24 Week Bumpdate!

24 Weeks!!

How far along: 24 weeks!

Baby Size: Our sweet baby girl is the size of an ear of corn today. She is about 8.5-12 inches long and weighs about a pound and a half. Her brain is developing and her tastebuds are forming. And our sweet girl is starting to gain a little weight. 

Weight gain: I'm up a total of 17 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight. 

Maternity clothes: All the time...

Sleep: I've been sleeping really well this week. I'm waking up a few times a night to tinkle and drink some water, but otherwise, I'm sleeping well and enjoying my sleep!

Gender: GIRL!!!!!

Movement: Our baby girl is a mover! This little on is going to be a dancer or a little runner...she seems to be on the go a lot!

Best moment this week: Spending some quality time with Adam and visiting a friend and her new baby! Adam and I spent some time together in baby classes this week. We took Caring for You and Your Baby and then on Saturday we had a full day of Your Special Delivery. Both of the classes were very informative and worthwhile. We learned a lot and got to tour the hospital. On Sunday, I drove to Augusta to see a friend of mine and her family. She just had her second little girl! It was so good to see them and I really enjoyed seeing her sweet girls! I'm looking forward to some play dates and trips to the zoo with them once our little one arrives!

Looking forward to: My first baby shower this Saturday! My parents are coming to town this weekend and we're going to start painting the nursery and on Sunday we have our first baby shower! I am so excited and feel like Adam and I and are sweet baby are so loved!

Food cravings: Fruit and sweets...and then various other foods that are mentioned here and there in passing conversation. it's crazy...but that's all it takes these days!

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing!

What I miss: I am missing my normal feet. I'm trying to be better about putting these guys up, but it's just not easy...and very boring! Luckily my boss has been flexible with me and allowed me to work from home some so that I can prop my feet WAAAYYY up and work while dealing with some of this swelling!

Symptoms: Swelling feet...

Nursery: Stay tuned for a nursery update!

Wedding rings on or off? On!

Mood: My mood is great! I'm excited about all of the fun things that are happening now!

Workouts: I walked a total of 18.5 miles this week. I've been trying to curb my walking a little to carve out a little more time to be home with my feet up. This small change seems to be helping with the swelling, so hopefully it will continue to help!

23 Week Bumpdate!

23 Weeks!

How far along: 23 weeks and one day! 

Baby Size: Our baby is about the size of a papaya. SHE is about 8-11 inches long and weighs just over a pound. 

Weight gain: I'm up a total of 17 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight. 

Maternity clothes: I'm in maternity clothes pretty much full time, with the exception of a few tops that still work with the growing bump!

Sleep: I'm sleeping well, but have been experiencing some sciatic nerve pain and some cramps in my calves in the middle of the night that wake me up...and in some cases, cause me to jump out of bed! Otherwise, I'm sleeping well, but could always use a few more hours!

Gender: GIRL!!!!!

Movement: Lots of movement and getting stronger every day! But, this sweet girl is shy! I tried all weekend to get my parents and sister to feel a little movement, and each time they reached out to feel baby girl just stopped. Hopefully next time they will be able to feel some of her little dances. She is already a daddy's girl though...she does flips and turns for her daddy all the time!

Best moment this week: Cutting into that cake to see that we were having a sweet baby girl!

Looking forward to: I'm looking forward to really getting started on the nursery. We've ordered the bedding and chosen a paint color for the room and a color for the dresser/changing table and I am ready to see it all come together! Stay tuned for a nursery post!

Food cravings: Fruit, as usual, and sweets on occasion. It seems most of my cravings lately come straight from things I hear other people mention...oh the power of suggestion!

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing!

What I miss: I am missing my normal feet. 

Symptoms: As I mentioned before, I've been experiencing some pretty serious edema in my feet. My doctor has ensured me that everything is okay and they'll continue to keep an eye on things. I need to be better though about taking it easy when I can! Tonight's plan includes a nice walk after work followed by propping my feet WAY WAY up and lying on the sofa. Thank goodness for Adam, he is handling dinner!

