Nursery Updates

Yesterday Grandma came over and me and her and Dad popped Amelia into her Baby Bjorn and took a trip to Ikea. (Mom didn'[t have a lot of time yesterday for hair or  make up, or to lose 20 lbs, so this is what we are dealing with right now)... but doesn't baby look SO CUTE???  She slept the entire time!

 We had a fun afternoon.  Ended up spending more money than we planned, and Dad wound up spending more time putting stuff together and hanging up safely in the nursery than he planned, but this morning it all paid off, because Amelia has the coolest room ever now. 

We'll start with the gate.  Since Stifler has been marking his territory there he has been banished. I understand his jealousy, but Amelia and I enjoy tummy time in her room and do not appreciate the smell of jealous dog pee.  So we got her rug properly cleaned and sanitized, and dad installed a gate that opens like a door so we don't have to step over it.



Then he hung some shelves to give her teddy bears more room to play.

He got mom a night stand to put her pump on and with drawers for her to keep her photo book materials to work on while she's pumping or has any down time.  (Can't forget the pink knobs). 

He also installed our internet camera so we can monitor her while (if) she sleeps in her crib.  It's pretty awesome, you can even watch her from his Android phone and my iPhone.  AND he hid the cords in the wall so it's not an eye sore. 

Wonder how long it will be before she makes us remove the camera from her room?  I really hope she doesn't grow up too fast, because look at all these cute tiny things  mom gets to dress her up in now!! (All stored in the new drawer organizers we picked up at Ikea)

OK that's enough about her nursery.  I  promise the next post will be all about the SWEETNESS that is Amelia!!

Ikea dresser for nursery

Brian and I are really enjoying getting the nursery ready for baby to come home.  We are almost done!!  We still have some finishing touches left so I'm not ready for a full reveal yet, but I can't hold everything in any more.  I have to give in somewhere.  So I will show our Ikea dresser fix up.  We have the Ikea Hemnes changing table so we were planning on getting the Hemnes chest to go with it but come to find out it is 5" too wide for our space.  So we ended up with the cheaper Malm which we already have in our bedroom.  We know it is a sturdy dresser and can fit a ton of stuff in the drawers so it is not the end of the world.  But it's not very cute.  So today we took care of that problem. 
                                                         Here's our boring dresser. 

Here's Brian hard at work , very much a perfectionist.  See the 2 levels?  One is never enough.

And VOILA!!

Now we've got pink handles!  We also changed out the handles on the closet door and on the changing table.  Glad we painted the room yellow because we knew everything else would be pink :)

Fun right?  Yay for progress! 

Floor and Bathroom Redo

Here are some pictures of our new tile floors and bathroom redo.  AH-MAZING work by Mark and Sam of R & K Services.  They are Renovations Specialists but they do it all, even plumbing!!  I swear they are so great to work with.  Nothing but gentlemen and they paid close attention to detail.  Looking around my house still brings a little tear to my eye because I am so happy and so ready to bring a baby home now (well once the nursery is done that is... more on that later).  We Brian will be doing the nursery ourselves himself this week.  We considered tackling the tile floors but figured with our time constraints it was better left to the experts and we couldn't be happier there.  But the nursery is manageable.  First paint color is up.  Next is the border color, then the floors and floorboards.  Then we will get to the fun stuff.  Crib, curtains, etc.   Now!  On to the pictures!!!

TV view.  (We are getting a flatscreen hand me down from a friend soon, YAY!)

Dining Room (With my new blinds, and I haven't hung the wine glasses back up yet)                                  

                                                              Living Room                                                                

The funny little room with no electricity that I have no earthly idea of what to do with.

                                                      The new bathtub and tile!!! 
                                                     (Shower curtain from JCP)

                              Beautiful Skylight in bathroom! You can't tell but they also fixed the texture on the
                  ceiling which makes a huge difference.  It was ugly starburst, now it is flat and I'm in love 

                    The new vanity and toilet.  We kept the medicine cabinet to save on cost.

