3 little Miracles

3 little Miracles

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Chair Debate

Now that we have the desk in our bedroom I need to find a new desk chair.  I don't want to use the one we had because it had casters and we have a plush cream carpet in our bedroom so it won't roll well anyway (plus I don't like the commercial desk chair look for our room)
SOOOO I am on the search for what kinds of chair I want to get.  Here is what I like so far.
I love the lines and style of this chair with the tufted back and nail head detail


Tuesday's List - Christmas List


One of my favorite bloggers to follow, Jessica from Love from Texas, has started back up her Tuesday's List. These lists can be fun, frivolous, and functional, so join in on the fun and post your Tuesday's Lists.

This year my Christmas Wish List is mostly about the camera.  I finally got a great camera and now I would like to add some new accessories so I can improve my photo taking skills even more.  Of course my birthday is also just before Christmas and so some of these could be picked up for me then ;-)

1.  Camera Bag, I found this cute one on Etsy in a shop called 
Gypsy Rose Handbags'







2.  Canon BG-E7 Battery Grip







3.  Canon Zoom Lens







4.  Doris Day DVD Collection (Billy Rose's Jumbo / Calamity Jane / The Glass Bottom Boat / Love Me or Leave Me / Lullaby of Broadway / The Pajama Game / Please Don't Eat the Daisies / Young Man with a Horn)







5.  Body Bug GoWear fit Lifestyle and Calorie Management System
I fully intend to return to my exercise routine after Rachel is born, the doctor limited me from my exercise program back when I was in my 2nd -3rd month and hasn't let me return.  I want to take off the baby weight and get back to my weight loss success and goals that I had prior to this surprise pregnancy.  
(I had lost 21 pounds prior to getting pregnant)






6.  LG Flat Screen TV for our Master Bedroom







Household wish list that I don't want for Christmas I just HOPE to have them purchased by Christmas:

 Rug for the Living Room
I am in a debate between these two rugs for the Boys Room,
this one from Lowes and this rug from Pottery Barn
(the boys room is a western theme)


Rug for Rachel's Room
Coffee Table for the Living Room with baskets for storage of toys

Monday, September 27, 2010

YET ANOTHER Project checked off the list

Together my MoG and I have been working on finishing some projects as we try to get ready and settle our home for our new little addition.

This desk has now been through 3 re-vamps.  I originally built this peace while in college for a project while I was studying for my architecture degree, and in its original form it was supposed to be a "Sanctuary Piece" in the form of a chair. Don't ask me to explain the definition of the project, because I didn't fully understand it then, but I selected to create a chair that looked like miniature canopy bed.

When I no longer had a use for the "Sanctuary Piece" but still did not want to let go of my hard work, I decided in the first re-vamp to convert the piece to a desk for my husband on his 40th birthday.  So I secretly used my BiL's shop and created a VERY large 4 x 6 desk (at the time we had two desk top computers and I wanted them both to fit on the desk).  One part of the desk never got completed, I had cut the opening for the keyboard tray, bought the hardware for the tray but ran out of time to complete it before his birthday.  So the keyboard tray never got done because it ended up going to the bottom of the project list once the desk made it into the house.
This is the only picture I could find of the desk, you can see it is 
much deeper in size and that the keyboard tray is absent.

So recently we had to give up our office as we began the process of getting ready for child #3 and we could no longer afford to have a separate space for an office.  I still did not want to let go of the piece because I had made it, and so I asked my MoG to convert the desk for a second time, this time to cut down its very large size and make it more of a bedroom size desk, and here is the finished results, along with a completed keyboard tray.
The legs are my favorite part and were the posts for the original piece.  I don't think I would be hired by a furniture manufacturer for my leg turning skills, but I think they turned out pretty good (NO pun intended).

We still have a long way to go on our project list, and I imagine that it will always ebb and flow in it's size, but we are at least making some headway.

