May flowers

We planted our front garden this year. After ripping the old plants out (they were mostly dead), we added a bunch of dirt to mound the area, cut out the sod so that it was curvy, and added sprinklers. Then we planted, planted, planted! It was so much work, and took our whole Saturday up, but it looks so much better now.
And if that wasn't enough, we decided on the next Saturday to extend the garden in the front to wrap the whole front yard, not just the house :) So there was another Saturday full of removing grass, adding sprinklers, shoveling and mounding dirt, and planting! It looks so pretty now, and as one girl in our class said "our yard is the nicest in the whole circle!" (and that's saying a lot!)

It's a Boy!

Here's the little guy! Doctor and ultrasound tech said everything looks good! The gal doing the ultrasound said that he's VERY active (yikes, already?) and has long feet :) Surprise, surprise!
This is Wyatt at 18 weeks 1 day, but they said his skull and leg length are measuring a week and a half further along, but my due date hasn't been moved up yet.
We almost didn't get to find out the sex on Monday! He was being stubborn, keeping his leg together, and facing towards me rather then out. So they got GREAT pictures of his spine. Luckily, our U/S tech was determined to find out, so she FINALLY let me go to the bathroom (after drinking 32 oz of water before the ultrasound) and by the time I went and came back, he had flipped around! Yes! Then we just had to get him to open up those legs. So with me, her, and Adam pushing my stomach, he finally fluttered them open long enough to show the goods! We were both betting on a girl, so when she said Boy, it caught us both off guard. But we are so excited to start planning for a little man and getting everything ready for his grand arrival in the fall!

Oh, and on a side note, I felt him kick me for the first time last Wednesday, April 28. I was laying almost on my stomach in bed, not wanting to get out of bed yet, when he pounded me! No flutterings, no butterflies, but a really strong kick. He's been beating on me every day since then. And Adam felt him kick last night! He was moving around, so I grabbed Adam's hand (we were sitting on the couch watching the Jazz) and pushed in, hoping that if we pushed, he'd kick back. It took about 20 seconds and then Pow! Adam looked at me in surprise because he had kicked HARD! I'm glad he made himself know to his Daddy, it's so fun being able to share it with him :)

Growing Growing Growing

Since this is really just a journal for me, I'm writing about baby again :) If you're sick of hearing about it (oh, especially without pictures, I know!) then you will not hurt my feelings if you click the X in the corner! I've been anxiously awaiting any sign of life in my stomach, as it seems to be getting bigger and bigger, but despite all of my efforts to bug the baby enough into kicking me back, it hasn't worked. But this morning, as I lay on my stomach/side and fighting the urge to hit the snooze button AGAIN, I felt it. Little flicks from the inside. Strong flicks! I still don't know if it's a boy or girl (our appointment is on Monday), but either way they are quite strong in my opinion! This isn't a pic of OUR baby, but this is what he/she looks like now at 17 weeks :) Looks more like a baby now then an alien!

***Edited to add***
Baby at 16 weeks exactly! Wow, getting big already! Cross your fingers this baby doesn't come out 10 lbs!

Baby Update

I know I know, I have nothing else to talk about then our baby? Yep, you're right! You know it's been a long time since I've felt good enough to take pictures when our camera battery has been dead for months and I'm just barely remembering! So no fun pictures of us, no exciting events occuring (well, except for the growing babe), nope.
Had our 13.5 week appointment today and the doctor said "everything looks PERFECT". Yahoo! I like to hear the word perfect on something I can't control :) I've lost 4 pounds in 4 weeks, babies heartrate is 160, and all of my levels are just right on the dot! And we have an ultrasound scheduled for May 3rd to find out the sex! Loving my doctor, she's fabulous! Now we just have 4.5 weeks to finalize on a baby name. Adam is so excited and can't wait to find out so he can start painting the baby room. . . so cute, but scary :)

Nursery Ideas

Okay, confession. I'm a bit of an obsessive planner. Okay, a lot a bit. But I just prefer to plan rather then cross my fingers and hope for the best! Kill me.
So, even though we have about two months left until we find out what the sex is (I know, I'm dying!) I've started "browsing for nursery ideas. Mind you, I'm not huge into themes, so most of these pictures aren't themed at all, but these are all I have found so far. Just thought I'd share and if you have any ideas or pictures you love for nurseries, let me know and add the link in the comments!
P.S. I'll probably be making my own bedding, so I'm not restricted with that. I can pretty much make anything I can dream up, as long as I set my mind to it!

This is one of my favorites. Not too baby-ish that it won't grow up with her, and I'm loving the idea of "no pink" in the bedroom. She'll be covered in it, why not make the room free from it?

This one is my mostest fav one so far. Once again, no pink and I'm loving the crisp white with the bold red and light blue. Could also be used as a boy room if I changed some accessories and avoided floral

I like this room because it's really warm feeling and the pink isn't too pink, more like a soft rose color. So weird, I love pink normally, but I think since almost every baby girl room has pink, my rebellious side is coming out!

This one is similar to my favorite (with the white paneling on the walls) but used rose and pale yellow. So springy!

