Home Tour Part V: Pool

BEFORE:

During our very first visit to our new house, this is what the pool looked like:

After much heartache and even more money spent, we finally decided that major surgery was in order. So we disconnected it's cords, sucked the life out of it, and then brought it back to its glory.

And now we love it.

AFTER:

Home Tour Part IV: Nursery

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Finally, the nursery is complete.

I decided to go with a brown, green, & white nature theme. We traded out Sophie's old white crib for this new brown one, and bought leafy-patterned crib sheets to go in it. And then to accent with more brown, I spray painted the diaper baskets and recovered the changing table mat and a valance in a brown striped fabric. I also made new liners for the diaper baskets and the dirty clothes basket (not shown) with a cute bird & branch fabric.

The mural on the wall was painted by me. I followed Robin's lead and projected an image I liked onto the wall to trace & paint, and then hand-painted the grass and bird by myself. The whole thing was surprisingly easy to do.

The mobile is made of felt and a tree branch from our back yard. And the shadow boxes (there are 4 on the wall next to the closet, only one is shown up close) are filled with various branches & leaves from around the neighborhood.

I'm very happy with how everything turned out. Now we just need something soft and squishy to come sleep in the crib.

Pregnancy Update

So, I haven't posted a lot about this pregnancy. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's cause it's not as novel as the first time, or maybe it's because I'm busy with a new house and a 2-year-old, or maybe it's because we didn't have reliable internet for a while in the middle there, or maybe it's because our camera battery charger has gone missing, or maybe it's because I'm lazy and hot right now.

Take your pick.


Anyway, here's the update:

• My official due date is August 19th

• I have one shirt, one skirt, and one pair of pants that fit. Today I'm wearing one of Jake's shirts and a pair of PJ bottoms.

• I have no concept of "cold". As I sat for over 2 hours in our church's chapel yesterday, perfectly comfortable, I looked around and noticed women with blankets over their legs, and my husband trying to warm his icy fingers on my neck. I also sleep with 3 fans blowing on me.
  

• Due to my previous c-section, I have a scheduled c-section on Tuesday August 18th, bright & early.

• If I happen to go into labor before then, I will try for a V-BAC, but will not use ANYTHING to artificially promote labor (pitocin, stripped membranes, etc.) If it doesn't progress, I'll move on to a c-section. This is my own personal choice due to my previous experience, and the advice from my doctor regarding the safety of V-BACs.

So, in summary, I will have a baby sometime within the next 8 days. His nursery is 99% complete. I just have to get our drill out and hang up the valance, and then pictures will follow.

Picture Wall

Ever since I was inspired by this wall and this wall, I've wanted to do my own picture wall. So when we moved into our new house, I collected all the picture frames I owned, and tried to put them together. I tried every combination I could think of, but they just wouldn't flow with each other nicely.

And then I remembered that I had a bunch of identical matted frames, so I decided to use those instead. And here's what I came up with:


I think I like it.

Meet Quincy

All this year, I thought the next member of our family would be a baby boy. Turns out, it's a kitten.

This is Quincy.

He's tiny and skinny and has a thing for head scratches.

And he has 3 brothers & a sister, if anyone is looking.

Books and Life Transitions

In our house, we've been fortunate to have the world of children's literature to help us through the toughest of 2-year-old life changes.

Here's Sophie with her two newest books:

Sophie's Big Bed

and

Sophie and the New Baby

We've been reading Sophie's Big Bed ever since we moved into our new house. Sophie has been sleeping in the crib in the nursery, but last week, we finally got a mattress for her twin bed, and she decided one afternoon that she wanted to sleep there. So we read that book every night before bed to remind her what a big girl she is.

And then a couple of days ago, Sophie and the New Baby arrived in the mail, so we've started to read that and learn all about new babies. Sophie seems to understand that our new baby is in my tummy, and will come out some time soon (we'll see if she really gets it next month though). At one point in the book, the character Sophie doesn't like the new baby, and exclaims "I don't want that baby anymore!" After we read that page, Sophie turned to me and said "Mom, I don't want our new baby anymore too." I suggested we continue reading to see what happens in the book before she made that decision.

