Finally Finished the Nursery!!!

We had several set backs while getting Katelyn's nursery ready.  The main one was that while refinishing the dresser, we had problems with the polyurethane and ended up having to strip the entire dresser to start all over again.  I was hoping to have the nursery finished by K's 16th birthday...so really, I'm ahead of schedule.

Here is the closest thing I have to a "before" photo.  This is after I had painted the ceiling, but hadn't painted the walls yet.  The table with all of the painting supplies is the bottom portion of the dresser before it was refinished...twice.  Also, a bonus picture of a pregnant me in painting gear.

Here are the "after" photos...

The twice refinished dresser.

Oh, are you taking pictures??

The branch is a stencil done in the beige from the other walls.  The letters are wood letters from Michael's Craft Store spray painted light pink.  The mobile I got from a garage sale for $5...woot woot!

Al found this rocking chair in 2004 on the curb next to the trash in Washington, DC.  He rescued it and spent countless hours stripping (not the fun kind), sanding, staining, and applying a hand rubbed poly.

Thanks for visiting my room!

Tree Genius!

Al brought home a ginormous Christmas tree today...and that act simultaneously started and finished his Christmas decorating for this year.  The hardest part of decorating the tree is always the lights.  And the hardest part about doing the lights is getting the roll of lights around the back of the tree with no one on the other side to grab them for you.  Check out my tree genius...

That is my Dyson as a tree light holder-assistant-thing...ok, the name needs work, but this is my tree genius idea that will make me millions!

Pesto!

My garden wasn't a huge success this year (could have had something to do with the fact that my rotund self wasn't too motivated to weed or water it), but my basil did really well.  It turned into small bushes!  So I harvested it (and by harvest I mean cut down with scissors) and decided to make me some pesto.

This is the recipe that I used.  I did extensive research to find it (aka it is the first Google result when searching for "pesto recipe").

I made 4 batches that filled 2 jars.  I ran out of cheese and ended up giving the rest of the basil away.

Step 1: Obtain a crap ton (technical cooking terminology) of basil and pick the leaves.

Step 2: Rinse the leaves.

Step 3: Put pine nuts and basil in a food processor.  Pulse until smooth.

Don't forget your economics textbook...this is crucial to making pesto.

Step 4: Add garlic (the recipe said to mince it first, but I am lazy and didn't...and it was fine).  Pulse until minced.

Step 5: Add the olive oil slowly (there should be a hole in the top of your food processor for this).

Step 6: Add the cheese, salt, and pepper.  Pulse to combine.

Now you have pesto!  Use it as a sauce on pasta or a baked potato, or use it instead of mayo on a sandwich.

"Fat" Pants

I'm in that perfect spot where maternity pants don't fit nor do my pre-pregnancy pants.  Luckily you can still try on clothes while wearing a baby, so off to Kohl's we went.  I found a pair of jeans on sale, and with my coupon, they were $20.  Here is my post-baby self...

Only 10 more pounds to go!!

I was also able to buy five t-shirts and a sweater at Old Navy for $29.  I think it will be a while before "the girls" will fit into pre-pregnancy tops.  The photo above shows me in a pre-pregnancy top...it is a little snug.

Family Letters

The walls of our living room are fairly bare.  This is stemming from both a lack of ideas and a lack of budget.  Months ago I saw an idea online.  There were framed, old letters for sale for big money.  I remembered that my mom's side had some old family letters.  Somehow with email and cellphones, we have lost the art of letter writing.  I got a hold of the letters and a 25% off coupon for Michael's craft store.  I bought three frames with mats for under $25.  One of the letters was three pages long front and back with a photo.  I put the first and last pages in two of the frames, and put the photo with the envelope in the third (even the envelope was pretty).  I hung the three frames above our recently acquired piano (thanks Mom!!).  Here is the finished result...

One wall down!  I have an old newspaper to frame as well, but it isn't a standard size...so that is up to Al to build a frame for.  I'll let you know how it turns out.

We Torture Babies at Our House

At our 3 day visit with the midwife, she told us that since Katelyn was born in the water, she may find a bath calming...she was wrong.  Katelyn thinks that baths are some form of baby torture.  Here are the pictures from her first bath...

"What is this horrible contraption??"

"Maybe it'll be better if I can find my thumb...nope!"

Dad had to get a picture of her funny toes.

"Stop laughing at me!...I'm freezing."

"You people suck."

"Dad, get me away from Mom...she is clearly insane."

