Baby Steps...Literally

As some of my previous posts have mentioned, we have done little to nothing to prepare the nursery for our little Tater. Well...after this past weekend, I can officially say that SOME progress has been made. Andrew was totally on board and was a HUGE help this weekend. My goal was simply to make some progress on the two pieces of furniture that we wanted to refinish. One was the baby armoire and the other a dresser. The baby armoire was originally white/cream when it was in my mom's nursery, then she painted it yellow for my nursery, and then for some crazy reason I spray-painted it a teal color and added some crazy swirl things with a frog applique on the drawers. That was done a LONG, LONG time ago and I have no idea what I was thinking. Nonetheless, here is the progress so far.

Before (note crazy color and swirl things). Andrew did not want me using the stripper stuff even with a mask, but while he was fishing, I was determined to do something. So, I attempted sanding the door only. This took FOREVER!!! There were so many layers and even with an electric sander, it just took way too long. I knew heavy chemicals would definitely need to be involoved for the rest of the project. :-)



During (Andrew diligently stipping and scraping the layers away):



Primed!



Primed Drawers!



So, now that the amoire is primed, the hardest part of the whole dang process will be deciding what color to paint it! I got a couple samples at Home Depot yesterday, so we'll see what works the best. It's hard to know for sure until we've got the room painted. So, maybe I should just hold off until that point. BUT, the project-oriented side of my wants it DONE... and DONE NOW!!!

In addition to the armoire, I took a stab at the dresser drawers. They sanded SO much easier on the faces, but the curved edges will definitely take a little elbow grease. We got some more stipper and heavier duty steel wool and a wire brush to attempt to tackle the drawer edges. We plan on staining the dresser to match the crib, so we really need to do a good job sanding. I'm going to try to get a little done each day this week so that we might be ready to stain this weekend!

Sanded Dresser Drawer:



Whoop! PROGRESS!!! I was told to just take baby steps, so that's what we're doing!

Third Trimester... I think

Well, every source seems to say something a little different about when each trimester starts. So, I kind of averaged them together and came up with 28 weeks as the start of the Third Trimester.

Anyways, I hit that milestone this past Tuesday! Craziness!!! The little birdie ticker thing that's tracking my pregnancy keeps getting closer and closer to the 40 mark. Where on earth has the time gone?!?!

Tater has started playing a little game with me. He likes to stick different body parts in different places and let me guess what they are. I'm thinking that usually it's his foot or rear end. He's partial to sticking a foot up at the top of my uterus and into my ribcage... yeah, that one doesn't feel so great. He also likes to stick something out on either side of my belly button and make my tummy all lop-sided. I'm a little anal about symmetry, so this one really bugs me!!! It's just so funny because one second it will be there, and then the next it's in a completely different place. He's definitely an active little fellow.

I don't have too much to add here that I haven't said before. Generally, I feel great. I have lots of energy... even though I think it's more the adrenaline pumping when I realize how SOON our little Tater man will be here. It may also be because I'm trying to get as much sleep as possible now because I know our lives will be forever changed (in the most fabulous way, but one that doesn't involve much sleep) once our little guy gets here. We can kiss the days of 8-8.5 hours a night goodbye! It's definitely getting more difficult to do things, both because I feel like I have a weighted inner tube around my waist and because my back pretty much is hurting non-stop now. The lower lumbar part just hurts constantly and I have trouble bending straight over. I really have to swat to pick anything up. Rolling out of bed or up off the floor is challenging. I abandoned the body pillow and went back to the two small pillows, one between my knees and one under my belly. This seems to be working the best. Our bed just didn't have room for the body pillow... it felt like there was another body in the bed.

Here's some cool Week 28 facts:

Week Twenty Eight: May recognize your voice

You are 28 weeks pregnant. (fetal age 26 weeks)
The fetus has its own regular intervals for sleeping and being awake.
The weight has increased to 1000 grams and is 37.5cm in length.
2.2 pounds weight and is 14.8 inches in length from head to heel.
The feet are just over 2 inches (5.5cm) long.
The hair on the head is now clearly visible.
The milk teeth have developed under the gums.
The eyes are starting to move in their sockets.

