Kitchen Update: Day 21

The kitchen is pretty much done. Counting weekends we are on day 21. They still need to install the new fridge, but before they do that they need to finish the hardwood patching. They put in the new hardwood boards yesterday, but they still need to be stained and coated. They finished up the painting and trim work on Monday.

Here is a picture of our hood which also gives you a sneak peek at the kitchen.


I'm holding out to post pictures of the finished product with before and after pics. It's funny, Scott and I have been without a kitchen for so long it's taking us a while to get back into the swing of things and remember we have appliances we can use. We still haven't cooked a big meal.

The Name

So our front runner name has always been Katelyn for a girl. If a nickname is used, it would be Kate. We've always said we would wait until she arrives to make the name final. It's been what, 9 months of pregnancy and Katelyn has been "THE" name since about month 5, when we found out its a girl.

We said we would wait until the birth and decide between our two favorite names. Only, we can't come up with a second name. Long story short, we are 99.9% sure Katelyn will be Beanette's given name. Those are pretty good odds, don't ya think? I'm tempted to go ahead and order letters to spell her name above the crib. I was going to order wooden letters then paint them to match the paisley colors. Next decision is which font to get. Here is a pick of the final options, which do you like best? I put a poll to the right for easy voting.

Drapes, Bedskirts and Bumpers, OH MY!

I'm so excited to share these pictures. As I mentioned yesterday my mom has become quite the martha stewart in the last few years. She offered to put her "skillz" to work for Beanette. We knew where to start...THE fabric. It took us a while to pick our the coordinating fabrics. I'm excited to share the finished product. We may tweek some things here and there, but I couldn't be happier. Beanette will surely be happy looking at these fun colors. Grammy- WAY TO GO!!

The drapes...


Grammy wants to add bows to the top, but I like it just the way it is.

The crib linens- bumper and bedskirt...



Since contrasting colors are the first Beanette will see, we wanted the polka dots to be on the inside of the bumper. To the right of the crib will be the glider/recliner. It will have a pillow of the paisley on it.

This makes me so happy, thanks for all the hard work you put into these Mom. You are so talented and we are so lucky to have you. (Thanks Dad for your help too.)

Progress

We had a great, productive weekend. The kitchen is coming together so nicely!!! It looks FABULOUS. I'm waiting until the kitchen is totally done to post more pics. I can't wait for those of you in the ATL to see it in person.

We put most of the kitchen items back in the cabinets Saturday (thanks for your help mom). The last things to get completed are the hood installation, putting the new fridge in, patching the hardwood floors and the final wall/trim/door painting.

We also got our drapes, bumper and bedskirt up in the nursery thanks for Beanette's grammy, Stacy. I'll take some pics tonight. I don't think I ever posted pics of the nursery furniture either. My mom is a sewing maven!!! She made all of adorable linens and drapes for Beanette. They look GREAT! We are so lucky to have such a talented grammy!!! Wait until you see the pics.

That's the quick update, happy monday =(

Week 36

Welcome to week 36 Beanette. You are doing so good and you're a very healthy weight if you come early. You are the size of a large Honeydew and weigh about 5.5 lbs.


We had a doctors appointment to check on your progress today. We got a "doing great" response from the doc. They want to monitor mommy's swelling. My next appointment is next Tuesday, so they just check back then. We saw our primary doctor today, which was nice since we've been rotating the staff. Dr. Howard is great and delivered lots of your friends. He said you were normal sized, and that I was probably throwing off the other docs since I'm mainly belly. Dr. Howard also said he won't let you stay in mommies belly too long after the due date. that makes my hopeful due date of September 1st unlikely. (My b-day is 5/1 and scott's is 1/1.)

The heat, cramps, swelling and pressure when I stand up have made life uncomfortable, but it's all worth it! (at least that's what I keep telling myself)

To pickle or not to pickle

I'm eating lunch right now and my sandwich came with this dill pickle. Those who know me well know that I LOVE PICKLES! Nothing has changed about this with pregnancy. Now that I have cankles the size of Rhode Island, do I eat the yummy pickle or do I stay away b/c of the high sodium content? (yes, cankles are now a common sight...it wasn't a one time thing)

What do you think I did?



It was a yummy pickle!

Beanettes Favorite Food?

I was near a felinni's pizza during lunch and grabbed a salad to go. Beanette must have been hungry because she started going wild while I was on my way to get the salad.

Now I have eaten the salad and she is going just as crazy. Maybe she loves their salads as much as I do. We'll see how that one pans out.

Next doc's appointment is tomorrow AM. We will be 36 weeks tomorrow. I'm amazed she'll be here so soon!

