Pregnancy: 30 Weeks

I can't believe we've already made it to this point.  The last 10 weeks have flown by and it just hit me yesterday that this is ACTUALLY happening.....and fast!  This little one is going to be here before we know it, whether we are ready or not.  B and I are both really excited, but there are still a lot of outstanding projects and things that we wanted to get done before he arrives in mid-August (or sooner....EEK)!!  The nursery is obviously the first priority, but there are also a lot of things that we just wanted to tackle before our time is a little less.....what's the word.....abundant?  I'm sure all of you first-time parents know what I'm talking about.  We have high hopes to keep up our home improvement plans and continue doing DIY projects as often as we have been, but the reality is that we are probably going to slow down quite a bit when our +1 arrives.  In fact, some people have told me that the world pretty much stops spinning for a few weeks and you simply survive hour to hour or minute to minute, cramming in naps whereever possible and keeping your eyes open the rest of the time with toothpicks.  We are definitely not naive to the fact that this is going to drastically change our lives and our schedules, but let's just say that we are "hopeful" that we will still be able to continue feeding our passion for projects. 

In the more pressing pregnancy-related world, things are going surprisingly well.  Almost too well...to the point that I'm waiting with bated breath for something to go wrong.  I know that's terrible to say, but I've seen a lot of friends and family go through difficult pregnancies, so I know about all the possible complications.  Either we are just really lucky, or something is waiting for us during delivery.  I honestly hope not, and all signs point to a normal birth, but I'm just trying to brace myself for the possibility......because right now I feel great!  I admit that the first 20-21 weeks were pretty hard with the morning all-day sickness, but since then it has been a breeze.  I'm definitely getting bigger and its a little more uncomfortable to sleep and to tie my shoes, but I'm actually really happy right now.  For a long time, I didn't believe people when they said that there was such a thing as a "happy pregnancy".....I just thought it was a myth.  But I get it now and I feel that way.  I'm actually enjoying this time and I'm a little sad that it is almost over.  Check back with me in 8 weeks and see if I'm still singing the same tune, but for right now, I'm loving life!  In fact, we decided to meet up with my brother's friend Eric from EAS Photography yesterday and take some maternity photos. 

He hasn't done all the editing yet for the 2,000+ photos that he took (haha..he was a little trigger-happy), but here is a little sneak peak.....

I'm really happy with them so far, but can't wait to see the rest of them.  We did half of the shots in a studio setting and then the other half at a local park in my hometown.  It was so much fun!!  I was a little hesitant to do something like this until I heard a few people recommend it.  But now I would absolutely recommend it to anyone.  It was a great experience and although we don't plan to plaster our walls with these photos, they are nice to have and to put in a photo album or journal for the little one to look at when he's older.  I admit that it took a few minutes for me to warm up to the camera, but he honestly did all the work, I just had to stand there and hold my burgeoning belly!  Hehe.  He has a  really good eye for light and format and his work is honestly amazing.  I definitely suggest checking his portfolio out if you are in the NH-MA-Maine area and are looking for engagement or wedding photos, portraits(children and adults), maternity shots or just artistic work.  He is really talented and SUPER nice to work with. 

So that's it for the 30-week update.  We have another check-up next week with the doc and then we move into the once-a-week visits, so I'll keep you posted.  We are also looking into getting a 3D or 4D ultrasound done locally in the next week or so since we won't have another scheduled ultrasound for 5 more weeks.  If anyone has done this and has comments or opinions, I would love to hear it.  My brother and sister-in-law did it with their twins, and the pictures are AMAZING, so that was what gave us the urge to do it ourselves.  I am all ears if you have suggestions and thoughts though. 

Be back tomorrow with an update on the bathroom shower fix too.....it's FINALLY done!! YAY!

Trash to Treasure Update

The sun finally returned to Boston after a much-too-long hiatus and I can't tell you how happy I am.  In fact, everyone seems happier.  After 14 straight days of rain, a bit of a depression was starting to set in around the city.  Unfortunately I'm stuck inside my office all day, but hopefully I will be able to get out and enjoy the weather during my lunch break!  But the real reason I'm talking about the weather is because I was FINALLY able to take a picture of what I've done so far with the "trash" that I found at the transfer station a few weeks ago (check here for more information on that).  The lighting had been limited non-existent for so long that I wasn't able to capture it until this morning.  The pictures aren't great, since they are just from my iPhone, but at least this will give you an idea of the space until I can do a full post of the transformation. 

