Week 38: 2 More Weeks!!!

We finally have our house back, yay!  The painters and carpenters have come and gone, and we have a somewhat clean house, ok, maybe not clean, but we are headed in the right direction.  We've been working on a few projects, some are done, some are halfway done, and a lot are still thoughts in our heads.

First Pinterest Project: Painted Ikea dresser

Project done! Sofie's favorite color

Future bathroom curtains, now just gotta make 'em!

We finally have a stove! Now just need to paint

JD and I are relaxing on the sofa watching the Saints vs Falcons game (RISE UP!).  And so that means that you probably won't see any red marks in this blog tonight due to JD's obsession with the Falcons (I'm doing the proofreading later, but yes, if this was during game time you'd be exactly right).  But, I don't blame him, tonight's game is a big one.  Cora is making her presence known too.  She has been non-stop all day today.  Not sure if that means she's anxious to join us or what (Very cool.  Cora is super active).

Cora's nursery is slowly getting there.  It's painted (pics in last week's post), there's a cradle, lots of clothes, a bookcase being used as a changing table, and a chair that needs an upholstery job.  There are curtains that my mother made random other items.  

My weekend project:  reupholstering that chair!

So for now it's just a waiting game.  My co-workers are terrified they are going to have to drive me to the hospital, and I do have a couple of different designated drivers picked out for the 'just in case'.  Hopefully it won't come to that.  JD and I finally have our hospital bags packed and ready to go.....but the car seat, well, it's still in the box....probably not a good thing.

38 weeks and counting!

Week 37: FULL TERM!! Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Wow, another busy week.  For some reason I don't think it's gonna slow down anytime in the future.  We've gone from a messy, unorganized house to a messy unorganized painted house (well, almost, it's still in the process).

This week marks full term for little CJ.  She can now be born safe and sound.  I had another prenatal appointment yesterday and so far everything is still on track.  CJ's got a strong little heartbeat and is super active.  Her head is still down where it should be (aka sitting on my bladder).  JD and I are hoping that she might make her appearance a bit sooner than she is supposed to, but only if she is healthy.  This past couple of weeks things have finally started to get a little tough for me.  Turning over in bed is now the equivalent of an 8 point turn around, slip on shoes are my best friends (no laces to tie!), and socks, well, they are about to become optional.  Guess I took for granted the whole reaching down to my feet thing.  Well, if the doctors are right, 3 more weeks from today 'till I can tie my own shoes again.  We have been working feverishly on CJ's room.  Before getting it painted this past week, JD and I put up board and batten which was surprisingly easy.  There is still a ton to do, put in what little furniture we have and organize all her goodies.

First board for the board and batten

Board and batten done!  Now ready for the paint

Yay!! Painting done!!  

Just a few more minor details to go....

 Our house has been a total wreck since last Friday.  We've had painters and carpenters all up in here doing their business.  We decided to have the nursery, master bedroom, master bathroom, Sofie's room, the living room and the hallway downstairs all painted.  We also had them put up some dentil moulding in the living room.  Wow, it looks so much better.  Things are still not quite done yet, but hopefully next week they will finish with the touch-ups and move on to their next project.  Oh, and yeah, one more thing, we finally have a stove!!  Below a few before and almost-after's.

nice and boring.....

gray walls, and yes that is a yellow ceiling.....still not sure about that one, but at least it's not boring!

another boring before...and yes messy

just a little crown moulding and gray paint, makes a huge difference, now time to clean!

So, as you can see things have been anything but slow for us.  We are slowly, ok, very slowly, getting organized in our new house.  Still tons to do, but I guess we've got the time.

Hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving!

Week 35 & 36 - IT'S MY BIRTHDAY! House Stories!

Wow, I started this blog over a week ago and it's just crazy how much has happened since then.  I'm not even sure where exactly to start.

Last week was my 31st birthday.  Nothing big, actually nothing even small happened.  JD had to work late, so I spent the evening with our electrician.  Ok, hold your horses, the only sparks that flew were from him hooking up our dryer and some GFCI outlets, not the most exciting thing in the world.  But we do now have a bit better electrical system and I can do laundry, yay! (I don't think I've ever been more excited about having a dryer).

My folks came into town on Friday, with a truck full of furniture.  Another big YAY!  They brought us a yellow sofa I acquired from my brother, a cradle for CJ, a couple of bookcases, and soon to be bathroom vanity (another brother find).

Future bathroom vanity?

Love it! The boxes are to keep the dogs off!

Needs a little tweaking, but for being 33 years old, not bad!

My mother also brought her embroidery machine to make some goodies for a few friends and for CJ.  Dad came with his chainsaw and dreams of clearing out our jungle of a backyard.  According to our neighbors, the previous owner never even set foot in the backyard, which explains a lot.  But really, who has a two car garage in the city and NEVER uses it??? CA-RAZY!  I know JD will be getting plenty of use out of it (now I can leave the top off the Jeep!).

