DIY Kenny

So.  This is happening.

We're in weekend three of ye' old bathroom remodel.  I miss my husband.  

He's taken down white tile (and walls) so that he can put up new (walls and) white tile.  It's like HGTV right in my own house.

Space

That is a king-sized bed.  It improves the quality of our life by a factor of 10 or so.  We finally have room for the two adults, two pups and one baby who sleep in our bed, and it's just lovely.

A crib was one of the first things we got when we began the nesting process.  I really thought you needed a crib for a baby.  Who knew?  When he was younger we did transfer him to the crib a few times.  Grandmas love to try to get a baby to sleep in a crib.  They've each been successful a time or two.  I very much like our cuddling time though.  And I like the amount of sleep I get.

The king-sized bed is part of our bedroom makeover.  We decorated every other room in the house before Eli showed up.  We hadn't been able to decide what to do with the room.  Finally, a few weeks ago we decided to sell all of the existing furniture (mostly antiques with sustained value) and buy crap from Ikea (sure to be worth half what we paid for it in a year).  The trade down in furniture has helped to fund the makeover and Ikea stuff is really more functional and space efficient.

I've always hated white walls, but Kenny came up with this idea.

White walls with a mint green ceiling.  It's ridiculously peaceful.  

The condition of my space is very important to me.  I can't relax if things are cluttered.  In the process of redecorating we've managed to clean out everything in the bedroom, and it makes me so happy.  A few months ago everything at home was a mess and work was fairly calm.  For months, baby juggling left no time for getting the laundry done, much less keeping anything organized.  We've finally figured out how to occasionally accomplish things around the house (or Eli has gotten to an age where it has become possible).  Right now work is chaotic and home is very smooth.  Maybe I should clean out my cube.  

A brief tour

There is much evidence of approaching babyness around our bedroom. Note the elephant humidifier purchased for baby's room that may never actually end up in baby's room.

And here's a picture of the headboard we finally finished. This is a project that had been on our to do list for months and really ought to have triggered labor upon its completion. Our bed looks kind of gaudy here, but I don't think the colors look this way in person. I hope not at least.

This is where baby will sleep (courtesy of Kenny's cousin) in the beginning.

This is Kenny testing the new glider with our usual stand-in baby.

And these are our bags packed for the hospital. Items range from pillows to electronics, powdered gatorade and tennis balls. It's kind of a hard trip to pack for, you know?

And this was the belly at 38 weeks. See? Plenty big enough for a fully grown baby to come out of it right NOW.

Workplace hyjinx

So, last Friday I was a bit bummed. I had to wear a suit (or what I classify as close-enough-to-a-suit-I’m-too-big-for-real-clothes) instead of the usual jeans casual. I had a client meeting scheduled for 4:00 and client meetings=you have to dress up. My boss told me that our receptionist would call when the client got there and asked me to print off a bunch of stuff for the meeting in the meantime. I walked down to the meeting with her, past what I did not realize at the time were all empty desks. When we got to the room I thought it odd that the door was shut.Seemed kind of rude to have our client all shut up in the room by himself. I opened the door and was greeted by my entire office shouting “surprise,” a clothesline full of onesies, and a table full of cupcakes and falafel (from my favorite falafel place). Oh, and a Kenny. The Kenny part really threw me off much as Megan’s appearance at my birthday last year threw me off. I have a hard time with people being in the wrong context. I said, “you’re not supposed to be here” and kept asking him why/how he was. There was a flipchart full of boy names since my coworkers all know that yes, we have girl names figured out but can’t agree on a single boy name. They came up with many winners including Moonshine and “The Situation.” We had sparkling cider (or champagne if you happened to not be pregnant). I thought the onesies on the clothesline were my present and was surprised when they handed me a big gift bag full of baby bathing paraphernalia and a Babies R Us gift card. I introduced Kenny to each and every one of my coworkers. I think it’s good for him to have a face to go with the names he hears about all the time. Overall, I would describe the experience as awesome.

In related news, I am now over 37 weeks pregnant. That means the baby is full term (though the due date is not until Mardi Gras) and is basically just freeloading and trying to get fatter right now. At my midwife appointment last night I found out I had gained a centimeter and lost and pound in the last week. My scientific explanation for this is that the baby is eating my fat. To be on the safe side, I have been eating pretty much non-stop today. I’ve had a bagel, bowl of oatmeal, protein bar, manicotti, and a Hershey kiss so far today—and we’re really just 6 or 7 hours into the day. None of the pictures this week were good, so you get this one:

We finished most of our household projects this last weekend. It’s as if we’re finally ready for that housewarming party we were going to have. Also, you just really can’t have a baby when there are pictures that need to be hung. I mean, I’m sure you can try. I just know it’s a bad idea. We are officially allowed to have the baby after we make and hang our headboard this weekend and get onsite recycling set up. Below is a picture of Kenny’s masterpiece. I talked him out of making himself crazy and trying to hang them in straight lines. The idea is that we try to have at least one picture of all of our family members and friends. This is how baby will remember who each of you are.

