bathroom remodel update

so remember months ago when i talked about "remodeling" our bathrooms... well, we actually did it... months ago.

i would provide a before picture, but, well, we didn't take any.  think of ugly opaque shower doors covered in what seemed like years of mildew.  gag!  i seriously wonder if the previous tenants were cleaning here at all...  we decided to rip out the doors and tracks, scrub down the showers and remove years of caulking and install a shower bar & curtains.  we did this in our bathroom & ian's bathroom.  it's totally changed the way both bathrooms look- for the better!

with our bathroom we really didn't have a lot of options- the shower walls and floors are white tile, but the bathroom's main wall is black tile.  we decided to go with black-gray-white leaf-print shower curtain with gray/black details.  dave put up a rounded shower bar to give us more room.  i think he needed to move it out a few inches, but, oh well.  we definitely have a lot more room and the bathroom just looks better.  it's still impossible to keep clean.  ugh. 

ta da!

ian's bathroom was a little simpler.  the tile is all white, so we could do whatever.  i wanted something that had a gender-neutral feel for any future (and currently un-conceived) children, yet was appropriate for ian now.  i really wish this was our bathroom because it's so fun!

totes cute, huh?  check out that little potty seat!  if only he would use it...  ;) 

i think we did a pretty good job given that we are very limited in what we can and cannot do since it's not our own place.  anyone else renting somewhere and have chosen to make something better on your own dime?

bathroom remod

there isn't much you can do when living in a rental house as far as remodeling goes.  we've been very lucky so far though- despite previous issues- we've decided to stay put for another year- so we will be here at least 13 more months.  we didn't do much the first year- painting ian's room and taking down hideous curtains is about as far as we've gotten.  believe me, there's a lot more we'd love to do- but we don't own the place- and even though it's been offered for us to buy the place- it's a space we'd be outgrowing in only a few years.

we do have plans for the next year- the first is waiting for the plants in the jungle backyard to die.  when that happens - we plan on digging everything in that space up, and waiting for spring.  this past spring lots of hideous was growing within the pretty- and as far as plants go- hideous usually wins.  i don't know what they were, but luckily, the neighborhood landscapers offered to chop them down- they probably thought they were about to attack, but that still didn't solve the entire problem.

our biggest plans are for the 2 upstairs bathrooms.  they both have (broken) sliding shower doors, and they're both, well, ugly.  sliding doors pose a couple big problems for us- 1.  they're disgusting.  there are about 1,000,000 places for grody germs to hide.  i took an old toothbrush to ours a few weeks ago, and was dry heaving all over the place.  just, gross.  2.  it's not going to be convenient for bathing a child.  leaning over that metal track- ouch.  plus, i just  have nightmares of falling on that thing.  we're hoping to get approval to remove them- and get to work.  we'd like to just take them down and put in a rod & curtain.  i just need to figure out what i like.

here are our current curtain options from our former home in atl.

master bathroom:

i love this curtain.  it's a pale green w\ brown- and we had our bathroom painted this delicious chocolaty color.  we have the towels hanging in our bathroom currently, but our landlord redid this entire place in black & white- so we have white tile floors and black tile walls.  it just won't work.

guest bathroom

i love the floral on this curtain (and i'm not big on floral).  we currently have all the pieces to this in ian's bathroom right now.  this will probably stay in the guest bath, but eventually, I want ian to have a bathroom of his own.

here's what i'm looking at.

master bath:

i like that it's so simple, and would take simple accessories to match it.  from bed bath & beyond.  you could go with black and white, or choose any color for a nice pop.

or

how cute is this?!  about a year or so ago, lenox came out with their chirp collection, and i fell in love with the china- i even devoted a post on my old blog to it, (4 pc set- $100- boo).  i think this would be so cute in the bathroom.  i'd like to see it in person though, because i'm afraid that it just won't go with the black/white.  from bed bath and beyond.

guest/ian's bathroom

i think this whale curtain is too cute for a little boy's bathroom.  plus how cute would it be with this?!  from target

this little forest-y curtain is really cute.  i really like the little squirrel.  also from target

and finally

i saw another blogger mention this curtain, and it is just too cute!  i think the red would be perfect in the all white bathroom, and unlike the whale curtain, it won't be too baby-ish after a while.  i like it with navy blue accessories- so cape cod!  also from target

as you can tell, i can't wait to get in and start decorating!!  hoping for permission.  i definitely think it would be easier maintenance for any renter or owner in the long run.

