Wednesday, June 12, 2013

We're Switching Rooms!

Sooo.... just this week I completely finished the nursery!!!  All that is left to be done is setting up the new crib.  That's all!!!  Newborn clothes are washed and put away, closet has been reorganized to fit clothes for 2 babies, and all of the burp cloths, bibs, and other necessities are neatly organized and in place.

I also had the glider rocker, all the toys, bookshelves, everything moved into the playroom.  I was getting it set up and had started looking at decorating and layout ideas.  It was looking cute.

But......I am me.  And I like to reorganize and reconfigure things all the time.  It's what I do.

Ask my husband.

So.....at 29 weeks pregnant (tomorrow), we are redoing all of it.  Hahahaha.

Poor hubby.

While both the nursery and the playroom have the same amount of square feet, the current playroom just makes more sense as a nursery.  Let me explain why.  Yes, I listed reasons because this is what I had to do to convince my husband to switch the rooms. :) 

Why the Current Playroom Would Be Better Suited as a Nursery

1. There are 3 useable corners in the playroom as opposed to the 2 useable corners in the nursery.  In the current playroom, the closet and the door to the hallway are sharing a corner.  So there is more useable wall space in the rest of the room.  In the nursery, the closet is in one corner of the room, and the door to the hallway is in another corner.  So in the current nursery, there is less continuous wall space than in the playroom.  In other words, there is very little wall space for 2 cribs without blocking a window or having the cribs in an "L" shape right up against each other.  I don't want them in an "L" shape, because I don't want August messing with Baby in the middle of the night. :)

2. The location of the current nursery in relation to the front porch.  The current nursery has a window that looks out onto the front porch.  This has always worried me ever since August was a newborn.  If someone were going to break in, they would likely go through a window...an easy to get to window like the one on the front porch.....or at least that's what happens in my mommy mind.  I am constantly waking up in the night thinking I hear someone in there on the baby monitor.  The window of the current playroom is well off the ground and doesn't share the front porch.  Also, once the boys are a little older, I don't want going out the window at night to be any sort of temptation. :)

3. Water pipes.  The water pipes run through the walls of the current nursery.  Anytime I run the washer, August always at least stirs if he doesn't wake up completely.  The water running is very loud in there.  So I usually limit laundry to the times he is awake, which obviously is not very convenient.  You would have thought he would have gotten used to the water by now, but the older he got, the more it woke him up.

4. Location of the current nursery in relation to the living room/front door.  The nursery is currently in the room closest to the entry way/living room.  This means anytime we have people over or the door bell rings, it wakes August up.  The current playroom is further away from the front of the house, so there will be less noise back there so they will sleep better.

Those are my reasons, and I'm sticking to them. :)

I have already completely switched the contents of both closets!  Once Adam gave me the go ahead, I was a woman on a mission.  If it weren't for August being in bed, I would be in there right now switching the furniture....but then I would probably go into labor, so maybe that's a bad idea. 


Previous playroom (New nursery) Closet BEFORE....yep, this closet is our vice.  It's the only hoarding place I have allowed in the house.  It contains a few craft items, high school/college memorabilia, lots of Marine uniforms and gear, back packs and purses, and a few special occasion dresses that I am hoping and praying to fit into again.


Previous playroom (New nursery) Closet AFTER......Baby stuff!!!!  Ignore the crooked hanging shelf.  Will be fixed soon.

Here is what the (ex) playroom looks like after all the junk was cleaned out and we moved in the glider rocker, book shelf and toys.  The toys are still in laundry baskets waiting to be put away.  If you want to see where we started with this room (aka- if you want to see my junky room), click HERE.





 
 
The (ex) nursery looks the same as it always has except there is a blank spot next to the window where the glider rocker used to be. 


So that's a little update for you!  We have plans tomorrow night, so we will be switching all of the furniture between the rooms Friday night, if all goes as planned.  I'm sooooo excited!!!! :)  Thank you, Adam!!!  LOOOOOVE YOOOOU! :)

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

3rd Anniversary Weekend Getaway!

