bathroom remodel: the second week

It feels like progress is all relative at this point. I think HGTV and DIY are lying to me, because the entire renovation should have taken only 30 minutes, right? All the tile is finally installed, and I picked out grout colors today. Grout should be finished up tomorrow, with the vanity and toilet installed by Friday. After that, it's on to painting and fixtures.

We ditched the green sea glass liner tiles because they were washed out by the other accent tile. It was just too much for not enough punch, you know? In the end, we love how the bathroom is turning out. Now it just needs to be finished!

40 months old

Another day, another princess dress.  We've made the rule that the princess dresses don't go to school (it's not prohibited, but we think it must be awfully distracting) and to that end, Britton strips upon entering the house after school, and dons a princess dress.  Every day.  Weekends are free reign (as you saw from our outing to the Carnegie Science Center).  

Britton has gotten into full-on stories of role playing.  She will pretend to be Ariel and wants me to play Eric, or she will be Snow White and I'm a dwarf, and then she tells me what to say as my assigned character.  It's one of those non-riveting parts of parenting that nobody warns you about, because in essence I am simply repeating back Britton's words to her in a deep voice.  And mentally escaping to my happy place.

Britton is still growing so fast.  She's in size 5 and 6 clothes, and size 10.5 for shoes.  I just bought her tap shoes for a ballet/tap/tumbling class I signed her up for come January, and I about cried over how cute these tiny tap shoes were!  Blame the pregnancy, but I am downright nostalgic over everything about Britton.  I have a newfound fear of her growing up too fast and me missing it.  For that one, I'll blame the pregnancy hormones!

Here are Britton's photography skills at work!  She didn't want to take her monthly picture until I bribed her with the ability to take her own pictures with my camera.  There are over 20 of this picture on my camera, with some shots of the floor and window thrown in.

But just giving in on that little thing got me what I wanted.  Sometimes Britton has her moments that the hub and I refer to as "the alcoholic stepfather."  Meaning, there's no rhyme or reason to what will set her off, but if you do you're going to pay.  It could be as meaningless (to you) as who opened the yogurt or if the red cup was used for milk, but doing it wrong, even if there is no "wrong," will result in you paying for your indiscretion.  

Though, as the same time, Britton is more in control of her feelings, generally.  If she steps on my foot or accidentally hurts one of us, she apologizes now without being prompted.  She asks politely for things she wants, and doesn't throw fits when told no.   And she's starting to become more patient, waiting her turn without issues.

Likes:  the movie "Brave," the playground/park, eating in restaurants, riding on the hub's shoulders, being included in a decision, Sadie dog, checking on her bathroom progress every day, white yogurt (but not white ice cream), Little Debbie Christmas tree snack cakes, helping out

Dislikes:  stink bugs, not much else

Books:  "Best Friends Wear Pink Tutus" by Sherri Brownrigg, "Polite as a Princess" by Melissa Lagonegro et al, "Baby Bird's First Nest" by Frank Asch, and "Are You Asleep, Rabbit?" by Alison Campbell

carnegie science center

Today, the hub, Britton, and I ran over to the Carnegie Science Center.  I haven't been there since I was in undergrad, and the hub and Britton have never been.  There is a lot of science exhibits that are over Britton's head, and she didn't care for the robots, but luckily we showed up on "Train Weekend."  And treated to trains we were!

                                             

This train was in the lobby, and the cars were all companies from Pennsylvania.  See "Mister Rogers Neighborhood"?  And "Westinghouse"?

                             

There was one room on the second floor that was entirely a model of Pittsburgh.  Each corner was a different season, and showed the models in 1/4 inch for every 1 foot.  The trolley cars moved, boats moved down the river, even kids in swings were swinging back and forth.   And of course there were multiple trains moving around the entire exhibit.

Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater.  It looks like I took this picture from a helipcopter, but no - it's part of the model!

The fish were probably Britton's favorite, next to the trains.  All of the aquariums were connected to each other by tubes, so we could watch the fish swimming from aquarium to aquarium.

Diving vessel.  I think Britton thought it would be more interactive than it was.  The buttons didn't do much.

The hub's favorite exhibit - the submarine!  A real one too, and open to walk through.  

These doorways were every twenty feet, and while it was easy for Britton to get through them, it was not so easy to get my pregnant belly through!  

Getting Britton off the triceratops was a feat unto itself!  She was in love with this creature, begging the hub to "put me on the dinosaur, Daddy!!!  Please!!!"

I loved seeing the skyline of Pittsburgh from the outdoor area of the museum.  This is the best picture of the skyline, the hub, and Britton, and the worst picture of me, so just mentally crop me out.  

The hub has been wanting to try a burger place here called "Burgatory"but it had a 45 minute wait.  At 2:00 pm!  Ridiculous.  But we spied a Panera Bread across the parking lot and filled our bellies with warm soup and sandwiches before getting back on the road.  And, of course, cookies!

bathroom remodel: days 2-4

Progress has been slow-going on the main hall bathroom.  Luckily, the downstairs powder room is almost finished, except for painting and fixtures.  In the hall bath, the shower insert and floor were covered in hardie board.  And we got the tub installed! Also, the shut-off valves and access panel were installed.

