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Birthday Dreaming...

Out of the blue, instead of fretting over what to do for Tess's first birthday, the ideas started exploding in my brain like fireworks and I've spent the past 3-4 days obsessing planning.  I'm getting so excited, and it's a nice break from feeling a little bummed that she's growing up so quickly.  I was also a little worried that I didn't have it in me to get creative and crafty, but what do you know -- it's all starting to come together and I'm not intimidated by it after all! 

We're also so happy to use her first birthday as a venue for her baby dedication.  We're planning a short little ceremony, led by my cousin Andy (associate pastor at The Legacy Church) at the beginning of the party and then -- food, swimming, and fun!

The graphic to the right is a sneak peek of what I've got in mind for the theme!

Pregnancy Update

Well, as I type this post I am 39 weeks and 2 days pregnant....like a ticking time bomb, waiting for this little girl to arrive!  Monday (8/15) was my last day of work before "maternity leave" -- below is a pic of me with "the girls."  I guess in the pic I do not look as big as I *really* am; I could truly shock you with a side-view pic but I can't even bring myself to take one, let alone post one!  I am in this weird, limbo place feeling like I am on vacation (but can't really go anywhere), or maybe I am a housewife (since baby hasn't arrived yet)... I've got this great thing (motherhood) that's going to happen any time now, but before I can enjoy it I have to go thru a whole lot of physical "stuff" that I am not looking forward to.  People keep asking me if I am "excited" and I don't think that's quite the word.  It's a combination of... anticipating, intrigued, curious, ready-yet-not-ready.  Maybe if I did not have to go thru labor and delivery I would be jumping up and down.  The exciting piece of it, for me, is knowing that I get to meet Tess any time now -- I am dying to see what she looks like (hair or no hair? green eyes or brown?) and check out her personality.  And I'm also really excited for everyone else to meet her, too. 

The pregnancy continues to be an easy one, which is such a blessing.  Of course I have my end-of-pregnancy discomforts but I'm not uncomfortable 24-7.  The feet/ankles/fingers are now in a consistently swollen state and I can't sit or lay in one position too long, but that's the worst of it for now. I have learned it's all about getting good sleep.  If I can sleep well, or at least rest/nap a lot, I feel GREAT the next day.  

Nursery update: it's just about done, except for assembling the crib and collecting the bedding/upholstery from my wonderful Mom who has been making it for me.  I anticipate the crib MAY get done this weekend, which would be great since Chad starts school on Monday.  Otherwise, everything is washed/put away/ready to go, and even the pictures are hung.  I will be taking a LOT of pics once all the finishing touches are in place.  We have the bassinet in our room, ready to go....my hospital bag is almost packed (but I have a list I can refer to in an emergency), and the car seat is ready to be installed (but not yet installed -- maybe this weekend?).   

So this week I am spending my time trying to find the balance between resting and nesting.  I have a long list of things I'd *like* to do before Tess arrives and I am constantly having to re-prioritize it based on my energy level.  The house may not get spring-cleaned like I'd like... and I am having to just let that go, like many other things I've had to let go of in the past 3-6 months.  This is good practice for motherhood, I hear.  Instead I am getting caught up on the "sedentary" tasks.  I may still have next week to chip away at "the list" -- we shall see!  The official due date is Thursday, August 25th!

L to R: Beverly, Maribeth, Danielle, Me, Shirley.

Visit From The Bestie

Have I mentioned how blessed I am?  In mid-July my best friend Lindsey came from Dallas to visit me, come to my baby shower, help me in the baby's room, and be her wonderful, beautiful self in my everyday life for 4 days.  It was heavenly!  I know I gush about "The Sullivans" a lot, and I was absolutely THRILLED for so many people in my life to finally meet Linds and know why I love her so.  We had such a great time visiting with Chad's parents, my parents, my girlfriends, my extended family, and each other.  We shopped, we ate, we had tea, we watched movies, and we talked talked talked.  And sometimes we didn't talk, we just spent time together.  The best gift Lindsey gave me, in addition to all the beautiful homemade gifts she gave me for the baby, was helping me put the nursery together.  We spent almost 2 full days, it seemed, unpackaging baby stuff and trying to find places for it, sorting thru boxes of baby hand-me-downs, washing and folding/hanging baby clothes, and dreaming about final decor for the nursery.  It's because of her that I did not collapse from the overwhelming task of getting that room ready. 