MY Honey and Me-Do-List:
(1/2 Done) Take down white paneling in bathroom and re-surface walls
Paint Bathroom
Change out bathroom light fixture
Install new bathroom towel bars, hooks, etc.
Paint kitchen new color (still to be selected)
Touch up paint in living room and dining room
Make Dining room roman shade or valances
Remove window seat in Dining Room
Patch and finish flooring where window seat WAS
Refinish china hutch and install new molding details on it
Make new toss pillows for sofa
Make valance for slider
Frame family photo and hang in LR
Build new shelves in Master Bedroom
Revamp desk and put in Master Bedroom
Finish small closet in MB and install shelves for office storage
Paint MB closet dressers white and install new drawer pulls
Paint MB and touch up Molding
Re-upholster makeup stool
Upholstered headboard?
New lamps in MB
Flat Screen TV in MB
Paint Rachel's Room
Finish growth chart mural in RR
Install new curtain hardware in Rachel's room
Re-upholster rocker for Rachel's room
Paint bookshelf for RR
Paint crib
Buy a rug for RR
Paint picture frames for RR white
Buy a rug for boys room
Frame cowboy prints and map for boys room

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Fall Decorating Inspirations

I love black doors and hope to have one some day, but I also love the statement of the orange door below.
 
Aren't these painted pierced pumpkins fantastic?

I may make one of these to hang from the under decking over our entry patio. Isn't it CUTE!!

Halloween inside the house:
 I am going to use some white pumpkins this year for sure.
 I love this idea of a basket or bowl filled with small pumpkins wrapped in Halloween inspired ribbons.  ADORABLE!!!

Pregnancy Journal - 35 Weeks and Fantastic News!

I'm 35 weeks today!
BIG PRAISE CHECK UP!  We had a check up yesterday with the doctor along with an ultrasound, this will be a weekly thing from this point out.  ALL was good news!!!  Rachel is doing fantastic, in fact the amniotic fluid level has more then doubled due to the doctor choosing to take me off my blood pressure medication.  My doctor felt that my BP meds might have been contributing to the seriously low amniotic fluid level and his theory proved to be true during the week long test of being off it.  During the ultrasound they also determined that all of Rachel's organs have developed as they should and that due to the amnio coming up, she actually had enough room to move to a head down position, YEAH!  As for me, my BP was great and I only gained 1 pound this week.  Secretly I was hoping that I would magically loose the 9 pound water weight gain that had drastically appeared at my previous appointment, but no such luck.  BUT at least I didn't see a scary large number again this week.  Only thing the doctor has asked me to do to try and keep the swelling down, is to lower my sodium intake to 2000 mg per day, other then that he is not wanting to treat it with medication at this time and he is lifting my bed rest order for now.  WOO HOO!  I only have to put my feet up if my feet start looking bad.  SO hopefully we will keep all this good news going through to next weeks appointment when we will turn the corner to our final 4 weeks.

Pregnancy Highlights:
How Far Along: 35 Weeks
Size of baby: Rachel is the size of a 6 lbs 5 oz. Honeydew Melon
Total Weight Gain/Loss this week: Gained 1 lbs
Gender: Our first baby girl!
Movement: Rachel has turned and is head down and kicking me like crazy.
Sleep: I don't sleep very well, because every couple of hours I have to go to the bathroom
What I miss: At this point salt, because I have to watch my sodium intake due to swelling
Cravings: Nothing particular at this point.
Symptoms: Not able to breath very well because Rachel is taking up so much room and swelling in my feet and ankles.


Friday, September 24, 2010

Show Us your Life - Master Bedroom

This Friday's blogging activity with Kelly's Korner is Show Us Your Life- Master Bedrooms, and I am so with Kelly on this one, of all the rooms in my house it is my least favorite one to show off.  WHY?  Because it is the catch all room, and seems to always be in transition and the last room to focus my decorating efforts on because it's just easier to close the door when company comes.  So here is our catch all, transition, hope to finish decorating one day Master Bedroom.
Our bedroom is such a collection of furniture pieces across the years.  The hope chest at the foot of the bed is one I picked for my 16th birthday (which was a LONG time ago).  Our bed is a select comfort, but we never bought a nice bed to put it on, so its up on lifts with no bed skirt, UGH.  However, I do love my bedding, it is a discontinued duvet and sham set from Pottery Barn.
This is my dressing table, I want to re-upholster the stool to coordinate with the bedding.  I also want to get some wall mounted lights for both sides of the bed to free up space on both of our bedside tables.
Our brand new bookshelves (my MoG still has to finish the crown molding). THIS is what I mean by transitional, still need to decorate, catch all bedroom.  The table was the table my father grew up eating at and will soon be moved to our storage unit because I have idea where else to use it.  Soon it will be replaced with a desk that I built for my husband on his 40th birthday that we just modified to fit in this space to make up for our home office becoming a bedroom.  The picture over the desk is going to be replaced with a flat screen TV and I am probably going to mount a white craft supply cabinet to the adjacent wall to complete my office storage.
I still need to pick up the bassinet bedding from the dry cleaner.  I also plan to purchase some baskets for the shelves or organize smaller things like mail, ribbon, and business/craft stamps.
Finally tucked beside the table for now, is the bedding that I need to start assembling for Rachel's room. 