Last weekend Adam and I took an overnight getaway for our third wedding anniversary.  I was very nervous about leaving August overnight since I never had before.  I knew he would be fine with my parents, but I still worried that he would think I left him forever.  Of course that turned out not to be true, and he had a blast with his Nana and Grandpa.  I'm thankful to my parents for taking such great care of him so hubby and I could get away!

After we dropped August off with my parents, we ate at Applebee's since my father in-law had given us a gift card. I had the most amazing meal!  Seriously, it was soooo good.  It was a new dish there called "Margarita Queso Chicken and Shrimp."  The name doesn't even do it justice.  The shrimp was covered in a lime-cilantro sauce, and the Mexican rice was mixed with queso.  Then the whole thing was topped with sliced avocado.  Oh my goodness.  So good.  It has inspired me to fix several dishes this week using those same ingredients. 

After we left Applebee's, we headed for our motel.  We stayed at a Comfort Inn close to Lanier World.  Lanier World, where we would be spending the next day, actually has a resort, but for $300 a night, we weren't interested.  We gladly slept in the Comfort Inn 2 miles away for less than a third of the resort price.  Bonus: Comfort Inn included breakfast! 

The next day we spent laying on the beach!  Yep, a beach in the middle of Georgia.  Who knew?  Lanier World has a water park, board walk, ferris wheel, and even a sand beach.  We basically just spent the day laying out in the sun and swimming.  It was wonderful.  I really needed that getaway just to unwind and reconnect with Adam.  He stays very busy with work and church, so I feel like I hardly ever get to see him.  It was like we got to know each other all over again.  It was much needed.  We also enjoyed the sights from the ferris wheel.  Here are a few pictures and video from the trip! 







Adam dug me a belly hole so I could lay on my belly!  What a man!


Beach feet pic fail.  Finger bombed, white feet, new scar on left foot where I dropped my laptop. 



 




We made it back home in time to give August a bath and hit the sack!  I slept sooo well being back in our own bed.  I am looking forward to another getaway! :)

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Life Update! 6.5.13

Well hello!  Long time no chat! I know I have been completely neglecting the blog lately, but life has just been so busy.  I'll make up for it by making this a long post.  :)  I don't even know where to start.  I'll start with pregnancy.  As of today (Wednesday, June 5th), I am 27 weeks and 6 days pregnant.  28 weeks tomorrow!  It really is flying by now, and I can't believe we are approaching week 30!  That's so crazy!  Here are a couple pictures of recent weeks.


26 weeks....sorry for the quality
27 weeks
I'm getting huge!  I feel like my belly is EVEN bigger this time, but I guess that's to be expected with your second baby.  I have gained 16 or 17 pounds so far.  Yeah, my weight took off once I hit 20 weeks.  I had only gained 5 pounds at 20 weeks.  Oh well, I have been eating a lot better (more healthy) than I did last pregnancy, and I consistently walk about 3 times a week.  I'm not too worried about it. 

This baby is SOOOO LOW.  He doesn't look terribly low in these pictures, but I think he feels so low because I think he is still breech.  I am feeling very very strong and painful kicks down below.  They hurt pretty bad.  I talked to my doctor (the OB I have to see every couple visits), and he said 1/3 of babies are still breech at this point and by 36 weeks only 2% are still breech.  So I am hoping this little guy will turn soon.  I remember I used to complain about August's feet being in my ribs.  That was painful, but this is a whole different kind of painful. 

I have also figured out that I can't eat pork this pregnancy.  In the past 10 or so weeks, I have had grilled pork chops, pork ribs, and hot dogs.  I have gotten extremely sick each time afterward, so much so that I think I am in labor.  We have almost gone to the hospital twice.  It's that bad.  So I am staying away from pork for the rest of pregnancy, although bacon hasn't seemed to affect me any. 

