Check it off the list: caulk and pictures

While we are working on the nursery, bump out and refinishing the floors we also try to get little projects crossed off the list. I made a list on the blog to keep track of projects for the house. One of them was caulking the lower bathroom tub. After we spent the good chunk of March redoing the upstairs bathroom, our lower bathroom was looking worse for the wear.

So a quick project was to simply remove the disgusting caulk around the tub and caulk it.

We used a blade to remove the old grout.  Then we wiped it down with a damp cloth and went around the tub with a new line of caulk. Now it looks as good as new. It's amazing what life it brings into the tub again. Here is a close up before we wiped down the new grout.

We also have had a picture gallery going up our stairs.  We have been collecting more pictures to hang but kept pushing it off.  Finally we hung those up too.  It includes the Valentines day gift I made for Tim, a wrapped canvas picture from our wedding that I purchased with Groupon, and a puppy picture of James that my friend Katie took when he was 8 weeks old.

I love that we keep building on this gallery and when Little M comes, I'm sure she will take over very quickly. Until then we have to keep plugging away at these projects.

What projects have you crossed off your list?

A Little Getaway

Also known as a babymoon. Never heard of it? Its apparently a "newer" trend. It is one last honeymoon of sorts that a couple takes before they become a family of three. Usually women like to go in the second trimester when they are feeling better but not too big. I was really looking forward to taking a babymoon because I knew we were going to be busy in the fall with work and all the house projects. So when Tim's Aunt and Uncle offered us their downstairs apartment in Ocean City, NJ anytime after labor day- I jumped on it.

Breathe in the salt water air with me. Ahhhh

We decided to just do a long weekend. Just enough time to get away and relax but not too long to fall behind on work and house projects. Unfortunately I didn't take a ton of pictures since we were just trying to get away from it all but we did snap a few to remember the occasion.

Although we had a rainy first day, we still managed to get in some time to walk the boardwalk and go to Brown's donuts. If you are in Ocean City, NJ, you need to get a donut there. I couldn't even take pictures because our hands were covered in delicious, fresh goodness. I justified eating 3 donuts by walking a mile there to get them. That burns it all off, right? :)

The next day the sun came out and we hit the beach to do what I was looking forward to for the whole trip- relaxing on the beach and soaking some sun in (with suntan lotion of course).

 It was amazing. We had a great location not to far from the boardwalk for bathroom and food breaks and we had a great umbrella we borrowed from my parents for my handsome fair skinned husband.

After a perfect day at the beach we decided to try a great seafood place. Although my seafood consumption was limited to certain dishes I still wanted some delicious seafood. We were at the beach after all. We headed to Smitty's Clam Bar. It's a tucked away location off the 9th Street Bridge. Its a BYOB and the wait is long but worth it. We had a 30-45 minute wait but it flew by hanging out by the pier with other patrons as they drank and met up with friends and family.

The food was delicious. We got big cups of clam chowder and while Tim had a seafood medley, I got delicious crab cakes. Totally worth it. Again, I failed at taking pictures.

Saturday was our last day. We had a childbirth class on Sunday that we needed to get back to but when we woke up it was raining. I was so sad because most of the trip was rainy but we decided to make the best of it. We rode bikes in the morning along the boardwalk and then decided that we might as well pack up and head back early. As we were packing, we looked up and the sun broke through the clouds. Needless to say, I was excited and ready to squeeze one last beach day. This is my "take the picture so we can get dressed for the beach" face.

We spent a few hours on the beach and the boardwalk. While we were there we enjoyed a car show on the boardwalk and I got one last ice cream trip in.

Overall, it was a great and affordable little getaway for both of us. Of course we couldn't really stop talking about Little M and reading our baby books but it was nice to just get away from everything else we had going on and enjoy the end of summer.

So has anyone else taken a babymoon? Where did you go?

Burlap and wedding bells

So we are going to pretend that August and September never happened. To be honest it was a very big blur. I can't even really remember where it went but now its the beginning of October and I have completely neglected this blog. We have been doing lots of things so I feel its time to step it up. Plus, we broke ground two weekends ago on our bump out project that we talked about earlier this year.

But I do want to talk about the project that we worked on for my brother in law's wedding. The dilemma: an outdated swan stain glass picture in the reception hall. My sister in law hated it. It taunted her and screamed traditional and old fashioned. So after some discussion we decided that a really cool burlap tapestry would be cool since they were going for an outdoor/ modern barn theme. I started thinking about what we could do and I figured I would create some stencils of something meaningful.

