5 Months, Anatomy Scan, and GENDER

This week, at 5 months along, we got to see our baby in the {much anticipated and highly stressful} hour long anatomy scan ultrasound.  I always get so stressed before ultrasounds, and my blood pressure before hand always shows this!  There is just so much that's unknown before the big anatomy scan... that you can't help but go into it with nerves.  We were so relieved to see all of the baby's parts growing properly and to hear that absolutely everything looks like it should.  We have NEVER gotten to hear that before in our past pregnancies.  Neither Jace or Lane had serious complications, they just needed follow up ultrasounds to monitor abnormalities found on their anatomy scans.  But, it was still stressful for the next month until we heard everything had resolved and they looked healthy at the second ultrasound.  Leaving this appointment with smiles on our faces was a first.  It was the first time I understood how people "normally" feel when they leave such an exciting appointment.  This pregnancy has proved, so far, to be the least stressful and least complicated of any of my pregnancies.  Here's hoping that continues until the end!  Oh, and we did find out the gender, it's a ....

GIRL!

Yes, we were completely shocked.  As in, made her check three different times before we left and from all different angles.  She said it's safe to go ahead and paint the nursery as there were some very convincing girl parts.  I'm still not 100% sold, as crazy as that sounds... ha!  Tate and I both thought it was a boy.  I never have strong indications of either gender, and my pregnancies definitely don't follow the old wives tale symptoms of each... but I was just pretty sure it was a boy.  The only dream I'd had was of a baby boy, and in the past pregnancies that was the only indicator that I'd had... boy dreams, as if my subconscious knew what I did not.  Well apparently my subconscious was wrong!  We are THRILLED to have a baby girl... but also feel like complete newbies.  What do girls wear?  What do they act like?  How do they play?  I know gender stereotypes aren't always accurate... but there are definitely some very "boyish" boys living in this house right now, and I can't imagine a little girl and all the tea parties and dance recitals and big ridiculous bows she'll bring to our home.

As we left the appointment we agreed not to tell anyone until we'd come up with a "fun" way to tell our family and friends... but that lasted all of three minutes and Tate was calling family on speaker phone in the car as we drove.  When we got home I quickly rushed and grabbed a pink scarf and threw it around my belly to text to my friends... and then put it on social media before someone else spilled our news first.  So I guess we were too excited to wait and do something fun!  All the warm wishes throughout the day just made our hearts that much more full.

At 5 months the baby is about 10 inches long and 10.5 ounces.  I don't know how that can be considering I've already gained 30 pounds!  My doctor is not worried about it and either am I... it's what my body does.  Everything looks healthy so "oh well" if I gain 60 pounds again this pregnancy.  I mean, sure, I'd love if I got to be a cute little pregnant person with skinny arms and legs and a reasonable sized chest, but that's not in the cards for me! ;) 

19 weeks

20 weeks

I had to run to out for diapers and a prescription right after our appointment.  Somehow I ended up in the little girls section of Target.  I've never looked at little girls clothing before, with the exception of gift buying, so I felt completely clueless.  All of a sudden my cart was full of clothes for next summer and I had to force myself to put it all back for now.  Well except for two items I couldn't part with...  an adorable little sleeveless onesie and some polka-dot shorts.  So in other words, it took me all of 2 hours before we'd already purchased some PINK.  This is going to be a problem.  ;)

Salvaging A Beat Up Piece of Furniture

My favorite thing about refinishing or re-purposing an old piece of furniture is the satisfaction I get afterwards.  Quite often when I find a piece of furniture that is pretty beat up and/or ugly I start to doubt that it could ever be beautiful again, and all throughout the refinishing process I'm constantly second guessing why I'm even wasting my time.  But then the end result comes and there is nothing more rewarding than seeing that you saved a piece of furniture from a landfill and made it useful again... and for little or no money.  It's even more rewarding than getting through putting together a big piece of Ikea furniture without murdering your spouse in the process.

Oh wait, please tell me I'm not the only one?? I start to break out in hives just from looking at one of Ikea's direction pamphlets... and people should stay far away from me until it's over.  ;)

While I do think there is a time that certain things should get thrown away, I think it happens far too soon far too often.  Furniture now is almost never made with as much quality as it was in the past, at least not for an affordable price.  So if you do refinish something, it will probably end up lasting even longer than buying something brand new at one of the big furniture retailers today.