Katelyn Marie has arrived!!

After tossing and turning for a while, I got out of bed shortly after 3:00am on July 27th with a time-able backache.  I was 39w 4d and was told several times by my midwives that first babies arrive on average at 41w 1d...so clearly I wasn't in labor.

By 6:00am my backache had been coming every 5-10 minutes, so I thought that I should call the birth center to give them a heads up.  I was GBS+ (group beta strep), so needed to get antibiotics in me before the baby arrived.  In addition I am allergic to two forms of penicillin and couldn't remember if I had taken penicillin before.  (IV penicillin is the standard treatment for GBS.)  Also I had just been in for an appointment the previous day, and therefore, they had just put in the order for my special antibiotics...no off-the-rack antibiotics for this preggo...and the special stuff probably wouldn't get there for a few days.  After much back and forth amongst the midwives and back to me, they decided to call in a prescription to the local hospital and had one of their staff go pick it up so we didn't have to (thank you!!!).

We arrived at the birth center around noon.  I got a saline lock (an IV place holder so I only had to be hooked up while getting the antibiotics and they wouldn't have to stick me again for the next round).  An hour later we were on our way home.  Up until that point, the contractions were fairly mild, so there wasn't any reason to keep me there.  I remember Al telling me at one point, "Yay, we'll probably have a baby tomorrow!"  I recall smiling to him and saying to myself, "Screw you, I'm having this baby today."

Al was hungry, so he wanted to stop at Sonic on the way home.  I've since accused Lisa (the midwife) of putting pitocin in the IV along with the antibiotics because the contractions started to pick up after we left.  The Sonic drive-thru took FOREVER!!!  I don't know what they were doing in there (playing Angry Birds?) or what Al ordered (t-bone well done?), but even Al was getting pissed.  It took over 10 minutes after we ordered...or 3 contractions in laboring woman speak until he got his food...enough to make me sufficiently pissed.

After we got home, I called my friend Amelia to come over, and Al got ready to leave...that's right, he had dental work to go to.  I got in the shower, Al left, and Amelia arrived.  By the time Al got home, the contractions were 3-5 minutes apart lasting 1.5-2 minutes long...so back to the birth center we went!

We got back to the birth center at 5:00pm.  The first time we arrived, I was all smiles and "woohoo...baby day!!"  This time I walked straight to the room and to the bed.  Unless I was in the shower, I had to my on my side.  It was too uncomfortable to be upright, and horrible to be on my back.  After getting my vitals and checking on baby, I went to the shower.  Their sprayer was on a handle that came off, and it went directly on my belly...aaahh.  Amelia set up her ipod, Al stayed with me, and Lisa filled up the tub.  At 6:00pm I got in the tub and was really hoping that there would be a baby soon...because this was definitely un-fun.  By 6:15pm I was pushing...at 6:30pm my water broke...and at 6:47pm Katelyn Marie was born!  She was 6lbs 14 oz and 19 inches long.

She was early and fast...and clearly did not read the book about first babies.  Here is our new family!

I would like to thank Amelia for her extra set of hands and calming presence; the Madison Birth Center for all of their wonderful prenatal, birth, and postnatal support; and most of all my wonderful husband and amazing new dad Al.  I only have to take care of Katelyn, but he has been taking care of both of us for almost 10 months now.  I love you and can't wait to watch Katelyn grow up together.

Nursery Progress

Al has been working diligently to finish the furniture before the baby arrives.  I am now kicking myself for not having a "before" photo for the rocking chair that he refinished.

He found the rocker on the curb, next to the trash in Washington, DC many years back.  It was painted black, and the paint was coming off.  He stripped it and spent many many hours sanding it before staining and hand rubbing on poly.  It looks amazing!!!

...and here is Al testing out the rocking chair with Penny.

No Penny, this is not your room...you are not the one who will be rocked to sleep every night.  She is going to have a news flash any day now.  :)

9 days!!!

So we're down to single digits in the countdown to due date.  I know that 1st babies on average go to 41w 1d...so I've been telling myself August, but it is nice to countdown to something.  Here is how my very round self looks these days...

You'll notice that I am rocking the barefoot while pregnant look...it's a good look.

I'm mostly wearing dresses these days because 1) my fat thighs don't fit into most of my maternity clothes comfortably anymore and 2) it is 1,000 degrees outside with 2,000% humidity. 

