updates

We have made serious progress on the house and continue to do so every day.  I will post pictures soon.   So far we have gotten the new wall up and everything has been plastered and primed.  The flooring (except for the bedrooms) has been removed and we are just awaiting for the flooring we ordered to come in.  Today Jeb is painting and I hope to have the majority of the painting done this weekend.  I painted the half bath that is in the master bedroom last night.  It is a really pretty blue, however, it is a bit darker than I thought it would be.  I think once we get the vanity and everything else in there it will look nice.

We have not done much of anything to our other two rooms, the nursery and the office, but I am hoping within the next couple of weeks we can start making some plans.  I did just purchase some curtains from Urban Outfitters for the baby room, which I hope to use as either the curtain for the closet or the window, or both.

What can I say?  It was love at first sight.  I haven’t really had a vision for the babies room other than certain colors I thought I wanted to use.  I found the banjowl picture and had to have it and figured I would try to find things that would match with that.  Online, these curtains look like the same teal in the owl picture.  Lets hope they are!

progess

I just ordered this framed print from Society6.com for the baby’s room.

When I found it, I couldn’t get over just how perfect it was.  My love for owls combined with Jeb’s love for the banjo.  Just. Perfect.

We are starting to make progress on the house.  I originally intended on not doing a whole lot of work before moving in, however, after many many talks with Jeb, we decided to just go ahead and do an overhaul.  Things we have completed include a new, more secure front door (sorry, no pic), starting the closing off of the original entry way into the garage…

Before

Doorway framed, now has insulation.

…adding a new entry to the “garage space”…

New door!

….and knocked down some walls…

We will be putting up a new wall which makes the living space bigger and dining space smaller, and when you walk down the hall, you will no longer see this:

Jeb and my dad are working on the tile in the half bath, and hopefully that will be finished this week.  I have ordered our flooring, which unfortunately will take approx. 3-4 weeks to arrive, but will so be worth it.

We are hoping to be in the house in the next couple of weeks, even if it isn’t complete.  I was starting to get a little stressed out with all the decision making, but now that things are finally progressing, I am starting to get excited again!

house

Jeb and I finally closed on our first house.

It needs some work.  New front door and garage door.  A good cleaning to the siding and roof.  Also needs some updating inside, but we are totally excited to have something to make our own.  We plan on slapping on some paint and putting new hardware on the doors and kitchen cabinets and moving in.  I plan to do tile in the half bath right away and eventually we will update the full bathroom.  A couple interior doors need updating as well as some light fixtures.  We are hoping that next fall we will be able to put new floors in throughout the house and make any other “major” changes we want.

We are totally excited.

25 weeks

Well, a lot is happening this week.  Jeb and I will finally close on our house, get started on fixing it up enough to move in and then it is Christmas!  I cannot wait to see all our family and actually have some serious relaxing time.

We heard from my brother yesterday and he seems to be doing well.  It is always nice to talk to him for even a few minutes.

The past few days have been pretty nice with Jeb being home.  He has been able to feel baby moving and it feels good to finally have him experience some of this pregnancy.  Anyway, here I am at 25 weeks.

I am not having any back pain or anything, but sleeping through the night is becoming more difficult as every time I move I have what feels like a giant belly to move with me.  Hopefully most of the third trimester is as easy as the second…

THIS DUDE

THIS DUDE

IS HOME.

I know this is sappy, but he’s the love of my life.  I am so lucky to have him.

beginning of the end

This weekend we headed down to North Carolina to say farewell and see ya later to my younger brother.  I did pretty well.  I actually didn’t cry.  I wanted to.  I desperately wanted to just burst into tears.  Tears of sadness, pride, and all sorts of other emotions.  But, I held them back.  I am finding myself to be a stronger person than I used to be.  I am dealing with things that life has thrown at me much better than I would have a couple years ago.  Is this maturity?  Or am I just realizing that life really isn’t that bad and there is no need to “sweat the small stuff”?  My brother returning to Afghanistan isn’t what I would call “small stuff”, however, I tried to find the positive in this deployment: this would be his last with the Marine Corps.  And for that, I have to be happy.

Looking at this picture, it is hard to believe that Jake is four years younger than me.  And even harder to believe that next time we see him, I will be holding a baby.

Life is so wonderful.

oh, the joys of pregnancy…and other things

This week has been a weird one.  One day I am up-beat, on top of the world super happy, then the next I am absolutely miserable, then the next I want to cry at everything.

Here I am at 23 weeks:

I think my face says it all.

I am totally selfish and cannot wait to be my usual, thin self again.  I went looking for maternity jeans last night because all of my normal people jeans are just way too uncomfortable, even with the BellaBand.  I was ready to drop some cash to look good and feel good.

Nothing fit.

Pants were either too big on my thighs, too tight on my thighs, too long, or too short.

Guess I will be sticking to leggings.

One thing that does make me happy: waking up in the mornings and immediately feeling baby boy move around.

Oh, and knowing that we are one day closer to seeing Jeb makes me happy too.  He unfortunately will be held up a few extra days, but I am not stressing.  It will be easier to find him now instead of searching in a giant crowd of men all dressed alike.

We finally got the tree up at mom and dads and mom chose silver and red this year for the decorations.

I do love Christmas trees.

Jeb and I have been somewhat discussing how we will handle Christmas next year.  We are not huge believers of the main reason behind Christmas and we feel that we should not teach or practice traditions with our children that we don’t believe in, however, we do know we won’t force our beliefs on them.  We will always be open to discussions about all different faiths and I plan on telling my children why people DO celebrate Christmas and other holidays.  While we don’t agree with these reasons/beliefs, we still respect them.

But, we are still undecided.  This is our first child and we have no clue what we should do.  We have a whole year to figure this out…

deployment # i’ve lost count

Actually, when my brother leaves this month, this will be the fifth deployment I have experienced.  I can’t even tell you how I am feeling.  My brother leaves and seriously, right after, Jeb returns home.  Sadness and then joy.  I feel like they cancel each other out.  Gah.

No matter how I feel though, I am still the (for the most part) calm , proud supporter, who simply waits.  I wait for them to come home.   I wait for them to leave.  It is a cycle.  I have been trying to look at my brothers deployment in a more positive light though; this will hopefully be his last one.  He will return home, finish out his contract with the Marine Corps, and come home. (yay!)

I can’t lie though.  I am totally bummed my brother has to go back.  I am bummed he leaves right before Jeb gets home.  Being pregnant doesn’t help with my emotions either.  I have kind of been super crazy recently.  One minute I’m up, then I am down and then I am just, well, blah.  Ugh.  Baby has been on the move a lot though recently, so it is hard to feel “blah” when a little life is moving around inside you.

kitty

This guy was the best thing I have ever found in a bush.

As of tomorrow I will be 20 weeks.  Half way!  I think I am starting to get a little bit more excited.  I am feeling movement quite regularly, and it is nice to finally be able to call baby “him” instead of “it”.