And I'm sure somewhere in this blog I have mentioned how talented and crafted she is.  She's got one of those really cool sewing machines that will custom embroider stuff, and so she showered me with a boatload of personalized burp cloths, onesies, and a gorgeous blanket for the baby.  As if her visit and help wasn't enough!

It was great to see her so soon after our last visit in April for Easter....and, AND she is planning to visit AGAIN as soon as possible after the baby arrives!

At the Victoria Rose Cottage Restaurant in Old Town Clovis.

Baby Update

Here I am at 31 weeks (today), in all of my third trimester glory! I am still getting called "cute" so obviously the REAL action has not begun yet...

We had a prenatal appointment on Monday, and everything is great! My blood pressure is still normal, the baby is measuring just fine, and her hearbeat is strong. I am blessed to not have any complications of any kind thus far, and am just now starting to feel uncomfortable. I've been fighting low back pain and having trouble getting comfortable sometimes when sitting on the couch or laying in bed. I have minimal/occasional swelling in my feet/ankles now that the temperature is rising. I do a lot of drinking water and stretching and it seems to help! I am still sleeping well, praise God. I really could not do any of this without the support of my close friends (who let me complain and pray for me and tell me how great I'm doing) and my wonderfully supportive Sweetie (who fetches anything I need, any time!).

I will confess that my total weight gain is 24lbs so far, which in my mind is more like 30lbs since I was "up" a few pounds when we got pregnant. I'm not too disappointed as the doctor projects I'll only have an extra 10-15lbs to lose after delivery. Hello, breastfeeding!

July will be a super busy month as "Operation Baby" kicks into high gear. We'll have multiple projects going on around the house, there are 3 baby showers scheduled, friends coming in from other states to visit, childbirth classes, etc. Before we know it SHE will be here! I'm ready to not be pregnant but not quite ready to have a baby... I hope she comes on time, if not a little early. In my heart, she is an August baby!

T.B.S. Update

Progress on The Bomb Shelter! We now have stucco, and more "junk" has been removed. I tell ya, those workers are LOUD and CHATTY. They start early, and I listen to them banter as I am getting ready for work in the morning (our bathroom window is the closest spot to the action next door). At night the owner ("Mr. Handy") stops by to check on their progress. Next up, we hope, are new windows and paint!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Story Of The Bomb Shelter

We moved to Old Town Clovis in September of 2000, after being married just over a year. We found a great deal on an apartment one street over from Pollasky Avenue, and fell in love with the area. A few years later, we summoned up the courage to become homeowners.

One night, as we were dreaming about being homeowners in Old Town, we were taking our nightly jog around the neighborhood (a ritual that died long ago!) when we passed this....uh...."architectural wonder" pictured below. It was late at night, and someone inside was playing loud electric guitar. I distinctly remember saying to Chad, "Let's just hope we don't end up next door to a junky place like that, with all that noise!"

Fast forward a few months, and I had to eat my words when this "lovely" place ended up being NEXT DOOR to our cute little house that we couldn't resist buying. Since we moved in, we have tried hard not to look at it. It really is an eyesore, and we soon dubbed it "The Bomb Shelter" due to the various riffraff that were in and out of the house all the time. Over the years it has fallen into even worse disrepair and we wondered what might become of it (and how badly our property value was suffering). Then a few months ago we heard from some other neighbors that someone had actually bought the place as an investment.

Our first thought was, "Why not just tear it down and start over?!" But several weeks ago we started noticing definite activity going on over there. I wish I had thought to take some pictures sooner, because the pics below actually show the place in quite an improved state. Before Mr. Handy started working on it, the brown weeds were waist-high and the front was covered in graffiti.

Then a few weeks ago, Mr. Handy decided to introduce himself to Chad and share his plans for the place -- a complete overhaul, to turn it into a rental -- that involved us sharing the cost of fixing the fence between our place and "TBS." Hello, unexpected major expense! After getting some shocking quotes, we made a deal with Mr. Handy to pay $900 for our part of the project. Yes, $900 sounds outrageous, but this was SIGNIFICANTLY less than half of the quotes we received just for that one stretch of fence that divides our properties. And since $900 was all he asked for, we did the "good neighbor thing" and coughed up our share. (Really, the new fence looks good from our side, and adds to our motivation to get our backyard finished!)

Every day we hear new noises and voices over the fence, and we're watching cautiously to see the outcome of Mr. Handy's "investment." The other day Chad got a tour, and discovered it's actually a 3-bedroom, 1-bath house that's smaller than ours. At that point I decided we should chronicle the progress, since this place has been such a topic of conversation ever since we moved in.