Cleaning up the jungle

But before my folks rolled into the big city with goodies and help galore, JD and I spent the first week in our new house meeting with a variety of contractors, painters, plumbers, and other handy type folks.  We had our HVAC system serviced, vents cleaned, ceiling fans and lights installed, electrical updates, and since ZERO of the 4 toilets worked, we had those replaced too.

I also had a prenatal appointment last week, and everything is looking good.  The doc wasn't sure CJ was in the right position, so she gave me a quick little peak on the sonogram.  CJ is exactly where she is supposed to be, head down, ready to go.  Which explains the feet in my ribs every day.  But what's even crazier is that at the end of this week, I'll be considered full term.  That's right, CJ could be born soon.  Let's just hope her nursery is finished for her arrival.  Speaking of which, I believe JD and I will be attacking that issue tonight.  As of right now, it's a mess, which pretty much explains our entire house.

Back to the fixing and organizing.

Weeks 33 & 34: FINALLY! (This is a long one folks...)

Well, well, well, hasn't this just been the most exhausting 2 weeks.  Dentist appointments, prenatal appointments, Halloween, birthday parties, moving, the list just keeps going.

But, first and foremost WE ARE NO LONGER LIVING LIKE GYPSIES!  After 7 long months we finally have a house.  We feel like we just experienced the most difficult labor ever.  But as with all labors, it was deffinately (haha  definitely) worth it and not without an extra little uh-oh thrown in.  We were supposed to close on our dream house this past Friday.  We were on notice all day long and got a call to be at the closing attorney's office at 3 pm on Friday.  We went, we waited, and we left....with no keys....So, closing was then pushed back to Monday at 3 pm.  We went, we waited, we started late, and it lasted for over 3 hours, and we left with no keys again...but, this time, we had the title.  The house was officially ours!!!  Our lender, our realtor, and our closing attorney all said it was a pure miracle that we were able to buy this house.  We said THANK YOU JESUS.  Even though we left without the official keys, we had a copy that was given to us a few days prior during our final walk through, good thing we held on to them. 

*sigh* our dream home

The lady that was living in the house still had a few things (she still had a ****load of things) she had to remove (even though she had a good 7 months (to) move out.....and I thought I was a procrastinator (you are)).  Monday after closing we went to the house and she was there getting all of her stuff out and we were cleaning out the trash.  We had cleaners come on Tuesday to do a deep cleaning of the house, and boy did it need it!  Wednesday was move day.  The lease was up at our apartment that day as well, so we were doubly (I don't think doubly is a word, so I'm not sure how to spell it) busy.  The morning started out nice and brisk and early, ok not too early, we didn't have to meet the movers till 9 am.  We had two storage units packed to the brim with tons of stuff, opening those units was like Christmas morning.

This was the one with the least amount of stuff !

We have no idea how we ever managed to fit that much stuff into our tiny 2 bedroom 1 bath house.  And even now, our house is full.  Amazing.  Not only was Wednesday move in day, but it was also fix what needed to be fixed day.  Since this house was a short sale, the previous owner didn't exactly take care of the house and let a LOT of things fall into disrepair.  We had plumbers, HVAC people, roofers, and a variety of others out fixing and giving quotes all day long.  We are excited to say that we now have hot water, heat, toilets that work (all 4 were non-working), non-leaky sink, and a fridge.  We are still waiting on a dishwasher, range, washer and dryer.  But, hey, who needs to cook or do laundry??

So other than house stuff we have still had a few things going on.  Last week I had another prental (parental) appointment, and everything is good to go.  In only 2 weeks time I will be considered full term (36 weeks)!!  I just hope to have CJ's room done by then.  We are slowly but surely getting all things baby together.  Last week we finally bought a stroller, I ordered some diapers (we are going to try our hand at cloth...I'm sure that will be interesting), got a few gifts in the mail (Thanks Alison!, and even found a few other bargains at a few garage sales (I am not above hunting for a good bargain, especially if CJ only uses something once or twice). 

JD's pick!

This past Monday we also visited another daycare.  We liked the first one better, but have a couple more to go see.  I guess if none of those work out, I'll be calling a nanny...aka MOM.  Last Saturday we took Sofie to a Halloween Lantern Parade in our neighborhood.  There were tons of people, kids, and pets all dressed up carrying homemade lanterns and dancing to a marching band that was leading the way through the park.  Sofie love every minute of it!

The only still picture I could get of her!

Other noteworthy baby news.  Two of my best friends both gave birth last week.  Congrats to Mo & Justin and Alison and Drake on their new little girls!!!  (I'm pretty sure it was the full moon!)  We also took Sofie to a one-year-old Jace's birthday party, she had a great time and even got to push the birthday boy around in one of his new toys.  Oh, and prego brain here completely forgot about the awesome baby shower we had.  A big thanks to Gretchen and Katrina for putting that together for us!

Well that's it for this week.  We'll see if I can manage to get the next post out on schedule.

33 Weeks

34 Weeks