Starting the Nursery!

Over Labor Day Weekend Daniel and I started painting the nursery. I think I posted a picture of him painting where you could see the super bright purple it was and the nice calming green it is now. The weekend after that we did a second coat and then went to the Babies R Us to pick out our furniture. We didn't have to wait long for the crib and dresser/changing table to get in.

The crib was sooooo easy to put together. It really didn't take us more than 30 to 45 minutes. The dresser/changing table was whole different story. We had to use allen wrenches to attach everything but there was only a tiny little opening. We could only turn the screw about an eighth turn at a time. I was trying to be very careful about checking that I was putting everything in the right spot and facing the right direction but it turns out I got one of the boards on the back put on backwards :(  I'm convinced that it wasn't entirely my fault. There was a sticker on the board that said "upper outside" and when we had it all put together from the back, that sticker was in the correct position. However, that was an unfinished side and wasn't going to be covered by the backing you normally nail into the backs of those things. Daniel was not happy with me. You see, about a year and half ago we bought a desk from Ikea and Daniel put it together. When you open one of the doors you can see an unfinished edge that was supposed to go to the back. I was so mad that he had put it on backwards and really wanted him to fix it but he refused. Needless to say, he wasn't too happy with me making the same mistake after I had gone so OCD on him about it. Luckily, he loves me more than I deserve and fixed it for me. It was already pretty late on a work/school night so I went down to make his lunch for the next day while he fixed it. I feel terrible that I put it on backwards and it took more time to put together, but I WAS trying really hard to put everything in the right place. I really do think they put the sticker on wrong. Anyways, we finally got it all put together and the nursery is well on its way to being set up! Here's a picture of what we have so far.

I'm soooo happy with the color. After the first coat I loved the color but thought the shade was a little too dark. Now that we have 2 coats on I think it's perfect all around. Plus, there is so much light that comes into this room I don't have to worry about it being too dark. I'm not sure this will be the final room arrangement but I can't really figure out any other way to set it up. When we get a rocker we will probably put it in the corner I stood in to take the picture. Hopefully by the time the baby is actually sleeping in here we'll have blinds for the half circle part of the window.

I don't really have too much else to report on so I will leave you with two more belly bump pictures. I forgot to take one at 26 weeks so here are weeks 27 and 28.

27 weeks

28 weeks

Summer 2012

Wow, it has been way too long since I last posted. I hope you're ready for a long one since so much has happened for Daniel and I this summer!

In April and May I was substitute teaching about 3 or 4 days a week in Katy ISD. I did all sorts of grade levels and subjects. I just wanted to get my foot in the door and hopefully get some connections for a full time job in the fall. One of the schools I did a lot of subbing at was Schmalz Elementary. I was able to get an interview set up for the day of the job fair. Boy was I lucky to have that interview already arranged; the job fair was crazy! We stood in long lines just to give our resumes to an administrator and do a mini-interview. If they liked what they heard, they could bring you back for a more in depth interview immediately or they could hold on to your resume and call you later. In the afternoon session, for middle and high school, I was only able to give my resume to 2 or 3 schools since the lines were so long. My interview with Schmalz went well and I was offered a position with Katy the next week. I was very excited to have a full time position lined up for the fall because that meant Daniel and I could buy a house!

In June, Daniel and I started getting really serious about looking for houses. We were referred to a great realtor (let me know if you're in the Houston area and need a realtor!) and spent a lot of time on HAR.com. It's a website that allows you to search for houses online based on price range, size, etc. We found several we liked and our realtor set up walk-throughs for us. We found a house we really liked after visiting just 3 houses in one day. However, once we did a little more research, on our own and with our realtor, we realized it wasn't the right area for us. It was convenient to work for both of us but the schools were not quite up to the standards we wanted and we could end up potentially losing money on the house if we decided to sell it in 5 or so years. After that, we started looking more in Katy. We found a house we really liked online and then loved after we got to see it. We decided that night to put in an offer. We only had to wait a few days to hear back that our offer was not accepted. We were really bummed. The next day we had a meeting with our realtor to discuss our options and where we would go from there. We decided to put in a back up offer on that same house in case something fell through with the other buyers. Less than 30 minutes after having left the meeting, we got a call back that the other buyer backed out and they wanted to work with us! After a little more negotiating, they accepted our offer! We knew we still had a long road ahead before we would be homeowners, especially since I would be going out of town for two straight weeks, but we were so excited!