Updates I hope to do soon in our room after Rachel nursery projects are finished.
I would love to have or make an upholstered headboard like this
If I don't buy or make a tufted headboard, then this is the style bed I love.

Next weeks assignment:  Show Us Your Life - Dining Rooms
I can't wait for this one because it will be all decorated for Halloween and our new PB Halloween Calendar will be up on the wall helping us to countdown to Rachel and Halloween celebrations.

Show Us Your Life Schedule through November:
10/8 - Kitchen
10/15 - Office
10/22 - Children's rooms
10/29 - Guest Room
11/5 - Bathrooms
11/12 - Playrooms/Bonus Rooms/Laundry Rooms
11/19 - Foyers/Entry ways

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Pregnancy Journal - LONG awaited update

I am presently 34 weeks + pregnant and although I have dropped some hints here and there as to how things are going currently in the pregnancy I haven't given any details, so here is the status of things.



Lilypie Pregnancy tickers

It seems so amazing that we are within 5 weeks of little Rachel being here, but more then likely due to current circumstances it is even less time then that.  The last time I updated ya'll we had gone in for our 3D/4D ultrasound and instead of it being totally fun, we found out that the amniotic fluid was half of what it was supposed to be, I should have been 10-12 and instead I was a 6.  So they asked me to rest as much as possible and drink plenty of fluids and they would repeat an ultrasound the next week to see if the amniotic fluid had come up any.  

With HUGE nerves we returned for the ultrasound the following week and got the fantastic news that the amniotic fluid had come up a little more then 1 point to 7.2, we were so excited that we forgot to ask any questions.  So they scheduled me for a 2 week follow up after that with no big restrictions, just to rest when I could, so I took it easy with no big lifting or big amounts of time on my feet and I returned this past Friday.

That is when things hit the fan, it was really strange because I had gone to Target just before the appointment to buy some things I hadn't gotten at the baby shower that I still needed in case Rachel makes a quick arrival. It was as I was sitting in the waiting area that I realized how big my feet where.  Then when they called me back and my first stop was the scale I about lost it when I saw I had gained over 9 pounds in a 2 week period.  They moved me to the next waiting area and I literally felt like my feet were getting bigger as I sat there.  They took my vitals and my blood sugar and blood pressure were all fine.  BUT, when the doctor came in he looked at me and he said, "this is totally not a social comment it is a medical comment . . . . . your face looks puffy."  I literally could feel my face tingling and I was in shock at how quickly it was hitting me.

I had missed 3 days of my blood pressure medication, which also helps with water gain (keeping it from happening).  The doctor decided to do a non-stress test on me, some extra blood tests, and up me to once a week appointments including ultrasounds.  He didn't seem to be concerned with the intense braxton hicks I have been having and he MEANT to do a pelvic in my that day, but in the craze of trying to do all the other tests on me he seemed to forget and I didn't remember until check out that he hadn't done one.  The doctor ordered me on FULL bed rest for the whole weekend to try and get the swelling down and to my surprise he called me later in the day and asked me NOT TO return to my blood pressure medication because he thought it might be contributing to the amniotic fluid level problem.

So, I made it through the weekend but my feet still swell up pretty quickly if I am up for long, so I am still trying to keep them up as much as possible until I see the doctor again this Friday.  My sister who is an RN and I both think he will end up moving Rachel's c-section up because at this point she seems to be doing fine but I am not responding well to the end of the pregnancy, the water weight gain is too much for my body and we aren't sure how much more stress I can physically handle.

It is difficult to depend on other people, but I am so blessed to have a fantastic family and extended church family support system.  God has blessed us so much throughout this pregnancy, He has held Rachel in His hands when doctors thought I was loosing her earlier in the pregnancy and He watched over her this past month with low amniotic fluid.  I know that God will once again watch over her and I over these next few weeks and get us as close as possible to a healthy delivery date.  Continue to pray with us for God's victory and safe delivery of our little angel!

In addition to the other problems, Rachel is also breech position and with the current amniotic level she is unlikely to turn.