Summer To Do

Oh Summer time... Maybe this will be the year things happen around here. Here's my list ...

Lily's future room remodel
Baby #2 room (aka Lily's current room)
Bathroom
Fence in Lily's garden
New sidewalks (this is being hired out)
Doug's closet
Office shelves
Back yard deck and new stairs

...and just maybe, tackling the tile enough in our kitchen to remove the dishwasher so I can get one that actually works. Almost 6 years without one (actually longer but that's how long in this house).

Yes, that's enough. Especially considering I'm pregnant!!!!

Baby #2

It's official! We are pregnant with baby #2! I have an ultrasound Monday morning but am only 13 weeks so I doubt we can tell the gender. Not that it really matters, but a boy would be awesome. Or a cute little strawberry blonde girly.

Things I know:
I'm already showing. The joy of the second baby. :)
All is well. Size is good and heart beat is too.
I'm due November 1st.
I'm going to pick out a pretty navy blue for the walls and balance its darkness with white board and batten. We will reuse our furniture my parents bought for Lily, which is dark wood.
If it's a girl, I'll add in pinks and fun prints in a rug and curtains. If it's a boy, more blues and greens. Target has already been checked out for new things and they have gotten a lot of new, cute things since Lily was around. Chevron sheets? Yes please!
We are already toying with names. Not sharing them yet though. Nothing is set in stone anyway.
I found out when I was barely 5 weeks. I've been timing this baby and my cycle for awhile.
We kept it quiet for a long time for fear of a miscarriage.
This will be baby #2 on my side, #4 on Doug's side. His sister is pregnant with her #2.
Lily is super excited, however, she thinks we are having twins (which we are not) and talks about the babies.
We have the majority of things already since we kept everything from Lily. Crib, changing table/dresser, toys, car seat, stroller, etc. I have looked at a new stroller, called the Sit N Stand that provides a spot for Lily too.
We are remodeling two rooms before I'm due. It wouldn't be a pregnancy without major remodeling going on. One will be Lily's big girl room (in bright pink with white board and batten) and then Lily's current room will be the baby's room.
I will be taking some time off in the middle of my semester so I will be working on sub plans this summer. Fun times!
Thankfully our AC is not broken this time around because I have a feeling that my big belly and heat won't be friends. I'll try to be nice though.
I am sooooo happy about this. We have been trying for months.

Rocks

We have a giant mess on our hands that we started dealing with last weekend... it's a giant path of ugly rocks that goes from our sidewalk to our driveway. It's right in front of Lily's Garden and in the way of a prettier entrance and part of where we want the arbor and fence to go. Needless to say, it's time to make it go away! So, with the nice weather last weekend, we started. Four (or was it five?!) trips to the back yard (to fill up the mud pit) we called it a day to deal with Lily, dinner, bath time, and everything else. It'll at least be 15-20 more buckets full to remove it all. There is a lining (shown in the pic below) underneath it all if that makes any difference but it's been punctured so weeds and dirt are all included already.

Eventually we will have a newly paved sidewalk to the front of our house and to our driveway (plus at least part of our driveway repaved to fix all the nasty cracks) and that'll make it look so much better! Last year our city did an improvement program and helped pay 90% of the costs for a new sidewalk but we were too late to get it in the fall. I need to see if they are going to do it again and sign up ASAP if they are!

The front of Lily's garden. There will be a fence (made out of wood supports and metal panels for plants to grow up on) and our arbor that we bought last year that will be centered on the big bed in front. More plants will be added, grass will be gone completely, and pea gravel and mulch will be added (plus some stepping stones of some sort). It'll look great once it's all done and grown in. Oh, and I also want to add a trellis of some kind on the bump out on the house (which is our fireplace wall). Doesn't it just call for something?

Our helper, she insists on doing as much as she physically can.

And then it was time to ride her tricycle and clean it too....

