Finished....?

I find it funny that B told me I need to blog because it had been over a month. He's the one person that knows pretty much everything that goes on in my life every day, but B, this one is for you :)

Maybe he asked me to blog because he knew it would be mostly about the hard work we (but mostly he) have been doing to get house projects done before baby. We like to say we're pretty much finished, but is anything ever finished with a house? Maybe "finished for now" is a better term. Our guest room went from this:
 
 To this:
 
Thanks in large part go to my MIL. Since she moved back to Florida, we inherited her comforter set, sheets, dresser, and art. The guest bed actually gets used almost every night either by Bryan or myself at some point. It's much more firm than our mattress, so it's often nice for my pregnant back. It's also helpful when one of us can't sleep or Bryan's allergies are acting up.

Our half done yard has gone from this:

 To this:
 
 While it's hard to see all of the differences, we finished the mulching, trimmed everything again (although it is rapidly growing back), and painted the porch. It used to be a grey/blue shade that was chipped and looked awful, and now it is a mint green. We thought the green would be a bit darker, but it still looks way better than the gray.

Our nursery has gone from this:


To this:

Admittedly it's not a huge change, but everything is neat and tidy now, we've added some books that we got as gifts, and the room is now ready for a baby!  The blanket on the back of the chair was made for our little guy by a co-worker of my MIL's that we've never even met!  It is amazing, and it was so sweet of her to make a blanket for us.

I think most impressive is our garden!  It has gone from this:





To this:



Those after pictures don't include the spinach (which has all been harvested after it started to flower, which I learned is called bolting), broccoli that we harvested, strawberries that are done for the season, and 4 lettuce heads that were harvested.

Some photos of a small portion of what have enjoyed so far:



For our first try at this, we're doing really well!  Even my avid gardener friends are jealous.  I think we are lucky in that we bought really good soil, our yard gets just the right amount of sun, and this year the weather has been ideal for growing with a few sunny days, then a few days of rain.  Besides the first week after planting, I've never watered once, nor have I fertilized.  We've had some issues with pests (aphids, slugs, and cabbage moths mostly), but it hasn't ruined too much of our crop.  Thankfully aphids are harmless, so unless something is infested (ahem, some of the broccoli) I just rinse it off.

In terms of things that aren't finished, I'm still getting bigger (and puffier) by the day.  This was last Saturday at 34 weeks:

Although I'm not looking particularly horrible there, I'm not so lucky most days.  I've been fighting a losing battle with swelling in my feet/calves, hands, and face.  It can be very painful some days.  My BP is fine, as are all other pre-e signs, so I just have to elevate my feet as much as possible and I have some sexy compression stockings.

I'm just having to come to terms with not being one of those glowing, beautiful pregnant women.  I've gained more weight than I wanted, mostly due to fluids so my midwife says to stop worrying, my hair isn't thick and shiny, my skin is dull, and I constantly look tired because I can't sleep.  I am fighting heartburn every day, I now have pregnancy-induced carpal tunnel from the swelling, and I'm just generally kind of a miserable person to be around.  I try hard not to complain too much because I KNOW it can be way worse, but some days are a struggle.  I'm very much looking forward to having the little guy in my arms.  I truly think that the sleep deprivation of being a new mom will be easier than the heartburn/peeing/sore body/painful swollen feet sleep deprivation of pregnancy.  He will definitely be the "reward" for dealing with pregnancy!  I'm grateful that the first 25 weeks or so were pretty easy, and I don't know how women do it when they are sick every day from the very start.  I'm also very grateful for a husband that steps in to do a large portion of my share of the chores, and a mom that is ready to help whenever we need her to.  Last weekend she spent her free time helping us paint the stairway, which was not easy work.  I am very lucky.

More to come on the kitchen remodel that is now done and the work and family baby showers coming up in the next week.

