Home Project Exhaustion

Nursery
This weekend, my sister-in-law and niece came up and helped put together the nursery (still in progress). I admit, I have been dragging my feet on getting this project going because of all the other projects we have going. Amber sweetly gave me the rocker that was purchased by Nick's mom when she had Nick and then was given to Amber for her daughter 8 years ago. She painted it and re-covered it to match with my Peter Rabbit/Green, white theme:

She also did a small dresser which I do not have a picture to share. She made curtains and curtain ties. The ties match the cover on the chair. We found a dresser at a garage sale (I'm new at this garage saleing thing!) for $10 and together, we repainted it green with an antique stain. This will serve as the dresser/changing table. I will show pictures when it is put together. It is currently out in the garage taking up Nick's space while it dries.

Here is the crib we will be ordering in the next few weeks:

And here is my bedding:

Bathroom projects
To say that I am project(ed) out is an under statement. I love getting things done, but we have so much going on right now in the project world that it is a little overwhelming.

And while you can ignore things like not having tile on the wall behind the kitchen counters and missing tile in the front entryway, we definitely cannot ignore things like having no extra bathroom for when company comes. We have 2 bathrooms, one of which is in the master and the other for the main house. The guest bath is completely taken apart, see previous posts on that. Things are taking longer than we had hoped - mostly because of silly things like having to reinforce the subfloor in order to put tile in there. Sigh. It is always something when remodeling.

I think it was this exhaustion with house projects that prompted a complete change in opinion on the master bathroom. We had planned on doing the following to the master

• Gut completely
• reinforce subfloor
• put in a dual head tile walk in shower with glass doors
• move toilet away from shower so that the shower could be bigger
• Install pocket door to enclose toiled and shower separately with window at top to let skylight light in to the rest of the bathroom
• Purchase new double sink vanity, move over to accommodate larger shower and shifted toilet
• Install tile floors
• Install new hardware
• Paint
• Remove door and frame from door going between master and master bathroom and turn into archway (remember, there is a new pocket door inside of the bathroom to close off the shower and toilet)

I just don't have it in me to 1. Design this space 2. Pay for the new items  and the biggest item 3. Ask Nick to do yet another project. He is burning out, I can tell. I mean, look at the poor guy:

awww....

So, anyway - I made the executive decision that we will not be gutting the master bathroom...for now...but we will do some temporary updates since this space is partially taken apart. I wonder who would have started to take it apart without a plan...ahem, me. So here is what we will be doing to the master: 

• Remember when I complained about painting the cabinets and what a horrible job this was? Well, with the whole bathroom re-design idea, I scrapped those cabinets. But wait! With the mini-remodel, I resurrected them! I put the doors back on and Nick put the drawers back on (I suck at using a drill) and we got new hardware. 
• We will paint the laminate top (I have heard this job is hard and really sucks). I just have to remember that this is a temporary solution and that down the road, the true redo will be completed.
• Install new hardware (ie towel bars, shelf, etc), which was purchased at Costco ages ago and was going to be use, then wasn't going to be used and is now going to be a temporary solution. Oh mind changes. So fun!
• We are installing faux wood floors over the existing linoleum. These are waterproof, great for wet areas, look pretty ok, and super easy to install (ok ok, I will let you know just how "easy" after I watch Nick do it). They will warm the room up and give it a kind of spa feel. 
• Put a faux frame around the mirror and paint to match the trim.
• Paint
• DONE!

So here is a picture of what the "idea" of the space is: (progress picture)

Projects before baby (16 weeks and counting!!)

