Holler for 30 Weeks!

We've reached the 30 week mark and I feel like this is a big milestone. Man it feels good to be out of the 20's :) And only 10 more weeks seems like nothin! Nudger's kicks are definitely stronger and I am starting to be able to make out the body parts that are squirming around in there, which is incredibly weird and amazing all at once.

We also started our childbirth education class tonight which was interesting. We decided to take a Bradley Method class. It is 8 weeks long, which I wondered about at first, but holy cow we have a lot to learn. Tonight was great! Chris and I learned a lot about exercises to do while pregnant, and nutrition. It was so informative, I was definitely impressed. Chris seemed to like it too. They talk a lot about the "coach" and what the coach can do to help during pregnancy/labor. I think this is going to be so helpful because then Chris feels like he has specific things he can do to help me. We have 7 more weeks of this class, which will put us up to right before we are due!

A few more facts about 30 weeks:
-Nudger weighs about 2.5 - 3 pounds
-I'm feeling like I'm the clumsiest person in the world, I trip, run into, or head butt everything in sight!
-Currently craving: Arby's roast beef sandwiches
-The heartburn has reared its nasty head in the past week
-18 days until spring
And here is what 30 weeks looks like, if you were wondering.

DIY Shenanigans

If you don't know, DIY stands for Do It Yourself. Like I said last post, I don't know for sure if it is because of the baby or what, but I have been having ridiculous urges to create things and start projects. So after looking at a bunch of baby crib bedding online I decided I should just make it myself. However, after looking at all the patterns for sheets/bumper etc. I thought that this might be a little to ambitious (also, Target had major sales :). So I ended up deciding to make the crib comforter. Thankfully my mom was also eager to help with the project.

We started a couple weeks ago at the ole fabric store. Like I said, I had already gotten the sheet and bumper on major clearance from Target, so I knew the colors that I wanted. There were SO many cute flannels at the fabric store, I think we were there for probably two hours :) In the end I found exactly what I wanted. Karissa even got in on the piecing action. This project actually ended up taking more work than I anticipated.> Mostly because the pattern we were following turned out to be wrong! I got it out of this Amy Butler book, and don't get me wrong I heart this gal's fabrics, but she must not know much when it comes to patterns. So after we had cut everything out some of the blocks were about a half inch off. This was a set back, but we made it work :) Mom ended up doing most of the pinning/organizing, and I did all of the sewing.

The finished project was definitely worth all the work. The quilt is so soft, and I just know nudger is going to love it. Plus, since I got to pick out all of the fabric it matches the bedroom perfectly. Here we are with the almost finished product.

And here is the comforter all finished in the crib.

I had some scraps left over so I made these little bed bugs :) I think they are pretty darn adorable.

Now I'm just trying to decide what to make next. I am so tired of winter and being cooped up, but am definitely having fun preparing for this little babe :)

I'm in L.O.V.E.

Well, lets just say I'm in love with my Mixer and my Man :) They kind of go together actually, let me explain. I have been lusting after the Artisan KitchenAid Mixer for about a billion years. I know, your probably thinking could she be more 50's housewife with all this cooking and sewing. But I'm not kidding I really, really, really wanted a new mixer. I've been using this junky-five dollar hand mixer from Walmart for about 4 years and could hardly stand it anymore. Every time I would make a cake or cookies, or anything really I would get so pissed. Flour would fly all over and it really did not do a good job. Now, Chris has told me a million times just go buy a new mixer, but every time I would look at them I'd feel too guilty and back out. Finally, last week we were shopping around and Chris says, "Why don't we just get you a Kitchenaid!!" So we went over and looked at them, of course I've known exactly which one I've wanted forever. So I read the box again and again. It was on sale and had a pretty good rebate as well. I was two seconds away from backing out again, when Chris being the good DH he is says, "We're getting it, you don't have a choice." So I was like, "Well when you put it like that I don't really have much of a choice." :) So WE GOT IT!!! Let me tell you it was like Christmas on a random, February, Wednesday. So, here she is, in all her glory on my counter. Could I be, anymore excited? I think not.

Let me tell you though, this did come at a bit of a price. I'm pretty sure that I'm obligated to make Chris cookies every week for the next year. Last week I made peanut butter, and they were de-lish. This mixer is smooth as butter (pun intended). Also, I can buy attachments for it and make icecream or pasta too! Okay, as if this wasn't enough, Chris stopped by Sunday morning before I had to leave for work at 0630, with some fresh valentine's day tulips :) Swoon. I'm not much of a rose girl, so these were perfect. Love.

MMC Reunion

Oh good old Mt. Mercy College. Last week us nursing gals decided it was high time for a get together (minus Tara, we missed you lady). We got together at my house and then of course had to hit up Fiesta for some good-eats. And I have to say it was so nice to see these ladies again! We all have so much going on in our lives with work, babies, and wedding planning, but we always just seem to catch up right where we left off. Here is a picture of us from last January. I came across it and just had to post it, it's crazy how much things change in a year:

And here we are one year later minus Tara plus Kerianne. Holy smoly, in one year Keri got engaged, Kerianne renovated her entire house, Christy and I got pregnant, Tara moved to Vegas, and Robin is traveling all over the place!