Nursery: Paint has been chosen, trim is up, caulking is almost finished, bedding has been ordered, chair is on the way, chest has been delivered and paint chosen for it...it's all coming together! I've given us a deadline of Thanksgiving. I know that things are really going to pick up around the holidays and I want to make sure that we have as much done as possible in the nursery before that craziness starts!

Wedding rings on or off? On!

Mood: Mood is great!! I do have some teeny little anxious moments here and there, but otherwise I am happy, excited, and thrilled to finally know what we're having!

Workouts: I had a pretty good week of workouts this week. I walked a total of 16 miles and did one hour of prenatal yoga.

We are so very excited about our sweet baby girl and cannot wait to have everything ready for her. Last night we took our first class at the hospital and learned all about postpartum care and caring for our sweet baby. We are so blessed and have so much to look forward to! We pray everyday for our happy, healthy, smart, beautiful baby. Sweet girl, you are so loved already!

Gender Reveal and 100 posts!!!

This weekend was a BIG weekend at our house. Our gender reveal FINALLY arrived. After four weeks of waiting...and not cheating and looking at the envelope with the results, September 20th finally arrived!

We spent most of the day finishing up projects (Adam and my dad finished tiling the shower and putting up the trim in the nursery) and preparing for that night's festivities. Major thank yous to my parents, sister and Adam...I was having some swelling issues in my feet and was trying to remain horizontal with my feet up for a large part of the day. Those four worked so hard to make sure that everything was just perfect...while I fought with myself to stay on the sofa. It was not easy! 

We had our parents, my sister, and some of our very close friends over for the festivities. Our original plan had been to wait and cut into the cake around dessert...but we I caved and had to cut the cake shortly after everyone arrived.

Here is the play by play:

Cake by Sweet Reba's!

Cutting into the cake...

Slowly pulling out a slice...look at my sweet daddy in the back capturing every moment!

Big smiles as we learn we are having a GIRL!!!

Check out that big smile on Adam's face! I love it!!!!

We were both so thrilled to learn that we will be having a little girl! The picture above is my absolute favorite. Adam is already a great dad and our sweet baby girl already has him wrapped around her finger! If that picture doesn't make you swoon...well maybe it doesn't make you swoon, but it makes me!!?!?! I absolutely love seeing his genuinely excited face.

THE slice!

So happy!!!

My sweet sister!

We are beyond excited about this sweet baby girl and cannot wait to meet our little angel. We've been doing quite a bit of planning since the gender reveal so expect a nursery post soon!

In other news, this little blog that started out on a whim officially has 100 posts!!!!! Here's praying for 100 more! A big thanks to those of you who've been reading and keeping up with me for the past FOUR years!

22 Week Bumpdate!

How far along: 22 weeks! It is kind of freaking me out to see that we only have 18 weeks to go, according to my What to Expect app! So crazy! This time is flying by!

Baby Size: Our little one is the size of a spaghetti squash, about 8 inches long and weighing a pound or more!

Weight gain: Up a total of 6 pounds, will check my weight again at my next appointment in mid-September! I'm sure by now we're closer to a total of about 10 - 12 pounds!

Maternity clothes: I'm in them full time, aside for a few shirts and dresses that still fit just fine! I am still hoping to find a few maternity turtlenecks for fall to wear with some of my vests and jackets, but otherwise, I feel pretty good about my current wardrobe!

Sleep: I'm sleeping well, but I've been experiencing some sciatic nerve pain recently that has a tendency to wake me up at about 4 in the morning! Otherwise, I'm feeling great. I'm hoping that by actually doing my prenatal yoga I might be able to put some of my aches and pains to rest!

Gender: We find out on SATURDAY!!!! CAN - NOT - WAIT!!!!!!!!!

Movement: We have a very lively baby! This little one loves to move around and I am loving it. I can feel movements all throughout the day and I often feel a bunch when I get in bed at night and when I wake up in the morning. This little one also moves quite a bit after meals...maybe it means he/she likes what I'm feeding him/her!