Here's hoping Mr. Handy can turn that ugly duckling into a less ugly duckling! I will continue to post pics as we see progress.

Three Cheers For Bissell

As you may know, our precious little house has hardwood floors. Not laminate, not pergo, but the original hardwood floors that were built with the house in 1951. When we bought the house in 2002, the previous owner had done a quick DIY job of refinishing them, but missed some major worn areas. No worries, though, because I have always felt they give the house more character. Plus, over the years as we have dropped things or scratched the floor accidentally, I don't feel as bad because I am not ruining perfection -- I am adding to history. Anyway....sometime early on in our married life I decided that I loved big, white area rugs. So I have constantly fought the battle of "keeping the white rug clean." Over the past few years we had taken to renting the big carpet shampooer from Ace or Lowe's every few months, but it was such a hassle to just clean one area rug. Go to the store, rent the machine, load it up, use it, take it back to the store, etc. Those things aren't small or lightweight! So I decided to look into getting our own upright, at-home carpet cleaner.

You wouldn't believe what I can acomplish on Facebook! Within one day of posting an inquiry asking for carpet cleaner recommendations, I had someone offer to sell me their brand-new, once-used Bissell steam cleaner for just $100. This was fantastic news, because I had a list going of all the "pre-baby purchases" we wanted to make and a carpet cleaner was on it....and this one was half the price!

So yesterday, amid all of our other chores and errands, we put our new Bissell to the test. I must say we were VERY pleased with the results! And with the convenience. It took less time to clean the rug, even though the machine is smaller, because you save the hassle of driving back and forth to the store. And now we can clean (even spot-clean) it more frequently because the Bissell sits in the garage just waiting to be put to use. Below are some pics to complete our Bissell testimonial.

It's So Fun....

...when you aren't the only one getting bigger! My dear friend Tiffany stopped by the office today (she used to work here) to say hello. Her due date is just 7 weeks after mine. Tess, meet Max!

Yesterday was my 28 week, appointment, which produced some positive results:

--I passed my glucose screening test with flying colors! I'm nowhere close to having gestational diabetes.

--My blood pressure continues to be excellent.

--I'm a little low on iron, so I'll be taking some extra-strength iron going forward, and "beefing up" my diet (ha).

--I've gained 22lbs so far. It looks like I'm on track to gain about 35 total, assuming I can keep things in check during the third trimester. Allegedly I will have "10 extra pounds" to lose after baby arrives. I can totally live with that, and it's been GREAT to eat what I want up to this point. Now, though, with my stomach lodged up near my sternum, I just can't hold as much food. I'm hoping this helps offset my 9pm bowl of cereal habit...

Yesterday I also went to Motherhood Maternity to splurge on a few more maternity clothes. Specifically, I needed more pants for work. WHAT A DIFFERENCE it makes to have a GOOD pair of maternity slacks that fit right and don't bind. Baby and I are soooo comfy today.

And, I've got 3 baby showers in the works, thanks to wonderful women in my life who asked to bless me by hosting them....invitations are going out soon!

And, we have officially started the nursery.

And, the baby registry (Babies R Us) is almost complete, too.

"Operation Baby" is ramping up!

Baby Nursery Sneak Peek

I've been waiting....and waiting....for Chad to finish school so that we can get our "Baby Plan" into full swing. We're slowly getting the wheels turning, and I'm excited that we're FINALLY starting on the nursery (I'm almost 28 weeks!). Below is a picture of the fabric I chose -- it's got a vintage feel with scenes from a children's carnival, and I found it for only $3.00 a yard. I'm complementing it with a tan and creme houndstooth fabric (also just $3.00 a yard). My mom is graciously making all of the crib bedding and window treatments. We're having some built-in cabinets, drawers, shelving, moulding, and chair rail installed and then we'll paint the walls in peach and cream. We have a crib picked out and I found a fantastic deal on a glider and ottoman on Craigslist. The wood floor will be covered with a 6' round cream colored shag rug. I can't wait to see how it turns out!

We Have Grass!

Chad tells me this first picture is actually WEEDS, but since I haven't done a day of yardwork in my life, it looks like grass to me. Last weekend he got to take the lawnmower for a spin in the backyard, for the first time ever.

So, we have the back door, the patio, and the grass... Next step is some type of patio cover and putting in some trees/shrubs/flowers, etc. Our schedule has kicked into high-gear and the backyard is suddenly on the back burner. Hopefully we can keep chipping away at it thru the end of 2010!

