My Slush

More Nursery Shhtuff

2012-01-25T12:00:00.000-05:00

Let's not forget our faithfull scooby!

Plant holders for toys!!

Dr. Suess inspired piece of art I'll be painting when I'm home finally.

"Dorks" mixed medie print from retrowhale on Etsy

Cribs from Target (Bedding not included)

Crib skirt from babybedding.com

Orange lamp (on a dimmer!) from IKEA

Cute numbers print that I copied from an Etsy store...(sorry!! it was too pricey for me to purchase when I knew I could do it myself)

Bed Rest - Week Ten - 26 Weeks Pregnant

2012-01-23T08:27:00.003-05:00

Double digits people, DOUBLE.DIGITS. I'm headed into my 11th week on bed rest with 10 already under my big belly. How does it feel, you ask? Pretty great I suppose. I've started to become anxious these past few days about the arrival of our little buggers. Even though it will be a while before they get here I feel as though I might start seeing the "light at the end." But that light isn't AT LEAST for another 6 weeks. That would put me around 32 weeks and I feel like I might be able to breathe a bit easier then. That's not to say that I won't welcome 4 more weeks after that, though.

Steve has made great progress on the nursery. Beds are put together, dresser is put together and items that I ordered online have started arriving. He sends me pictures to keep me updated. It's bittersweet since I can't be there, but I know he's doing a great job. It's crazy - we have TWO CRIBS in our house.....CRIBS!! It's all just starting to feel very real, yet I know I still have a long way to go. This is the final stretch...you know, the last 6 miles of the marathon...so I have to tough it out because I've made it this far.

I'm anxious to meet our boys - that's for sure. This past week they started moving A LOT more than usual, not just kicks and punches, but bonafied rolls and shifts that make my belly do crazy things. Mom and Dad got to witness it first hand yesterday (Sunday) when they visited. It put a big smile on their faces. I had my full scan on Wednesday, which went fabulously (besides me almost falling asleep in the chair during my ultrasound) and the babies look great. Weighing in at 1lb 11oz and 1lb 12oz they are right on track. Baby A is my obedient little man, and and Baby B is the more active and rambunctious one - maybe it's because he has more room to move around than A does.. who knows.

We have names ready to go when they arrive, but are still working on middle names. You'll all have to wait for their arrival to know what they are.

Visitors poured in last week, Alisa, Nicole, Rachel and Jen all came to visit each bringing with them goodies for me. Alisa brought Panera, Nicole brought homemade Ravioli and magazines, Rachel brought Panera, magazines and movies, and Jen brought her breast pump! Hey, it doesn't matter what you bring - it all means a lot to me :) Actually, it's not required to bring anything - the visit alone is enough for me.

So here I am, week three in the hospital and doing ok. Feeling a bit stir crazy, but keeping my eyes on the prize(s). Missing my house and my "other" life, but I know that will all end soon and I'll have a brand new life to appreciate!

Items for the Nursery

2012-01-19T12:00:00.001-05:00

Here's a sneak peak at some items for the nursery!

Via Etsy's Lil' Sprout Creations

Hemnes Dresser from IKEA

Clearance curtains from Pier 1

Awesome mustache print from Society6

Photo my Dad took

More to come!

If I Were Vertical

2012-01-17T11:28:00.001-05:00

There are many times I lay here in my bed and think about the things I could/would be doing if I were vertical. But often, I find it hard to think of anything else besides cooking these babes for one more day.

If my cervix wasn't incompetent (gosh its such a loser) and I were a "healthy" pregnant woman, this is what's I'd be doing right about now...

I'd be nesting like crazy - finishing up projects around the house, buying items like photo frames and decorative things to get the house "in order" before the boys arrived.

I'd probably be making a lot of jewelry right now too...since I'm sure Steve would still yell at me every once in a while to take it easy, I'd sit myself down at my desk and make a few pair of earrings to accessorize with my cute pregnancy outfits that I'd buy. Oh and I'd make that necklace I spoke about in my previous post.

I'd be working on the nursery, painting, crafting, purchasing, scouring stores for deals. I was left to Internet shopping with this one, but I'm sure I would have hit up some thrift stores if I could have. I also would have been sewing my own crib skirts like I had originally intended. Yes, the nursery definitely would have had a more "hand made" approach if I were vertical.

I would have wondered into a baby store at every opportunity to see if there was anything else we "needed" or wanted to add to the registry.

I would have tried out the new steam mop that my parents got me for Christmas.

I would have finished two paintings that I had been working on before bed rest happened.

I may have even produced another painting in the mean time.

Steve and I would be having date nights out every once in a while and I know that at least once or twice I would cook him dinner :)

I'd be gearing up for a new year of work and a new round of stores. Getting back into the swing of things after my Christmas break. I miss work, that's for sure. I miss the people, the purpose, the routine....

I'd go to visit my grandparents and my family more.

Oh, the possibilities!

Bed Rest - Week Nine - 25 Weeks Pregnant

2012-01-16T08:23:00.004-05:00

We're almost to the double digits of bed rest! (is it odd that I'm excited about that?)

This week flew buy, once again. I had a ton of visitors which certainly helped the time pass AND I finally got my very own room! Thursday evening the nurses gave me the good news...luckily Steve was visiting so he could help move all of my stuff. When it's time, it's going to take us days to move out of this place!

My room is very nice, I've got a bank of closet space and drawers for my clothes, a tv, dvd player and radio, my VERY OWN BATHROOM AND SHOWER. A window (with a view of a brick wall), two sets of rolling drawers (one that I keep next to my bed with my computer on it and various other items) and two chairs for guests to sit on. I'm so relieved to finally be alone now...apparently I was about to get a roommate the night they move me to my private room!

Come to think of it, I had a dream last night that they STILL rolled someone into my private room and set her up right next to me...she was recovering from some surgery and they ran out of recovery rooms...man that whole roommate adventure really scared me apparently.

I passed my glucose test last week also - just in time for my friend Bethany to bring a bucket of candy to me!

Steve painted the nursery this weekend! Currently we're going with light green, although Steve is having is doubts about it...

We're slowly preparing for these babies! They're growing a little bit everyday, kicking my bladder and nether regions to remind me that they're still fighting too :)

I have a full growth scan this week to see how tall they are and how much they weigh so that's something for me to look forward too!

Hope you all have a good week!

Things I'd Buy

2012-01-10T23:28:00.003-05:00

Just cause I'm confined to my bed doesn't necessarily mean that I don't have a sense of style anymore...Let's be honest though, my wardrobe does consist of sweat pants and pj shirts, but every once in a while I'll window shop and dream about what I would buy if I were vertical.

I'm pretty sure I'd be sporting the dress, leggings and boots look this winter being as it's so comfortable. Here are a few dresses that I'm certain I'd swipe up for the winter..

This green dress from Old Navy is YUM-MMY.

I love how this dress can be casual and dressy given the right accessories..this ones from Motherhood.

I found this in the "Sold Out" section of Target. I'm diggin' the large print! Again, this would be a lot of fun to accessorize.

Aside from dresses, I'd need other work clothes too..

Love this magenta top from Old Navy

Totally digging stripes during this pregnancy too...again, Old Navy

Cute little collared top from Motherhood..

I'm sure you remember these boots from this post and I'm still lusting over them. I may even by them even though my shoes right now consist of slippers...The only thing holding me back from buying them is the fear that my feet will widen, or grow during this pregnancy and never go back.....

I'd totally sport these boots too.....they just look comfy..

And while I'm posting all these items that I'll never be wearing, why not throw in some heals that would totally be cute this time of year! (Let's be honest, I probably wouldn't be wearing heels..but it's still fun to look)...These are from Payless..

From Target.

Since I'd be doing the dress and leggings look, I'd dress up most of my outfits with long necklaces....this gold tiered necklace from Old Navy would be lovely with that green dress..

Again, Old Navy had this cute little necklace which I would totally make rather than buy. I love the colors too!

So there you have it, that's what I'd be wearing if I were vertical. Fun dresses, cute boots, and flashy necklaces. I CAN'T WAIT to go shopping again....

Bed Rest - Week Eight

2012-01-09T08:37:00.006-05:00

Not too much to write about week 8 that you haven't already read.

It's started off nice with a visit from Steph, Jed, and Benny - which is always welcome! She put away our Christmas decorations for us, so the house was back to normal again. The corner where there tree was just looked soo empty!

It was a quiet week at home with me preparing for the hospital and making lists of things to get done before and while I was here. Then I moved in on Thursday night and we all know how that went! (Roommates suck)

I got a pleasant visit from my mother in-law and her sisters on Saturday, and then a visit from Mom and Dad yesterday...it made for a quick weekend!

This morning begins week 9. I'm still in a double room, with an empty bed next to me. Steve got to stay over last night which was nice. We chatted for a while before bed. It was the first time we'd been able to have a nice conversation in a few days. He was tired from his long day of baby registering - and he did a good job I might add! It still needs some tweaking, but that's what I'm for :)

Steve took my picture last night....I'M HUGE! I seriously feel like I ballooned up in a day...crazy how these babies grow.

Holy belly, Batman!

Celebrate!

2012-01-08T08:39:00.002-05:00

There are just so many things to be happy for this morning!

Around 9pm last night my roommate got the boot! (No no, she didn't get kicked out for being a bad roommate) she finally go her own private room. Know what that means? It means I have this room all to myself! RELIEF! SWEET RELIEF! As soon as housekeeping comes in and cleans up her side, I'm high tailing it over there. Her side of the room was SO much bigger than mine. If they end up putting someone else in here before I get my room - that's the side I'd like to be on. I thought about it last night, and I haven't had a roommate since 2005. Steve doesn't count because I kind of love him. So I'm going on almost 6 or so years of living on my own terms to being pregnant and shoved in a small room with a stranger whom I get to share a bathroom with also....you'd be relieved too!

OH the freedom! Bring on the party!! I may have done a little happy dance when she left...and pulled that divider curtain back so it felt like I had more room....and talked louder than I had in two days.....and watching a movie on my laptop without head phones....I just went nuts people. lol

This room has been so hot too. I checked our unit and cold air wasn't even coming out! So last night the nurse cracked the window and it's like heaven in here now. I was hanging out in a tank top and shorts and I was still sweatin! (gross, I know)

Another thing to be celebrate, Steve finally slept in our bed at home for the first time since early November! (when I had my surgery) Yippee! I'm happy that he finally got a good nights sleep, I miss our bed so much....I can't wait for the day!

Speaking of Steve, let's hear it for this great husband of mine as he embarks on a journey around town today to get our baby registry going! I sent him on his way with a LONG list of items last night and I'm excited to see how he does. Of course, his mom will be along to help out too, so I feel a bit better about that. :) Can we just take a moment to think about how awesome this man is? I mean really.......ok. Moment has passed.

Finally, the most important celebration of them all...I've reached week 24! Can you even believe it? I can't! When I started this "adventure" I was 16 weeks along and knowing that 24 weeks in the first "age of fetus viability" which is 50% survival rate, I just took one big sigh and didn't think I was going to make it there...8 weeks seemed liked such an eternity (and it still does since now I look ahead to hopefully another 8 weeks) but I made it! I'm incredibly proud of myself but I certainly couldn't have done it without all the love, support, and visits I've gotten from all my friends and family. It made the time pass so quickly - seriously. I laid in bed last night just smiling to myself out a pure happiness to make it here. That certainly doesn't mean this babies can come out yet, but every milestone we pass gets us closer to healthy babies.

Now that's I've graduated to 24 weeks (yes I'm calling it "graduated'), the babies will now be monitored twice a day - once in the morning and once at night- for about 20 minutes. They'll strap on two heart rate monitors to my belly and I'll get to sit here and listen to their sweet little beats...before they would only find the heart tones for a minute or two and that was it...but now that these babies are the big cheese at 24 weeks I get whole shebang. :)

I can't believe we've made it this far!