Lily's Garden April 2013

Lily and I were busy yesterday while Doug was away. We bought a bunch of annuals and some new perennials to brighten up Lily's Garden and a few for our front yard too.

This summer we will hopefully see some new additions to our garden - fencing, the arbor we bought last fall, paths, and of course more flowers. As much as I like bright annuals, my pocket book would prefer the one time purchase of perennials. The garden will always have both, I can't pass up on some annuals.

Now, I just need to figure out a good way to add more color to our back yard that won't instantly get dug up by the dogs.

Busy Busy

Wow, it's been awhile since I've posted. Is anyone even still checking this?

Anyway....

I have been busy with work and Lily and family and friends. No time for working on the house, although that'll change now that the weather is getting better. We did add a few flowers to the front containers and cleaned up some in Lily's Garden. I'll add some pics on the next nice day. We've been having some less than wonderful weather here and then we'll have one or two nice days, which we will then spend outdoors as much as possible. If you're a friend of mine on Facebook, you'll know about our trip to the park, Easter, and so on.

I have a day off of work in a few weeks, so hopefully I can get some stuff done then. Plus, my dad is going to start helping us with a few remodels in our house - Lily's future big girl room (our empty bedroom right now) and then Lily's current room will get a new makeover too. Hopefully this year will see a bathroom remodel, some fencing done in our backyard to keep our dogs out of Lily's play yard and gardens, and a deck. Big plans for 2013!!!

{Instagram} Week 6

{Home Tour} Dining Room

This room has come a long way from when we bought the house (almost 6 years ago!). We've removed wallpaper, painted the ceiling, walls and trim, added a new curtain rod, added new curtains (I so wish I had a true before photo of what was left!), and a new rug. We've added lots of details and I still need to photograph some of what we've done. But here's where it is now.

The double curtain rod allows for the white sheers (made my mother-in-law after not finding the right length) and light blue curtains also now hold my collection of silver and mercury glass globes. It was a holiday decoration that I've left up for now. I like the extra sparkle.

This small liquor cabinet (for lack of a better name since it does hold a bunch with it's built in shelves) matches the china cabinet and dining room table. We actually bought the three piece set with the house. We liked it then and I still like it now, although I'm not sure if it would be what we'd pick out but if we hadn't bought it at the time, I don't know how long it would have taken to deal with this room. It holds a couple photos (one of Doug and I at a wedding) and one of Doug holding a newborn Lily in the hospital. It also holds our salt rock and many other rocks and geodes (my grandfather was a collector and he actually donated a good portion of his collection to Harvard).

A small candle from Bath and Body (Sparking Icicles, my favorite and I'm almost all out), and some rocks of my grandfather's.

One of my favorite glass ornaments from my mom. I have a seahorse and two different peacocks. I love their bright, vibrant colors.

 This sweet little bowl (it has a heart on the bottom) holds some of Doug's grandmother's collection (and some from my family) of rose rocks. There's a geode on top too and is so much prettier in person. As Lily would say, it's "sparkledly." 

A bottle that my grandfather had made up when he was running for an office, I believe.

A random collection of Asian inspired china from various family members. 

One of the peacock ornaments mentioned earlier. He clips onto my plant. 

A tray full of random goodies... a neon green pothos, a candle holder with sand from our trip to Florida, a giant chunk of coral from the Florida trip, and some rocks from my grandfather.

Table view. 

Our new light, it's so much better than the old chandelier.

My knick knack shelf. It's almost all from our two beach trips but there's some other stuff there too. It's an old printer's drawer that I've had forever and finally decided to use (instead of almost giving away for free!) by hanging it up vertically instead of horizontally. The door to the left goes to our basement and the one on the right is to our kitchen.

Some finds from our Alabama trip. 

Here's some before photos, just so you can see:

Before paint and after most of the wallpaper removal.

The ceiling before painting it a light blue.

Ohh... the wallpaper. It's been in every room of the house almost (minus the upstairs and our TV room).

After removing the wallpaper on the trim.

The old chandelier.