So mad I could scream....

So.... last night around 1am Shaun got sick... REALLY, REALLY sick. We spend the next 3 hours scrubbing and sanitizing every wall, and flour in the house... not to mention about 5 loads of laundry. That's how sick he got. Sigh.

On top of that, all the craziness woke Adelyn up and she was screaming because she had no idea what was going on and was so stinkin' tired. Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep a 1 year old away from a mess like that.... not fun. So, Adelyn and I bundled up at 2am and went to Superstore for ginger ale and more cleaning supplies. To be honest, it was nice to get away from the mess for a little while.

When we got back it was more scrubbing and laundry, then off to bed.

Now, to the part of the story that has had me in tears ever since this whole ordeal started..... my business laptop was the first thing that got "hit".... a short time later it gave us the black screen of death and a terrible beeping sound (kinda sounded like a smoke detector or something).... GRRRRR.............. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've already been stressing out about our photo business lately because we have about 7 shoots booked for January and the idea of being 30+ weeks pregnant during these shoots didn't thrill me... not to mention that I will have no time to edit all of these shoots. NOW, I have no computer to edit them on!!!!!!!!!!!! GRRRRRR again!

We just bought that computer in summer and it was a sacrifice to buy it in the first place, but we desperately needed to because our other computer has issues and won't run my editing software or videos or anything like that. So, I am extremely ticked off about that... but then I realized that all my business documents, appointments, phone numbers, email addresses, and back-up photos from previous shoots are (our were) all on that computer. AHHHHHH!!!!!!! This is the part when I feel like screaming! We also lost all of our personal photos from this entire year. That is a whole years worth of photos that I will never get back. I am beyond upset about this.

GAW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please understand that I am not mad at my hubby for being sick... just mad at the situation. I have poured everything I have into this business and now it is all gone.... I have no idea how I am going to re-create everything I lost or edit all the shoots we have coming up in January.... and I have no way of replacing all of the photos we've lost (personal and business).

Some Christmas.

Sewing Projects

I've been getting antsy lately about this new baby coming, and I've had a wonderful break from photo editing... so I decided to fill the time with some sewing projects!!!

When we had Adelyn, someone bought us a few of these First Years -Easy Wrap Swaddlers. It is one of the best inventions ever! You can swaddle your baby, without fussing over receiving blankets, etc. It has velcro tabs to keep it in place, and it worked wonders!
We have a pink one and a yellow one, but since we don't know what we are having this time around, pink might not work and I'd like to have more than one (since they have a tendency to get spit up, peed and pooped on. LOL)
SO....... I decided to get some funky fabric and make my own. (Yes they look a little boy-ish, but I think that turquoise can go either way, so who cares. lol.) What do ya think?


I also took my left over scraps and made a blanket out of them....

So, those projects are completed and I just finished the new crib bedding as well! Yay! I've had the fabric for that sitting around since WAY before this baby came into our lives, so it feels so nice to finally be done!!! I will post about that soon.

-T

Belly Comparison...

I was digging through some old stuff the other day and came across a disc full of pictures from when I was pregnant with Adelyn. I thought it would be fun to compare my baby belly this time, to when I was pregnant with her to see if there was much of a difference.
What do you think? Is there much difference?...... Minus the fact that I actually had time to do my hair back then :o) LOL.

14 weeks with Adelyn
(don't mind the puffy hair please!)

14 weeks with "Sprout"



20 weeks with Adelyn
20 weeks with "Sprout"

22 Weeks!

We are at 22 weeks already, can you believe it! The last month has been a blur! Crazy.... but awesome! Since we are snowed in today (not to mention the fact that we are all under the weather, especially Adelyn... poor thing!), I decided it would be a good day for blogging.

Here is some info about the baby now:

• The fetus reacts to loud sounds.
• Baby starts having a regular sleeping and waking rhythm.
• The mother's movements can wake her baby.
• Taste buds are forming on your baby's tongue.
• The baby is 28cm long (crown to heel) and weighs over 450 grams.
• The weekly weight gain has increased to around 70 grams.

