Week 26: More Room for Baby

Week 26 is done and our baby boy is 14 inches long this week. That's about as long as an English Cucumber.

As the reality of an impending family drew nearer so did the idea of a new vehicle. The basic criteria was enough room for our new family of three (and also our future family of four... or five) with enough room for luggage and 3 dogs for a road trip. 

Owen really liked the Yukon but the size was too large for me - especially for the typical daily commute with just me and the new little guy. 

So, I started researching vehicle that had 3 rows of seating but didn't look like it from the outside. After test drives and some contemplation this was the week that we decided to bite the bullet and trade in my Jeep Liberty (yes, we kept the MINI Cooper in the family).

Here are some of our favorite features:

• OnStar (already loving the turn-by-turn direction feature)
• XM Radio
• Dual sunroofs
• Back up camera
• Entertainment package with DVD player for the kiddo
• 3 rows of a seating with the second row being bucket seats

And the convertible car seat and stroller will match great in the new car.

http://goo.gl/OX1mC

 And a pict of the interior:

And finally, here is our newest addition to the Hein family - a GMC Acadia. The answer to the most important question? It's black with a black leather interior. So, goodbye Jeep and hello Acadia!

Week 25: New nursery paint, floors and crib

Week 25: Baby is now as big as an eggplant weighing in at almost 2 pounds. I can hardly believe that the baby is already this big in my belly!

The baby now looks about the same as he will when born - just thinner and smaller so we'll spend the next 10 weeks getting him plumped up. Speaking of plumping up - mom is up to 10 pounds gained so far. Guess I can look forward to at least another 6 if the baby's born at 8 pounds. And yes, I know I won't be able to get away with not posting a baby bump picture for much longer!

Baby's hands are now fully developed and he can clasp and grip. 

This week mom had a long work week full of client visits and meetings but the weekend was completely dedicated to baby and the nursery. And dad spent his Veteran's Day off on Thursday adding crown molding and chair railing to the nursery and guest rooms. Here are some snapshots of what happened this week.

Thursday: Nani (my mom) sent another care package... we think she's excited! The last couple were addressed directly to me so she addressed this one to Owen which he was super excited about. The care package had pacifiers and paci clips, tiny baby hats, socks, onesies, little jeans and some super cute stuffed animals.

Care package from mom!

Friday: Owen added crown molding and chair railing to the nursery. By adding I mean he bought the wood, made the cuts, measured, installed, puttied and then later painted. Yeah, he's handy.

Saturday | Part I: Paint reveal! We repainted the entire room a color called Foggy Day (pictured above) and Laguna Green (pictured below) below the chair rail. Check out our color palette here.

Paint reveal!

Check out the nursery plan on the Week 23 blog

Saturday | Part II: Hardwood floors! Our contractors from Sierra View Flooring (contracted through Lumber Liquidators) were punctual and very efficient. They installed hard wood floors in the nursery, guestroom and the Master closet by 3:30pm on Saturday and then came back Sunday morning for the final touches.

No matter what I tried this picture wanted to load sideways - even though the original wasn't even taken in this orientation. So, I'm just posting as is and asking you instead to turn your head 90 degree counterclockwise.

Sunday: Finishing touches. 

1) Today our contractors finished up the finishing touches on the floors.
2) Owen made a "No Kande" sign as he finished up the room so I'd be surprised.

3) He painted the crown molding and chair railing and touched up the rest of the paint.

4) Then he put together the crib.

New paint, floors and crib

Week 25 down, a possible 15 more to go. Look out week 26!

Week 24: Clean slate garage sale and gifts

 Baby is a about a pound and a half and a foot long - about as long as an ear of corn. 

His brain is also growing quickly and the lungs are developing "branches" of the respiratory tree. His skin is still translucent but he'll start to pink up next week. And the taste buds are continuing to develop.

This week is the week of getting rid of "someone else's treasure." And, oh boy did we have a lot of it. $850 worth of take home to be exact.  

We've been collecting garage sale items for a while now in a growing corner of the garage so we started on Wednesday evening collecting more unneeded things from around the house and the attic. 

We began the sale on Saturday morning at 7am... coldest day of the Fall so far - of course. We didn't have many customers until about 9:00am but we really started picking up around 10am.

Half-way into our day a lady walked up to me with a box like she was ready to pay. Come to find out it was our mail lady hand-delivering me a package from my beautiful and wonderful friend Cami.

Cami bought the baby a great package of gifts from a store in Lubbock called Hollyhocks. The gifts are adorable! We got a cute onesie, a jellycat stuffed animal, sneaker socks, a pee-pee teepee (I'm about to learn so much!) and a sleep mask for mom.

The onesie is maybe the cutest thing I've ever seen. The back even has a cool little design:

Speaking of gifts my mom sent another care package full of toys and clothes. Some of my favorite items are some cute little shoes.

 She also bought us a new blanket that will match perfect with our color palette.

All in all it was an exhausting weekend but we were able to get the garage, attic and the nursery completely cleaned out so next week we can get the new hardwood floors installed and start putting together the nursery.

