Disaster

In a word that is how I would describe my house right now... a disaster. Right now the only time I can really clean anything in my house is during the 2 hours after dinner and before I drag myself to bed.

We made it past the 1 month mark for Baby Marshall. I have his 1 month photo with the bear, but haven't had a chance to get it uploaded yet. I was actually able to get one without him screaming so that is progress I think :) He's been pretty fussy the past couple of days, which I think can be attributed to his 6 week growth spurt. As a result my days are pretty much shot even for a nap. It probably wouldn't be so bad if it were warmer and we could take a break from the house and take a walk to get some fresh air. Right now it is a little too cold to take a 6 week old outside for extended periods of time.

Last week I purchased one of these in an effort to still carry Marshall but also get some stuff done... An ErgoBaby!




Marshall fell right to sleep when I put him in it and I was a cleaning machine! Since he's going through a fussy phase right now he wants nothing to do with the Ergo and my poor house is suffering :( I actually had to start a task list of stuff that I need to get done so I don't forget anything.

Some of you may remember the to do list that I had going before Marshall was born. Well, I finally got one more item checked off yesterday. After 2 years, I finally ordered and framed our wedding pictures for display. I am bound and determined to complete this list! Now I just have to complete his name cross stitch and get our bookshelves organized.

1. Purchase a new sofa and love seat
2. Purchase a new crib, changer, and dresser
3. Clean and organize the office/storage room
4. Organize our bedroom to make room for crib
5. Switch out the old computer desk for the new one
6. Put up curtains in living room
7. Put up blinds/curtains in main bathroom
8. Put up blinds/curtains in small bathroom
9. Put up curtains in dining room
10. Put up all pictures, art, and other various wall hangings
11. Purchase china cabinet for china still trapped in boxes
12. Put up curtains in kitchen
13. Complete cross stitch name picture for Baby O
14. Order pictures for and complete wedding frame collage
15. Clean apartment!!!
16. Purchase bathroom space saver for baby bath supplies
17. Organize closets to make room for baby clothes
18. Organize bookshelves to make room for baby storage
19. Put crib together
20. Put dresser/changer together

Here's to finding more time to blog... and other stuff!

~AKO

Putty Approved

I can't believe how this week flew by. I think work knows that I'm getting ready to be gone for 3 months so everything seems to be blowing up at once! I haven't even wanted to get on the computer once I got home at all this week and usually went to bed not long afterwards.

I had my 35 week appointment on Thursday and everything is still going as planned. I'm still hoping we don't go early since I have everything planned at work right up until 11/12, which is my planned last day of work.

My shower is next Saturday so my Mom and sister are flying in for the weekend for it. I bought this to wear for Halloween so I'm debating if I'll wear it for the shower or not. It arrived today. How cool is this :)





In other exciting news, the day that we've been waiting for has finally arrived... our new sofa and loveseat were scheduled to arrive today!

Since the furniture delivery was scheduled sometime between 7:00 AM and 10:00 AM, we knew we needed to be up and moving by 7:00. If we weren't, you know those guys would have shown up at exactly 7:00. So, knowing full well that I planned to be up and moving around 6:30, I went to bed around 11pm and proceeded to stare at the ceiling until almost 3:00AM! Not happy at all! I slowly dragged myself out of bed around 7, and who should arrive shortly thereafter??? No, not the delivery guys.... the roofers! We knew our landlord was having the roof of our building redone, but we didn't know they'd be showing up before the sun.

Being on the 2nd floor of a three story apartment, there was a lot of noise and banging going on all day. So much that the putties set up camp under the beds for most of the day. We still have no idea how Harley got his 20lb behind under the bed!







But finally, our new furniture did arrive and we spent most of the day rearranging the living room so that everything fit to our satisfaction. We had to put our old couch on the curb Thursday night for pickup so we went all day and night on Friday with no couch. And, both pieces are putty approved...







~AKO

Whittling Away at the List

I'll be 30 weeks tomorrow so I feel like we've entered the home stretch and there is still a lot to do. Approximately 10 weeks until the arrival of Baby O. All I can say is that Freddy and I definitely labored during this labor day weekend. Of course, a couple of things have been added to the list. I feel like completing one item adds 2 more!