Your baby is about 11 inches long and weighs in at about 1 pound. The eyebrows and eyelids are fully developed, and the fingernails cover the fingertips. Sounds from a conversation are loud enough to be heard by the fetus in the uterus. If you talk, read, or sing to your baby, it's reasonable to expect him or her to be able to hear you.

By this week, your waistline is definitely gone. The top of your uterus is now about 1 inch (3cm) above your bellybutton.

Just for fun...

A while back I showed you some mood boards of the color choices we were going with in our house. Well, we haven't gotten anywhere on re-doing our bedrooms upstairs yet... but this morning I decided to make a really rough digital sketch of what our bedroom will kinda look like once we are finished. Keep in mind, this is a SUPER rough sketch. :o) (Can you tell I was bored this morning!)

Here is the room the day we moved in... the original owners left the bed, curtains and bedspread behind. We kept the bed because we want to re-finish it.

Here is the room "after".... the bed will become black and the walls will be a blue-grey color. We already have the white curtains and the brown bedspread. All the trim and doors will be sanded down and painted white. The brown things on top of the dresser are Ikea boxes for extra storage.

Ultrasound Pics

So, like I mentioned in our last post, we had our ultrasound today! We didn't get to see much, but everything looked good from what we saw. This little munchkin crossed it's legs the whole time and wouldn't let us see the gender... so we get to have another surprise!

We won't find out any of the diagnostic stuff until next week sometime at our doc. appointment, but we're still believing that all is well with this munchkin. We didn't get the best pic's this time either, which was kinda disappointing, but it's all good.

Enjoy!

BABY'S HEAD AND SPINE
BABY'S FACE

BABY'S FOOT AND LEG
(to be honest, I have trouble seeing this one... so don't feel bad if you don't see it either! :o)

Ultrasound Today!

We have our ultrasound today and I am so excited to see our 2nd little one again! Eeek!
I'll be posting pics either later today or tomorrow.
If they can tell us what the sex of this baby is, that's awesome... if not we can wait. :o) We both kinda like the surprise element of it all.

Stay tuned for pics coming soon!

Random Stuff...

Since I have a wonderful week off from editing photo's, I thought I would spend more time this week blogging... however, I don't have much to blog about. lol! So, this may be boring to some of you, but i'm blogging about random stuff today.

We have an ultrasound on Wednesday, and I am SOOO excited to see our little 'sprout' again. :o) We aren't sure whether we will find out the sex or not, but we have 2 days to decide. We kept it a surprise with Adelyn, and that was really fun... however this time I think I am leaning more towards finding out. We will see what happens I guess... maybe baby won't even co-operate. :o) I can't believe we are 19.5 weeks already! It is going by pretty quickly. I can only feel baby moving once or twice a day, so I'm praying that will increase soon. Adelyn was moving a whole lot more at this point in pregnancy... but maybe this little one is just lazy. :o)

I've started decorating for Christmas and am hoping to put the tree up soon... maybe even today! Shaun thinks that it is ridiculously early, but my theory is the earlier you do it, the longer it lasts. I will post some pictures soon of all the decorations.

Speaking of Christmas decorations, I was seriously bummed out when we went to Wal-mart to buy some new decorations. They have tons of gorgeous stuff this year, however I really wanted a nice nativity set to put on our mantel and there was only 2 dinky ones to choose from. Lame. Half the store is full of Christmas decor, and yet it is all Santa Claus and snowmen.... nothing to do with Jesus' birth which is the real reason for this wonderful season. Sigh.

18 Weeks!

Today we are 18 weeks pregnant! Yay! I can't believe how fast this pregnancy is going lately. This little munchkin is starting to wiggle more often, it is so cool to feel a precious little person dancing around in there again! It is starting to feel more and more real!!!


