Friday, September 26, 2008

New Haircut and Baby Belly


So I have had several people say they don't believe that I have a belly and think I'm not taking care of myself. Now why on earth would a mommy to 3 who is mid hair bow business, moving, remodeling, homeschooling, and so much more not take care of herself?? HaHa! No just kidding one thing about the baby is he definitely LOVE when I eat! The doctor's scale is a not so gentle reminder of that each week when I show up to get my progesterone shot and have gained yet another pound or 2. Let's just say I gained 40 pounds with Caroline and I am farther ahead in ponders per week than I was with her. Oh my! I definitely can tell a difference in how I am carrying him. He is much lower and farther out, just like my doctor said he should be at #4. I feel so much farther along just in the fact in how hard it is to bend over and do things that normally don't bother me until the very end. I think I am 25 weeks in that picture? I also included a photo of my new haircut with bangs. I haven't had bangs since probably middle school.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

New Layouts

So I am finally posting my layouts that I did with twelvefridays' kit. This months kit was absolutely adorable with all the school supplies and primary colored papers. Too cute! So here they are......

Hopefully I will get the pictures from Emma's invitation uploaded later on today! We'll see how the day plays out though!!!

Monday, September 22, 2008

And It Just Gets More Busy!

So yet another week of silly nothings to the world but to us it's head spinning! Nathan left today for a business trip and the contractor began work on the basement of our new house! Yeah...for the basement not hubby leaving! My Grandma is coming tomorrow to help start packing. I seriously am thinking where on earth am I going to put these packed boxes until we actually move? Oh my!

Caroline said her first three word sentence today. The girls had each said "Bless You Mommy" after I had sneezed. Caroline then piped in and said the same phrase. How cute...even though they were supposed to be sleeping during naptime when I heard all three peanuts bless me from the other room! LOL!

We are trying to get ready for Emma's birthday party as well as everything else. She is having a pumpkin party this year and we are having it a local pumpkin patch. Nathan made the most adorable photo card invitations. I will post them as well as a mini photo shoot that I did for her birthday invites. I just have to get a few minutes to myself to get them off my camera......easier said than done! So off to the craziness of the next month of our lives! It's funny to say that getting into the Holidays at the very end of my pregnancy will be so nice and a lot less stressful. So when do you ever hear: Holidays and End of Pregnancy in the same sentence with less stress??? Yep...moving and remodeling is crazy but so exciting! :D

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Busy Week.....Again!

Well I had not updated in a few days because there really is nothing big to share. The week has been full with home school and hair bows like normal. The business has picked up which is wonderful for the pocketbook but bad for time management. Oh how my house longs for me to spend some one on one time with it cleaning! :D

Speaking of houses.....we close on the new house tomorrow! We will officially be first time home owners! We get full possession of the house on October 6th, but the homeowners are allowing our contractor to begin work on the basement and new furnace starting this Monday! The whole remodel is supposed to take us 3 weeks which is great because we need to be out of here and in there by November 1st. It's going to be a crazy next month and a half!

We did have an OB appointment this week. he said that he was very happy with my progress seeing the blood pressure/heart issues ans well as the contraction/preterm labor. Yeah for baby and me! He said that we are measuring right at 26 weeks so everything looks great! It seems so weird that we are already starting our "2-week" doctor's visits! WOW!

Well I need to get myself in bed. The girls are staying the night with a friend tonight so I actually might get to sleep a little longer tomorrow. However since the other girls don't have school tomorrow, but we were still planning on it, we will be doing school tomorrow evening after we get done with the new house.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Our New House!

Okay, so I have promised long enough. I will try and walk you through the pictures of our new house, but as always...the pictures just don't do the house justice. Just a reminder that the house when finished will be 6 bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths and over 3600 square feet! Now, remember that all of these are the BEFORE photos. I will explain the remodeling as we go but as a general rule all the walls will have the wallpaper removed and plaster patch so the walls will be ready for paint. The floors on the first floor will have the carpets removed and the hardwood floors will be refinshed. The floors upstairs will get new carpet. Also all the ceilings will be re -drywalled/plastered where needed. Also not pictured is the walk-up attic. We will be adding a master bedroom suit in it with a bedroom, bath, walk-in closet, and nursery with french doors of our bedroom. So...here it is!

BACK PORCH

This room will just have the floors replaced with tile and the ceilings will be re-drywalled. This will become my mud-room where we have shelves for shoes and hooks for coats.



KITCHEN

So the first photo is of the entry way into the kitchen and looking in the back of the photo is another small back porch. The next photo is of the enrty into the kitchen form this entry way/porch. The rest of the photos show the kitchen. The 2 doors shown are of the butler's stairs both to the upstairs and to the basement. Since the kitchen is really small we will be taking the wall out between that entryway and the kitchen to enlarge it. The kitchen will get new floors and paint as well. This is one of the large projects.





SCRAPBOOKING ROOM

This is originally the Library of the house. Notice the wall with complete build-in's (second photo.) Wont those be great for all my scrapbooking supplies? This will also serve as our school room for the girls. Depending on how it all sets up we might end up putting the school room upstairs in an extra bedroom? This room just needs the wallpaper off and new paint. The floors in here are a beautiful in-layed wood with a pattern along the edges.



