bathroom renovations

Here are the before pictures

 

 

After Pictures

we replaced the carpet with lanoliem and took out the tub and but a new one in. We also painted everything and fixed a water damaged wall. I say 'we' technically I should say 'Ryan' he did everything. we started over new years weekend but with the arrival of ethan early we got delayed and just finished this weekend. its nice that its done now. its the last of our major projects for the house- for now atleast

Survivor Draw

Heroes vs Villians

I'm pretty excited about this one, the special last night got me all into it. I cant wait to see what Russell does this time. Especially since no one knows what he was all about yet.

Becky: Stephanie & Courtney
Carrie: Parvarti & Tyson
Cath: Candace & Coach
Dave: Randy & James
Emily: Rupert & Colby
Faye: Danielle & JT
JR: Tom & Amanda
Mike: Sugar & Jerri
Ryan: Cirie & Sandra
Sarah: Rob & Russell

Maternity Leave

So I have 8 weeks off for Ethan, 2 more weeks than I took with Audrey. So far it has gone pretty smoothly. With Ethan being early and having pneumonia they classified him as 'preemie' as far as precautions so that means no germs for 8 weeks. this makes being home a little more difficult because that means I cant take them all to the mall or any public place. i'm thinking i could go to target or the grocery store but I haven't actually ventured out at all yet.
The only major difference with having a boy so far is changing him. With his umbilical cord and circ healing we had that to deal with, but he acts like he is riding a bicycle when we try to change him while screaming his head off. Then when you try to put his legs back in his pajamas he straightens them out tight so you cant do it. Like he knows. He has peed on ryan multiple times but not me yet. Audrey has started acting out- its almost funny watching her sometimes. she isnt too interested in him- she does try to poke him in the face though. here she is is holding him.

Ethan

Ethan was born at 37 weeks 2 days. I expected him early, but not this early. I also was expecting a girl, so he really surprised me. It was pretty cool to not find out the sex until birth. Ryan said he had to first overcome his shock when he saw it was a boy before he was able to call it out. It has been fun to go shopping for new clothes, I have 4 totes full of clothes though that won't be reused yet. Ethan had some breathing complications right away- he was grunting and breathing fast. So they took him to the special care nursery and we were not able to even have him come to my room. It was so hard. After 2-3 days of tests and x-rays and a bunch of scares and mishaps they diagnosed him with pneumonia. That meant he had to stay in the hospital for 7 days to get IV antibiotics. I was not happy to have to leave the hospital without him. Luckily we had the best babysitters for Audrey that I was able to spend a lot of time in the hospital with Ethan. He finally came home Friday and has been a pretty easy baby so far. Audrey hasn't been acting out too much yet either. I'm sure that will change though. He looks just like Audrey did when she was born, except he has very dark brown hair. I'm curious to see if they look the same as they grow up. 

Now we have a long list of things we need to finish that we were suppose to finish BEFORE he was born- this always seems to happen with me giving birth. I need to be done with my baby list a couple months before I am due I guess.

37 weeks - Full term!!!

Pregnancy Highlights:


How Far Along: 37 weeks


Total Weight Gain/Loss: I have gained 21 pounds since the start of my pregnancy


Maternity Clothes: all the time, hopefully I wont get so big that even they don't fit


Sleep: Sleep has become very very uncomfortable, 4 pillows are now necessary, I wake 3-4 times a night. then i lay awake thinking of stuff that i need to do- or one night it was the keeping up with the kardashian episode i had watched that day.


Best Moment this week: Finding out the baby is head down - PHEEW


Worst Moment this week: when the ultrasound tech told me the baby is 7 lb 14 oz (+/- 15 oz)


Gender: we don't know, still guessing girl. we did get a sealed picture of the babys gender, that i wanted for the scrapbook- we are NOT looking at it before the baby is born though- we haven't waited this long to ruin it now


Movement: movement has slowed down a little- but can still see the movement move my whole belly sometimes


Food Craving: wine!


What I miss: SLEEP


What I am looking forward to: getting this monster of a baby out :)


Weekly Wisdom: not going to worry about the size, nothing i can do to change it


Symptoms: lots of back pain, random contractions


We are going to get the car seats in this weekend and hopefully ryan will have the spare bathroom finished by then and i will feel much better. I hope to get a lot of scrapbooking done too. I still can't believe this pregnancy is almost over, it has flown by.

