Update: Baby's Room

Hey guys!  Just popping in to give you all an update on what's been going on around the halls of Falconhead Cottage.

Now that the carpet is finally installed, we've set our sights on other projects.  Most recently, I engaged in what I referred to as DresserGate Twenty Eleven; I moved the tall dresser out of the baby's room into the master bedroom, and moved the long dresser out of our room and into the baby's room.  It took some finagling, but I was able to snuggle the taller dresser next to the radiator in our room.   And by the grace of God, I was some how able to fit the contents of both dressers into one:

 I gave him the upper drawers because I'm a good wifey :)

I took the mirror off of the longer dresser and moved it into the baby's room for him to use.  It is also going to act as our changing table.

 Pardon the mess.  We had our second shower this past weekend, and it looks like Babies R Us threw up in that room.  I have some organizing to do.

JEGs also installed some quarter round along the baseboards to fix that horrendous gap between the floor and wall that was totally skeeving me out:

Before

After

 We were also gifted the Jenny Lind crib I have been dreaming about ever since I saw the first ultrasound.  I. Love.  It.

Finally, I added our TO Do list from Operation: Baby Drop with links to the finished projects.  You know, because I know you all are dying to know.

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend!!!

Always & Forever,
  ME

Pregnancy: Weeks 32 & 33

Once upon a time I could button this jacket...

My Stats:
*Twenty-four pounds gained.  I would say a good 20 of it is from cake.
*Waist measures... let's just say I "lost" my tape measure.  Yeah, yeah.  I... lost it.

Little Monster's Stats:
*Our little guy weights about 4.5 pounds and his total length is nearly 19.5 inches.
*He is now keeping his eyes open when he is awake
*Neurons and synapses are developing in huge numbers allowing him to master things like sucking and swallowing while breathing.
*..and for TMI of the week:  his testicles are descending from his abdomen into his scrotum.  Awww.
*This week we have become a honeydew on the Fruit-O-Meter

Pregnancy Fun Facts:

Last week karma decided it would be a fun joke to give me third trimester morning sickness.  I spent every morning sitting next to the toilet, cursing the good fortune of my (unknown) first trimester.   By the end of the week I was feeling better, but I was still getting what I call "yucky burps".  Basically, the baby is running out room in there and is starting to press on my organs-- including my stomach.  There have been times when I have 'burped' up the last thing I ate.  It seems to happen mostly at night, riiiight before I am about to fall asleep.  It's really... awesome.  

Energy Level/Sleep

   The baby has made it very clear he only likes it when I lay on my left side.  Aye- aye capt'n.   If that's what you want, that is what I shall do.  

  Let's talk about his energy levels for a second:  good lord child-- are you trying to escape through my bellybutton??  That is not an exit!  He doesn't really kick anymore, but he does push on my sides.  A lot.

Cravings:

 At this very moment, I would sell my mother for a roast beef sandwich and a root beer.  (Sorry Mommacita).     Recently I have been wanting a lot of peanut butter- in milkshake form is bonus points.

Other Stuff:

  I ditched the wedding bands weeks ago for a plain ring I had laying around.  However that won't fit anymore either so I have been commando on the ring finger.  Earlier in the week I had a woman in a doctors waiting room inform me that "the Lord looks down upon unwed mothers".  I posted this on my Facebook wall, and my favorite of the 25 comments I received was from my friend Mike's sister Beth: " You should have told her it was your 4th- all to different Daddys. Then asked 'You think the big guy's okay with that?' ".  My actual response to the woman was "Well thank goodness I waited five months after the wedding to get pregnant".   Really, the nerve of some people.  But I do believe I might invest in a cheapy ring from Kohls.. just to be on the safe side.

My mother hosted a second baby shower for us this past weekend and again, friends and family were so generous.  We have been so blessed, and we are so thankful for all the gifts we received.  Now I just need to organize it all.

Our good friends, Cara and Rob, recently found out they are having a little girl in December.  Clearly this means that their precious angel has to marry our little monster.  We've already started to draw up the paperwork.  Here is Cara and I introducing the bride and groom wee ones to each other:

Finally, I think we are getting closer to a name.  Maybe :)

Always & Forever,

  ME

Wedding Crashing: Casually Simple

On July 23, 2011 my dear friend Megan got married.

I met Meg back in 2003 when she was just 17.   We worked together at Applebee's for years and we were killer on Sunday night expo together.  The two things I love most about her are: you know exactly how she feels about things, and she is not full of pomp and circumstance-- this girl likes to keep it simple and her lovely wedding reflected that perfectly.

The wedding was held at a beautiful, 200-year-old meeting house in Southampton, PA.

