Final Painting Pictures

Here are the pictures I took the next day. I am so excited for Nate to come home and see what it looks like in person. Now, I just love to sit in the living room and look at the walls. The upstairs has a whole new feel. I am very happy with the results. I hope you enjoy it too.

We still need to put on a few more coats on the red wall, but it will do for a few more months. Now, all I have to do is put up all my pictures. I am hoping that Nate and I can do that in a few weeks.

The red wraps into the kitchen above the cabinets. I still have to get used to how much warmer the rooms look in the evening. I feel more at home now that we don't have hospital walls.

We still need to replace the light in the entryway. I found one that I like, so I am hoping Nate will like it too!
Here is a picture of the bathroom. It was hard to take a nice picture, so you will just have to come over and see it in person. All I have to find is a new shower curtain.

Painting Party

First I would like to thank everyone that helped this past weekend. Kristin, Diane, Nathan, Jessa, Lindsey, Katie, Lee, and of course my Papa. Without these people I would still be painting. Here are some pictures. They say a picture is worth 1,000 words.

Here is Lee, Nathan, and the top of my dad's head painting the highest part of the entry way. I am so thankful we had these guys to do the tricky high parts.

Kristin and Jessa braved the hot bathroom. Kristin helped me pick out all the colors for this big painting adventure.
Katie and Diane spent most of the day painting all the beige. They wouldn't let me do too much work, so I helped with the trim and pointed out spots they missed.

My dad used his new "Little Giant" ladder that really helped in the hard to reach places. Diane did a great job holding the ladder and making sure he didn't fall.

Silly Kitty

This past weekend I undertook a big project. I decided to paint the entire upstairs before Nate comes home. Of course I had my family and friends to help. I will blog about that experience later and add some pictures. Saturday morning I started taking off all the light switch covers and air vents so we could start painting once everyone arrived. In our hallway we have a cold air exchange vent that is pretty large. As I was taking it off Thomas was very interested in this new dark tunnel. I told him to stay out while I went to look for something to put over the hole. As I went into the kitchen I started to hear this weird thumping noise. My first thought was Thomas. So, I started calling him and looking at the vent hole in the wall. Sure enough, Thomas pokes his head out and looks at me. I told him to get out, so he slowly crawled out of the hole. I was scared, upset, and happy that he didn't get stuck in the venting under the floor. I quickly found something to block the hole and locked Thomas downstairs for the rest of the day.

A Little Surprise

I thought I would let everyone know that we had a little scare a few nights ago. I started bleeding 2 nights ago, so the doctor recommended that I have an ultrasound. Yesterday I went in for a ultra sound and the good news is that everything looks good. We are not sure where the bleeding came from, but we have ruled out the bleeding is coming from the baby. I want to thank everyone who has been praying for us these past few days. It has been scary, but I am doing well today after a good nights sleep. The good news is that we have our first pictures of our baby earlier than we thought.

The baby is exactly measuring at 12 1/2 weeks and everything looks wonderful. It was really amazing to watch our baby moving and kicking around on the monitor.

I will try to post the pictures this weekend.

Music To My Ears

Today was my 12 week appointment. (That is 3 months in none pregnant terms.) I finally understand why everyone who is pregnant or with a pregnant person relates to how far they are in weeks. I hated that because I wanted to know months. How close are you to 9 months? That made more sense to me. Now, I understand that every week is almost like a victory to us pregnant women. I can't wait until I am 13 weeks or 20 weeks, etc...

I hope that you find my blog from here on out a place that you can find out what is happening in my life. I promise I won't talk about my pregnancy the whole time, but at least know that here is where you can find out what is going on. After the baby is born you will be able to find fun stories and pictures.

Okay - back to my original blog topic. (Music to my ears.) First and foremost sometimes I wish I was a guy. Why? Try peeing into a cup and not getting it on your fingers. Guys - they just aim and they are done. No wet hands and a full cup. Me on the other hand. I just pray that I have enough pee that will end up in the cup. Before I had to pee in a cup once a year. Now, it is every appointment. I hope I am a pro at the end of this pregnancy. I was going to leave out this part of the story, but my co-worker thought it would be good to put it in. So, here is the details of my peeing in a cup experience. I started the procedure and had to stop to check to make sure that the pee was actually going in the cup. (It was!!!) So, I guessed what would be a good amount, but not too much to give as a sample. When I was done I noticed that a piece of Cody's hair got into the sample. I have two options. 1. Leave the dog hair for the nurse and see her reaction. (She might think I am giving birth to a dog.) 2. Try to fish the hair out of the sample with my fingers. Of course I chose option 2.

I am pretty sure every woman worries about their unborn baby. I was kind of nervous right before my appointment. (The nurse had to tell me to relax because my blood pressure was 150/?, but than I relaxed it was 120/78.) It didn't help that I had a dream we couldn't find the heartbeat. So, it was time to find it. After what seemed like forever we found the heartbeat. Strongly beating away at about 160 beats/minute. (Now some may argue that a girl has a faster heart beat. We will just have to wait and see.)

Snowed In!!!

Round two of our big snow started early on Thursday. Roads were fine on the way to work, but got considerably worse as the day went on. Luckily my work closed at noon so I was able to make it home before the big stuff hit. After a few hours of constant snow (approx. 1/2 inch per hour) I decided to snow blow the driveway. I knew I had to stay on top of this snow or it would be impossible for me to after the snow had stopped. Let's just say that my snow blowing experience Thursday night was very upsetting. I ended up coming inside in tears and calling Nate. I pretty much told him that he is never leaving in the winter again. (He of course gave me some emotional support and after a few minutes I was better.)

Friday morning at about 6am. I look out the window just as the snow plow is pushing 4 feet of snow into my driveway to clear the road. At this point all the news channels are urging people to stay home if they can. After some careful consideration and a few conversations with my co-workers. I decide it is not worth it to go to work. At the same time I am thinking I do not want to snow blow the driveway after last nights experience. So, I call Nate. He calls a few people, but no one is able to come out and help. (Figures!?!) Of course I don't like asking for help, so I call my dad. He of course says "Yes" and comes over after he is done working. Let's just say that it took us 2 hours to clear the driveway and sidewalk. Meanwhile Cody is loving all the snow and keeps wanting me to throw this stick he found buried in the snow. I think the snow stopped coming down around 7 pm on Friday.

Saturday was my first day out of the house. It was nice to see the sun and admire the mounds of snow that encompass the house.


Here is a picture of where my dad snow blowed. He had to stop where the plow had pushed the snow in our driveway. We had to take a different approach on the end of the driveway.

Here is a picture of Cody sitting on top of one of snow mounds at the end of our driveway. Just so you know I am standing on the driveway and Cody is as at eye level. That is how high the snow pile is.

Here is a picture of our house with big pile of snow in front of it. I think of it as our own natural fence or barrier from intruders. Just a note - Our house does sit a little lower than the street, but you get the point.