If you recall, the table looked like this when I picked it up at the dump....

Not too shabby, if I might say so, but it definitely needed some accessorizing.  So I grabbed some items from around the house and took a quick spin to Home Goods to supplement anything missing.  I ended up with some $19.99 artwork and a $6.99 ceramic bird (LOVE!).......so for under $30 I was able to update this blank spot.  I still need to find something for the adjacent wall (to the right) but I can't seem to find anything that is the right scale (since its a 6' stretch of bare wall from floor to ceiling.  Take a look at what we have so far and let me know if you have any suggestions....

It's pretty simple, but that is kind of the theme around our casa, so I wanted to keep things consistent.  I'm sure I will change up the little vignette every once in a while, but I think it works for the time being.  And even though the blank space to the right still bothers me, I feel better about it after this mini-transformation.  At least the corner isn't entirely empty like it used to be (well....except for when our christmas tree took up residence there for almost two full months....she was a survivor!).   For now, I'm enjoying the simple set-up and scheming (more than normal) about how to fill the rest of the space.  Any thoughts, opinions, suggestions would be more than welcome!!

So that's it so far for my trash to treasure transformation.  And although I didn't have to do anything to the table (which is always more rewarding) this time around, it still feels nice to fill up some space in the room for FREE (well, except for the giclee prints and the bird....isn't he adorable)!!!  Can't beat that price. 

 

Babymoon

Sorry for the delay in getting these pictures uploaded.  I feel like it has been a whirlwind since we got back from vacation and I can't seem to catch my breath.  As a brief update, we did find a washer and dryer late last week and it was delivered on Saturday.  YAY......except for the fact that the existing plug was a 120 V and the new dryer requires 220 V (Lesson learned: double check these little details before you have someone come to install something).  So needless to say, we have a beautiful set sitting in our basement at the moment, but no clean clothes in our closets.  B thinks that he can tackle the electrical update (which I will definitely write about whether he is successful or not), but he won't be able to get to it until Saturday morning.  EEK!!  Thank goodness we both own an ungodly amount of underwear, otherwise I would have to run out and buy some to get us through the week.  And just in case anyone is confused.......yes, we could definitely wash our clothes, but I don't like the feeling of rack-dried clothes (and since it has been raining for the last 12 days and hanging them outside to dry isn't an option).  Maybe I'm being picky, but I feel like the clothes are really stiff if you dry them inside.  Not my favorite.....but if this goes on longer than Saturday, I'm going to have to bite the bullet and do a few loads. 

And in other house-related news, our upstairs bathroom (which I don't think I've ever shown here on the blog....brace yourself) is causing us some problems as well. 

Lovely, right?  It's actually an old picture.  We have since painted the white door black, replaced the toilet with a white one (shame to see old blue go though) and removed the curtains, but overall it still looks pretty awful.  Enough reminiscing though, onto the story of the day.  So......during a routine lather-fest, the soap dish broke off and left us with a gaping 8x10" hole that goes through to the studs.  It would have been easily fixable with some grout and caulking except for the fact that it smashed into 1000 pieces when it hit the tub floor and is far from usable at this point.  I did find a replacement one at HD (they didn't seem to carry the same blue tile from the 60's anymore, but I settled for a white one instead), but its a little bit bigger than the hole, so we are going to have to chisel off a 1/16 of an inch to make it fit.  More on that later though....

But I digress.  Let's get to the pictures.....

It was paradise.  As I said before, we would have been really happy anywhere in the world (as long as it wasn't at work or at home), but this was definitely an amazing destination.  I would highly recommend Grand Cayman to anyone (with one small caveat....the exchange rate is 1.25 to 1, so the food is pretty expensive, but as long as you know that going in and budget for it, it should be fine!!!). 

And here are some shots of the happy couple....