Till next time everyone, by then maybe I'll have MY VERY OWN PRIVATE ROOM. Oh the idea of it just makes me smile.

Roommate Update

2012-01-07T08:46:00.003-05:00

I stand corrected friends, my roommate isn't 17-18....she's a shocking 24! COULD.HAVE.FOOLED.ME. We've now been roommates for 36 hrs and the TV hasn't been turned off once....with the volume at a nice level...so I can here it too, how nice.

It's weird...this whole time I've been on bed rest, all I could think about are these babies. How they are growing, how I can't wait to meet them some day, how special they are to me....but now that I've been in the hospital all I think about is how much this situation stinks and how I can't wait to get my own dang room. Of course I think about these boys growing inside me, but it's shadowed slightly by my living situation...it's like my focus has shifted slightly to getting my own room rather than growing this babies. Terrible I know, but I guess this wouldn't be a journey with out some fun stories to tell.

Her boyfriend showed up yesterday around 4pm and slept in bed with her until 7:30pm! But not before he brought in gas station food for his mom to be, you know, beef jerky, Lunchables, Doritos, gummy worms....I'm so going to hell for this. I'm sure she equally hates me....I mean who wouldn't hate some stranger they had to share quarters with in the hospital? We've said like 10 words to each other, we're nice about it, but I so know she probably texts her butt off talking about me just as I blog about her.

When I get my own room YOU'RE ALL INVITED TO THE PARTY. We're having a bash. A seriously crazy celebration, full of mini Sierra Mist cans, small cups of ice, and rubber glove balloons. It's going to be wild.

Roommate

2012-01-06T08:25:00.003-05:00

Last night Steve brought me down to Good Samaritan Hospital to get me checked in and what do you know, the high risk floor is full so I got a roommate. (OH JOY)

It was a huge bummer to realize and something we never really thought we'd be dealing with. I'm sure my roommate isn't thrilled about it either. I'm literally crammed in an 7-8' space just wide enough for me to walk around my bed. We share a bathroom (its right in front of her bed so she gets to hear me pee and shower), and sink. In the past when I've been here, they've put me in a double room, but I've never had a roommate (they try to avoid that at all costs) and then they put you on a wait list for a private room. I'm not sure when I'll get that private room, or when I'll even get a private double room but I CAN'T WAIT.

So far here's what I've gathered from my roommate:

She's young...maybe 17 or 18. Loves the keep the TV on ALL THE TIME and that means ALL NIGHT. She's having twin girls and I think she's much further along than me. I think I heard her say that she'll be here for two weeks and then possibly released...she just checked in yesterday too and this is the first time she's been admitted to the hospital. Me? This is my third in three months so I know the drill. I'm a seasoned vet..."step right over, dear, I'll show you the ropes."

He boyfriend and two other friends stopped by to visit yesterday around 10pm and I couldn't help but listen in on their conversations as they watched a new episode of Jersey Shore:

1. "What's this whole bed rest thing supposed to do for those babies?"-friend

2. "Want some laffy tafffy? I hate the yellow ones but the blue ones are the bomb."-boyfriend

3. "Sweet you got a flat screen, I'm so hooking my PlayStation up to it." -boyfriend

4. "I really wanna ride that new superman roller coaster at Cedar Point." - friend

5. "They signed a paper so I can go outside and smoke if I want."-roommate, "I'm down to about half a pack a day now" - roommate

I'm being tested, I know. I don't know much else about her but I'm pretty sure she could have been a candidate for Teen Mom. BUT she's in here, worried about her babies like I am and not happy that she has a roommate either so we'll just have to stick it out together. Another thing that sucks about it is that Steve can't stay over. Luckily his parents live close so he can stay there, but it's really killing him that he can't be here. It's just going to make me appreciate my private room when I get it....some day!!

Status on babies...still healthy and kicking - baby B more than A lately. They weighed 1lb4oz and 1lb 7oz on wednesday. I got a steroid shot last night to give them a growth boost.

Everyone pray that I stay here long enough for healthy babies AND to see that private room (which could be who knows how long) cause I'm pretty sure I've earned it!

Bed Rest - Week Seven

2012-01-03T17:00:00.000-05:00

Week Seven was the quickest week to date because we celebrated Christmas here twice and had friends over for the New Year!

I'm pretty sure Steve was exhausted when it was all said and done, but he was great through out the whole thing.

Christmas Day we hosted Steve's family, and then my family came over on the 26th. We had a few day break, then our friends Crystal and Dave stopped over for a visit with their super cute 17 month old, Ethan, and 2 month old, Emery. Having little Ethan here made me realize how much we will need to baby proof this house when these boys...YES BOYS....start crawling and walking. There were soo many opportunities for him to hurt himself or break something...but I guess we have time for that.

Yes, we unveiled the sex of our babies to our family this week. It was great to finally let the secret out. Everyone is happy of course and now we can start talking about naming these guys. Boys are great, it's going to be awesome watching them grow and seeing how Steve is with them. I get excited thinking about how he'll teach them about football, or how to change the oil in their car. Now we start planning for the nursery :)

My doctors appointment on the 30th went as usual. Oh, besides the fact that they want to admit me into the hospital when I am 24 weeks (this weekend). Since I'm reaching a point where the babies are viable outside of the womb, they feel it's safer for me to be at the hospital should something happen. Certainly, the plan is to "cook" these boys as long as possible, but I'm comfortable knowing that being at the hospital is best for them. Thank goodness I got to spend the holidays at home.

I can't believe I've made it this far. 7 weeks in this bed!! It doesn't feel that long at all, but it also makes me very proud. Though the next 7 (or however many) weeks are going to be rough (hospital food isn't the best, you know) I know that I can do it. And now that we're getting into planning mode for these little guys it's going to help the time fly. Baby names, the nursery, the registry...it's all starting to come together! It feels more and more real every day, and thought we have a LONG road ahead of us, I get closer and closer to meeting these boys and becoming a mother. I really don't know if it will hit me until they are finally here....

2011 In Review

2011-12-31T12:00:00.001-05:00

Looking back on this past year brings me mixed emotions. A lot of good things happened in 2011, but a few bad things happened that really threw curve balls in our lives. I have to be honest when I say that I'll be happy to see 2011 go. Let's get on with 2012!

To start the year,

I Officially quit real estate. Which was a decision that took me a long time to make, but knowing the year I had, I wouldn't have been able to do a lick of real estate even if I wanted too.

We officially moved into our home in July.

January looked like this:

And here's what she looked like in October:

I painted a tree on a wall for Steve's Godchild, Maddison. This was a first for me and I'm confident I could do it again if I wanted to.

Earlier in the year we were pregnant, then found out we were having a girl, then lost her too soon after. As our home neared completion we still struggled through the grieving process and putting our lives back together..

Steve grew a really gross beard

We said good bye to Sadie

I added a new painting to my collection

Steve and I finally moved into our new home and threw a baby shower 3 days later.. What a whirlwind weekend!!

Progress was made on making our house a home (and I snagged this sweet coffee table).

I spent a great day with Aleisha and Logan (about 10 days short of what I would have loved to have with them)

We were blessed with our second pregnancy just two short months after losing Baby G.

We took a great trip to Washington! Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5

Then BOOM. I'm on bed rest...

See, that list along is a roller coaster. Ups and downs. I know that every year we get to spend on this earth is certainly a blessing, and without this year we wouldn't have our twins growing inside me, or this beautiful home that we plan to spend the rest of our lives in. But now that we near 2012, I've never been more anxious to start clean and fresh and make this year a monumental one for us.

Resolutions? Have two healthy babies..

Happy New Year!!

Bed Rest - Week Six

2011-12-28T10:37:00.003-05:00

Week six just passed us by.

I had visitors almost every day and before you know it, we (I mean Steve) were gearing up for Christmas guests.

Monday: A long ago friend from high school stopped by with food and advice (she has twin girls and a 4 yr old). THEN she offered to come over that evening to cut my hair!! Later that night she stopped by, sans kiddos, and she gave me a cut little bob cut and we chatted for a good hour or so about how I'm going to survive this whole parenting thing! It was great to finally get to talk to her after so long, and I just know she's going to be a great person to talk to and share things with in the future.

Sporting my new hair cut :)

Tuesday: My neighbor, Matt, stopped over with his little man, Jackson, and he brought me lunch. We got to chat and for a bit too.

Wednesday: An old friend from work also stopped by and dropped off our glider for the nursery! She straight up just gave it to us since her little ones are all grown up. She visited for a while too. I miss our conversations that we used to have at work so it was awesome spending time with her.

Thursday was a much needed quiet day, while Steve finished wrapping presents (he had the day off) and getting the house ready for guests..

Doctors appointment on Friday showed nothing new. My cervix is still down to the stitch..turns out last weeks good news was only because the chair I was in for the exam was tilted. When I'm tilted (so my head is lower than my butt) just a few degrees, my cervix shuts, but put the chair level, and I got nothing. We did this little experiment in the office on Friday and because of this discovery I now lay it bed now and then with my bed tilted (joy).

During week 7 we celebrated Christmas and revealed the sex of our babies!

Stay tuned!

Christmas Time is Here!

2011-12-23T12:00:00.001-05:00

I thought I'd share with your the little bits of Christmas that are around the house. I'm so glad that Steph came down to decorate, otherwise I'd go bonkers. Before I was strictly horizontal, I was REALLY looking forward to decorating for Christmas this year so Steph was my Christmas angel who still let me enjoy the holidays even though I couldn't decorate.

Let's start the tour, shall we?

I really wanted to make a wreath this year, but sleigh bells were as far I got.

Our first floor bath has a little cheer: a wobbly Santa, cranberry candle and peppermint soap. YUM!

I stole this idea for our Christmas cards from Pinterest and forced Steve to attach the ribbon to the door. It turned out great, but we ran out of room a long time ago - gonna have to try a different plan next year.

Mom's and Dad's Nativity set! This was our house warming gift. It's beautiful. Mom made the ceramic figures and hand painted all of them herself. I've loved it for years. Dad made the stable too. It's a true handmade gift :)

Our make-shift centerpiece. Some day I'll have a table runner that stretches the length of the table. I've sprinkled cinnamon pine cones all over the house so it smells delicious in here.

Steph got me this fun blanket for winter so my bed is even in season!

Stocking hung on our "hearth" lol

A view of the tree from my bed. Decorating done by Steph!

Currently, presents are stacked around it as high as my bed!

Our kiss kiss bears, and a piece of art I fashioned two years ago. Its finally out of storage!

There you have it, Christmas in our house - the highlights...Hope you all have Merry Christmas!!!

Bed Rest - Week Five

2011-12-19T13:07:00.003-05:00

I feel that I've gotten into some type of groove here. I guess that's a good thing and a bad thing. Good because my outlook is a little different...rather that this being a prison that I'm bound to, it's become my life (for now at least). My outlook is different, positive...but really there's no room for the other kind of outlook. It's takes too much energy to be negative all the time.

On the flip side, it's also bad to feel that I'm into a groove because at any moment I could go into labor and these babies could be taken from me. Yes, that's a fact. I'm still a few weeks away from the first milestone of 24 weeks. At that point, the babies will have a %50 chance of survival out of the womb. Moving into weeks 26 and 28, their chances climb considerably...that still doesn't mean we're in the clear. I need to remember that this my reality - so I can be thankful, every day, for keeping these babies inside me.

I can barely remember what I did last week. I know that Steph came down to visit - she brought more food and even dusted my house for me :) I think the week went so quickly because I was so happy to be back home..

Another friend, Bethany also stopped over with dinner one evening and Steve and I got to enjoy her visit.