Friday was pretty much a wash since I had my 3 hour glucose test. I'll hopefully have my results by my doctor's appointment on Wednesday.

Saturday we took care of #1. We ended up putting the sofa and love seat on layaway so we'll have it all paid off when it gets delivered in November. #7, 8, & 9 were also accomplished Saturday night. I really liked the way everything turned out. I do have some before and after shots but I haven't had a chance to get them off the camera yet.

Last night I ordered a cabinet for our china, which takes care of #11. It isn't a true china cabinet, but for the sake of space I'm happy with the purchase. It is actually supposed to be used as a portable kitchen island and is just the right size for a bare wall in our dining room. Once we move into our own house I'll look for a real china cabinet.

Sunday was spent with Freddy's family for the 1 year memorial for his uncle's passing. Turns out I will burst into flames if out in the sun for too long. I ended up getting a sunburn on my chest, nose, and head just by standing out in the cemetary for a couple of hours.

Today I took care of #4 and 17. At the end of the day we have 3 full garbage bags of clothes and accessories for Goodwill. I still want to go through my dresser and clean that out, but that is for another day. What we decided to do with the baby clothes that can hang is to use part of the California closet that Freddy was using for his military jackets. He was able to organize the closet in our 2nd bedroom to put all of his stuff in to clear out one of the 2 bars for baby clothes.

And, the grand finale of the weekend is that Freddy and I just finished putting the crib together (#19)! We don't have bedding for it yet but we did get the mattress for it on Saturday. Once we have bedding and I've completed the name sign I'll post photos.

1. Purchase a new sofa and love seat
2. Purchase a new crib, changer, and dresser
3. Clean and organize the office/storage room
4. Organize our bedroom to make room for crib
5. Switch out the old computer desk for the new one
6. Put up curtains in living room
7. Put up blinds/curtains in main bathroom
8. Put up blinds/curtains in small bathroom
9. Put up curtains in dining room
10. Put up all pictures, art, and other various wall hangings
11. Purchase china cabinet for china still trapped in boxes
12. Put up curtains in kitchen
13. Complete cross stitch name picture for Baby O
14. Order pictures for and complete wedding frame collage
15. Clean apartment!!!
16. Purchase bathroom space saver for baby bath supplies
17. Organize closets to make room for baby clothes
18. Organize bookshelves to make room for baby storage
19. Put crib together
20. Put dresser/changer together

I'm starting to feel a little better about the state of our apartment and its readiness for Baby O. I can't believe how much we got done this weekend, but I do know is that I'll be sore tomorrow. Thank goodness for 3 day weekends!

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

~AKO

Ready for Summer to be Over!

Yes... that's right... I am SOOOOOO ready for fall. I'm tired of all this heat and humidity and can't wait for the cool, crisp air that fall brings.

I had my 3 hour glucose test yesterday, which about knocked me right out. I didn't get sick like I did with the 1 hour test, but I was extremely tired when everything was done. I even took a 2 hour nap when we got home and I very rarely nap during the daytime. They said the results should be back by Tuesday and my next doctor's appointment is on Wednesday so hopefully everything comes back normal.

Oh... and have I mentioned that I'm also ready to be done being pregnant! Don't get me wrong... I'm thankful that we were able to get pregnant without any problems and that, so far, everything is still going well. But I'm tired of not being able to get comfortable, not being able to sleep well, the heartburn, and the fact that nothing sounds good to eat at all. I'm hoping the next 10 weeks go by fast.

And, we should be able to knock a couple more things off our to do list this weekend. We did get the crib and dresser/changer in but now we have to put it together.

Last weekend, I got our bathroom space saver put together so we could put all of Baby O's bathroom supplies away that we've gotten so far. We got a lot of cute washcloths and towels at my shower in Michigan a few weeks ago. And, of course, I had a little helper...







~AKO

Preparing for Baby...

A couple weeks ago I put down on paper everything that we want... NEED to get done before November. The list to date looks like this:

1. Purchase a new sofa and love seat
2. Purchase a new crib, changer, and dresser
3. Clean and organize the office/storage room
4. Organize our bedroom to make room for crib
5. Switch out the old computer desk for the new one
6. Put up curtains in living room
7. Put up blinds/curtains in main bathroom
8. Put up blinds/curtains in small bathroom
9. Put up curtains in dining room
10. Put up all pictures, art, and other various wall hangings
11. Purchase china cabinet for china still trapped in boxes
12. Put up curtains in kitchen
13. Complete cross stitch name picture for Baby O
14. Order pictures for and complete wedding frame collage
15. Clean apartment!!!