Best moment this week: Adam felt our little babe move a bunch this morning, and though this week was packed with some great times, this was by far the best moment. Before today he had really only been able to feel a kick or two, but this morning this little babe put on quite the show for dad! Aside from this, we had a great weekend at the beach with Adam's parents...this was my view for most of the day Saturday...

Beach day

Looking forward to: This weekend! I am SO excited about this weekend! My family will be in town and we're going to cross a few things off the to-do list and then Saturday night we've got the big gender reveal. Adam and I are so excited to know if our sweet baby is a boy or girl! 

Food cravings: Fruit, as usual, and sweets. I've got to nip this sweets craving though...I've been craving everything from cinnamon Amish bread to ice cream to milk shakes...and it has got to stop before it becomes a problem!

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing! :-)

What I miss: Though the actual thought of having a glass of wine is not really appealing (the wine itself is not appealing) I do miss being able to have a glass in the evenings...something about the gesture itself is relaxing. For now, I'll just have to relax with a glass of chocolate almond milk!

Symptoms: Some sciatic nerve pain and a few aches and pains...but hoping some prenatal yoga will help!

Nursery: No more progress on the nursery! But we made some more progress on the shower! When we returned from the beach on Sunday, Adam and I worked together to finish the last wall of the shower! Now, all we have left to tile are the shelves, the floor, and the ledge at the bottom! Almost there!

The master tiler at work!

Wedding rings on or off? On!

Mood: My mood is generally pretty good! I have had a few rough patches here and there, but we'll blame that on a little stress and some serious hormones!

Workouts: My workouts this week were a little slack...I took a few days off to rest, I was just plain tired last week! But I did manage to log 16.5 miles of walking and I did a little swimming and stretching at the beach! I've got big plans for this week though! I'm getting back to Body Pump and planning to do a little more walking and some prenatal yoga!

Words cannot describe how excited we are about Saturday and our gender reveal. Though this process does feel real, I think it's really going to be exciting and feel even more real after we find out the gender of this little nugget. There are so many things we are ready to start working on that all depend on whether this babe is a boy or a girl, that I'm sure once we know we will be so excited to start really gearing up for our son or daughter! Stay tuned for the big reveal!!!! Only a few days left!

21 Week Bumpdate!

21 Weeks!

How far along: 21 weeks today! I can't believe we're over halfway! It's a little scary to look on my "What to Expect" app now and see 21 Weeks and 19 to go!

Baby Size: Baby is about the size of a banana, about 7 inches long and 13 ounces. I'm not sure how we went from small cantaloupe to banana...but whatever! Baby has started swallowing amniotic fluid and can even taste...which means I need to make sure I'm eating lots of fruits and vegetables so our sweet babe will like them!

Weight gain: Up a total of 6 pounds, will check my weight again at my next appointment next week.

Maternity clothes: Pretty much full time now! I can still wear some of my tops and t-shirts, but I know my time in them is limited! The good news is that I finally rearranged my closet so that I'm no longer sifting through all of the clothes I can't wear! AND, I've found some decent maternity clothes and started a little shoe collection!

Stretch marks: None yet!

Sleep: Oh sleep...well it has not been so great lately. I've been tossing and turning a lot the past few nights and last night was just wide awake at about 12:30 and didn't fall asleep again until about 2:30 or 3:00. Yeah, it was a long night. 

Gender: We find out in 11 days!!! Can't wait! 

Movement: I am feeling lots of movement and Adam is able to feel more and more! Our little one is quite the little roly poly in there!

Best moment this week: Everything. It's been a great week. Adam made a lot of progress on the shower this week and hopes to finish it this week. We found a chair for the nursery and ordered it! AND we managed to chill out and enjoy a great thunderstorm on Sunday night...while enjoying a little time together and some baking...

Looking forward to: A relaxing weekend at the beach and some great walks with friends this week!