Bonnie also stopped over for a too short visit - she dropped me off at my appointment on Friday which went surprisingly well. It seems the medicine they've put me on to stop contractions has been working. My cervix measured LONGER than usual....seriously. The doctors words were "What have you been doing? It's better than it's ever been." We took this as great news and came home on Friday with faint smiles, and a tiny sigh of relief. We are still cautious, and I'm certainly continuing bed rest, but a little good news now and again is always welcoming :)

This week we're gearing up for more visitors and Christmas. I hope that when the holiday smoke clears I don't fall back into a rut....First it was Thanksgiving that I looked forward to, now it's Christmas and New Years...these events help make the time pass. I guess I'll have my weekly milestones to look forward to after the new year. Let me tell you that I'm looking forward to 2012!!

Babies are still kicking and moving regularly (right now they thinks it's pretty cool to kick my bladder)....funny babies. Apparently they weigh close to a pound each right now. Here comes the weight gain!

Crafting from Bed

2011-12-16T11:45:00.000-05:00

I was pretty excited when my long awaiting crafting supplies arrived at the house last week. Yes, I get excited about foam cones and green yard...my days are rather slow going right now...lol.

I'd happened upon this little craft project in one of the MANY blogs I read on a daily basis.

Thrifty Decor Chick. It's a great blog! Anyway, I originally planned to do this for fall/Halloween decor, but I thought maybe it'd be something fun for me to do since I'm now horizontal. Plus it's super easy!

The inspiration...

The supplies. You might also need to include push pins, or glue to secure your yarn at the beginning and end..

And then your wrap and wrap and wrap...

And wrap and wrap...

And finally, it's finished! People, I did all of this laying down, so no excuses here! I planned on having a cluster of 3 or 5, but I only ordered two so far. Maybe next year I'll make more...

Tada! They're new home in the foyer..

Another thought is to possible spray paint them with glitter, or even a clear coat just to guarantee they will survive being packed away...

Bed Rest - Week Four

2011-12-14T00:04:00.000-05:00

Week four started off with a flue shot (joy). My neighbor, Sharon took me down the street to the pharmacy - it was great to get spend some time with Sharon, get out of the house and get some fresh air!

Steve was in Seattle for the first two three days of the week, but I did ok with out him. I mean, don't get me wrong, I miss him when he's gone, but it was alright. The man's gotta work!

My girl Kathryn came over with her CUTE little man, Jackson, and made dinner for me on Wednesday. We watched "The Holiday" also. Great movie if you've never seen it, it's older but still pretty good!

Lots of packages arrived last week too! Our new bench to put in the foyer, crafting supplies from Jo-Ann fabrics, holiday soaps from Bath and Body Works, and Christmas gifts for the family. When Steve got home early Thursday morning, he took the day off (he caught the red eye from Seattle) and hung with me all day - it was like a Saturday! I watched him wrapped presents, and we enjoyed a slow day while he got things settled around the house.

I also finished a little Christmas craft project while he was gone :) I'll post on that this week.

Friday my girl, Jen, stopped by to hang out and then she brought me to my weekly appointment..and this is where shit hit the fan.

The doctor wasn't happy with the length of my cervix so she had me admitted to the hospital. She was concerned that I was possibly having contractions and wanted me down there for observation. So our plans for Papa Johns pizza on Friday were squashed as I got admitted into Good Sam. They hooked me up to a "TOCO" (basically a belly monitor to see if I'm having contractions) and then I just stayed in bed for the next few days. I was, in fact contracting but only the machine could tell - I couldn't. GREAT, I thought, my cervix isn't cooperating, but now my uterus has decided to work on its own agenda. Contractions aren't good to have since they continue to shorten your cervix so they put me on medicine that helps to stop them and I continued to lay around and wait for nothing to happen...and nothing really happened. Monday morning they measured my cervix again and basically...I don't have anything left, literally. I'm down to the "stitch" so to speak, holding tight mind you, but that's all I've got. Steve and I realized the severity of the situation and pretty much accepted the fact that they were going to keep me in the hospital for the DURATION of my pregnancy. With the little cervix that I have left, I risk my water breaking, and getting an infection "down there" which could put the babies in danger. Steve went home that night and came back with suitcase of essentials to begin our move-in. THEN on Tuesday morning my doctor came in to discuss the situation: Yes, I'm still high risk, but being in the hospital is more dangerous (infection wise) than me being at home. She was okay with be going home!! So......I'm home!! Nothings really changed as far as my situation, except that I now have two appointments a week (to monitor the babies fluid since the medicine I'm taking to stop contractions minimized their fluids) which sucks, yes, but I get to be home. I'm still on strict bed rest, getting up only every two hours and I'm on high alert for any symptoms that could mean my water has broken, or I have some kind of infection.

See? All that for nothing really..I mean, I've been high risk for weeks already, so now I'm a little more high risk I guess. To me, high risk is high risk. All I know is that I'm into week 5 of bed rest and week 21 of this pregnancy and I'M STILL PREGNANT and that's really all I can hold onto right now. I'm in the 20's now!

Oh the babies? You want to know about the babies? They're just great. I feel them kicking all the time and Steve has even felt them kick. It's the best feeling ever. It's amazing how the tiniest movements can lift your spirits in the darkest times. We got to see them again on Monday, and they're just all over each other in there ("there" being my belly of course). Sometimes they're kicking each other, sometime they're headies toesies, sometimes they're staring right at each other - it's pretty fun to watch.

Every day is a blessing!

WHOAAAAAA We're Half Way There!!!

2011-12-13T19:55:00.001-05:00

Whoa! Living on a Prayer!...sound familiar? Bon Jovi couldn't have said it better. That's right, we're half way to healthy babies, and literally living on a prayer.

I can't tell you how happy I am to make it this far. Three weeks ago, I honestly don't know if we would have made it.

The babies are kicking! It's the most wonderful feeling, I spend many nights with my hands on my belly just waiting to feel little pokes and nudges. My belly is definitely growing too!

Stats on babies: they both weigh about 12 oz, and are about 9 inches long (head to foot).

We'll be revealing the sex around Christmas time, yes you all can wait a week or two more!

Of course this milestone in my pregnancy didn't come without a hiccup. More on that during my bed rest post..but for now, here's a photo of my belly at 20 weeks. WARNING, I don't look the best in this...hair and make-up really haven't been my top priority lately....but after looking at these photos..maybe I should throw on some mascara or something! DANG!

Washington Day 5

2011-12-07T12:00:00.001-05:00

Our 5th and final day in Washington started off with more pretty views of Lake Crescent, then a hike or two around the area.

I just love how the trees seems to grow towards each other.

More waterfalls!

You could stand right over this waterfall!

See my boot! :)

The bridge over the waterfall

And hey, a trip to Washington just wouldn't be worth it without of a drive through Forks!! Steve gets major brownie points for this one!

Bella's truck - the actual truck used in the movie

One of only a few two story homes in Forks, this one is the home they used to model the Swan home after

La Push beach

I have to say I wasn't too impressed with Forks, not that I planned on seeing Edward or Jacob just hanging around or something, but I'm glad we did it.

The next day was spend traveling back home. We logged almost 1000 miles on our rental car and saw some pretty beautiful sites! Another successful Slusher vaca in the books :)

Bed Rest - Week Three

2011-12-05T12:00:00.001-05:00

This week is dedicated to Steve.

It started on Tuesday when he baked 10 dozen cookies for the cookie swap I couldn't go to. Yes ladies, 10 dozen mint chocolate chip cookies.

Here he is in action....so hot!

Oh and here is me helping! (meticulously unwrapping Andes mint candies)

The result of his cooking..disaster zone!

It was then followed by he continued help and love during the week. The man is still sleeping on the floor by my bed, makes sure my water bottle is always full, gets my meals ready when he's home, does the laundry, and still manages to work. Wednesday we had a visitor, Nicole came over and cooked dinner for us (which was delicious by the way) and after she left, Steve tried to do more work on his computer....but instead was falling asleep. He's exhausted!

Thursday he whipped up another batch of delicious Turkey soup for the freezer, and also got my things ready for my shower.

Friday he had to take the day off work because I had two doctors appointments. One in the morning, and one in the afternoon. Oh, and he also had to attend a closing since we refinanced our home. At 7am he drove me downtown to Good Sam hospital for appointment number 1, then drove me back home, left to go to our closing, came home to make lunch, then loaded me up in the car for appointment number 2. I MEAN REALLY?!

Saturday we had our friends from Coldwater came down to celebrate Jed's 30th birthday and they stopped by the house to have dinner and say hi before they went out. Steve and some of our friends from down here joined them at Dave and Busters. I woke up in the middle of the night to pee and this is what I was greeted with...

A 4' tall Scooby, and little Bearcat doll. How funny! (After my heart rate went down). My friends thought they'd pull their tickets together and get me some gifts since I couldn't be there...love them!

Sunday was a day to watch football and enjoy our friend Bret's company. He also cooked us a delicious dinner of pork chops and potatoes!

I'm grateful. For so many things - the babies, my family, my friends, Netflix, the holidays, the Internet, but most of all Steve. He keeps me sane, makes me feel safe and continues to love me through ALL.OF.THIS. It's been a rough year for us and he's does nothing but care for me and show me how strong we are. (Sorry for the sappiness...comes with the territory right now I guess. Being on bed rest gives you a lot of time to think).

The appointments went well. The doctors visit in the AM was better than expected. She was surprised I'd made it this far after my surgery and called our current state "cautious optimism." Steve and I certainly aren't getting our hopes up about anything (every day is a blessing) but hearing that from the doctor felt like we had gotten over yet another hurdle. The PM appointment was typical and we also got to see the babies. They are doing great!

I'm headed into week 19 and couldn't be happier. Like I said earlier, every day is a blessing :)

By the way, the cookies we AMAZING.

Onward!!

Our Chairs

2011-11-30T12:00:00.000-05:00

It just dawned on me that I haven't shown you the awesome before and after pic of the chairs we had reupholstered for the house! Welp, here you go!

BEFORE:

AFTER!

Given the pattern in the fabric, they couldn't get the tufting to line up, but I'm diggin the clean lines of these new chairs! The look great in our living room now!!

Bed Rest - Week Two

2011-11-28T12:00:00.000-05:00

If a holiday happened every week that I was on bed rest I'd be okay with that. Just sayin..

This week FLEW by!

Monday I got a visit from two girlfriends from work - and they came bearing gifts :)

A plastic drawer set full of 28 wrapped presents that I get to open every day, a grabber thingy (fully decorated with fabric and ribbons), a six pack of Yuengling for Steve and a gift card to Larosas, a cute maternity top and pants, a SUPER SOFT fuzzy blanket to snuggle with while I'm spending an eternity in bed, magazine subscriptions, and Panera!! The best gift of all was their visit, it was great to catch up with them and to see their smiling faces. I really do work with some wonderful people. They mentioned a work girls night up here soon and I can't wait!

Oh yes, and I got a shower that night!!

Tuesday was spent anticipating my doctors appointment, which went well. It was basically just a question and answer session. I should be getting a hospital bed soon. After a much needed stop at Subway (YUM) we got home just in time for my girls Rose, and Jen to stop up. We were like the three stooges in college, and Rose now lives in California. Every time she's in town we make a point to get together over dinner or drinks and catch up. It's never a dull moment when the three of us are together. Lots of laughs were had.

Wednesday, Steve came home early to get the turkey ready and later in the evening our friends Cynthia and Matt came over for a visit. They were coming up from Atlanta (where they live now) so they stopped by. It was great to catch up with them, as always, and I got to see and love on their dog, Dora.

Thursday was THANKSGIVING!! Steve did a wonderful job cooking and we enjoyed a meal with Steve's parents and brother. I actually got to sit at the table like a real grown up!

Steve's mom brought over some delicious pie for dessert too.

The table is set!

Steve's delicious turkey!

