Saturday, February 26, 2011

More house pics

Today we met our realtor (and her daughter) at the house so that we could show it to my family. It was Amelia's first time there and she had a BLAST running around! I think she liked it.


I took a few more pictures, but realized when I uploaded them that I STILL didn't take any pictures of the basement. *sigh* So no pictures of the basement.


"Sale Pending" !!!


Eat-in nook in the kitchen



Kitchen cabinets - pantry


Kitchen - looking into family room


Kitchen (have I told you how much I *LOVE* this kitchen?!?)




Master bedroom





Master closet (tie rack already installed for Alex...he needs about 20 more of these racks to hold all his ties!)






Master bath





Alarm system pad in hall





Front closet in foyer



Future nursery




Amelia's future room





Hall bath


Pictures!

Some random pictures of Amelia - just because!


Princess Amelia, reading her Valentine's Day singing card


Wearing one of my maternity shirts. She thought she looked like Cinderella.



From the back


That's pure attitude. It's like her "Blue Steel" trademark look.



Modeling her new Tinkerbell dress from Babcia.




Playing with my iTouch





She's a pro








Art Time!

Amelia has recently become interested in doing art projects. She always liked coloring, but now she's into painting, markers, and playing with play-doh. Oh man, play-doh can keep her busy for a good hour or more! It's fantastic. I thought I'd share some pictures.

Play-doh worms

Daddy made Yoda - Amelia decided to give her Princess figures new faces


Elephant Cinderella






I put her hair in a little bun - it bugged the heck out of her.




Coloring


Thursday, February 24, 2011

The Second Child Shaft

I probably shouldn't write this post, but since it's my blog and I'll say what I want to say (and who really reads this, anyway?), here goes!

DISCLAIMER: This does not in any way apply to the grandparents. Grandparents are, I think, genetically engineered to love, care, and spoil their grandchildren on a whole level that I won't even pretend to understand until I am a grandparent. My parents and Alex's parents are no exception - the love they have for Amelia (and the baby in waiting) is unmeasurable. They're awesome grandparents!

Both Alex & I are first borns. I was the 1st grandchild on my mom's side, and the 1st grandchild on my dad's side in quite a few years...I was spoiled. My whole life I heard from my baby sister how unfair it was that I got to do XYZ before her just because I was older. She would tell me the older sister got EVERYTHING and she got the leftovers. Mostly, I dismissed her because she was being a big old baby. [I still maintain that she was a bit dramatic in this area, but I'll explain in a bit.]

Being a parent, I now see some merit to her complaints. When you have your first child, you are hyper-sensitive to every little thing, mostly because you find yourself in the position of being totally responsible for this little human being and it's scary as hell. You don't know what you're doing. You read all the books, talk to your friends, and just give it a go. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But no one could ever accuse (most) first-time parents of being laid back when it comes to parenting their first child.

Let's face it - the first child is really the practice child. By the time your second comes along, you have things mostly figured out. You're not as uptight about things as you were with your first. You now know that babies cry sometimes for no good reason. Sometimes they sleep for a long stretch of time and skip a feeding. You also know that kids are going to fall down and hurt themselves, but they'll be OK. It'll start hurting you LESS than it hurts them. And it doesn't mean that you love your second child any less, it just means that you GET IT.

And then there's the toy/clothes issue. Yes, second children do get hand-me-downs in this department. Come on, it just makes financial sense. I assume this whole hand-me-down thing stops once the second child is old enough to get what's going on. But while you have a baby who could care less if they're playing with a toy or a piece of paper, it's silly to re-buy things.

So, yes, dear baby sister...sometimes it just isn't fair to be the second child. But here is where I will defend my parents. [Hear that??? My mom probably just fainted.] Other than the things that I was LEGALLY able to do before my sister (go to school, drive, legally drink, go to the casino), my parents never really gave me anything that they didn't give my sister. Granted, we're only 20 months apart, but still. If I got a Cabbage Patch Kid, so did my sister. I don't ever remember having a later bedtime or curfew than my sister. I would even go so far to say that, once she was out of the baby stage, my sister never really got my hand-me-down clothes. Usually, my parents (mom) bought us the same outfit and dressed us like twins, but that's a vent for another post! :)

And that is how I think it should be done when the kids are that close in age. I don't know what Alex & I will do when raising our 2 children because there will be 2 1/2 years between them. Fortunately, we don't have to decide that just now. I do know that our second child will get some hand-me-downs, and the ?benefit? of having more laid back parents.