Food cravings: To say I've been on a pumpkin kick would be an understatement. Sunday I got hit with a little bout of nesting. I slept in Sunday to get some much needed rest and then went for a nice long walk. When I got back...the nesting hit. I was doing laundry, rearranging closets and drawers, and cleaning. I ordered the nursery chair and all of this before lunch. Once I prepared lunch and finished reorganizing my drawers so that my new maternity clothes and fall clothes were in the right place, I finally crashed for a while. And then, about two hours later, I was back...and baking. 

I baked these Gooey Pumpkin-Spice Glazed Pumpkin Sugar Cookies and Mini No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecakes (do you see a theme here...) Each dessert turned out well, but the cookies were a little funky...I didn't have all-purpose flour so I substituted with what I had on hand which turned out to be cake flour and self-rising. Needless to say, these cookies turned out looking a little more like biscuits...but they were good!

Gooey Pumpkin-Spice Glazed Pumpkin Sugar Cookies

The Pumpkin Cheesecakes were another story...OMG...so good. They are pretty big so Adam and I split one last night and it was divine. The crust at the bottom is the perfect addition to the dessert. I can't wait to split another one tonight!

Mini No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecakes

Anything making you queasy or sick: Still no grilled chicken, please...but otherwise...nothing is bothering me!

What I miss: I miss sleep...I'm hoping this will come back to me...like tonight...pretty please?

Symptoms: Heartburn (standard), some swelling in my feet and ankles, and fatigue...but otherwise I'm feeling pretty great!

Nursery: We FINALLY made a decision on our nursery chair. We switched gears completely and found one we liked a lot at Baby Furniture Plus. We were able to order the chair and the ottoman for less than the cost of the Pottery Barn Kids chair that we originally fell in love with! I'm really excited about this and can't wait to put everything in the nursery. The chair should arrive in about four weeks! AND I'm hoping that Adam and my dad can tackle the crib assembly next week! Checking things off the list!

Wedding rings on or off? On!

Mood: Great! I'm feeling much more upbeat and positive since last week. These little baby kicks have a way of making you cheer up no matter what! 

Workouts: I had a great week of workouts this week...now it's no 24 miles of walking like last week (umm...that was insane) but I did get to Body Pump twice this week and walked a total of 19 miles. My workouts felt a lot better this week, no idea what the difference was, but it was nice!

This is such an exciting time and I can't believe we're over the halfway point. A dear friend of mind had her second little angel this weekend and it made me so excited to meet our baby! It's overwhelming and scary, but seeing her sweet little bundle just made me know that this is going to be wonderful! Can't wait! Saying lots of prayers for a happy, healthy, sweet baby!

Things I Want Our Baby to Know

At the halfway point of my pregnancy, I'm finding that more and more things are jumping out at me as important lessons for our little one. It's almost overwhelming sometimes when I start to think about all of the amazing things in the world that our baby will see and experience for the first time. While I am so excited about all of that, like most (heck...all) moms I have my fair share of worries.

As our gender reveal approaches, I've found that I'm not really focused on finding out if our baby is a boy or a girl because I want to know if we'll be raising a little basketball player (like his dad) or a little girl who wants to dance, put on makeup and learn how to cook (like her mom). Don't get me wrong, I can't wait to find out if we're having a daughter or son, but I've found that what I'm most focused on recently are the things I want our child to learn, no matter the gender.

Here are just a few things that I want our baby to know (in no particular order...and pardon my "stream of consciousness" typing):

Church. I want our baby to grow up in a church and feel comfortable and welcome. I want our little one to have a strong relationship with God, no matter if we end up in the Methodist Church or the Catholic Church. And regardless of whether our baby is baptized Catholic or Methodist I want our child to have a full knowledge and acceptance of both churches, because both are very important to us.