Look at me helping...lol

My view from bed

And another view :)

Friday (another shower day!) was spent listening to music and hearing Steve in the kitchen cooking left over meals. He made a Turkey Pot Pie, Turkey Casserole, and Turkey soup! I completed about 15 word finds and got my shower for my doctors appointment. The appointment went well. No news on my cervix, nothing bad, nothing good. It will never be a "things look great!" kind of appointment simply becuase they dont.. so we just go with it...Got to see the babies again and they were moving around like crazy! It's just a mess of body parts in there right now lol. Friday evening was spent over our neighbors house. Kat and Matt were kind enough to set up a bed in their living room so I could have a "night out" with friends. She cooked a delicious meal and it was great seeing friends :)

Steve cooking away on Friday (picture taken from my bed)

Saturday, Steph, Jed and Benny came down to visit! This would have been the weekend that all four of us adults go to the Browns vs Bengals game, but given my bed ridden-ness, Jed and Steve went to the game and Steph hung back to put up my Christmas decorations for me!

We had a great time hanging out and chatting, she did a good job with the decorations too! I never thought I'd be spending my first Christmas in this house on bed.

I'll be sure to take some photos of the decorations soon!

Washington Day 4

2011-11-21T12:00:00.000-05:00

Day four started with a trip to the bar in the am to watch the Bengals game. Yes that's Steve having an early morning beer. This was after the most delicious breakfast that we've ever had! The woman who runs the Trumpeter Inn served us fruit parfait, pumpkin spike waffles, peppered bacon, fresh coffee. I mean, it was ridiculous. Even with a full belly, that doesn't stop my husband from having a beer while he watches football :)

We hopped on the ferry out of Friday Harbor and back to Anacortes so we could drive to Fort Casey and hop on a ferry to Port Townsend.

The view leaving Friday Harbor

On our way to Fort Casey and Keystone Harbor, we stopped for a photo op at Deception Pass..

Coming up on cute, Port Townsend we took some photos around here and also ventured to Fort Worden...

Lovely homes in Historic Port Townsend

Once of the captains homes at Fort Worden

A shot of the green space at Fort Worden

It was the perfect Fall day..

After Port Townsend, we set off for the Olympic Highway and Port Angeles...yep you guessed it, we were on our way towards FORKS! But first, we'd stay the night at Lake Crescent Lodge, and take some scenic shots...patience!

Lake Crescent - probably the most beautiful sight on the trip, thank me now because I spared you the 50 photo I took in like 10 minutes......

The main lodge where we had dinner that night.

The view when you step our of our room..

How could you not skip rocks on this calm water!

Testing our my rain boots - and no, they are not water proof...lol

In the early evening we took a walk around a trail close by

This tree was hollowed our from a fire years ago!

Tomorrow (our final day) more trails and sites and Forks!

Bed Rest - Week One

2011-11-20T12:44:00.005-05:00

Well kids, week one of many is in the books and I have to say it went pretty quick. I'm not surprised that it went quick though because I had a lot going on!

Sunday was my first whole day by myself and it went rather well. I had a surprise visit from the neighbors, Kat and Matt, but other than that, I watched the Bengals game and caught up on all the shows I missed during the week.

Monday the neighborhood ladies came over and set up a meal plan through the website Take Them A Meal. It lets you sign up to be a part of my meal plan and you can pick what days to bring me a meal, that way I'm not trying to keep the schedule on my own. It was nice having them here, they are always entertaining :)

Tuesday I got a visit from my girlfriend Bonnie and Steve came home early.

Wednesday I got a visit from my my neighbor, Kathy and a delicious broccoli chicken casserole!

Thursday was a day to myself so I watch all the Twilight movies, oh and I got a shower!

Friday my girlfriend Jen visited and I had my first doctors appointment.

That was my week in a nutshell, many visitors, lots of phone calls. I've developed somewhat of a schedule already. I'm supposed to get up every 2 hours and go to the bathroom so my day runs in two hour increments. I sit up for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and that's about it. This week, the days went fast..but I'm sure that will change. I've already started to feel my hips getting weaker. I don't know if that's because of the babies or because I'm horizontal all day.

I think about the babies a lot, I think about how it seems the odds are against me on this, and I think about how the road is long, but I'm taking one day and one week at time. It's nice that I'll have a doctors appointment every week (something to look forward too) and that I'm sure someone will be over hear and there to visit - which helps time pass.

My doctors appointment went well on Friday. The ultrasound showed the stitch still in place, and the babies fluids are good so I'm clear till next week. Nothing better, nothing worse.

I'm still dying to feel the babies move, although I think I have felt little movements but I'm not positive. Steve puts his head on my belly almost nightly and once he felt them. :)

Steve refuses to sleep upstairs (since I'm not aloud to climb steps I have to stay in the living room) so he sleeps on the floor by my bed. I've got two fancy tray tables set up by my bed that hold my essentials: water bottle, remotes, phone, pad of paper and pen, DVD's, Tylenol, mirrors, tweezers (I refuse to grow a uni brow just cause I'm on bed rest), computer and magazines. It's really a nice set up. lol.

Next week will surely go fast, we have two doctors appointments, and Thanksgiving!

Have a great week!

The set up.

The husband.

Washington Day 3

2011-11-17T12:00:00.002-05:00

There's really only word to sum up Day 3 - WHALES! I finally got to see them in the wild!

There is a whale watching boat that we took out of Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands. A chilly 1hr boat ride out gave us this:

Towards the end of our time on the water, another boat captain radioed ours to tell us he had spotted some hump back - so we ventured that way.

Steve took this (in case you forgot what a hump back looks like)

And that's about all we got to see if them....

We got back to port just in time to head to our 2nd bed and breakfast, get changed and head to dinner. We ate at Downriggers right in the harbor - delicious clam chowder!

Our bed and breakfast was called the Trumpeter Inn, it was located off the coast in in a quite little country area. The scene was gorgeous, the food was amazing. We also recommend staying there if you're ever in San Juan.

Twins - Bed Rest

2011-11-15T12:00:00.002-05:00

Remember that funny little comment I made at the end of the post about our Twins? "We have a long road a head of us," is what I said, or something funny like that....Welp, my words are now very much my reality.

It all started at my prenatal visit on October 29th. Given our loss of Baby G, the doctor recommended that I get my cervix measured to rule out an incompetent cervix. An incompetent cervix basically means that my cervix (the barrier between babies and "the world") can't hold the weight of a baby as it grows and all the other weight involved with pregnancy. When one has an incompetent cervix, it will begin to dilate as the baby gets bigger, thus sending mom into labor - usually much to early for the baby to survive. My doctor didn't assume that was my case, but wanted to double check and make sure - I was game.

Fast forward to November 8 and my ultrasound showed tunneling in my cervix. This means that my cervix was opening a bit, but was closed in some spots. They recommended I come back later that day to see my doctor once he looked over my ultrasound pics and assessed my situation.

Well what you do you know, we came back at 6pm, the doctor checked my cervix, and I was already dilated to about the size of a nickel. No contractions, no pain, it just started opening. The recommendation - an emergency cerclage that evening. I won't go into the details of the cerclage you can simply Google the term to find out all you need to know.

I was admitted to the hospital that evening and doctors checked me once more (two hours later) and my membrane had started to bulge out. Yes I know, this may be TMI, but trust me, if you ever have kids or plan on having kids, words like membrane, cervix, and dilate will be a part of your daily vocab, so get use to it.

So my membranes were bulging - this upped my risks even more. If a cerclage was performed and they ruptured a membrane, or broke my water - baby A (which was closes to the "exit") wouldn't survive. Plus a cerclage with Twins really doesn't have a guarantee. The doctors wanted to test my amniotic fluid by baby A to make sure all was healthy - if it wasn't I wouldn't get the cerclage.

November 9th was a day full of hurdles. First, an amniocentesis at 10am to check the health of baby A - basically an 8 inch needle piercing my belly and going into baby A's sac to extract amniotic fluid. Once finished they would run tests on the fluid to make sure all was well, then I would get the cerclage. So we waited......then the green light baby A was healthy! I was a go for surgery. 4:30pm I'm prepped for surgery and by 7:30 I'm back in recovery after a successful "heroic cerclage" (according to my doctor). She told me that I was dilated to the size of a half dollar (even though I hadn't stood or sat for almost 24hours) and that my babies most definitely wouldn't survive if I didn't get the procedure done. In her words, "Sweetie, you have a totally incompetent cervix."

Like I said earlier, a cerclage with Twins isn't a guarantee. In order to make sure this works I'm on bed rest for the duration of my pregnancy. That means only sitting up to use the bathroom, eat, and shower. All other times - bed. How long do I have to do this your ask? Currently I'm 16 weeks and on my 7th day of bed rest. So...you do the math. If all goes well - we're talking 5 months of bed rest. 5 MONTHS. So that little comment about "long road ahead" and "roller coaster rides" holy shit is that true! I've got to let these babies cook all the while putting the least amount of pressure on my cervix as possible - so I don't break my water, induce labor.

It should be noted that during this whole ordeal, the babies have been healthy and rambunctious. Every ultrasound (I think we had 5) showed them kicking each other, squirming and moving just fine.

I'll continue to blog - since I'm really not doing much else. I figure a weekly update would be nice.

Until then, I'm going to roll on my side now and give my butt a break.

Let the fun begin!

Washington Day 2

2011-11-14T12:00:00.000-05:00

After a great nights sleep at Campbell's Inn and taking a few shots of the morning, we head to Blueberry Hills Farms for breakfast.

That place smelled so good I wanted to lick the air. It was a cut little place full of antiques and memorabilia. The food was to die for.

We hopped in the car for a beautiful scenic drive on our way to Winthrop.

Winthrop was straight our of a country western film. We got out of the car to stretch our legs here...

After Winthrop we stopped a great look out point called Washington Pass Overlook. At 5500' we got a somewhat clear view of the Liberty Bell Mtn and Early Winter Spires...

Following the overlook was Rainy Pass, a short mile hike to Rainy Lake. Absolutely gorgeous.

Be sure to Google Image some this place, it's stunning.

Little waterfall on our hike to the lake..

Rainy Lake

We ended our Cascade Loop tour at La Conner, a artsy town know for it's tulip festival in the spring. After drinks at the La Conner Brewery, and dinner at Nell Thorn, our night was spent at Katy's Inn, bar far the cutest bed and breakfast you've ever seen. Check out the link to see photos..we stayed in the Garden Room!

Day 3, whales!!

Rollercoaster

2011-11-12T12:53:00.001-05:00

It should be no surprise to most of you who read this that Steve and I were still very much on the baby train after losing Baby G. I remember that I asked Steve about getting pregnant again and he responded with "Sarah, we were there months away from having a baby girl. Yes, I'm still on the baby train." (love him).

Recovering from Baby G was a roller coaster ride of emotions over the next few months. From June to September we moved into our home and worked our asses off getting it settled, I struggled with anger and jealousy towards other pregnant women, and I anxiously awaiting my first period after Baby G. That would mean my body was "back to normal" and we could "hop" back on the baby train again.

My anger stemmed mostly from feeling like I had been robbed of something for no reason. Of course I believe that God has a plan for us, but I couldn't help but feel frustrated with the situation. I had finally wrapped by head around having a baby in October - my favorite month of the year and now, if I wanted that again, I would have to wait until the beginning of the year! No way. Jealousy and anger also reared its ugly head around other pregnant women because "They were so lucky and didn't know how good they had it." I know, that's awful right? I soon began to heal, and the anger, jealousy, and anxiousness faded.

It was to our surprise that once my body got "back to normal" we had no problem getting pregnant again. Yes, that's what I'm saying....we're pregnant! Not only are we pregnant, but we're pregnant with Twins. TWINS......TWINS PEOPLE. TWO BABIES. 20 FINGERS. 20 TOES.

I know I know, I'm in just as much shock as you are. Back to God having a plan - boy does he work in mysterious ways. When the ultrasound tech said, "There's two in there!" at 6 weeks my thoughts immediately when to Baby G. She's got to have something to do with this. What a little stinker.

So there you have it. It's true that when you experience the worst, somewhere down the road (and for some people it may be longer) you'll find some happiness or things will get better. We're there right now. In the better phase. We've still got a long road ahead but here we go!

