Basement Update #2

Things are moving along in our basement. As I said before our goal was February 1st....which we changed to February 18th when my family comes down. Well now we are changing it again to hopefully being ready to paint by the time my family comes down. With Tom's work schedule it is hard for him to get the work done and to get people to help out so it's been a bit of a challenge but a good one. I know that this work makes him feel like he is doing something for our family. I think he misses out on parts of the pregnancy because he obviously can't experience everything I get to.

We have bought paint for the basement after sadly finding that there was none of the old colour left anywhere. It's nice in some ways because we will get to pick our own colour and can continue to slowly get rid of the colour they painted the WHOLE house. It's also stressful because we really have no idea what furniture will eventually end up down there. For now it will be a desk, bookcase and an old futon but eventually it will become  the tv room so it will house more furniture.  We don't want to go too boring but don't want to corner ourselves in with a CRAZY colour. So for now our paint is untinted waiting for us to decide...by next weekend. We've managed to hit a good number of sales with these renovations. Last weekend Rona had a promotion where you got 15% back in gift cards if you spent over 35$. I bought our underpadding (with our Rona gift cards we got with our Air Miles) and got 37$ back which then helped us to buy our paint and drywall mud and supplies.  The paint was buy 2 get one free and we will for sure need 2 maybe 3 for our basement so it was perfect!

Here are some updated pictures from this past week. The drywall is all up on the ceiling and the first round of mudding is complete. The pillars still need to be drywalled and then mudded.

Tom screwing some screws in tighter as he muds. 

View from the office part of the basement. Don't worry we have new lights.

And for those who want a bump picture here she be at 35 weeks and 3 days.

2012 is a busy year!

So I can't entirely remember if I've posted about how great 2012 is going to be for my family.

First is our little one that we are expecting in March! Only 5 weeks away! We still have a lot to do to prepare for the arrival of our baby but I know we will get it done (stay tuned for a renovations update).

Second is the arrival of not one but TWO nieces/nephews this August. Tom's brother P and his wife J are due August 1st with their first and my sister N and her husband P are due August 8th with their third!

Third, my oldest sister A got engaged this past weekend to her now fiancé P. At first they were thinking November for the wedding but now it's looking more like June! Holy mackerel! I love it!

So it's going to be a busy half a year coming up for our family! We are all so blessed!

Baby Shower #1

So this past weekend Tom and I went home for what we plan to be our last trip before the arrival of our baby. I had a feeling it would be the weekend my family would host a baby shower for us but wasn't sure. We had also at one point talked about going back home again next weekend so I wasn't sure.

Well as it turns out it was this weekend. Early on Saturday morning my cousin semi let the cat out of the bag when he called to talk to my da. He said, "are you looking forward to this afternoon?" I replied "ya...". So I told Tom this and he did a great job of making me second guess it. He said while he was out with my dad that my dad asked if we were coming home next weekend and then said to make sure we did. So I began to question everything.

My sister N then arrived at my parents with her 2 kids and after a fast late lunch was quite insistent on going to the mall to exchange her daughter's snow suit for another size. She really wanted someone to go with her but no one else would go so I agreed. She was going to a baby/kids clothing store so I figured it would be research (they're having a lot of sales now!)

We head home and I say hi to Tom and my dad who were upstairs. Then my sister A yells from downstairs that my nephew wants his mom to come downstairs. N goes downstairs and brings my niece with her and I meander around upstairs avoiding going down....knowing full well what was going on now. Eventually they make my niece yell at me to come down and play with all the toys (just like she did for our wedding shower). I could no longer avoid it so I went downstairs and was greeted by great family and friends who love and support Tom and I.

We were so blessed with great generosity from everyone. Topping the list was our dresser and change table from my parents, sisters K and N, great aunt and grandma. Our baby at least has a place to store clothes and have his or her bum changed. Tomorrow we will go and buy our crib! Yah!! Things are coming together!

Stay tuned for pictures! I have to wait to get them from my sisters.

Here is a picture of the cake my sister K made.

Nesting Update Vol. 2

So I have no real nesting updates per say but I do want to talk about nesting. 

I have the desire to do this stereotypical 'nesting' that you read and hear about. But a barrier that is in my way is my adorable 4 and a half month old puppy Bauer. The majority of what I want to do involves me being in the upstairs part of our house where we do not allow him to go. Even if we did let him go there, I would not want him in the rooms with me because of the amount of organizing I have to do and the chaos that comes before organization can be achieved.

The 'biggest' job I want to achieve on my own is organizing our closets.  The one closet in our room is not big enough for both Tom's and my clothes so we have decided that I will keep the closet in our room and he will use the closet in the guest room. In addition we will also be adding a dresser to the guest room that he will use for cloths in addition to the dresser in our room.  Hopefully it works out for us.  But for us to achieve this I first need to remove everything from the guest room closet and put his clothes back in neatly.  Unfortunately this closet has become a storage room also since we've moved in.  It is also housing baby gifts we have received since we don't yet have a baby room.

Speaking of the babies room. We have finally decided on the furniture we are wanting.  So here it is. We have to order the crib (which Tom's parents are buying for us) and we registered for the dresser and change table. They aren't the same brand so we hope the colour ends up matching!  