I have been waist deep in nursery and play room preparations.  It's a lot less stressful this time having the nursery already mostly done.  I have been cleaning out August's dresser and closet to make room for Baby's things, and I am slowly adding the newborn clothes in.  It's really fun!  I enjoy getting ready for him.  I also just got the playroom cleaned out this week.  It was a junk room.  Here are some progress photos.


Playroom Before....view from doorway

Playroom Before....view from doorway looking left



August's closet Before....yep, it got had gotten messy.



Nursery organization/clean out in process!


Here is what the play room looks like today. I would take a picture of the nursery, but August is sleeping  supposed to be sleeping.



Everything you see, minus the broom, is staying in there, it just needs to be organized.  The rest of his toys are in the living room right now.  Not pictured in a corner of this room is the new crib mattress and a box of picture frames that need to be hung.  I will have to get on that.  I usually get Adam to help me.  I'm not good at hanging stuff.  The bookshelf you can kind of see in one of the pictures is the bookshelf that was in August's room.  (To see a nursery tour right before August was born, click HERE.  Ignore the yellow cast in the pictures.  The room is actually light gray, the same as the color of the play room).  I moved the bookshelf out so we can put all the books in the play room, and it will also have extra space on it for some organizers for toys.  To replace it, I put the organizer from our entry way (remember it from HERE?).  It once held....junk...that we kept right by the front door, and then it held August's toys that we kept in the living room, and now I will have it in the nursery to store burp cloths, hats, no scratch mittens, baby shoes, lotions, and the baby thermometer. 

For the playroom, I would like to have a little reading corner, a different area for August to spread out with his toys, and I would also like to have an art area.  The art area may have to wait until August gets a little older.  He already loves coloring though.  I have a small wooden table and chairs set that I found at a yard sale.  It's in the garage and needs to be sanded and painted.  He isn't really old enough to use it yet.  I will also put the glider rocker and ottoman in the play room so that I can have a place to nurse Baby while August plays. 

So that's what's been going on around here! Lots of planning!

August is doing very well.  He STILL isn't walking yet!  He turned 13 months old on Monday.  I didn't walk til I was 15 months though, so we'll see what he does.  He could definitely do it, he is just afraid.  He is great at walking while holding your hands or holding onto the wall, he just doesn't want to let go.  The boy has safety concerns, nothing wrong with that. :)  His eating is CRAZY.  He literally wants to eat all day long.  I seriously cannot keep up with his appetite.  He gets so excited over food too.  He goes nuts over it.  Speaking of nuts, we introduced peanut butter (and fish) and have had no problems.  Whew!  I am so thankful.  I feel like I am getting in a rut with his meals though.  Lunch is pretty much a turkey sandwich (cut up into pieces) or a peanut butter (and sometimes jelly) sandwich every day with fruit and gold fish crackers.  What do you fix for your toddler to eat?  Sometimes he will eat leftovers from the night before, but we don't always have leftovers.  He loves yogurt, cheese, and milk.  But I'm trying not to give him too much dairy because I don't want him to be constipated.  I could use some new ideas. 

Here is a video from last week of August walking down the hallway (holding onto the walls)!  This was the first time he had attempted to walk without holding onto furniture.




His new favorite thing to do lately is to help me unload the dishwasher. Sometimes he doesn't like to give up the silverware though. :)  Don't worry, all knives were removed prior to this video. :)




Adam and I also celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary yesterday!  It seems longer but shorter all at the same time.  Longer because we have had SO much happen in the last 3 years, and shorter because the years pass by so quickly.  I actually don't have any pictures because we were really lame for our anniversary.  We have been so busy lately that we were both pretty tired and just wanted to relax together, plus I had a Captain D's craving.  LOL.  I know.  So we drove to Captain D's to pick up supper (with August).  I saw that their "Original" 4 piece fish meal was only $4.99!  I got really excited because I looove their battered fish.  So I got that.  Well, we decided to stop at a kids' park on our way home so we could eat and then let August play some.  Well, when we got to the park, I opened up my meal to find....not battered fish.  It looked like the fish sticks you cook in the oven that you buy from the grocery store.  It was definitely not battered.  I got mad.  Haha.  You don't mess with a pregnant girl's cravings, ok?  So I decided we were going back.  What else could "original" possibly mean?  I mean, when  you think of Captain D's "original" fish....do you think of anything besides their regular, battered fish?  I sure don't!  That would be like going to KFC and ordering their original recipe...and then they give you a bucket of hot wings.....say what?!  So yes, I was ticked.  So we go back to the drive-thru. 