Pregnancy Update - 36 weeks

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 36 weeks 1 day

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I have gained 21 pounds since the start of my pregnancy

Maternity Clothes: all the time, hopefully I wont get so big that even they dont fit

Sleep: Sleep has become very very uncomfortable, 4 pillows are now necessary, I wake 3-4 times a night, and apparently have started snoring, snoring so bad that ryan had to go sleep in another room one night- ha ha. Sleep is pretty much over.

Best Moment this week: Hearing the heartbeat, and the doctor *thinking* that baby could be head down - we go for an ultrasound next week to confirm

Worst Moment this week: having contractions alot, they hurt, or finding out I gained 5 lbs in 2 weeks over the holidays- agh! Or someone at work asking if i'm having twins since i'm so big, so rude...

Gender: we don't know, still guessing girl

Movement: movement has slowed down a little- but can still see the movement move my whole belly sometimes

Food Craving: wings and blue cheese

What I miss: sleep, bending over, not aching all the time, being able to take advil

What I am looking forward to: finding out the baby is head down at next weeks ultrasound

Weekly Wisdom: not much longer to go!

Symptoms: ache all over, have to go the bathroom 2-3 times an hour...the "fun" stage of pregnancy (if there is one) is definately over

when my mom and sister were here we got most of the babies supplies ready, I have a few small things to get ready and then I should be set. I feel much more prepared this time than last baby.

Happy 2010!!

This new years eve weekend was pretty uneventful...being 100 months pregnant i think will do that to mood. but we did have some fun.
Audrey tried some pig tails- but she only lets them last a mere seconds before she rips them out

















This is the bathroom- midway once it was gutted, its been put back together a little, enough to function but not cosmetically pleasing, pictures will come later

this was at the 'bills backer bar' where we went to watch the bills beat the colts- they had really good wings and the diet pepsi was to die for :)

Hope everyone has a wonderful 2010!!!

Merry Christmas!

Here are some pictures from christmas morning

audrey afraid grampy might try to steal her new cabbage patch kid doll

Audreys new chuck taylors

I love this picture of audrey swinging the toy up

















Cath reenacting her classic photo

Final SURVIVOR update

Yeah Russell didnt win!!! I did not want him to win at all. Very surprised it was natalie that won too. Congrats Carrie!! you had the top two winners, that might be a first!

Becky: Erik & Marisa
Carrie: Natalie & Russell H
Cathy: Monica & Brett
Dave: Laura & Shambo
Emily: Jaison & Russell S
Faye: Mike & Betsy
LuAnne: Kelly & John
Mike: Yasmin & Liz
Nicole: Dave & Mick
Ryan: Ashley & Ben

18 months

Miss A is now 18 months, or 1 1/2 years old...its kind of sad that she is growing so fast.

1. She is starting to get some hair growing- its almost into her eyes now.
2. She bit her friends at school 5 times this month...luckily they haven't kicked her out yet. she hasn't bitten in over a week now though - pheew.
3. She is using her words more- we are hearing mine and no a lot now.
4. She has 10 teeth, 3 molars are in and her eye teeth are almost in.
5. She is very sensitive, when scolded she cries.
6. She loves to try and put shoes on my feet.
7. She got to play in the snow today.

Survivor Update #12

I was honestly surprised when they voted shambo off, i love the comments that russell made about her hair and her breath. it was a pretty funny episode.

Becky: Erik & Marisa
Carrie: Natalie & Russell H
Cathy: Monica & Brett
Dave: Laura & Shambo
Emily: Jaison & Russell S
Faye: Mike & Betsy
LuAnne: Kelly & John
Mike: Yasmin & Liz
Nicole: Dave & Mick
Ryan: Ashley & Ben

Pregnancy Update - 33 weeks

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 33 weeks 1 day

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I have gained 14 pounds since the start of my pregnancy

Maternity Clothes: all the time

Sleep: Sleep has become very very uncomfortable, 3 pillows are now necessary, I wake 3-4 times a night, and apparently have started snoring

Best Moment this week: When ryan put the ceiling fan in the nursery and it worked on the first try :)

Worst Moment this week: having some contractions already- never had any early ones with audrey so it worried me, but the doctor said not to

Gender: we don't know, lots of speculation daily though

Movement: movement has slowed down a little

Food Craving: Nothing specific this week either

What I miss: sleeping on my belly, probably this is what I am missing the most right now

What I am looking forward to: finding out the baby is head down

Weekly Wisdom: don't look in the mirror during prenatal yoga- its not a pretty sight

Symptoms: back hurts, ryan has taken over dishes and vaccuuming now, whoo hoo

I need to make my final list of all the stuff that I need to get done. I started packing my hospital bag, but then audrey promptly pulled everything out and threw it on the floor.

