Why I Haven't Blogged In Ages...

About a month ago we decided to paint our whole house all at once instead of doing it room by room like I had originally planned.  And when I say the whole house I mean walls, trim and ceiling...no biggie right?  We were tired of everything not being done and we wanted to make sure we finished the projects before we have to sell the house in about 3.5 years.  Which seriously was the rate we were moving at.  This means that my every waking free minute is spent painting.  Luckily it is looking great and I am so happy we are doing it all.  The chaos will be worth it.  In a couple weeks I hope to have some pictures of finished projects but for now I will let you have a sneak peek of what has been going on for the last month.  It will make you feel really good about the current state of your own home:)... 

We no longer use our kitchen table because it has become our work station.  Also you will notice the bare windows in the background.  I have a solution to cover them but still need to figure out the color scheme.

This room is the most finished but still needs some work.  I will get some before and afters when it is all said and done.  The wall on the right will be covered with photo ledges and what not.  The blue carpet (which I so thought we would replace when we bought the house) has given me quite the challenge when it comes to decorating this room.  Even though it is more of a navy blue it still doesn't go well with colors so for now the room is a little plain. I decorated with a lot of gray and then decided to paint the walls gray so I am trying to figure out how to jazz it up. 

Believe it or not there is a beautiful dining table, that my husband built, under all this mess.  It seriously is awesome and I can't wait to get this room put together.  The walls use to be red, DARK red.  It took me three coats of primer to cover it up.  So far that is all that has been done in here.  Just getting rid of the red has made a huge difference.  Can't wait to tackle this room!

I am working on painting the trim in this room for now and then I will paint the walls the same gray color as the rest of the house.  We bought the couch when we started this adventure and plan to get some accent chairs.  Why do chairs have to cost a fortune?

As if painting the whole house wasn't a big enough project I talked my husband into tearing down the ugly ceiling overhang thing (not sure what else to call it).  It was serving no purpose but closed off the room so much.  It only took about 30 minutes to take down and I think Nate secretly enjoyed the project:)

We replaced the ugly florescent light with recessed lighting.  I say we because I choose the lighting and Nate did all the work:)  I do the majority of the painting so it's fair:)  The change makes a world of difference and every time I walk into the kitchen it makes me smile.  The kitchen feels fresher, newer and more open. Now we just need to finish painting the ceiling and put the covers on the lights.  If I am not totally burned out of painting when all is said and done I plan to paint our cabinets white.  Again ignore the bare windows...soon they will look awesome. 

Since I spend all my time working on house projects I am usually greeted by huge piles of laundry like this that take days to finally sort and put away.  One day I hope to become supermom and figure out a way to have a clean beautiful house.  Pretty sure that day will only come if we hire a housekeeper:)

32 weeks!!!  The  comments about how big my belly is have already started.  When buying paint a few days back the lady helping me gasped (seriously gasped) when I told her I was due it November.  She then proceeded to tell me I was REALLY big for not being due for a few months.  Pretty sure I cried when I got in the car...I may have been overly tired/emotional that day. 

I wish I could say that painting the house is the only project we have to do before I can feel at peace with how things look around here.  My poor husband has to put up with my insanity of diy-ing.

What is up in the near future?...

Tear out a bunch of bushes and trees in the front yard

Change out the interior doors (Right now we have cheapo fake oak doors that seriously date the place)

Change the nursery so baby brother doesn't can have sleep and play in a girly bedroom

Move Sadie into Cambri's room and finish decorating it

Paint and reupolster the dining room chairs

and the list goes on and on and on....

Best Frenemies:)

(Clothes seem to be optional these days.  It is so hot I let them run around in their undies all day.  Secretly I am jealous I can't do the same.)

My girls are too cute when they decide to be buddies.  Listening to them play and giggle is priceless. 

The other day while they were playing I overheard Cambri say to Sadie, "Let's kill her with our booty shake!"



This and That...

Lots of pictures and details that are more for me than anything else so I won't be offended if this is one of those posts that gets overlooked:)  

The pictures are cute if nothing else.  

