Faces

I knew I was missing some.  So here’s another version of ketchup.

Sweaty Face.  Cutest little tennis player ever.  (After 107 degree practice- with sweaty pink cheeks!)

Sleepy Face.  A nice cool morning on the patio- taking care of baby of course!

Silly Face.  Sunday lunch at MooYa.

Shock Face.  I don’t even know if Selena Gomez is really pregnant but this just cracked me up.  The kids are often in character, playing girlfriend/boyfriend.  He is always Romo, she is always Bella.  Coleman tells me that this girl holding the baby (Shelby) is his girlfriend, and I say “Your girlfriend has a baby?!” and Shelby says, “Well, Selena Gomez is pregnant and they’re not married.”

Ketchup

We got a new (small portable) camera that takes video, which we had really been missing.  Last week at Nonnie’s house she put her computer on continuous play of my YouTube station and I totally enjoyed all those videos that we’d taken and taken the time to put on there.  No matter how “big” our kids seem now, this is still a time we will want to look back on and remember their silliness, their voices, their little habits (like Coleman swinging in his underwear every day.)  And of course we’ll need plenty of videos of Molly Monkey’s cuteness.  Now I have to get back into the groove of keeping up! I vow to start anew in October.

This is how Coleman felt at Meet-The-Teacher.

On the last Friday night before school started, Coleman requested a “Boy/Girl” night.  He wanted Mommy to take him bowling, since Shelby had been to a bowling birthday party with Daddy the weekend before.  While daddy and Shelby went ice skating, we had a great time at the bowling alley and Coleman is quite a bowler!

 

A random night at home: Dance party and Disney Cranium.

Happy Friday, Lovies!

Bathroom Renovation

This is the renovation that was in the works for a year!  It was finished at the beginning of the summer and we’ve been enjoying it and the kids have been fighting over who gets to shower in here ever since!

I coulda-shoulda-woulda taken better pictures, but this is what I have and if I don’t post them, it won’t ever get done.

This is my vanity.  Jeff’s looks the same, on the opposite side of the bathroom.  The countertops are new, cut and installed by Jeff and Poppy.  Sink and fixtures picked out by ME, of course!  Cabinet stain “Kona” is new, done by Jeff.  Wall color is new, by Jeff, and I helped a little.

The shower is hard to take pictures of.  We used to have a peach colored marble shallow bathtub over here.  (Which Uncle Doug drove down and helped demolish!) Now it’s a large custom shower.  The wall and seat were built by a contractor, but all the tile work was done by my extremely handy and talented hubby.  The “shower pan” was built by Papa G, our tilemaster!

You know me, I suggested the tile layout.  Diagonal 6x6’s on top, glass stripe, and 12x12 straight on bottom.  The floor is diagonal 2x2” tiles.  I love it!  All these shower corners and angles are caulked with stuff that matches the grout color (pretty cool) which Uncle Luke helped with!

Another awkward picture but it shows the custom built-ins in the wall on the right.

Here is what used to be there:

Jeff took a video of the “before” but it was just so bad.  So narrow that there’s not even a good picture of a vanity or anything.  It was just so cramped!

This below is a bad phone picture.  Shelby likes to take my phone around the house and take pictures of our stuff ever since we had our house on the market.  We added a new narrow floor-to-ceiling shelving unit on the wall where the tiny square shower used to be.  We had no storage in this bathroom except under the sink counters, and this helps SO much!  (I store my shoes in the bottom cabinets!)

The above picture was taken before one of our last steps was done, which was to finish out the top of the half wall, what used to be a whole wall (there on the left,) which cut the bathroom into its old half-moon shape.  It is now trimmed out and looks great, and gives a bit of privacy for the toilet.  Jeff added a new skill to his handiness: using a router to cut fancy finishes on wood.  (I think that’s what it’s called!)  The bathroom is now wide open and a normal rectangular room shape.  Other things done were changing out all fixtures and door hinges, painting doors (white,)  new white trim on the floors (which Jeff cut and installed also), appropriate cement backer board in the shower area so no more butts will be shoved through tile walls, and a new fixture/exhaust fan combo.  Oh and new tile floor throughout the room.  Probably more that I’m forgetting!

As you can see, this is an amazing job that our “village” helped with throughout, from offering a hand, a muscle, an opinion, expertise, and even childcare for us to get it done.  Built with LOVE!

P3 Pregnancy: 26 Weeks

I have declared the start of the 3rd trimester this week.  To be completely 2/3 done with a 40 week pregnancy, I suppose I’d have to wait until 26 weeks and 3 1/3 days, but 26 weeks sounds good to me…plus I am holding out hope that our little Molly will join us just a little early, so that we can have Christmas morning at home.   Not a crazy hope, since she is the 3rd, and Coleman was 4 weeks early.

