Waiting...

So... we're now almost 39 weeks... and we're waiting for the big day.

The nursery is ready. As you'll see, there is no theme. Just colorful, stocked with meaningful items and other things we just like:

This is Adam's nostalgia corner:

- Drawing of Adam as a boy, trying to catch birds with his "bird mittens"; bird mittens hanging next to picture

- Cross from Adam's grandma

- Plaque about sons from Adam's dad

- Orange radio from Adam's grandpa

- Wooden plane Adam's dad built for him when he was a kid

- Little baby converse... given to us by my sister Christine... shoes remind me of Adam's bro Joey

The boy already has lots of books. And friends waiting to play:

Some of the artwork -- two prints from Etsy.com and a big giraffe made by Grandma Nemec:

Another shot -- blue table next to the glider is from Great Grandma Nemec's... Adam painted it this week...

Mommy's corner... Glider cushions covered by Memere Masse. Quilt made by Grandma Nemec. Fox with socks keeping the seat warm.

Close ups of the artwork from Etsy.com:

More fun prints from Etsy.com:

Close up of the giraffe made by Grandma Nemec so we can track the boy's growth:

The nursery is a guest room too... or a place for Mommy/Daddy to sleep if baby needs us near by:

View from the guest room side:

So the nursery is all set up. But, baby will start off sleeping near us downstairs, in our room, in the pack-n-play. Thanks Aunt Mary and Uncle Joe!

Little Hoot pack-n-play. Love it. Auntie Christine, look at what is hanging on the wall near by:

And the bump shots:

37 weeks:

38 weeks:

And from the front:

In other news...

The basement:

Perma Seal came to fix our faulty trench drain... Adam took the day off to supervise... As you can see, they installed a bigger drain (smaller one is the original). It took about three hours for them to fix this.

SO... You can imagine how pleased we were when it stormed the next day and this is what happened:

Ugh. Needless to say, Perma Seal will be coming back again. But with baby coming soon, they will not be back until August. Too much going on right now to deal with this!

Air duct cleaning:

As part of my nesting plan, we decided to have our air ducts vacuumed out.

Mr. Duct came by and hooked up a giant vacuum to our heating/ac system...

Then, Mr. Duct loosened all the dirt, dust and debris in our vents so the giant vacuum could suction it out.

Now we are all breathing clean air. Phew. And maybe this will help with controlling allergies. They showed us a video of the inside of one of the vents before they cleaned, and I am pretty sure the air ducts in this house have never been cleaned.

Comic room:

Not a home improvement, just a little project I did for Adam for his first father's day... comic-covered magazine boxes to hold his prized Vampirella collection:

So, I think we'll be signing off now until the big day arrives. My due date is 8 days away as of tomorrow. We can't believe he's almost here! It is very exciting... and scary... but mostly, exciting!

Stand by for the big news!

C + A

PS: Managed to catch one of the boy's kicks on camera... watch the right side of the video...

31-36 weeks... and basement waterproofing

Hello!

Time for an update! This could be one of our last posts before the big day. As of tomorrow, I am full-term -- 37 weeks. We can hardly believe it! I am hoping to make it to 40 weeks so we can get some loose ends at home and work tied up before the little guy arrives.

Here's what's up:

Maternity photo shoot:

We were lucky enough to schedule a photo session with Amy Tripple Photography at the last minute right around 34 weeks. I had been thinking about doing this, but when Adam said "We should probably capture this moment" (aww) that pushed me to make the appointment. Here are some of my favorite shots from the day:

Bump progress:

And here are our weekly bump shots...

As you can see, I think I have "dropped". I haven't noticed much of a change. But then I saw these pictures. I think it looks like I am carrying lower.

I feel great, except for the nightly swollen feet and calves -- but this is par for the course, I am told. I am now seeing the doctor weekly, every Tuesday morning.

As of this past week, at 36 weeks:

• The boy is in "ready" position, head down
• Heartbeat was strong
• I am not dilated at all

So, everything is going great. I have been really lucky to have a smooth pregnancy so I feel really fortunate. We are getting really excited to welcome our baby boy into the world.

And for those of you wondering, I still have an "innie" -- but barely. It is kind of flat, neither in or out. And, though I didn't think I had it, I guess I kind of have the linea nigra (line going down my tummy).

We hope to post one more time before baby comes... hopefully next weekend... to show pictures of the nursery. It is not quite ready yet, but hubby and I hope to work on it during the next week. Stay tuned.

Basement waterproofing:

As I mentioned in the last post, as part of our eventual total basement rehab, we decided to have the basement waterproofed this year. This required tearing up the basement, moving all of our belongings to the center of the space and covering them in plastic before Perma Seal came out to do their part. This grueling work was all done by Adam and his dad. It was a ton of work and they did a GREAT job.

Here is the basement before cleaning and packing:

And here is the cleaning/tear-out process:

Me, acting like I am doing something (I helped a little).

Adam did all of the hard work. As you can from these pics, it was very dirty and dusty.

Basement stairs sealed off because three stairs need to be removed for the process. A big thanks to Adam's dad for all of his help with this as well! He did a fair amount of the tear out, along with moving our washer, dryer and hot water tank.

Here are all of our basement belongings, moved to the center and covered in plastic (Dexter, anyone?):

Bottom basement stairs removed:

Everything is ready:

More plastic covered stuff:

And then, the big day:

• Perma Seal arrives, digs a trench around the inside perimeter of the basement
• Installs an interior drain tile and sump pump system
• Backfills trench with gravel and covers it with concrete
• Installs a whole basement dehumidifier

Some pics:

Broken concrete being hauled out. Against the garage, you can see all the debris from the basement tear out.

The sump:

Jackhammering the trench:

Drainage system going in:

We also had a couple of cracks repaired:

As you can see, a very dusty process:

Trench in:

Going around the fireplace:

Back filling the trench with gravel:

Crack outside repaired:

Spot where the sump pump drains out to the backyard:

An interior trench drain to collect water that seeps in the back door and direct it to the sump:

The finished sump pump system and giant dehumidifier:

Finished work, trench covered in new concrete:

So, after all of this work... and dust... you can imagine how happy we were when we discovered this after a big rain...

Water seeping in and going around the interior trench drain, and across our basement floor, into the center drain.

Um yeah. We were not happy about this. The good thing is Perma Seal is a very reputable company, and they will be correcting this problem. The bad thing: they are coming on July 2nd to do it (three days before my due date). And they will have to bust up some of the concrete again to fix it. Ugh. We are not too happy about the timing, so I will give them a buzz tomorrow to see if they can squeeze us in a little earlier.

All in all, while it was a tough project, it will be good in the long run. The system has a lifetime guarantee that stays with the house. If any water passes by the system, Perma Seal will fix it it. Plus, with the new dehumidifier, the basement is very dry.

Over the next year, we hope to finish this project little by little. We' like to keep the floor plan open for the most part, but maybe add a small room for Adam's comics, as well as a small bathroom. My hope is that, by the time the little guy is toddling around, the basement will be put back together so we can let him run wild downstairs. But for now and foreseeable future, the basement will basically stay the way it is -- a pile of stuff covered in plastic -- and we'll only go downstairs for laundry.

I think that's it for now. I hope to update next weekend with some nursery pics. Then, after that, we'll go "offline" until the bambino arrives!

Ta ta!

C + A