And finally, on to the highly requested belly shots........duh duh duh....

I was 27 weeks when these pictures were taken, so just shy of the third trimester mark.  I'm finally feeling good, but the whole scale tipping thing is still a little hard for me to swallow.  The doc says that we are "on track" as far as the weight gaining goes, but it's still hard to see the numbers go up every week....eek!  We had an appointment yesterday in fact, (we are 28.5 weeks at this point) and I've gained 22 lbs since we conceived.  Ultimately everything looks good though and he is doing really well, so that's all that really matters.  My original goal at the beginning of this pregnancy was to stay in the lower part of the 25-35 lb. recommended weight gain parameter, but it's looking like I'm going to be closer to 35 when all is said and done.  I hear that breastfeeding helps a little to get rid of the weight gain, so I'm just going to hope for that and see how it goes.  I definitely don't expect to be back in my pre-pregnancy clothes for the trip home from the hospital, but I would also like to avoid wearing maternity clothes for too long after little B arrives...here's hoping!  Any tips on how to shed the post-pregnancy weight are welcomed!

I'll be back soon with details on the washer and dryer decision...stay tuned!

Back In Action

So sorry for the long hiatus.....we went on our "babymoon" last week and I have been scrambling around the last few days trying to get back into the swing of things.  It will probably take a few more days for me to adjust to doing more than sitting on a float and reading a book all day, but I'll manage eventually. 

Honestly, though, whoever thought up the concept of a "babymoon" is a genius....which means it was probably a woman!  It was so great to spend time together without worrying about work or the house or chores; just us.  I'm sure we will travel after he is born, but I have a feeling it won't be the same (even if we leave him with our reliable parents).  We are really excited about the future, don't get me wrong, but it has just been the two of us for over 5 years now and it's going to be hard to shift the focus away from the "two of us" to the "three of us".  It's sort of sad but exciting at the same time.  It is like a new chapter in our lives.  And to be completely honest, we spent most of the week talking about him to each other or talking to my belly and feeling his kicks together.....so at the end of the day, the adjustment will probably be easier than we think. 

I could go on forever about that though, but let's get down to the details.  For our little getaway, we decided to go to Grand Cayman for a 7-night stay.  It was ah-mazing!  Every moment was fantastic.  We probably could have been anywhere warm together and it would have been wonderful, but I was especially impressed with the beaches.  We have been to a few different islands in the Caribbean over the years and this has by far the best beach we've seen.  It was not too crowded, clean, walkable and the water was just breathtaking.  I can't think of a better way to have spent our last "hoorah" together.  If anyone wants more specific information or has questions about the island, please feel free to shoot me an email at simplebeautifulhome@gmail.com.  I could go on and on about the trip for hours, but I will spare you my diatribe. 

In house-related news though, we came back to a bit of a mess.  Our dryer broke the day before we left.....wa waaaa.  I'm pretty sure it was manufactured around 1975, so after a 36-year run we can't blame him for going into retirement.  Let's face it, that is a lot longer than I plan to work...haha (only kidding, honey!).  But despite the fact that we knew this day would come, we weren't exactly prepared to buy a new dryer right away.  I was hoping to shop around and get a really good deal before we actually NEEDED it, but obviously that didn't work out.  Best laid plans.....  So, needless to say, we are on the hunt for a new matching washer and dryer set at the moment and it is a bit overwhelming.  We were originally going to just buy the dryer, but since the washer is a bit older as well, we thought it would make sense to switch to a more energy efficient model at this point and sell the older one on craigslist to make up some of the cost.  We have been looking at consumer reports and online reviews for the last few days and I can't say that we are much further along in the process than we were before we left for vacation, but I feel like I'm pretty well-versed in the differences between a top loader and a front loader, as well as the cost-savings we could benefit from by using a high-efficiency washer.  So....I'm going to keep at it and I will be back with some details on what I find.  If anyone out there has purchased a set recently and would like to share their opinions or reviews, I would REALLY appreciate it. 