We laid out some burlap on our small kitchen table and got to work. Originally she wanted a poem on the burlap but with the small time before the wedding + my hectic job + my growing belly, I couldn't make it work. It happens. But I believe things like that always lead to something even more creative and fun. And I think in this case it did. We decided to go simple. We would do L & G. (The first letter of their names) It would be simple, not too distracting.

I found some great font using howaboutorange.blogspot.com. They have links for free fonts to download. Of course since this was in August, I don't have it anymore. I will keep digging. Anyways, I sketched it out on freezing paper and then I cut out the stencil with an exacto knife. I have to admit that while I was working on this I was plunged back into my college days in my dorm room at 1AM trying to finish a project for one of my art classes.

After they were all cut out, I laid them out on the burlap and ironed the freezing paper onto the burlap. This keeps the spray paint from spreading. I also ironed on the scraps around the letters to prevent the spray paint from going everywhere.

It was ready to go. I had to work late so my hubby jumped in and took the burlap outside and sprayed the stencil with trust ORB. It came out great.

Next up my mother in law, who has a great site called Tess' Totes, sewed canvas to the back of the burlap so it would be thick enough to hide the swan and to create a way to hang the piece using a dowel. Unfortunately we could not find a picture of it from the wedding so here is a shot of it in my MIL's craft room. It's a little wrinkled from the wedding but it came out great.

Here are some other highlights from the fun day. They had great weather, a great party and her bridesmaid dresses were uber flattering; especially for a preggo like me. :)

So what else have I missed? I will be back with some bump out updates, fresh homemade tomato sauce and other nursery projects.

Camping themed Bridal Shower

Meet my brother in law Greg and his beautiful fiance, Liz:

In just a few short weeks they will be walking down the aisle and we couldn't be more excited for them. Since all of Liz's family and friends are all over the country, my mother in law and I decided to throw her a little shower before the big day with everyone close to all of us. Even her mom flew in from Texas! We decided on a camping theme since Liz's true test of our family was coming to our annual Canada camping trip (in the pouring rain) and because she is the "S'mores Queen."

I started searching Pinterest for some motivation and inspiration and found this picture:

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and this:

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We decided to work from there. We decked out the Matthews country style home with red and white picnic table clothes and various lanterns that Kathy happens to collect.

They were really fun and just added that special something to each table. We also decided to set up a s'mores making station in honor of Liz's love of the delightful treat. We set up a simple fire pit so everyone could have a sweet treat later that night.

To keep the delicious treats going, we also got some yummy cupcakes. Keeping with the camping theme we also asked the baker to focus on fun camp scenes. She came through and gave us some whimsical cupcakes that were fun and delicious.

It was fun to see the baker let her imagination run wild with the camping theme. They were clever and fun. I love that little bunny cookie and magic trees. And if you can't tell, that last cupcake was a camp fire made out of pretzels and even toasted marshmallows to boot!

But what we were really excited about were the favors that we gave the women on their way out. We went with the earlier inspiration and gave everyone their own personal s'mores.

 I loved the saying from the pin so I used the same line. It was too cute to pass up!

Our own favors came with giant marshmallows that I found at Walmart and we even added their own camping skewers to take with them on their next camping trip. Those were a hit for sure!

So those were some of the highlights of this fun camp out shower! Can't wait to show you the other fun projects that are going into their wedding but we have to wait a few more weeks to show you them. Do you love theme parties as much as I do? Making those favors were way more fun than I should admit. :)

The Big Reveal

We are so excited to announce we are having a...

 

We are welcoming a baby GIRL to our little family!

Our ultrasound technician guessed a girl a few weeks ago but now it is official. We are so excited to have a baby girl to even out the gender in our little family. Now our minds are wrapped around cribs, nursery designs and most importantly, NAMES! We will make sure we share the good news as we go along since it is new for us and hopefully this can help someone later down the road.

As for now things are hectic with an excited upcoming wedding in the family. My brother in law is marrying an awesome girl and I couldn't be more excited to have her officially become a Matthews. There will be more this week on the shower that Tim's mom and I threw. Here is a sneak peak of the fun we had creating it. Think Camping!

Whew...It feel like this little girl has already taken over this blog. :) Any other fun gender revealing stories to share? Did anyone see the cute gender announcement on Katie B.'s blog? It was too cute!

