core flooring
  • fix the nicks and bangs in the wall/ceiling
  • re-route the duct by the bar
  • install the bar sink
  • electrical out to the bar for the fridge
  • hang the mirror in the bathroom
  • carpet next TUESDAY!
  • install the doors (2 pocket doors and 1 swing door)
  • put up the trim (Kyle is doing this)
  • final inspection
We are PRAYING this thing can get done by October and we can no longer have people coming in and out of the house all week. We are also getting really excited to have it usable. We probably won't get a TV for a while, but we will get the house cleaned up as soon as possible. As soon as the carpet is down we will put up the computer desk, have the cable guy come out to get the outlets moved over, move the computer out of the babies room and get his space all ready for him. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Oh I did get the upstairs interior doors painted yesterday. We still need to get trim up on those!!

Monday, September 12, 2011

Twins UST night September 6th

Last Tuesday we attended another Minnesota Twins game. This night was the annual University of St. Thomas - MBA night. Kyle purchased tickets through his school.

We were sitting just a few seats down from where we sat the previous game we went to. Companies much purchase seats in this one section. Because our first set of tickets were purchased through my work's 'Work Perks' program.
gorgeous night

At about the 7th inning we got up and walked around a bit, change of view.
twins

8th inning photo :-)
8th inning

It was a fun night and nice to get out.
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