And on top of that, the ice maker in our fridge stopped working.  At first, we thought that it was smart enough to go into "vacation mode" while we were away and not waste the ice cubes, but it has been a few days now and we can't seem to get it going again.  Luckily we purchased the extended warranty though, so they are coming out to check it out next week!  Phew!  This really isn't too much trouble for us, but its just another thing that we have to deal with when we would rather be working on nursery-related projects and taking care of some landscaping needs (our lawn is finally looking normal....but I think it will take another year and maybe some seeding in August to get it to where we want).....ahhhh the joys of homeownership!

So that's it for my little update.  I have a lot of projects up my sleeve...and even some that I've already completed and haven't had a chance to blog about, so stay tuned!! 

Oh, and I will update this post with some photos tonight when I get home.  I have been meaning to upload them from my camera for the last few days, but lately I have been so tired when I get home from work that I just plop on the couch and fall asleep at 8:00....oops!  I guess that's pretty common for the third trimester though......EEEK I can't believe there are only 13 weeks left!! 

Happy Wednesday everyone!!

Patio Furniture: Round 1

So we finally scored some inexpensive patio furniture this past weekend from Home Depot and Home Goods.  We looked at Lowe's, HD, Wal-Mart, Sears, Ace Hardware, Target and a bunch of local seasonal stores over the last few weeks and ended up going with old faithful....the Depot!  Thanks to everyone for their suggestions on patio furniture though.  It's always helpful to hear personal reviews on things before you buy them!  We definitely checked out EVERYTHING imaginable, but at the end of the day, we needed a certain size/shape to fit properly on the deck so a wrought iron patio set from HD was the answer.  There were a lot of great rectangular options at all of the stores listed above, but none of them would really fit well on our deck....BOO!  But in the end, we are REALLY happy with the set we got. 

Check her out on the HD website and on my deck:

Nothing too fancy, but that's exactly what we were aiming for.  We opted for 4 chairs initially (since that was what fit well in our car) but I think we might head back over to pick up 2 more for additional seating when we have a party.  And since these chairs are stackable, we can just hide them away in the corner until we need them (or even in the garage)! 

The other great thing about this set is the price.  The table was $89.98 and the chairs were $29.98 each....for a grand total of $209.90.  And on top of that, my brother recently moved, so he was nice enough to let me use his 10% off coupon that he got in the mail.  YAY!  We walked out of there with an entire patio set for only $188.91!!  Unfortunately we still need to get an umbrella and umbrella stand, but I'm pretty happy with the cost so far.  If anyone has suggestions for that purchase, I am all ears!  I have looked everyone and have been hesitant to pull the trigger on anything for fear that it will only last us one season.  My parents gave us their old one to use last summer when the guys were still working on the deck in the heat all day, but unfortunately it got swept away one day in a storm and ripped in a few places.  We are worried that this might happen again depending on the type of umbrella we get (since we clearly get some strong wind gusts in our backyard) but it's hard to tell from online photos what style will hold up best.  So if you have an umbrella that you love, or you have a horror story or some words of wisdom to share, I would love to hear it!!

We are also looking for an umbrella that will match the cushions that I found at Home Goods.  They have light blue, dark blue, and a sage green in them.  They caught my eye as soon as I walked in the door.  I knew I couldn't leave without them!  I'd looked at a few other patterns and styles while we were hunting for the furniture, so I'd seen the prices and decided that $29.99/two cushions wasn't a bad deal!  Obviously I would have loved to get them on clearance, on craigslist, or for free, but after weeks of searching it just wasn't working out that way.  So another $60 later we have some nice comfy cushions (which I have to tell you are a MUST for me at this point in my pregnancy....I swear that I build forts whereever I go in the house in order to get comfortable....not sure if this is normal behavior, but it has gotten me through the last 6 months of this pregnancy pretty well). 

So I'm thinking of going with either a sage green or light blue for the umbrella.....what do you think?  Oh, and another concern I have with the umbrella is durability.  If you don't go with the sunbrella fabric, will it fade too easily and look terrible after one season?  I decided to go non-sunbrella for the cushions, but I also plan to keep them in a box on the deck when we aren't using them so they won't be constantly exposed to the sun.  Any thoughts on that would be greatly appreciated as well!  We are closing in here on the deck project, but I'll keep you posted (literally) on any other developments along the way!  Stay tuned!