Here's some info on were "sprout" is at now:
Your baby is approximately 6 inches/ 14.2 centimetres long from crown to rump and she weighs about 7 ounces/ 190 grams. Her chest moves up and down to mimic breathing but she's not taking in air, only amniotic fluid.

A mid-pregnancy ultrasound scan is often done sometime in the second trimester (usually between 18 and 22 weeks) to assess fetal growth and development, screen for certain birth defects, check the placenta and umbilical cord and determine whether the gestational age is accurate. During this scan, you might see your baby kick, flex, reach, roll, or even suck her thumb. Bring your partner along, and whether or not he's able to accompany you, make sure you ask for printouts of the baby in various poses.

Church/Life Woes...

I think I am in the middle of a identity crisis... sigh. I've been dealing with a lot of things lately that have me totally confused about what to do next. Since no one really reads this blog, I think I'm pretty safe sharing these things here... so I will use this as a way to get these thoughts out of my head and if someone reads it great... if not, that's fine.

What does "church" mean to you? Of course it's a place where you go and worship God and hear great preaching, etc... but isn't church supposed to be more than that? Isn't church supposed to go beyond the four walls and out into the world and people's everyday lives... not just something for Sunday morning? I am not really seeing that in our church lately.

I have had it up to my eyeballs with church clicks! It is no wonder to me that the world thinks badly of the church... church people are worse than high school students. How is someone supposed to feel like they belong to a church family, when people can't take the time to acknowledge your existence? I can't even count how many church functions, mom's group things, birthday party's, bridal shower's, playgroups, and lady's events I have not even known about until after the fact. As a matter on fact, the only time I have been asked to attend something in our church is when they needed a sound person.

Out of the blue one day I got a call from a girl that I have not seen or talked to in 2 years inviting my daughter and I over to her house to do some crafts with her kids who are about the same age. I immediately thought how funny it was that people I see every Sunday at my own church couldn't give us a second thought when it comes to inviting us to their kids birthday parties, or over for playdates, etc. but this girl thought of us out of no where and invited us over. I could not care less when I am not invited to something, but when my daughter, who is the same age as all the little kids in our church, is forgotten time and time again I get really mad.

Sorry for my rant. I am just fed up big time with people in churches pretending that they are mega Christians, but don't act any more mature than a sixteen-year-old who doesn't want to be someones friend because it's just not cool to do so.

Baby Scare...

Ok, so yesterday I went to the doctor's for something totally not pregnancy related and on my way there I thought "Hmmm.... I hope he listens to the heartbeat again today!" I just love that sound and was so looking forward to hearing it again. Sure enough my doc decided to check it. Yay!

Well, after 10 minutes of trying to find it, we heard nothing. WHAT!!!!???
Since we had heard the baby's heartbeat last week and it sounded awesome and he/she was wiggling around kicking the doppler, it never crossed my mind that we wouldn't be able to find it just a week later. Sigh.

My doctor started saying things like "have you had any bleeding?" and "how many miscarriages have you had previously?" etc.... I started to panic slightly and then burst into tears right there in the Dr.'s office. He said that he would try and get me in for an urgent ultrasound and then he prayed with me before I left.

I drove home and told Shaun about what had happened. We were both pretty upset about it and weren't sure how to feel. Sigh, another huge faith test. Having gone through this before 4 other times and only having a good outcome once, it was hard to be positive and to put our faith into action. I must admit, I have failed at the faith thing several times in the past.

Today was our ultrasound.... and after spending the entire morning in tears, I suddenly felt a strange peace as we were driving there.
We got in right away... the lady turned on the monitor and said "There's your baby..."
I was so afraid to look, because I didn't want to see a baby there with no heartbeat. Then she said, "...and there's the heart, beating away!" HUGE SIGH OF RELIEF!