In process

Owning a house is fun, and it's nice to have ownership of something.  It is a series of never-ending projects, but they are fulfilling.  However, no project seems to be quickly accomplished.  Over Memorial Day weekend, we took off Friday for a much needed day together.  Having 4 days off was glorious, and it was a nice balance of fun.........
- Brunch at a french bistro
- 3 hours at the spa (massages, hot oil scalp massages, foot baths, foot/leg scrub)
- happy hour at a tiki bar
- dinner with my parents
- afternoon/evening at a casino 1.5 hours north of us
- down time watching TV
- registered for the baby at Target
.......and house projects.  Every house project always seems to be "in process," even when we think it is going to be easy.
We bought a bed and mattress from Big Lots for the guest bedroom.  It ended up taking 3 days to put the bed together because our hands could only take so much pressure from getting in the screws before we had to take a break.  This is where it stands now.  A far cry from the empty room, but it needs work for sure.


We finally got the shelves hung in the nursery.  That was an "If you Give a Mouse a Cookie" ordeal.  Bryan found screws, but then he needed a drill.  We found the drill, but the cord wasn't long enough, so we needed an extension cord.  We found the cord, but then the screws weren't strong enough, so we had to find anchors.  On and on.  We did get them hung though, and they are now adorned with Dr. Seuss artwork and books.  Clearly we still need to finish cleaning and organizing.  The bassinet will go in our room, but it is the junk holder (and unintentional cat bed) right now.


We spent one of the days doing some significant trimming in our front yard (I wish I had taken a before photo).  While it is zero-scaped, it still needs weekly weeding and regular trimming.  We decided to mulch as well, in an attempt to keep the weeds down.  Bryan sent me to by 8 bags, and I bought 12.  He laughed at me, thinking I went crazy with mulch.  Um, you can see from this photo that 12 bags only covered HALF of our yard.  I also power-washed the porch and walkway, but I still need to paint the porch.


While our veggie garden is going CRAZY (better before/after photos to come in a future post).....

....we still have the ivy to tackle, back fence to re-stain, and this ugly compost pile to deal with.  We have yard debris each week, but at this rate it will be winter before we get rid of all of it and clean up this corner.


Speaking of our garden though, I did harvest our first crop of butter lettuce and spinach last week.

It's ready to be harvested again, and our first batch of kale and swiss chard is ready too.  It's very exciting!

Another "in process" project for this week is the bench that Bryan built while I was away for work a couple of weeks ago.  It looks great in the space, but I still need to finish it up by putting some sort of pretty paper over the glass so I can fill up the shelves without them looking ugly.  I really thought I had a before picture, but I can't find it. EDIT: found it!  Originally this space was for our dining table, but we moved that to half of the living room and put in this window seat.


For the final "in process" project of this week, I hit 29 weeks.

24 weeks

 How far along: 24 weeks

 Total weight gain: 16 lbs I think.

 Maternity clothes: Yep, everything except for a few t-shirts and very loose shirts. I do have several non-maternity dresses/skirts (like the one in the photo) that I bought for maternity wear because they are loose and/or stretchy. I had to go to a specialty store and get fitted for a new bra, since I had outgrown all of my pre-pregnancy ones (and I'm not a "normal" size). $72 later (!), I have the best new bra ever!

Sleep: Still not sleeping well, and now that heartburn has started, it is even worse some nights.

Food cravings/aversions: Still nothing too interesting to report. I have definitely been a lot hungrier in the last couple of weeks. I'm trying to eat more fruit and veggies when I'm hungry, but sometimes cookies win out :)

How I'm feeling: Overall, pretty good. I'm definitely feeling more pregnant and having more normal pregnancy symptoms (heartburn, sciatic pain, mild back pain - likely linked to shoveling rocks and dirt all weekend!), but things are still progressing well.

 Symptoms: Heartburn, slight limp due to the sciatica, trouble sleeping, and starting to...um...produce (TMI). I woke up last night with intense back pain, and I realized it was because my cat had decided she needs to sleep right up against my back. I moved her, and she came right back. I finally gave up, gave her the bed, and went and slept on the couch!

 Labor signs: Nope.

 Belly button in or out: It is definitely getting flatter, which is really bizarre. My once very deep innie is now barely an innie.

 What I miss: I never thought I'd say this, but running! Even walking up a flight of stairs quickly makes me winded, which never happened before.

 What I'm looking forward to: Seeing our son! A blog friend had her baby boy this week, and it made me feel excited to meet our little guy. I'm also looking forward to finishing up the nursery in the next week or two.

How does your garden grow?

