Updates, progress, and paint

I can't decide if it's awesome or sad that out of the rooms we have made the most progress on, Nelly's has gone the fastest.

Last weekend, Joe, a "sister" and I took a field trip to ACE Hardware with the main goal to pick up the hardware we needed for the crib, and a secondary goal to look at paint.  As usual, I went with the idea that we weren't going to find "the one" that particular day.

Of course they would be having a sale on paint.  Of COURSE we would find the sweetest sales associate, who was more than happy to pull out all her books of paint swatches and helped us find the perfect one.  We went with a light pale green (specifically "Vintage Bazaar" in Valspar), which I think will contrast perfectly with the white trim, gauzy curtains and natural wood floors and crib.  Plus when Nelly does arrive (and gets his/her actual name!), we can add pops of pink and dark brown for a girl, or blue and dark brown for a boy.

I wish I could draw architecture as well as I could write.  I'd just lay it all out for you guys.

Anyway, it's going to be sweet and gorgeous, AND be something we can work with down the road.  Go Team Nelson!

Joe has been working hard on demolishing the outdated 70s styling.  We went from this

to this

It's already SO much better.

See that nice, long weird looking patch?  That's where the owners before us (I assume) removed the original windows and replaced them with "smaller" metal double-paned windows.  I assume this was with the intent to decrease heat loss.  It just makes me sad.  I keep flip-flopping between the idea of replacing the metal windows with something of similar size to the original windows (bringing back the original look), or going double-wide, but not as long.  Either way, that's still a good five years down the road.

I also *gulp* got up close and personal with the one really, really scary part of the upstairs.

It turns out it's not as scary as it looks.  There was some water damage (I hope it was water) at one point, which stained the wall, rusted the pipe, and badly damaged the wallpaper.  What I thought was damaged pipe was actually just peeling paint.  YES, that is a rusted rag wrapped around the pipe.  I want Joe and my brother-in-law to get even up closer and personal-er than I did to determine if the pipe is still actually in use.  We THINK it's a vent for the septic system.  And by we, I mean Joe.  I'll be quite honest: I know nothing about plumbing.  To me it looks like it is part of an old (no longer used) steam heating system.

I know nothing.  I admit this!  I'll stick to interior design.

Scary as it looks, it does not have a smell, there is no visible mold and there no suggestion that there is additional damage that could compromise our ability to safely house our bundle of joy in this room.  A bit of elbow grease, some repairs, and some fresh Killz primer should spiffy this up to looking like a regular eyesore.  Thankfully it's in the closet.  Guests never look in closets!

I was hoping (itching) to get in there and paint this weekend since the sun is out and we could get away with leaving the windows open overnight, but Joe talked me into mudding the walls to even out the wallpaper lines.  I'm so glad he did: this photo shows it rough, but, again, so much better!!

I know it's kind of dark; my bounce flash needs new batteries.

Week 26 Team Green update: nothing much is new this week.  We finalized names (YIPPIE!) and I fulfilled my urge to go through all the cloth diapers we own and decide what to keep and what to sell.  I'm getting rid of about $140 worth of stuff we won't use, and keeping 48 OS pocket diapers, 3 dozen prefolds, 3 dozen newborn fitteds, 5 newborn covers and pockets, 2 Snappis and more inserts than I care to count.  The only things (diapering wise) we still need are wipes and a hanging wets bag.  MAYBE a changing pad.  This is another thing I keep going back and forth on, seeing as I conducted the vast majority of the boys' diaper changes on the floor.  It's so much easier, especially when they reach the "roll over and run for it" stage.

In which Joseph convinces me to DIY all the things

I hate shopping.

Actually, I hate commercialism.  Best revoke my American citizenship, I suppose, since that's on what our country seems to be principled!  Clothes shopping is my own personal Hell, mostly due to one of two scenarios:

1) I'm out shopping with a friend and find ALL THE CUTE THINGS that look amazing on me...and I have no money in the budget for clothes for that time period.

2) I have money in the budget for clothes and everything looks about as appealing to me as a wet paper bag.  So I'll use the money to buy clothes for my children...and the cycle continues.