My mom had contacted me sometime in April or May about having a mini family reunion at my grandma's house over the fourth of July week. Not everyone would be able to make it but some of my aunts and uncles would be there. I can never pass up an opportunity to visit my grandma's house. It is one of my most favorite places. I have so many great memories from that house and they always come flooding back when I visit because everything seems to be the exact same. I also knew I was going to visit my best friend Allyson, who was expecting her first baby at the beginning of July. I decided that I wanted to both so I had to schedule my visit with Allyson. I knew I might miss seeing the baby but at least I would get to spend some time with Allyson and help her get everything ready. After a few new teacher trainings and the house inspection in mid June, I headed to Albuquerque on June 26th.

I had a great visit at Allyson's. We did some sight seeing, relaxing, and baking. I also got to meet some of her friends from a Mommy group she is a part of and some of Billy's coworkers when we met up with them for lunch.  We also went to some great local restaurants. How could there not be lots of food involved with two pregnant ladies hehe. Just before I arrived, Allyson had found out that her baby had a slight arythmia in her heart. They decided to set an induction date on the last full day I would be there. They were not too worried about the baby because these things usually sort themselves out but they knew they would be able to treat any complications easier if she was on the outside. I was really hopeful that I would get to meet baby Sophia! Before going into the hospital on the 2nd, Allyson was starting to have more regular and intense contractions. That didn't stop her from wanting to have a good "last meal." The three of us went to Chilis for an early dinner and then grabbed a few last minute things at Walmart before heading to the hospital. Being in the hospital with Allyson and getting to see the a lot of the process was so interesting and informative for me since I knew I would be doing the same thing this winter. I was so impressed with how calmly Allyson was handling everything and I only hope I can be like that during my delivery. She was even thoughtful enough to warn me to leave the room if she was feeling a little queasy since she knew I was at the tail end of my "yuckyiness" phase.

Here are some pictures of my visit with Allyson.

We visited the Aquarium while I was there. I LOVE Aquariums.

Creepy looking eel.

Dory!!! 

The seahorses are so cute :)

Big shark! Sharks are my favorite.

Beautiful view that Allyson and Billy get to see every day.

Is she not the cutest pregnant lady ever! Only Allyson could make a hospital gown and monitoring tubes look this good :)

I feel so blessed to have Allyson as a best friend and really admire the way she handled everything that happened during her labor and delivery. Allyson wrote a great blog post describing Sophia's birth story. Check it out here. Everything with Sophia is wonderful now. I love seeing all the pictures Allyson and Billy post on Facebook. Maybe her dramatic entrance into the world is a foreshadowing of what's to come with this little princess :)


Leaving Albuquerque on July 3rd was so hard! I was so sad not to be able to meet Sophia right after she was born. Getting to see my mom and getting to my Grandma's house was exciting though. It had been several years since I had been there and just walking through her house brings back lots of memories. One of my favorite things to do at her house is "explore." There are so many old papers and antiques and interesting things that you'll never run out of places to look for stuff. I am a very sentimental person so seeing the same toys I used to play with and finally being able to look through things that were previously forbidden is always exciting. Being sentimental can be a bad thing though, I tend to keep everything lol. I do have some pack rat tendencies but I'm not anywhere close to the hoarding you see in that one tv show. My mom had to work during the day while I was at my Grandma's but it was nice to have a week of just relaxing and being in some place so familiar. My Grandma even let me take home the Barbie I used to play with when I little. I also brought some of her clothes that my grandma had made. She used to make some of the outfits Emily and I wore but she also made lots and lots of Barbie clothes. Whenever I see my Grandma I always remember that I want to learn to sew with a sewing machine. I think I have a pretty good freehand stitch but it would take way too long to make some things without a sewing machine. For the 4th of July we watched the Washington D.C. fireworks on t.v. Waterloo's fireworks show wasn't until the weekend and we ended up not going to it. I also got to see an old childhood friend who used to live on my Grandma's street. Bridget and I used to play outside all the time whenever I would visit. I hadn't seen her in at least 10 years.

Here are a couple pictures of my grandma's house.

I have so many memories of this room. There is a picture of my cousin Kate and I sharing a chair as we ate cereal one morning. I also remember being scared of thunderstorms and my grandma would bring me out here and show me that they are actually beautiful and fun to watch rather than scary.

