21.5 Week Update

Daddy felt little man kick last night for the first time! WooHoo!

Here's my info:

By the way...no that's not a bruise just more bad photography :)

Weight gain thus far on the home scales: 14lbs

Belly circumference: 39inches at the navel

Stretch marks: None

Feeling the baby: Everyday- mostly after I eat or when relaxing

Belly button: Itchy sometimes but still in & holding strong

Swelling: None unless I work like a man renovating the kitchen

Heartburn: No real heart "burn" - just some un settling

Varicose veins/skin tags/other nasties: a couple of little skin tags - NOT GOOD!

Overall comfort level: Pretty dang good!

Where We've Been.....

We recently took on the larger than expected task of replacing our kitchen counter tops. This started around mid November- or the time of the last blog post- and is just now coming to an end. We had old 4x4 white ceramic tiles that had yellowed and became brittle. We both hated them and after much deliberation we chose to replace with granite tile.

Our weekends have gone something like this...

It started out with tear out and replacement of the old stuff. We left our mark...

In more ways than one!

Ha! We tried to cut a corner and not empty out the cabinets and drawers below. Ooops - more work made or us by us! Saw dust is EVERYWHERE!

To spare you all of more bad photography skills I'll jump to the good stuff; the way it looks today. There's still more work to be done but we are just thankful that we survived our first major renovation!

2009 has brought all new appliances to our kitchen, including the "Mac-Daddy" new stove I bought last week. Last week also included installation of the new sink, faucet and finally a disposal. I just -HEART- it! I'll love it even more when it's 100% finished. Speacial thanks to Mr. Kettering Cottage for bringing all of his A Game handy man skills.

So Slack....

Just thought I'd drop in...I am really bad about blogging right now; however there are new post coming I promise. It's just the art of getting of the couch to download photos!

Gender Reveal, Kitchen Project, Belly Pic's, all coming soon.... hold your horses.

Leaf Patrol

This past weekend was the first time the leaves were tackled this year at the Kettering Cottage. It is a HUGE undertaking that we dread and I feel really bad that I'm not out there helping this year like usual. Allergies and the baby put a hault to my leaf work this year...can I say I am almost happy about that? MK is the greatest leaf man I know and I thank the "Lawd" for that!!! Not only does he get up our leaves- he also manages to pick up my parents leaves and the ones at his mother's house near by. So while I was sanding and priming here's what my hubby was doing. We are busy folks around the Kettering Cottage! Here are just a few examples of leaf day.

We have to blow them out of all the natural areas before we can use this beast of a contraption.

Our front and side yard before leaf day began...

These were OVER ankle deep...the dogs LOVED it!

Our front and side yard after hours of leaf patrol...

Not even a quarter of the leaves that we get up EACH WEEK from our yard!!!

As you can tell my photography skills are lacking greatly but I just wanted you to get an idea of what the phrase "getting up leaves" means to us! MK is such a trooper and a great handy man husband- Good Job Honey!

I'm sure it makes him sick to look at the yard again and see that it's already covered and waiting on another leaf day!

Refinishing the Baby Crib

This past weekend I spent 2 full days working on the baby crib. We have decided to use the Bassett crib that I had as a child since it still meets today's safety standards. I guess it is considered antique now- just like me. We chose to change it from stained wood to a crisp white. I started out by sanding. Don't look at our messy garage... that's another post.
I sanded...

and sanded...

And then Sanded some more...My fingers were almost bleeding- since I sanded them to the bone! As you can see I'm pretty stubborn when it comes to gloves.

Day 2 I cleaned all of the crib pieces free of sanding dust and began priming. I did try to be as safe as possible by using " green" Kilz primer and I wore the respirator mask the whole time- lovely- it reminded me of my OR days.

Not sure of how much paint it would take I originally bought 2 cans---WHAT? was I thinking? So far I've gone through 6 primer cans! I don't have many pictures of the painting process but I got everything covered once really good and plan to start the top coat soon.

Stay tuned for the finished product....

Old Friends & Having Babies = Good Times

We aren't the only ones that are going to be parents soon.

Jesse & Danielle Keever should be bringing a little joy into this world any minute! Last weekend friends hosted a "Bewitching Baby Bash" for the couple. Foofie and I attended, Ashley was scheduled to go too but due to a last minute work commitment she had to cancel. Here are the only photos from the night; too bad there aren't any of Danielle- she looked great!!!

By the way...these are the only pictures I have of me displaying my new "round" style.

Jesse & I

Me & Foofie

Bring on the Wal-Mart Buggies!

I got my H1N1 vaccine today! It hurt, stings worse than the influenza vaccine I had in September but it had to be done. Now the baby and I are as protected as we can get outside of living in a bubble. Don't worry Momma, I'll still continue to wipe all store buggies I come in contact with down with sanitizer or if I'm with you - improvise - and wrap them in paper towels from the bathroom. (No telling what germs were picked up just getting the towels from the bathroom---Ha!!!)