Wow... it's been awhile so here is a recap!

First off, I wanted to appologize for not keeping the post updated as much as I would've liked the past few weeks. It was a chaotic couple of weeks while finishing the bathroom remodel, so no baby updates were given. Since then - I've just been lazy and watching TV at night instead of taking belly shots and blogging :o)

At 18 weeks, I was supposed to have an ultrasound. The big one....where we would get to find out what the gender of the baby was. I was called by the clinic twice to reschedule. I just kept telling myself, maybe this is a sign that we shouldn't find out! We finally had the chance to see the baby at 19 weeks. I was measuring bigger (about 19 weeks, 2-3 days) which was not enough to change the due date, but enough to keep an eye on the growth throughout the next few appointments. I'm scheduled to go in on February 25th for a stomach check and around March 25th for another ultrasound. The doctor didn't make it seem too out of the ordinary to have another ultrasound, but another chance to see the baby is a bonus! Here are the latest ultrasound photos. The little bean just seems bigger by the day!

Playing peek-a-boo!

Look at that belly!

Sucking it's thumb!

Must get the big feet from Daddy :o)

Anyway...  for the long awaited photos. These were taken at 20 weeks I believe, maybe 20.5 weeks? I'm starting to really round out - although it's not showing THAT much yet.

Anything?

Side belly - I hide well :o) 

There it is! My little round bump

Seeing these photos - makes me want to take more. At 22 weeks, I've changed quite a bit (in my opinion anyway) I've noticed that my pre-pregnancy clothes are definitely getting tighter. Luckily - I do have a few pairs of khakis that were larger sizes that I was in this summer as well as 2 pairs of jeans that I can still get into and button. Soon I'll be sporting the belly band - but hopefully the rest of me will fit into them so that I won't have to worry too much about maternity clothes! Working from home has been a life saver though - no need to worry about fitting into much more than workout clothes and sweats. Phew!

We've been working on the nursery and figuring out our registries in the past few weeks. Time has flown by and we're quickly moving from the half way point, to the end of the 2nd trimester. It's a little unbelievable, but we're getting very excited to meet the little one!

I'll post newer photos later this week of the nursery in progress and new photos. The rooms will be rearranged a bit once we set up the nursery - so it should be interesting :o)

Finally Finished!!!

We finally finished the bathroom. It officially took 41 days to complete, although at day 38 our job was done - we were just waiting on the professionals to install the shower glass panels and door. What a difference! I think it is officially our favorite room. If only we had a TV, and I'd think about hanging out in there more ;o)

As promised, here are the updated and final shots of the room. Enjoy it - because I do! For the full effect, I've added the OLD bathroom photos, for the extra reminder of how far we've come :o)

Before: single vanity...tiny bathroom

After: View walking into the bathroom (double in size)

New double vanity

Before: the old shower (and tub...)

After: new steam shower and tub!

View from the bathroom doorway

close up of vessel sink

Before: small toilet area next to shower

After: open toilet area and shower

What do you think? Worth the 41 days of walking down 3 flights of stairs just to use the bathroom? YOU BET IT WAS!!! haha. Now I can relax - get the nursery ready and enjoy the 2nd half of my pregnancy. woo whoo!!

Deadline Day :o)

Well - it is official. Today was 1 month since we started this bathroom renovation and we were planning on being done in 1 month. You'll have to cut us a little slack here, our home was built in 1938.... and we have no idea who actually worked on the home. There were a LOT of hiccups in the process that definitely set us back, and a few days here and there that we just needed a breather. Knowing all of this - we aren't that far behind. Tonight we are officially done laying tile! It has been quite awhile since the last post that gave any sort of update on the bathroom - so pictures are truly worth a thousand words here!