The answer before this weekend was definitely "very well....if you're trying to grow weeds." Since we moved in last summer, the back yard has been mostly neglected except for some lawn mowing and minor hedge trimming. We've been wanting to be "urban farmers," and we finally got down to work this weekend. It was interesting to say the least, with me 23 weeks pregnant and B only 3 weeks post surgery. We were VERY VERY VERY grateful for a few hours of help last night from both my mom and B's mom. They got down to work and made a lot of progress.

First, some before shots:
Weeds. The grey boxes are the planters we bought at Costco, and the wooden one was already there.

Weeds and ivy:

Weeds and overgrown shrub (and a pile of crap the previous owner left behind):

Back of the house flower bed that really needs attention:

And the 6 yards of dirt and 2 yards of rock:


We're definitely not done yet, so the after photos are more of the "half way" photos, but we have made a ton of progress:
Dirt and rock pile:

Weeds gone, weed barier down, planters set, dirt wheelbarrowed in, and gravel spread:

Weeds gone and shrub trimmed. We're going to spread dirt here for now. Next year, if the baby hasn't made us too overwhelmed, the chicken coop will go here:

Back area weeded, trimmed, and ugly bushes removed. Now to figure out what else to plant here:

Pile of debris that wouldn't fit in our compost bin:


We still have a lot more to do:
- Plant veggies in beds
- Plant dahlia bulbs behind beds
- Plant more flowerers in bed that has hydrangeas
- Plant something in bed next to garage where I dug up some overgrown bushes
- Bring in the rest of the dirt
- Finish weeding back ivy corner and plant something there
- De-weed the grass
- Get pation furniture
- Get hose reel
- Tackle ugly parking strip out front with remaining rocks and dirt

Although the list is long, we made a ton of progress and we're thrilled with the way it is going. Tonight we're off to the spa for some massages to soothe our aching muscles!

Mexico recap

It has only taken me a month to finally blog about Mexico. It feels so long ago at this point, and we're already longing for another vacation. We had such a great time. I think every couple needs time to recharge together - away from home. You don't have to always go far, but you have to get away from work, house chores, and the general monotony of daily life.

Went spent a week at an all-inclusive resort in Puerto Vallerta. It was a lovely low-key trip. We spent a lot of time lounging by the pool (in the shade) reading books, walking along the beach, soaking in the jacuzzi on our balcony, and taking afternoon naps. Bryan enjoyed the all-you-could-drink aspect, and for my part they did a great job of making fun non-alcoholic drinks.


View from our balcony:


When you marry a man that grew up by the ocean, he picks up EVERYTHING - much to the delight of other passing tourists.


We passed several baby sea turtles that were making their way out to sea.


I saw my first live sand dollar. They were everywhere. They make a fun butterfly looking print in the sand. I couldn't figure out what was making that mark until someone else walking by said "dig it up" and lo and behold there was a sand dollar there.


Chilling in the hammock (and teasing me at the same time!)


Watching the sunset:


Sunset over the infinity pool:


One day we decided to venture off of the property to check out downtown PV, a harrowing 30 minute cab ride away. Although very touristy, we managed to find some delicious local food. For less than $5 USD, we got 4 tacos and a 1L coke.


We wandered along the boardwalk in downtown and I had to make a wish in one of the amazing sand sculptures.


We even managed a very fun game of tennis. It wasn't easy due to the heat, being out of shape, and me being pregnant, but we had a fun time. Bryan had never played on astroturf before, so we had to give it a shot (ha!).


The resort had a lot of activities that were free, so one morning we joined a group going on a bike ride. We watched some dolphins at the "swim with the dolphins" excursion (sad after seeing The Cove) and then got to hold some parrots. It was a nice way to get out and get some exercise, but it was pretty hot out!


One morning after breakfast we took a walk down the beach to a little tiki hut. Bryan said we'd never make it (let's be honest, pregnant women get tired easily, and us Northerners have trouble with that much sun), but we made it in about 2 hours.


Not a bad place to spend your birthday (even if they spell your name wrong).


All in all, we had a great time. Many people there had tiny kids, so it is a place I'd consider going once the little guy gets here. He wouldn't be allowed in some of the nicer restaurants (where they food was miles better than at the buffet), but that will be our new reality soon! I took my 18w shot while we were there. I can't believe how much bigger I am at 22w! That update to come soon.