The other day I found an amazing rare Dixie Dresser from the 1960s at the thrift store around the corner.  I wasn't on a quest for a dresser that day, but have been casually looking for a well made one for our master bedroom for months (years even?)... so I snagged it up and I'm excited to tackle that project.  The only downside of being a pregnant DIYer, is that there are certain steps to refinishing furniture that I can't do because of the fumes... which means the first and last steps I need help from Tate on, and with his already busy schedule that means waiting.  (tick tock)  If I wasn't pregnant the piece would have been started IMMEDIATELY.  I also have a fireplace mantle for our master bedroom that I need his help on starting, and that's been sitting in the garage for four months.  Sooo... yea.  Someday.  Hopefully before the kids graduate from high school.

While thinking of the dresser I started looking at a couple of past projects I had finished right before getting pregnant... back when the fumes only poisoned me and not my unborn child.  This particular project was an incredibly easy DIY.  Perfect for beginners just starting out on their first piece.

What I've learned from the past, when I first was learning to re-do furniture was it's important to do all the right steps and take your time.  Otherwise you'll have a project that will be chipping within a couple of years and just not look that good.  If you follow through the right steps it should hold up to years and years of use.  The thing is, the steps may seem overwhelming, or even costly if it's your first project and you need to get every supply all at once, but these steps are quick, easy and really inexpensive because the materials last forever.

Almost every project needs a light sanding before getting started, the degree of how much you sand depends on the piece and what your end result will be.  The only time it needs to be more than a light sanding is if you are planning to re-stain the piece, then you may need to use a stripping agent first to remove old stain and laquer, and then use a palm sander to get the wood completely bare again.  If you're planning to paint the piece you really just need to lightly sand to rough up the surface a little so the primer or paint adheres better.

I use an oil based primer with any furniture project, UNLESS I'm going for a distressed look where I actually want some of the wood to show through the paint.  An oil based primer like Cover Stain is full of fumes but is incredibly important in getting a professional result and making sure no wood grain bleeds through over time.  If you skip this step your project may look good at first but after 6 months or a year the wood grain may start to actually show through your paint and ruin all that hard work you just did.  Zinnser or Kilz both make good oil based primers.  And this is an item you will re-use throughout many project, so the cost is actually really low.

After those steps you obviously would then paint your piece.  Doing 2-3 really thin coats is always a better idea than slapping it on too thick and trying to get good coverage right away.  There are several types of paint you can use... chalk paint, milk paint, regular latex wall paint in any sheen you want.  It's all personal preference and depends on the look you're going for in the end.

After painting is done and you have your piece looking exactly like you want it, meaning if you're distressing the piece for a shabby chic or rustic look you would have already done that, then it's time to protect the work you've done.  You can use a wax or a polyurethane to protect the piece.  It's personal preference mostly and may depend on the specific piece.  Wax is sort of trendy right now, but I actually prefer working with Poly most of the time.  This step is very easy, but completely changes the durability of your piece.  Putting on 2-3 thin coats of Poly at the end will give your piece that finished touch.  I typically use a Satin sheen for Poly, because it gives it a light shine without changing the look of the piece and making it too glossy.  After it's protected with Poly you don't have to worry about it chipping as easily and it's protected from water marks or damage.  I also think it takes away some of the tacky feel of dried paint.  It's smooth like butter!

This piece was actually a free table given to me by my mom's neighbor.  She had originally had purchased it with plans to re-do it herself, but when she realized she just didn't have the time at this point to do the project she thought of me.  My favorite kind of piece is a FREE piece!  The table was a vintage gate legged drop leaf table.  It was a wood piece that looked like it had been kept in storage too long, it had water damage, warped and cracked wood, and neither leaf would lift anymore because the hinges had been bent and almost ripped off.  I have no idea how it got that bad... it actually had tire marks on it like it had been run over as well.