One Man's Trash....

....is a crazy/hormonal pregnant woman's treasure!!  But before I get ahead of myself, let me tell you the story.  So, this past weekend I was on a routine trip to the "transfer station" (apparently my town is a little too proud to call it like it is....a DUMP) when I decided to take a quick peek at the swap area.  One of my neighbors clued me in on this when we first moved in and I can't tell you how excited I was.  The point of the swap is to leave your unwanted items (ones that you can't justify throwing out or don't want to bother selling, but just can't find a place for) so that someone else can use them.  It's like a free craigslist!!  The best part being that you never know what you might find.  So instead of sending B solo to take the trash out on Saturdays, I make it a point to volunteer my services or offer to join and "help out"!  And every time, I glance over at the swap area to see if there are any goodies left to be had.  Well, I lucked out on Saturday because this beauty was just sitting there waiting for me.

Look at her curves and the beautiful finish.  Oooh.  It was love at first sight.....and not just because she was free.  She was in PERFECT condition.  There were literally no scratches, dents or broken parts to be found on the entire piece.  I'm not even sure there is a piece of furniture in my house that I can say that about at the moment.  But back to the story......so, it just so happens that I was in the market for a piece of furniture in the corner of my living room (where the xmas tree was).  I have been looking on craigslist and stopping at yard sales recently but nothing was catching my eye.....until that day!!  I spent a few seconds wondering why someone would give up such a lovely thing and thinking about what it was used for in its past life, but then I quickly snapped out of it and realized I better act fast!  I scanned around to see if anyone else was eyeing it before I made a mad dash over to claim my prize (and by mad dash I mean that I went a little faster than I normally go.....my dashing skills are a little on the slow side these days)!  And thankfully it wasn't heavy (since we both know that I wasn't leaving that place without it), the only problem was that it's not very easy to carry anything when you're pregnant, so I caught a few people watching me out of the corner of their eyes thinking, "hmm...maybe it smells like candy and pickles because she is REALLY excited about it?"  I was a woman on a mission and I wasn't going to stop until this thing was safely locked in my trunk!! 

And that brings me to my next point.  Since its a free-for-all, there are literally "vulchers" circling the place on a daily basis just waiting for the right piece to come along.  I recognized a few people that I've seen there every time that I go (which is usually around 10 am on Saturday mornings).  Either we are on the same schedule or they are just ALWAYS there waiting for the right moment to swoop in.  They are probably thinking the same thing about me though....haha!  It's not a bad hobby though.  I'm sure if someone had the time and the talent, it would be a lucrative business to pick up free unwanted pieces, fix them up, and sell them for a pretty penny on craigslist.  Hm....wheels turning.....

So, that is my treasure story from the weekend.  I have starting moving things around to see what I can put on her.  I will be back on Monday to share an update on the living room.  Can't wait to redecorate!!!

Also, in other news, we picked up some patio furniture this past weekend as well.  I am still looking for some cushions and an umbrella, but hopefully we will tackle that project as well this weekend and I can report back next week.  Stay tuned!

To Stain or Not To Stain....

Ever since we completed our deck in November (read more about that here), we have been debating whether to stain it or seal it.  At first, I was in the "seal" camp and B was in the "stain" camp.  My opinion was mostly based on the fact that I'd heard/read that sealing it would last longer than stain (AKA less work for us down the road).  But after doing more research and reading up on consumer reports, I found that if you use a good brand, let it dry properly and maintain it each year with a light coat, then stain is just as easy as sealer.  PLUS, in my opinion anyway, stain looks so much better than a simple sealer coat....especially on pressure-treated wood.  If we had done mahogany or cherry, then we would probably lean more towards sealer to capture the beauty of the wood, but PT is just not a beautiful wood.

So......we stained it this past weekend!!!!  YAY!  And when I say "we" I mean B and my dad.  I ran back and forth to the store to pick up the paint (and back and forth to pick up more....and so on)....but I didn't really participate in the paint/stain part of the project.  I'm not going to lie to you, it took them most of the weekend to do it all, but it looks great so I think it was well worth it!!  And I can say that because my back isn't still aching because of it! 

