Baby Update {26 Weeks}

Twenty-six weeks already...where has the time gone? I just realized that we'll be starting the third trimester soon. Wow :o)

Our little girl is about the size of a butternut squash now, at approximately 14 inches long and a weight of about two pounds. She is in the midst of her most active period (which typically lasts from 24-28 weeks), which is kind of funny because I haven't been able to feel her kick as much over the past day or two. She does this every once in a while, though -- I'm guessing she's facing my back so I can't feel the kicks nearly as much (her placenta is posterior). She's probably been sleeping quite a bit too. I'm not worried though; I've still been able to feel her moving around.

Her eyes, which have been closed up until now, should be starting to open at any time. She can see and respond to light, as well as hear outside sounds (and will likely start to recognize familiar voices).

I've still been pretty sore and achy, but I can't complain too much yet. Other than that and a bout of nausea the other day, I have been feeling pretty good.

We've started looking into daycare and have a meeting lined up for this coming week on Tuesday, which is also my next group day at the clinic. On top of that, Tuesdays are always my busiest at work, so... :/ it should be fun. Anyway, we probably won't need daycare until about mid-November or so, since after maternity leave, I'll be working from home for a couple months. But apparently daycare spots fill up quickly so we need to get something lined up asap.

We've gotten some more fun girly clothes over the past couple weeks... we should have a good start to baby's wardrobe once she arrives!

'sweet runs in the family' from the pfeifers

maria and soren sent these cute clothes

And I can't forget about the wall decorations I made for the nursery using supplies I picked up from Walmart.

The lion and giraffe pictures actually started out much differently -- and I hated them. Luckily, I was able to tear them apart and start over, with the pictured results. I'm really happy with how they turned out!

I can't really say the same for the elephant below. It doesn't look too bad in the picture, but it was much more difficult than I'd imagined. I bought the board pre-made from Walmart. The boards were too thin to handle the nails, and I had a very difficult time pounding them in without splitting the wood. Which eventually happened anyway. So some of the nails are sticking out way more than the others, and the boards are cracked in a couple spots :( but I really don't want to scrap the whole thing, so it'll have to work for a little while.

Easter 2016 & More

Last weekend, we went to Karissa and Tyler's new house for Easter and went to see Eloise at the hospital. This weekend, it feels great to be at home--even if I haven't gotten as much done as I'd like.

Okay, back to last weekend.

The kids opening their treat bags from us...

Saturday, we went to the hospital to see Eloise. She's getting so big, and doing so well!

It's a little scary holding her with all the tubes hooked up to her...she just snuggled in though, and snoozed peacefully.

Here's an interesting fact: Our baby is currently 25 weeks and 1 day gestation, which is close to the time Eloise was born. Crazy, huh?

Anyway, back to Easter...the kids had an outdoor egg hunt on Saturday, then we had a family dinner. (Did anyone else notice that the girls were all wearing pink and brown?! No wonder I had a hard time telling who's who in some of the pics.)

Isabelle, Jeremy, Sydney, Vera

Grandpa & Grandma with most of the grandkids

Isabelle and Dan were buddies; she even read him to sleep that evening

Easter morning photo

It was a fun weekend, but we had to head back home Sunday morning. The next day, Dan flew out to Chicago, so it was just the critters and me at home most of the week. Talk about a long week! I kept pretty busy, though.

This weekend, we haven't really done much except a little cleaning, shopping, and decorating. We've slowly been getting this house to a place where it looks like a home rather than a big, empty box.

Ever since we moved in, I've wanted a tree to put in the dining room. It was so plain and boring before...I love it now!

We also ordered a low profile box spring and Dan assembled it this weekend. I love being able to sit on the edge of the bed and touch the floor! It was several inches higher before, and I have a hard enough time getting out of bed these days...so it definitely helps a little bit. Plus, the co-sleeper we plan on getting for the baby only goes up to 30 inches high, so it wouldn't have worked with our bed before.

When we were in Sioux Falls a few weeks ago, we also picked up a few decorations. I've been looking for lamps and wall hangings for our bedroom for a long time, and finally found what I was looking for (the other nightstand has a matching lamp):

We also got some pictures to hang above the bathroom towel bars:

A while back, we also picked up a shoe rack to put by the patio door, so we arranged this area in the kitchen. I think it's finally complete!

Last night, I worked on some DIY decorations for the nursery...I'm happy with one of the projects, and semi-happy with the other. But I'll save that for the next baby update--26 weeks next Saturday!

Loki-and-baby snuggles (I think she might have even gotten kicked once or twice!)