So here is a list of the projects that we need to finish before baby comes (and you will see why I changed the master bath plans) 

• Finish the Guest bath (complete re-do)
• Mini re-do of master bath
• Finish Nursery
• Finish putting up baseboard trim
• Tile the entryway
• Finish changing out the outlets in the house (many are uncovered)
• Build and install media cabinet for electronics in the family room and cut hole in drywall to hide wires
• Finish putting up blinds on windows

Projects on the back burner

• Re-side the house
• Re-paint the house
• re-do the deck
• Build covered area over deck that is screened in (I really wonder why the northwest has not caught on to this trend!! The east coast and south know how to use the outdoors better than we seem to)
• paver stone path around the front of the house and paver patio in the back
• Front grass re-do (currently has been killed, looks like crap :-)
• Install auto sprinkler system 
• Build pergola over fire pit that will be on the patio in the back
• Level out back field
• Change all doors in the interior of the house to solid wood
• Re-carpet bedrooms
• New garage doors and openers
• Build Nick's (large) shop on the back of the property
• Plant trees and flowers to hide the aforementioned shop
• Tile backsplash in kitchen
• This list is exhausting just to look at!

And just for fun, here is our new stroller and its current occupant:

A note on the stroller. I wanted a black one, the 2011 model. I went to REI because they are on sale right now. They had (by complete fluke cuz these babies are SOLD OUT) a 2010 model. Mind you, there were only 3 2010 models left in the entire U.S.A. and it was $290. The original price of the 2010 model was $380. The price of the 2011 is $441 and was $389 on sale. Still with me? The 2010 was not black. It was brown and blue. Not the color I wanted, and not matchy matchy with my Chicco Midori carseat (gasp!) but far cheaper. I had to put my vanity aside (sigh) and realize that those kind of savings were worth a bit of clashing. 

Baby things - and cloth diapers

Alrighty, I am now 22 weeks and 3 days pregnant and I have started gathering things for baby B. Oh, and don't expect this little bear to have a name pre-birth. I have a list, but we will not be naming him before we have a chance to meet him.

I purchased the infant car seat (figured this is not an "exciting" or "cute" gift, so the chances of us getting it from a friend or family member were slim. We are planning on getting a Bob stroller so baby bear can go running with me (and run our next 1/2 marathon once he is here) so that meant our choices were Chicco, Graco or Pegperigo. Chicco had the highest safety rating an a super cute green which can be used for a girl if that is what we have in the future (if we have more babies). So here she is, the Chicco Keyfit 30 in Medori:

My sister has 2 boys which means she has some pretty great items that I get to use. This past weekend, I came home with a swing, a pack n' play and a box of toys. 

Cloth Diapers

I have been determined to cloth diaper our baby since long before this baby was even a thought in the back of my mind. There are many reasons for wanting to cloth diaper which are as follows:

1. I don't know what is in disposable diapers. What I do know is that it is some sort of crazy gel substance that absorbs a crazy amount of liquid and waste. What I also know are several people who are allergic to whatever this magical pee soaker upper is...so I don't really trust it. I appreciate modern life, but the other day, I saw a special on the foam used in car seats and changing pads that has to be fire proof-they often use chemicals that are known neurotoxins. Given the choice, I would rather the car seat be susceptible to burning because the risk/reward  is better. I would take my chances with that rather than have my baby breathing in something and soaking up something through their skin that is known to cause brain damage - that's just me. 
2. Over the lifetime of 1 baby, the average person will spend $3,000 on disposable diapers and wipes. The investment for cloth is anywhere from $300 to $700 depending on the route you choose to go (I will get in to that later). Add in $95 for water and laundry detergent each year and that is still a savings of $2,0000. Then imagine using the same cloth for the next baby you have and that is around $5,000 in savings. Woa! All on a disposable diaper that you throw away. 
3. The earth. I am definitely not a tree hugging, stop driving, anti shower dreadlocks sort of hippie but being from Eugene, Oregon, I do have many hippie tendencies. We eat many organic foods, we compost, we grow our own garden, I use natural bath products (except deodorant, Im not crazy), I use enviro friendly detergents, I cringe when I am in a state that doesn't recycle and I have to throw away an aluminum can, I like to use organic cotton sheets and blankets, I recycle and on and on. A baby goes through 12 to 14 disposables in one day and maybe 8 changes down the road...lets just say the baby wears diapers til they are 2.5 years old so 12 months + 12 months + 6 months is 30 months or 365 days +365 days + 182.5 =912.5 days of diapering * 9 diapers (average over the diapering lifetime) 8,212 diapers for one baby. Holy what??? And if you have 2 babies then you are adding over 16,000 diapers to landfills. And do they even biodegrade? I have no idea. It makes me feel a little ill to think about adding that kind of waste to the landfills. (Don't worry friends, I won't judge your choices!! There are many reasons for diapering in disposables as I will outline later and if it is the path you go with like most people, I promise - no judgement from this granola)
4. I will be staying home with my baby/ies. This means that I have no excuse for having enough time to do the laundry associated with cloth diapering and I don't have to deal with daycare's who are probably not going to be interested in doing something special for my child when they have other kids to worry about. 
5. Have you seen the modern cloth diapers? They are cute and they are so soft!!! They are like an addition to an outfit! A pop of color!
6. Babies who are cloth diapered on average get fewer diaper rashes. 
7. Babies who are cloth diapered tend to potty train earlier (I believe this is because they can feel the wetness so they are more likely to have a greater awareness. The disposables have an amazing ability to take that wetness away from the skin and they don't really notice that they went)
8. I read this http://www.realdiaperassociation.org/diaperfacts.php 