Okay, all of these boy rooms are themed, but do you know how hard it is to find kinds rooms without a theme? And girl rooms without pink? Murder.
Loving the cars on the walls, though. If I did this I don't think I'd make the bedding to match though. Too matchy matchy is not my thing
I like this one because it's not "beachy", it's nautical. Though a surfer room like Brooke Franco did for her boys would be super cute and fun! Love the navy stripes and bold red.

And of course, this post would not be complete without a cowboy room! But the more I think about it, the more I'm steering away from this. It seems too predictable for Pete's little boy to have a cowboy room, and I don't like to be predictable. I might have to fight him about this one though :)

Now it's your turn. Let me know what you think (as long as it's not "I hate all of these pictures!" That might hurt my feelings . . . )

Belly bulge

The search has begun. Now that we're quickly approaching the second trimester ( yay! only 1.5 weeks left!) my thoughts have turned to my waredrobe. Rather then buying maternity when my other clothes no longer fit, and dropping hundreds of dollars at once, I'm trying to buy slowly and on sale :) So what I'm asking you is, where do I look for cute maternity that's not going to cost 40 bucks for a T-shirt? Come on Ladies, spill the beans!

Sick and Tired

Ever heard the saying "I'm just sick and tired of being sick and tired?" Welcome to my life :)

What, you may ask, is the reason for this overwhelming sense in my everyday?

Is it work?

No doubt work is a big part of it. With three guys quitting last month (one of them being Adam's boss and my go-to guy) and not having replaced any of them, my work load has doubled. Raise? Nope. Extra appreciation? Good luck!

Perhaps a little sickness running through the office?

No doubt there has been the usual rounds of colds and flus, plus I did just get the Swine flu vaccine, which could be adding to my "sick and tired"-ness.

But the main culprit for constantly feeling sick and tired?

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This little gummy bear. Coming soon.... Oct. 3, 2010

Skirts VS Dresses-- Revisited

We''l it seems to be a draw between the skirt and the dress. And since you asked, I'll let you in on our preferences:

Me

I'm all about the dresses, especially ones, that fit nice and snug around the waist and flare out after that. Think Marilyn Monroe. Oh yeah. To me, they're more comfortable because you never have to worry about your lower back showing or taking itty bitty steps. They flow :) Also, a dress always seems to cover up your knees better when sitting down, as opposed to skirts. Dresses are pretty and feminine and definitely overpower my "Sunday clothes" choices.

Adam

Now, don't be offended, I like me a skirt, but if I had to chose, it would definitely not be my choice. Yes, skirts are very versatile (everyday to formal) but so are dresses. But for some reason, my husband does not appreciate my large variety of dresses in my closet.
For example (which brought up this "argument" in the first place):

Me: Sweetheart? Since we're going to your friend's wedding reception, what do YOU want me to wear?

Him: Hmmm, I don't know... That's hard, let me look...

Me: (anxious to finally find out which dress he likes best) Okay, no rush

Him: I like this the best. Wear this (as he pulls out a simple black pencil skirt and striped button-up shirt from JCrew)

Me: Seriously?!? That's what you pick?

Okay, now seriously, that's what he picked for me to wear? Out of all of the pretty dresses I've made that fit me like a glove and make me look like Grace Kelly, he picked "business casual".

Case closed. I married a lunatic.

Skirts VS Dresses

Okay, I feel bad that I haven't posted ANYTHING in like two weeks, but we've both been sick and it's hard for me to blog without a picture. I desperately wanted to take a picture on our date last night, but it's no fun to take one of yourself and Adam DID NOT want to take a picture!

So instead of posting about our life now-a-days, I have a question. Which do you prefer? Dress or skirt? Now, you can have mixed feelings (you love the look of dresses, but skirts are more comfortable... or maybe like dresses for more fancy events and skirts for everyday) but it doesn't matter. I just want to know what you think. We've had this arguement in our house for a long time, because it's the only opinion Adam seems to have, and it's opposite of mine. So what will it be?

Dresses? Or skirts?

At a loss for words....

I'm already failing at my goal to post each week! I have no fun things to share this week. There have been big changes at work, causing me MAJOR stress, and Adam's granmother died last weekend, so needless to say we're having a hard time sleeping, let alone getting projects done! But we did build awesome shelves in the garage, built some little things for the house, finished painting the chairs, and started demo on the bathroom, so we've been doing a lot, but nothing complete to show pictures yet! But since I hate writing a post without a picture, here's one :)

Don't you just LOVE that chair? So classic, so neutral, so AWESOME! I'm loving the buttons too. What do you think? I'm thinking about building some just like it...that is if I can convince Adam to build the frame for it, but I think I could do it :) Wish me luck!

Always prewash your fabrics!

Yes, I'm a firm believer in always prewashing your fabrics. After about the gazillionth time that something shrunk after I spent hours of sewing, I learned that lesson. Always always. Before you sew anything, prewash, even if you think you'll never have to wash them, do it anyway.

Well, I broke my own rule with the dining room curtains, that cover your sliding glass door.

I wouldn't have had enough fabric if they shrunk and I was So anxious to have some privacy and color after we moved into our house!

