Nursery Furniture

To finish off the nursery, I wanted to redo some furniture that we had. The changing table was the hardest to come with. My mom & I pinned a bunch of different options before finally determining the desk was the right option. I brought home a ton of paint samples and eventually went with Bermuda Bay. I love my mint green, but knew it wasn't quite right, so had thought about teal before finding this color which is kind of a mix of both.

We sanded down the old furniture we had and then painted, 3 coats later it was essentially done. I tried to polyurethane over the paint to make it shine and easier to clean and that was a failure. Luckily I had just done the drawers of the desk. Turns out if you try to do that with old wood it pulls what I can the wood oil and gives it a yellowy tint and definitely not what I wanted. So sanded down the drawers and repainted them. All was good.

Then I found new knobs for both that matched each other so they now look like a set, because they were far from a set when we started!

Here's the picture report:

Restored Country Style Table

I love country style tables & Greg hated the table we had because it was too short for him to fit his legs under. So began my obsessive pinning of country style tables and plans to have someone (preferably the little bro) build it for me this summer. Well lucky for him I spotted one on a for sale group that had good potential. I made my father-in-law & hubs drive up with me in the wind & rain to take a look and pick it up. It fit Greg well and 3-5 tarp wraps later we were cruising back to our house.

The table sat in our garage for a bit waiting to get it's facelift. The plan was to sand it down, reinforce weak areas in the legs and table top as well as fill in some of the cracks. Then stain and polyurethane it. All went very smoothly.

Suggestions for supplies:

• Electric detail sander
• Minwax stainable wood filler
• Minwax gel stain (this stuff is awesome, it goes on easy & you truly just need a small can!)
• Minwax polyurethane - gloss/high gloss (read the gel stain can to get suggestions on which one & gloss will wipe assist in wiping the table off.)

My mom was a trooper doing this, I had ideas, but this far into pregnancy wasn't really able to help much. She sanded, stained & polyed it all. We do suggest multiple layers of poly to make sure it is solidly covered and can handle being wiped off. 

Then I had to find some chairs to match. At 1st I was thinking of trying to match the wood, but a suggestion from a friend to do a solid color & not match changed my mind. So I looked for darker chairs that actually match our kitchen island stools. Couldn't be happier with the results!

Sanded & ready to stain

Half stained

Ready to go!

Prepping for Baby

We've officially had a baby shower and are in the homestretch. I am not a huge fan of showers, I hate having all the focus on me, I know it's friends and family that are happy for you, but boy is it out of my comfort zone.

But my sister put together an awesome shower and am grateful to have the love, support & gracious gifts of my family & friends.

Up until now I knew I was getting bigger and the baby was there, but with all the things filling up the nursery it is now sinking in that this is real. And we will have a little one joining us soon. We are in the 'safe' zone of this pregnancy.

After the shower, I used some of the decorations and gifts to get the nursery decorated. I started pulling things out of boxes and trying to organize. It blows me away how many items a baby uses at the start of life and what will be used during their development through the 1st year of life. It is incredible how far they come, how much their personality will change and how it will change you as a person.

Every night and on the weekends, I have been leaving the nursery room door open to allow the cat and dog to come in & sniff around. I don't want them to be locked out of it and reach shock when we introduce a new family member. The cat is currently in love with the stroller and the dog loves one of the super soft blankets. Sadie also feels the need to know where I am at all times, she makes sure she knows where I am before she takes her naps which is typically right next to me on the floor. Her dog senses are kicking in and she's protecting me and the baby, pretty sure she's going to be a good fur sister. And I also sense she will know when I am in labor before I do.

I can't say my nesting has hit in full effect, but I definitely have decided to have the nursery ready and also my hospital bag. If I am anything like my mom there is a chance we will be going early and I don't really want to have to have a neighbor pack my bag the 1st time like she did! :)

Reading Nook

Never stop the dreams, little one.

Backyard Refresh

Well it was a long time coming. We planned to get the fence & deck stained & repainted early in the spring but rain & work schedules haulted that plan. So after a couple months of storing all the paint & stain the garage we can say it's done! My mom & dad took on the deck with the thickest paint I've ever seen...specifically deck paint so makes sense. While Greg took on the fence...the whole fence...in one day. I believe he now regrets the one dat thing but boy does it look good!

After nearly 2 years of dogs running across the decktop a the paint makes it look brand new. And the fence took on its first stain well. It's amazing what a coat of paint  or stain can do to give it all a facelift.

Glucose Test

Okay, this was one test I was nervous about, not that I would have Gestational Diabetes, but that it wasn't a fun test.

From what I had heard it was a long test, the drink was awful and I'd probably get sick or lightheaded from it.

Wrong.

The fruit punch we had in Bible School all through elementary school definitely had more sugar in it than the fruit punch glucose drink I had to drink.

I made sure I didn't over carb before the test and just had a bit of fruit before I headed in. Took one sip of the drink & was shocked that it wasn't a thick syrup of sugar gross-ness.

The only part that kind of stunk was sitting in the waiting room for an hour until I could have my blood drawn. The rest was a piece of cake.

Everyone reacts differently, but this is definitely not anything to get worked up about! :)

Freezer Meals Round 2

We did another round of freezer meals about a month ago. We wanted to try a different group with a better mixture of tastes. So far, they've been great...and by that I only have 1 left in my freezer and I am ready to go again!

We again doubled the list to make a batch for me & a batch for my mom. We spent under $200 & made 24 meals!

Here's your grocery & recipe list!

6+ months coffee free

Yes, it's true. The girl who typically drank from a coffee mug as big as my head hasn't had coffee in over 6 months. The day I discovered I was pregnant again, I had poured myself a cup of coffee and an hour later it was still just as full because I couldn't stand the taste of it. Then as the pregnancy progressed the smell of brewing coffee made me gag. So lucky for me, I didn't have to go through the caffeine headaches as I stopped drinking coffee cold turkey & lucky for the baby, they don't have to deal with the jolt of the limited amount of caffeine I could have had from coffee.

In the fall, the 1st thing I wanted after my miscarriage was a hot steamy coffee, something I had missed over those 9 weeks. It was the the symbol of the end of the pregnancy. I could have coffee.

This pregnancy, I'm good leaving it alone. At first it was easy, but as I started to feel better and it didn't make me gag, I was like I could have a decaf. But I've held out, I don't need it to survive, and to me holding out is now the symbol of the healthy and continuing pregnancy I am going through.

Will I need it after the baby is born? Will it even taste good anymore? I don't know. I'm sure I'll need caffeine at times, but hey it may be something that changes.