Sadie's 3 hour afternoon nap is starting to backfire.  Come 10pm the girl is not tired.  I put her in bed around 9 and an hour later she is yelling for me obviously far from sleep.  So for the last few nights I have had a buddy to hang out with.  She is pretty good at keeping herself entertained so I don't mind too much.  The above picture is night #1.

Night #2...If she wasn't so cute I might be able to just let her cry in her crib.

Night #3...I didn't rescue her from her crib and this is how I found her when I checked on her before going to bed.  She had thrown everything, including sheet and blankets out.  Nothing like sleeping on a plastic mattress:).

Ready to potty train!!!  (I figured I was going to need a little help as well so I made sure to pick up a few treats for me).  I am happy to report our efforts were successful and we now are diaper free at our house!  I will enjoy it for the short three months before baby brother gets here. 

When beginning the process I don't think we left the kitchen for two days.  I really didn't want to be scrubbing carpet all day.  I think my girls wish we potty trained everyday.  They have never had my undivided attention like this before.  And I let them do things that are usually off limits...blow bubbles inside, draw with markers all over their bodies (and mine), and eat candy and chips to their hearts content. 

We had a "sleepover" in the hallway too. 

And at our house one must always be a  princess even when potty training.

Just as a reminder for the next go around...the first two days were so hard and I was doubting myself for even trying.  Sadie is a very idependent child and what worked for Cambri did NOT work for Sadie.  Remember all those bribery treats from the picture?  Sadie was interested in them for 2 seconds.  Cambri (and Nate) ended up eating most of them.  I think when I potty trained Cambri we went through a million stickers and treats and she wanted them for months after being trained.  Sadie really didn't care about them at all.  She liked when we all got really excited and ran around cheering for her.  This is far too much information but I find it to be cute...she refers to her poop as snakes.  It makes me smile every time. 

I know I have been spoiled with two girls who have potty trained before turning two so I am well prepared to get a baby boy her stays in diapers til her is 6:)

We have loved having a hot tub in our backyard.  We keep it at a more of a swimming pool temperature so the girls think it is the perfect little swimming pool.  Both girls have become so comfortable in the water this summer thanks to Nate taking them swimming after he gets home from work.  I usually use this time to put my feet up and relax or get some cleaning done.   

Last but not least we celebrated Nate's birthday.  The BIG 3-0!!!  Unfortunately Nate worked all day and was on call all night so we couldn't do much to celebrate.  We did surprise him with some homemade decorations and balloons, shrimp dinner, chocolate pie for dessert, and a few presents.  He and I also went on a date last weekend.  We will be doing a bigger party with friends in a few weeks.  Through the month of July Nate has been on call every other day so we are pushing the big party and cake reveal until August...stay tuned:) 

Ready for bed...

It's 9pm. I just got the girls in bed. Well kind of...Cambri is sleeping on the floor outside her room because she locked her door and I can't pick the lock. If I were nice I would let her sleep in my room but I want her to realize how important it is she doesn't do this again. I haven't seen or heard from Nate since 5:30am. I am tired and ready to tap out.

My girls did their fair share of fighting and yelling at each other throughout the day but come bedtime they decided to be buddies. While cuddling on the bathroom floor after taking a bath I heard Cambri say, "I love you Sadie Boo Boo." She even made up for saying a million time today that she wanted a new sister by giving Sadie hugs and saying she never wants a new sister, ever. And little miss Sadie said after giving me kisses, "I love you mommy."  Thank Heaven for little moments like these. They by far make up for any and all of the hard times throughout the day.

I am taking a risk tonight by putting Sadie to bed sans diaper. She has been potty trained for a couple weeks now but I always put her in a diaper for bedtime and she always wakes up soaked. But we are out if diapers and I didn't want to drag both girls to the store to get some. I will probably regret that at 2am when I am up changing sheets and pjs.

I need to plan my routine for class tomorrow and then its bedtime for me!

The Little Things...