Where I blog :) 



Well our bathroom is almost done!!  We found a great couple of contractors/handymen on recommendation of a plumber we know and they have completed all the drywall, skylight repairs, tile and painting in the bathroom.  They will be back on the 26th to tile the floors in the entire house (with demo it will take at least a week).  Then the new toilet and vanity will go in and I will be in love with my house finally!  The tile floors and the guest bathroom were the 2 cosmetic things I have wanted to do since day one, 3 years ago, but I knew practicality had to prevail and we needed a new AC unit, a new roof, and to our surprise, also new plumbing first.  Now that is all done and we are on to the fun stuff!  Mark and Sam did an amazing job on the bathroom so far and I absolutely CAN NOT WAIT to see the floors!!!!  Then we are on to the nursery finally!  We need to paint, install the laminate, and floorboards.  Brian was going to tackle this himself since he did the other 2 bedrooms, but last night we decided that Mark and Sam are so awesome that we are going to ask them to do it also.  Then, as soon as we complete the final payment on the tile (which was very affordable from Gulf Tile on Columbus), probably after the tax season assuming we get a good refund since we've been putting in up the wazoo this year, we will do the MASTER BATH!!!  Then all that will be left is to resurface the kitchen cabinets, replace the windows, and little things here and there. (Mantle, bar, front door, new french doors, Florida friendly landscaping). 

Another event I am looking forward to is my old dear friend Christine's wedding Oct 1 in the Adirondacks of NY.  I haven't seen the leaves change since 2000 and it is due time!  I also haven't seen Christine in what I think is 2 years, wow!! Time goes too fast sometimes!  and her beautiful little boy is getting so not-so little!  I've got my long dress (which makes me look very pregnant by the way) and sweater.  I'm thinking that I will be needing a lot more warm clothes than that though, looking at the weather there this week it is averaging 60/32 every day.  Oh my.  I can probably leave the flip flops right here in FL for this trip!  But I can't wait!  I will get to see my mom, my brother and sister in law, niece and nephew, and a few old friends as well.  I love these trips, but they always go by too fast, as everybody there is so spread out. 

I promise to post pics soon. 

Brians first day off in 12 - Demolition

We got to sleep in together this morning which was totally awesome.  Then I made him a delicious bowl of oatmeal with cinnamon, brown sugar, flax seed, walnuts, blueberries and strawberries.

(That is my bowl, his is much larger)

And then we settled into the living room with the laptops and the remote control.  He put his ear buds in and I assumed he was watching some car stuff but he was learning how to replace the bathtub.  Suddenly he jumped up and said "where's my drill?" ...  Oh no...

I haven't seen him smile like this since our last sonogram.

I'm not OK with the lack of protective eye wear, footwear, and lack ventilating breathing apparatus.  I love that he's spur of the moment and all, but the motherly instinct is kicking in.  Seriously...

Who thinks this is OK?

Oh god, he's humming.  I better hurry.



Doors

Brian and I spent a few days last week doing a small inexpensive project in the house that made a drastic improvement.  The doors to all 3 bedrooms and the guest bathroom were cheap flat doors painted white a long time ago, and poorly.  We finally decided to go to Home Depot and buy new doors that were also cheap, but have some molding and design to them.  We purchased them primed and ready to paint, and also ready to install the hinges and knobs.  This was our economy route.  We had paint leftover from painting the floorboards (well that project is actually only halfway done, I decided to put that on hold while we consider redoing the tile floor) and we just took the knobs and hinges from the old doors and transferred them to the new.  Bought this way, each door was only $27 so we replaced 4 doors for only $135 + tax.  I didn't get many good pics of the doors before but here is an idea.  This is an old door sitting in the garage after it has been replaced. 

This is a new door in the garage before painting and knob installation

This is the construction area where we did the painting (ie future baby room, more on that room to come!).  Right now we are pre laminate flooring installation in this room so we can drip paint everywhere with no worries for the time being.

Sometimes watching paint dry is like... well you know...