 The room I usually stay in when I visit my Grandma. My sister and I used to catch lightning bugs, put them in a jar (with holes in the lid of course) and then keep them in here with us while we slept as our "night light." You can also see the big shelf of Barbies on the left. This is only a fraction of my grandma's collection.

Even though it's sad to leave my Grandma's house not knowing the next time I'll get to visit, I could not wait to get home and see Daniel. Being gone for 2 straight weeks was a long time for us to be apart. I don't know how some couples do it if one of them has to travel a lot or is out of town for long periods of time. Also, the very next day after getting home, Daniel and I would be closing on our house!

The house closing process was actually pretty easy but also kind of scary. Knowing that we're responsible for everything that goes wrong makes you worry about every little thing. The day after closing we had movers bring all the furniture and big stuff from out apartment to the house. A week before I left on my trip we had our gender ultrasound. Instead of being told while I had jelly all over my stomach we thought it would be more exciting to have a gender reveal party. Even though it was hard to wait, we had it planned for that weekend after our house closing, 3 weeks after the actual ultrasound! Poor Daniel, he had to be home those 2 weeks being tempted by the box that would reveal the gender of our baby. We had a lot to do to get the house even semi-ready for the party that weekend. We closed on a Tuesday, had our furniture brought over and a new fridge and bed delivered on Thursday and then had our first guests on Friday night and Saturday.

Our new house!

 Right after signing the papers and getting the keys!

The kitchen. I love the counter tops and the dark wood cabinets.

The living room and fireplace. We need to get the fireplace cleaned out and buy some gas logs so we can use during winter time.

Tub and shower in our master bathroom.

Entryway and stairs.

Once we are completely unpacked and have the nursery semi-set up I will post some more pictures of the house.
 
The Gender Reveal party was pretty short but a lot of fun. We had finger foods and little blue or pink ribbons for people to wear what they thought the baby would be. We also did a little "Old Wives Tale" game to see if they were accurate at predicting the gender. It actually came out dead even on whether it would be a boy or girl. I was really nervous to open the box and see what color blanket would be inside. I wanted a boy so bad that I was worried I would act disappointed if it was girl. When the pink blanket came out I was a little sad for a few seconds but I wasn't disappointed like I was worried about. I especially got way more excited after we went shopping for girl clothes when the party was over. My mom, Pam (mother-in-law), Vasanti (neighbor/second mom), Meghana (second sister) and I had so much fun looking at all the clothes. She already has a super cute wardrobe built up. I was sad Emily couldn't be there (she lives in Washington D.C.) but we had texted her lots of pictures and I got talk to her later that day.


Daniel and I had some name ideas in mind before we knew the gender but we nailed one down afterwards pretty quickly. I've decided I'd like to keep it a secret until she's born. One of my friends did that with her baby and I thought it was such a great idea because then you don't have to worry about getting weird looks when you tell people. Plus, I'm the most indecisive person when it comes to big decisions like this. I told Daniel that if he doesn't want me changing my mind we shouldn't tell anyone.

I love the sign I made for the mantel! That's the poster board for the Old Wives Tales game we played. 

Little ribbons for people to wear. We also had our guests record their guesses in my pregnancy journal.

 Pink and blue jelly beans and Hershey's bars. I colored the He blue and the She pink :) Of course I got all my ideas from Pinterest lol.

 Yummy cookies! I wanted to fill in the onesie completely with royal icing but with the crazy fast move I just didn't have time. I think they still came out pretty cute. I did the outline and Pam did the writing. That is my weakest when it comes to icing.

The box! Inside was the pink blanket :)

Friends and family who came to share in our discovery!

Everyone is getting a little anxious :)

Opening the box...

 It's a girl!

 Some of the clothes we bought after the Gender Reveal Party. They are so adorable!

She'll have lots of these onesies with the little animals on the feet :)

This is my favorite out of all of them and I can't wait to have her wear it! It is either in a 3 month or 6 month size so it will be a little warmer weather when she's big enough for it. Even if she's big enough before it's warm enough outside I'll put her in it and we'll just stay inside because it is that cute lol.

Another super cute summer dress. Most of the clothes are summer clothes for now. Hopefully Target will start putting the super cute winter stuff out so we can buy her winter wardrobe :)

We spent the rest of July working on getting the house more set up. We still had lots of stuff at the apartment and started bringing it over little by little. Our lease didn't end until August 31st so we knew we had plenty of time to get it all out. We also got to spend a Saturday with some of our friends from Lubbock who now live in D.C. Frank and Amanda went with us to the St. Arnold Brewery and the Downtown Aquarium. Did I mention I LOVE aquariums? hehe.