Of course, I've added some items this list since and I'm sure more will be added as we go along.

16. Purchase bathroom space saver for baby bath supplies.
17. Organize closets to make room for baby clothes.
18. Organize bookshelves to make room for baby storage.

But, I was able to knock a couple things off the list today! #2 and 16 are done. My updated list now looks like this:

1. Purchase a new sofa and love seat
2. Purchase a new crib, changer, and dresser
3. Clean and organize the office/storage room
4. Organize our bedroom to make room for crib
5. Switch out the old computer desk for the new one
6. Put up curtains in living room
7. Put up blinds/curtains in main bathroom
8. Put up blinds/curtains in small bathroom
9. Put up curtains in dining room
10. Put up all pictures, art, and other various wall hangings
11. Purchase china cabinet for china still trapped in boxes
12. Put up curtains in kitchen
13. Complete cross stitch name picture for Baby O
14. Order pictures for and complete wedding frame collage
15. Clean apartment!!!
16. Purchase bathroom space saver for baby bath supplies.
17. Organize closets to make room for baby clothes.
18. Organize bookshelves to make room for baby storage.

83 days to go!

~AKO

Productivity

So after a large portion of the summer being very unproductive, we finally got some stuff accomplished these past two weekends. With the impending arrival of Baby O, there is a lot that needs to be done in our apartment, which mostly consists of organization and making it look like a home. The last thing I need is my mom coming out here in November and seeing a half finished apartment.

So, on our list of things to accomplish before November is:

1. Purchase a new sofa and love seat
2. Purchase a new crib, changer, and dresser
3. Clean and organize the office/storage room
4. Organize our bedroom to make room for crib
5. Switch out the old computer desk for the new one
6. Put up curtains in living room
7. Put up blinds/curtains in main bathroom
8. Put up blinds/curtains in small bathroom
9. Put up curtains in dining room
10. Put up all pictures, art, and other various wall hangings
11. Purchase china cabinet for china still trapped in boxes
12. Put up curtains in kitchen
13. Complete cross stitch name picture for Baby O
14. Order pictures for and complete wedding frame collage
15. Clean apartment!!!

So that is 15 things we need to have completed in 3 months. Of course #15 is an ongoing task that never seems to be completed. I hope we're up to the challenge :)

Well, last weekend we completed #3, 5, and 10. The office looked like this before. As you can see, we're being overrun by military gear! I found no less than 6 military bags of various sizes in addition to 3 backpacks that were still in their plastic.





After, it looked like this! We still have some odds and ends and a few boxes in there, but that's our china so we can't unpack it until we get a china cabinet. I was so excited to be able to move around in there and actually use the office when I worked from home on Friday.





And this weekend, we completed #6 and 12. Our living room looked very barren with no curtains and the ghetto blinds that were left by the previous renters. You can see the poor collage frames leaning against the fireplace just waiting for our wedding pictures 2 years after the fact.







And the finished product! It literally took us most of the day to get those suckers hung. Turns out the frames on the windows were very reluctant to accept the screws. Now keep in mind that I bought these curtains back in March and they've been sitting in their bags just waiting to be hung. And you can see proof in all of the "after" pictures that we did get our pictures and art hung on the walls.







So now our to list looks like this:

1. Purchase a new sofa and love seat
2. Purchase a new crib, changer, and dresser
3. Clean and organize the office/storage room
4. Organize our bedroom to make room for crib
5. Switch out the old computer desk for the new one
6. Put up curtains in living room
7. Put up blinds/curtains in main bathroom
8. Put up blinds/curtains in small bathroom
9. Put up curtains in dining room
10. Put up all pictures, art, and other various wall hangings
11. Purchase china cabinet for china still trapped in boxes
12. Put up curtains in kitchen
13. Complete cross stitch name picture for Baby O
14. Order pictures for and complete wedding frame collage
15. Clean apartment!!!

Wish us luck!

~AKO