I ask the lady, "Is the 'original' recipe the same as the battered fish that y'all have always had?"

"No," she says.

I was so mad.  That is false advertisement, is it not?!  I know I'm worked up over this, but I hate things like this!  You can't say something is "original" if it is brand new! 

Ok sorry, I'm getting carried away.  So I end up ordering what I really wanted (we forgot to order for August anyway, so he gets the nasty looking fish sticks.  Sorry, August. He liked them just fine by the way.  Poor kid doesn't know any better.)  The battered fish meal was literally double the price!  Grrrr.  I hate Captain D's.

So we pull around, and I am going to say something to the girl at the window.  I was actually going to ask to speak to the manager.  Adam's head is about between his legs at this point.  But when we get to the drive-thru, we see there is a different girl there, and we actually know her.  She used to go to our church.  So Adam begs me not to get into it.  I spare him the embarrassment and promise I will write a letter to corporate.  Oh the rants of a pregnant woman. 

So on the way home, I'm trying to put out my fumes.  We are at a red light, and I hear the car next to me honk.  I try to ignore it, thinking it's probably someone I know, and I'm too mad to look cheerful right now.  Adam's points to the car next to us since they apparently were trying to get my attention.  A girl (who is driving) is leaning over the passenger seat, hanging out the window.  I roll my window down just in time for her to yell out, "You got a lighter?!"

............"No, no I don't have a lighter."

She steps on the gas as the light turns green.  Adam and I about fall out of our seats laughing at this point.  Here I am, rolling in a mini van (yes, we got a mini van), with a kid in the back seat, bumpin to our Christian rap, and this lady wants to know if I have a lighter.  It was just kind of hysterical....and weird. 

So while we are laughing about that, I bring up the subject of baby names.  (I bring this up every day.)  We have it narrowed down to 3 names.  We decide that we both really like one name in particular, but we always come up with a reason as to why it just "doesn't work."  We both suddenly decide that it can work if we want it to work, and who's to say it doesn't?  So we both decide, yes, that's his name!  So then there was a lot of celebrating and laughter the rest of the way home as we talked about our Captain D's trip, the girl who needs a lighter, and our new baby boy's name.  Haha, that car ride alone made it a memorable anniversary.

We came home and had dinner together, gave August a bath, watched Extreme Makeover Weightloss Edition, stuffed cloth diapers and folded laundry.  :)  It was a great night.  Haha.  We didn't need a fancy dinner.  I couldn't have asked for a better evening.  We do plan to take our first overnight trip soon without August.  It will be very sad, and I know I will cry, but I will be glad I took a little get away when the new baby gets here, I am sure.  I won't be able to go overnight without a baby again for a while since the next one will be nursing.  So I am going to take advantage of the opportunity.

Well, I guess that's about it for my update.  I need to get busy reorganizing baby clothes into tubs.  I did this last year, but they have gotten messed up as we pull things out and put things back in.  I will leave y'all with some recent pictures!

Pinky up

Heidi and Doug (Doug's a girl...don't ask.)


Favorite breakfast lately...strawberry cream cheese toast topped with strawberries


Red Robin date night


Playing in his crib while I work on the nursery

Think he's tired?

Yes, I think he is tired.  This is his "I hate lasagna" face.

Sunday afternoon newspaper reading with Grandpa (my dad).

My lunch date with myself!  Veggie roll and Glimpses of Grace.  Nana had August since I had a doctor's appointment.

 
Images by Freepik