Dear Old Navy

Dear Old Navy Maternity Shirts,

Why are you the only shirts I own (in my maternity wardrobe) that do this:


Did you forget that maternity shirts are supposed to cover up a belly? Why do I have plenty of regular (non-maternity) shirts still in my rotation that do a superior job of covering my bump? Your only job in life is to cover a pregnant belly for a couple of months. That's it. And you're failing. And I still have a month of belly growth left. What's your deal?

Thank you for your time. I wish I could return all of you.

Regards,
Abbie

A Comparison (part 2)

8 Months, 1 Day

(34 weeks, 5 days)




















Pregnancy #1 .................................. Pregnancy #2
................................................... (today)

Pretty much identical.

Foodie Friday #15 - Fry Bread House

Welcome back to Foodie Friday.

(for an explanation of the ratings, see here)

Fry Bread House
4140 N. 7th Ave. Phoenix

Price: $$

Taste: * * * *
S&A: * * *
Value: * * * *

Jake and I make it to The Fry Bread House about once a year. This is due to the location being far away, and the ability it has to clog major arteries with one meal. But oh, is it delicious. (and owned/operated by the Tohono O'odham tribe, which is down near Tucson).

We each had a fry bread taco, but really came for the dessert (more on that later). I got the vegetarian taco (beans, green chilis, lettuce, tomatoes, & sour cream served in fry bread) and Jake got a regular Indian Taco (very similar to mine, but with beef instead of chilis & sour cream). The tables have bottles of red sauce to add to your tacos. They come folded in half, but unfolded, are the size of your plate. Just huge. We liked both, but agreed that mine was the better of the two.

When we ordered our meal, we also ordered a dessert fry bread to share, with butter, powdered sugar, and honey. They didn't make it until we were nearly done with our tacos, so that it would be piping hot when we were ready to eat it. I would drive to Phoenix weekly for this thing (if it wasn't 115 degrees outside). It is fabulous. This time around, the fry bread is about twice the size of your plate, and thinner than the taco shell. I couldn't find a picture that showed off its true enormity, but it's about the size of a medium pizza. It's crispy, gooey goodness just melts in your mouth and then rests heavily in your stomach for the next several hours.


Overall Rating: 3¾ Stars

Home Tour Part III: Family Room

BEFORE: (yes, they had it set up as a dining room)

AFTER:

Here is our Family Room.

For a really long time, I didn't want a fire place because 1) they don't get much use in Arizona and 2) they usually take up an entire wall, compete with the TV, and make furniture placement hard.


But I love ours. Our family room is nice because the fire place is offset from the center by a couple of feet (we think the room was opened up into the garage by about 5 feet at one point), but still looks centered due to a column set into the wall. (Hard to explain. Look at the pics if you're really interested). Anyway, my favorite part of setting up this room has been finding ways to decorate the mantle. It's not done, but I like it so far.

And as always, this room is still a work in progress. I hope to find a tall skinny bookshelf to go behind the green chair, and Jake wants to paint it a cool color. We're thinking blue.

Home Tour Part II: Play Room

BEFORE:

AFTER:

This is our playroom.

It was an addition off the back of the house where the back door presumably used to be (it's our Arizona Room). It's only 7 1/2 feet wide, but like 25 feet long. I knew right away when I saw the house that it would be a play room because it's right off the main living areas, but hidden enough to be messy all the time.

Some features include: Puzzle table, small (ridiculously heavy) metal desk with paper roll, kid chairs, pillows, books, stuffed animal drawer, rocking horse, the piano, and play kitchen.

This table (pictured right) is my favorite part.

It was $10 at a garage sale, but originally from Ikea. It houses all of Sophie's Little People, and has 2 drawers on rollers that tuck conveniently underneath for her people, cars, and other accessories.

Currently there is nothing on the walls, but I hope to one day do something like this:

But I'm always open to suggestions or new ideas.

Home Tour Part I: Living Room

I'm back online again! It took a while, but BOY OH BOY we have been super busy.