Making cookies

We made cookies this weekend with audrey. she got to frost a cookie- it took her the whole time we frosted to do one cookie, she ate it as well though. but it was cute to watch, it was her first cookie with a huge amount of frosting.

Survivor Update #11

Dave and Monica went home. Two immunity challenges, I was surprised by that, I wonder if they planned for more people to be medically evacuated by now so they needed to speed the season up. I was hoping Russell would be voted out, too bad. I think Jaison may be next out, for spilling the beans on Russell.

Becky: Erik & Marisa
Carrie: Natalie & Russell H
Cathy: Monica & Brett
Dave: Laura & Shambo
Emily: Jaison & Russell S
Faye: Mike & Betsy
LuAnne: Kelly & John
Mike: Yasmin & Liz
Nicole: Dave & Mick
Ryan: Ashley & Ben

Pregnancy Update - 32 Weeks

I was reading blogs and came across this pregnancy questionnaire thingy...I may be filling it out weekly until the end of my pregnancy.

Pregnancy Highlights:

How Far Along: 32 weeks 2 days

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I have gained 14 pounds since the start of my pregnancy

Maternity Clothes: all the time

Sleep: Sleep has become very very uncomfortable, 3 pillows are now necessary, I wake 3-4 times a night

Best Moment this week: watching my belly move when the baby moved

Worst Moment this week: finding out the baby isn't head down yet, and is in the frank breech position- still plenty of time to move though, crossing my fingers

Gender: Don't know, but I'm still betting Girl

Movement: TOO TOO MUCH

Food Craving: not craving anything specific this week

What I miss: Seeing my feet, being able to bend over easily, sleeping on my belly

What I am looking forward to: Next appointment

Weekly Wisdom: Don't eat nuts/trail mix right before bed-guaranteed heartburn

Symptoms: back hurts, overall uncomfortableness kicking in

I can't believe that I only have 8 weeks to go, IF THAT - or that I posted a picture of me pregnant on the internet. I'm in turmoil though because I am ready for this pregnancy to be over with, but I'm not ready for that baby yet or ready for Audrey to have to be a big sister and not my only baby anymore.

Christmas Decorating Done!

We did all the christmas decorating this weekend, My back was killing me this morning, but it feels good to be done and enjoy the decorations now.

Our TV room, Hearth-

Audrey and the little tree

Audrey under the tree skirt, she was a big help

The big tree all decorated


The house from the outside:


We took our christmas card picture this weekend too, but I cant put it up and ruin the surprise :)

Survivor Update #10

another one done...sorry luanne, another blindside too. its kind of funny that they got another one. i think they are just teasing us with the previews for next week on them catching on to russell. we will see

Becky: Erik & Marisa
Carrie: Natalie & Russell H
Cathy: Monica & Brett
Dave: Laura & Shambo
Emily: Jaison & Russell S
Faye: Mike & Betsy
LuAnne: Kelly & John
Mike: Yasmin & Liz
Nicole: Dave & Mick
Ryan: Ashley & Ben

Thanksgiving 2009

we spent thanksgiving up at ryans parents house, it was nice, lots of family came over- i even got to meet an aunt and cousins I had never met before.





then friday we went up to rochester with a little black friday shopping on the way. one thing i didnt count on was smacking a deer on the way. I got to hold the little baby zoe though.

Please Touch Museum

I took audrey to the please touch museum and she had a blast

There was a small fake grocery store, it was pretty crowded but audrey liked to push the cart around atleast, she kept trying to leave the store without paying for her groceries.

We sat in this car for probably 15 minutes, she is pretty focused i've decided as i watched other kids run around touching 5-10 different toys, audrey just focused on one for the whole time, i would have to pull her away to keep moving. we didnt see half of the museum actually.