The theme is..Swedish

In other words, the nursery is about 75% from Ikea. We finished putting together the nursery last night. The room just makes me smile when I'm in it.

In this picture you'll see our previously featured crib. I contacted the designer, retailer, and manufacturer of said crib to find a mattress that was not too small and thus hazardous (as the first one we got was). I finally got a voicemail last night from the manufacturer who said that the (Target) crib is designed to be upscale and therefore needs and upscale mattress. She suggested I try Babies R Us to find said upscale mattress. Oddly, we went to Babies R Us two days ago and brought home what we determined to be the largest mattress there after taking each one out and comparing them to each other. We bought the fattest mattress pad we could find and voila! A crib that will hopefully not kill our baby.

Also featured in this picture are a set of blocks glued together by Megan to read Kodner Bun in the Oven and baby's first piece of Packer propaganda--a Packer piggy bank courtesy of his/her grandparents of course. The white dresser will be a changing table once we get a changing pad to put on it.


In the picture below, you will see curtains that feature frogs, elephants, and I think mice dressed in clothes. Also, we've installed a picture ledge which is temporarily housing artwork abandoned by our ex (deadbeat) tenant.

And me at 30 weeks in a festive red scarf since we're having a holiday party at work today. I'm not sure I can really tell a difference from week to week now. I think once the belly is a certain size it just keeps being big.

Green

As an anniversary present to us last Wednesday, Kenny’s company decided they’d take away his job. I must say, I have gotten better anniversary presents. As crappy as the timing is, I do think this will all be for the best though, and he’ll get a job he loves. Let us know if you hear of anybody who needs a fabulous graphic designer...

Because of the unfortunateness, Kenny was home on Friday to help my mom paint the nursery. I was terrified that the color was going to end up being too neon, but I think it turned out lovely. It may even appear neon-ish in these pictures, but that’s just the camera’s fault.

On Saturday, we hung these fun lights which provide the only overhead lighting in the room. The grown-up bed will have to stay for a year or so because we'll continue to need a place for guests to sleep. Afterall, somebody is going to need to take care of that baby.

Last night we assembled the crib. Kenny and I did it together and I don't think anybody called anybody names or got up and stormed off. It was quite the success. The quilt was made for me by my grandma when I was a wee one. Of course we had to test out the sturdiness of the bed with a series of puppy tests. We tried to put Jack in the bed. That lasted .5 seconds. He jumped out with terror almost breaking himself the moment his feet touched the mattress. Leroy, on the other hand, was quite content and might have stayed all night if we had let him.

And whoops. Looks like I'm wearing this shirt again for the 3rd or 4th time in these pictures. Apparently it is a very Tuesday shirt. This is what 28 weeks (definitely 3rd trimester) looks like on Emo. I can still see my feet and don't quite understand how one gets to the point where they can't. So many things to still look forward to. Baby has become quite movey lately. As I am writing this it feels like somebody is running on an eliptical inside my belly. I also continue to confuse the kicking with tummy growling causing me to think I'm hungry. Hmm.

The weekend's accomplishments

While we were looking for a home to buy, we considered several severe fixer uppers (i.e. they needed new roofs, walls, electricity and plumbing). After 5 months of moving into a place that really had no problems, I now understand that we are not the sort of people who can do that.

Exhibit A: We found this mid-century dresser at a second-hand store to use as a TV stand. It was what I believe my grandma would have called baby-shit yellow in color and had the world's ugliest hardware. Kenny has been slowly, and I mean slowly, refinishing this on our porch for more than the last 3 months. I of course would have helped had I not been in my delicate condition. I do think he did a wonderful job.

Exhbit B: We got on this big mid-century kick (our parents love that term since it also applies to them) and bought these lovely chairs off of craigslist. They had the original cushions on them. Apparently foam is not meant to last 50 years. I would find powder of said foam below both these chairs and our dining room chairs. My mother had offered to buy me a cruise ticket for my birthday last year. We ran out of times when we could go, so I asked her to make me new cushions instead. I think she should quit teaching and take up cushion making full time.

And Exhibit C: Our still not complete dining room. It is mostly complete. Kenny finished recovering all of the chairs this weekend. I would have helped, but I lack the patience and perfection threshold that Kenny has. I somehow managed to not capture the chandelier in this photo, but you've seen it. All that we have left is for Kenny to make me a pretty picture for the wall.