So with that, the decision was made. I will let you in on a little secret thought, I am not a crazy cloth only type of girl. 

1. I refuse to invest in what they call infant cloth diapers. Expensive and they fit for a very small window of time. In the time it takes for my baby to fit in the smalls (generally 8 lbs or so, depending on the chunkyness of the legs), I will be using disposables - a natural, unbleached like 7th generation but a disposable none-the-less. 
2. When we travel, I will not be trying to launder cloth diapers. We will be using disposables when we travel. 
3. If family members are uninterested in learning how to cloth, then we will arm them with disposables. 

The selection process:

Who knew there were so many choices???

• All in ones (the inner part of the diaper and the waterproof part are all one piece that get laundered after each use)
• Pocket diapers  (you add absorbent pads into a pocket in the diaper)
• Diaper covers (you use a diaper and then cover it with a waterproof cover)
• Hybrids (you have a disposable portion that you throw away or flush and you have the reusable outer cover)

Then there are more choices:

• Sized (your baby wears a diaper that is sized small, medium, large, xl)
• One sized (there are snaps that change the diaper size so theoretically, you can use the same diaper from almost birth to potty training)

So what to do? I have friends who have boldly chosen a diaper pre-birth, made the investment and are sure they made the right choice. I will not be doing this. While I will end up spending a little extra in the long run, I want to test-drive the diapers and make sure they are the right ones for my baby. I will test-drive the following ones to begin with:

Rumparooz one size all in one 

Bumgenius one size all in one 

Bumgenius sized all in one

Gdiapers which I will use with trifold cotton diapers inserted

I will try each one and see which I like best, then I will make my investment. I am pulling for the gdiaper and for the rumparooz because they come in such cute color and print combos!!! 

Call me crazy but I am so excited to cloth diaper because if for no other reason, they are so CUTE!!!

Blogger down, lost posts

Um....blogger was down for quite a while yesterday and today and now it appears that my past 2 posts, which by the way contained tons of pictures are now gone...is anyone else having this issue?

Picture overload

I got my grubby little mitts on Nick's work camera which happened to have a ton of pictures of things that we have done in the past 5 months - so here they are:

Matt, Missie, Nick, Kenzie in Arizona for the National Championship football game

Me and Nick

Nick 

Day before the game margaritas (I was pregnant and didn't know it yet, oopsie)

The girls at the rally the day before the big game

The boys at the rally

The super cool beer tent at the rally

The stadium on game day

The Ducks warming up 

Oregon's green and yellow on the end zone

We took a day and went to Seaside to let trooper play on the beach (throw the ball already, mom!!!)

I love the beach!!

And then we (well I) took a nap on the trip back home. 

Another picture in Hawaii

House progress updates and baby

I realize I may have sounded bitter in my previous post which was not particularly intentional. I should have waited several days before posting the gender story to get over the shock and change in what we were expecting.