Brain waves show rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, which means your baby may be dreaming. Eyelids are opening. Eye color may change within the first six months of life especially if your baby's eyes are blue or gray-blue at birth. Remember to talk to your baby often; reading stories, singing songs has been seen to slow the baby's heart rate. He or she can recognize your voice now and will often calm to it later after birth.

Your uterus will be about 3 inches (7cm) above your belly button. During this time of your pregnancy, your belly will grow about half an inch (1cm) each week. If you have been following a nutritious, balanced meal plan, your total weight gain is probably between 17 and 24 pounds (7.5 and 10.5 Kg).

Branches of lungs are quite developed now, so there is a good chance that baby would survive if born prematurely now. If your baby is born this week, the chances of survival is now at least 90 percent. However, some complications are still possible.

I Hope These Things Come with Directions!

Last weekend (April 30th) we were so blessed to have a wonderful Diaper Party/Crawfish Boil with some of our dear friends, Nick & Sarah. They currently live in Columbus, OH and are expecting a little boy a month before us. The party was hosted by Nick's parents, Tim & Lisa, and some of our other dear friends, Andy & Cathy. The food was great and it was so much fun to get together with family and great friends!

Super Cute Diaper Cakes (Complements of Lisa)



Diapers, and Diapers, and Diapers... "OH MY!"



Nick & Sarah with their fancy diapers! :-)



The Dads-to-Be!


Right after Andrew's comment, "Almost as exciting as a new rod and reel." (Insert some serious sarcasm in his voice!)



Family!



Cathy & Andy



Wanda & Lisa



Dan thoroughly inspecting one of the most FABULOUS cupcakes ever with Emily & Joe



Jeremy & Jamie



Nana & Papa



Brother & Sister



Blake & Garrett

My Middle Name is Procrastinator - Updated

So, this week we hit 27 Weeks!!! According to some sources, this means the 3rd Trimester, but I think 28 Weeks might be the more 'official' marker...so, I'll wait until next week for the big 3rd Trimester celebration. Nonetheless, all of this means that our little Tater will be here SO SOON!!! Given the title of this post, this might not be a good thing. I have had so many people ask, "Oh, have you gotten the nursery all together?"... My answer = "Nope, haven't done anything." Or people want to know if we've got the name all picked out... Again, my answer = "Nope."

Hmmm... so what have we done. Well, I have ordered the crib and it is ready to pick up, so hopefully assembling that should be a task that will help get the ball rolling. What else... well, as previously mentioned, my mom and I did pick out the fabric for the crib bedding (HUGE check on the to-do list). I've been told that it shouldn't take any time to make it, so hopefully, I'll have (almost) complete bedding back in a week or so. Notice, I said "almost"... that's because I have tasked myself with making the crib skirt with my newly acquired sewing skills. OR, with the no-sew, heat-bonded seaming stuff they have out there these days. Here's the link to my back-up plan if the regular sewing doesn't work out.

I'm thinking that once the crib is up and bedding is in place, we can start the picking out the paint process. I have a couple swatches that I think could work, but I have not had the best of luck in picking paint colors. I lay in bed every night looking at our master bedroom going "this is not at all how I enivisioned this." Anyways, I'm hoping that with a crib and bedding in place, we can paint a few things on the wall and let them all soak in for a few days in all the various lights, etc. I think we're wimping out though and going to hire someone else to paint since it also involves the ceiling. Maybe while they're at it, they can paint all the other ceilings, and the kitchen cabinets, and add moulding, and..... (does this list ever end!).

The two other major tasks for the nursery include (attempting) painting the dresser in our room to match the crib and painting the child's armoire that's been used in at least 3 generations of nurseries on my mom's side. For the dresser, I still can't figure out if it's veneer or just that shilacky (sp??) finish. I need to find a discreet spot to do a little test sanding. This could end up being a major disaster, which, I won't cry about. I got this dresser at a garage sale nearly 10 years ago and it's seen better days. With a fresh coat of paint and new pulls, it should look pretty good. If I destroy it though, I guess we'll just buy the inexpensive dresser/changing table that goes with the crib. Again, here's my plan of action from my favorite DIY blog. The armoire has been painted and painted again, so I know that it won't be an issue to sand and paint a 3rd or 4th time. I may not go matchy-matchy with it and instead paint it a color, maybe blue. I found some really cute green and white polka dot pulls at Hobby Lobby that perfectly match the bedding and potential wall color. We'll see how that all turns out. I'll be sure to do some before and after pics of everything.

