Projects... Go!

My first small DIY project will begin today. :) Pictures will be posted after project is completed.

I purchased a roll of wallpaper at Goodwill for $.97. My plan is to clean, re-organize, and de-clutter the kitchen cabinets as much as possible and then I will cut the wallpaper to fit into the bottom of the cabinet shelves and paste it. Hopefully when we are done, the pantry will look a lot cleaner.

Any remaining paper will be used to line the dresser drawers in our bedroom at a later date.

Last night, Matt and I also started discussing colors for our nursery projects! We picked a pale yellow for the bassinet color. :)

I want to paint the laundry hamper a spring green. The closest they had was a pistachio or jade. I am tempted to see if we can paint it a darker color and spray from a distance to achieve a lighter green... Problem is we would have to paint it white first to achieve that effect. The only other piece we are painting in that room is the old white dresser/changing table combination. It's painted white and has marker on it...so it will need to be sanded before it can be repainted. We're not sure what color we're going to paint it yet since that will be the largest painted piece in the room.

I've decided to go with a green farm animals theme for the kids room, so maybe we could paint the dresser/changing table a bright red and white scheme-- like a barn? If we were going to go with something that bold, however, we would have to change the color of the hamper. We still aren't ready to start painting the nursery yet... so it's frustrating because I want to make some progress.

Of course, I don't want to start too many things at once. We did reorganize our utility closet and it looks a lot better-- now we actually have room to get in and out of that closet. We also organized our master bedroom closet last weekend, and it's great now! It clears up so much space in the bedroom and makes a huge difference. No word yet if we're going to be attempting a bedroom swap, but I think it'll be a good idea.

Alright, well, I'm off to start cleaning the kitchen. :)

My Journey to Motherhood

Brennan's birth story was posted last night, as yet it is still not finished, but I will edit it and add pictures (as many as I have)... It could more accurately be described as summary of my pregnancy including labor and delivery.

You can see the birth story as a link at the top of the main page, or by clicking on this link here.

Silly Little Details

I am in love with the picture on the top of the page, but I cannot decide on a theme for this blog. I know it is a silly detail, but back when I used to have a livejournal I loved having customized themes and fancy-pants type customizations on my journal.. but I haven't quite figured out Blogger yet.

In other news-- I have followers! I'm totally psyched! Thank yooou!

The last couple days I've been extremely out of sorts emotionally-- it feels like someone hit me in a frying pan and I woke up back in the first trimester!! HEY-LEMME OUT OF HERE! I went through this already!!

Thankfully, Matt has been a great help! Yesterday, Matt texted me before he got out of work and said he would be home on time. I did a happy dance, and then went to lay down in bed to wait for him...Forty five minutes later, I'm starting at the ceiling and getting hysterical. After an hour, I'm convinced his dead and I'm going to be a single mom to two children.... After Matt came home, it took him forever to calm me down. I have no idea where that sort of paranoid-feeling came from... but I DID NOT want to be alone!

When I calmed down enough to stop sobbing, I crept into Brennan's room and picked him up. I snuggled him on the couch until he woke up, and then he lounged in my arms for a while. He started playing, and I just-- I don't know-- really needed to see him happy and playing. He completes me-- there's no question about that!

One of Matt's frequent "jokes" is how I've only ended up with one kid so far (Gee- thanks hon!) and I just tell him: "Brennan was waiting for me." I couldn't have had any other kids but Brennan, because he knew he had to come first. Brennan came into my life at a time when I struggling... and Brennan made me who I am today-- I found strength to fight on, and live, and give up on my hopes, dreams, and pursue new paths because of him.

The last poem I tried to write was when I was pregnant with Brennan was called "A Little Beating Heart" but I could never find the words to finish it, and so, it will likely never be finished. I can't even find a draft of it on my old journal, or on the computer. Even a half-finished version would be a nice addition to Brennan's baby book.

Brennan is an amazing little boy, he has such a great capacity to love, and sometimes I feel like I am experiencing life vicariously through him as he experiences things for the first time. That unhindered joy, and his big smile when you turn your head to see what he's doing and you catch his eye.

I'm sure all mothers say silly things about their babies. It's what we do best.

A Nursery Makeover

The last couple days, Matt and I have been discussing changes to the Nursery that we would like to do... and then the other night, I came up with a radically different idea.

Our small two bedroom apartment doesn't give us a lot of space, or many options... So, Matt and I have agreed that we are going to switch bedrooms. This will give the kids about 15-20 more square feet in their room to use for play, and since Matt and I only use our bedroom for sleeping (And other adult activities)... the square footage won't be missed!

Matt's current project is in the kitchen, where the window A/C unit has leaked water underneath the flooring and Matt has to fix the A/C and repair the damage to the floor.

