Nursery Project: "Barn Door"

At 5 months pregnant I'm not as much help.  Today was proof of that.  Bryce had a day full of heavy lifting (taking apart things, carrying the pieces downstairs to load them, loading them, unloading them) and finished it off with some building.

We borrowed a truck to move all the weight equipment out of the room and closet, so while we had it we went ahead and bought the lumber for a sliding closet door - barn door style.

Since we now had the lumber and still time left in the day we went ahead and built the door. :)  Nothing's more fun than doing all this on a hot day.  I was sweating just doing the supporting and encouraging, holding, and what little light lifting there was. :)

We tried to pick the wood with coloration and neat grain or knots.  There are no nail holes on the front of this door - so if you think that's what you're seeing well, you're wrong.

We like the handle we picked out - we're debating on the t-bar braces. kind of like them...

Next step is the staining.  Of course the stickers have been removed and the edges of the boards were sanded down to be more rounded to appear a bit more worn.  

Also, while we were out I was able to pick a few deer antlers - for free!  So excited for them.  So here's a sneak peak in a shaky phone picture.  The cats would not stop sniffing them.  Even after I put them away they were still checking out the floor where they had been.

Nursery

Here's the basis for our little man's den.  

I like to think of it as a contemporary/industrial ski lodge in the southwest....you follow? ;)

Spoiler Alert

It's a boy.  See the proof.

Lil' Fatty McFatterson: 20 week update

I am officially 20 weeks today and tomorrow we will (I hope) find out the gender of our little turd.

First the facts:

Weight gain: 10 lbs – guess that’s what happens when you’re always eating and a parasite’s growing inside of you.

Cravings: 

- a conservative 2 or 3 pickle spears, with a couple gulps of pickle juice with a string cheese chaser.

- Italian dressing on bag salad

- Zaxby’s fries was the first desired specific food, now I kind of want Wendy's. 

- Fried rice with the white sauce from a Hibachi grill

- no sweets (ice cream early on for one week and I still have ice cream bars left from that)

- last night I wanted some really buttery and extra parmesan-y parmesan breadsticks.  Good thing we were at Wal-Mart already so I could go raid the freezer section.

Clothes:  no maternity yet.  Any pants that are low rise still work, anything fitted or higher-waisted I jimmy rig with a hair elastic.   A couple pairs of pants (and sadly my high-waisted pencil skirts) are officially out of commission until 5 months after this baby comes out.

In honor of finding out the gender of our fetus tomorrow, I thought I'd entertain some old wives tales.  Place your bets and we'll see who the wiener is tomorrow - maybe it's our baby.

Wives Tales:

If the dark line under you belly button stops at your belly button it's a girl.  If it continues above your bellybutton it's a boy.  GIRL

Heart beat:  Above 140 = girl, 140  or below = boy     GIRL - our was 160 on the last visit.

put your wedding band on a string or hair and dangle it over your belly.  If it swings back and forth it's a girl, if it swings in a circle i's a boy      GIRL

Key test: If you pick it up by top it's a boy.  Pick up by long skinny part, girl     BOY

Mayan Tale: add age at conception and year of conception.  If sum is even number it is a girl, odd is boy     GIRL

Acne: yes is girl, no is boy     I don't think this counts for me because acne is the story of my life.  My face acne is better, but I have back acne now (TMI?) so I don't know which way you want to go with this.  I throw it out.

How you carry: low all in front, boy; high and got wider, girl     GIRL?  I think my uterus is high so I could be a high low?  I guess we'll just go with girl though...

Cravings: salty or sour – boy; sweets, fruit, orange juice – girl   I've been pounding oranges lately, but we'll say BOY

The Chinese Gender Chart claims to have an accuracy rate of over 90%.  It is based on how old the mother is at conception and the month she conceived.  BOY

Dreams: you dream of boy, you have a girl.  If you dream of a girl you'll have a boy.  I dreamed of a boy.   GIRL

If the pregnant mother is clumsy it is a boy.  If the pregnant mother is graceful it is a girl.  Definitely a BOY on this one then.  All those years of dance only help me look graceful as I bend over to pick up everything I drop three times.

Resting side:  left – boy, right – girl     Prefer to sleep on my left side so it's a BOY

Have the pregnant mother show you her hands.  If she places them out palms up - girl, palms down – boy      BOY

Intuition: 71% of the time the mom-to-be’s guess is right.   GIRL

Morning Sickness: yes – girl, no – boy     BOY

Cold feet? Yes – boy, no – girl     GIRL

Hair on legs growing faster? Yes – boy, no – girl     GIRL

Hands dry: yes – boy, no – girl     BOY

BOY: 8

GIRL: 9

Pretty close here folks.  Guess these wives tales are full of malarkey.  

This is just lovely

Elizabeth Anne Designs

Beautiful.  Had to post just so I wouldn't lose it. :)

I traded my chocolate bunny for a chocolate bathroom.

That's right, no candies in my Easter basket tonight.  I spent today, with Bryce's help, transforming our upstairs bathroom from builder basic to 'a little more fun' basic.  I feel like bathrooms are fun to do bolder colors or patterns in because they're small and you don't live in them (you know what I mean) so you don't get tired of it as quickly.

I have to eat and go to bed though, so check back for some pictures tomorrow!  Of course it needs touch up and the shower curtain, but that will be another day.

I learned a few things from this particular bathroom project:
1. Bryce doesn't particularly like brown
2. Brown is a hard color to pick out - so many color/undertone variations
3. Brown, like all other dark colors I'm sure, definitely needs 2 coats
4. I buy a quart of paint for these small projects and it freaks me out every time.  It some how is always enough though.  And I use it all.
5. Most of the time, just go with your gut and what you like.  It turns out fine in the end.
6. Bryce doesn't like round or oval mirrors (round slightly less than oval) because he likes to see a larger picture and doesn't think you can get that with a circle.  I would've loved to have one large porthole circle mirror, but this was our compromise and I bought it on sale at k-holes and used online 20% off code and free shipping.

 

My Lucky Day

I woke up this morning and either there really is a baby in my belly and it decided to finally start showing or, as I believe, I'm constipated and the extra few pounds are only temporary.

Either way, I was a little shocked when I put on my shirt this morning for our quick trip to Home Depot while the bathroom paint dried.

from just looking like I had a big lunch

to prego mommy or serious fatty

It's lucky for me that I looked like this today because they were giving away free popcorn, lemonade, and hotdogs outside Home Depot so I didn't have to feel bad when I asked for 3 hotdogs.  Hey, either I'm pregnant or I'm really fat. :)  A decent, respectable person isn't going to say anything either way...

Ok, I really didn't ask for three hotdogs, but that first one really hit the spot and I easily could've downed a couple more.  I started laughing at myself as we were walking away.  Me with my lemonade, bag of popcorn, and hotdog.  Geez fatty.

Edit: the stripes on the shirt seem to exaggerate the curves a bit here, so the belly is pretty much the same as the first picture, just pulling the shirt tighter to show off the belly.  And as I suspected, when I woke up Sunday morning, that belly was gone and I fit into my cute Easter skirt - so basically I look more like the first picture...