Unfortunately, I remembered I hadn't prewashed them after I stopped laughing when a friends dog lifted his leg and pee'd on them. Oh, really, it was really funny, especially the reactions from his owner. But with a young dog, we're used to a lot worse then a little pee. Just to be safe, I threw the curtain in the washer on COLD, and took it out of the washer to hang dry. Surely they wouldn't shrink after I had taken such precautions to avoid it, right?

Wrong! After LOTS of laughs (especially once Kevin saw them) I finally took this picture. Meet my new "capri" curtains, all ready for summer! Good thing I know the lady who made them (me) and EXACTLY where I could find some more fabric just like it! So, I've now washed and dried BOTH curtains to make them equally short and also washed and dried the extra fabric that I bought so there should be NO MORE SUPRISES for the next time I wash them :)

Done with Appliances!

After spending lots of money (thousands! that sounds like so much!) we're finally finished with purchasing new appliances! Yay! As much as I love them, I'm so glad to not be spending so much cash. Now I get to replenish the savings account to be more comfortable, like it used to be :) Oh, but of course I wouldn't post about it without some pictures! So here's a before (after paint of course) and an after (more like a "during" since come spring everything will be moved around and look so different!)

Before: so much wasted space above the stove, and a vent that hardly worked.

Replaced our micro with a pretty shiny one, moved the cabinent up, and got our microwave off of the precious countertop!
Oh, did I mention we had an electric range and now we have gas? Yeah, the house didn't come like that, so Adam learned how to run a gas line :)

All done! Oh so pretty :) From blah to blown away!

Wow, look at all of those BTU's!!! (amount of heat being put out. It's a technical term) And five burners complete with a full grate, so no more tipping pots on the stove. Gotta love the heat happenin' here!

B-E-A-utiful! And just because we're so excited about our new stove, everyone's invited to our house, anytime, for some dinner and dessert (you just have to pick who "gets" to cook.)

PS, Adam's a really really really good cook :)

Custom Frames and Signs!

Okay, I know I'm very much a DIY kinda gal, but seriously? I would so buy one of these because they are so cute! It's a standing plaque with a bud vase built in so you can have a pretty flower in it. And it's so customizable! Plus they're also having a giveaway at The Nester's, so I'm crossing my fingers that I don't HAVE to buy one :) You should really check it out here.

Table for Two?

I hope I'm not the only one who has thought this, but have you ever had buyers regret? You think something is fabulous for the first two months you own it and then after that think of all of the ways to either get it out of your house or make it better without spending lots of money?

I have. Namely my bedding set, dining table, and TV stand. Each was purchased either right before we got married or right after. Before I had a style, let alone KNEW what that style was. The bedding set I took care of (see new bedding) and still love it (though I want to try something different for summer bedding). The TV stand we no longer use, due to the fact that our plasma hangs on the wall, so it's been repurposed and is about to get a makeover. But the dining room table...expensive to buy new..... couldn't find any I loved....oh bother! Well, better find a cheap one and FLIP it so that I love it! Oh dear, can't find a USED one either! So finally, after lots of time had passed, I convince Adam to ask his parents for their old one, that was sitting in the basement. Serious? They'd love for us to make good use of it? And they don't mind if I paint it to make it mine? It's Free?!? YIPEE!!!

So after much color diliberation, here we go!

Here's a half-before picture, since I had just started sanding. Just your standard pine table and chairs with white legs and yellow-y wood top. "Just like everyone else" is SO not my style!

Got rid of the yellowish top by sanding down the top FOREVER!!! Do you know how many coats of poly are on the top of those babies? TONS! I sanded with the palm sander until my arms got tired, then Adam finished up. Then we used more fine sand paper and hand sanded. Then even finer (more fine?) sandpaper by hand until my arms were numb.

Finally done with sanding, on to the stain. Oh, so much warmer and my style. Looks fabulous! About 5 gazillion coats of poly later (and two sanding sessions on the top) and the table top was done! Now just paint the legs--I don't have any pics, yet, but we painted them a barn red, added wood buttons (those little mushroom things on the post of your railings, tables, etc to cover screw holes) for some added character, and glazed it with stain, since our glaze didn't show.

Next, the chairs. We decided (and by we, I mean me) to paint the chairs black and then distress them. This was my attempt to bring some black in my house (of which I have nothing!). Bad mistake. It took 5 coats of paint, the distressing looked horrible, and I hated it!

And because I hated it (even after waiting for a week to see if I'd get used to them) you don't get to see After pictures...yet. Unfortunately, I'm in the process of REpriming and REpainting those chairs BACK to a light color. I'm hoping for two good coats or primer and one coat of BEAR paint/primer. Oh, plus a good rub down of glaze, before I give it a few coats of poly. Ha! Wish me luck! I may go crazy before the chairs are done, but so be it!

New Resident to Casa Peterson!

Hope you didn't think I was talking about a baby!


Just paid for this beauty :) She'll be moving in with us sometime next week, we don't know for sure. She sure is nice and sweet, and very efficient with her time. Yes, she is a girl. You mean you don't assign your appliances a gender? That's a shame...