On Day Four, we had a water-proofed hardie board tub surround, and tile!  Mr. Bob explained that a lot of the delay upfront is waiting on materials (waterproofer, spackle, that kind of stuff) to dry.  Now that we've moved on to tile, it should go a little faster.  

Well, of course, it would go faster if my walls were straight (they aren't) and if the tile was square (it isn't).  I was off work on Friday so I got to be here when the tile went up.  It was great to be available for last-minute decisions, like how we wanted the tile to lay (not following the grain, going random) and how much accent tile to use.  We were going to use a green glass tile to frame the accent tile, and when holding it up, it just didn't add anything to the design.  So the green glass tile is out.  More progress next week, fingers crossed!

the heather quilt

Memaw worked with a great girl, Heather, in Fort Worth at our old office.  Heather was in love with Memaw and still talks with her to this day.  I worked with Heather's husband in my department, and together they were just a fun couple.  They had tried for some time to get pregnant, and I'm sure that the specifics are none of my business.  Suffice it to say, they are expecting their first child, a little girl, so Memaw and I wanted to do a quilt for them.

I have been hoarding this stash of "Strawberry Fields" fabric.  You might remember that I previously made a quilt out of Strawberry Fields (see it here), and Heather had fallen in love with it.  So I knew that if she was having a girl, she was getting my stash!  The pattern is a wonky star, meaning that the points of the stars aren't supposed to be even with each other.  I mixed in a couple of non-stash prints and solids, to mix it up.  Sorry about the badly-lit pictures - it's dark by the time we get home from work.

The back.  I couldn't get the border around the middle fabric to be even, and I was about to stomp all over the fabric in a temper tantrum, so I gave up and said good enough.

Polka dots?  Check.  Strawberries?  Check.

Close up of one of the stars.  I straight-line stitched a 1/4 of an inch on either side of the square.  The squares look loose and wrinkly because they aren't finished yet!  Memaw is hand-sewing around each star in a light pink thread.  That will anchor the blocks better.

I lucked out and found the exact same green stripe binding I used for my previous Strawberry Fields quilt!

Britton helped me take pictures. She tried to hold the quilt up but it was too big for her!

bathroom remodel: the first day

Mr. Bob showed up at 7:00 this morning, contract in hand and raring to go.  I showed him all the supplies we had bought - the tile, the vanity, the toilet, everything.  He was especially thankful I had made the Lowes delivery guys put the vanity and countertop upstairs.  Once less thing to lug up!  

Here is the bathroom from the night before, how it has looked since we bought the house.  Actually, how it has looked since the house was built 21 years ago, since it's never been updated.  Please note the linoleum flooring, the shower/tub insert, the formica, and the over-mount sink with excess caulk.  

Britton in her color-fizz water.   The look on her face says it all - she knows that the tiny round toilet has got to go!

Well, this morning I had to leave to take Britton to school and get to work, so I left Mr. Bob to his work.  I come home at lunch to let Sadie out, so I checked out the guys' progress.  The whole room was gutted!  Mr. Bob reported that there was no water damage anywhere, much to my relief.  HGTV and DIY shows have a way of making you think that the absolute worst turn of events will derail your remodel.  Mr. Bob did report that emergency shut-off valves were never installed upstairs (there is one in the basement).  It's not a make or break, but it makes sense to go ahead and get shut-off valves and an access panel installed now, when the area is wide open.

Mirror mirror, off my wall...

Get this - the guys found this Pepsi can under the tub.  It's been there 21 years!  How incredibly awesome, and at the same time gross, is that?

deuce: sixteen weeks

Actually, it's sixteen weeks and three days, but in all honesty I've been rounding this entire pregnancy.  Most of the time I can't remember how far along I am, so I have to use the due date calendar on www.babycenter.com to tell me what week I'm in.  It's not that I don't care as much this time around, it's just that I already have a child that needs to be taken care of.  The hub I no longer stay up reading the books because we know what they say.

Good news - the nausea is GONE.  Finally.  Since the pregnancy test showed up positive I have thrown up every single day.  My nose has also been clogged every single day, and I have sinus pain daily.  I can't even put my forehead into the shower stream or it hurts.  And my feet are constantly swollen so I have to prop them up or I end up unable to walk.  But, yes, the good news, maybe the only good news, is that the nausea is gone!

People at work are acting surprised when I tell them I'm pregnant, and honestly it's hurting my feelings. Because if they think I would just naturally gain this middle growth on my own in the two months I have worked there, what does that say?  To me, I LOOK pregnant.  But, it seems to everyone else I look chubby.  Ugh.  I've been showing since week 10, I've been in maternity clothes for over a month.  Pregnant looks pregnant, right?

We have our anatomy ultrasound December 10th, and I'm holding off buying any bedding or clothes until I see proof positive of a boy on the screen!  I assume a chromosome test is pretty accurate, but I just need to see it for myself.  The hub and I are discussing names, and have decided to go with something we can imagine on a resume.  Once again, just waiting on visual confirmation.