Extreme nesting

So, I will say, that it feels a little crazy to be doing home renovations a week before the baby is due, but we finally found the right companies, got the door ordered and had perfect weather to get the project done...so home renovations it is!

We've had problems with a leaky sliding glass door FOREVER and it has ruined a section of the carpet with the water damage...so it was time to replace the door. (We found out after they took the slider out that there was a crack across the bottom of it and that's where the water was getting in. So we could have kept calking everything forever and it wouldn't have fixed it.) So the contractor ripped the door out yesterday and put in new patio doors!

I love them! He said there's no way this one's going to leak. (I love that even more!)

And then this morning we had new carpet put in. Not only was the old carpet water damaged but it was stained and old and ready to be replaced. The new carpet is fabulous and the house smells all new and fresh. Now Michael get's to reassemble the entertainment center electronics. (Lucky guy.)

Everything has been moved, cleaned, dusted.... I'm so glad we got this done before the baby comes home. Ahhh....I'm just about ready. :)

The Nursery

I just realized I never posted the pictures of the nursery....whoops!

Katelyn's old room went through a transformation. Fortunately, I didn't have to repaint. I just took off her heart/polka dot decal boarder and got some jungle animals.

We had just ordered a glider/ottoman and then I found this one at a consignment store for half the price (and it was in perfect condition so we returned the one we ordered.) Yeah!! I was able to buy several more of the things we needed with the money we saved. You can't really tell from the pictures but it's blue and has white polka dots on it...so cute!

The crib's all ready...now we just need a baby to put in it!

Katelyn is SILLY!

I LOVE it when Katelyn puts on her Richard Simmons terry cloth headband and exercises. She's hillarious! (Especially when she puts on the fuzzy white sparkle slippers to match.)

You've got to move it, move it.

She really is such a fun girl. She's constantly cracking us up!

And the hair gets a little wild. This is our evening entertainment... We'd be so bored with out her. I'm glad she'll be around to entertain her brother. :)

Big Sister Class

The hospital where we are delivering has a Big Brother/Sister class. So of course we needed to take Katelyn and check it out.

She was very excited to go to her Big Sister class...because she is VERY excited about becoming a big sister and can't wait for her brother to arrive.

The kids were told to bring a doll or a stuffed animal, so of course Puppy Pup Pup had to come with us. Katelyn even drew a picture of him and her.

The kids got to make their new brother/sister a gift for when they come home. Here she is working on her frame.

Here's the completed project with a picture of her and her brother that she drew. It's got a magnet on the back so we hung it on the fridge.

Then we all got to take a walk over to the maternity floor and see a new baby in the nursery and one of the rooms like the one mommy would be staying in.

Here's a picture of the instructor showing the kids how to hold a baby.

The class was so cute and Katelyn has a certificate to prove that she is officially ready for big sisterhood. :) She'll be the best big sister ever!

Latest project

This old bookcase that my brother gave me years ago has been sitting in the garage with junk on it since, well, years ago. In an effort to get ourselves organized before the baby comes, we wanted to move a corner full of Katelyn's stacked toys, puzzles, art stuff kind of clutter and move it into the front room and get it situated.

So instead of buying a new piece of furniture to do that I decided to reuse this old piece. So I sanded, painted and sealed it this weekend. (Yes, I wore a mask.)

I already had the paint that I love (and got for free by the way) so it cost about $60 for all of the baskets and the polyurethane to seal it. It turned out cute and now I can get all of the kid clutter organized this week before we add baby stuff clutter. (And we have one less thing in our garage!) Pretty good for nine months pregnant. (Although, as I was painting the bottom shelves I was thinking this would have been a good project for a couple of months ago.)

She's out of this world!

Katelyn is just a cool kid. That's really all there is to it. I know, I'm biased.

She got these dry erase sheets that cling to the sliding glass door and she can draw on them. So today she drew the solar system. She came up with the idea on her own and everything you see she drew by herself. I didn't touch it. She made the sun, the sky, stars, planets (the orange one with the lines is Saturn with its rings. She drew the earth (which is on the far right with the green land drawn in!) and a crescent moon. The girl loves science! It's her coolest picture ever. I'm not going to let her erase it. I think I've got to frame this one. She tells us she's not a princess, she's an explorer girl. That's the truth!

One month to go....

In some ways I can't believe the baby will be here in the next month or so. And on the other hand, I feel like I've been pregnant FOREVER!

We've made it 36 weeks. One more week and I'm considered full term. Mom gets here on February 3rd so we keep saying the baby can come on the 4th. The way I'm feeling, the baby can just come any day now! I know I'm a big whiner...but I'm tired. My hips hurt. I'm not sleeping well. I pee ALL the time. (I was up five times last night...so much for sleeping!)

But....we've made it nine months. My pregnancy has been very text book. No problems. I'm healthy. The baby's healthy. I am so, so thankful. I just can't wait to meet him!!! I don't think I'm the only one. Michael's super excited and Katelyn asks when her brother's going to get here every other day.

Four more weeks...more or less. (Let's go for the less...)

Best winter ever!

I'm from Southern California. So for me, a good winter involves mild temperatures and no snow. That's what we've been getting here in Kentucky. We didn't get any snow in December and we've only had a few really cold days in January with just a light dusting of snow one day. It was 50 degrees and sunny yesterday!

Sassy pants has only had to wear a hat and gloves a handful of times! Whoo hoo.

The baby is due in less than five weeks and I'm slowing down. Katelyn has been very sweet and has just gone with the flow. Thank goodness for her Legos! Michael thought we were funny yesterday because we were both eating 1/2 a peanutbutter sandwich and some yogurt together.

Katelyn has turned into an amazing reader. It's just all come together for her over the past few months and she can pick up a book and read it cover to cover with little help from us. She's even reading us some of her bedtime stories now. So yesterday her High Five magazine came in the mail so she sat right down with me to read. I love it!!

And yet, she still is a BUNDLE of energy. Here's a little monkey jumping on the bed. After church today, we grabbed some lunch and then went to the park so she could play for an hour. It's supposed to be really cold by next weekend so we thought we'd take advantage of a day in the mid-forties to play outside for a while.

And some stories before bed. We tucked her in and the last thing she said was, "Goodnight Baby Aladdin." (That's what she's named her brother.) Hmmm....I don't think that will be the name this kid ends up with. Hope she doesn't mind.