Before we went out to buy the stain though, we talked about what we wanted it to look like.  We are planning to paint the trim of our house white this summer (or next....let's be realistic), so we thought that it would be nice to reflect that on the deck as well.  So, we ultimately decided to go with solid white balusters and railings and a deep reddish brown semi-transparent stain for the floor.  The choice of the floor color came from the wood floors in our house.  Since the deck is really an extension of the kitchen, we thought it would be best to keep the wood colors consistent.  Here are some inspiration photos that caught our eye during the planning process:

 
Then, as usual, we shopped around a little for the best prices on some of the highest-rated brands (I read a lot of good reviews on Cabot and Sherwin Williams Deckscapes so we focused on those two).  Lowes carries Cabot so we went there first.  The stain was about $33/gallon for semi-transparent stain and $27/gallon for solid white stain (we would need about 3 gallons of each for the project, so we would be looking at about $180 total).  We grabbed them (Cordova Brown for the floor and White for the railings) before heading to Sherwin Williams (since they are pre-mixed colors they are fully returnable).  I fully assumed that Sherwin Williams would be more expensive, so I was banking on keeping the Cabot anyway.  But when we got to Sherwin Williams we found out that they were having a 40% off sale for the weekend on ALL paints and stains, including Deckscapes.  WOOHOO!  Both the solid color stain and the semi-transparent stain were regularly $37/gallon, but with the discount they were only $22/gallon!!  We scooped them up as fast as we could and returned the Cabot ones on the way back home!  AMAZING DEAL!!  So all in, the total was $132......we saved $48!!  It is still a lot of money for stain, but I love it when I can save a little here and there!  It makes it all worthwhile.

For the Sherwin Williams Deckscapes brand, they are only available in custom-mixed colors, so they are non-returnable, but since I knew this was the best deal around I didn't mind snatching up a few gallons.  I chose Riverwood for the semi-transparent color on the flooring and Extra White for the solid color on the railings.  I walked away from the store with only 2 gallons of each (since I wasn't sure how far it would get us and didn't want to waste a gallon if we didn't need it.  Turns out, we ended up needing 3 gallons of each, but since the store isn't far from the house, I didn't mind running back out for it later in the day (especially since I wasn't the one doing the back-breaking work)!!!  The store manager recommended 3 gallons of each to me when I told him that we had about 340 sq ft of deck, but I didn't listen.  Next time, I will trust that he probably knows a little more about this than I do!  Haha!

So, this is what the deck looked like last week (on a rainy day, unfortunately):

And this is what it looks like now:



I am so happy with the way it turned out.  The guys had to do 2 full coats of the white (which is not fun when you are painting hundreds of thin balusters) and 2 full coats of the semi-transparent stain.  They used brushes for the railings and both a roller and a brush (to get in between the slats of wood) on the flooring. 

We considered doing the solid-colored stain for a few minutes, and then decided that we liked the idea of knots and grains showing through a little, so we opted for semi-transparent.  The guy at the Sherwin Williams store agreed that it would not only look nice, it would last a bit longer since you wouldn't notice the fading as much as you would with a solid stain.  We will still have to touch it up every year or every other year, but the big part is done so it will hopefully just be maintenance from now on.  I'll keep you posted on that next year though!

Next project on the list: PATIO FURNITURE!!!  I have been scouring craigslist for months and NADA, so I might end up with an inexpensive set from Home Depot or Lowe's.  I have seen BEAUTIFUL sets at Jordan's Furniture and some local seasonal stores, but a $2000 set is just not in the budget for us now.  My neighbor bought an $89 wrought iron table from HD last year and she said it has held up pretty well so far, so I might end up ultimately going that route.  I'll report back tomorrow though.  My dad is coming by to let me borrow his truck, so I'll let you know how it goes.

And as always, if anyone has recommendations for patio furniture that they've bought or that they have seen in catalogs, I'm all ears.  We aren't completely opposed to a teak or other wood material set, but I would RATHER not have to stain the deck and the furniture every year, so a composite or wrought iron would be my first choice.  Any thoughts or opinions on that are welcome too!!  Thanks guys!