I've got lots of other little ideas, but for now, we need to accomplish the aforementioned tasks before we even start thinking about accessorizing and decorating. So, I'll leave you with that.

Here's me at 27 weeks! Looks like I've got a basketball inside me (which is apparently how big my uterus is by now! CRAZY!




I'm still just in awe of how drastic my body changes have been over the last 6 weeks or so. Here's a quick belly recap...one word = "WOW"!!!

19/20 weeks (~7-8 weeks ago) - Just a teeny little bump!



And even at ~22 weeks (~5 weeks ago) - Still pretty teeny bump



And now at 27 weeks - Not so teeny bump!



I have definitely "popped" and am now easily recognized as pregnant. It's kind of nice! :-) My back has started hurting though. It's not severe, just a constant dull pain. The trips to the bathroom have increased. Tater's movements are also much stronger and I can really see him moving in there. I was laying in bed at my parent's house last Thursday and it really looked like he was swimming in circles. Every now and then he gives a big 'ole kick or punch right to my bladder that really kind of hurts and is uncomfortable. I wouldn't trade it for anything though. I just think how lucky women are to be able to experience this (I may be saying something different in the delivery room), because there really isn't anything like it. Andrew's asked what it feels like, and I know there is no way for me to really describe it so that he could understand. My energy level has picked up and I've started walking more and doing some of the Exercise on Demand stuff at home with Andrew. I definitely needed all the energy I had for this past weekend on my trip with my dad (see below).

FYI - This past weekend I went with my dad and 11 other father-daughter teams (all 8th graders) up to Oklahoma for a little backpacking. We had a WONDERFUL time!!! I'm waiting on some pictures from my dad and then I'll give a full report! In the meantime, if you want to check out this amazing organization that we help mentor, High Adventure Treks for Dads & Daughters (HATS), check it out!

HATS Website Link

HATS Shutterfly Pictures Link

If you know of anyone in the DFW area that has a daughter in the 4th to 9th grades, definitely pass this info on to them. :-)

Here a Trout, there a Trout, everywhere a Trout...

The weekend before last, we decided to take it easy and stick around the house. Cleaning and wrapping up work in the flower beds and yard were the big things on the agenda. Friday didn't involve too much except trying to get the house cleaned up for Andrew's dad. Wanda was off on one of her sorority events in Wimberley, so he thought he'd come hang out with us and go fishing. We boiled crawfish on Saturday evening after Mass and then went fishing in the Intracoastal on Sunday morning. I'm pretty keen on enjoying as much sleep now as I can, so I wimped out on the early morning fishing and instead slept in and had them meet me back at the boat ramp around 9. I really liked this situation. I got to sleep in and catch fish. Usually those two things don't go together.

Anyways, the guys reported that the fishing had been pretty good so far, so we headed back to the Outfall to see what else we could catch. We were all fishing with swimbaits for the most part and catching a few trout here or there, but then switched over to a top water lure. It started lightly raining, and I don't know what it was about the rain, but the fish just turned on. Almost every cast, trout were hitting on the top and it was pretty much non-stop. The vast majority we were catching earlier hadn't been keepers, but most of these were. It was definitely very exciting and probably one of the best days we've had out there in a long time. It was definitely the best top water fishing we could remember.

Dan & I chillin' in the boat...


For some reason, we didn't take any pictures of any of the fish we caught, but I think we ended up with about 20 keepers. Andrew fried up some of the fresh trout, along with the leftover crawfish tails for dinner. YUM YUM! Sadly, trout (and any other gulf fish) are supposed to be off-limits while I'm pregnant, but fresh fried trout is just too good to pass up, so I splurged and had a piece... just melts in your mouth with NO fish taste at all... FABULOUS!!! Those fried crawfish tails are pretty darn delicious too! We eat good around here, that's for sure!!!

April 14th - A VERY good day!!!

This past Wednesday, Andrew and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary! I still can't believe how fast time has gone by. Everything in life seems to go by much quicker once you reach adulthood... which, I still find it hard to believe that I'm an adult. Then I realize how much I've done that is "adult-like." I've graduated from college and grad school, I have a job, I pay taxes, I got married, I have a mortgage, I'm PREGNANT! Anyways, forgive me as I digress, it's just amazing how slow the first 18 years seemed to go by in comparison to the last 10. I'm sure my parents would disagree, since they were the "adults" during that time.