Lets see... the vanity and linen cabinet are installed, the butcher block countertop has been cut to size, sanded, sealed with Waterlox and finished with a satin coat. The vessel sinks and faucets have been plumbed and the mirror hung! We finished the electrical and installed all of the outlets and lighting (including the new exhaust fan for the bathroom). We installed the heated floor and put a coat of self-leveling concrete on top to make sure our tile would be level. Also sanded down and painted the pocket door white. We let the concrete set overnight and tested the heated coils in the morning to make sure everything was still working. Heat will be a luxury in a drafty old house - I can't wait!

Heated floor down with the quick set concrete layer
(plus a quick glance at the vanity!)

The heated floor coils are on the entire floor area
and stop by the toilet

Here's a quick glance at the tile on the walls as well

Today I spent a majority of the night texturing the walls to match each bedroom that we removed a doorway from. Since we stole one of the closets in the back bedroom, we had to close up a doorway in that room. 6 coats of mud later, and I'm finally 'stippling' the walls. This is a fancy word for - sand mixed into paint which creates that rough feeling. It is almost a mix between an orange peel texture and a popcorn. Barely there, but not flattened out like a knockdown style would be. It is close enough - and we'll be painting that room soon anyway. (I've picked this one to be the nursery... so new paint colors are coming soon!)

Back bedroom wall with stippling texture

The 2nd doorway that was closed up happens to be what I called the 'secret' closet. There was an original tiny closet in the front bedroom that we had to square off to create room for the tub. We only used this closet to store our suitcases and extra bags - so it's no big deal to lose it. The same texture was done on this wall as well. Just a coat or two of the sanded paint and then I'll paint the color 'Prickly Pear' on this wall so that my closet can be put back together and clothes all hung back up.

The 3rd, and most difficult of the textures is the plaster walls that I had to match in the hallway. This technique takes 2-3 sizes of trowels and many layers of plaster or joint compound. Unfortunately, to match the walls of the hallway I would have to somehow add sand to the mixture so that it has a scratched look to it. I opted out and just went with 3 layers of trowel scrapes in different directions. Since we haven't painted the walls yet to match, it is hard to tell if it will even look good - but from what I can tell - it is good enough ;o) Hehe. We'll see once the first coat of beige goes back on the walls.... that will be the true test! From there, it will either end up with me doing my own technique to the rest of the hallway to match what I did, or trying to figure out what else I can do to somehow add that sanded look. Ugh - I hope it will fabulous with just a coat of paint!

My version of the troweled plaster texture...
I like to think of it as an art piece, haha!

Here's the painted pocket door!

After I was done with the walls, it was time to start helping Brook with the tile floor. Diamond patterns are beautiful and so worth it in the end, but what a pain in the but they are! At least we did the wall tiles last week and had a bit of a break from them! Tonight was much easier, but gravity was not working against us! Brook and I might be frustrated with tile for awhile as looking at it gives me a negative vibe, but we both love how it has turned out so far! We have ordered our shower/tub glass panels and door from a professional company out of Des Moines. They stopped by on Saturday to do any final measurements and will be installing by Feb. 3rd or 4th. This will be the last step - so we may not be able to shower until then, but I can definitely take a bath before then! :o)

Floor is done!
I love the diamond pattern look

Here's a better look at the wall and knee wall

A better look at the new vanity, sinks, faucets
and my favorite mirror

I'm not sure about the rest of you, but I'm a huge fan of HGTV. I almost worship it - when the TV isn't turned to ESPN while Brook is home, it is tuned into Divine Design, Color Splash, Dear Genevieve, Holmes on Homes and my new favorite: Design, Inc. I learn something new everyday and come up with new crazy ideas for projects in our house. One of the more recent ideas was to use a stone cap on our knee wall instead of the typical grouted tile look. Since our knee wall is only 6 inches, if we used tile - it would create one grouted seam all the way up the center of the wall and on top. I wasn't a fan and neither was Sarah Richardson on Design, Inc. Her idea was to use a marble slab for the front as well as the top because it creates a more 'professional' look and you don't have to deal with the corners of grout and tile not matching up, etc. I took the idea and ran with it! We ordered a dark brown granite slab that will cover the top of the knee wall and run down the front of it. I'm super excited and supposedly it will be done tomorrow! I'll believe it when I see it, but if not tomorrow, definitely by Saturday we hope!