Kitchen Update: Day 14

I haven't posted much about the kitchen because we've been waiting for the countertops. They get installed today!!!

In the meantime, here is a sneak peek from this weekend. First is a pic of our new mac daddy ovens. Bottom one is a convection oven. It's got a meat thermometer probe that you put in your meat, set the temp you want it- medium, well-done, etc. and it turns off when the meat get to the right temp. The top is a speedbake/convection/advantium oven that is also a microwave. It is pretty pimp. We splurged on the appliances a bit. I get a friends and family deal through GE since they own NBC. As a client, my NBC Universal salesperson hooked me up! We to a much fancier brand with more bells and whistles for the same price. Woo hoo!


Here is a pic of our cabinets, at least some of them. We get our cabinet hardware installed Friday. We didn't make a decision in time to get the hardware installed the same day as the cabinets.



If all goes as planned we should be done next tuesday, 7/27. Dinner anyone?

Cankles

I had a half day today and after some shopping thought "man, my feet hurt". I took off my sandles and when I looked down found that my ankles had turned into cankles and that my sandals had been cutting off my circulation my feet were so swollen.

Exhibit A


Exhibit B


I'm probably guilty of too much salt yesterday, so my new diet will be a low sodium one. Yikes...GO AWAY CANKLES!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROBIN!

Have a good day!!! We are thinking about you today!

The Childbirth Class

I forgot to post about the childbirth class last weekend. We took a day long course on the joys of childbirth. This was the one class our OB practice recommends and now I'm scratching my head why. It was full of valuable information, but quite honestly I left feeling a little nervous and scared. I guess my personality is the "take it as it comes type". Now that I'm prepared, the anxiety has started. Yikes!

So onto a funny story that will prove how immature Scott and I are. For lunch, the cord blood banking company Viacord came in and gave a speech. About 20 minutes into the speech, the very serious sales guy starting listing some of the diseases and conditions banked blood could cure. "It can cure things like diabetes, lymphoma, certain cancers, stroke, fart attacks, leukemia, etc." Did you catch that one? Fart attacks? total freudian slip I guess and he kept on going. Scott started the giggles first, then he got me started. I didn't notice anyone else in the room who got so tickled over it. I would start to regain my composure, then look over at scott and start laughing so hard I cried again. Back and forth, back and forth causing each other to laugh so hard we were shaking the chairs. Scott was at least crying/laughing silently, but I kept having to gasp for air. I finally had to leave the classroom. He continued talking for about 20 minutes and i just stood in the hallway. I knew the second I walked back in and looked at Scott I would start laughing again. Oh my goodness, I haven't had a laugh like that for ages. I wonder what that was like for Beanette.

All in all it was a good class and we got a lot of great info. Have a great weekend!

Updates and a Birthday Eve!

Robin- it's your birthday tomorrow, so happy birthday eve! I hope you have a fabulous birthday month. You deserve it.

Beanette, Scott and I will be celebrating your birthday with a class on "baby feeding". That's as technical as I'll get for the men reading this blog.

As another birthday present, Aunty robin, here is a picture that should SURELY make you feel better. At least you don't look this huge!!!

This is bump watch for 35 weeks, 2 days.


The bad news is I feel as large as I look. I'm officially in the stage of pregnancy that sucks.

The nursery furniture got delivered this week...hooray. Mom is almost done with the bumper and bedskirt. Next things to do in there: find a rug, buy "letters" for her name and paint the rocker/glider and ottoman. almost there!!

There hasn't been much visible progress on the kitchen this week since the cabinets were installed. We hope to be officially done by Tuesday, 7/27. We get countertops next Wed then things will really start moving.

False Alarm

No, no, not with Beanette. I just got back at my desk after a fire alarm scare. I walked down 11 flights of stairs only to find out it was indeed a fire alarm, but all was clear. Someone sprayed something on the the fire alarm pull.

Errrr...karma Mr. sprayer...karma.

My quads are very sore, at least it wasn't up 11 flights.

Clumsy Mommy

Over these last few weeks I've developed the clumsies. Usually scott wears the clumsy hat in the family (I bet he would disagree), but these days my clumsy moments are getting comical.

anything I hold at work seems to fall out of my hands- pens, paperclips, papers...you name it. I think it's a sign I need to work on my leg muscles. Sometimes the belly throws me off balance when I'm getting out of the car or walking around a corner, causing stumbles.

Monday night I dediced a popsicle in bed was the perfect end to the day. I had a plate and napkins so I could be super safe and not get the red popsicle on me or the bed. I was almost done, sparkly clean when a drip of red went down my nighgown and over the big belly to the bed. NOOOOOO! It'll be okay, but dang...I was almost done with that thing. Scott just laughed.