The first couple of weeks after she gave me the table I kept pulling it out of storage, and then putting it back in thinking there was no way I could salvage the poor little table.  After giving it a few weeks, I started thinking how nice it would be to have a small table or bar cart to put between our windows right off of our dining room.  A table to put a drink tray on at parties, to store some wine upstairs so that we're not walking downstairs to the bar every time we need some, and another place to have a lamp for some soft light in the evening.  I pulled the table out of storage and it seemed to be the perfect fit, and the bonus was that, with both leaves up, it could double as extra seating for guests if needed.  At this point we only have room for 6 to eat in our kitchen, at the dining table.  We're planning to knock down the half wall in our kitchen and add new counter tops that will overhang along the whole peninsula, adding an extra 6 spots to eat.  But that may not happen until next year at the rate we're going, and at this point we just don't have that much room for entertaining.  This table seemed to be the perfect solution.

The table was beyond re-staining, the wood was just too beat up.  So I decided to paint it black, but I wanted it to be a distressed black with some vintage patina and wood showing through.  I think every room needs something black in it and this tied in nicely with the other colors and woods in the area.

Project Supplies:

- Table                  Free
- Wood filler         $2
- Finishing nails   already owned
- Sand paper         already owned
- Taupe paint        leftover from another project
- Black paint         $3 (Behr sample can)
- Hinges                $4
- Polyurethane      already owned

Tools Needed:
- Hammer
- Paint brush
- Putty knife

Total Cost: $9


The first step was to nail down any wood that was warping and pulling away from the rest of the table.  I normally wouldn't do this, but there was a sheet of wood pulling away in spots on the top, and the only way to fix it was to nail it down.  I made sure the nails went deeper into the wood than the table so that I could fill them in in the next step, making the nails disappear altogether.

 **As you can see I was working on this in my kitchen, which is not normal, but Tate was working on another project in the basement work room and the garage was WAY too cold thanks to the MN winter.  I just layed down newspaper and cleaned up as I went.**

The next step was the most important, and lengthy step of "fixing" this table.  Filling in all those horrible cracks in the wood.  I used Elmer's Wood Filler, and a putty knife, to smooth wood filler into each and every gap.  As it dried I would smooth it slightly and then lightly sand it to smooth it out.  Once it was sanded once I went over a couple of the really bad spots with wood filler again and then lightly sanded again.  The key is to LIGHTLY sand so you don't mess up the wood filler.  It helps to close your eyes and run your hand over the surface to test how smooth it is, because our eyes can play tricks on us.

Once I was happy with the smoothness of the table top, I was happy to move on to more fun steps.  I wanted a lighter color to show through some of the black after distressing, so I looked at my leftover paint stash and grabbed some Behr Studio Taupe paint that was leftover from our entry way walls.  I took and brush and messily painted this on, making sure to make it patchy and only cover certain parts and leave wood showing on others.

 

The next step was to paint the piece black.  I wanted the legs to look extra distressed, but leave the table top somewhat smooth, so I used a paintbrush on the legs, and kept the paint minimal to keep the brush a little dry as I painted it on.  I made sure not to do anything to perfect at this point.  Once I got to the table top I used a small foam roller and painted the black paint on for a smoother, but thinner finish.  Sometimes a brush is hard on a flat surface, so I like using a roller and then brushing over it with the brush to smooth it.

The next step was to remove the old broken hinges and replace with ones that worked.  In order to do this I layed the table flat upside down once it was dry and simply screwed hinges in.  I used 4 total hinges, two on each side.  That was plenty to securely hold the leaves.  This step is incredibly easy, don't let a piece that needs to be re-set scare you.  There's really no way you can mess this up.

After the table was dry and hinges were reset, I distressed some of the edges with sand paper until I was happy with the appearance.  I distressed parts of the legs that stuck out more or the corners, as those would naturally wear faster.  For the table top I did minimal sanding along the outter edge of the piece.  After this I put Polyurethane on the piece and was done!  As you can see in the picture above and the ones below, Poly has already been applied giving it a light sheen.

Look at how smooth that table top is, nothing like it was before!  Proof that a little time and patience with wood filler actually works wonders.  Several months later the table top still looks exactly like this, smooth and free of any cracks.

The table looks like this on a daily basis, with absolutely no wine being consumed these days!  I love having more lamp lighting at night in this area, and for parties it's easy to switch out the dried flowers for fresh and put a special cocktail on the serving tray... there's also plenty of room for an appetizer plate or two.  I'm so glad I didn't give up on this little table... and for $9 of materials and about 4 hours of time, it's a great piece in our {slowly coming together} home.