(oh the folding door is the kitchen pantry door.  We had previously replaced the door for the kitchen pantry and the 2 coat closets but had yet to paint them so their day has also come.)  The kitchen pantry door is much happier now with the glossy paint because as it was it was getting pretty dirty.  Now the dirt (yes, when you have 2 dogs it is actually dirt and sand, even in the kitchen) will wash off much easier. 

This is one closet door not painted yet, followed by the opposite door painted (minus the knob)

This is my bedroom door pre replacement, followed by new high class door installation.

One pic is with flash, the other isn't.  I hope it just gets across how much of a difference a $27 door can make in feel and appearance. 

This is the door leading into the guest bathroom which is soon to be gutted in order for stupid non functional shower to be replaced by new tub and tile, THANK GOD.  Much more work to come in this awful bathroom.  Tub and tile replacement, paint, drywall repairs from the old leaky skylights.  Then whenever we tile the rest of the house we will finally be replacing the toilet and vanity.  I CANNOT WAIT.  I hate this bathroom right now. 

So as to not leave you with a pic of the awful bathroom, here is a happier pic of the baby room door and the guest room/office door.  Yay!!

I am a terrible blogger.  I even have my adorable pink plaid mini netbook so I can blog more, and do I?  Noooo.  Maybe someday I will be better at this stuff. 

What's been going on in the homestead.  For starters we took our Babymoon last week.  We headed down to Marco Island for a Monday through Friday getaway.  We stayed at the Hilton and even though it rained every.single.day and the mosquitoes were taking over the island, we still had a fabulous time.  We ate like a kings and queens, and caught up on our sleep.  We shopped during a few of the storms, and had ice cream at Coldstone every single night while looking at the million dollar yachts wondering what in the world the people who own them DO for a living. 

When we got home the weather cleared up and we had a beautiful weekend which we spent at the beach without having to pay for a hotel room (although there is something to be said for having your bed made for you everyday).  Pass-a-Grill is our beach of choice this summer and we've been there a bunch of times since we got back.  But alas, vacation is over and on July 5 we were awakened by the sound of a dozen hardworking Mexican roofers walking and hammering over our bedroom.  The re roof only took 12  hours and they did a fabulous job.  I love the shingles we picked out, our ugly soffit is fixed and painted, and our new efficient skylights in both bathrooms are awesome.  We are still waiting for the inspector, and we don't have to pay the roofers a penny until it passes, which I loved about them.   If you ever need a new roof, please call Shingle Masters. They are the best. 

We started the baby's room by ripping out the old ugly laminate.  We also moved the cable outlet and the modem into the next room.  There were 2 different cable outlets because the previous owners had satellite and then we had Brighthouse install cable and they put a new outlet next to the old one.  So there were lots of unnecessary outlets in the room that we patched up with new drywall.  We also fixed the drywall holes that were leftover from the plumbing repairs we had done a few months ago.   I say "we", I should have said "he".  I was on the couch.  I'm pregnant.  And lazy.  Although I am making meatloaf tonight, with mashed potatoes and brownies for desert.  That is not something a lazy bum would do, right?  :)   I couldn't really eat yesterday so I need to catch up today. 

Ooooh no.  I just took the meatloaf out of the oven and I noticed it didn't have any liquid in the bottom of the pan like it usually does.  Then I realized I forgot the water.  It was supposed to be 3/4 cup.  Is the meatloaf going to be rock-like?  Is that pregnancy brain thing I've heard about kicking in already at 15 weeks 2 days?  I'm definitely wearing maternity pants right now.  And they are comfy.  Plenty of room for dry meatloaf in there!

I'm Back Baby!!!

Seriously it's been over a month since my last post?? 