Family. Family has always been number one to both Adam and me. We were both raised by parents who instilled the importance of strong family relationships in us, and I want our little one to grow up with that same notion. I want our baby to know his/her grandparents well, all of them. I want our baby to be close to his/her aunts (and one day uncles...and one other day...cousins...no pressure guys). And I am so looking forward to establishing a special relationship with our child. I want to make sure that Adam and I bond with our baby together, but also have unique individual relationships with our baby. I am looking forward to forming our little family of three. I know how important our parents have been to us, and I can't wait to provide that for our little one.

Manners. I hope that Adam and I will raise our child to have wonderful manners. I want to raise a baby who will know that napkins go in laps, mouths are closed when chewing, and elbows do not rest on tables. I want our little one to be able to write a nice, hand-written thank you note and hold a conversation with an adult. I want our child to be comfortable in a room full of adults without needing to be "plugged in" to some kind of electronic device.

Support. I want our little one to know that his/her dad and I are behind him/her 100%, no matter what. If we have a child whose interests are different from our own (ie: a little girl who doesn't like dance, but prefers science camp or a little boy who doesn't like basketball, but prefers piano lessons) that he/she is loved and that we will absolutely learn all we can about science camp, playing the piano or whatever else it may be so that we can fall in love with something new too. We want our baby...and our family to be well-rounded even if that means mom and dad have to step out of our comfort zones.

True Happiness. Finally, and this is by no means the actual end to the list, but rather the end to this novel of a post, because if you've stuck in here to read this with me...then props to you...I know you're getting bored, so I'm wrapping it up... I want our baby to know true happiness. I want our baby to laugh and smile. I want our baby to get chills when he/she hears a beautiful piece of music, or get that rush of adrenaline you get when you score in a basketball game, step out on stage at a dance recital, or when you present your project at the science fair (not that this is something I know about...but I'm willing to learn!) And I want to make sure that our baby knows that happiness doesn't necessarily come in a box wrapped up in pretty paper, but rather in the relationships and experiences of a full and happy life.

These are all things that Adam and I talk about here and there, things that we know without a doubt are important to our little family of three. I know that our expectations might be high...and that we don't know much or anything really about parenting. But I hope that Adam and I can figure out a way to make these priorities in our parenting. I'm sure that as I keep on going through the rest of this pregnancy, and then more-so once this little one is born, that theses kinds of realizations will only multiply. The list will keep getting longer and I hope that Adam and I can keep up! Thinking about raising a child is pretty overwhelming, but it's also an exciting opportunity that I feel blessed to have. I love this little nugget and I am looking forward to all of the craziness that will ensue when he/she arrives!

Date Night: Restaurant Review

Two weeks ago, Adam and I decided it was time for a much needed date night. Even though we have dinner together every night, and it's still just the two of us (at least for a few more months...), there is something to be said about going out for a nice dinner. 

I'd had a kind of rough week (busy at work, busy outside of work, and just general pregnancy emotions...) and Adam thought this would be a great way to relax...he was right! We went to one of our favorites, Rosso, and it did not disappoint!

Date night picture...so mad that I didn't think to ask the server if she could take our photo together!

While we perused the menu, Adam enjoyed a Peroni, one of our favorite beers...and I enjoyed a club soda. Crazy as it sounds, I've been drinking so much water lately that the club soda did seem like a nice break!

The always wonderful menu...

The owner and chef for Rosso work together to create a menu that includes a fair amount of local produce, seafood, and meat. I love this touch! For starters we decided on the Insalata di Casa for me, and the cheese plate for Adam. The cheese plate changes and is not on the regular menu, but is listed on the specials.

Insalata di casa: Beets, Gorgonzola crumbles, glazed walnuts with a citrus vinaigrette..ummm yes...so good.

Adam's cheese plate! Loved this combination of cheese, house-made pickles, nuts and dried fruit!

