29 Weeks

How far along? 29 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: Up 10 pounds per our home scale this morning. Baby weighs in at about 3 pounds this week and will continue to gain at an average weight of half a pound a week until delivery (sometimes even more than that in the final few weeks).

Maternity clothes? Yes

Stretch marks? Probably a few since I'm genetically prone but Tiger Stripes are my badge of honor. ;)

Symptoms:  Feeling really good.

Sleep:  It's been better *haha* but such a small price to pay.

Best moment this week: So much has happened this week that's worth a best moment mention!!

I had a great birthday this last weekend and have gotten to celebrate with our little family and the extended family plus a few friends so that's been really wonderful. Jim took me to the Guthrie theatre on the river downtown and we saw the show Nice Fish after having dinner at the Smack Shack in the Warehouse district. On Monday (while it SNOWED) I went out for a ladies night with two of my friends *both are also pregnant* and we got manis/pedis and had a nice dinner. My sister that goes to school in Utah was home this week so it was really nice to see her and also get to spend some time with my family (Thursday night dinner *again at Smack Shack :) LOVE that place). Today, my sister-in-law and her husband were brave enough to host a garage sale (selling a mix of everyone's stuff) during their neighborhood's mega sale and it seemed like a huge success when we were over there. We have a birthday party this afternoon for my sweet friend Niki's daughter Brecken so that should also be a blast. Obviously it's been a busy but super fun week and I hope that this summer brings many more like it!

Have you told family and friends: Yes of course it's impossible to hide these days. ;)

Miss Anything? Beers and wine on our patio?

Movement: Lots

Food cravings: Pizza, chinese, tacos, etc.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Dirty dishes are making me seriously gag every day and when the dogs get sick that is pretty much awful to deal with also.

Have you started to show yet: Yes

Baby is a: Girl

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy

Looking forward to: Enjoying the beautiful warm weather with family and friends!

28 Weeks

How far along? 28 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: Up 10 pounds per our home scale this morning. Baby weighs in at about 2.5 pounds at this point so we are both steadily gaining.

Maternity clothes? Yes

Stretch marks? Not sure but I don't think I have new ones. Hadley gave me a lot of lovin in that department so it's hard to tell.

Symptoms:  Feeling good.

Sleep:  Try sleeping with a terrible cough and cold plus an ear infection at 7 months pregnant and you'll see how tough it has been to get rest this last week. No fun.

Best moment this week: Finding out that Jim planned a wonderful birthday weekend for me! He is such an awesome husband for helping to make turning 30 a lot less painful. ;)

Have you told family and friends: Yes

Miss Anything? Warm weather!! We are having a freak snow storm today.... wonderful right?! Being sick has also been a major bummer so I just miss feeling good!

Movement: This little girl is much stronger than Hadley was at this point in pregnancy. She is break-dancing in there multiple times a day. :)

Food cravings: Pizza, tacos and frosted {completely unhealthy} COOKIE CAKE!!

Anything making you queasy or sick: Raw meat

Have you started to show yet: Yes

Baby is a: Girl

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On and loving that

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy

Looking forward to: Getting to celebrate my birthday with Jim and Hadley tomorrow.

27 Weeks

How far along? 27 weeks HELLO THIRD TRIMESTER!

Total weight gain/loss: Up 8.5 pounds.

Maternity clothes? Yes

Stretch marks? No new ones yet.

Symptoms: There are a few aches and pains here and there but baby is over 2lbs on her own so there is bound to be some discomfort as we enter the last stretch of the pregnancy.

Sleep:  I have a terrible cold so I have had very unrestful sleep the last 2 nights. I can't wait to get to feeling better so that I can have some energy!

Best moment this week: Going on our first family walk of 2013! Unfortunately, it snowed overnight again and is supposed to storm even more tonight and tomorrow so we might not get out again for another week or more (hopefully less).

Have you told family and friends: Yes

Miss Anything? Cold medicine.

Movement: Lots of strong kicks, punches and daily hiccups.

Food cravings: CHEETOS, Thai anything, ice cream

Anything making you queasy or sick:  I am back to being grossed out by raw meat.