The problem: We're on the third floor- we can't access the outside of the window.
The second problem: There is water underneath the floor (that's causing the flooring to peel up)

Matt's in the design stage of building a box to hold the A/C unit in which will have a hole in the back to drain the water out the rear of the window instead of on our floor... I anticipate a lot of problems with Matt's proposed design, but I am going to let him draw it out before we discuss the next step.

Our next project involves building a bottom for the bassinet, which has been lost and then repainting the bassinet.

Other various projects we're going to be starting:

• Building a toddler bed for Brennan
• Making matching pillows, throw blankets, and curtains for the living room
• Making terrycloth dish towels
• Replacing the brick & board shelves in the living room
  

We are also banishing all store-bought cleaners from our house, so once we finish what cleaners we have in the house, we will be making non-toxic cleaners and keeping those in air-tight jars, or spray bottles.

It's a lot to take on at one time, but we are doing everything in little baby steps to spread the work out as much as possible. We have not discussed a date for the "Move" yet, but it will likely be before Addison is born.

In other great news, Addison is growing wonderfully.... Well, I guess you can say that. She is still considered IUGR. She is in the ">3%" for her growth, but she gained seven ounces between 26w and 28w and that is a HUGE improvement. The Dr's admitted to me yesterday that he suspected we had "days" left until delivery... and now we have "weeks"!! WEEKS, yes WEEKS!

My nesting instincts are really going crazy, and at least Matt is on board with all of these projects and I think by the end of the craze, I will have a beautiful apartment, a wonderful fiancee, and two amazing kids!! What more can a Momma ask for?

A Nursery for Two!

We live in a fairly spacious 2 bedroom, third floor apartment. The limitations on the current layout and location are fairly obvious. We do not have a washer/dryer hook-up, we do not have off-street parking, and we are on the third floor... so, everything we purchase (clothing, food, etc) must be lugged up three flights of stairs to make it home... and every load of laundry we need to do must be dragged up and down said stairs as well. It's also only two bedrooms, so again, fairly obvious, but Brennan and Addison will be sharing a room.

We have discussed many options for this new room, layouts, furniture placement, and themes and decorations.

Currently, my son's room looks like this. The set-up works out fairly well for one kid, except we noticed two major problems.
1. He can grab and pull the plug for the window fan and his CD player.
2. He can grab the window curtains. Our windows are 2'x7' so they are quite large, and we had to get window-darkening curtains so that way Brennan could nap in there.

We need to add:

• A second crib for Addison or toddler bed for Brennan
• A second dresser

We moved a small blue shelf that was next to his changing table/dresser and put it in the closet, along with a cloth organizer. Then, we got a toy organizer (for free) and put all of Brennan's small toys in that, rather than in diaper boxes on the floor. The area marked "toys" was one diaper box, and by the time we re-organized his room about two weeks ago... there were THREE diaper boxes of toys on the floor. We also got rid of the play mat (it was broken) and the floor rug.

We finally got a second dresser (free) and now we are officially "ready" to start organizing our nursery for two kids! So far, the only thing we have paid for that is in his room is the curtains that we got at Target. Woo!



We eliminated problem #2 by moving the crib vertically to it's original position. This also will let us open both curtains during the day to let more natural light into the room.



The current solution for problem #1 is the new dresser for Addison has been placed in the corner in such a way that it blocks Brennan's access to the plug that has the CD player and window fan plugged into. The only problem with that is that it also blocks most of the window fan, which means that less air is going to circulate in his room due to that. The large brown bookcase on top of the dresser is going to be wall-mounted... once we get the second crib in the room. Oh, and the large box is the "holding area" for all of Addison's clothes at the moment...so they are finally going to be washed and put away!



This corner is going to stay mostly "as-is" with the only addition being a second shelf or corner shelf and some more pegs for Addison. (I got some very cute ladybugs that we are going to use)

So, it's a start. I am not very happy with the placement yet, but once we get the second crib or toddler bed, we'll be moving things around again.

My Life as a Mommy

I became a mother the moment I saw the word "pregnant" on the pregnancy test in July of 2008, and I realized that my life as one was over, but my life as two had only just begun. And... then I began to worry "like a mother" and think about each and every little thing my son could possibly get into. (And the worrying never goes away)

Now, nearly two years after seeing that word "pregnant" in July of 2008, I have a happy and healthy eighteen month old son, Brennan, who gets into more things than I possibly ever could have imagined... and I don't care. My house is a wreck, my life is unhinged, and I am the happiest I have ever been.

On January 26, 2010 my life became a little bit more crazy when my fiancee, Matthew, and I found out we were expecting our first child together. We are full-steam ahead of our life of parents of "two under two" and we are excited to welcome our daughter into our lives soon.