HOWEVER, what I DIDN'T expect when thinking about the "second child shaft" was that it started during pregnancy...or that it came from other people. I guess most people just assume that since you've been through it before, they don't really need to check in on you as much. And that's fine. Would it be nice? Sure. But it's not necessary. It just wasn't what I was expecting.

So, on behalf of first born children everywhere, I would like to formally apologize to second kids. I once was blind, but now I see. Sorry you sometimes got the shaft.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

34 Weeks

Hello, 34 weeks! I had my appointment this morning and everything is fine. As I've said before, no news is good news. :) They had been monitoring my platelet count because it had been a little low, but as of my last draw (last week) my count is actually UP! It's higher than it was even at the beginning of my pregnancy. So, needless to say, my doctor is not worried. We don't have to do any more testing (they might test at the hospital before I deliver just to be sure). HAPPY DANCE!!!
Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 34 Weeks

Size of baby: Baby #2 is still the size of a honeydew!

Maternity Clothes: I'm about 99% all in maternity clothes.

Gender: Not finding out!

Movement: This kiddo is a pusher! :) S/he likes to push my belly in all different places...I definitely look like I have a little alien in there.

Sleep: What's sleep?!? My hips have started to hurt & I've been getting up a lot to pee. Some nights I get lucky and have a 3-4 hour stretch of solid sleep and it's GLORIOUS!

What I miss: Sleeping on my tummy, not waddling when I walk, being able to walk without a shooting pain in my butt, being able to bend over, being able to breathe while sitting.

Cravings: Brownies with chocolate frosting! And Taco Bell. Otherwise, my appetite seems to have calmed down quite a bit. I'm not ravenously hungry every 2 hours.

Symptoms: Some BH contractions, sciatic nerve pain, back pain, peeing every 5 minutes, occasional heartburn, slight swelling...comes with the territory.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Amelia's Big Girl Room

I never made a post about Amelia's Big Girl Room. All of these things are purchased (thanks, Babcia) and sitting in my parent's basement waiting for us to move...except the paint. We're still deciding on the color.

Obviously, Amelia's room will be Disney Princess themed. I can't wait to put her room together! I think I'm more excited about decorating her room than the nursery - probably because Amelia will be so excited about it, the baby will just sleep (I hope).



Possible paint colors:

Disney's One Enchanted Evening

Disney's Air Kiss


Disney's Clock Strikes 12




Inspiration Room - Overall look I like




Princess toy storage unit


Princess Rug


Princess Chandelier/lamp





Princess hamper


Princess wall decals



Cinderella Growth Chart




Amelia's bedding




Her room is going to be so pretty - I may want to move in with her! :)










Monday, February 14, 2011

THE House

I'm superstitious. It drives Alex a little batty sometimes. I just can't help myself...I don't like to tempt fate.



So we've been under contract for our first house since Superbowl Sunday. We had our inspection on Thursday and, other than a few minor issues, it went well. We're set to close on March 17.




We are EXCITED! We love this house. But I've been holding off telling the world and really talking about this house because I know that until we have the keys in our hands, it's not ours yet.





But there's no law that says I can't show you pictures of the house we're under contract to purchase. And, just to make me feel better about the whole thing, I'd appreciate it if everyone keeps saying prayers that everything works out! :)



P.S. - the battery in our camera died before we could take pictures of the whole house...we'll have to show you the other areas in another post.
The front

The front right side



Front porch


Front porch entry to garage



Foyer/hall closet




Formal living room from foyer, you can see part of the formal dining room





Formal living room, part of formal dining room






Formal living room and foyer from dining room




Looking into the kitchen from the dining room








Window looking out to the back/side of house from dining room





Family room - open door is to the basement, open storage pantry







Family room, sliding door to backyard (look at all the light we get - swoon!)





Kitchen from family room, bay window/slider to side/back of house





Wood-burning fireplace




Kitchen, looking into dining room & formal living room




From family room - open door to basement, looking into the hall (part of 2nd bedroom)




Looking into Master bedroom from hall





Closet







2nd bedroom









Hallway from Master - can see foyer/front door




Linen closet



3rd bedroom



Closet in 3rd bedroom




Backyard, looking into master & family room




Yard



Yard



Yard, looking at back of garage and kitchen

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