My 24 Week Afterthought

I know it's absolutely horrible of me to think of this pregnancy and baby as an afterthought, but to be honest, that's about what it is right now. There are times I even forget that I'm pregnant (then I walk by a mirror....reality check). Of course I don't know how that could be when my dear husband reminds me multiple times a day that "holy crap, you have a baby in there!" The remarkable part about it is that he's still alive to remind me at all. Especially after one of our recent trips to my parent's house in the miserable, freezing cold, slushy winter, when we passed a dairy farm and I (obviously not thinking) remarked about how it would suck to be a cow (thinking of them having to stand out in the elements all day, every day). I'll give him credit, he did manage to last about 15 seconds before I heard the "snicker, snicker, snort" coming from the driver's seat. Cute.

I think the reason this pregnancy has been an afterthought is because, to be honest, it's number 2. I've always heard the stories about how after the first, it's no big deal. My mom even has proof of that: I have a 4 inch thick baby book, Kerry has a calendar with stickers of her "firsts", and Andrew has a shoebox, which may or may not still contain his hospital onesie. Hey, it happens, right? After how obsessive I was with my first pregnancy though, I never saw it happening to me. With Greyden I spent HOURS pouring over blogs, books, and message boards making sure that I knew everything there was to know, from what I needed to buy (including the best brands) to how to do everything exactly right (like licking your baby to bond with them, anyone remember that???). I couldn't even buy a crib sheet without hours of research, I mean, what if the elastic wasn't all the way around it? It could slip off the mattress! It (okay, I) was insane. Anytime I had even the slightest twinge or itch, I would literally sprint to my copy of "What to Expect When You're Expecting" to make sure that what I was feeling was normal. That's a far cry from my attitude this time, which is more often than not, "eh, it's probably normal" and going on about my day. (Speaking of which, I wonder where that book even is? Huh.)

I'm also starting to wonder if being pregnant is ever going to feel better this time around. I mean, physically I feel fine. I think it's more the mental aspect of "why the heck am I fat again?" that is having a hard time clicking. I need to get my ass up and on the treadmill in the mornings, but that stopped happening a few weeks ago when I got sick. I decided to give myself a week to fully recover, and am apparently still "recovering" 5 weeks later. Kevin keeps asking me why I don't just get up and work in the morning, then workout and shower later in the day. Simple. Showering and getting dressed for work in the morning signals to my brain that it's time to work. Much more so than dragging myself bleary-eyed and pajama-clad ever could. Plus, if I don't shower in the morning, then I probably won't find time to later in the day either (much like I won't find time to work out *sigh*). Then pretty soon I'd just stop showering all together. It's a slippery slope. Although I will admit to giving up on the dressing for work part lately. I've been in yoga pants and t-shirts with granny panties and no bra for the past week. Fine for sitting at home, not so fine when I need to run errands and forget what I'm wearing (or not wearing as the case my be) before leaving the house. But hey, I never claimed to be bringing sexy back this season. (Although I think my grannies do a nice job of holding it all in, which is much more sexy than seeing a thong sticking up over the top of the elastic band of my maternity jeans. Not that it's ever happened. I'm just guessing that it would be better.)

In addition to barely thinking about this pregnancy, including not even starting to set up the nursery or buying anything, including furniture, clothes, or diapers, I haven't even done a good job of taking pictures of myself this time around. Probably because I really don't want to know. Regardless, I FINALLY had Kevin take a picture (okay, 32 pictures) of me at 22 1/2 weeks.

This was shot #1:

I was personally thrilled with this one and was happy to call it a day after this one shot. Then Kevin pointed out that it's a little weird to be taking pregnancy belly shots while standing in front of my wine bar. Especially since there are multiple bottles of liquor about a foot away from my gut. He could have a point.

So shot #2 (fine, #32):

Yes, I realize that according to the look on my face, I look like I've spent a LOT more time than just those few seconds in front of my wine bar, but it was either this picture or one where my ass looks seriously ginormous. Yes, more so than here. I chose the lesser of the two evils. Plus, you get a teaser of Junior in his adorable camouflage pa-jay-jays. And, in case you're wondering, yes I did have to change out of my yoga pants and t-shirt in order to take this picture. Just one more of the sacrifices of having a blog.

Change is in the Air

No we're not moving again. In fact, we're never moving again. Ever. I've already warned my other half of this. After dealing with the Moving Nazi Kevin on this last move, I've learned my lesson. Nope, we're here permanently and I couldn't be happier about it. I love my house. Love, love, love it. Especially now that I've finally taken the plunge and started painting. Remember these beauties?

Now I know you're asking yourself WHY I would want to repaint a room like this. I mean, come on. Beautiful orange walls, orange floors, faux painted (and let's not forget sand-textured!) orangish-brown trim and moulding, and a pink fireplace surround. Nothing screams "Welcome to our home!" more than orange, right? Right???