Show us your Life - PETS

I'm back at doing kellys korner show us your life...i have been on hiatus for a few months.
I thought this one would be a good one to participate in.


Christmas Picture 2007 - each year I torture the dogs into taking a xmas picture for the xmas cards


Peppermint Patty

She was my first pomeranian...just a peanut when I got her, she was an only puppy for 3 years, then we got Linus because I thought patty needed a friend. BIG MISTAKE, patty hates linus and most other dogs infact. She weighs 7 lbs, likes to sit in corners, or on pillows, or in her cage, and bark ALOT. When we had audrey last year it became too much to have 3 dogs and an infant, and patty had basically given up on us, she would sit in our other living room in the corner behind the TV by herself instead of with us, and my older sister becky had just bought a house. So I thought MAYBE she would be happy living with my sister, 9 month later i think Auntie B is FINALLY getting attached to the princess. And she is much much happier. Patty even has her own blog.

Linus

Linus (a girl) I got from the same breeder as patty, hoping to have poms who were BFFs...didnt happen. Linus is 5 and totally the opposite of patty, although she also loves to bark, not go in her cage, be a royal pain to me and ryan, has obsessive compulsive tendencies. She has killed cats and a groundhog and tried to get anything else that comes into our yard. She is fearless and dumb going after much bigger dogs. She is very head strong and we have been working on her obedience but she just hasnt gotten it yet. She is surprisingly wonderful with audrey. Linus loves to cuddle with me in the mornings too. Although I love Linus, I hope to never have another dog like her again, nor wish a dog like her on anyone :)

Murphy


Murphy is our puppy, he is a yellow lab 3 years old. Ryan got him to train to duck/goose hunt with him. However we moved after he was about 1 1/2 and training fell off. No hunting for him. Murphy is very easily trained, usually very calm, content, and basically follows linus around. He has had a few unexplained attacks on other dogs and once with audrey. He was inches from being given away when we chose to try and train him instead. I dont understand because labs are suppose to be so good with children, it could be linus's influence, I dont know. we keep the dogs and audrey separated now, hopefully someday they can all get along.

i'm hoping that i will enjoy the company of my dogs more than i have been, they seem to be more a pain than anything lately.

Survivor Update #9

Well atleast Russell can't find another idol next week, since he didnt have to play his. i'm surprised he hasnt told anyone yet. i'm glad laura is gone, i wasnt a fan of her at all. i'm almost to the point where i know which people are which. everyone seems to look the same or something.


Becky: Erik & Marisa
Carrie: Natalie & Russell H
Cathy: Monica & Brett
Dave: Laura & Shambo
Emily: Jaison & Russell S
Faye: Mike & Betsy
LuAnne: Kelly & John
Mike: Yasmin & Liz
Nicole: Dave & Mick
Ryan: Ashley & Ben

acorns, acorns, and more acorns

audrey has become quite interested in acorns, we have hundreds and hundreds in our front yard. i dont know why we dont have the fattest squirrels in the neighborhood...but we should.



Audrey is getting her christmas present for auntie B's squirrels ready already! shes such a planner

Survivor Update #8

i can NOT believe that russell found ANOTHER hidden immunity idol without even a clue. i liked the previews showing everyone following him around too. too funny.

Becky: Erik & Marisa
Carrie: Natalie & Russell H
Cathy: Monica & Brett
Dave: Laura & Shambo
Emily: Jaison & Russell S
Faye: Mike & Betsy
LuAnne: Kelly & John
Mike: Yasmin & Liz
Nicole: Dave & Mick
Ryan: Ashley & Ben

surprised

Over a year ago I put this plate on my car...


And in a year have never had one person comment on it to me...

Survivor Update #7

another one is out...with his immunity idol...sucks for becky...i guarantee i will get a 'why do i play this every time?' from her. cant believe shambo was the only one who voted with erik- and i'm glad to see on the preview that they are FINALLY catching on to russell


Becky: Erik & Marisa
Carrie: Natalie & Russell H
Cathy: Monica & Brett
Dave: Laura & Shambo
Emily: Jaison & Russell S
Faye: Mike & Betsy
LuAnne: Kelly & John
Mike: Yasmin & Liz
Nicole: Dave & Mick
Ryan: Ashley & Ben

Indian Proverb