Baby shopping is almost as annoying to me, because there is so much CRAP on the market.  My favorite example is the Itzbeen timer.  Some people swear by it, but I don't understand what's wrong with simply using a sheet of paper for the first week or two that it's really necessary to observe input/output.  There are also free apps and websites that can be used to track this stuff.  Another product I don't get is the Bumbo Seat, but seeing as it's a very popular item, there must be some kind of draw to it.

Talking to one of my sisters-in-law the other day reminded me of my other huge complaint about baby items: the HUGE markup on them.  It costs as much to purchase quality baby clothes as it does to buy some quality adult items!  Some things make sense, but when safety standards for car seats MUST meet a certain level (as is laid out by laws and regulations), I can't understand why one bucket seat is $80, and another is $400.  Ugh.

One of the things I've been longing after this pregnancy is a beautiful nursery, but I don't want to spend hundreds of dollars for something that won't really get used.  My practical and rational side gets in the way of that!  I kept drooling over gorgeous cribs (that I know must cost more than $500 for just the frame) and Joe kept asking if I wanted him to build one.  I held off for a while.  I even looked up an IKEA crib that I would be perfect happy to use.

And then, after Pinteresting "DIY crib" on a whim, I found this:

I'm pretty sure angels were singing.  Having a Handy Husband who works with wood all day means this project wouldn't cost the same as purchasing a new or even a used crib.  Perks of owning your own business!  For those interested, the tutorial for making the crib can be found here.

The only downside (that I can see!) to finding this is now I need to make this and this and these and this and....

Nelly

Hi guys...we've been busy!!

In the months that have gone by, we have:

• Purchased a new dishwasher
• Procured a bunk bed for the boys
• Adopted a kitten
• Put up curtains in the boys' room
• Decided to have a baby

...and that's where Nelly comes in!!

Our "guess date" is June 5, but I'm not holding that to anything.  Damien came 11 days before his due date, and Connor was born the day before his due date.

Basically I'm done with the "due" date thing...my kids have minds of their own from the very start and arrive precisely when they mean to, and not on my timetable.  I totally felt like I went overdue with Connor because I was anticipating another early arrival.

Thanks for the lesson in patience, Squishy.

Like my previous pregnancies, I prayed and hoped and wished that I wouldn't be plagued by early pregnancy symptoms, like 90% of women are.  My mother was part of that 10% that didn't experience nausea, nor did she get stretch marks or anything else.

Me?  Not so much.  I fall into the 33% of women who experience all-day sickness.  What is this "morning" sickness thing?!  HAH.

Thankfully I started to feel more human (perhaps thanks to following my allergen-free diet) shortly after Christmas, and at 24 weeks, I am mostly nausea-free every day.  I consider myself very, very fortunate not to experience sickness all the way through my pregnancies.  However, because my blood pressure is nice and low normally, random fluctuations (like standing in the shower, or walking around for too long) cause me to feel woozy and yucky, so I'm one of those mostly sedentary pregnant ladies; combined with hot fudge sundaes, this probably explains my crazy weight gain in my last two pregnancies!!

Enough about pregnancy, though.

Or, maybe not.

With less than four months looming until that guess date, and the weather starting to warm up enough to allow for windows to be left open, we have started preparations on the nursery.  It's somewhat slow since Joe gets to do all the work without his favorite partner (that would be me, and yes that is a necessary statement if you know us and Joe's work partners!), which means things get done at half the pace.

While I have taken "before" pictures of the nursery before, I don't know that I've actually posted them.  I'm hoping that the "after" pictures will be an incredible difference!

Outside the bedroom...note the "strange" carpet.

I want to know what they were thinking when they added the tiny window.
"I HATE LIGHT, let's make this room as dark as possible."
"Okay!"

What isn't visible are the roof tiles (just like in the other bedrooms), but I figure we've all seen enough fiberglass to save us the view.  The TINY windows are the bane of my existence, especially with all the lame wall panelling!  I do not understand was loved about it.  It makes the room so, so dark.  I can't wait to get them out of there!  I've started pinning ideas for a gender neutral nursery (we chose not to find out!) and so far I'm - apparently - loving the idea of beige or gray walls with white trim, and adding cheery pops of color so the room doesn't get boring.  Some will probably come before the baby, but a lot will be added after to make the room his or her own.

Team Green at 24 weeks: Joe and I haven't really decided what we think the baby is.  D and C think it's going to be a baby sister.  C has made it clear that we need to "return to sender" anything that isn't a girl!