Then today, I had such a clumsy moment I had to laugh out loud. I was eating a salad for lunch and was almost done. I had a piece of a tomato on my fork and somehow missed my mouth when trying to eat said tomato piece. It fell out of my mouth, rolled down my hair, over my belly and somehow found its way to my leg that was proped up on a shelf under my desk. Did the tomato with basalmic vinegarette just fall off my leg? No...somehow it contiued down my entire leg and rolled off my foot. Then I had a line of dressing on my belly and kakhi pants marking the path. Nice, really nice. I only can fit into 2 pairs of work slacks these days, so that means a load of laundry. At least I can wash the nightgown and the pants together.

Happy Tuesday.

Kitchen Remodel, Day 5: Cabinets

Not counting weekend days, we are on day 5 of the kitchen remodel. Last week they did the demo, took out the old lights, installed new canned lights, and flatened out the textured ceiling. The appliances were delivered Friday.

Today the cabinets get installed. I ran home during lunch and took these pics. They are looking great! I'm really happy with the final selection =)



Tomorrow we should make a lot of progress too, including countertop templating. More to come manana!

Day One: Let the Demo Begin

What a week. Here is a pic from Tuesday AM of the kitchen. The cabinets are removed and the canned lights have been installed. They kept hitting beams when trying to properly space the lights. We used to have one big square florecent light box in teh middle, you can see where it used to be in the pic.

Another fun discovery...see the wall straight ahead to the right of the door? That's where our cooktop and old hood were. Notice the lack of a vent where the hood was? Yep, apparently our old hood wasn't even venting outside. The big, fancy industrial one we ordered needs a vent. There were snags in that plan discovered due to structual beam gettign in the way of where we would vent and a shower above the hood. Long story short we have a new hood on its way.

The other fun surprise was the lack of hardwoods under where the cabinets were. Hopefully the redesigned kitchen matches up pretty good. We'll be working a little patchwork magic.

just another thursday

of craziness at work, a kitchen remodel, baby prep, etc.

Kitchen remodel has hit a few snags as expected with an older house. Nothing too crazy and all is manageable. I need to post a pic of the demo and empty kitchen.

Yesterday they patched all the holes, Monday was just good ole' fashioned demo.

Happy 1st Anniversary shout out to Brandon and Kelly and thanks for choosing an easy to remember date- 07.08.09 =) Hope you have fun plans.

Welcome to week 34 little beanette. You've been very active and we think you were trying to flip over last night with no luck. You sure were poking out of mommy's belly though. We love to watch you move around.

bye, bye 1970's kitchen

Well today is almost 8 months in the making. That's how long we've been making decisions on the kitchen remodel. When we bought the house, we knew a kitchen remodel was a must. We ended up spending our house fix-up fund on little things like paining, a new roof and gutters, fixing the leak/flood in the basement from the great floods of Atlanta 2009 and LOTS of painting. That left next to nothing for our BADLY needed kitchen remodel.

I'll wait to post as we go and keep you in suspense to all the decisions. The demo started today and I'm told I'll go home to a bare kitchen.

Here are the before pics:

A whale...almost beached

Happy 4th of July everyone (happy b-day Michael)! We had a fun but busy weekend. We spent most of the weekend emptying the kitchen or at the pool. The title is appropriate b/c I'm feeling more and more like a whale. Normally I would say a beached whale, but I got around okay in the pool this weekend.

Here is a pic from today, 33 weeks and 5 days. Go ahead and say it.... "dang, she's huge". Yep, and I feel it too. I'm getting to the point where it's hard to do many things. I definitely overdid it yesterday, but we got some great pool time in with the nieces and nephews.



I hope everyone had a great weekend. Happy birthday America.

belly games

Beanette and I played our first game yesterday. She's moving around so much and running out of room too.

She was pushing her foot out pretty far, so I pushed back. She gave a little, then pushed back in my finger. I pushed, she pushed. Very cute and to me it was a really sentimental moment. It only lasted a minute or two, but was really special. I already love her so much!

We played a mini version with daddy last night. My favorite thing to do at night is lay in bed and watch her move around. I could watch the belly for hours.

Baby Factory Tour...check!

Scott and I had our first baby "class" last night. Maybe class is a bad category, we started with the hospital tour. This is Northside Hospital in Atlanta. It is a baby factory indeed delivering almost 18,000 babies a year. That's about 50 a day. This gorgeous building is their women's center, all devoted to delivering babies.


They basically walked us through a hospital stay, told us how many folks can be where, when, etc. It got me excited and I feel a little more prepared. Time to pack a "just in case she's early" hospital bag. 7 weeks to go. Yesterday, we hit 33 weeks.