Several of you have been asking for pictures of the kitchen, but we haven't really been living at home (thanks mom and dad for housing us for a few days!) due to the smell of the fumes. We were finally able to move back home on Saturday and then realized several bare spots on the floor. So, the guy is coming back today because he's going to have put on another coat-eeehhh!

I was able to paint the kitchen (thanks to Sherwin Williams for their sale on Low-VOC paints) on Saturday with help from my mom-in-law while B worked on the garage with help from our dads-THANKS. I was also able to paint our enclosed side porch as well, so I feel good about that. Unfortunately, our kitchen is still in our dining room and encroaching on the rest of the house. This is not extactly how I planned things going. And now we are looking at being banned from the house again for another 5 days. With 6 days until our due date...I'm feeling a little anxious about things. I'm trying to stay calm because I know this is not good for the baby, but it's hard. I really don't know what's wrong with me and why I opened up this can of worms. It is what it is now....

With all of that being said, Byron and I are getting exciting about our little one arriving soon. I can't believe we went from weeks to days now. I'm feeling wobbly these days and things are definitely starting feel different. I was hanging out with my one-year old cousin today. She is such a happy baby and got me so excited to have my own child to kiss, snuggle, and squish anytime I want!

Kitchen Floor Update

This is the black stuff that covered the entire floor
(also seen in previous post)

So, our floor guy came on Monday to see if he can save the hardwood. There was a layer of black stuff and adhesive from the tile that he wouldn't be able to remove. It would gum up on ruin his sander. His advice was to just tile or put new hardwood over the old stuff. So, that night we went to the local big box store and purchase all the materials to tile. The next day we decided we wanted to see what it would actually take to remove the " black tar looking stuff" from the floor. I did a little internet research and it turns out that with a little Murphy's Oil and some elbow grease it wasn't the worst job in the world to remove it. It did take me about two days total to remove it and clean up the glue, but I did it! Byron was gracious enough to spend several hours pulling out a long line of staples we discovered. We called our floor guy and he's coming out tomorrow morning to take a look at it again. I just hope all that work was worth it! If he's able to save it we will actually be saving $300 by not having to tile it. Which is about 40% savings for us!

Oh, and I just got an e-coupon from Sherwin Williams for 25% off all of there low-VOC paints. BONUS. Our kitchen definitely needs a new paint job after all of this. By this time next week our kitchen is going to look fantastic! Riiight??

Now, just pray this baby hangs on for a couple more weeks so I can finish my project :)

After all the scraping and cleaning!

House Projects

Byron and Dad working hard

The garage is coming along. Much thanks to my dad for all of his help! Byron's father has also been helping with the electrical work (thanks!).

Destroyed Kitchen Floor

So yesterday I got a strange compulsion to rip up the kitchen floor. I HATE our floor with a passion. It's a floor made up of those cheap stick-on vinyl tiles. Many of them were pealing off and on hot humid days the pieces of tile would actually stick to your feet. Horrible. So, I decided it was time! While B and his dad were working on the electric for the garage I got out the shovel and started tearing up the floor. I guess I was a little loud in there...Byron was a little shocked when he came inside to see what is VERY pregnant wife was doing...We ended up finding three layers of tile. Two vinyl tile layers and one layer of linoleum. Not so terrible to rip out. We did find something we were not expecting, though-hardwood flooring! We were just going to re-tile the floor, but I called our floor guy and he's coming to do an estimate on the refinishing process. Yay! Oh, and I can't take all the credit. My wonderful hubby pulled up half of the old flooring for me when he was done with his project :)

My only fear is that it won't get all done before the baby comes. Not because 3-5 weeks isn't enough time, but because I'm afraid our little one will be coming earlier than that! I heard that when pregnant women start "scrubbing behind the stove" to beware because it may mean baby will be coming soon. 37 weeks is full-term...oh Little One, hang on a little longer!

Our life these days

This weeks marks our 20th week in the pregnancy! I'm just loving being pregnant right now. This second trimester has been soooo much better than the first. I'm still feeling quite pregnant, though.

Not-so fun things: ~I do have occasional pelvic bone pressure (which can be so bad I can hardly walk) if I have a really active day or I'm walking for a long period of time with no rest (i.e. running errands) this tends to happen. ~A couple of my sisters and I went to Old Navy for their $1 flip-flop sale over the weekend. We were waiting for 2 hours in a line that wrapped all around the store! I almost made it to check-out before I had to run outside and "empty my stomach." ~One thing that has been a struggle for me is the ever "expanding belly." I love looking pregnant, but I HATE figuring out what to wear. I'm very uncomfortable in maternity pants and most of my regular t-shirts and tanks don't fit me anymore. My aunt gave me bags of maternity clothes (which I've been so blessed with), but half of them are pants and long sleeves and it's getting warmer these days. I've been working on getting a few of my own maternity clothes here and there. While my sisters and I were at Old Navy I purchased two maternity dresses along with the flip-flops. One was on sale for only $9.99. I have a feeling I'm going to spend most of these summer months in skirts and dresses.


Fun things: Byron is getting his lunches made by me and his homemade meals again. I've even been able to start cooking more meat and my pasta sauce! ~The baby has been very active these past couple weeks. Some days I think he/she's doing gymnastics in there. I've also been able to see my belly move during kicking-weird. ~Oh, and the best part is that Byron has been able to feel the kicking-finally! ~Next week is our 21 week ultrasound. Can't wait! No, we aren't finding out the gender. I like the mystery. It's fun looking at boy and girl clothes and just wondering.

Byron has been working on the garage project. Tearing it down and rebuilding it, that is.
My father and his brother helped in the "destruction" of the old one. Now it's time to build a new one! I'm just praying it's completed by the time the baby comes :)

Please pray we rent out our apartment soon. It's been vacant for one month now. We have had a little interest. I actually showed it today to a really nice girl around my age. She seemed to like it...we'll see.