28 weeks down, 12 to go!

Well, technically I don't actually hit the 28 week mark until this Thursday, but close enough, right? We're finally in the third trimester and I am slowly beginning to realize how NOT ready we are for this little person to pop out! I mean, we're ready to meet our baby and can't wait for that part, but I feel like we have nothing else prepared. Even though we still have 12 weeks, I'm starting to get a little antsy about all systems being go. It totally bugs me that the nursery is still in mid-decor mode, we don't know who we're going to have baby-sitting on days when my sister, Amanda, has class or work, we have a couple onesies and some receiving blankets but otherwise- nada, and other seemingly miniscule items that have just been driving me batty!

Plus, I can definitely believe we're at 28 weeks, but it hadn't hit me that it leaves only 12 weeks, thereabouts, left to go....my, how this has flown by. Well, here's a belly pic for 28 weeks, I'm still feeling great minus I did not pass my glucose screening and have to go in for the 3-hr glucose tolerance test in a couple of weeks- BOO! I think it may have had something to do with the lack of water intake that morning paired with the granola bar I HAD TO HAVE right at the cutoff for when I was supposed to fast before going in for the screening. Wish me luck on that, I'm not looking forward to having blood samples drawn 4 times in 3 hours, yuck :( Baby, on the other hand, seems to be doing well so far as the doctor can tell, and has been more and more active and the kicks are getting stronger! I can see my belly jump sometimes, happy week to all!

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Basement Progress

This weekend my parents traveled out our way again to continue the basement renovation. The last time they were here, metal studs went up along with drywall and the basement was separated into three sections: the will-be "Man Cave", a guest bedroom, and the rest of the basement. This time my dad brought along his HUGE air compressor and his equipment to texture the walls that were put up the last visit. He, Jerod, and my brother, Tom, were also able to finish insulating the bedroom and installing drywall as well as a new window at the South end of the bedroom. There was some electrical work done and we opted to do a stick frame for the other big wall in the man cave, this way when we mount a TV it has something to grab onto and is supported well.

Here's a few pics of the current state of the basment:

This is the man cave from the space where the french doors will be. I should have taken a picture of the wall that has already been textured, but oh well. You're seeing the area where the TV will go up and we'll put in some couches- the place where Baby B and I will have to go to spend time with Daddy during football season!

He kept trying to escape, but I was able to grab this picture of him working. He's shaving some of the drywall off to fit it around the window.

My dad and Jerod putting in the drywall JB was working on (right before my mom and I announced our plans to head out to Des Moines to do some shoe shopping!)

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Nursery/Guest Room Phase 1

What could all of these odds and ends possibly have in common?

So one important thing for us while preparing for the baby is maintaining the space we have to be able to host family and friends for overnights, but also have space for baby stuff. This has meant converting our guest room into a nursery also. The important thing to me in this transformation is not having a typical "baby themed" nursery. I completely respect other people's interest in cute little animals or Pooh Bear bedding, but our nursery needs to function for adults and children. I found some bedding on Target.com and have decided to use it as the inspiration for the room. It's based on mostly primary colors with some browns mixed in, which makes it great for either gender of baby and since the colors are a little muted they lend themself nicely to a modern feel. I scoured every baby bedding website I could find and wasn't able to find anything that I loved more than this set.


I have had the hardest time trying to come up with ways to fill up wall space in the nursery, however. I don't like to have up random artwork and wanted something that would complement the baby bedding. After spending hours looking online, and some inspiration from Pottery Barn kids (which I love but simply cannot afford), I decided to do a homemade art project. Luckily, Hobby Lobby was having a sale on their painting canvas and I picked up a few other things there like paint, wooden die cuts, and some fabric to help complete the project. In the future, when I do these kind of projects, I'll remember to show step by step photos. But anywho, it took a couple days, many coats of paint, hot glue, a staple gun, and lots of patience, but the finished product was worth it.

This is my favorite letter of the set. I love the color combo and the way the polka dots turned out with the circular sponge, they have that worn, antique look to them.



He is the only cute little animal that will be in this room (besides stuffed ones when baby is a little older). He was also the inspiration behind using the word SMILE- plus, it is pretty non-gender specific.

A shot of the bedding with the artwork so you can see how I tried to use the patterns from the blanket in the canvas circles.

Next up, I will try my hand at making a homemade fabric covered headboard, wish me luck!

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Spring Break must come to an end....boo!

As always my spring break has come and gone way too fast, I would really love to sneak in one or two extra days, but I guess I would wish for another couple after those were gone and so on and so forth. Back to the daily grind for me I guess, but not without sharing some little tidbits of how I spent my few student-free days.