Washington Day 1

2011-10-23T14:03:00.010-04:00

In the beginning October, I met Steve in Seattle for a 5 days vacation through Washington. He was already out there for work and we took the opportunity to see parts of Washington we've heard so much about. I'd never been so I was pretty exited.

We started day one by leaving downtown Seattle and heading straight for the Cascade Loop - a 4o0 mile scenic drive through Washington.

Here's our first shot on vacation in our sweet ride, a Chevy Impala.

Our first stop - Snoqualmie Falls

Steve just had to take a photo of me with my rain boots on...they came in handy pretty much the whole trip!

Here she is. (The fog didn't cooperate..)

You can barely see it in the background

This is a shot of the drive to our next stop. It's generally what we saw the whole trip - gorgeous!

Next up, Leavenworth, a cute little Bavarian town that I'm sure my mom would have loved..

We had lunch at King Ludwigs (not my favorite....but hey give me a break I was 11 weeks pregnant, nothing really sounded good to me except fries and cheese). The shops were cute, and the ice cream, pretzel an salt water taffy was delicious! We even had fun in the hat shop :)

King Ludwigs

Me acting excited about King Ludwigs

Steve loving King Ludwigs

A shot of Leavenworth.

The shops were so cute!

Steve in the hat store...

We ended our day in Lake Chelan at Campbell's Inn right on the lake.

The view from our room at Campbell's Inn

Lake Chelan

Next up, the yummiest breakfast I've ever had, many beautiful shots, and our first bed and breakfast!

Wall Gallery in the Living Room

2011-10-19T12:17:00.000-04:00

I had the urge to fill this wall in our living room with a cluster of photos, so I got to work on cutting out shapes for the frames I intended to used. It all circled around a square frame we had with 8 photos in it (from our wedding) and grew from there....

Option 1....okay....

Option 2...much better.. so I got to hangin'

Here you can see the square frame that this all started with. The other two larger frames contain photos of the John A. Roebling Bridge in downtown Cincinnati that I took during a wedding and the Ferris Wheel at Navy Pier in Chicago. (See below)

Once I put those two frames up, I realized it would really work to have a wedding collage along with photos of places...so I decided that this gallery wall would be our "destination wall" filled with photos of vacations we've been on, places we've seen.

Here is the finished product! (Added the S to fill the space a little better). I've got two frames that are flipped - those will eventually be filled with photos and the wedding frame has already begun to fill - with photos from our California trip! (you can find those posts from last year by clicking on the "Adventures" link on the left.)

I highly recommend the paper layout on the wall before you begin our gallery..it definitely takes more time, but the result it worth it!

A Day with the Kids

2011-10-17T20:03:00.005-04:00

Last month, I had the pleasure of spending the WHOLE DAY with my niece and nephew. Steve went down to the Bengals game, so I had them all to myself...commence spoiling!

I took them to the Renaissance Festival in Waynesville and they had a blast!

We saw: Giant turkey legs, a real joist (with horses and armor!), a live chess match, a mud show (complete with mud spatter on our clothing) and lots of people in costume.

Aleisha and Logan in front of GIANT knight

Logan shooting the bow and arrow into bails of hay

Logan's souvenir from the festival - he was pretty pumped.

Our New Coffee Table

2011-09-29T13:13:00.000-04:00

Well, it's actually old and not new at all, but it's new to us! I snagged this army weapons crate off Craigslists for $50! I had been scouring the Internet for some kind of coffee table-thing that would really stand out in our living room and BOOM, there she was. It certainly fits the rustic look that I was going for and the color complimented our kitchen perfectly!!

Pictured with wood putty

Upon receiving it, we noticed many small nail-sized holes in the top. (It was later thought that maybe soldiers propped the crate up and used it as a form of dart board..the holes were kind of placed perfectly for that theory). I swept her out, cleaned her up and sanded down all the chipped wood (didn't want splinters).

The sides, with the original stencils...someone please tell me what these numbers and letters mean!

Ooo I love how beat up it is...

The inside:

Still smells a bid musty, so I'll be cleaning it with vinegar to get rid of the smell soon.

Top again full of wood putty

After the wood putty dried, I ventured to Home Depot to find a paint that matched and sure enough, BEHR Paints carry 360F-7 Olive Shadow which matches almost perfectly. Way to go BEHR! After the painted dried I put a bout four coats of gloss clear coat over top so we would have to use coasters and worry about water rings..

Then I put four casters on the bottom (for versatility and to raise the height of it, it was only about 12 inches tall before casters).

And here she is in her full glory!

Isn't she GORGEOUS?!

I just love the texture that she adds to the space!

Dino Toad

2011-09-23T15:13:00.003-04:00

While I was in Raleigh, NC for work this week Steve had a visitor at the house....

Can't you see it? That blob in the picture is a toad....covered in mud. Talk about an amazing camouflage job!

A top view photo shows that this is clearly a toad....but the head on picture is a little disturbing...

HOLY DINO TOAD! He's got soo much mud on him, he looks like a lizard or miniature dinosaur.

Lebanon's got some weirdo wild life!

MY Drive at 5

2011-09-16T12:00:00.000-04:00

Gross.

Ruining a perfectly good car. I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure one of these stickers said "I need more space for more stickers!! MORE STICKERS!!"

On another note, I also saw a grown man brushing his hair while driving. It was a teal brush, small and compact. I can't tell you the last time I saw a man brush his hair...in his car. I bet he keeps in his glove box for those days where his hair just needs to be tamed one last time before he gets to his destination. Maybe I'm so intrigued by this because Steve keeps his short - like buzzed short. Hm.

Buckeye House Progress - The Second Floor

2011-09-08T10:02:00.005-04:00

Let's move on to the second floor, shall we? Trust me, it's not much better...

The Master Bedroom: Lots of things planned for this mama-jamma. First off, those bed side lamps are dark red, and I'm currently in the process of painting them light blue. The safe on the floor will be moved into the closet (I know, it's super classy there). I'd like to get a large piece of art work to put over the bed and a storage bench for the foot of the bed. We also need nicer pillows to finish the bed. I don't have pictures of the rest of the room, but all we have in here is a dresser and my jewelry stand. We need another dresser or piece of furniture to fill the space and I'd like to move our other dresser closer to the bathroom so we're not walking across our room (and in front of our window) butt naked to get our undergarments..to much? Sorry. Finally, I want to fill this room with photos, and keep sakes that are special to Steve and I.

The Master Bathroom: Don't you just love the runner in here?! Yes we still need to hang our mirrors, and I'm thinking a piece of art on the wall opposite the vanity. We also need something to hold our hand towels. Perhaps some decorative item to place in the middle of the vanity would be nice too..

The Guest Room: This room is coming together nicely - it's the closest to being done. I plan to expand on that gallery wall slowly but I'm having a hard deciding on what to hang. I'm thinking a cool looking luggage rack would look nice in here too.

We need a headboard for the bed, and I need to pull the duvet up so the purple sheets are peaking through! Dad's photo looks so great in this room. I love that when you walk down the hall its the first thing you see.

The Guest Bath: I love how the colors are coming together in here. We need to hang towel rings by the mirrors and that's about it in here. Past the pocket door (to the left) is the tub and toilet portion of the bathroom. I'd like to put a shelf in there eventually full of decorative items. Those mirrors are from Hobby Lobby!

The laundry, game room, and empty room didn't make the cut today - nothing to see there anyway.

Buckeye House Progress - The First Floor

2011-09-08T07:13:00.008-04:00

I've been scarce lately, I know. I really don't even have an excuse for it. I mean, we've been busy but nothing more than the usual. We're slowly getting things together at the house, so I took some photos last week to show progress...remember...PROGRESS. I thought I'd go through some of them and give a little rundown of our plans as we continue to get this house situated. Let's begin, shall we?!

Disclaimer : pardon the crappy pics, it was the evening. The house photographs MUCH better in daylight.

The Living Room - First off, there will eventually be a larger TV, hung on the wall (see that black dot on the wall? That's the cable and next to it is the outlet for said future TV). We're in need of a some side tables also, perhaps something rounded and tiered? Along those same lines we plan to have a coffee table which I'm proud to announce that I have found - yes found. It's a treasure that I'm positive I'll share with you once it's finished! I'd also like to add something above the "entertainment center" to fill the height of the room a little better. Perhaps some tall vases (love my vases) or plants...we'll see. You can also see in the lower right hand corner some items on the floor - yeah these will eventually be hung or displayed in the living room, but I'm just not sure where..bare walls makes me uncomfortable...and on that note, lets talk about the other side of the living room.

More bare walls. That larger bare wall in the top right will house something, maybe a photo collage, maybe a series of shelves, maybe one large piece of art..who knows. On either side of the front window I would like to get two white shelves for further photo displaying and other decorative items. hehe, "decorative items"..I know you love it, Steve!! Again, you see a better view in front of the sofa - and the need for a coffee table/awesome treasure that I can't wait to reveal!

This portion of the living room (looking into the backyard) is looking pretty good. I do, however feel the need to hang SOMETHING on theses walls...thoughts? BTW LOVE our teal chairs. I need to post before and afters!!

The First Floor Bath - Well the most obvious thing is that we need to finally get our toilet paper holder hung (say that three times fast!). I guess I could have closed the toilet lid - sorry! I also struggle with what to put above the toilet and next the mirror. That mirror is so awesome that I don't want to take away from it, but I definitely need to add something! I also need a hand towel stand/holder. Maybe try a little harder to match the dang tissue box with my decor in there (going for a browns with a spike of rust/orange). Sheesh! The opposite wall could use some pizazz too, hey you gotta have something to oogle while you're doing your business!

No photos of the mudroom, dining room, kitchen, foyer and study. Why?

Mudroom: so incomplete and so not on our radar right now I can't even formulate a plan.

Dining Room: More to come later

Kitchen: Nothing's changed, and it was a MESS when I took all these photos

Foyer: More to come later

Study: Holy mess. It's currently covered in boxes, beads, and picture frames. I'm too ashamed to show it, AND that deserves it's on dang post.

Next Coffee Table Book

2011-08-25T14:03:00.007-04:00

Source

Once I purchase this...I just need to get the coffee table and I'm all set!

MY Drive at 5

2011-08-19T12:33:00.000-04:00

Can we talk a minute about billboards? Good.

I see a lot of them on my 50 hour commute during the day (ok not 50, but you get the point) and recently my morning commute has given me a billboard with this on it:

Now there's more to it than just her face (she's performing at a Casino near by so it's an advertisement for her show) but I really just want to talk about her face....does anyone else feel uncomfortable when then look at this? Let me just say that I'm not the more gorgeous face you'll ever see, and she most certainly isn't U.G.L.Y, but there's something creepy about this. Could it be the orange casts? The fact that she's looking off into the distance...at what? The UFO that dropped her off? She just looks non-human to me. Am I weird? Maybe, but all I know is that this billboard actually startled me the morning I first saw it..and that takes a lot for me. Once I'm "in the zone" of weaving through traffic I usually can't be distracted.

So we've established that I'm wierd..fine..but bare with me on this one.

I'm driving home a few days later, taking a different route....and look what's on another billboard for the SAME CASINO:

(It was essentially the same billboard..but the info had been changed)

Doesn't this one creep you out? Picture a 14' tall Marie Osmond staring you down like she's going to eat you! Can't you see it? I don't know where this Casino's graphics department went image shopping but they went to the wrong store!

Still not getting it? How bout if we put the two together...

Gives me the willies. They just look like non-human versions LeAnn and Marie who are getting ready to take wear your skin.

Still just me? Oh well, now you can see what odd ball things I think about during my commutes. Not the stressful day I had or will have, not about what I'm having for dinner that night, not about my plans for the upcoming weekend, or about the terrible/awesome song on the radio. Cause that would make more sense.

Just so you know I still exists...

2011-08-16T20:30:00.002-04:00

Our backyard...we have grass people!!

Gift Card Bouquet DIY

2011-08-03T11:37:00.000-04:00

I thought I'd post a bid of a "how to" on this gift card bouquet that I created for my girlfriends 30th.