Okay, so maybe it hasn't exactly been a secret how much I despise the paint scheme in here. I'd say you could just ask Kevin, but I think he started tuning me out after the second straight week of listening to me bitch about discuss it with him. So I did what any good wife would do. I took matters into my own hands and got down and dirty with my paint chips. Aaaaaand 3 weeks later I was still getting down and dirty with my paint chips. (Note: I've never, ever claimed to be creative or have any sort of decorating skills whatsoever.) Thank goodness I have a persistent painter or god only knows how long I would have sat on my paint deck. Or how many color chips I would have picked up from Home Depot and Lowe's. At least seven trees sacrificed their lives for me and my paint chip obsession before I finally chose two colors. Yes, two. Because even as much as Kevin objected, I decided to paint the trim. Gasp, right? But I just couldn't go on with the trim looking like that. The entire reason I had such a hard time choosing paint colors (okay, besides my complete lack of vision) is because nothing goes with orangish-brown trim! (I know, pick your jaw up off the floor - it's true.) The only issue with my genius idea to paint it is that we had no idea how the paint would cover textured trim. Even our painter said he had never seen anything like our trim, nor did he have any idea why in the hell someone would do that to perfectly good trim in the first place. But I figured there was no possible way that it could get any worse, so I decided to give it a try.

The morning the painter came for the first time, I was a nervous wreck. Sadly, I don't think I've had that many butterflies in my tummy since the morning I was induced with Greyden. I could hear the painter prepping in the entry way, which happens to be directly behind me when I'm sitting at my desk. I was sweating bullets. Soon after that, I heard the swishing of the brush and knew it was too late to turn back. I pretty much sprinted out my office door when I heard him move on to the next section of the room. Ho. Ly. Cow. It looked...........awesome. Thank god I didn't chicken out at the last minute. Here is a teaser shot of my awesome white trim.

This picture was taken after just one coat of paint on the trim and it already looked like a completely different house. Even though it ended up taking the painter 3 coats and a couple extra days of work, I could not be happier with my decision. I even think that Kevin is happy with it, although he will never, ever admit it. The crazy part is that once we got the cream colored paint on the trim, the ceiling and fireplace instantly took on a pink hue. Enough so that if you walked into our house, you would have wondered why we opted for a Carnation Pink fireplace (to match the surround maybe?). Luckily I was planning on having both repainted anyway so no loss there. But maybe that explains why the previous owners opted for the pink fireplace surround?

The color I chose for the walls is called Relaxed Khaki. If you think that this sounds like a totally boring color, you're right. But after having faux, orange walls for the past 2 months, boring is right up my alley. Personally, I love the color. It's a beige/taupe/gray/green color (depending on where you stand and the light in the room) that pops out against the cream trim. My inspiration for the color in the room was the quote "Lord, just give me something neutral." Okay, I totally made that quote up. Regardless, neutral was my end goal. I can add tons of color with curtains, rugs, pillows, etc. And Greyden's play area obviously adds quite a pop of color to the space too. Yes, the room is neutral, but it's MY neutral and I love it. I just want to hug the walls (however my painter discouraged me from doing so for at least 72 hours after the final coat). So here are the big reveal pictures!
 First up - The living room:

Can you believe the change? We started here: 

And ended up here:



This shot shows how the color can change in different light. It's a lot more beige here than it was in previous pics.



No, the room is still not even close to being done. We've just cobbled together a bunch of our previous decorations and tossed them in here to get us by. We're getting new end tables, a coffee table, throw pillows, curtains, a rug, and there will definitely be something (or a lot of somethings) hanging on the wall over the couch. But baby steps here people.

After he finished the living room, the painter moved on to the kitchen. Again, we started here:

(Please be sure to note the lovely peachish-yellow walls and even MORE textured trim around the windows and door frames. This time it was a beautiful beige with sand texture over a pink base, instead of the orangish-brown. Lovely.)

Here is the after! 



My pride and joy, even though I can't actually use any of it's contents for a few more months. Boo.



The color is the exact same one as in the living room, although I think I'm even more thrilled with it in here. The cabinets no longer look like they've sat out in the sun for 3 years. A little change of hardware and I'll be good to go with those, versus the mass refinishing I had planned before. Other plans include replacing the boob light fixutures above both the island and the kitchen table with pendant drum lights, as soon as I figure out how to do it. (For those on Pinterest, you've probably noticed the sudden mass amounts of DIY drum pendants I've been pinning lately.) 

We had big plans to do the office, master bedroom, and future nursery as well, but after how huge of a project this turned out to be (it took the painter two weeks total after I decided to do the trim, instead of the planned 4 days for just walls and ceiling), I'm just thankful to have my house back to myself for a while. Maybe we'll get him to do the office so that I don't have to try and remove wallpaper (from the ceiling, no less), but I think we might try to tackle the master bedroom and nursery on our own. Count this as your notice, Kevin. Regardless, I'll be posting more before and after pics as we work on making our new house (and new, old state) home. And since I know what most of you are thinking right now...........yes, we do accept volunteers.