And yes it does bother me that the floors change from cheap linoleum to carpet right under the table, but I'll survive.  ;)    Down the road we're planning to put hardwoods throughout that entire area... some day once we've updated the kitchen.  You know, when life slows down and we have time for all that nonsense.  2019??!!

**  A friend asked about the sunburst mirror.  I actually made that with Bamboo shoots and a craft mirror from Michael's.  I think the total cost was about $15 or less after a coupon.  I just cut the bamboo down to various sizes and glued them to the front of the mirror, using 3M command adhesive strips to hang it on the wall.  I love the way it adds texture and pulls in the bamboo from our roman blinds in the living room. **

Lane 1.5 yrs & Jace 4.5 yrs Update

Time is flying by fast now that summer has finally arrived in Minnesota.  The kids had their half birthdays last month so I figured it's time to write an update on all the adorable-ness that these ages and stages have brought.


Lane - 1 1/2 years old -

Oh my goodness if 18 months isn't the cutest stage ever, I don't know what is.  I remember this stage well with Jace too.  So much personality starting to show and so much fun starting to be had.  Lane is a constant joy in our life.  Lately his spunk has started to peek through a little, but for the most part he remains the very VERY easy going little boy he's always been.  He's constantly smiling and laughing.  Our favorite thing is that he gives the cheesiest smiles ever, scrunching up his nose and squinting his eyes in the process.  He's even started saying "cheeeeeeeeeeeese" for pictures while doing this.  His mouth reminds me so much of my own when I was a baby, with his overbite being pretty significant... which makes those smiles even cuter.  We've just started setting aside money for extensive orthodontic work already. ;)


Lane says so many more words than Jace did at this age, and at his 18 month well check his doctor said verbally he's more advanced than he needs to be by his 2 year old well check... as most boys at 18 months are only saying a clear 15 words or so, and Lane is saying at least 80-100 words regularly.  He doesn't string words together much yet, but he says pretty much any word you ask him to, and pretty clearly too.  One of his favorite things to say is dinosaur (pronounced die-doe-gore), and the reason he says this so often is because we've encouraged him to because it's so sweet when he says it.  We're hoping he never learns to pronounce it correctly.  He also is constantly asking for "apple juice", he will literally roll over from napping and over the baby monitor we hear him say "apple juice?".  The kid has a serious juice obsession obviously.  Actually, any food he's ever eaten that he liked he's learned to say so he can ask for it (example: bacon, sausage, McDonalds, hot cocoa, etc).


Lane loves to show affection and give hugs.  He's constantly coming up to us and asking for a hug and then squeezing us tightly, then he'll go back to what he was doing.  He really just brings us joy, he hasn't shown many signs of boy-ish aggression at all yet.  He has had a few mild tantrums but they're actually just cute at this point.  He will slowly lay down on the floor on his back and squeeze his fists and shake saying "ahhhh" for 3 seconds and then stand back up.  That's usually only when I tell him he has to have milk instead of apple juice.  ;)


Lane loves reading board books, both alone and with us.  He loves playing outside in the yard and walking to the park.  His favorite thing at the park is the swings.  He loves splashing in the bathtub or the water table, which we keep on the deck so he can go out and play whenever he wants.  He loves to play with toys, even if no one is playing with him, he's just a curious kid who's good at keeping himself occupied and happy.  Some of his favorite toys are his little soft barn with mini plush farm animals, his elmo doll, his egg squeekers, his musical instruments and his play kitchen.  Actually he sort of loves all toys, thank goodness since we have so many I feel like Jace never even touched, makes me feel like they're finally getting some use!  He loves his big brother and will tolerate a lot of abuse because he's blinded by that love.  ;)


At his 18 month well check I was excited to see he's up to 23 pounds, which puts him in the 32nd percentile.  He was consistently at the 12-13th percentile, so to see a big jump like that is very exciting.  I don't expect him to be any higher than 30th or so because he drinks almond milk instead of whole milk and obviously has a pretty restricted diet, due to his allergies, that makes him naturally eat less fat than most kids his age.  What he lacks in dairy fat he makes up for in eating lots of peanut butter and meat.