A spotted sting ray.

The aquarium has white tigers!

 I used to always want a White Siberian Tiger when I was little. These animals are huge!

At the end of July/beginning of August I attended Mary Kay Seminar in Dallas. I loved getting to see my Lubbock Mary Kay friends. Even though I'm happy not to live in Lubbock anymore, I really miss the people. I usually try to make a trip back every summer but didn't get to go this year :(  At least I got to see some of them at Seminar! Seminar is my favorite of all the Mary Kay conventions because you get to hear so many inspiring stories. Some of the obstacles these women (and men!) had to overcome are so big and then to see the success they have had is really inspiring. It makes me realize that even though I get stressed out a lot, I actually have a very easy and privileged life and sometimes I don't take enough advantage of that.

The stage at the Dallas Convention Center for Seminar.

There are 5 different Seminars and all are this big!

The National Sales Directors in Sapphire Seminar.

Megan, Me, Amy, and Katie all dressed up for awards night.

Loni and I after awards night.

After getting back from Seminar, I had about 3 days to rest and relax before starting the back to school grind. Being in a new district and learning how they do things compared to Lubbock has been pretty challenging this year. Even though I haven't taught in a year and half, I had all these expectations about how things would work from my previous experience. A lot of things are organized or done differently in Katy. None of it bad, just different, and it took (and is still taking!) some time to get used to it.

Daniel's family came into town for his birthday weekend and we had a fun time grilling and hanging out with them. All the men went to go play golf and Pam and I went shopping for paint supplies for the nursery. It was an awful, bright, shiny, purple and I could not wait to get that all covered up. Daniel also got to go on a beach trip to South Padre for John's Bachelor Party.

Both Daniel and I have been busy with work this month. We've also been spending a lot of time working on the house during the weekends. We still have a few things to finish unpacking now that we're completely out of the apartment. There are also some minor repairs and maintenance work we need to get taken care of. We put the first coat of paint up in the nursery over Labor Day weekend and just finished putting up the second coat today. Daniel did most of the work today and I could not be more happy with how it has turned out. It's a nice calming light green and it is a flat paint, which to me just looks better than the glossy. We also got a call today that our crib and dresser/changing table came in at Babies R Us! I hope we'll be able to pick them up tomorrow and start setting them up sometime this week.

 Daniel covering up that bright purple with a nice calming green. Purple is my favorite color but I'm definitely not crazy about it on the walls, and certainly not this shade.

We still have a crazy fall coming up. We haven't registered at the hospital yet, started taking childbirth classes, or found a day care so those are our main priorities. I have a lot to do at school to get prepared for a long term sub. I'm still in day by day planning mode so I need to work on getting ahead and at least getting a nice outline and some jumping off plans ready for whoever will be taking over for me. We also have a wedding we're going to in Vermont in October. I will be about 32 weeks during that trip so hopefully I'll continue to have a normal pregnancy and won't have to miss it.

Our summer was very full and exciting and I'm sure our fall will just be as exciting as we spend our last few months together without kids. I'm a little nervous and scared of the all the changes that are coming up for us but I know they'll be amazing and we'll quickly get used to a "new normal."

And here are my growing belly pictures!

16 weeks

17 weeks

18 weeks

19 weeks

20 weeks

21 weeks

21 weeks (At Seminar - Hopefully this dress will still fit for the wedding in October)

22 weeks

23 weeks

24 weeks

25 weeks

Last weekend (Labor Day weekend), we were so busy with all our painting and cleaning and house stuff that I didn't get a chance to take a picture. I usually take them on Sundays so I'll start up again with 27 weeks tomorrow! We only have about 3 months left! I can't believe how quickly time is flying. She has been moving like crazy lately and it is so cool to feel. Sometimes it really tickles, lol. Yesterday, on my way home from HEB, I was actually laughing out loud in the car because of how hard she was pushing and kicking on my sides. My students are pretty excited about it too. They keep trying to get me to tell them the name, asking how many weeks or months I am, and one sweet girl keeps telling me she likes my tummy, hehe. I told her its only going to get bigger!

I'm sorry for the super long post and hopefully I will get better at posting more regularly now. The next one will probably be about us setting up the nursery since the furniture just came in!

Bye!