This home tour will take a couple weeks, if not longer. The truth is, the only room that is (semi) complete as of today is the living room.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

The living room is directly off the entry way when you enter the house. Everything in the room is brand new (to us anyway), since we've never had a living room before. Since Jake was the most excited about this space, he adopted it as his own, and all design decisions were his. Actually, I got to pick the paint color, cause I've always wanted a light blue living space.

Jake chose an updated mid-century theme, complete with authentic vintage coffee table and record console (both purchased at an estate sale). I really love the room so far - isn't he doing a great job?


He hopes to trade out the wooden chair for two matching chairs and a glass-top side table in the near future, and maybe reconfigure the room. He also plans to hang the flower art above the record console, add a wall-suspended bookshelf, and paint some of the current accessories white (magazine rack, floor lamp, etc.)

17 Shirts

My husband bought me 17 shirts yesterday.

He spent $17.00 total.
Some for now, some for later. Nice.

You want some too? Head to Last Chance soon.
(they only had sizes small & medium though)

Life Keeps Getting in the Way of Our Life

Warning:

This post contains graphic pictures of real life.

May not be suitable for those who think people with blogs lead ideal lives.

This is our house. Although it feels like we've done nothing but clean it since Saturday, it looks the same. Maybe this is why:

Saturday: Instead of unpacking, Jake spent the day cleaning up the tree-sized branch that fell onto our roof.

Sunday: Met with a member of our church leadership, who promptly asks us to speak next Sunday. Sure, we have time to plan for that.

Monday: I washed a load of laundry and then found out that the dryer doesn't receive any power. All laundry is now on hold.

Tuesday: Still can't get the pool cleaner to work. Go to Home Depot and spend more money.

Wednesday: Jake tries to leave for work, but has a dead car battery. He takes my car and I stay at home all day instead of going to the old house to clean it up.

Thursday: Finally with a car again, I head out to the old house, only to discover that I have a flat tire (#5 or 6 in the last several weeks, I've lost count).

Friday & Saturday, what do you have in store for us? Bring it on.

2 Days til the Move

Here's my (old) house. The new house looks about the same. Life in boxes and empty closets - didn't I just do this last June? Oh yeah, I did.

And every year before that for the last 6 years.

Seriously.

(Here's the proof: 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004 x2)


Welcome to Move #7. May it be our last.

"Um Show"

"Um show, um show".

That's the phrase that comes out of Sophie's mouth most frequently these days. ("myself")


We are no longer allowed to help her wash her hands, brush her teeth (we help anyway), climb in or out of her crib, eat, get into her car seat, get a drink of water, put her pants on, put her shoes on, etc.

Not only that, but anything that I do now requires the help of Sophie ("Help Mama."). So now I can no longer do the dishes, look in the fridge for anything, walk into the kitchen, put laundry in the washer, move laundry to the dryer, turn on the TV, or leave the room without a helper.

On a Saturday night trip to Wal-Mart (our weekends are totally exciting right now), Jake and Sophie spent the entire time trying to buckle Sophie into the shopping cart. She had to do it "um show". But when she couldn't get it, she asked Jake for "help peeeeeeeeee", and then the instant Jake touched the buckle, Sophie grabbed it away and exclaimed "um show" to him. (Why would he even dare try to help?) Aaaaand, repeat.

We're having fun watching her grow, and are in complete shock at least once a day when she says a new word or starts to sing a new song that we had no idea she knew. An independent 2-year-old is a tough thing to adjust to, but really great too.

Strawberries Forever

My favorite fruit store is currently selling strawberries 3 lbs for $1.00. I'm not sure how good of a deal that is in places that actually can grow a strawberry, but for AZ, it's unheard of. So we bought and froze 30 lbs yesterday.

The State of the House

Boxes

Plastic


Paint


Blue Tape


Computer Mickey

Innocent

Me: Sophie, did you eat some dirt outside?

Sophie: Nope.

Happy Night

On Monday night, we got to go to my mom's work party. It was at a park, and included a catered dinner, a magic show, an ice cream bar, a playground, ducks in a pond, and a bunch of miniature amusement park rides. Not to mention Nana, Grandpa, and Ellie. Or in other words, for Sophie, the BEST. PLACE. EVER.