I'm How Far Along!?!

*originally posted on 6/19/12. This is the last one of these before we are caught up to speed and I can move on to fun projects I have been working on.*

Our first ultrasound appointment was on Friday (6/15). I drank my 32 oz. of water like a champ and walked into the doctors office feeling full but not in too much pain. Then we waited....and waited ...and waited. Apparently they were running late. No one told us and I was starting to lose it. I was cranky because I was anxious to finally see Little M and because I really really had to pee. 20 minutes later she called our names. I laid down and she got to work. Bless this woman for not bothering to talk to me and then do the ultrasound. She must have seen the desperation in my face.

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First, I have to comment about a movie myth. That gel they put on your stomach is not cold at all. In fact, she had a warmer for hers. Not sure if that is common but it was appreciated. We sat there waiting for her to find the baby and there it was.

I still wasn't convinced everything was okay so I didn't fall in love until she said, the heart rate looks good. *Cue Huge Sigh of Relief* Then she said another magical line-" let me check that the bladder is okay so you can go to the bathroom and come back and enjoy the ultrasound."

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Hallelujah! It's like she read my mind. I ran to the bathroom, had a "League of their Own Moment" and then headed back in.

Ready for my next shocker....She was asking me how far along they thought I was. I came in for a screening ultrasound so I was right around 12 weeks. Or so I thought.

"Have you had any spotting?" Not that I knew of. "Well, it turns out you did."

Immediately my mind went to the worst place. I was picturing seeing that little baby and then finding out that I messed it up somehow and something terrible happened. I know- dramatic- but I am not always a positive person. As my mind was racing she exclaimed, "You are actually farther along than you thought."

WHAT?

"Yeah by the looks of it, you look like you are about 15 weeks, 3 days." Wow- many thoughts went through my head. First I looked over and Tim is stunned but beaming. I then try to figure out when my new due date is. She says December 4th. I get excited that I avoided having to possibly be in labor at Christmas. Then I get nervous because things will be moving faster than planned. My darling husband came to the rescue and said, "Think of it this way. You basically skipped a month ahead of being pregnant."

Yeah...I guess I did.

Overall, it was a great appointment. She even had a guess at the sex but that will be confirmed on July 20th so we will keep it off here for now.

*So now you are all caught up! We go in tomorrow for our anatomy ultrasound. So excited to finally confirm the gender so we can avoid calling the baby it. We will definitely share the good news and plans for the nursery. So far feeling good. Getting bigger and overall really excited for the coming months!

What was your first ultrasound like? Anyone else have a delay that made you want to tear apart the waiting room?*

60 minutes

*written April 19th* 

That is how long I have before this "baby" became a reality. All week I had been DYING to tell Tim. DYING. It was so hard. I felt like it almost wasn't real...until I took another test last night that screamed "pregnant". Now I have 60 minutes until work is out and I drive home where hubby is waiting for me. He got back early from his work trip and has no idea. NONE. Its making me nervous. Here is my plan.

I took all my tests in a plastic bag with me so he didn't see them. I also got James a dog bone while I was shopping this week. I have a plan to tell him but I might just see him and blurt it out. haha That is more my style. I want it to be memorable but not over the top. I just cant wait to see his reaction. He is going to be impressed that I kept it in from EVERYONE. Especially because I hung out with one of my best friends this week and didn't spill the beans even though I wanted to.

Either way this is the only place I can say what I'm feeling and what I'm feeling is anxiety. Time to head home. Wish me luck...

Update: It was one of the best reactions I will ever get from Tim. I walked in and he was on the couch. James came to greet me and I whipped out a plastic bag. I said " I brought presents for my boys. A bone for the pup. *gave the bone to James so he would go away and give us a minute* and this is for you!" *handed him my positive pregnancy test

The reaction was priceless. He immediately jumped off the couch and hugged me so hard. He just kept repeating.. "Really!? Really?!" He was beaming! Beaming, people. Here I was freaking out and he was so sweet and excited. I couldn't help but shed a tear and I'm not really a crier. All the weight of the secret was off my shoulders and to see how happy it made him was amazing. I'm so glad I waited. He wasn't mad I didn't tell him over the phone or skype. He just couldn't believe it.

Little M- our little nickname for now- decided now was the time, whether mom was ready or not...

Missed this announcement? See the reveal on the blog here and how I found out here.