 

(Don't be fooled, Sadie has her eyes closed because of the flash and Cambri is pretending to be sleeping.  2 seconds after taking this picture a cat fight broke out:) It was cute while it lasted.)

Because these are the little things that my day are made of....

Last night I when I was getting ready to say prayers I heard Cambri get up to go potty. Normally I will let her take care of business and head back to bed on her own. For some reason I felt compelled to go say hi and tuck her back in. When I went in the bathroom she stood there with a blank face (obviously half asleep) and said "mom I don't know how to do it". I realized at that point she made it to the potty but didn't pull her undies down. Her little bum was soaked:). After getting her cleaned up she went right back to sleep and remembered nothing of it in the morning.

The last few nights Cambri has cried out for me because she was scared. It has been around 4:30am both times. Last night she wanted her glow worm to cuddle. Both nights while laying next to Cam until she fell back asleep I could hear Sadie in her bed talking. Last night she kept saying shovel over and over.  She wasn't crying so I just let her talk and she eventually fell back asleep. If this keeps up when baby brother gets here we may just all be up partying at 4 in the morning.  I bet you are jealous.

 Today after making cookies with Cambri I told her I needed to sit down cause my feet hurt. When she asked why I told her because being pregnant makes my feet hurt and then said, "being pregnant is hard huh?" Her response caught me off guard when she said, "how do u get pregnant?" I told her you have to be old and married. Luckily that worked and she was distracted by something else. I have a feeling she and I are going to have the birds and the bees talk far before I am ready:).

We ended the day going furniture shopping. We need a couch for the front room badly.  Half our house is still empty and it is driving Nate crazy.  We can't afford what I really want so I would prefer to leave it empty.  Sometimes I am a little high maintenance. Sadie and Cambri ran around the store like wild animals. They tried out every couch in the store. Eventually a game of tag started. It ended quickly when Cam tagged poor Sadie so hard she flew half way across the store. We left the store with both girls in tears.  Lucky for me I had to head to the church for a Young Women's activity so Nate was left to deal with the drama. 

It may not be exciting but I love my life:)

Pregnancy tidbits...

These days I am....

ALWAYS tired, but can't fall asleep at night. Tylenol pm is my best friend these days.

Crave granola cereal with bananas and blueberries. I usually have a bowl of it at night before going to bed. May explain why I am packing on the pounds:)

Feeling old. My feet hurt all the time. I am usually in worn our flip flops or barefoot which I am sure isn't helping the situation.

Still teaching my classes at the gym. I actually feel really good right now and haven't had to back down yet on exercise.

Getting sick of my maternity clothes. Bummer I still have 4 more months of wearing them. I ripped a hole in the crotch of my favorite cargos and turned my white capris a dingy color by trying to bleach them...awesome. By the end of the day I usually end up in some of Nate's old gym shorts. It drives him crazy that I wear his clothes...sorry:)

Feeling the need to get some big projects done around the house. It took me a long time to get the house back in order after being out of commission for a couple months. Now I am wanting to get the paint back out and finish one of the million projects I started months ago.

Totally against eating tacos or red sauce of any kind. Not sure why but those foods just don't sit right.

Wishing I had a supply of Diet Dr. Pepper on hand. Never been a soda drinker but I need a little boost to get me through the day.

Itchy!!! Seriously my skin is so dry. I wish I could jump in a pool of lotion and soak it all in.

This is fun and all but I suppose it is time to stop avoiding the HUGE pile of laundry waiting to be folded...sigh.

Princess Party...

I have decided I need to journal more often. I hate how many of the everyday little details I am forgetting. Blogging is going to be my form of journaling so you will be getting a lot of my boring ramblings on this blog. Feel free to read. I totally understand if you don't want to. Anyhow, we had a princess party at our house today. My friend Amber had a doctor appointment so I watched her girls for the morning. It was perfect because her girls are 4 and 2 and get along great with my monkeys. In fact they got along so great that I was able to get my hair done and scrub all 3 bathrooms in the house while they played. Sign me up for that kind of babysitting job anytime! When I look at pictures like these ones it makes me wonder how a little boy is ever going to survive in this house.