The baby was perfect. Everything looked fantastic and his/her little heart was beating away at 154 bpm!!!! He/she was so squirmy that the ultrasound tech could barely get good pictures. :o)

How awesome is God!!!

Yay!!!!

I haven't blogged here since July... I know, lazy blogger. Sorry! We've been busy with everything but our own lives, so we've really had nothing to blog about.... until now!

Today I am announcing something that I have kept a secret for a long time. I am nearly 15 weeks pregnant and SOOOOOOOO excited to be a mommy for the second time around! We were waiting until we heard this little one's heartbeat before we told the world (or anyone for that matter)... today we heard it! A strong little thump, thump, thump! What a beautiful sound!!

We are a week into our second trimester, and perhaps I will share a little bit about why we waited to long to share this exciting news some other time... but for now, I am enjoying my new little bundle!!!

I am also about %85 sure that I can feel some little movements from time to time! Yay!!!!!!!!!!

Basement!

We have started the basement reno's this week!! Yipee! It's already been quite the adventure! Everywhere I turn around there is another problem to solve and another cost associated. :o) Sigh.
Oh well. That's part of the fun, right!?

We painted the livingroom upstairs. I'll be posting pics of that soon. I just need to find an ounce of time.

:o)
-T

Electrical Panel Upgrade

One of problems with buying an old house is that some very important things may need upgrading from time to time... i.e. furnaces, electrical service, plumbing etc. Sigh....
Although, we lucked out and found a great house that needed little upgrading, one of the requirements for buying our house was that we had to upgrade the electrical service from 70w to 100w within 60 days of our possession date.

This is definitely a job better left to professionals.... and since I didn't have a hand in any of this all I can do it post the pictures :o)

This is the old 70w service that we had when we first moved in. It was located beside the back door of the house:

This is the new panel. They had to move it down to the basement into the room that will become my photography office once our basement reno's are through. Although there is nothing visually appealing about an electrical panel, it is at least an improvement!

Wonderful Girlyness!!

I'm so excited to be able to blog about some lovely girlyness today! We have had this bedding for a while now, but are finally able to use it since our 16 month old little girl has made a complete transition from the crib to a big girl bed! She is currently sleeping in the 2nd upstiars bedroom (which was her nursery). Over the summer we hope to get her new 'big girl room' downstairs ready and she will eventually transition into that room. Because this won't be her room for too much longer we will not be painting it quite yet.... so for now you will have to enjoy this pink, brown, and green lovelyness! :o)


Here are the blankets that we are using for now. They match wonderfully with the other bedding. There is a comforter that goes with this bedding, but we won't be using it until she is big enough for a twin bed.

This is the main pillow, it's pink on one side and brown on the other. Wonderful! :o)

These are the lovely sheets that we will be using on her twin bed once she is big enough. They are so sweet and give the room that wonderful little pop of green!

Throw pillows... too cute!

This has got to be the cutest rug I have ever seen, and it matches everything so perfectly!!!

Flower lights from IKEA. They will be hung on the walls once they are painted. They are a perfect girly addition to the room. They are also very wonderful because they provide a lot of light, but little kids can't burn themselves on the bulbs because they are hidden!

Every little girl deserves a pretty pink flower in her bedroom. We scored this adorable flower from the local dollar store for 1 buck! Can't beat that!
I loved this color scheme so much we actually used most of these items for our daughters 1st birthday party back in February! I am so happy with her 'big girl bedding' and her birthday party decor. Nothing beats getting twice the bang for your buck!!!

Projects On The Go

Just wanted to give you all a quick update and a glimps of what's to come soon...
We have built the chunk of fence that was missing from the backyard, all that is left to build is a gate and then painting it to match the existing fence. Fence pics will be up shortly!!!
I'm hoping to add some plant to the backyard at some point this summer, so check back for that too!

As for the inside of the house...
-We have had the electrical panel upgraded recently. I'll blog about that soon as well.
-We have stripped down most of the original wood trim upstairs and have started to paint it a gorgeous white.