Christmas Gifts {Part 2}: Living Room Furniture

Sofa & Recliner

Okay, so it should actually be titled 'Valentine's Day gifts' since the rest of our new furniture arrived the day before Valentine's...

There it is! So far, we're loving it. Loki has claimed the recliner as her own, of course. But that's okay because the sofa has two reclining sections on each end.

By the way, we still have our old furniture...the loveseat is stacked on top of the sofa between the living room and dining room. You can't see it in the picture, but it's really annoying and I can't wait to get it out of here.

Anyway, that's all I have for now.

Christmas Gifts {Part 1}: Bedroom Furniture

Yay, we finally have new bedroom furniture!

As I mentioned before, this was part of our Christmas gift to ourselves this past year; our second part is a new sofa and recliner, which should be arriving in about four weeks now. I know, kind of an expensive gift, but it's been a long time coming. We've been using mostly free furniture until now, and Dan got a decent Christmas bonus this year, so we figured we'd treat ourselves and get something that would last a very long time.

We were a little worried about how everything would fit into the bedroom (we switched to the slightly smaller room since it has a bigger closet), but it fits pretty well. The bed is really high, but I kind of like it that way. Poor Mila, though...she won't be able to jump up and down. Especially since this room has hardwood floors and her legs will go all different directions if she tries jumping off the bed. Hopefully soon we'll get a rug and some new bedding, curtains, etc. for the room. For now, it's pretty bare...

Here's a shot of the new bed and two nightstands. I think we may have shifted them over a bit after I took this picture. Since there's that little bump-out in the corner, the nightstand sticks out past it and looks really weird when it's next to the bed, so we decided to push it up against the other wall.

I'm sure you can tell in the picture that there are some exposed un-stained parts on the headboard, which we'll have to have touched up, as well as a chip on the footboard.

In this picture, you can see it all, including the chest in the far right corner.

And here you can see the view from the other side of the bed, looking toward the door. On the left is the closet with a mirrored door.

It's pretty plain and boring right now, and even though I'm really excited to decorate it, I'm dreading the cost of having to buy all new things. For now, we can get by with what we have, but I want to make it really warm and cozy.

Well, hopefully we will have pictures of our new living room furniture soon! I'm really looking forward to getting our old junky sofa and loveseat out of there....

Main Bath: Before & After

Almost a year later, I finally got around to painting the tiny bathroom on our main floor. As you can see in the before picture, it was painted in blue and yellow, with a butterfly border. For such a tiny room, it took forever to rip down the border, prime, and paint it in two coats of beige. I also took down the ugly towel bar and replaced it with a silver ring.

When I get a chance, I will post a few pictures from our trip to New Orleans... We have been back home all weekend, but it's been busy trying to get caught up on housework!

Thanksgiving in Huron

Pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

Where has the weekend gone? It's already Sunday...December 1st!

We had a fun Thanksgiving weekend with Mom, Caitlin, Chris, and Trisha - but we missed everyone else we didn't see this year: the rest of my family and Dan's family. Most years, we go back home and spend time with both of our families, but this year, we decided to stay here.

I spent Wednesday evening baking and getting ready for our company. Believe it or not, I actually didn't have much to do Thursday morning because they weren't able to get here until the afternoon, so we had planned on an evening dinner. I got the turkey in the oven and waited....

 

We ate a little later than planned, but it was worth the wait! There was so much food (for six people) that we're still eating leftovers. Have been for days! But everything tasted amazing.

 

 

It's hard to believe we could fit six people at our little table! We spent a lot of time at that table...it seems like we did nothing but eat this weekend!

Of course, we couldn't forget the dessert. I had bought a lemon meringue pie and made pumpkin cupcakes; Mom made a chocolate dessert, and Trisha made chocolate chip cookies.

Loki got pretty cozy with Caitlin while she was working on a paper...

We didn't do much shopping on Friday, but Mom, Trisha, and I went to KMart and I got a couple gifts for the kids. Then Dan and I looked at some furniture for a little while and got some ideas for our Christmas present to ourselves. We're still debating what we should get first; I'm thinking it's going to be a dining table.

We pulled out the Christmas decorations and set up the tree on Friday. Trisha helped me decorate it...

There was a Parade of Lights just a few blocks down from our house that night, and Dan had agreed to ride on a float.

It's hard to tell, but he was on this float

We warmed up with hot chocolate by the fireplace afterward. Mom and Trisha brought some crochet supplies, so we worked on some projects this weekend.

I don't know where this weekend has gone, but it's going to be over way too soon. I'm so not ready to go back to work! Now, I suppose I should get busy writing....