Home Stretch

secret crochet project Today is such a strange day weather-wise! One minute it’s beautiful and sunny, the next minute it looks like we’re on the brink of a storm. I kind of wish it would rain today and get it over with. We’re supposed to get the house powerwashed tomorrow and I need the weather to cooperate!

Anyway, I had my 36 week OB visit today. I’ll be 36 weeks on Saturday, so today is close enough, I guess! I’ve been complaining a lot lately about how big I am (or how I feel, I guess), but I was happy to learn that I’ve only gained 21 lbs. so far with this pregnancy. As long as I keep it together for the next couple weeks I think a 25 lb. gain (which is what I was hoping for) is realistic. With some luck, the baby weight will come off relatively easily just between giving birth and nursing. My babies tend to be on the bigger side (Jake was 9 lb. 6 oz. and Noah was 8 lb. 8 oz.), so we’ll see if the trend continues with a girl!

Otherwise it was your run-of-the-mill appointment. The midwife did the Group B Strep culture and gave a look-see. When she told me that my cervix is totally closed I think she thought I’d be disappointed, but then she realized that I’m a scheduled c-section. I said that since it’s all planned out, I’d rather keep it that way if possible. I’m in no rush.

Generally I’m feeling good. Like I said, I just feel huge and unattractive πŸ™ I also don’t have very much in the way of patience. I’m super irritable and my poor husband is bearing the brunt of it, unfortunately. We’re also incredibly busy and that might have something to do with it, too.

Construction on the dormer should start next week. Yesterday we got the official blueprints and the guy from the hardware store came by to get information on the windows we’ll be putting in. Today I dropped off a form at the Town Hall that allows our contractor to file the building permit, etc. on our behalf. We (well, let’s be honest here — it’s Drew doing all the work) are starting to push all the furniture towards the front of the house upstairs since the demo will be at the back. This will save us from having to move everything to the first floor or the basement. There will still be stuff to be moved downstairs, though. Some things you just can’t get around!

I’m just eager for everything to get going. I’m more stressed now than I thought I would be, but that just might be the anticipation of difficulty. I just need to go with the flow. I keep telling myself that no matter what, it’s still easier to get this all done now than after the baby is here. Can you imagine a baby trying to nap with all the hammering, sawing, etc. going on?

So I think this afternoon I’ll go and take a few “before” shots of both the upstairs interior as well as the exterior of the house. I know my dad and brother will be asking to see lots of photos πŸ™‚

Why We Haven’t Put Together The Crib Yet

hshsaltbox

What’s the last month of one’s pregnancy without a little excitement, right? Historically, we always seem to have some kind of home improvement project going on when I’m in the home stretch, so this time really shouldn’t be any different. When Jake was born, we were redoing a bathroom (in fact, if I remember correctly, about two hours after we were home from the hospital, Drew was finishing up the wainscotting!). When Noah was born, he was working on our deck. So we might as well go out with a bang for our last baby!

Last night we got the plans for the shed dormer we are putting on our house, and if all goes well construction will start late next week. (Well, at least the power washing — I figure the actual holes-in-house stuff will be the week after assuming we get our permits in a timely manner.) Currently our upstairs is two huge bedrooms — ours and one that the boys share — and a weird sitting area type space at the top of the stairs, between the two rooms. In a little over a month, we’ll have four bedrooms upstairs (three smaller ones for the kids as well as ours), and in our bedroom we’re gaining an enormous walk-in closet as well as some extra space. We’re also going to have two windowseats put in (one in our room in an area that would otherwise be dead space, and one in the dormer in the front bedroom (which Jake has claimed).

And as a bonus we’re also gaining a small linen closet in the new hallway. I’m thrilled about this because the upstairs bathroom doesn’t have a closet in it, so this will be perfect! Honestly, I am not looking forward to moving all the furniture and the inconvenient sleeping arrangements this will create in my final month of pregnancy, but we’ve certainly dealt with worse and it’s just for a couple weeks. I can do anything for a couple weeks! The project won’t be entirely finished when we come home from the hospital, but by that point it will probably be interior stuff — mouldings, painting, etc. It will all be so worth the minor frustrations we’ll likely deal with. The boys are excited about having their own rooms and I am thrilled to be able to decorate a little girl’s room! I’ve got plans… oh yes, I do. I’m thinking gray carpet, light violet walls, birds and roses, all vintagey and slightly shabby.