We will hopefully be getting to some of the bigger projects within the next few weeks, so keep checking back!!!

Tiles, tiles, tiles!!!!!

Tile pictures are finally here! Yipee!

The upstairs bathroom had never been shower proof... in other words, you had to make sure you didn't spray the the wall since there were no tiles or backsplash of any sort.

Without further ado, here are some easy steps to tiling a shower:

1. Have a plan. Make sure you know exactly what you want before you start. Have all of your tiles, thinset, grout and tools ready and at hand. Make sure you have enough tiles to complete the job (you can always return extra's later, so it's better to have too many instead of not enough!)

2.  Mix your thinset and start to trowel it on a few rows at a time with a notched trowel. Spread it evenly. 

3.  Set a tile into the thinset by twisting it slightly. Remove the tile to make sure you have good coverage on the back. Put the tile back on the wall and keep setting tiles using spacers in between.

4. Continue to install the tiles one row at a time until you reach the top of the shower stall. Measure up from the top of the last row. Mark a line with a level as a guide for the next row.

5. Carefully use a tile cutter to cut any tiles that need trimming. We had a window right in the way of the shower, so we had to carefully cut a tile to fit in that space. 

6. Once you have tiled to the hight you prefer, let the tile set for 24-48 hours. 

7. Grout the tile. Mix up your grout and use a sponge float to smooth it into the joints. After 30-40 minutes you want to wipe the excess grout with a damp sponge in a circular motion. Continue wiping the tiles down until the tile is clear of all grout. 

8. Let the grout cure for at least 24 hours. Then caulk all the edges of the tile. 

Voila! That's all there is to it.

Aren't the tiles gorgeous!!!! Thanks to my wonderful father-in-law who taught us how to do it! Him and Shaun did an awesome job!

Better bathroom pics...

Ok, so I realize you might not see much of a difference between the "before and after's" of the bathroom... so I am putting up bigger pictures of the after's and a better explanation of what we've done.... Enjoy!

Here was the mood board of colors for the upstairs bath:

The bathroom was already sporting the red wall paneling when we moved in, so instead of ripping it all off we decided to work with it. (It might eventually go, but for now it's staying.... ps. I have a small fear of what it hiding behind it. :o) We tried to match the red as well as we could, it was near impossible finding a red paint that worked. In fact we had to buy 3 different colors to finally get this color.... 

1st can was not mixed well by the lovely young Wal-mart guy that said "I've NEVER EVER mixed the wrong color, so don't worry!" Bahaha... sure. It was pink... enough said. 

2nd can turned out pink as well. I was trying to get latex paint instead of oil based, but apparently you can't get that color in latex because it won't get dark enough. Sigh.

3rd can was as close as we were gonna get... after 4 coats of stinky oil based paint. :o) 

Thanks honey. :o)

We painted the top half of the bathroom a lovely soft tan color. We will use the same color in the kitchen and hall way. All the trim, doors and windows in this house are wood, and although they are in really awesome condition and have been well taken care of (about 6 thousand coats of varnish to keep them nice and shinny!), we have decided to paint them all white. We also added chair rail to the wall... we needed something to separate the 2 wall colors and create a more finished look. 

Once the trim, and chair rail were in and painted white, the mirror looked sad in comparison. I had originally wanted to put in a new mirror, but quickly realized it wouldn't fit... so I had to think of a plan B. We had some left over trim from a project at our old house, so I framed the existing bathroom mirror with the trim to help it flow with the rest of the bathroom. 

We also added this lovely new light fixture. I was a bugger to put up... but it is definitely an improvement to the one that was there before!

Like I said in the last post, the only thing left to do is replace the linoluem. Here is the one that we have decided to go with.... it is a lot darker in real life than in this picture. 

I just realized I haven't shown the tiles yet, so that post will come tomorrow... I promise!