How big is baby?:  from Babycenter: She now weighs about a pound and two-thirds and measures 14 inches (an English hothouse cucumber) from head to heel.

weight gained so far?: Haven’t weighed again since last time (17 lbs)

sleep?: I am falling asleep well but about half the nights I wake up around 2 or 3:00 and have a very hard time going back to sleep.  Like, have to lay there for an hour or more which is pretty miserable.  I have not been too exhausted during the days lately.  But of course I still love naps (that will never change!)

best moment of the week?: Just having a laid back week has been great.  I worked from home 3 days and will probably start working from home more than that for the rest of the pregnancy.  It is SO nice to open the windows, be able to take bathroom breaks without walking a mile, and just be comfortable in non-work-appropriate clothes!

Miss Anything? I just miss being able to lay comfortable (on my back or tummy!) and being able to easily roll from side to side.  It’s already becoming quite an event when I need to change positions at night.  I am wearing a maternity support belt almost all the time now.  It helps a lot and hurts a lot when I don’t wear it.

Movement:  Lots of movement and this week I think Jeff and the kids all felt and SAW her move in my belly.

food cravings?: Cereal.  (Honey bunches of  oats)  Milkshakes.

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy

looking forward to?: Sibling class at the hospital this weekend.

P3: 24 weeks

Well, it’s been a while!

Since I last did a P3 Pregnancy post, we got to look at little Miss Molly again, at 23 weeks!

This is her cute little profile:

Back there behind her mouth is “soft tissue” - a hand- probably pushing on her lips, which look like they’re poking out.  She has the same little chin crease that is from Daddy that both Shelby and Coleman have.  They were able to check all the chambers of her heart, they checked for spina bifida, cleft lip, cleft palate…all looked great.

We got an even better shot of the “parts” to confirm that she is, in fact, a girl.

I went to the doctor again yesterday so now is the perfect time to update!
Just yesterday I told the doctor that I feel like she is SO LOW and all the movement and kicks I feel are way way down there…and today I’m sitting in my office chair and I can feel and see my belly moving up above my belly button!  This is a very active baby.  She moves a LOT and I love it!  This week Coleman felt a little kick and Jeff thinks he felt a nudge.  Jeff isn’t very patient so if she doesn’t kick soon after I place his hand on my belly, he’s out of luck

These pictures are from 23 weeks, 1 day.

Coleman always has that hand up on his baby sister in there.  When I ask for a hug or kiss (and sometimes when I don’t ask) he kisses my belly only.  Molly is a part of our daily conversation, and the kids cannot wait for her to be here.  Shelby has been carrying around her not-American Girl doll (who we happened to name Molly 2 Christmases ago!) and taking care of her.  She wraps her up and puts her to sleep.  She practices holding her correctly.  She takes her into restaurants.  She says it is helping us get ready to take care of the real Molly.  Often S & C are playing house, as Mommy and Daddy taking care of their baby.  They call each other “Hon” and “Honey” and work together to take care of the baby.  I heard Shelby tell Coleman, “Honey come here.  We have so much to get done!”  Wonder where she’s heard that.  She loves to go spend time in Molly’s nursery, just lying on the bed in there and putting her doll in the swing.

how big is baby?: At the 22w5d Sonogram, she was 1 lb 2 oz. (measuring 2 days ahead.)  from Babycenter: Your baby's growing steadily, having gained about 4 ounces since last week. That puts her at just over a pound. Since she's almost a foot long (picture an ear of corn), she cuts a pretty lean figure at this point, but her body is filling out proportionally and she'll soon start to plump up.
At the 24 week appt her heartbeat was 159 bpm.

weight gained so far?: 17 lbs.

sleep?: Some nights it’s great, some I have a very hard time falling asleep and toss and turn for a long time.  However, of course, I am always sleeping great when the alarm goes off!

best moment of the week?: More and more kicks.  We got her room all ready.  Still have stuff to hang on the wall but we have all the furniture in, including a crib and a twin bed for visitors or late night snoozes for Mommy or Daddy.  (More pictures will come when it’s all done of course!)

Miss Anything? On Labor day I really wanted to drink a few beers.  It was hot and it was the first time that they really sounded great.  I am not a comfortable pregnant person.  So I miss being comfortable.

Movement:  Yes, she moves a lot.

food cravings?: Peanut butter cookies from the café down at work.  Good thing I only work in the office 2-3 days a week!!

Happy or Moody most of the time: Varies.  Feeling very busy and overwhelmed since school started.  Have had some headaches.

looking forward to?: Cooler weather.