Supplies needed:
Some kind of container
Dry Oasis Floral Foam
Floral stick (green with points on the ends) *You'll need one for each gift card, two if you're clamping more than one gift card together.
Spanish Moss (or any other type of filler item to cover the floral foam)
Mini clothes pins (found at any craft store)
Hot Glue and Glue Gun
Gift Cards

1. Take your fancy container and cut down the floral foam to fit inside.

2. Weather you're doing a one sides bouquet (like mine) or a round bouquet, begin to cut and place your floral stick in the foam to create a cascading look. Remember to cut the non pointy side of the floral stick so you can easily shove the stick into the foam. *Remember, if you have a stack of two or more cards, place two sticks side by side to support the weight of the cards. I wouldn't go any more than 3 cards in a stack if I were you. Mini clothes pins can't hold that much!

3. Using the hot glue gun, glue the mini clothes pins to the top (or near the top) of the floral sticks (mouth end up)

4. Cover the floral foam with your spanish moss, or other filler.

5. Clamp in gift cards.

6. All done! You could always add a little lady bug, or butterfly as a finishing effect if you'd like.

A Tree for Baby G

2011-08-01T12:22:00.001-04:00

Losing Baby G was pretty traumatic, in a lot of ways. Since I went through labor and delivery, I was out for a week just trying to get myself back together. It's really not fun recovering from giving birth, when you have nothing to "show for it" so to speak. I was tired, and weak..just climbing stairs wore me out. Not to mention my milk came in, which kept me from going in to work a bit sooner that I expected. Rock hard tatas that are the size of boulders really doesn't make for a comfortable day at the office, especially when you've got an ice pack in your shirt all day. BUT ANYWAY. I was out from work, and though I needed to stay home and recover, I was itching to get back into the swing of things and get off the couch and get back in to normalcy if you will...

Coming back to work was pretty hard, just because I knew that everyone knew what happened, and I was afraid that it would be that elephant in the room...I was "damaged." Luckily I work with some pretty amazing people who wasted no time asking me how I was, and offering their condolences, or simply just giving me a hug when they saw me. Part of their amazing-ness was collecting money for Steve and I and buying us a redbud tree to plant in Baby G's memory. They also included an engraved stone that reads "Forever in our hearts." I couldn't have thought of a better idea. With our new home and new yard, we had plenty of space for a tree, and when it blooms bright pink every Spring it will make us smile and remember our time with Baby G.

We have planted trees in our yard before..and when I say planted, I mean Steve calls up the neighborhood men, Kenny brings over his dingo (large machine thing that digs big holes), they plop the tree in the ground and have a beer. This was not my plan for the redbud. I wanted Steve and I to dig the whole, sans machine and plant it ourselves...and so we did. Last Friday night in about 98 degree weather we borrowed some shovels (ours are in storage still, thanks Matt) and planted Baby G's redbud. We put it in a place that we could always view it from our living room, kitchen, or dining area. I have to say that the pure exhaustion I got from planting it was rather therapeutic.

Here is she is:

Thanks again to my fellow employees/friends for such a wonderful gift.

It's Been A While

2011-07-29T12:27:00.000-04:00

Since I've posted about shoes, especially Target shoes. So it should be no surpise that when I browsed the "New Arrivals" section online that I came across a few pairs I'd like to get my pretty little fingers on...

Let's first begin with the grey sister of the black and brown boots I bought last year. I wore the crap out of these boots (and plan to do the same this year) so I only think it's right to buy these and reunite her with her sisters...

I just purchased the black pair of these (wearing them now in fact) and they are damn comfy. I usually don't go for colored shoes, but I'm diggin these.

Again, I typically don't go for light tan pumps, but me likey!

Can't got wrong with some go-to brown flats

Finally, some sassy heals, very fun!

One Crazy Weekend

2011-07-28T11:36:00.000-04:00

Our moving weekend was one of the most crazy weekends I've had in a long time...but I guess if you finally get to move into your dream house, it shouldn't be anything other than memorable...

It all started back in April or May when I told my girlfriend, Kathryn, that I would throw her baby shower on July 9th, and that it would be at my new house! How fun, right?! I would have moved in at the end of May, and have PLENTY of time to get the house together for 20 or so of her closest friends and neighbors...NAY...We didn't move in at the end of May. We didn't move in at the end of June. WE MOVED IN ON JULY 7TH. Yes, two days before Kathryn's baby shower was to be thrown in my living room. Oh, the absurdity makes me giggle..

July 7th:

Steve and I, along with the help of some friends begin moving large items from our apartment...in 98 degree weather...

That's the long caravan of cars in our driveway..we packed all of them full and drove up..that's also Matt's bare chest...

Here's the crew after the moving things in that night.. They're help was GREATLY APPRECIATED.

Quick shot of our yard that night - the sea of seed and straw...

Here's what the living room looked like that evening...I stayed up until about 2am that night working on shower items, and house things...among some of those shower items was a cut little hanging flag project which caused a melt down around 1:30...hello?! The ribbon was twisted!!!! I say no more..

July 8th:

We closed on the house! And while we closed, the cleaners showed up to make some final touch ups. After signing a million documents, I ran to Ikea to buy a few items, then made an EPIC trip to the grocery store while Steve and his Dad moved MORE items in to the house...slowly getting things in order around here....

But wait! Halt the moving process, we've got a surprise party to attend! Our dearest gal Rachel turned 30, so her hubby planned a surprise party for her...off we went

We hid in the garage behind all of these balloons so when she opened the door we shoved all the balloons out to surprise her...It was awesome.

I also forgot to mention that I volunteered myself to make Rachel's gift card bouquet that week. And people say I pile too many things on my plate at once..HA.

For her 30th, friends and family chipped in and got her 30 gift cards to her 30 favorite places, for $30 each..pretty nice huh?!

So we stuck around and hung out with friends (it was the energizer that I needed), took a shot of coffee flavored Patron (yes I did), and got home around midnight to further prepare for the next morning. We went to bed at 4am, but not before Steve baked 2 dozen muffins for the shower...how great is he?!

July 9th: And here we are at the shower. I'm afraid I barely documented the event I was so exhausted, but alas I survived, and the shower was a hit. Pictures courtesy of my lovely neighbor Angie. It truly was a great time, I was so happy to be able to pull it all together and enjoyed every minute of it! I think Kathryn had a good time too :)

Looks like I'm catching some shut eye here!!

Once the shower was finished and I cleaned up a bit (with the help of Nicole and Sharon) and

got a few more things ready for our guests that evening-YES GUESTS..Mom and Dad were in town for a wedding so they were staying the night - then I crashed, and I crashed hard...5 hours that is...I woke up, got changed and headed to a neighborhood gathering where I relaxed some more. Mom and Dad arrived around 1am, we chatted until about 2am-until our eyelids were too heavy, and off to bed we went.

July 10th:

Mom and Dad up early to enjoy our porch :)

Mom helping me unpack the kitchen...what's weird is that she enjoys this stuff. Love her!

Mom and Dad stuck around for a while and Steve's parents also came over for a visit! I basically spent the day unpacking.

Finally, when everyone had left, and things had settled down, Steve and I made ourselves a drink, and relaxed on the front porch..we're finally here.

Let's recap shall we?

July 7th:

Sweat our faces off while moving heavy furniture

Had a melt down over flags

July 8th:

Closed on the house, and sweat our faces off more while moving more heavy furniture

Scurried all over God's creation for bath rugs, muffin mix, pitchers, soap, toilet paper etc.

Hid in a garage behind giant balloons

Took a shot of Patron

July 9th:

Baked muffins at 3am

Threw a baby shower on 4 hours sleep

Slept for 5 hours in the middle of the day

Neighborhood party

July 10th:

Unpacked some more

Enjoyed some family company

Drank on our front porch

Phew!! What a great nutty weekend. This one will definitely go down in the record books. I only wish I would have taken more pictures of it!

Big thanks goes out everyone who helped out with moving, cleaning, and just making the weekend so great with your visits and good company.

More pictures to come of our progress soon...I SWEAR!

MY Drive at 5

2011-07-26T12:33:00.000-04:00

Daughters and sons across the world, take note! This is awesome!

New Cincy Painting

2011-07-24T07:26:00.000-04:00

24"x36"

MY Drive at 5

2011-07-22T11:26:00.000-04:00

This eclectic group of songs entertained me on my way home a few evenings ago..

"Last Dance with Mary Jane" - Tom Petty

"Cold Hard Bitch" - Jet

"She's Country" - Jason Aldean

"Take a Look at Me Now" - Phil Collins

"Cocaine" - Eric Clapton

I'm sure you're looking at this and wondering, "Sarah, where are the rest of the songs?..That's only about 20 minutes of music." EXACTLY. 20 mins of my ONE HOUR drive was actually enjoyable to listen to. For the love of God, I need new cd's...or books on tape...

Window Treatments!

2011-07-21T14:39:00.002-04:00

Just bought 8 of these lovelies for our living room...can't wait to hang them!!

Scouting

2011-07-19T23:53:00.002-04:00

Steve and I ventured to Homearama this year to get some ideas for our new home. There weren't many houses but we enjoyed ourselves.

Lovin' this over sized lanterns a center piece..for indoor or outdoor!

NOT loving the fact that this room SO PINK, but we do like the built ins and window seat look...perhaps in the guest room?

Yet another yummy window seat.

We liked this bar height ledge on the wall surrounding the pool table in one of the basements.

Landscaping was more fun to look at this year than the interior because we have so much yard to work with now. I enjoy the stamped concrete look, this may be an option for the patio in the back.

This paver option is stunning too and would compliment our house nicely.

And I just had to include this picture because it's so unrealistic. Why anyone would put this into their house in beyond me...

I'm not even tired of the sun yet!

2011-07-15T15:20:00.001-04:00

Do not adjust your monitor..its true. Christmas has arrived at Hobby Lobby and its still JULY.

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Concrete!

2011-07-03T11:44:00.000-04:00

Just like I thought I'd never be excited about mud, I'm super excited about concrete!

Happy 4th, Houseboat 2011!

2011-07-01T12:48:00.000-04:00

Hope everyone has a great 4th of July!! If you need me over the holiday weekend I'll be pretty hard to reach....

I'll be here....

Or here...

Or maybe here....

But this might be an option too..

Someone's Already Moved In

2011-06-30T11:20:00.000-04:00

No, no, not us......CAUSE THAT WOULD MAKE SENSE.

But seriously, we're almost there. All that matters is that we will be moved in, just in time for the baby shower that I'm throwing for my dear friend...at my new house..so July 9 is our deadline..we may not have EVERYTHING moved in, but we'll be in-dammit.

Steve and I were up at the house a week or so ago, and we noticed this fella in our side yard...protecting it's eggs...looks like we already have a resident...I'm pretty sure this bird wasn't on our sales contract, or our closing statement....

We also were super pumped to have CARPET!!!

I just had to lay on it :)

T-Shirt Love

2011-06-27T13:27:00.000-04:00

Yes, please.

Another Angel Among Us

2011-06-20T20:49:00.003-04:00

On June 3 Steve and I experienced one of our greatest losses ever. We lost Baby G. At 22.5 weeks. I delivered her still body at 9:15am, held her, and just a few hours later we said goodbye. It was later confirmed that Baby G got an infection, from who knows what, and died. When my body began to reject the "foreign object" inside me a few days later, I delivered her.

The whole few days are such a whirlwind to me, that I have to remind myself that it all happened. Even now, I still can't believe we experienced it.

There's nothing we could have done differently, nothing I shouldn't have eaten, no position I should have slept in, it just happened...and it happened so quickly. One week we were celebrating a healthy pregnancy and our baby girl, and two weeks later, this.

Today, I'm healthy and feeling "normal," though both of our lives are changed forever.