ai yi yi

this weekend has been filled w\ many ups and downs- so i've been on the go.

hopefully i'll be back tomorrow.

hopefully.

to move or not to move

i hate moving.  HATE it.  there is nothing worse than packing all your junk in boxes, loading them on a truck and driving them across town, or the country.  whatev.  i've moved many times.  we moved when i was a baby, we moved when i was in middle school, i moved in and out of a dorm 4 times, i moved into my own apartment in atlanta, i moved back home, i got married and moved out, i moved to illinois, and into my in-laws, i moved the rest of my stuff into a storage unit, i moved our stuff into a different storage unit, i moved out of the storage unit and out of the in-laws and here we are today.  grr. 

so moving stinks, and moving into somewhere else stinks b\c since we will be renting forever for a while, the fact is that we'll have to move yet again until we actually own another place. 

here's the current situation.  we like the neighborhood- it's quiet, and i haven't had to call 911 yet.  we like the area.  the house is decent.  it was built in the 90's and definitely needs some updates.  but that's where the problems come in...

1.  old a/c system.  the hvac system here stinks.  in atlanta, we kept the air on 78 in the summer and survived quite nicely.  here, we sometimes have it as low as 75 and the upstairs is still over 85 degrees.  not cool- literally...  in the winter we usually keep things on 68- but we have to keep it even lower b\c it gets really hot upstairs in the winter too- and the downstairs is freezing. 

2.  all hardwood/tile floors.  if you've ever lived in the midwest, you know that winter is not the pretty picture you see in paintings and photographs.  it's cold and it's ugly.  think of your car covered in rust, salt and sludge.  then imagine that sludge being dragged into your house every time you walk into the door.  then imagine your landlord thought white tile in the entry way was a good idea.   plus, ian is going to be crawling soon- not only is the floor hard, but we have 2 annoying dogs that shed tiny hairs everywhere, and my child feels the need to put everything in his mouth- especially after he throws it on the floor. 

3.  garage situation.  as i mentioned a few weeks ago, our garage went kaput, and we were locked out of our house for an evening without the dogs and only the clothes (and diapers) on our backs (and baby butts).  no fun.  the landlord came and let us in on sunday, and the garage repairman came on monday.  he fixed the problem, and discovered another- and that is that the top panel of the garage is pulling away from the arm that holds the garage door up.  awesome.  repairman's advice, "if i were you, i'd just try not to use the garage door at all."  awesomer.  the repairman contacted the landlord, and he decided against the repair.  so i've parked my car outside the last few weeks, and we rarely use the door except on garbage day and those days when we're taking lots of stuff in the house and it's not convenient to go through the front.  remember what i said about winter?  if i can't park my car in the garage over winter- that will be the ultimate deal breaker for this house.  1.  i hate cold.  2.  i don't want to have to worry about ian being outside- having to fumble with the keys to get in the house while holding a sleeping baby- that i had to get out of the car and carry up the walk, all while trying not to bust my ass on the ice. 

4.  there are only 2 bedrooms.  we have a 3 week house guest and ian is sleeping in our room.  all has gone really well so far, but for future guests, we'd like them to really have their own room- and we have the furniture for it too. 

so those are the issues, with the big one being dependent on whether or not the garage door gets fixed.  i don't know what would happen if the panel broke from the arm- but i'm guessing it would not be good, and i don't really want to find out.  i wish our landlord would understand how important fixing this stuff was.  i know he's had to put a lot into the house since we've moved in (heating panel went out, garbage disposal, and garage), but this is what happens when you're a landlord- and he's lucky he is.  we tried to rent our house in atlanta for months with no luck, and i would've killed to have had a tenant.  we didn't find a tenant, and now we're in the situation we're in.  which, btw, our house in atlanta allegedly has a closing date of on/before september 26th.  ::fingers crossed::

so what to do- pack it up and move again, or stay put and deal with it.  thoughts?

the one where i win wife of the year and possibly go mia for a while...