DOWNSTAIRS HALF BATH

This room was recently re-done so we will not be doing any work in here.

This is the swinging stained glass door between the breakfast room/kitchen and the dining room.

BREAKFAST ROOM

This room will just need the wall paper off and new paint.



FORMAL DINING ROOM

This room is one of the main rooms of the first floor which all have beautiful woodwork. The beams that you see on the ceiling go through out these rooms. You can see the Breakfast Room beyond. In this room of course those lovely green carpets will be coming up and the hardwood floors underneath will be refinished. The wallpaper will be removed and new paint will be done.


The chandelier you see pictured here has a story behind it. The homeowner said that when he bought the hose 30 years ago the prior owner said that the light was designed by one of the students of Tiffany's and the lights were worth let's just say a pretty penny. Nathan and I were laughing because we both thought the chandelier and the 4 matching lamps around it were as ugly as can be and would be a definite change out during the remodel. Hmmm..... guess not! Well, at least until we get them appraised. If they are worth that much, ebay here we come!

FRONT ENTRY

This is one of the 2 sides of the front entry. The front has the cast iron clothes hooks on the wall, built-in wood bench, mirror, and umbrella basket. Each side looks like the photo below.

LIVING ROOM/FOYER

Basically these 2 rooms run the length of the house. I tried to picture it here but it doesn't really show. They are 2 separate rooms but are all still very open. Once again these rooms have tons of beautiful woodwork. The walls will have the wallpaper removed and new paint and the carpets will be removed and the hardwoods refinished.




The funny thing about this piano is that each time we tour the house Nathan remarks that someday we'll have our own baby grand in that same spot. Well the other day while touring the house again the homeowner said to Nathan "See that piano there?" Nathan said o course and commented about it being an antique. The man said "Well you can have it, it saves me from moving it!" Nathan was like a kid on Christmas morning!
BOTTOM OF UP STAIRCASE/STAIRS INTO BASEMENT





HALLWAY AT TOP OF STAIRS

ENTRANCE TO BUTLER STAIRS ( at top of stairway) MADDELYN/EMMA'S ROOM

Even though we have extra bedrooms I would like them to still share a room with their bunk beds. This room will get the wall paper removed, new paint, and new carpet.

Doorway to Caroline's room from the girls' room.

CAROLINE'S ROOM
This room of course adjoins with the girls' but it also has an entrance from the hallway. The extra little room/space int he back will have curtains hung form it making it more private. It will then either have hooks around the bottom of it for dress-up clothes and racks for dress up shoes with a mirror...... or..... bookshelves, books, and comfy lounge chairs. So it will either be a dress-up room or reading room for all three girls. This room also gets paper removed, paint, and carpet. GUEST ROOM (old master bedroom)

Since we will be adding a master bedroom suit on the 3rd floor (walk-up attic) we will be using this as a guest room. this room will get the paper of, paint, and carpet.




HALLWAY LINEN CLOSET BOY ROOM

This room will eventually be the baby's when he is a bit older. While he is still nursing I will have him in a small nursery off of our master in the attic. this room gets paper off, carpet, and paint. As you can see this room has an entry to the 2nd story back porch. this porch as to have some major drywalling and new windows and in that process we will be turning it to my laundry room.



EXTRA BEDROOM

We're not for sure what this room will be yet. It could be more of a playroom, school room, ??? This room obviously gets the paper off, paint, and carpet, but it also gets the ceiling repaired. This room also has a n entrance to that back porch. This half of that porch will be made into a playroom while that other half is the laundry room. it will be 2 separate rooms. this room also has a closet with just a sink in it? Weird, so it's coming out and making another closet.



2ND STORY BACK PORCH

This is the porch that is having a major re-haul done to it. As you can see where the two rooms will be devided. Besides the drywall, ceilings, paint and new windows (not as many), the playroom will have carpet and the laundry room tile floors.
UPSTIARS FULL BATH

This is the only room at this time not being remodeled. the girls are so excited to be sharing a PINK bathroom...even thoguh mommy thinks it is as ugly as can be! The bath does have a seperate shower and tub.



BASEMENT

When you come down the basement steps this is what you see. There is a landing type room with a closet and a full bath. the bath below photoed will of course need a new sink and stand-up shower as well as paint and tile removed form the walls. The whole "finished" basement will get new plaster/paint and a GOOD scrubing!

After the landing there is about 4 more steps that leads down into this huge room! This room Nathan calls the ballroom and I call the speakeasy! You'd never guess this was in the basement! So this room also needs new drywall, paint, and a good scrubbing.
The girls were entertaining themselves in a toy basket that the home owner was so kind enough to let them play with while we toured the house. There is a driveway between the back of the house/garae and the yard. It will need a good touch with a green thumb next spring. You can see some pretty landscaping but it is all grown over. There is also a old free standing brick grill outback.
GARAGE
The garage is a 2-car and it also has an extra space along the side to store yard equipmnet. There is a skylight in the garage as well.
BACK OF HOUSE