Steve and I still talk about what happened, or we just talk about Baby G. We miss her dearly. It's amazing how much she impacted our lives, really. We only knew her as a "her" for a short time, but from week 5 when we found out we were pregnant, our lives already started to revolve around her. Now our lives have changed- in so many ways - we're not being pregnant, we're not planning for our baby to be born in October, we're grieving. But I can tell you that it's brought us closer that we ever imagined. We try to pick out all the pieces of silver lining in all of this and focus on how blessed we are, in our eyes, this was God's plan and we have to be thankful to be healthy, and here, and together. We've also been blessed to have the most wonderful family and friends. The love that has surrounded us has been awesome!

I never imagined that in my lifetime I would go through something like this, but I'm thankful to have had the short amount of time with Baby G that I did. She's changed me, and us in so many ways. If anything, she's made our relationship even stronger than ever.

I'm scared about next time, but I'm also hopeful and positive about our future....and I know we'll get through what ever God throws at us.

Rest in Peace Baby G.

Good Bye Old Friend

2011-06-19T13:19:00.005-04:00

When Steve decided that his black leather couch bought 2002 wouldn't be worthy of our new house I kinds jumped for joy. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's a great couch but it just wasn't gonna jive with the style of our new home. I was willing to take one for the team here though and work around it, but who doesn't get excited about new furniture?!

Here she is, in Steve's old apt. circa 2003

Can we stop and talk for a moment about the RED walls and BED SHEET looking curtains? No? You don't want to? Cause they are hideous? That's what I thought...

I tried to look for photos commemorating our couch, but apparently we only open gifts on this it...lol

Opening gifts: Christmas 2005

Opening gifts: My 25th birthday

Opening gifts: Steve's 25th (right before he proposed to me)

Opening gifts: Steve's 27th

Here she is at our apt. This was the picture I posted for our ad on Craigslist.

And here's our apt almost 24hrs later. SOLD to a loving family.

Now we just have to find something to sit on until we move :)

Not Covington

2011-06-16T13:56:00.001-04:00

Steve is in Budapest right now. Yes, Budapest. He was on a dinner cruise yesterday. Yes, a dinner cruise, and managed to send me this pic.

Me? I'm in Covington, KY working.

He wins.

Poo Tank

2011-06-01T10:13:00.005-04:00

After days and days of rain, we finally had dry enough weather to dig our septic tank and leech lines! Yay! We are now able to poop at our house! Too much information? Sorry, I just can't contain my excitement!

Looking from our back porch, that lovely concrete thingy is our septic tank!! Branching off of that to the back of the yard is the beginning our our leech field.

This is a view from the other end...

And this is what our backyard looks like right now...all the leech lines are in.

There are still many interior things that need to be wrapped up. Today I approved a white wash for the hardwood, and picked our our carpet. It's almost here!

Steve's Drive

2011-05-27T17:23:00.001-04:00

See, Im not the only one who sees crazy shit on my commute!

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Baby G.

2011-05-25T12:16:00.000-04:00

After much anticipation, we have been told that our baby will be a girl! Our ultrasound appointment went well, and they pretty much had to pull me off the table, and wipe the drool off my gaping mouth. I'm telling you, I could have watched that ultrasound ALL DAY. It was absolutely fascinating. The fact that a human being is inside me, growing, living, and I got to see it first hand-unbelievable. She's measuring fine, weighs approx 11oz, and has the cutest feet ever. I've gained 10 lbs so far, and my due date hasn't changed. I'm starting to show more, and maternity clothes are finally started to fit me a little better. :) Steve is loving that fact that I'm "losing my belly button."

When we found out it was a girl, all Steve kept saying was, "Oh man, we're having a girl." Followed by, "Oh man, we gotta pay for a wedding." We're both pretty pumped about it, and we already have a name picked out. We're keeping it a secret though which is why the title of this post is "Baby G" (Baby girl)- we're calling her this so we don't slip up and reveal her name.

I tell you what, it's all beginning to feel a bit more real to me now, but it's still not sinking in. Take yesterday for example. My sister in law got Baby G her first gift! Check it out:

Isn't it the cutest!? (first of all, listen to me! "Cutest?" Who am I?). I held up this onesie and suddenly was like, "This is for MY baby...not someone else's....for the baby thats INSIDE me." Holy smokes. I've always thought about these moments, but then when you're actually living them, you have to stop and take it in. Then later that night I blurted to Steve, "Ah man, I'm going to have to learn how to french braid."

See, it's just hitting me at little random times...out of nowhere. Maybe when I feel her heels in my ribs, or her head in my side it will feel more real....CAN'T WAIT. Seriously....I can't. :)

The Great Build

2011-05-23T21:04:00.007-04:00

Yeah countertops!

Our island pendants

Matching dining room chandelier

First floor bathroom countertop

Sconces in the master bath...notice two of them aren't even centered on our sink...stupid electrician...

Our shower!

T-Shirt Love

2011-05-18T16:33:00.001-04:00

source

MY Drive at 5

2011-05-17T12:00:00.001-04:00

Yes, that's a ball sack hanging from this man's trailer hitch. Really? A ball sack? Is this supposed to attract the ladies? Am I supposed to think that what's hanging outside his car is comparable to what he's got hanging? I MEAN REALLY.

Baby Slusher - Half Way There

2011-05-15T19:48:00.002-04:00

I'm proud to announce that we've made it to week 20 of my pregnancy with no speed bumps! So far, it's been pretty easy going for me. Steve and I finally felt the baby kick around week 18, which felt more like popcorn pops in my belly, but it was pretty wild to experience.

All in all its been a pretty great road so far, the first trimester only brought me giant, painful "fun bags," sleepiness and a general distaste for food. No sickness, no nausea. I was mostly tired, like in bed by 8pm tired. Then like a snap, I launched into trimester number two with energy and feeling pretty normal. Food has been good to me, and now I just find myself getting tired if I'm on my feet too much or my back starts to hurt. I haven't started showing too much, though I'm sure friends and other family members will disagree. I can fill out some hot maternity pants now so I guess that's a baby and not all the milkshakes I've been downing :)

We will be finding out the baby's sex in a few days and I just can't wait! I feel like all the decisions I've been holding back on will be made once I know if we're planning for a he or a she. Many people believe it's a girl, but there are a few that believe it's a boy. I got back and forth every day. I've started stock piling information from friends and family about things to buy, what I'll need, what I won't need and bookmarking things on the Internet like crazy: nursery ideas, items to possibly register for, furniture, articles etc. It's been pretty fun.

Once we know what the sex is, Steve and I will have a meeting of the minds about the name. We've both been compiling lists since the beginning but haven't talked about it with each other. (Mainly because every time I came up with a name he'd respond with, "that's dumb") So I'm excited to see what's come up with and how it compares to what I've got. Sorry, we wont be telling anyone what we choose, you'll just have to wait that one out. I know, Mom, it's going to kill you!

So here we are, 20 weeks and I'm feeling good. My appointment is in two days and I hope to hear all good things! I'll be sure to keep you posted!

The Great Build

2011-05-05T12:00:00.000-04:00

They're here! They're here!! Our light fixtures have arrived and slowly getting installed. This lovely little lady is our mudroom light. I just LOVE how it goes with the green. We've got complimentary pendants and a chandelier going in the kitchen and dining area too. I CAN'T WAIT!

YUMMM.

Girls Best Friend

2011-05-03T12:00:00.000-04:00

On Friday, April 29th, my childhood dog was put to rest. She lived a long happy life and I know that she is in a better place now. She was one of the greatest dogs I've ever known and we will miss her dearly.

These are the latest photos I took of her circa Thanksgiving 2010. She was so old at this point, that she let me get this close to take a photo. Usually she'd shoot up and go get a ball to play or something.

She looks thin here for two reasons 1. In the summer of 2010, she got flees from staying at a doggie hotel, and in an effort to get rid of them, Mom and Dad shaved her. They decided to keep it short since. And 2. She was losing weight.

So cute..

Sadie loved to sunbathe in the grass. This is one of my favorite photos of her.

Another one of my favorites. For as long as I can remember, she always laid beside me if I was on the floor. Such a snugly dog.

Dad and Sadie

Such a ham.

I hope I am lucky enough to have a dog like her again someday.

We love you Sadie!

My Bearded Friend

2011-05-02T12:08:00.001-04:00

So Steve lost a bet.

Back in December, we took a weekend trip to Indy with our friends, Marques and Rebecca, to watch the Bengals and the Colts. Steve and Marques being the testosterone filled men they are, bet on the game. The loser would have to grow their go-t and mustache out for four months-while only trimming their upper lip.

Guess who lost...

This is the second time Steve lost. The first time, he had to shave his head, and not just shave it, bic razor is for four months. I've hated this second loss the most. It's smells, it's fluffy, it get in the way, it smells, and Steve spends more time looking at himself in the mirror now that he has all this facial hair to play with.

The good news is that he shaved it this weekend. I even had a countdown on my phone. At midnight on Saturday April 30th, he shaved it!

MUCH BETTER...and more kissable.

Who Needs Exercise?

2011-04-29T12:12:00.001-04:00

What pregnant woman needs Exercise? Not this one. For as many times as I get up from desk to walk to the bathroom I'm pretty sure I log about 1 mile a day. Seriously. What sick doctor decided that 6-8 glasses of water a day was a good idea? I'm peeing NON STOP. I think about peeing-I need to pee. I talk about peeing-I need to pee. (which is why I'll make this post short).

I know I know, all you moms out there are giggling, cause it's about to get worse.

Too much info? Well it's about to get real fun up in here. I'm closing in on 20 weeks and the prego posts will start to roll in! Prepare yourself!

The Great Build

2011-04-28T19:20:00.000-04:00

We have paint! AND IT'S GORGEOUS!

Looking into the Kitchen and Dining Room from the Living Room

And we have stone!!

::sigh::

Spotted!

2011-04-22T11:40:00.003-04:00

While rug shopping for our first floor bathroom I came across this nugget of goodness:

Many questions arise:

1. Who buys this?

2. Where do you put it?

3. Why is it still out there for the world to purchase?

4. Is there really a constellation of a white tiger in space?

5. If so, what's it called and why can't I see it with my Dad's telescope?

The Great Build

2011-04-20T12:06:00.000-04:00

It's Blue!

MY Drive at 5

2011-04-19T12:00:00.000-04:00

It was all I could do not to "accidently" rear end this car, pop their trunk and run off into the sunset with this beautiful Golden Retriever. I guess the kids in the back seat wouldn't have been too happy about that...shucks.

Sharing the News Part 4

2011-04-13T12:00:00.001-04:00

Steve and I just knew that we would be "outed" if I happen to show up to the annual St. Patty's day party only to have a water, or a sprite. So he came up with the surprisingly good idea to make a "Kiss Me I'm Pregnant" shirt for the party. This was a good idea, because it was subtle enough that I didn't have to make an announcement, and it was a fun way to tell everyone. That doesn't mean I was still nervous walking into the party but I had by girl Kathryn soften the blow. She's 8 weeks ahead of me so she wore one too :)

Co-host Marques in the background with his "disapproving look." Mostly because he point blank asked me twice leading up to this party and I lied to his face, lol.

None the less, everyone was very happy for us, most were on to us already but it was good to finally let it out-so to speak. The party was great too. I had been kinda avoiding friends up until this point and I laughed so much that night my stomach was sore the next day!

This guy had a good time too. I mean why wouldn't he, friends, drinks, his wife's pregnant, life couldn't have been better. Oh the pencil in his beard? Or the beard? Yes, both are horrendous. He lost a bet to that gentleman above with the disapproving look back in December so he's got to grow his beard out until May. Ew. I've got a countdown going...

Miss hostess herself, Rebecca knows how to throw a great party, and of course she wasn't surprised with my attire. What can I say I'm a bad liar!

The picture of Kathryn and I soon made it to Facebook, and all heck broke loose, and now the "whole world" knows. Let me tell you that it's a bit a weight off our shoulder too. Nothing but well wishes have come our way and we couldn't be more thankful.