I have been a little out of sorts for the past 6 weeks.  Typical first trimester complaints, from what I hear.  Pretty much it was like a nasty hangover.  Is it terrible to compare something so beautiful and healthy and natural to something very ugly and most unnatural?  The nausea started the moment I opened my eyes in the morning and kept me awake when I would lay down at night. I slept all day and woke up several times at night to pee and eat.  I was dizzy when I was standing and all I wanted to eat was french fries and junky fast food burgers.  I tried not to complain out of respect for all the strong women I know who have miscarried and who are struggling to conceive.  Now that it's over I feel like it's OK to say... well that sucked.  However!  I feel so good and appreciative of these reborn healthy cravings that it's like a big bright rainbow after a storm!  It makes it worth feeling like poo to feel so good now.  It almost makes me believe all the crazy moms out there who say that the minute you see your baby it makes the pain of labor and delivery disappear.  That is yet to be determined, but I have a little more faith now. 

Well in the meantime I finally talked Brian into letting me buy a Netbook so I can blog more.  We had one laptop for our entire relationship and have spent a lot of time arguing over who gets it.  He usually wins because he's doing productive things on it like learning how to install his own in-dash navigation in his vehicle, which he is doing now.

He can be pretty handy.  Did I mention he fixed our AC the other day when it was 140 million degrees outside?  My Hero...  Love you honey :)

We have big plans around the house coming up.  The roofers will start our re roof on July 5th.  It is crazy expensive but our house is really not marketable with the roof as is.  When we bought this Money Pit 3 years ago the inspector told us he would pass us but 3 years in the future he would not.  We bought with the understanding that we would need a new roof so c'est la vie.  With the re roof we will get 2 new skylights in the bathrooms so that's super exciting! 

We also want to have the floors in the house tiled.  AND we have a problem in the guest bathroom.  One of the completely unhandy previous owners (presumably the very same ones who messed up the roof) converted the tub into a shower for a handicapped person.  But they never put a proper pan under it.  So when you take a shower water runs under the wall into the next room.  Guess what that means?  Yep.  Moldy Mold McMolderson.  I can't make this stuff up, people.  We had a contractor out for an estimate and it's looking expensive (naturally).  So we are looking for other contractors with other quotes.  I don't want to spend 10 grand on this little project.  (Floors and bathroom shower redo combined, but stilll....)

I'm also thinking of waiting to do the tile until we do the cabinets.  See, what we are dealing with is a tile/laminate/tile situation.  The kitchen is tile, the living area is laminate, and the hallway is tile.  The laminate is in the middle.  I ideally want to make it all tile, but mostly because the laminate is a terrible color and stain.  But my 5 year plan is to finally redo the cabinets and I would like the tile in the kitchen to go under the cabinets.  If we do the tile now around our 1968 cabinets  than we will likely have to redo it when we modernize.  SO I'm thinking maybe we could just redo the laminate in the living room when we do it for the nursery.  Then when we are ready to do the cabinets we can do the tile then., and ultimately leave the floor plan split.  I don't think I've convinced the husband of this idea though.  Here is a crappy phone pic to try and give you the idea of how the floor is broken up.  It's taken from in the tiled kitchen, looking through the living area which is world ugliest laminate, and past it into the hallway where the same tile as is in the kitchen.  Sigh.  What to do???  Now I'm thinking I might just do the bathroom and the nursery now and deal with the floors when I'm ready to do the kitchen cabinets at the same time.  Man, SOMEDAY this house is going to be awesome!   

Well that is enough about our house for today.  I will take some pics of the navigation when it is installed and working, but with the whole work situation getting in the way that might not be until Monday.  And hopefully I will take pics of the bathroom shower demolition/install very soon.  I would really like to have it functional for my family who will be visiting often once our munchkin is born.  In the meantime I have two munchkins at my feet right now.  Do you think they are going to be sad when there is a baby taking all their attention away from them?  At least they have each other I suppose.

P.S.  Can you share my misery with this ugly laminate?  Sigh.

Cozy up to the bar?

We got barstools!
Finally!
We went to the Macys Furniture Clearance store today and found these gems for $89 each!

My cabinets are the ugliest ever, so hopefully it won't be too long before this blog will document the installation of new cabinets!  And new floors in the living and dining rooms!  And a new roof!  And a mantle.  and windows.  and landscaping.  oh god I'm officially carried away.  Why did I want an older home again??