Here is Sarah Richardson's (Design Inc.)
table with the stone caps. It finishes the legs
of this table much better than the tile.

We will take that idea and put in on the top
and front of the knee wall, only ours will be
dark brown granite instead of white marble :o)

Now... if you know who I am married to, or at least the personality type of an engineer, you would understand what I go through on a weekly basis whenever we have projects planned. Brook enjoys his spreadsheets and I enjoy getting emails throughout the day with lists of what needs to be accomplished and what errands need to be run to get them done. Here is the list that I received today :o)

Wednesday: CHECK!
Paint door - Steph
Install door - Brook
Texture back bedroom, front bedroom and hallway - Steph
Cut and install window sill - Brook
Paint window sill - Steph
Lay floor tile - Brook and Steph

Thursday:
Menards run to select vent covers - Brook and Steph
Cut window, floor and door trim - Brook
Cut trim for back bedroom, front bedroom and hallway - Brook
Paint window, floor and door trim - Steph
Paint trim for back bedroom, front bedroom and hallway - Brook
Paint front bedroom wall - Steph
Paint hallway wall - Brook
Paint 3rd coat on bathroom window sill and bathroom door - Steph
Paint back bedroom wall (new nursery color) - Steph
Install vent covers - Brook
Grout all tile - Steph
Use flexible caulk around tiles (all corners, tub, etc.) - Steph

Friday:
Day off! Dinner with Brook's parents and a comedy show

Saturday:
Install granite slabs - Brook
Install toilet - Brook
Install door, window and floor trim - Brook
Install back bedroom, front bedroom and hallway trim - Brook
Seal tile grout - Steph
Install shower head and tub faucet - Brook
Install toilet paper and towel racks - Brook
Cut and router oak transition piece to bathroom - Brook
Stain transition piece to bathroom - Brook
Clean front bedroom (set closet back up, clean room) - Steph
Clean rest of house before Steph's parents come in the afternoon! - Brook and Steph

Looks like we have a lot of work still ahead! It goes pretty quickly though. As long as I can get the grout done the rest will just fly! I'm getting excited though! It is almost a working bathroom!! In the meantime - this is the look I get whenever I walk out of the bathroom..

Poor Cody - he just wants some love!

Time flies!

This pretty much sums up what needs to get done. A new blog posting. Maybe tomorrow :o) - I'm exhausted!

Under Construction: Day 22

We've made a little more progress since last week. We've been busy taping and mudding the drywall and ceiling. Turns out, that handy little shop vac attachment was a life saver! It didn't suck up all of the dust, but it got the majority of it - so I'm happy with that. I haven't done much of the work this week, so Brook will need the big pat on the back for such a great job he did. You can't even tell where the seams are and it was his first time ever with a project like this! My job will be matching the texture to the exterior walls of the bathroom. We have a custom plaster that is hard to do, but apparently being a designer automatically qualifies me. Yippee! To be honest, I'll be glad to finally have a job that is all mine. I've been working on a lot of this project, but the majority of the work has been done by Brook - because I'm not quite measuring up to the same endurance as I used to be pre-pregnancy. I get winded and dizzy every once in awhile - and have to go chill out for a minute or two.

Now that the walls and the 'building' process are complete... I'll be taking charge of the textured walls, painting and finishing them, as well as the tile. The job will go by a lot faster if one person is laying tile while the other is cutting. Tiling and grouting is my specialty, so cutting will be Brook. Lets just hope we can get it all up and finished before I lose interest and want to move on to something else! :o) Just kidding.

Photos below are the progress of progress since last week. Spent 4 days mudding and sanding the walls. Texture, primer and paint went on today. Cabinets are now in the room, but not yet installed.

Double vanity as you walk in. Fillers will be placed between the wall and right side of vanity as well as between the linen cabinet and left side of vanity.

Part of the linen cabinet. With the fillers in place, this vanity will be about 82" long!