From Sprinklers To Syllabi

With our backyard project still in the works, Chad headed back to school on Monday. This year he is teaching English 11 (reading highlights include The Crucible, The Great Gatsby, The Grapes of Wrath, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, along with various poems and short stories) and 12th grade Advanced Placement Literature (students will be reading The Scarlet Letter, The Sorrows of Young Werter, The Awakening, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Heart of Darkness, Hamlet, No Exit and The Stranger). Along with a hefty syllabus and numerous late nights spent grading essays, teaching AP Lit promises a year full of insightful discussions with Clovis North’s most academically involved and ambitious students.

We spent the weekend getting “back to school” ready by hitting up the Tulare outlets (shopping for him – it’s a rare occurrence!) and putting the finishing touches on his classroom décor. This year Chad has TWO classrooms (how cool is that?!) – one for English and the other for the Forensics (Speech & Debate) team. Check out the pics of Mr. Hayden’s room below!

Making Progress...

Below is a pic of our new back door. It currently opens up to a 2-foot drop onto soft dirt -- lovely. But, we expect our new patio to be poured sometime next week! Chad is busy working on trenching for sprinklers, since one of the pipes has to go underneath the patio.

The new door came with quite a dilemma, and we're currently soliciting feedback on what to do. Our dining room is tiny, and as you can see, the furniture is pretty close to the door. So, we chose a door made for an "outswing" vs. an "inswing." With an inswing, the door would hit the table and/or the china hutch when trying to go outside -- there just isn't enough space to accommodate a 36-inch arc. So, outswing was the logical choice.

Except we didn't think about the screen door! On the front door, we use a "Phantom Screen," which we love. But with the back door set for outswing, this means the retractable screen would have to be installed on the inside of the door frame (aka, inside my dining room)! And at this point, a retractable screen is our ONLY option for a screen, because a traditional screen door would have to be hung for an inswing, since the door is outswing. Oh gosh.

We're not sure how much it would cost to have the door hardware changed to make it an inswing, or whether we would have to (or even could) return the outswing door for an inswing door, if that's what we need to have to resolve the screen issue. But that will require a major furniture re-arrange and will make our already small dining room even more cramped.

Tom & Niki (the neighbors) don't have a screen on their back door. Maybe that's our solution.

This is why home improvement causes me stress! It's much like the fashion domino effect, which is a separate phenomenon worthy of its own post.

Summer Home Improvement

This summer we decided to forgo a more extravagant vacation in order to invest in some home improvement. Lately we've been spending more time with our fun and friendly neighbors, Tom and Niki, hanging out on their back patio -- drinking, eating, playing cards or lawn games, and spending time with their adorable doggies. It's been just what we (I) needed to finally feel motivated to put in a backyard.

We've lived at our place almost 8 years and our back has been dirt and weeds the whole time. For shame! We told ourselves, "Why spend money on a backyard when we're eventually going to add on to the house?" But the addition isn't happening... yet. (Guess we're waiting for the right time and the motivation we needed to get going on the backyard!) And we're seeing how much fun it is to spend evenings outside with friends or loved ones. So we decided to invest in a basic backyard plan that will not require undoing any expensive structure/ landscaping when we finally do make the addition to our house.

Our first step was clearing the ultimate white trash scene from the yard. We had a beat-up, old brown pickup that wouldn't run hiding among the tall weeds, an old/ dead mulberry tree, and so much brush it was a fire hazard. I neglected to take a "before" picture, which is okay because I would probably be too ashamed to post it. So below you can see the blank canvas we're left with after spending $1,000 to get the old truck running/smogged/registered/ insured (holy cow!) and $825 on tree/weed removal (who knew?!).

Next steps: putting in a French door from our dining room out to the new backyard patio (along with the electrical work for a porch light), having a 16'x23' patio poured (we're thinking stamped cement), putting in sprinklers, and planting grass/trees and flowers/garden. We'll see if we can stay relatively close to our budget and time frame... The goal is to get everything done but planting the grass and flowers/garden before Chad goes back to school. We also need to figure out what kind of temporary patio covering and patio furniture we want. And I'm determined to have a fire pit of some kind!

And of course I say "we" like I've ever done a day of yard work in my life. But I'm a great motivator and cheerleader, and I'll keep the cold beers coming for all the guys who have offered to help!

Also on tap for summer home improvement: re-grouting the kitchen and bathroom tile, and repainting the bathroom! We'll continue to post pics as projects commence/progress!