Our appetizers were wonderful, but had nothing on the main courses...ordering our entrees was a bit more difficult. Though I am a total foodie and I love trying new restaurants and new food, when it comes to Rosso I have a hard time. I LOVE and I mean absolutely LOVE their Scampi di Rosso and order it nearly every time I go. But, this time, I decided to step out of my comfort-zone, and order something new. There is no way to really step out of your comfort zone at Rosso because everything is amazing. I settled on ordering the Lobster & Crab Succotash and ladies and gentlemen...it did not disappoint! The pasta was perfectly cooked and the sauce was wonderful! It was creamy, and had tons of flavors from all of the veggies packed in! The best part, it was topped with tons of crab and lobster!

Lobster & Crab Succotash

Adam, also a creature of habit, decided that he had to have his beloved Ragu di Bolognese. Normally, I would totally tell him that any sort of "bolognese" is just kind of a waste of a nice meal...but OMG y'all, this bolognese is amazing. It has great flavor, a little spice, and isn't drenched in sauce like you find at some places. To us, this Ragu di Bolognese, seems very authentically Italian.

Ragu di bolognese

Of course, we coudl not pass up dessert. Adam ordered a glass of port, and I ordered the creme brulee. Yes, I did share, no I did not necessarily want to...

Adam's port...

crème brûlée

We are huge fans of crème brûlée and are seriously considering purchasing a kitchen torch so that we can make our own. This crème brûlée was amazing, of course. The drunken berries were a wonderful touch and added a little tart flavor to the very creamy and sweet custard. This was a fabulous meal and a great night out together. 

I feel like even though Adam and I see each other every night and every morning and spend our weekends together, it is rare that we get a chance to just sit and really talk without worrying about anything else. This was a great break and almost like a mini-vacation. 

We walked away from this night deciding that we need many more date nights before our sweet baby arrives...and after!

Nursery Progress

Ohhh the nursery... I have about a million ideas for the nursery and can't really narrow them down until we find out more about this sweet babe in about two weeks...I mean it's hard to choose paint colors when you don't know if you'll be putting a baby boy or baby girl in this little room!

For the time being, the goal has been to finish as much as we can of the nursery. Here are a few of the items on the checklist:

• Return dresser, coffer, and bedside table to McIntosh Cottage Antiques. We have a great arrangement with my parents and were able to turn in the first pieces we borrowed from them and will eventually pick out a few other pieces for the nursery.
• Sell and move bed. Our old bed became someone's new bed!
• Finish the inside of the new closet.
• Caulk new bookshelf and closet (Almost done!)
• Mud new sheet rock on new closet.
• Finish hanging trim.
• Caulk all new trim.
• Remove window cornices.
• Replace old window trim.
• Paint.
• Build, cover, and hang new window cornices.
• Put together the crib.
• Purchase and install new furniture.

As you can see, we still have quite a a few items on the to-do list, but we've made some progress. Here are a few pictures to document what we've done so far...

Empty room!!

The picture above was taken before the inside of the new close was finished...so those it's empty there are quite a few things on the floor!

About halfway through finishing the inside of the closet, which only consisted of hanging the second rack, the nursery became a catch all...

Caulking in progress...

Once we got the second rack installed in the closet, we moved some items from the floor into the closet so we could have a clean slate. It will certainly make painting this room easier to have it completely empty! *Notice Baby already has a few things hanging in his/her closet!

The finished interior...

While at home a few weeks ago, we (and by we, I mean my parents) dug out this great chest for me from the warehouse. It needs a paint job, but the size is what really sold me on this piece. This chest if five feet long and almost two feet deep. It will be the perfect size to hold a changing pad on one end and a lamp and basket on the other. Because the nursery is small, we're trying to minimize the amount of furniture we put in, without minimizing our storage.

We'll choose a paint, color, likely one from Farrow & Ball their paint colors are perfect for painted furniture. And I'm toying with the idea of adding some chunky feet to this chest, but we'll see! We don't want it to be too tall!

Chest on the loading dock.

I love the detail on the drawer pulls and will probably remove them for painting and give them a good polish before putting them back on. I'm leaning towards painting the chest a blue/gray if we are having a boy or an off-white if we are having a girl. But, all of that is subject to change since we haven't even begun to look at colors for the nursery itself!