Have you started to show yet: Yes

Baby is a: Girl

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy

Looking forward to: I am going to a mother blessing for my friend Crystal this Sunday. It should be really cool since I've never been to that type of gathering before.

Painted Built-Ins & Stripes on the Wall

In the last week I have done a few "quick" updates around the house. Here are the before and after photos.  Enjoy!

Painted built-ins:
I was inspired by this room- http://www.mysocalledhome.com/2012/08/the-built-ins-our-summer-living-room.html?m=1
The built-in bookcases that I love so much in our living room seemed like the perfect place to inject some unexpected color into what is otherwise a really neutral space. I choose a deep blue green color and after 3 really quick coats of paint on each built-in shelf, this project was finished! We love the finished product since even the toddler toys on the shelves look great against their new backdrop.

Here's the before from when we first closed on the house (July 2009). 

This is how it looked once we got rid of the nasty mocha trim and sprayed the brass fireplace doors.

                        

This one is from December 2009 after we painted the fireplace.

Jim used bead board to update the backs of the built-in shelves in the fall of 2011 since I adore beadboard on everything! You can see the bead board here at Hadley's first birthday party. When it was white it definitely was neutral and understated.

Here are the built-ins this week with the backs freshly painted with Benjamin Moore's Dragonfly from their Affinity line. The fine folks over at YoungHouseLove used this color on their more substantial shelving in their dining room so I knew that it would look really nice. Now that the beadboard is painted this beautiful blue green color it makes the space feel so much more sophisticated.   **Before Hadley was born we found and re-attached the doors to the lower shelves (hello child-proofing and clutter hiding).

Stripes on the wall:
I was inspired by this makeover- http://www.younghouselove.com/2009/06/walking-the-line/
In our smallest bedroom, I decided to use one wall to increase the "little jewel box" quotient of the space with tone on tone neutral stripes. This room is going to get a lot more use when the baby arrives in July so I would love for it to be a comfortable, luxurious space that I actually enjoy being in without feeling super claustrophobic.

This room started very bare and white when we first moved in.

By the time we brought our sweet baby home, the room had been painted a warmer color (Glidden Sand White) and was ready for a tiny occupant.

Here is the tiny room from another angle on the day that we brought baby Hadley home from the hospital.

 

Hadley moved into what had been our guest room around her first birthday and the tiny bedroom once again became an office/craft/catch-all room. Now that we are transforming the room, the stripes really do make it feel special.

This is when I first started taping the lines on the wall with Frog Tape. Love that stuff!!

The stripes are complete. The lighter color that I used for the tone on tone stripes is Glidden Wishes (a cream that I've used throughout our house like in the living room above).

Here's a before/after collage to show how much impact the stripes alone have made in this little space. It's funny because the lighting was so different in the photos that the lighter stripes make the darker Sand White paint looks really tan in the after shot. Lighting makes such a difference and I need to learn to use the camera better obviously.

This room is still a major work-in-progress but I wanted to post the stripes since they look so great. It's funny because they turned out looking a lot like the stripes that Jim had painted in his townhouse (and I had always given him heck about having stripes) but now I completely get the appeal. ;)

26 Weeks

How far along? 26 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: Up 8.5 pounds.

Maternity clothes? Yes

Stretch marks? No new ones yet.

Symptoms: The belly is getting heavier but that's to be expected as baby girl grows and GROWS.

Sleep:  Getting more tough each week but enjoying still being able to turn over... soon I won't be able to ;)

Best moment this week: Seeing Hadley have a blast with the Easter Bunny was really awesome. Also, it was warm enough to not need a jacket today and that's a HIGHLIGHT!

Have you told family and friends: Yes

Miss Anything? Nothing new this week. 

Movement: Lots of kicks, punches and hiccups.

Food cravings: THAI noodles sound divine :)

Anything making you queasy or sick:  I had morning sickness yesterday out of the blue but I'm feeling back to normal so hopefully it was just that I needed to eat or drink.

Have you started to show yet: Yes

Baby is a: Girl

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy

Looking forward to: The continuation of nice weather and next week is the beginning of the third trimester!