I am thrilled to be having a little boy - and with Nick knowing so much about boy things (think trucks, real tractors (we have 2 excavators in our back yard and a riding mower), welding, building things, etc) this little boy will definitely have a lot to follow daddy around and do. And lets be honest, I am probably more suited to be a mommy to a little boy (lack of design knowledge, lack of fashion sense, general lack of interest in most things uber girly - i.e. shopping, decorating, getting dolled up) with general interests in nature, the outdoors, hiking, running, sports, wearing sweatpants whenever I can get away with it, etc. Yep, pretty much thinking that being a mom to a baby boy will suit me just fine!

So here is where we stand with house projects:

Bathroom:

I think it is funny that the insulation says manville all over - don't ask, it's just funny

We are still in the studs and sub floor stage. 

We have purchased the tub, the tub faucets, the sink console, the sink faucet, the medicine cabinet, the light over the medicine cabinet, hardware like hooks-toilet paper holder-magazine rack. 

We have yet to purchase the toilet, floor and shower wall tiles, cement hardy board for under the tiles and for all the walls, any plumbing that is necessary for toilet-shower-sink, paint. 

Guest Bedroom:

I have taken apart the canopy bed (I am thinking about selling it) and put together the oak and brass bed but only used the head board. This really made the room feel bigger!!! I moved the oak file cabinet in to this room from the office. It matches the armoire and the bed and works as a bed-side table and makes for one less thing for me to deal with in clearing out the baby's room. 

This room is currently the holding area for the guest bathroom stuff (medicine cabinet, etc) and will hopefully be cleared out soon! 

Things that we will do with this room down the road: Paint (I am thinking a pottery barn grey), new carpets (I do not like the carpets in any of the bedrooms), add artwork.

Baby's room:

Recall - It looked like this:

And now it looks like this:

I have been working really hard to clear this room out. This was the office/storage room. Our house lacks storage space big time! The problem with the stuff this room stored is that they are important things like yearbooks, pictures, etc. We have decided that since our cabin has a ton of storage space, we will take the stuff out there. That way we know it wont get damaged. **Side note, when we build our dream home, we will be building ample storage - who builds a house with closets in the rooms and a small linen closet and that is IT for climate controlled storage??? Seriously! ** 

I have made a pile of things to go to the cabin and then there is a Nick pile of things he needs to go through and determine what needs to happen to it. 

Things to do: Buy baby furniture, put up curtains, new carpet, closet organization system. 

This is the theme/color scheme I will be going for:

Pottery barn Peter Rabbit

In other project news, we have been working outside too. We ripped out a stump in the front and then I planted rhodies which I would take a pic of but it's raining. Here are the before and during pics:

Yes, that is Trooper riding on the excavator with Nick. 

And finally - Trooper ate some sour candies (I'm not going to say who they belonged to...ehem, me) and had to go to the vet. He spent a few hours there detoxing (doggy rehab if you will) and came home looking like this:

But then he got some quality cuddle time with daddy and felt better

Bouncing forward and gender confusion

Hi All!

I have definitely been slacking when it comes to blogging lately. Sorry.

If you look to the right, you will notice that my ticker bounced forward by 3 days. Yep, my due date is now September 18th rather than the 21st! Hurray! Although we all know that this means little for when baby actually decides to come. What I do know is that all of my mom's pregnancies were over due, all of Nick's mom's were and my sister's were too...so I am just expecting to go over.

I got the opportunity to go up and have a professor at my best friend Amanda's sonography school scan me for their class to showcase a baby. It was so much fun to see the little bean move and turn and twist. A few things we learned during the scan - baby loves to have hands by it's face, baby loves to cross legs and make gender viewing difficult and finally, that baby looked healthy (although at a scan like this, they would not have told me that baby had issued because it was not under a doctor and was not diagnostic) Amanda also got the opportunity to scan me for a while and we got some amazing photo's of the little guy!

I learned that this ultrasound, after a lot of prodding, that it was a GIRL! 


After telling Nick the result, I gleefully set out to send the mass text to announce the gender. Let's be honest, I really didn't care about the gender, all I wanted was healthy. It took a few days to settle in that we would be having a little girl. After several days, I began looking online at clothes for her and checking out gear. While I knew that it was pretty dumb to buy a pink colored car seat, I fell in love with one and had my mind set on it. 