Time for a New Coffee Table

2011-04-12T12:15:00.000-04:00

With our move in date roughly 10 weeks away, I've really started to hunker down and think about items we'll need for the new house. I know that it's unrealistic to think that I can buy all new furniture for the house but our current coffee table needs.to.go.

Pictured below:

Our first Christmas together (you're loving the curtains, I know)j I gave him this coffee table. I also gave him the chess set. And yes, we still have the leather sofa too! The coffee table AND the sofa have endured some abuse over the last 8 years. We plan to get a new sofa, but I'd like to get comfortable with our giant living room before I figure out what to buy. The coffee table, however we can get before we move in. It was $20 Salvation Army purchase that Dad and I refurbished by painting over the gold and adding the black shelf below so I don't feel bad about seeing it go, especially because of the shape it's in. 8 years people, I think it's time.

We're (and when I say "we're" I really me I'm) thinking rounded since we (I) know that it works, and we're (I'm) sticking with the shelf below since we (I) also know that it works.

Here are our options:

Source

This is an oval shape which I'm willing to entertain it you know, be wild and crazy and change it up a bit.

Source

Simple, rounded what more could you ask for.

Source

I'm really liking the iron on this one, gives it a it of an industrial look.

Source

This is my favorite I like the bowed shape of it, it's different

Sharing the News Part 3

2011-04-11T12:55:00.000-04:00

After telling my parents Steve's were next on the list. We concocted some white lie about meeting friends downtown for dinner and planned to stop by their house for a little bit to say hi before we headed down there. It was all casual, and the we started talking about the house to which Steve's mom said something to the tune of, "How are you going to fill that big house?" which Steve replied, calmly with, "We will start to in October."

Jean- "Nut-uh"

Steve - "Yeah, she's due in October"

Jean - a very calm "ohhh"

Then silence. Following by more silence.

Finally Jean - "You're kidding, she's not pregnant"

Me - "Yes, yes I am"

Jean - "No you're not!"

Me - "Yes! Yes I am!"

So this went on a little bit longer until is finally clicked and we got the originally anticipated "Oh my gosh!!" out of her.

This is Jean and Terry's first grandchild so you can only imagine their surprise. Terry was upstairs this whole time so when he came down we told him, and basically re-lived that whole conversation above with him too.

After the shock wore off, it started to really set in for them and I could tell they were really excited. So there you have it. Both parents know, both didn't react the way we thought, both very happy (imagine that).

Next up. The friend reveal.

The Great Build

2011-04-10T18:00:00.005-04:00

Lots has happened since my last post in March! Sorry for the delay! But we have drywall!!!

It went from this two weeks ago...

To this!!

Our dining room

Our living room

Our Foyer

The Kitchen

The Master Bedroom

Part of the Master Bath

Lots has happened since my last post in March! Sorry for the delay! But we have drywall!!!

Sharing the News Part 2

2011-04-08T18:29:00.000-04:00

Telling our parents required some finesse. We had originally planned to tell them both at the same time, but later decided to tell them both individually. I thought telling my parents would go differently than it did, but they were happy none the less.

While they were over one evening, we were talking about the house and I told them we have some news about about it. "We're going to need a nursery ready by October." I said....blanks stares......smiles...blank stares...then finally I blurted, "I'm pregnant!" To which they gave their congrats and Mom's smile got even bigger. "Well you had been saying that it wasn't going to happen until after the house was finished so I thought maybe you were getting a dog!" Explained my mother....a dog? Really? Do you know my husband? Steve's o so thoughtful deal with me was that I got a half a dog for every child..you do the math...that's two kids before I get to enjoy wet kisses from a K9. And another point, Mom. Why would we have a nursery for a dog? LOL.

Anyway, it went swimmingly, and I know my mom can't wait to start chatting about all things baby and mommy-ing and so forth. I'm pretty excited too about taking this next step with Mom. You know, up until this point I've never really be very interested in learning about how mom raised me, how her pregnancy was with my brother, how I was as a newborn...so I know that this will be a whole new level of bonding for us, and that my friends is pretty exciting.

Well Shoot

2011-04-06T13:05:00.000-04:00

All these babies gotta get packed up.

Not because I'm showing already, but because I'm so bloated I look like a fat guy in a little T when I put them on. ::Sadface::

MY Drive at 5

2011-04-05T12:51:00.000-04:00

EW.

Sharing the News Part 1

2011-04-05T12:00:00.000-04:00

I told by best friend, Steph, on our skiing trip to Mad River Mountain.We were 7 weeks pregnant and spending a weekend without telling her would have been impossible. When we go out, we don't drink iced tea and root beer. I knew we had to tell her. Steve and I met Steph and her husband, Jed, at Arby's before we got to the mountain and I just blurted it out-"So I'm 7 weeks pregnant." Just like that-out of no where, not back story, no leading up to it. Her reaction was great, "WHAT?! YOU CAN'T TELL ME IN ARBY'S!" Then she hugged me and proceeded with the, "I totally thought you where when we all went to dinner two weeks ago. You had two vodka tonics, but they were totally Sprite." (they were vodka tonics). "And at the bowling alley you kept putting your beer on a coaster and know one else was doing that." (I was drinking beer too, and I didn't even realize I was putting in on a coaster). See what I mean? I can't keep it from friends, especially friends who've already had a child..it's like that can smell the pregnancy...

Needless to say, the weekend was great, Steph and I got MAD quality time and chatting in about lots of stuff including all things baby related. It was awesome. I know she'll be a great shoulder to lean on a talk to during this journey.

Well That Worked Better Than We Imagined...

2011-03-15T12:00:00.002-04:00

We started trying in January, and ended up goin to the doctor on Feb 3 to find out we were 5 weeks pregnant. I kid you not. How could we be so lucky? I have no idea but now here we are 11 weeks pregnant and pretty in love with the idea and with each other all over again...

I took a test on Sunday Jan 30 but got that kinda blue line that you aren't sure if it always looks that dim and maybe if we let is sit long enough it will get darker kinda line...so we decided to wait a few more days. Fast forward to Tuesday Feb 1 (a whopping two days later..yeah we were anxious) and loud and clear was that blue plus sign. So we scheduled an apt. for Thursday and the doctor said, "Yep you're about 5 weeks pregnant" and, "We'll see you again in about 5 weeks."

Let me just tell you how agonizing those 5 weeks were. Keeping it from family, friends and just waiting for another reassuring appointment was pretty rough. Let me back this up with the fact that I haven't felt pregnant. No nausea, no vomiting...believe me I wasn't asking for it, but it made me even more anxious to find out more at that 10 week apt. Not having those obvious symptoms did make it easier to keep it from everyone though.

Of course we couldn't keep it from everyone. A few of our friends found out earlier, only because they know how much I enjoy a cocktail and when I ask for water they pretty much knew what was up. We couldn't really avoid them 100%. Now everyone knows. Well everyone we wanted to tell ourselves. We finally heard the heart beat on March 8th (my 10 week apt) and decided to spread the word. (More on how we've told friends and family in later few posts..)

Steve's been ridiculous. I honestly have never seen this man this happy before. I mean yes, happy when we met, happy when he graduated college, happy when we married, but this happiness-this is different. He glows. And that makes me glow. (We'll both remember to revisit this entry when we've been up all night with a crying baby or when we have some epic fight about how he gets to go to happy hour after work and I have to clean up vomit). But for now, I'm basking in it. He's going to be an amazing father and that's part of the reason why I'm so excited for all of this.

I've been ridiculous-ridiculously tired. One word to describe it-slug. I have no will power. I get giddy at the thought of getting home from work and jumping into my pajamas and landing on the couch for the rest of the night. This isn't me! Also, food. I really don't think there are cravings, but when I want something....that's what we're having. Steve likes to joke that before we took our first pregnancy test, he knew I was pregnant because he came home to find me eating icing straight out of the tub...HA. (what he doesn't know is I occasionally do that, but he just doesn't catch me.)

So here we are world. 11 weeks pregnant and pretty excited. Can't wait to share it all with you!

I Changed My Mind

2011-03-11T12:00:00.003-05:00

On our bedroom color that is....

One night while laying in bed, I couldn't get to sleep and starting thinking, "Hmm the color I picked for our bedroom really doesn't match our duvet, and I like our duvet, and if we paint the room the wrong color I'm going to have to get a new duvet and I don't want to do that...cause I like our duvet..." So I brought our duvet fabric into work (don't worry, I didn't bring the whole duvet in, we have a small pillow with the same pattern), pulled out the paint deck at my desk and got to matching. I used the deep blue tone that is in the pattern and viola! We have a new paint color!

Check it:

Muuuuch better.

Posts!

2011-03-08T18:48:00.002-05:00

Our porch posts have been delivered...you know what that means?! The porch is coming, the porch is coming!

Ladies and gentleman, get your lawn chairs and coolers ready!!

More Wish List Items

2011-02-28T12:06:00.001-05:00

Source

Productive Weekend

2011-02-25T12:00:00.002-05:00

A girlfriend of mine asked if I'd paint a cute little tree in her daughter's bedroom and I was more than happy to take on the project! She had found a decal in PBKids and asked if I'd be able to do something like that....of course! Steve and I ventured over there while they were out of town and I got to work. About 6 hours later her daughter had a pretty kick ass tree in her room!

I started with a blank canvas.

Then with my trusty overhead projector, I was able to trace the tree onto the wall. I also added an extra branch on the right side so it stretched farther.

Pencil outline

First step, the tree trunk and branches. (Notice the extra branch on the right)

Then the leaves. (They needed three coats of paint)

Next, a token photo of Steve who wants people to think he painted it. (He did however help me decide where to place it on the wall.)

Then the yellow and green flowers and some shadows on the tree...

Finally, I outlined the flowers with a darker pink and TADA! The finished product!

A close up.

I was pretty pleased with the outcome. This was my first type of mural painting and I really enjoyed it. Hopefully I'll have more projects like these in the future!

*My Slush*

More Nursery Shhtuff

Bed Rest - Week Ten - 26 Weeks Pregnant

Items for the Nursery

If I Were Vertical

Bed Rest - Week Nine - 25 Weeks Pregnant

Things I'd Buy

Bed Rest - Week Eight

Celebrate!

Roommate Update

Roommate

Bed Rest - Week Seven

2011 In Review

Bed Rest - Week Six

Christmas Time is Here!

Bed Rest - Week Five

Crafting from Bed

Bed Rest - Week Four

WHOAAAAAA We're Half Way There!!!

Washington Day 5

Bed Rest - Week Three

Our Chairs

Bed Rest - Week Two

Washington Day 4

Bed Rest - Week One

Washington Day 3

Twins - Bed Rest

Washington Day 2

Rollercoaster

Washington Day 1

Wall Gallery in the Living Room

A Day with the Kids

Our New Coffee Table

Dino Toad

MY Drive at 5

Buckeye House Progress - The Second Floor

Buckeye House Progress - The First Floor

Next Coffee Table Book

MY Drive at 5

Just so you know I still exists...

Gift Card Bouquet DIY

A Tree for Baby G

It's Been A While

One Crazy Weekend

MY Drive at 5

New Cincy Painting

MY Drive at 5

Window Treatments!

Scouting

I'm not even tired of the sun yet!

Concrete!

Happy 4th, Houseboat 2011!

Someone's Already Moved In

T-Shirt Love

Another Angel Among Us

Good Bye Old Friend

Not Covington

Poo Tank

Steve's Drive

Baby G.

The Great Build

T-Shirt Love

MY Drive at 5

Baby Slusher - Half Way There

The Great Build

Girls Best Friend

My Bearded Friend

Who Needs Exercise?

The Great Build

Spotted!

The Great Build

MY Drive at 5

Sharing the News Part 4

Time for a New Coffee Table

Sharing the News Part 3

The Great Build

Sharing the News Part 2

Well Shoot

MY Drive at 5

Sharing the News Part 1

My Slush