We started the amusement park portion of the night with the carousel. She calls it the "Up Down". Even better than Sophie's reaction to it, though, was Stella's. I hope Stephanie got a picture of that girl because she was HAPPY.

Next up was the train. It's a small train that takes about a 5 minute ride around the park. Sophie liked looking at the train more than riding it. I think if it had been lighter, she would have enjoyed it more. But in the dark, it was hard to see the water and ducks and everything else we were riding past.


Third, we hit up the "Boat Boats". This was her surprise favorite. It was one of the rides that parents were too big to ride on, so she had to do it by herself. And she rode 3 different times - twice with strangers. The best part of this ride was giving high-fives to all the adults watching. Which was only scary for me the first time around when she wasn't buckled in.


And finally, the ride I thought she would like the most (because she's been on one, and has talked about it non-stop since) - the Ferris Wheel. But it turns out she only mildly enjoy it. Again, she had to ride without a parent, so she and another girl buddied up for it.

After about an hour and a half of rides, we had thoroughly exhausted her, and we all went home very happy.

So, We've Been Busy

Our family is juggling a lot right now.

First, we closed on our new house 10 days early.


This means that we now have one room in our duplex full of packed boxes, taped up and ready to go, and another room full of empty boxes, waiting for an assignment. And we're getting used to living with less and less, as more and more stuff gets packed up.

On top of that, our duplex is up for rent, so I've had to juggle maintaining a clean, presentable home while tearing it apart at the same time.


Second, as if packing our lives wasn't stressful enough, Jake went in for knee surgery last week.


And he came out looking like this. He went in not knowing what surgery he would be coming out with. We knew it would either be a scope to clean up damaged meniscus (1-2 day recovery) or a full ACL graft & repair (1-2 week initial recovery, and 3-4 months before fully recovered). He ended up with the smaller surgery, which we're grateful for since he can function and go back to work, but also weary that it might not fix all his knee issues. Time will tell.

As a surprise third, my eye looks like this last week:


No, I'm not the newest cast member of Days of our Lives, trying to figure out what Stefano is up to this week. Although maybe I should have auditioned while I looked like this. I'm guessing it was some sort of pink eye, but I'm not sure. All I know is that it was sealed shut in the morning, and didn't quite open properly for a day or two. Sophie woke up the week before looking exactly like this, and was recovered within 24 hours, and that's pretty much what happened in my case too.

Fourth, we finally admitted to ourselves that we needed some help. Computer help.

We took our computer to get fixed (by an amazing repair guy that I highly recommend, if you're in the market), and I'm ashamed to say how many viruses he said our computer has. But let me give you a hint. Think of a ridiculously high number. Nope. It was more than that. But, it's all in the past, and it works great now.

And fifth, we're appliance owners.

A tour of the valley's appliance stores on Saturday plus extensive reading in Consumer Reports, online research, and reviews from friends, led us to a final decision on our appliances. They'll be delivered on Saturday.



In summary, this last week has been pretty crazy, so I apologize to anyone I've neglected (especially Jill, who is raising money for a good cause - visit her site & see what she's up to this week!)

The Ultrasound

Baby #2's ultrasound went really well this morning. We had a
morning full of appointments, so we've been quite a busy family.
It started at 8:00 when Jake left for his first of two of his OWN
doctors appointments. And then at 9:00, Sophie and I left the
house for our visiting teaching appointments. Check your cal-
endars, folks. Today is the FIRST of the MONTH! And I was done
with my VTing before 10am. Okay, anyway, after those appoint-
ments, I dropped Sophie off at Jake's parents' house to be babysat,
and then Jake and I met at the ultrasound place just in time for
the appointment. Everything looks really good. The baby is
measuring at exactly 20 weeks, and I heard the ultrasound tech
count five fingers on a hand at least once during the whole process.
Overall, it was a great experience, and as you can see, we're excited
for our new addition in August.

p.s. if you guess what it is, let me know, but don't spoil it for others!