A New Closet, A New Door... and in Ten More Weeks... A New Baby!

Greetings everyone!
It has been six weeks since my last update and I have lots to report. Here it goes... in no particular order....

My New Closet:

Since we converted my old closet in a "cloffice", I was in need of a new closet. We had a closet off our upstairs hallway that had been empty since we renovated up there.

We had California Closets come out to see what they could do -- but, due to the attic-style space with the slanted ceilings, they could only do so much. Plus, they wanted $900 to barely do anything. So, Adam managed to rope his brother Joey into part two of our project: convert the vacant closet into my new IMPROVED closet. They did the project in one day and I am SO grateful. Here are the pics:

Discussing the plan:

Fixture made. Strategizing the install:

And now, the doors go back up!

Success!!

Adam tests out the strength of the bar. Will it hold all my clothes??? I think so.

In the right nook, a place to hang longer items like dresses:

Against the slanted wall, the rest of clothes likes shirts and pants:

Adam's mom and Joey take a rest:

And big Joe, Adam's pa, inspects the boys' handy work:

I have never been so happy to vacuum up saw dust:

These doors are perfect!

My clothes now have a home!

Great job Joey and Adam! I love it!!

And, there is even room for storage behind my clothes!!

Total project cost: $70. Sweet!

Bump Update:

And here is the bump update! Growing bigger every week...

And, today's picture:

Only 10 more weeks to go! We can hardly believe it. Time is flying by....

3D Ultrasound Pics:

Two weeks ago, at 28 weeks, we had our 3D ultrasound. It was great fun! We confirmed that baby is in fact a boy, and got to see his cute little face. We came away with some photos and a video. It was really neat. I couldn't figure out how to get the video clips on here, but here are some of the stills:

Baby's face and left arm by his face (look for the nose, mouth and left eye):

A profile shot in 2D:

Getting ready for a big yawn... head back for a stretch:

Mouth open for the yawn...

There it is! Big yawn!

A happy smile:

Chin tucked down. He's done performing!

One more cute face shot. Looks like he has mom's dimples:

Time for a nap! Nighty night!

It was a fun experience. If I had to do it over again, I might have waited until 32 weeks or so... because the further along you are, the more baby's features are developed. But, all in all, I give it two thumbs up!

Just a cute pic of us at Easter:

Baby shower:

Adam's mom and Joey's wife, Katie hosted a lovely shower for us this weekend. It was a great time, and it was nice to see friends and family. I managed to collect a few pics on my camera:

Me and a few of my coworkers Gina, Sabrina and Toni:

And my friends Kate and Allison:

Adam with the pretty cookies his mom had made:

Me and my life long pal Mandy:

Me and my former roomies, the two Kate's:

It was a great time and a great way to celebrate baby's upcoming arrival! Thank you to everyone who attended!

New front storm door:

Last summer, I blogged about my desire to replace the front storm door after we replaced the main front door. I wanted a clear view of our pretty green door. Well, hubby surprised me by buying a new door while I was traveling for work -- this weekend, with the help of my brother-in-law, Adam installed it. It is beautiful!

Me and my best Vanna impersonation:

Thanks Adam and Adelmo! You two are the best!!

Glider chair cushions:

A big thank you to my mom who did a fantastic job with the slip covers for the glider chair cushions. I picked a fun vintage fabric with animals playing musical instruments:

As part of my mom's shower gift, she included a cute shark outfit. Tonight, we tried it out on baby doll.

And to test out the chair, Adam's mom stopped over to rock baby doll...

And burp baby doll... And look what Memere's outfit had on the booty:

Well, if baby has attitude, we can blame Memere!!

(Just joking Mom! My mom bought this outfit and didn't realize this feisty phrase was on the bloomers!)

The crib:
Our crib has arrived and Grandpa stopped by to put it together. Doesn't it look great? And boy, is it sturdy! Thanks Grandpa + Grandma!

Belly button:
For those of you wondering, at 30 weeks, I still have my belly button. But only barely.

New basement project:
In late May, part I of the basement project begins. A preview can be found here. This will be messy and dusty and a lot of work. And it will all be documented. Stay tuned!!

I think that about covers it. Ta ta for now!

C + A (+ baby)

PS: Survey says that 65% of you think a long name with a shorter nickname is best. So, I guess Adam's longer version of our secret name is the winner!! Wait for it...

Look What My Honey-Did!

Every summer, Adam takes time off and tends to things around the house. It is really nice! What a lucky lady I am.

About two weeks ago, Adam began his honey-do week :D Here's what happened:

1. New stoop

The concrete dudes showed up to replace our stoop. Finally! My honey supervised and documented. Here are some pics:

The breakdown of the stoop:

A pile of rubble:

Since they were out, Adam had them look at some other concrete behind our garage that needed some TLC...

And made the executive decision to have them replace a few of the back pieces too. Here they are, forming the front stoop:

And, the work in the back:

And pretty new concrete:

Here's the new stoop:

And a week later, after my honey painted the rails white:

Nice job Adam!

2. New foyer tile

I've been wanting to get new tile for the foyer, so my honey phoned up his cousin Jay, who you might remember from the shower tiling in our upstairs bathroom.

We picked out some tile from Home Depot and Jay came over to beautify. Here are some pics...

Old, smelly tile out (Can tile smell? I think it can. It smelled funky when you walked in our front door. Like hot crayons):

New tile going down:

Adam also got assistance on putting our trim back up:

The finished tile!

Close up:

Awesome job Jason!

3. The deck!
This is a biggie. You might remember that last year, around this time, Adam stained the deck for my birthday. Well, for some reason, through the winter, the stain didn't hold. Adam decided he would try again. This time, we decided on an opaque red stain. And, this time, Adam's bro Joe was roped in to help.

The power washing:

A long day of painting:

And voila!

Red deck, from the yard:


I was afraid with the red siding, that it might be a little too much red. But, I like it. Way to go honey! And Joey too!

4. Tire trampled grass
I was avoiding looking at our side garden because the tire tracks from the neighbors cars made me sad. My honey offered to lay new sod. Isn't he grand?

Sod is hard work.

Digging out the tire tracks:

After:

And this past weekend (working on getting those brown patches in):

5. Bookshelf
Adam continues to work on the display of his pride and joy. Here is a beautiful red shelf he built to maximize the space on top of his comic drawerboxes. I think he might love this shelf more than me.


6. Off topic: The LEDGE

You might have heard about The LEDGE at the Sears Towers... excuse me, Willis Tower. As you might know, I work in the building and last week, building tenants were given a sneak peak. Pretty freaky.

Here are a couple of shots:

I'm floating!

More soon --
C + A
(4780)