Of course Christy and I had to get one of the preggo bellies. She is 31 weeks and I am 25 weeks in this pic. I have to say it is pretty fun being huge at the same time :) I think that my belly looks practically the same size as hers, even though I'm 6 weeks behind her, but I'm going to just blame that on the fact that I'm wearing horizontal stripes and she is wearing black, haha!

Baby Rutabaga

Well this is week 25 and I couldn't be more excited (or be having more heartburn). The baby is the size of the rutabaga this week. Haha, seriously, these food comparisons just crack me up. Ever since being preggo I have definitely learned some new fruits and vegetables. But here are the facts about Nudger:

-Weighs about 1.5 pounds (apparently equivalent to a rutabaga)
-Currently about 13.5 inches in length
-Is starting to grow some hair


Here are the facts about me:

- I love my belly
- I make a ridiculous grunt every time I have to bend down or get up (and I can't help it, weird)
- Chris can feel the baby kick now which is pretty awesome
- Strangers have finally started to notice I'm with child
I apologize that the recent posts have been few and far between. I have been in a blogging SLUMP, which I blame on this darn unmotivating weather. Have I said lately how much I can't wait for spring? Well I'll say it again, I cannot wait!

Nursery Preview

Here is a little preview of the nursery. We're not close to being done, but I just thought I'd give you all the gist of what it is going to look like. We started by painting the whole room. I chose to do one orange accent wall, and the other three plain white. This is Chris painting, with of course his best Avatar face. I don't really get it. He does this now every time I take a picture.

The orange actually turned out really good! It doesn't look awesome in this picture, but thats mostly because all of the ugly yellow paint that is still on the wall.
These are the wall decals that I got in the mail a couple weeks ago and can't wait to put up.

And of course the crib. This turned out to be kind of a pain. All I wanted was a simple white crib. Turns out this is harder than it sounds, everything is a sleigh bed or a convertible bed with a bunch of bells and whistles. Well, I didn't want all those bells and whistles. We ended up finding this crib at walmart.com and I love it! It's exactly what I wanted, and its actually really sturdy. We got it a couple days ago and Chris put it together in no time flat. I love the simple little drawer underneath, and the simpleness of it.


And, we can't forget my favorite item the glorious glider :)

We haven't put up the wall decals yet, and I'm working on making a baby comforter and curtains. Remember, this is just a preview. I can't wait till it all comes together!

Before and After

I was recently talking to my friend Jewel and she brought to my attention that I haven't put up any pictures of our new house. So, I figured it was about time to throw some of those up. We moved into this house last May, and the last eight months have been filled with renovations. After our last house I swore that I was not going to do a fixer upper again. Well, when we found this house, it was only 15 years old and not a fixer-upper but it was definitely not decorated according to my taste. It had so many positives that we were looking for, perfect neighborhood, 4 bedrooms, good layout, etc that we decided that the pros outweighed the cons and we went for it. I figured a little painting/wallpaper removal wouldn't be that big of a deal. Hmm, well the pictures speak for themselves :) It was definitely not as much work as our last house, but it was certainly a lofty endeavor. However, my love for a good before and after will never change! We still have a bunch of projects ahead of us, but have came a long way in 8 months.
One of our first projects was the lovely dining room. The maroon drapes, and wallpaper had to go asap. This room actually wasn't a terrible project, we got the wallpaper and chair rail off in a day. Then had to wash the walls and paint the next day. I ended up using the same paint that we used in our old dining room. I really love the sunny yellow, and the room was instantly 100 times brighter! I love the room now, I would eventually like to tear the carpet out and put in hardwood or tile, but that can wait.
When we bought the house I said, "Oh we can spread these projects out over a couple years." Poor Chris had no idea what he was in for, I think we overhauled 5 rooms in 3 months... However, the Dining room really is one of my favorite "afters".




One of my other favorite diy's was the main floor half bathroom. It was wallpapered in a nice tropical theme and had a wooden toilet seat. This project started by me deciding to remove the wallpaper and just paint the walls. Well my dear husband was going to have to take out the toilet so I could get that paper off. So, we decided maybe we should just buy a new toilet. Then we decided, if we take the toilet off we might as well tile the floor. And finally, if the floor is tiled the only thing that wouldn't be new was the vanity, so we might as well replace that too. Things spiraled right out of control. This project ended up taking more work from Chris's end with the tiling and plumbing. Thank goodness for his bff Gilson who taught him how to tile and helped with a lot of the project. Once again the end product is amazing.



The last project for this post is the living room. Once again the drapes these people left us were just out of control. I don't know if they thought they were doing us a favor by leaving them, but really they were just hideous! The fireplace was of course hunter green tile. Before: We had a hard time deciding what to do about this tile. We thought about just replacing it, but then I read some diy article about painting brick fireplaces. Well this wasn't brick, but I talked to my dear dad about spraying it white. He thought I was a little crazy at first, but we decided if it didn't turn out then we could just re-tile it. Miraculously it turned out just the way I wanted it too! Of course we painted the walls too. It took three coats to over over more maroon around the fireplace!
During:

After:


Well I think thats enough for now. We've only done a couple projects since I've been preggers. Chris won't let me paint right now, which is very sweet. But we did paint nudger's room a couple weeks ago with eco friendly paint and I've been working on designing that. The crib is ordered, we have the glider and a shelf, now I'm on the lookout for a dresser!!! Hopefully I'll be able to post nursery pictures soon.