So that is what we’ll be up to in these final weeks. Might as well keep it interesting! πŸ™‚

In Like a Lion

thinking spring...When they say that March comes in like a lion, I always thought they were referring to the weather, but things around here have been non-stop since the beginning of the month! Hopefully life, too, will slow down and the month will wind down “like a lamb.” We started the week with Noah getting sick on Sunday night. Jake had some kind of stomach bug on Friday and poor Noah caught it. Monday Drew was off to Virginia for a couple days for work. Tuesday I ran what seemed like a million errands. I got the results of my glucose screen (which were normal) and was told I’m slightly anemic and I should pick up some iron supplements. Then Wednesday… ugh. I woke up not feeling well but wondered if my stomach pain was somehow due to the iron pills. I thought maybe it was just too much all at once. As the day wore on, however, it was clear that I was getting what the boys had. Meanwhile, Drew was trying to get home from Norfolk and there were massive delays in Philadelphia (where he had a layover), so I was trying to track flight information at the same time. Not so fun.

At any rate, thankfully Drew was able to get home on Wednesday night and just slightly later than his original flight! I was camped out on the couch feeling pretty awful, but I was so glad he was home. Yesterday I woke up feeling better, though still achy and weak so I took it easy most of the day. I had an OB check-up in the morning and that was fine. I was told that I’m actually just borderline anemic, and it will probably correct itself within a few weeks. She gave me the full medical explanation, but I won’t bore you with it! I only have to take the iron pill twice a week for an extra boost, so that’s good.

Last night we went to the Scholastic Book Fair and ice cream social at Jake’s school. He picked out a Goosebumps book which might be slightly above his reading level, but I’m sure if he just takes his time he’ll have no problem. He’s an excellent reader and zips through the chapter books he gets for homework. This one will take him a little longer, but it’s good to learn patience πŸ™‚ Drew also suggested a Phineas and Ferb book that he’ll read to both Jake and Noah at night. Have you ever watched that cartoon? It is so cute! I love Perry the Platypus. Then we all had sundaes and headed home.

Today I’ve been cleaning the house since it’s been neglected all week. Drew’s brother and his girlfriend are visiting us this weekend so I want to make sure there aren’t many dust bunnies hiding out in the corners of our wood flooring, LOL! I’ve hardly done any cooking this week and today is no exception. I made scrambled eggs for lunch and we’ll have tuna melts (my go-to meatless Lenten meal) for dinner. (The boys will probably have mac & cheese since neither like tuna!). Not very exciting, I know.

I’ve been crocheting up a storm! I finished a hat for Drew, some slippers for myself, and a few flowers (photos to come, I promise!). I’m learning, though, that some things (like hats) might be better left for knitting. The hat I made for him is pretty big and not very snug/stretchy. But it’ll be OK. I will be knitting him a snugger watchcap at some point, though.

I’m also very excited to play with my new toy — I finally broke down and ordered a sewing machine last week! Drew and I had a tax refund deal. He purchased some new equipment for his home studio and encouraged me to finally get myself a sewing machine. As a beginning sewer, I didn’t want to shell out a whole lot of money, and I wanted something fairly simple to operate. Thanks to some friends’ suggestions as well as my own research, I decided on the Brother XL-2610. I am really excited about it!

And that’s the haps here. Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

So Much For Spring

The taste of spring this weekend was so nice! It was wonderful to crack open the windows and let some fresh air in the house. Not to mention, it was great not having to wear eight million layers of clothes. But today it’s gray and rainy and much cooler. At least it’s typical March weather, right? As long as it’s not snowing. Anyway, the warmer weather over the weekend (combined with what I think is a bit of a nesting instinct starting to happen), has got me thinking about spring cleaning. I think that at the start of next month I’ll begin in earnest. I downloaded Spring Cleaning For Normal PeopleΒ and the checklists are great! I haven’t read through it completely yet, but at first glance I think it will be a huge help.

In the meantime I’m taking care of some smaller cleaning projects. Namely, cleaning some of my jewelry. My rings get so cruddy because I wear them all the time. My favorite way to clean my diamond ring is simply to add a bit of ammonia to warm water, let my ring soak for a bit, and then gently scrub it with a soft toothbrush. It comes out sparkling! The last time I had it professionally cleaned was when I went shopping for engagement rings with my brother a few years ago. They offered to clean my rings while we were looking. And honestly, I think my cheap home solution does as good of a job!

Anyway, the weather certainly inspired me and the boys had fun mucking around in the muddy yard. Spring can come back whenever it feels like! πŸ™‚

The $3 Kitchen Makeover

Well, perhaps “kitchen makeover” is a little misleading since it’s really just a kitchen corner makeover. But still, I’m pretty happy with how frugal we were! I’m slowly picking out new curtains for our house. For the nearly five years we’ve been here, we’ve had some lovely cream curtains on loan from my mom and they’ve worked out well. But now I’m craving more color and patterns. Unfortunately curtains are really, really expensive. I’d considered finding fabric I like and making some window mistreatments a la Nesting Place, but again, most of the fabric I liked was still a little pricey. So you can just imagine how thrilled I was when Drew came home from an impromtu stop at Christmas Tree Shops after his dentist appointment on Saturday, with gingham valances he thought I might like. And they were perfect! Exactly the colors I wanted and best of all — just $3 for the two of them! He hung them for me on Sunday. I love it, look!


new kitchen valances

I still need to cutify (and yes, “cutify” is the technical term) my windowsills, but I’ll get there. You might remember that last fall we did a quick makeover of our upstairs bathroom, simply by getting a new shower curtain (I think it was $7 on clearance), hanging the medicine chest we had in our old house, and replacing the ugly builder lighting with an attractive new discount lighting fixture. It doesn’t take much to freshen up a room. (Though sometimes it does take a little searching, LOL!)