Close-up of the drawer front.

We're making a little bit of progress on the nursery and I'm looking so forward to our gender reveal in just two weeks! Once we know if this babe is a boy or girl, we'll really be able to pull the trigger on a lot of our plans! 

Bathroom renovation progress

For those of you who have been following along with our home renovations, you know that this summer we started a pretty major renovation. We even hired a contractor, what?!?

This January, we decided that we probably needed to tackle the issue of turning our half bathroom into a full. We started by constructing a new closet in what is now the nursery, along with some lovely built-in bookshelves. We knew that a baby might be in the not-so-distant future, so we decided there was no time like the present to get started on what we knew would be a tedious project. 

We assumed it would take a while for a baby to come along and thought this would be a great way to pass the time and get a little something done. Weeeeellllllll....about the time we hired the contractor and set the start date, we found out our little nugget was on the way. A blessing, but perhaps a little earlier than we'd originally expected. 

Fast forward to now...September (if you missed the beginning of the bathroom renovation saga, check out my June posts). The "half-bath" portion of our new full bathroom is working. We have installed a light fixture, hung trim and painted...but the full-bath portion is still in the works. 

Adam, our master-tiler, has been a trooper and started this tedious project of tiling our new shower two weeks ago...with no help from yours truly (I might add...) and has done a great job!

For those of you who haven't tackled tiling a shower, it's a tedious project...and Day 1 is the worst. Here is a look at the progress so far:

Day 1: Progress

Day 1: Progress

Day 2: Progress

Day 2: Progress

Happy Tiler!

Day 3: Progress

While Adam was tiling, I was getting very familiar with a
caulk gun and the nursery built-in bookshelf...

On Day 2 of the tiling saga, Adam had help from his parents, so I started working on the endless task of caulking the nursery. The nursery, as mentioned above, has a new built-in bookshelf and closet...and both need caulk and a lot of it! I spent three hours...and three tubes of caulk, and I'm almost finished. It sounds crazy...but these baby-steps over the past few weekends have really felt like BIG steps for us! We're getting closer to the finish-line each weekend!

Stay tuned for more progress! We hope that with Adam taking off Friday to tile the shower, the tiling will be done this weekend! Fingers crossed!

Refurbished Patio Furniture

So Adam and I have been searching for patio furniture since we moved into our house five years ago. Each summer, at the end of the season, we search all of the big summer sales and then decide that there isn't any room in the budget for the patio furniture we want and thus we go another year with out it.

Well this year was no exception. We searched, we found what we loved, and we determined that it was still too expensive. After moving on to something else, my parents offered to let us have some of my grandmother's old patio furniture that we could paint and use until we decided to pull the trigger on the fancy stuff (which at this rate, could take years...)

We found a great royal blue and white striped umbrella at Lowe's and some fun pillows on sale at World Market to use as the inspiration for our refurbishing.

Before

Before we could get started with the painting, I sanded both chairs and the table to remove all of the chipping paint and rust. We used Rustoleum spray paint and chose turquoise for the chairs and a bright yellow for the table.

During

It took about one full can of spray paint per chair and then I used a third can for touch ups. The paint went on really well and I only needed on good coat!

Finished Product

The finished product yielded better results than I initially hoped for! While I still owe you a picture of the completed project, this one (above) gives you a good idea of the transformation that took place with just about five cans of spray paint!

One of two lumbar pillows from the World Market end of summer sale!

We got lucky with the pillows from World Market! Each pillow was on sale for a little over $12. We put a pillow in each chair, put up our big royal blue umbrella in the middle of the table and added a cute turquoise lantern to the table to tie everything together. We now have great outdoor seating for two and I can't wait to take advantage of these seats once fall weather starts to set in!

This was an easy project and with the pillows, umbrella and spray paint, only cost us about $75...just to get a little perspective, the patio furniture we've been eyeing is about $1,800...so yeah, this made a little more sense and was a lot more budget friendly!

What DIY summer projects have you tackled this season?