Mostly it was just a lot of relaxing, hanging out, watching the NCAA basketball conference tourneys last weekend with the hubby. On Monday I decided to tackle the mess that was my car- I cannot tell you how many tissues I have gone through this winter, they were swallowing my interior whole! Not to mention the day to day toss-something-in-the-back-seat-because-I-don't-want-to-deal-with-it-now stuff: receipts, fast food bags, jackets, mittens, blah, blah, blah. It was nice to go through it all, sort it out, throw it away, vacuum, and wipe everything down with disinfectant cleaner. Winter just traps all those nasty bugs on everything because it's so cold you don't want to worry about cleaning out your car, but this was the perfect time to spring clean the car.

Tuesday I made a trip to Williamsburg and the Tanger Outlet Mall to meet up with my pal Brenda, her kids, and her sister JoLynn and her own kids, too. It was so great to see them all and also get to do some shopping on the cheap(er). I got a couple cute finds for Baby Brown at Carter's, it's nice to be able to shop for baby stuff and not just look for other people, I feel like I have some kind of a magic ticket with this belly and baby! I also stopped to get some extra place settings for when our families visit and some much needed bigger maternity pants which I shall model for you in a couple weeks via Belly pic update. But for now check out my baby steals:

Is this not one of the cutest things ever?! I can just picture our baby all wrapped up in it after bathtime :)

A little way for us to have a keepsake of Baby B's tiny hand and footprints....I already know my baby is going to get big too fast for me.

This one I bought specifically because I knew I was going to spend a good chunk of change at the outlet mall stores and I thought JB would get a kick out of it. (I was right, when I showed him it he just smiled and shook his head, heehee)

The rest of the week was pretty relaxed as well. I visited Jerod at school a couple times to see the kids doing roller skate limbo, gave his car the star treatment, and we spent the last couple days hosting and visiting friends of ours we hadn't seen since New Year's, it was good to spend time with them. I wish I had pictures, it was a great time and reminded me of college when it was just me with the guys and Jerod all the time. Good times, good times.

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Conference Tournament Season

Pending Wagers..all soon to be losing wagers

New Mexico 20-1 to win Mountain West


Buffalo Bulls 12-1 to win the MAC

and finally, Southern Miss, with Larry Eustachy, 10-1 to win Conference USA

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Sweet Treat

So I have a student in my class who spends Tuesday nights with his Nana, and they do lots of fun stuff together, and I love that his family has this tradition. But what I LOVE about when he spends time with his Nana, is that they usually make a special treat appropriate to upcoming seasons or holidays. The current treat was (because I definitely consumed it within minutes of receiving it, haha) a bird nest made out of chow mein noodles- complete with jelly bean eggs!

His Nana sent me the recipe and I want to share with others because it is SUPER simple and totally fun for kids and adults alike, especially if you know lots of people who love cute crafty treats.

Bird Nest Recipe

Bag of caramels

1/3 c. butterscotch chips

Bag of Chow Mein noodles (La Choy tastes best)

Jelly Beans

Unwrap caramels and put into a microwave safe bowl (big enough to fit bag of Chow Mein noodles later). Add the butterscotch chips to the caramels in the bowl. Microwave until melted, be sure to check so that the mixture doesn't scorch. Dump in the Chow Mein noodles and coat with the caramel mixture. Let cool slightly, shape mounds of noodles into nests and cool completely on wax paper. Add 3 jelly bean "eggs", wrap in a fold-over sandwich baggie and give as gifts or enjoy at home!

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23 Weeks

I find it hard to believe that we're already at 23 weeks in this pregnancy! (Of course not until Thursday, officially, but whatever) I'm feeling pretty great, I have a lot more energy than I did the first few months, which has been really nice for me and Jerod. I feel like we actually get to spend time together now, instead of me passing out right after dinner and basically only spending time with each other on the weekends.





The last few weeks since our ultrasound have been especially nice because I have felt the baby move more and more each day. You can even feel little kicks by touching my belly, but every time I get Jerod's hand in the right spot the little stinker stops kicking! And I have had this feeling the whole pregnancy that we're having a girl, I've had at least three dreams that confirmed this suspicion, and then last weekend I had a dream the baby was born a boy- so now this kid is really throwing us off. First, hiding their cute little face during the ultrasound, then not kicking for their Daddy, and now with the indecisive dreams- our baby will always keep us guessing I suppose.





Here is a belly pic for the 23 week milestone, I've been getting several requests for another. Please forgive the scrubby clothes and my wacky hair, we had been doing work on the basement with my parents and then cleaning the house from a weekend of visitors. I'll have to post progressive pictures of our basement remodel- we (and by 'we' I mean my dad) got SO much done this weekend and it really looks awesome so far!

My belly looks a little smaller in this pic than my last belly pic post, I think it was the camera angle on the 17 week picture that made me look ginormous. However, I am now feeling bigger than ever- I'm not sure how I can feel even more huge, but somehow I know it will happen :)

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