So, back to our anniversary. I just feel SO incredibly blessed to have married Andrew. I truly love him more every day. He's so much more of the person that I had always hoped to marry today than he was then. Not because he's changed, but because we continue to learn more about each other and he just continuously shows me what a wonderful, family-first, loving, selfless man he is. You think you know someone and love someone the day you marry them, only to discover how much more there is to someone once you begin building a life together. Unfortunately, many people find out more about the person that they don't like, but thankfully, that is not the case here. Of course, we all have our little habits and things that drive us crazy about each other, but you just deal with it. That Brad Paisley song, "I Thought I Loved You Then" pretty much sums up what I'm talking about. I just look forward to raising our son (and hopefully another child) together and experiencing all there is to life as we grow old together. I hope that when we're old and gray (or bald), we can still just sit on the porch at the farm and do nothing and be perfectly content.



As an anniversary/baby gift, Andrew bought me my first digital SLR camera and I am SO excited. He got me the Nikon D3000 which is supposed to be great and super easy to use. It's gotten wonderful reviews, so hopefully I can master it. I like to think I know what I'm doing when I'm taking pictures, but I really have NO clue. I just LOVE talking pictures. If Tater is documented even half as much as our pups or hunting trips, we'll have more than our fair share of pictures. I've debated it we should upgrade to the D5000 that includes video capabilities, but I never really take video on the camera that I have. We have a video camera that records straight on to DVD's (which I kind of regret), but I've also thought about some of the new, super compact little digital video cameras as well. Any thoughts?!?!

For Andrew, my little fisherman, I hooked him up with a second Shimano Curado reel. For the life of me, I don't understand why some reels cost what they do, but you can definitely tell a difference when you are fishing with them. I wanted to get the whole set-up, with the rod he really likes, but they didn't have the 7' length at Academy... so, I gave him a rain check and we'll keep looking. He had just been talking about replacing all the cheap reels with higher quality ones, so I know he was excited.

Andrew treated my to a delicious home-cooked backstrap dinner. This is always one of my favorites and NOT something you can get at a restaurant. We (well, HE) tends to just cook something that we love at home for our anniversary, which is perfectly fine with me. Last year we had King Crab legs.

April 14th was also a great day because I got my official appraisal certification in the mail. I am now a State Certified General Real Estate Appraiser in Texas. This is something I've been working toward pretty much since I graduated. I have wanted to pull my hair out a few times during the process, and just about lost my mind after completing the exam, but I did it!



Lastly, April 14th was a great day because I mailed my taxes in. I usually complete them in February via Turbo Tax, but this year we decided to have a real CPA do them. I never claimed the casualty loss from Hurricane Ike on my 2008 return, so I wanted to do an amended return, plus I wanted to make sure I was doing the whole home office and Andrew's fishing tournaments thing right. It was kind of nice to just drop everything off into an accountant's hands and then pick it up when it was done. Now, if I was only more organized throughout the year, the dropping it off part would have been much easier. It took a while to get everything together. I'm just ready for my check from the IRS. I know it's our money to begin with, and we gave them a free loan... but I'll gladly take it back now. Thank you. :-)

Like Father, Like Son...

Every year, Andrew and his dad take a father-son trip for a week or so (jealous yet?, because I always am). Yes, this trip usually involves fishing of some kind. This year, they went a little earlier so that Andrew wasn't M.I.A. while I was huge and uncomfortable or if little Tater decided he wanted to make an early appearance. They stuck around after Easter at the Farm for several days (which meant we didn't have to clean up before we left!) and then headed to their deer lease in Stonewall (near Fredericksburg). The time at the Farm was spent fishing mainly at Fayette County Lake, which almost always is 1) good fishing and 2) crowded. I got several texts and pictures during the day about how amazing the fishing was. Luckily they went during the week so the crowd thing wasn't really an issue.

Here are a few pictures from Fayette County...



















And one from the lake at the deer lease...

Andrew said that the fishing there was unreal. They were hitting HUGE lures and Andrew was just having fun throwing different things to see what they would hit because it seemed like nothing could fail. Here's one big sucker!...