A Lighter Shade of Pale

I must give props to my husband in this entry. He and his friend R spent the day fixing the Almond Cream in the nursery yesterday, and it looks fantastic!

Before, we had some light sage green walls (which are lovely, just not my taste)



After, we have some lovely Almond Cream walls that are begging for chocolate brown and turquoise stripes!



As much as C and all of his friends will argue with me, it's not white! I swear to you, it's not!

Our project for tonight is to tape off the stripes, which hopefully will be painted tomorrow.

All that is left to do is the closet, which is still the sage green. C and R are planning to get that painted this week as well, which is fantastic!

I'm so pleased with how the nursery is coming along, and just had to brag about C's handiwork. I mentioned to him that for our guest room, I wouldn't mind painting it 2/3 white, and then doing a chair rail, and a glossy/matte alternating vertical stripe pattern on the existing yellow. I think it'd look quite pretty, and would tone down the yellow in the room as it is now. He said that he's sure whomever we hire to paint that room will be more than capable to handle the project.

Lesson learned: don't ask him to paint. Ever. Again. (though he did a GREAT job!!)

The Best Intentions

Oh how quickly the weekend goes when it's jam packed full of projects! Unfortunately, we didn't get alot of projects completed this weekend and they're being rolled over into this week (which is busy in itself!)

We did manage to get down to Ingersoll to pick up the rocking chair from my Mom, and now we have a better understanding of the colour that we're going for with our nursery furniture. It's not quite a cherry stain, but not a dark walnut either and it has some honey undertones. It may be a challenge to match, but at least we have a colour family to work with now.

Instead of painting this weekend, C said that he'd rather tackle that project on Monday while I'm at work and he's at home. My fingers and toes are crossed so hard that when I get home from work this evening, the Almond Cream will be done and I'll be able to paint the background of the height chart (before settling in for the Bachelor of course!) If we can still see some of the greenish colour behind the cream after this 5th coat, I may blow a gasket...if nothing else, I'll resign myself to letting the painting be done so we can move on to something else!

We also made a trip out to the Walmart Superstore on Saturday...big mistake! Why, oh why, did I insist on going out there on Super Bowl weekend?! It was a madhouse! Thankfully, the bedding and baby sections were pretty quiet, so we were able to shop around without too much chaos. I found the perfect colour of chocolate brown in twin flat sheets, so we now have curtains for Bug's room!

Unfortunately, it was slim-pickin's in the baby department. We were able to look at cribs that we don't like, though, and narrow things down. It looks like the one that we've chosen at Babies R' Us is back ordered, so we may spend some time there this coming weekend (how romantic for Valentine's Day, eh?) ordering the crib to make sure that we can get the one that we want before our maternity photo shoot.

This week is going to be a busy one for us! I have three appointments with the bakery, which I am having so much fun with these days...then we've got the stripes on the walls to tape and paint...the height chart to paint and get hung on the wall behind the door...dresser to sand and stain...crib to pick out and hopefully order....

At 23 weeks pregnant, it seems to have flown by so now staring down the neck of another 17 weeks and knowing what we have on tap (1 bridal shower for a good friend, 4 baby showers for me, a Buck and Doe, C's birthday, Maternity photo's, Spa Day with the girls, my bff's birthday, her sister's birthday, and another good friend's birthday....plus other things that likely will be planned last minute) I'm already starting to feel the time crunch!

It's already the middle of February! Soon, it'll be June and a baby will be here!

Projects, Projects!

Oh what a busy weekend we have ahead of us. Not only is it Super Bowl weekend and we'll be hosting our friends for a party, but we have about a million little projects that I'd like to get completed for the nursery.

First there's the Almond Cream that needs to be finished. We had a bit of a challenge with the edging and it looks like the old sagey colour is coming through in the corners and along the top edge. So hopefully, we can correct that with another seamless coat tomorrow.

Secondly, we have to pick up the rocking chair from my Mom. She's graciously offered to let us borrow her beautiful dark wood rocking chair for a couple of years to have in the nursery. So it looks like we'll be taking a trip down to Ingersoll to pick that up early morning Saturday.

Then there's the dresser. The dresser that we have is currently a honey colour and used to be in my brother's room when he was little. My goal is to get it sanded down this weekend, the hardware off and to go to RONA to pick out a stain that will match my Mom's rocking chair.

Sunday....oh Sunday. In addition to the Super Bowl party, I'd also like to get the horizontal stripes at least taped, if not painted. Since they're technically only going on 2.5 walls (because of a window and closet), it will literally take all of 25 minutes to paint them. I'm hoping that C will just let me take care of painting them, but he's been very "no pregnant lady in the painted room!" We shall see....

I'd also like to get the height chart primed on Sunday if I can. When my bff, H, was pregnant with her son, I painted her a height chart...which sort of started a theme for shower gifts. I've painted them with bumble bees for a Winnie the Pooh room, with vines and leaves for a Jungle themed nursery, and with a hunny pot for another Winnie the Pooh room. Ours will be fairly simple I think and I'm going to use the nursery paint so that it's cohesive.