Easy Ripple Afghan

Sunday I started crocheting the Easy Ripple Afghan and I am really pleased with how it’s coming along! It’s totally a coincidence that the colors I’m using are the same as the photo shown on the pattern page:

easy ripple afghan progress

The lighting in my living room wasn’t the greatest, but I’m using black, sage green, cream, olive, and then taupe before the color pattern will repeat. I’ve always liked these blankets and had no idea how easy they were to make! I cast-on (err… chained I guess) 130 stitches, which will make this a good size for a lap blanket:

easy ripple afghan - 2 days' progress

This one will probably go on the back of my rocking chair, but I’d like to make a larger one at some point for our couch. I bought the yarn a few months ago. I’d planned on knitting a bunch of squares and then piecing them together in a checkerboard-type pattern, but just one square seemed to be taking forever. In two days I’ve already made more progress with crochet. Anyway, just a quick update! And many thanks to Sara and Wendy for so quickly answering my questions over the weekend. You guys are great!

Good Morning :-)

home-making-housewivesWell, I’m trying to get back into the swing of a normal routine this week, but the weather doesn’t seem to be cooperating! Yesterday morning the local schools had a two-hour delay because of icy roads. Tomorrow’s forcast is looking rather bleak (a wonderous mix of snow/sleet/rain/freezing rain) and I have a hunch school will be cancelled. We live in a pretty hilly area — in fact, the school is up over a hill — so anytime the conditions look somewhat bad IΒ  just count on school being called off, or at the very least a two-hour delay in the morning.

This morning I need to finish putting away the piles of Christmas gifts. The decorations are all down (oops — except for the wreath on the front door), but the toys are still all in the living room. Poor Noah got a tee-ball type baseball set for the spring and he is just dying to play with it. Considering that there are still a lot of icy spots on the driveway, and the rest of the yard is covered in snow, I think he’d need more safety equipment than just a helmet to help protect against injury! Only seventy-odd days until spring is here. Maybe I’ll get a January thaw. Hey, a girl can dream, can’t she?

Let’s see, what else is new… a week from today is my ultrasound! Everyone is making me crazy asking about it, so there you go πŸ˜‰ And yes, we are hoping to find out the baby’s gender. I think the grandmothers would go nuts if we made them wait this time. I still have to finish up my Dad’s Christmas present, too. I’m knitting him a wool watchcap, and I knew when I started it I should have just knit it flat instead of in the round. I’m almost to the point where I need to switch to DPNs and I just have a bad feeling about it. Hopefully it will all work out. If not, maybe he can wear it next fall! I also need to mend one of my maternity shirts. Of course it’s my favorite one that I wore all of two times! The hem at the bottom fell out in the wash, so that has to get sewed up. Other than that I have laundry (as usual) and I need to do a quick sweep of the house.

It would be nice to get myself motivated after I finish this entry so this afternoon I can just sit by the wood stove and knit or read. For Christmas, Drew gave me Knit One, Kill TwoΒ and A Deadly Yarn, both by Maggie Sefton. Either would be perfect for a cold winter’s afternoon! Well, I need to switch the clothes from the washer to the dryer so that’s my cue… Enjoy your day!

Impatient

I’m getting so impatient to finish redoing our upstairs bathroom. Every day when I take a shower I see the stuff we plan on putting up just sitting on the floor and I want to finish it up. Unfortunately, the medicine chest is far too heavy for me to handle on my own. Also, I’m no electrician. While we didn’t purchase Minka lighting (just some basic sconces), I can’t wait to replace the awful “movie star” style lighting in there now. Well, it’s not awful, but not really my style. But poor Drew has enough projects going on right now so I’m not going to bother him about it. I know it’s on the list!

Our “New” Piano

"new" piano

It’s here, it’s here! As I wrote yesterday, we had Drew’s mom’s piano moved from her house to ours. The movers were great, and luckily had no problems at all. I think it looks great in our living room. The piano needs a good tuning and I have to hit JoAnne’s to find fabric to re-cover the bench, but otherwise it’s in great shape. It’s the same piano on which my husband learned to play! I don’t have much confidence that I will learn, as I am not the musically-inclined one in the house. But there is hope for Jake & Noah πŸ™‚