I won't even lie to you, I was contemplating how to steal this chandelier.  It would look gorgeous in our boudoir.  But JEGs put the kibosh on it.  Something about being too big to smuggle out.  Whatever.

It was insanely hot the day of the wedding-- I think the mercury hit between 98- 100 degrees.  Since the meeting house was two hundred years old, they didn't have modern conveniences like electricity for air conditioning.  But Meg was on top of that.  As soon as you walked in, you were handed a fan to keep yourself cool-- complete with adorable sayings:

When Meg entered, I gasped.  She looked amazing in a dress with a satin wrap bodice and a skirt of pleated net over silk organza.  At her waist was a crystal and pearl embellished belt that folded twice in the back and had more crystals at the tapered ends.

She carried a bouquet of sunflowers wrapped in yellow ribbon.  She opted to go with out a veil, and instead her naturally curly hair was swept casually into a side bun and accessorized with white silk flowers.

Her shoes (which I didn't get a picture of until later in the night) were glittery and blue.  

I'm not even going to lie, I was pretty proud and impressed with her for getting shoes this fabulous.  She is usually very understated, and these were pretty... kung pow!

God bless them, they kept that ceremony short-- fifteen minutes we were in and out.  They had a few readings, a sand ceremony, Kevin- do you? (he did)  Meg- do you? (she did too) , kiss the bride and be on your way.

The reception was held at the nearby Maggio's Restaurant.  As we entered we found our place cards propped up on wine corks that Meg had collected from her part-time gig as a bartender (..and maybe a few bottles she partook in as well ;)

The centerpieces were mason jar filled with sunflowers and river rocks with and adorn with a yellow ribbon

Can we talk about her cake for a second?  First off, it was adorable with a cake topper of a bride and groom on a motorcycle.

The most important part?  The taste.  Holy mother of pearl, it was like everything that was good in one cake.  First off it was yellow cake (my fav) with chocolate chips.  Then it had a strawberry jam filling between the layers.  But wait.. there is more!  The icing was-- wait for it---- peanut butter flavored.  It was basically a pregnant woman's dream.

I had such a blast at the wedding, I even got my booty out on the dance floor-- proving that at seven and a half months pregnant, I am still gettin' my Cupid Shuffle on.

LOVE my AppleBitches

Meg, I wish you and Kevin nothing but happiness in the years to come.  Love you so much girl!

Always & Forever,

  ME

Fabulous July

How I Met Your Mother

Robin, did I ever tell you I was vomit-free since '93?

 This show is Legon---wait for it------- DARY. How did I go six years without watching??   Barney Stintson is by far the BEST character on TV.  JEGs and I would catch this on syndication every once in a while and thought it seemed pretty funny.  Once we moved into the house, we cut our cable down the basic channels and realized something:  basic cable sucks.  So we decided to hunt down the first six seasons of this show and  marathon watched it.  I have never laughed so hard at a TV show as I have with this one.  Seriously, the writers of this show are doing a fantastic job, not only keep with the continuity of the show, but keep the characters fresh.  We are all caught up and are itching to start the seventh season.

Lemonade

I have always loved anything that was lemon-flavored;  it's one of my favorite tastes.  With the pregnancy (and summer) in full swing, I am always A. Thirsty B. Craving sugar and C. Craving sour.  DING DING-- we have a winner in lemonade.  We always have a half drank gallon of Turkey Hill Lemonade in the fridge.  I'll mix it with other beverages too!  Iced Tea, a little in my water, any my new favorite, with Trop 50's  Pomegranate Blueberry juice.  Ommm nom nom.


adidas Zeitfrei sandals

Here is the thing about pregnancy:  your feet always hurt.  ALWAYS.  I had gotten in the habit of as soon as I came home from work off came my shoes and on went my slippers. However, I ran into two problems:  my slippers made my feet hot (and I am like a human oven as it is right now) and after a while, I had worn then down so far, they didn't have any padding left.  Then one day I noticed JEGs had a pair of adidas flip flops with padding on the soles.  I slipped my feet in and it was like heaven and I never wanted to take them off.  Apparently, JEGs felt the same way about these shoes and was quite annoyed when I would put up a fight if he wanted to wear his own shoes.  Whatevs man.  So I broke down and bought my own pair.  And I loves them.   

Winston

I know you haven't been formally introduced yet, but this little guy has brought a lot of fun and love into our life this past month.   And that's pretty fabulous.

Alrighty July, August is officially here, and it is jam packed with weddings, showers and renovations!  We gotta get to gettin!!

Always & Forever,

  ME

The Carpet Does Not Match the Drapes

...because don't have drapes.  But we have CARPET!

In April we ripped out the old carpet.
In June, we replaced the subfloor.