Back to the clothes - oh the clothes!!! The baby industry is completely one sided toward girls. If you walk into baby gap, 70-80% of all the clothes are for little girls. They are pink, green, yellow, white, every color you can imagine. They come in prints, flowers, plaid, frills! There are very few cheesy sayings...which btw, I don't particularly like, so hurrah! Cute clothes that don't have cheesy sayings all over them! 


For some reason, I didn't buy anything - I still had my 20 week scan on 5/5/11 so I had planned a shopping trip with my mother in law following the appointment. I did purchase a green fleece on sale at REI and I was gifted by my AMAZING girlfriends a Coach diaper bag (oh this bag is BEAUTIFUL!) my first designer bag EVER!


So, 5/5 finally arrived! I went in for my scan. She started at the heart, I love watching that little thing work away, so fast a furious! I told her that we wanted to confirm the gender, that I had a scan last week and it was a girl but she could feel free to confirm. She continued scanning the heart, then said "ok, I just really need to clear up this gender thing" so she went straight for the goods. Once in position I think I said "isn't that..." and she confirmed..."yea, you're having a boy" and my mother in law jumped out of her seat, Nick was speachless and I just kept asking, are you sure? 


So after a week of telling everyone "we're having a girl" and getting used to looking at girl things and making a list of names for girls, I was now having to switch to "we're having a boy" and thinking about boy clothes and boy things and names for boys. Oh BOY!! What a change, an exciting change  but a change none-the-less!


First and most important - our baby boy is HEALTHY!!! Everything looks great and measures great! And second most important is that the gender really doesn't matter. 


But I do have a bone to pick now that I am not in the girl section of stores anymore...


Back to the clothing industry. Hello? In major need of cute boy clothes??? Why is it that they are under the impression that mothers want to adorn their baby boys in cheesy sayings? "Daddy's little monster" and Daddy's tough guy" and "Rock star in training" and on and on and on. Call me crazy, but I really don't like these these!


Then there are the colors. Poo brown onsies with some print of a monster truck. Barf. Grey, yellow, blue and green shirts covered in monster trucks! or trains! or monsters! sigh. It's like if you want to find something cute, you have to search far and wide. 


I went to baby gap and had to work hard to stay in my little corner and not glance at the HUGE girl section which by the way was full of color! The boy section was blue, kaki, and green, seriously devoid of color. Camouflage! Motorcycles! Old man sweaters! double sigh. 


Don't get me wrong, I am SOO excited for my little boy!!! I am so happy he is healthy and so thrilled to be able to have a baby. My beef is with the clothing makers-who seriously need to take another look at who is buying clothes for a 6 month old. I mean, I get it, when they are older, they love all these boy things - cars, trucks, motorcycles, trains - but when they are little, the cuteness of the clothes is for the mom and I am seriously pleading with you designers to realize that baby boys need cuteness too!!! 


In other baby news - at my 11 week scan I was told that my placenta was in the back which meant I could expect to feel baby move early! Hurray! 19 weeks rolled around and other people who were close to me in pregnancy weeks had long ago been feeling baby's kicks and jabs. Still nothing. When I went for the scan at the school, they said my placenta was on the front...hm. That explains things! And the 5/5 scan confirmed this. All that worrying, why can't I feel baby move because I was told the placenta was in the wrong place. Oh well! At this point, I think I feel things every once in a while...but maybe they are just muscle twitches?

Photo shoot

My amazing girlfriend over at The Fabulous Life of a Coaches Wife is a Stella and Dot stylist which she is fabulous at. She wanted to do a photo shoot of "real people" wearing the fantastic jewelry she sells (seriously, this stuff is fantastic, check her out!) so she booked a session with Murray Photography (they are amazing!) to take some photo's of Jessica, Ali, Sarah and I wearing some of the pieces. Here are some of my favorites from the shoot:

Fantastic jewelry and fantastic photography with awesome girls! What a great afternoon!