Cloth Diapers

As a couple we have decided to use cloth diapers.  Tom wore them as a child and I'm not sure if I did or not. My sister has cloth diapered her 2 kids and has promoted it so we are jumping on the band wagon. Why not?  Out of everything baby related for some reason I am most excited about cloth diapers.  I cannot wait to get them and to play with them before baby arrives and then to use them once baby gets here. Maybe this makes me crazy but I'm just throwing it out there.

We have decided to give two types of diapers a try. The one we are hoping works well is a very economical choice with a cover and liners. It is the Flip system by Cotton Babies.  I like these because they allow you to reuse the covers more than once and therefore create less laundry than an all-in-one diaper.  I have read and watched many reviews on the Flip. Some people choose to use an all-in-one for day-to-day use but while travelling or  running errands use the Flip because it is more compact for travel. You can also buy disposable liners for travelling.  There are also a lot of people who choose to use the Flip system daily.  I am hoping we are one of these people and that they diapers work for us. For $60 you can get 2 covers and 6 liners - not bad!!


The second diaper system we registered for is an all-in-one. It was originally my first choice until my sister showed me the Flip system. It is a Canadian brand, Omaiki.  The all-in-ones they offer are great.

Check out the options with the Omaiki!!

The come with one liner which is attached at one end to the shell and a second liner can be snapped in for extra absorbency.  I liked these because they weren't pocket diapers like my sister used (which I didn't really enjoy) and had the versatility to switch to one or two liners. I also liked that the attached liner could move and wasn't stuck down like in some other diapers I had looked at, therefore allowing for quicker drying time.  What also attracted me to the Omaiki brand, besides being Canadian, was the colours! They offer a huge selection that drew me in. These are a bit more pricey at $28.50 a diaper at my local store.

So this is what we are looking at to start our stash of cloth diapers.  I have registered for 4 of the boxes of Flip diapers (so we will have 8 liners and 24 liners) which should do us at least a day and a half.  I also registered for 4 of the Omaiki all-in-ones and we would likely use these for overnight.  Of course all of this could change once our little one arrives and offers his or her opinion on our choice of diapers. I look forward to the adventure that lies ahead for us on cloth diapering and as parents in general!

Basement Update #1...Nesting Update Vol. 1

So a lot has been happening around here in the world of renovations and my attempts to nest while making sure our adorable puppy doesn't get into too much trouble. But he is just so darn cute!!  This picture is of him during our trip home for Christmas. We travel with him behind the back seat but he decided to climb over it and sit on our luggage. This forced us to set up a barrier with the baby gate so he couldn't do that anymore.  We're hoping he wont try to climb over onto the baby once he or she travels with us too!

So the basement renovations are going well. This past weekend Tom and two of his friends put up thermopan for our cold air returns, sound proof insulation and the vapour barrier. Next up is the drywall.  We ended up getting the drywall for $9.75 a sheet which saved us $4 over what we were planning to pay.  It was great to save money.  We now have almost everything purchased for the completion of the basement. We do need to pick up primer for the ceiling and we are hoping to find the paint the old homeowners had used to paint the basement to touch up the walls but we haven't looked yet.  Otherwise we'll need to buy paint for the walls.  We ordered some gift cards to Rona with our Air Miles and are waiting for them to come in. We will use that to buy the underpadding for the floor.  So our original goal of a February 1 end date might not happen. But for sure it will be done by February 18th we hope. That weekend is my baby shower here so my family will be coming down and they will help us paint the babies room and the ceiling in the basement if necessary.

Yesterday was the first day I felt  really accomplished in my nesting efforts.  Last week I had a few days of motivation.  I had organized our kitchen cupboards and made space in one of the pantries for Bauer's stuff. I have not achieved my goal of making room for bottles and baby things but we'll get there.  I also took the ornaments off the Christmas tree but that was as far as I went.  Friday I took the tree down and packed it all up. Yesterday I was onto my organizational kick and was able to cross off a number of items on my to-do list.  I organized our linen closet, and under the bathroom sink.  I also washed both the shower curtain and the liner so they are sparkly!!  We have one of those plastic shelving units in our bathroom as well so I reorganized that and emptied out a drawer that we'll use for baby bathroom items.  While I was doing these things I was also doing our laundry.  So needless to say I was EXHAUSTED before dinner.  I could feel myself getting tired so many times so I would try to slow down and sit down.  I likely did more than I should have but it felt great to cross these things off my list. 

Today is a more relaxing day. Tom is working so it's just Bauer and I. I have somethings I would like to do but nothing that is major and needs to be done.  Happy Sunday!!

Here is an updated picture at 32 weeks and 5 days.  As always I forgot to get Tom to take a picture so you never get to see a full shot but you at least get the baby!!

Home Renovations

So this weekend officially kicked off our renovations on the basement. I guess they were really begun the week after we moved in since we had to build a support beam but I digress.

Since having to build that beam we have discovered a few more things that needed to be fixed - floors and electrical mostly. So we always had a long term goal of fixing it. When we found out we were expecting it became not so long term. The room that we were beginning to set up as our office (but had become storage for boxes we were to lazy to unpack wedding gifts) was now to become the baby's room and we would use the nook in the basement as the office. So thus our plans changed to needing I finish the basement before March.

This passed weekend Tom and his brother took the drywall down from the basement ceiling and Tom and I bought the flooring. This week it's insulation and duct work hopefully! How exciting!!