View to the right of the doorway. The unfinished walls will be covered with tile.

Two vanity lights will go above mirror. 

Shower is plumbed!

Next on our list is to start the butcher block countertop. We will measure and cut it out tomorrow to fit the cabinet, then the 8 day process of sealing it will begin on Wednesday.
Also this week we will probably install the heated flooring and use a self-leveling mortar to make sure the tiles don't crack from the difference of space between the under layment and the wiring. Then we'll start the tiling process! Probably one night on the floor, and another on the walls. We are creating a diamond design, so it takes a bit longer to do - but will be worth it in the end.

Hopefully this will be done early next week so we can schedule the professional to come in and measure for the glass panels which will surround the shower/tub. We will also install our granite wall caps to the half wall (whenever they are cut and ready to pick up).

I know I keep repeating myself here, but I'll keep my fingers crossed. This week will be a big one in progress if we actually get things done :o).

Belly pics!

Finally... the photos of my growing belly! Get excited. In the pictures, I'm about 17.5 weeks along and have just finished dinner. As you can see, Brook and I were working on the last of my Better Than Sex Cake. Yum!

Brook looks super excited.

Hopefully I'm showing enough to not be in the 'wow she's gained weight' category anymore... but maybe not.

Close up!

After Brook's pleading to 'lift it up'... here's the actual belly - not hiding behind a sweater.

 So there you have it. The first official photos taken of my belly. A little late, but hopefully we'll keep up so that I have a record of how big I was and... how much bigger I'm going to be!

Baby Richie update

OK... I swear this will be my last post for today! We've been so busy with the remodel of the bathroom - that I never get to actually post about any updates with this little creature growing inside of me!

According to my iPhone App "What to Expect When You're Expecting" I am 17 weeks and 2 days and this baby is the size of a sweet potato (5.5 inches and .5 oz). There is no longer a 'is she gaining weight or is she pregnant' question anymore. At least with the closer friends that see me, they definitely can tell. Strangers at the YMCA on the other hand, probably just look at me like I ate a few too many fudge pieces at Xmas time. Either way, yes - sweets are my enemy and they never seem to go away - but I am getting bigger. A LOT bigger. I feel a little uncomfortable in my normal clothes, and definitely can tell a difference in my body shape on a daily basis. I'm not a fan of feeling 'big' so I'm not sure how the next 5 months are going to go. Hopefully once I get past the stage where I am just starting to show and am actually more round... things will get better!

I've been working out a bit more, but definitely notice a change in my motivation. I need to keep making myself get on that treadmill and bicycle or stair stepper and just stay there. I might start breaking out the Wii and just do things at home if I can actually find any sort of motivation to press play and have Jillian Michaels yell at me on a daily basis. Maybe I'll start that tomorrow! :o)

Baby Richie is supposedly able to now hear loud noises (great for demo in this bathroom) and it is said that if the baby can get used to these loud noises, they won't be startled as much as newborns. IF this is true, we're in luck! Our dog Cody just loves to make lots and lots of noise, so Baby will be plenty prepared before coming into this world! Cody has actually gotten a lot better in the last few months and is probably just annoyed with how much we're working on the house to do anything other than pout at the front window. Whenever that doorbell rings or someone is here to visit, Cody is right there barking until he has just enough attention (which usually lasts about 3-5 minutes). Let's hope for the best here. I'm not sure we can train him to not bark after 2 years of letting him do it, but we'll try!

I had my 4 week check up on Tuesday and everything was normal. The doctor actually had a hard time keeping track of where Baby was moving. He/She seems to be very active, so I can't wait to see the ultrasound next week so that we can visually see the baby moving, kicking and punching. Sometime in the next few weeks I am supposed to start feeling those punches, so I'd like to see what I'm dealing with to know just how hard these right hooks are going to be.

Someday I'll get photos posted of this belly. I keep putting it off and then somehow we're already into week 17 without a single photo! I promise... this will be done. Soon.