20 Week Bumpdate!

20 Weeks!

How far along: 20 weeks! We're halfway there and I feel like time is flying! Fall is a busy time for us both at home and at work, and to be honest, I'm not looking forward to it! The time seems to pass so much more quickly when you are busy...and I really just want things to slow down!

Baby Size: Baby is the size of a small cantaloupe...I'm hoping that is a VERY small cantaloupe!

Weight gain: Up a total of 6 pounds, will check my weight again at my next appointment in mid-September!

Maternity clothes: Getting dressed is a major struggle right now. I still have only a very small collection of maternity clothes and my collection of regular clothes that still fit is really dwindling. On top of that...this week my shoes stopped fitting. I may have had a pretty major very small meltdown when this occurred. Luckily, I have been able to order some great shoes on sale that should come in this week. In the meantime, I'll be rocking some pretty casual sandals to work...

Stretch marks: None so far! Hoping to keep it that way! 

Sleep: I'm sleeping well, but could certainly use more of it! 

Gender: We find out Sept. 20th!

Movement: Our little babe is moving like crazy! Adam was able to feel a kick this weekend, granted it was a pretty big kick, but he still felt it! It was so exciting and I can't wait until he can feel our babe more often.

Best moment this week: We made some great progress on our projects this weekend (more to come on that later) and saw lots of friends. Adam and I had a great date on Friday night and it was the perfect way to kick off the weekend. 

Looking forward to: I'm looking forward to making more progress in our new bathroom and in the nursery this weekend. We've got a lot of little things to do and it feels great every time we check something off the list! We're also taking my in-laws to Buy Buy Baby tonight and then going to dinner. I'm excited to show them the things we  have registered for and give them a little glimpse into our plans for this little one!

Food cravings: I'm still craving fruit pretty consistently, but this week has been all about the sweets. It's a problem. I made brownies to take to our neighbors house for the UGA/Clemson game (Go Dawgs!) on Saturday night and Adam and I polished them off last night...I am glad they are gone because I was definitely eating two or three a day over the weekend (not good)! Hoping to get back on track with some healthy eating today! Nothing like a holiday weekend to throw you off!

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nothing! :-)

What I miss: I miss my shoes...and my clothes...I know, very very frivolous of me, but I do. My self-esteem has taken a little bit of a dip lately because I'm just not feeling comfortable with my clothes. It's crazy...and feel free to say it, because I know I'm thinking it... #firstworldproblems, but in an effort to be totally honest, that's what I miss right now. I miss feeling like I look nice...instead I'm feeling kind of like a hot mess these days. 

Symptoms: A few headaches here and there and a little fatigue. But the fatigue is probably an issue I've created all on my own...I need to slow down...and in order to do that, I think I need to be a conscious effort to slow down - easier said than done.

Nursery: The nursery is empty!!!! More on that later...but it's empty. I spent three hours caulking the bookshelf, molding, and closet this weekend and I'm going back for more next week...and might try my hand at mudding the new sheet rock. 

Wedding rings on or off? On!

Mood: Mood has been better...I've been in a little bit of a funk the past few days, but I think that's a combination of these crazy hormones and me feeling overwhelmed. I'm excited about 20 weeks, but it's also scary because the time is passing a little too quickly for comfort!

Workouts: Great workouts this week! I made it to one Body Pump class this week and walked a total of 24 miles this week! I'm really proud of all of that walking...but I'm also thinking there is no way I'm going to be able to match that this week!

Adam and I can't wait for our gender reveal in just a few weeks! We are ready to really feel like we can start planning for our sweet baby and knowing if we're having a boy or girl will make such a difference in how "bonded" we feel to this baby. We are both so tired of calling our baby "it" or "he/she" and so ready to know if we're going to be raising a daughter or a son. It's been kind of an emotional week (umm...because I'm halfway through my pregnancy and a hormonal wreck...) and I'm hoping this next week will bring a little relief from that! Maybe some new shoes, and lots of baby dance moves, will cheer me up!