Week 23: All about the nursery

The week 23 blog is dedicated to nurseries! But first a quick update on how mom and baby are doing.

Baby:

We had an appointment with our OB doctor on Monday and found out that the baby's anatomy and all of the tests for diseases (like neural tube defects and Down's Syndrome) were negative. Already a worrying parent! What a sigh of relief.

Another development this week is that if the baby was prematurely born he would have  a 5-70% chance of survival. Every day that the baby stays in the womb increases his survival rate by approximately 3 percent until week 26. After week 26 the survival rate jumps to 80-90 percent. Another worry to dwell on... on to week 26!

Mom: 

The persistent pain in my low, low abdomen (okay, my pelvic area) is the relaxing of all of those ligaments in there and the resulting movement of the pelvic and hip bones. The round ligament pain surrounding my lower abdomen are also stretching so much that it's painful. There isn't much you can do but here are some of the tips from my docs 1) see a chiropractor regularly - done 2) be careful about being on your feet for long periods - done 3) don't lift things (even laundry) - done and DONE! 4) and don't wear heels... eek! 

Onto the nurseries!

I've been scouring the Internet and baby stores for the perfect set - truth be told there is much less available for boys unless you want a theme around 1) sports 2) boats, trains or planes or 3) animals - in that case you are set!

So, I've moved toward the idea of doing more of a unisex room without a theme persay.Even after this one decision though there are still thousands to choose from so I just started picking out the elements of each room I came across that I loved best (I should be saying 'we' here - but the decorating part of things... well that's my baby!).

Here are a few of the favs:

I'm sorta' obsessed with all things birds... and yellow right now:

http://goo.gl/1tSdv

I love the idea of utilizing the ceiling as part of the overall aesthetic - I originally loved the idea of orange stripes on the ceiling but then a friend said something about giving the baby migraines... something to think about. Maybe I'll go with birds instead.

http://goo.gl/KtGLh

I know you're wondering about those striped ceilings. Here was my inspiration for that idea:

http://goo.gl/qei86

I also like this idea of bringing some life to the room with these vinyl trees - this specific seller on Etsy has a large variety of them and I think it would be a great addition to the room.

http://goo.gl/Hh8Zl

And... I need this weiny dog light. (Hint... hint to anyone wanting to buy the baby a gift ;)

After seeing this room and loving the colors (especially the combo of brown, turquoise and green with hints of orange) I finally had the eureka! moment.

http://goo.gl/5KWfo

I love that we can display a variety of colors and items from our friends and family and it all still mesh together - note the colorful Ugly dolls, sock monkeys and fragile porcelain elephants. Also, the pop of orange in the chair is just perfect.

Orange rocker pictured: Sleepytime Rocker by Nurseryworks

So, with the eureka! moment it was time to start sketching out the room and choosing colors.

Here are a couple of highlights starting from the door of the room and going counterclockwise:

Growth Chart: There is a small area between the closet and the door where the light switch is that would be perfect for a little growth chart - probably won't be using it for a little while but it will be a fun element.

Closet: We have a rather large closet in that room but the space could be suited better for a baby's or even kid's rooms so I've sketched out an idea to turn one large area into a small shelving unit - the tiny shoes mom bought us for baby was definitely an inspiration for that. I'll also paint (or Owen will, rather) the back wall of the closet in the accent orange.

Bookshelf: We have an existing bookshelf in that room that we are going to paint white with orange backing and fill with books, pictures and keepsakes.

Crib: We ordered the crib in week 20 and it should arrive anytime. It is cherry wood and will go on the focus wall of the room. I am planning to make my own mobile with fabric birds.

Above the crib I am envisioning a nameplate art piece. There are many talented sellers on Etsy that we may utilize or me and Owen might tackle that together.

I also like having a rug in front of the crib. Possibly a fluffy white rug or a print:

http://goo.gl/iPljd

Chair: Right now I'm into the idea of that chair being orange but from the little I know I might be utilizing that chair quite a bit so I'll  be choosing comfort and functionality over color. I also positioned it so that I could look outside and have a view of our gazebo, flowers and pond when sitting in that chair.

 Back Wall/Window: The back wall in the room has a large floor to ceiling window in the middle of the room. I love the idea of adding those vinyl tree designs on this wall and placing a real birdhouse on the outside of the window.

Changing Table/Storage: We are going to be repainting my baby furniture to use in the room. We will paint the dresser white and use that as our changing table and storage area.

Above the dresser we'll add an art piece and then some additional green storage boxes to the side.

http://goo.gl/LL1v2

Floors and walls: We are getting Brazilian cherry hardwood floors installed in the room in a couple of weeks. Before that we will be adding a chair rail and crown molding and then painting the bottom portion of the wall our turquoise.

Thank you to the owner's of my inspiration color room for providing those color swatches:

Paint: Lowes -  (Blues – Sea Wave, Seafarer and Beach Sparkle; Greens – Green Gecko, Meadow Twilight and Parsley Sprig, Brown – Cliveden Virginia Soil)

See you next week!