I was in charge of switching out winter/summer/too small clothes and emptying out the future baby's room this weekend. There just really aren't any pictures to go along with that. Also, I have been working on one other rather taxing project:

A picture with a head for once because my mommy asked for one. I can now see it is time for a haircut. Today I am 22 weeks. Because I don't quite understand how 40 weeks fit into 9 months, I looked it up online today and was shocked to discover that I am now in my 6th month. When did that happen and when did my belly get so horizontal? I also read that my belly button might pop out any day now. Am terrified.

HGKenny&Emo

About a month before this whole pregnancy thing started, we bought a condo. Between our travels and having visitors in town over the summer, we've been trying to sneak in bits of home improving/nesting. Our first step was to buy furniture. I've shown you our dining room table before. My coworker's antique dealing boyfriend found these lovely chairs for us on Ebay.

The seats were last covered during Thanksgiving weekend in 1983. I know this because the people that did it dated and signed their work. The frabric isn't really our style. After at least 6 trips to fabric stores and several hours of looking for fabric online, I was sitting in the car with Kenny before going into Jo-Ann this weekend. I told him, "Let's pretend this is the only fabric store left on earth and we have to pick something out here." I needed to move on with my life. We picked out a fabric that is marketed for outerwear. Kenny is in charge of the recovering process because he is better at this sort of detail, patience-requiring work than I am. The first chair only took him about an hour:

Because he's taking over my TV to watch the Cardinals in the playoffs this week, he has promised to simultaneously complete the other 5 chairs.

While some friends were visiting a few weeks ago, I asked Kenny to hold up this light fixture in the dining room (where there used to be a recessed light) so we could see if it would work. He started installing it, and though I feared it was a bit rude to install light fixtures while you have friends over, I did not stop him for fear it would otherwise never get done. A good six or so years ago, Megan, Molly and I took a trip to Chicago at the beginning of winter break in college. We made the pilgrimage to Ikea and bought everything in site. I thought my mom might like this lovely light fixture. I was wrong.

It makes our dining room much more dining room like and cozy I think. I'm hoping we will finish up some major projects this weekend ahead of our next wave of visitors/travels, and I'll try to do a before and after thing for all of the rooms.

And for the sake of consistency, here is this week's (21) belly picture. I never know what to do with my hands.

Spontaneous Update, Part 1

1. We bought that condo and moved into it and all. It’s lovely.
2. I had no idea I wanted a second bathroom. In fact, when I found out our realtor had been screening for 2 bathrooms I was kind of mad. I grew up in a 3 bedroom, 1.5 bathroom house that for the first 12ish years of my life had 4 people living in it. But! Kenny is a bathroom hog, and not until I had my own bathroom did I realize all of the juggling I did to make the most of the 5 minutes of free sink/mirror time that was allotted to me each day while we were sharing one. I now have time to do things like moisturize and cut my toenails.
3. We got a dining room table off Craigslist. The previous owner said in her ad that she wanted it to go to a good home. I promptly wrote her my story and told her about the aluminum foil covered mess we’ve been serving people dinner on for years. She let me have it for $50 less than somebody else who responded because she was that horrified by the foil! See the picture below. I don't know why the pictures is so small. It refuses to be larger.
4. I probably shouldn’t write this because it will probably jinx us. Leroy is like a brand new puppy in the new place. He used to pee in his crate every day and is now down to about 1 in 10 days. Our bedroom does unfortunately face East and he is up searching for slippers (and sometimes even shoes that somebody wore for her graduations and wedding!) at first light. Believe it or not, first light is at like 5:00 am. I had no idea the sun came up that early.
5. Jack is his usual cuddly self. Is pleased to have the master bedroom in the back of the home away from noise and things that might otherwise disturb his naps.

Important things.

1. We are buying a HOME. I’m pretty sure anybody who reads this blog (by the way, MS Word is way behind the times as it believes “blog” to not be a word) already knows this, but I can’t just not mention it because it is currently consuming my life. It’s a condo in Uptown which is near the lake, the train, and as the real estate ads always mention—a Borders and one day a Target. I lived near a coming Target for two years. That Target promptly arrived two years after I moved out of the neighborhood. I spend 3 out of every 4 hours awake thinking about what colors I shall paint it. Kenny must hate me because he waited until last night to tell me about this website. In retribution I plan to drag him to no fewer than 9 stores this weekend in search of the perfect bedspread.
2. I’m finally Excedrin broken. I always feared this day would come. I would sometimes cry when I imagined what it would be like. I get a lot of headaches—probably 10 a month. I’ve always treated Excedrin with the restraint and respect it deserved. For my last 5 or so headaches it’s been deadening them halfway and then allowing them to come back in full force. Life as I know it may be over.