We (and by "we" I mean Al) haven't made a lot of progress on the nursery lately because humidity + refinishing furniture = a big no no.  Al was finally able to do some poly-ing today.  Hopefully the furniture will be finished this weekend, and I can organize the shit out of the nursery next week...pictures to follow.

Almost 36 Weeks

So on Saturday I will be 36 weeks pregnant...no big deal, that gives me 4 weeks to baby right??  Then I remember that my midwife says that it is more like a "due month" rather than a due date...so really we are talking 2-6 weeks...2 weeks?!?!  Ugh, that seems completely unreasonable.  I'm kind of in denial that there will be a tiny human inhabiting our home in a month.  We're still making progress on the nursery, and I'll post pictures soon.

Tonight we are going to watch a Madison Mallard's game.  My goal will be not to melt or swell up too much in the heat...difficult goals when you are carrying around a watermelon in your belly.

Here's a pic...

I miss my waist...and wine...and running...

The Internets Like to Trick You with Swatches

I've been planning out the nursery in my head ever since we found out that we were having a girl.  We've finally gotten underway with implementing this plan.  The only thing that I just cannot picture are the window treatments.  I was originally thinking that some basic beige curtains on sale at JcPenney would be easy, cheap, and done...WRONG.  First of all when I went to the store to look at swatches, they didn't have any of the beige samples from online, but they had every floral piece of crap on the planet...ugh.  So I had to guess...I guessed wrong.  I painted 3 walls of the nursery light beige and 1 wall (behind the crib) dark purple.  The JcPenney curtains looked good on the purple wall but too mustardy on the beige wall (we have a window on each color of wall...clearly I wasn't thinking this one through).  So those curtains are going back.

Then I was looking and looking around online.  I couldn't picture anything in the room and doubted every color I was seeing online...the internets like to trick you with swatches...it is a fact.  I went to Target and looked at their selection in store.  There were a few that looked nice, but how would I know if they looked good in the room??  So I left with nothing.

A few days later, I remembered a blog post that I read about throw pillows.  She bought a crap ton of throw pillows from various stores, tried out many combinations, and returned the rest.

http://www.allthingsgd.com/2008/04/64-thow-pillows-only-1-living-room.html

This was the kind of crazy I needed to figure out what to do with the damn windows.  Back to Target I went!!  Here is the pile that I obtained (this doesn't include the curtains from JcPenney)...

That's 5 different colors/styles of panel curtains with two different rods.  Each color/style will be tried out on each window (because each window has a different color behind it).  I didn't put each color/style on each rod...because THAT would have been crazy.  So for those of you stats students out there...we have 5 curtains on 2 different walls for a total of 10 different combinations.  I also took pictures of each set closed and open...so that makes it 20 combinations.  (Bonus points if you can figure out how many combinations of curtains could be on the wall at any given time with 2 different windows, 2 different rods, and 5 different curtains allowing for mismatched curtains.)

First I would need a drill.  Luckily there were already anchors in the wall from previous window treatments that aligned perfectly with the hardware...score.  Check me out with power tools at 31 weeks 5 days...

sexy

Here are our two different rod options...

The crib has more square features, and the dresser has more round features.  The square rod felt more heavy duty, but it would bother me if it wasn't parallel to the floor (I know...I am insane).

First up for curtains, we have the purple and brown embroidered.  I liked these because they were polyester on the outside and had a cotton lining...so there weren't a lot of wrinkles.  They weren't blackout, but I could add an additional lining...though I'm not sure if it would be needed.  One thing that was nifty about these was that you could thread the curtain onto the rod in two different ways: through the individual loops to give it a clean, finished look or through the one, big opening for a messy look...guess which one I chose.

Here are the purple and brown embroidered...

(Forgot the flash on the last one...new camera...oops.)

Next up were grey curtains.  They had grommets which I thought I would like.  They were also 100% cotton and had a lot of wrinkles...that's what I want to be doing when the baby is born...ironing her curtains.

The last two are black out curtains, which would be a nice feature.  They are cream and purple with a bit of texture that the camera didn't quite pick up.  They were both the consistency of a plastic table cloth, and were very wrinkly.  The big tag that came with them said that the wrinkles would come out by putting them in the dryer on low for 20 minutes...so maybe no ironing?

So clearly I have lost my damn mind...but this shouldn't really be news to anyone.  Al and I are preferring the embroidered ones, but aren't sure about purple or brown.  There is a lot more brown furniture to add to the room...so I'm not sure if brown curtains will be too much.  What do you think??