The Finished Nursery!!!

So, it's pretty much done! There are just three little things left to do....put a rug pad under the rug, hang up the mobile, and hang the picture that my mom is currently painting. I went to Babies R Us today and got pretty much everything I needed to bring the baby home. Before today, the nursery was still cute, but we didn't have one bottle in our house. There are certain things that the baby will actually need....having a cute nursery is not a need, but it sure is nice! I just love it in here...I'm currently writing this post from that cute chair in the picture above. Frank thinks it's a little bit ridiculous all the time and money we've spent on this nursery, but I've enjoyed every second of it....well, except the wall paper fiasco, but everything else I've loved! The clothes and blankets are washed, the closet and drawers are organized, we have diapers, etc...think we're ready for little miss Arnold to make her debut. She should be here in the next month! I can't believe how quickly this pregnancy has gone by. I feel like I just took that pregnancy test yesterday.

Work, work, work and no play, play, play...

Frank's been such a good sport. Every weekend for the past two months he's been working on another project we have around the house. In fact, it's 9:32 on a Friday night, and he's in the office caulking the nail marks. We've spent the last two Friday nights at Lowes. My, how things have changed. We're just a bunch of old farts now, I guess. At least our house will look great! :) The nursery is just about finished and so is the office. We're hoping to do our touch-up painting in the office tomorrow and start moving all of the furniture out of the dining room and into the office where it belongs. I can't tell you how good that will make me feel to see my dining room table again. We do usually eat on the couch in front of the tv (a habit that will change when our baby's old enough to know better, I promise), however, there are some meals that you just really need a table to sit at to eat. Like tacos...I had a hard time with my tacos on my balancing plate on my lap this week.

I can now see a light at the end of the tunnel with our various projects. This is a very good thing since we only have about 9 weekends left (or less!) to get them all finished. More nursery pictures coming soon!

Three years later, it finally bloomed!

This is too monumental not to share. Three summers ago I bought a plant at the farmer's market. The old man I bought it from threw in another plant for free. So, gladly, I took it and planted it in my yard having no idea what it was. For three years this ugly plant has grown straight up with a bunch of leaves that look strangely like marijuana leaves. We've been calling it the 'marijuana plant' for years and it's the ugliest thing in our garden. I cut it down every year and miraculously it always returns. So, not too long ago, I look out of my kitchen window and this is what I see...a big, beautiful red flower!!! So far I've seen three of these flowers and I've taken pictures of all three because I just can't believe it! I guess good things do come to those who wait. ;)

The New Office/Music Room in Progress

So, the other project in our lives right now is Frank's new music room/office. It's almost finished....almost. And it looks better and better every weekend. We're going for a more contemporary/modern vibe in here. We ordered a desk from Crate and Barrel that is currently still in the box, two months later, waiting for his room to be finished. Hope we like it because now we missed the 30 day limit to return items. We're going to put Frank's framed albums around the top of the room on the red, which I think will look pretty cool. We'll hang some of Frank's guitars on the wall and his miscellaneous framed music art. I can't wait! I like to pretend that I am an interior designer....maybe someday I will be.

The Hard Part is Finished

It's been awhile...I know. Empty promises....I know. I promised I would write on the blog more often, then my whole house turned upside down. We currently have two projects going on at the same time, which means that currently our dining room is filled will all the furniture from those two rooms plus the dining room furniture. Those who know me know that I like to have things in their place and nice and orderly. Well for the past two months I have had to let that all go. Our desktop computer, that was in the old office-now nursery, is dismantled in the dining room. That means that I can only get online and use the computer when Frank gets home from work and I can use his laptop.

I do, however, see an end in sight. Frank's new office, the old sun porch, is now painted, fan is up, and the new wood floors are supposed to go in this weekend. I'll believe that when I see it, though. (That last comment was a test to see if Frank reads my blog...think I know the answer to that question!) Once the office is done, then we can move all of that office furniture out of the dining room....YAY!!!

The nursery project was a thorn in my side and I thank God everyday that the hard part is over. The pictures above document the tearing off of the wallpaper. Mark my words...I will NEVER AGAIN strip wallpaper from an old house. Never!!! It had to be done, unfortunately, as you can see from the before picture. The painted over wallpaper was disconnecting from the wall. After we pulled the wallpaper off, we put a texture on the wall and it looks AWESOME!! One coat of primer, two coats of paint later it was almost finished. Then I pulled off the tape from the molding and lo and behold, the tape took off all of the molding paint. I cried for about 15 minutes about that, no lie, right when Frank came home from work. (I hate you hormones!) Another weekend later and Frank put up the curtain rods and the chandelier (a 4 hour project due to the nice 1939 house we live in).

So......the hard part is over. Now we're just waiting for the crib and dresser, the glider chair, and the bedding to come in, then it'll be almost finished. I can't wait. I think it's going to be the cutest nursery ever!!! More pictures coming soon!!!

You know you're pregnant when....

-You know you're pregnant when you cut out the draw string in your fat pants!

-You know you're pregnant when you wake up in the middle of the night STARVING!

-You know you're pregnant when you eat a huge meal and two hours later you're hungry again!

-You know you're pregnant when your husband, who can't stand the down comforter, throws it off of him and it makes you cry!

-You know you're pregnant when you have crumbs in your bed!

-You know you're pregnant when you have a whole medicine cabinet in your purse along with the list of approved medications during pregnancy.

-You know you're pregnant when you never liked orange juice before and now it's all you can think about!

I could go on and on....feel free to add some of your own! :)

-Caryn

It's a GIRL!!!

It's official...Frank and I are going to have a baby girl! It still doesn't feel real, this whole pregnancy thing...I wonder when it will? Maybe when we actually have something in our house that says "baby"??? Right now, the only thing that's in our house that says we're having a baby is the ridiculous amount of free, hand-me-down maternity clothes I've been given. It's pretty awesome. I really don't have to buy a single thing. In fact, I've been given so many maternity clothes that I had to do a switch out with my regular clothes so they would fit. Not a bad problem to have, believe me. (Although a bigger closet would be nice!) So, I'm going to New York tomorrow for some R & R at my grandma's house. When I come back I'm going to start on the nursery. Wait until you see my nursery ideas...I'm so excited about them! So, a baby girl...I kind of always imagined Frank as a dad with all girls, I don't know why. He would cringe at that thought. He just found out how much I paid for my wedding dress the other day and wished for all boys. Oops...oh well. I shouldn't have told him. Maybe ignorance is bliss....too late!