It took us three months, but we finally have carpeting.  Oh happy day.

JEGs mentioned in the subfloor post that he had decided to rip up the grey slate tile in the entry way to replace the flooring underneath.  I was totally down with that because I had a deep hatred for that tile.

One  week while I was on night shift, JEGs got to work on replacing the tile.  We picked out a lighter and brighter Topaz Ice by Marazzi at our local Home Depot, with the Bone grout.

 The very first thing he did was dry fit the tiles on the wonder board WITH the spacers in place.  This gave an actual measurement for how to cut the board so that everything fit and lined up.  Once he was happy with the layout, and knew where to cut, he went ahead and trimmed the board to fit. He centered it with the doorway, and tucked under the threshold just a bit to make it cleaner.  Once he was happy with the position, he screwed it down with drywall screws to the subfloor.

 Next up was mixing the mortar.  Anyone who has messed with this goop knows that this can be a pain in the arse.  Adding JUST enough water so that the "mud" isn't too runny, but isn't too dry is a trial and error type of thing. Mike Holmes makes it look so easy.

 Once its mixed, it is time to spread it out over the wonder board.  Starting in the center, he worked his way out and forward, using 3/16" spacers to keep the grout lines nice and even.  It's good to check your progress with a level as you go to make sure things are lined up. 

Once satisfied with the tile positions, it was time to let them set. The tiles had to set overnight before they could be grouted.

 Since I am super preggers, JEGs decided that instead of making me walk around to the back door when I got home at midnight, he would build me a bridge out of material leftover from the subfloor replacement-- a "temporary wife bridge" as he called it.   So thoughtful <3

 The next day the mortar had set up enough to start grouting, so JEGs mixed it up and spread it around with a grout float.  He also used some left over and spread it in where the tile meets the threshold to make it look seamless.  I should note that he could have used caulk, but he had left over grout so he thought, why not? If it cracks or chips out, he can caulk it later. 

About a week or so later, the carpet guys from Lowe's came out and installed the carpet.

I know what you are thinking; Lowe's carpeting?  Home Depot tile?  We don't discriminate.  Well, we do a little.  Shhh, we secretly love Lowe's way more, but don't tell the HD.

Anyway, let me tell you-- these guys did work.  In a little over an hour they showed up, installed the tack strips, put down the carpet padding, installed the carpet AND ran the vacuum.  LOVE THEM.

When it was all finished, I took the opportunity to do something I haven't done in this house: lie down on the living room floor.

..and I may or may not have attempted a carpet angel.  

So let's take a trip down memory lane and gander at the progress this room has made.

Before (with previous owner's furnishings):

After:

Before:

After:

One more view:

Clearly we have a lot more to do (maybe some art on the walls?) but the transformation with fresh paint and carpet alone has made me so happy.

So, what do you think?  

Always & Forever,

  ME

Year One

For our first anniversary, JEGs and I decided to keep it low-key and local.  On Saturday, we checked out the Elmwood Park Zoo- that is literally two minutes from our house.

Ahhh, what can I say about the zoo?  Well, the animals were breathing, so that's a plus, right?  Although, by the amount of vultures that were hanging around, I can't say the would be for very long...

Of all the animals in the zoo, I was quite smitten with the prairie dogs, and can you blame me? Look at that punam!

..and you know I couldn't help but snap a photos of the owls.  One of them was giving me the stink eye because I woke him up when I accidentally hit the glass. Oops.  Sorry dude.

Now imagine this in my best Crocodile Hunter voice:  Krickey!  It's the elusive  4 wheel drive Ford F-150!  He nearly went extinct during the Cash for Clunkers era.  It's a real treat to see one of these in it's natural habitat!

After putzing around the zoo for a couple of hours, we headed back to the house and treated ourselves to some filet mignon at our favorite little bistro:  our house.  We marinated steaks and JEGs grilled them in our backyard along with baked potatoes and corn on the cob.  Ommm nom nom.

We did the traditional freezing of the wedding cake, and we had been looking forward to getting room in our freezer enjoying our delish cake three sixty-five later.  It got a little smashed up over the past year...

Confession time:  I couldn't even tell you what flavor our cake was.  We picked out the flavor in January 2010, and I didn't get to eat any on our wedding day (other then the chunk that was smashed in my face).  I was delightfully surprised to find it was vanilla pound cake with a raspberry creme filling.  Good pick!

Word to the wise:  cake that has been frozen for a year is not that good.  It was edible, but the icing had a extra taste of freezer burn.

It was a quiet, but lovely day.  Most importantly, I got to spend it with my best friend.

One year down... forever to go <3

Always & Forever,
  ME