My thought for the height chart is to paint the background the Almond Cream (if we have any left). Then for the edges and about 2-3" on the front to create a border, I'll paint the Rich Mocha. Inside that, using the thinnest line and steadiest hand that I can manage, I'll use the Amalfi Coast. The numbers will be painted in a chocolate brown acrylic (as the latex won't be thick enough), with chocolate brown dashes every inch. Around the numbers likely will be some tiny Amalfi Coast dots or whimsical lines.

I'll have to post pictures! After writing about it, I want to get started on it tonight!!

My Basketball

You can definitely see the changes in the size and shape of my belly this week! C walked up behind me to give me a hug on Monday night and when I turned around I think I heard him say "Yowzah!" Apparently, I don't exactly look pregnant from behind!

It's pretty funny to hug him now too, since our bellies touch first and it makes us both giggle. He's very proud of his little boy, and talks to him every day, rubbing, kissing and high fiving or fist pumping my belly at night to say goodnight to his little boy.

This morning when we we lying in bed, Bug was kicking around, so I grabbed C's hand and put it on my belly. He's been seeming a little discouraged and frustrated since he hasn't been able to feel the kicking much (though we can clearly see it from the outside). All of a sudden, C was waving his hand up and down all excited that he could feel the baby kicking - it was very cute!! So we just stayed there snuggling, both of us feeling our little boy saying good morning to his Mommy and Daddy.

What a great way to start the day!

Here's my full 22week basketball! Onward and upward to week23!

We Have These Friends In England...

Who are just about the sweetest people that we know! We met them on our honeymoon cruise, while they were taking a vacation for their 1st wedding anniversary, and it was almost as if we were supposed to be friends.

M & E are from Texas (E's originally from Michigan I believe), and are just about the biggest Longhorns fans we know. One year, we even got a Christmas card from General McCoy (good job getting those printed up, M!)

Well yesterday, I dropped C off after our appointment but he wanted to be dropped off at the mailboxes since it was fairly mild out. Lo and behold, a package from Royal Air Mail!!!

M and I have been in the habit of sending little presents every now and then over the past couple of years. Be it a funky jeweled travel jewellery case, or a satin monogrammed door pillow - we usually find something really unique that suits the other person.

Yesterday's package was absolutely amazing, so I'd like to give her a BIG shout out and say THANK YOU! I think we have a new "Going Home Outfit" in contention, which is saying alot since Daddy would be happy to stick with the Montreal Canadiens gear...but this is just too cute!

No Bedrest For ME!!

Oh, I'm so excited!!

I was so nervous this morning, waiting for 2pm to approach. We got to the doctor's office, to be informed that Dr. Gloria is done her residency at the end of the week so we would be seeing Dr. Jordan from here on in (who will be delivering our baby and is our main doctor anyhow). I was instantly sad that we'd have to say goodbye to her! She's taken such good care of us!

Sharon, the nurse, got us in pretty quickly, which was nice for a change since the waiting room was very full. Pee in the cup - check! Now step up to the scale...

I gained 1.5lbs!! Go me! Well...really...Go Bug! I had to giggle because I know that after two more weeks of morning sickness (weeks 18-20) and a very bad bout of it on Sunday, there's no way that that 1.5lbs can be attributed to me, and Dr. Gloria later confirmed that nope...Bug's just a big boy!

My blood pressure was steady at 105/65, and Bug's heart rate was going strong at 150 bpm.

We discussed different options for leg cramps (no Rub A535 I'm afraid...just calcium and potassium for me!) and where we'll be giving delivering the baby. Everything seems to be going along just great!

Oh, and they've changed my due date....again! After our last ultrasound, they wanted to change the date based on Bug's development. It definitely coincides with what I had thought previously, but Dr. Jordan said "well...June 13th and give or take a week or two." So basically, at some point in June...we'll have a little boy joining our family!

What a Crazy Weekend

Seriously, it's one of the oddest weekends I've had yet in terms of how I was feeling.

Friday night was fine - we just stayed home and watched a movie (The Invention of Lying - I don't recommend it, but C and his buddy T seemed to like it!). Though, I was still battling my head cold and had run out of Benedryl, so when 10pm came around...I was out for the count.

Saturday was fantastic! Spa day with my bff's H and T in Paris! We all got pedicures, which were lovely and very relaxing, went for a delicious lunch in Ayr and then back to Woodstock to run some errands before relaxing at T's while her wonderful husband R made us dinner. It was such a great day! Everyone was happy and relaxed...something that the three of us hardly feel. H has a 7 year old who is always on the go, and T is the mom of a 1 1/2 year old little girl who never stops squirming it seems!

Sunday just about did me in. After a full week of not being sick with anything other than a head cold, I just couldn't keep anything down. I really started doubting myself, and what made matters worse was that C wasn't around to rub my back, calm me down and make me laugh through my tears. Between 7:30am and 2:30pm, I just could not muster up the strength for anything or anyone.

After a two hour nap, and a little bit of gravol, food started to agree with me and I was able to keep things down little by little like some cheddar cheese, Shreddies and lemonade. Snuggling with our cats Maggie and Tiko helped me a little as well, as did the many kicks, flips and punches from Bug.

Tomorrow marks our Week 22 appointment, and I'm terrified to get on that scale. What if I've lost more weight? Are they really going to put me on bed rest and that I can get some strength and my body can recuperate a little? I guess that's a story for tomorrow...