Lane has been communicating when he is about to or already has gone to the bathroom in his diaper for the past couple of months. I know he could probably potty train right now but I'd like to wait until the end of summer because through August we have jam-packed weekends full of events and travel.  I'd rather not worry about him having accidents at those things, and when we potty train we do it fully, no diapers ever, not even at night.  Which can be a little complicated if you're staying at someone else's house or a hotel for the weekend!  But I'd definitely like to train him by 22 months at the latest.




Jace - 4 1/2 years old - 

Jace is at a really fun stage right now as well.  I can't believe how much 4.5 years old already seems so grown up.  He is constantly amazing us by the things, ideas and conclusions he comes up with.  He's very in touch with how other people are thinking and a really highly sensitive kid.  He's actually a very HIGHLY everything kid, which is how he's always been.  He's highly sensitive, highly aggressive, highly intelligent, highly energetic, highly demanding, highly humorous, highly sweet, highly disobedient... he's the poster "spirited" child.  Although this was really tough on us when he was 2-3, as a 4 year old he's easier to reason with and calm down in those moments of "excess".  There was a long period of time I was scared to bring him in public, and I can happily say that is far behind us.  He still needs constant reminders to not do certain things, which can be exhausting by the end of the day, especially after some back talk, but he has learned that doing the right thing and making the right choice makes life easier and more fun for all of us.


He loves to be a big helper, always asking for chores he can do around the house... whether it be washing the windows or picking weeds.  He loves to be put to work and on task.  He also still loves to do crafts and read chapter books together... but he really doesn't play with toys all that much at all.  If he does happen to be playing with a toy it's his "guys", but usually that is short lived.  I don't know why he doesn't really like toys, maybe he has a horrible mom who's let him watch too much TV and it's ruined his creativity?!?!  Probably, it's always the moms fault! ;)


Jace also loves to play at the park and go for long walks and scooter rides.  He saved up for months (he gets a small allowance each week for good behavior and doing chores)  and bought himself a new bike that he's been learning to ride.  The bike he picked was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles bike and he picked a new helmet that looks like he has a big Mohawk.  Total boy!  He was acting a little spoiled last winter so we started doing the weekly allowance and not ever buying him anything besides holidays, to try to teach him the value of earning something and working hard for it.  It's actually worked out really well, because sometimes a little reminder of losing his allowance is enough to influence bad behavior to stop.  There have been plenty of weeks where he lost his allowance due to bad behavior though.  He now says he's saving up his allowance for a jump castle for the basement and a playground for the backyard... it's going to take a lot of weeks to get there.  ;)


Jace can be sooo sweet, especially before bed at night.  He loves to tell us how much he loves us, and tell us how good of parents we are.  Every night before bed he wants one hug, one kiss and one eskimo kiss... then he tells us he'll see us in the "mornin' for breaktast".  And yes I meant to spell breakfast that way... it's one of those words he's mispronounced that we hesitate to correct him on, because he speaks so clearly we like to hold on to some of his baby-ness where we can.  Doesn't everyone do that?  Please don't learn to say that word correctly!  You're growing too fast already!


Jace loves playing with other kids, but is probably less socialized than most kids his age since he stays at home with me.  I need to try to get him involved in some play date groups so he interacts with kids his age more.  When we moved here last August, I was just too focused on everything else to go out and meet other stay at home moms in the area, and then winter was LONG and we hibernated.  Now he really only ever plays with neighborhood kids on occasion... which is great, but he needs more.  Especially with preschool coming up in the fall 3 days a week, he needs some more practice on the "nice ways" to play and interact with other kids.  And he's so happy when he's playing and running around with kids his age... it's different than playing with Lane all day, he can actually interact the way he wants to.


I haven't done as much structured learning time with Jace in the past year as I did in the previous years... but he still seems to learn all sorts of new things.  He recently began learning how to add and subtract numbers.  He also is really good at spelling short words and sounding them out when reading.  This fall I think we will get back to more at home learning time, in addition to his pre-school time, to make sure he's good and ready for Kindergarten in the fall of 2015.  I'm thankful that my kids are November birthdays and will be a little older when they start school, because I can't imagine Jace starting already this fall... he's just not ready to spend the next 17 years straight in a classroom all day, and I'm not ready to send him away on a bus just yet!  ;)