we have been busy.  this past weekend started a month-long stretch of weekends totally packed full of junk!  this past weekend dave's gma was in town, so we had the entire mcfamily get together.  there are 15 of us- and one on the way.  you think that's insane, you should be @ dave's gma's house @ christmas.  there are 40 of us total (and 2 on the way).  it's a bit much, especially considering my entire extended family totals 12 on one side and 14 on the other.  this weekend we have the summer picnic for my office- i'm pretty excited about swimming, i am not exciting about buying my first post-baby swimsuit, and then wearing it.  boo.  the next few weekends i will detail more below, and then we hope to wrap things up with a visit to the beach in michigan.  we decide to forgo a vacation this year because 1.  we are poor, and 2.  we are broke.  dave's parents however are going to stay @ family friend doc's lake house, and we are all invited to stay a few days!!  yippppeeeeee!

so, as i've said already our next few weeks are going to be jam-packed and it all started several months ago- and it's almost here!  background story:  my husband studied international business and german in college- he's made a few trips to deutschland over the years, his last trip in 2004 for his internship.  while there, he made some good friends, and he has kept in touch w\ those friends since said trip.  the aforementioned friends were a couple while dave was over there, but split up while i was pregnant, much to the heartbreak of one of the friends.  we have both tried really hard to cheer up friend, but it seems they've fallen into a bit of a funk.  friend was looking for a place to vacation, and husband told him that he should come visit us here in the good ol' u.s. of a. 

he thought about it, and said, yes, i think i will come visit your family.  how long can i stay?

husband says, as long as you'd like.

friend replies via email- here is my flight itinerary. 

husband forwards flight itinerary to me- am i reading this right, he asks.

i reply, yes, husband, friend is staying with us for 3 weeks.  3 WEEKS?!

first of all, i am jealous that americans don't get 3 weeks of vacation- we're too overworked as it is.  don't even get me started on european maternity leave vs. american.  second, stay as long as you'd like in american means different to an american... BUT..

we're pretty excited.  i don't think he reads my blog, but if you do- don't get us wrong, we are soooo thrilled for you to be here.  we are now over our initial shock.  we have been hard at work on an end all be all list of things to do while he is visiting- places to go, things to see, food to eat (i'm most excited about that, as you and my scale surely know).  i have great plans to become fluent in german, and to have ian, who can't even talk yet, to be fluent in german...  i'm excited to meet someone new, and dave is excited to see a friend that he hasn't seen in years. 

i win wife of the year because i think most women would laugh in their husband's faces if they said someone was taking up residence in their home for 3 weeks, so here is my issue- where do we put our friend?  here's our situation...

2 bedrooms, 2.5 baths (our atlanta house had 3 bedrooms, but that is neither here nor there, and going on about it, won't take me back there).  we obviously occupy 1 room, and ian occupies the other.  both bedrooms have the full bath IN the room.  we obviously want our friend to feel at home, and have some privacy, but we have no extra bed- so he would have to sleep on either the couch or a blow up mattress.  and there's the issue with ian.  do we move him back into our room for 3 weeks (sleeping in his pack n play)- disrupting his sleep space, and giving us no privacy (he naps throughout the day, and goes to bed early, so we would have no where to go).  this is a tricky situation, but i think it can be worked out to where everyone benefits... help...

polishing my award until sunday....

what a difference a year makes

this week marks a very different week in our lives than what it held in 2009.  it amazes me that a year can make such a difference.  this was different in a way i could never imagine. 

what was i doing may 6-10, 2009.

the ultimate act of rebellion.  husband says if i loved him enough to have lovebirds tattooed on my foot that i should've loved him enough to have his name tattooed with the birds.  oh, please.

(omg, please forgive my ghettoes- my husband says there isn't room for pedicures in the budget.  grr)

saying goodbye to friends

(we learned on this night that nick & mandy (to our left) were expecting.  little did we know...)

joel's wife was expecting as well.  she was home "sick" ;)

we also said goodbye to this place

good riddance.  how you've broken our hearts.

and we packed up everything in the place and moved away.  far, far away.

here's husband recreating a moment from Over the Top 

this weekend was filled with lots of laughter, and far more tears.  it found us fighting over what made it onto the truck, and what got trashed.  everything became a sentimental item.  it found me sitting in my empty closet, in my empty room crying my eyes out over a place that we didn't love that would later bring us nothing but heartache.  as husband said, it was our house, but it wasn't our home.  we started the 2 day trip on saturday, may 9, and spent the bulk of sunday, may 10, making the rest of the trip.  sunday, may 10, 2009.  mother's day.  also, my husband's birthday.  the first mother's day i spent without my mother, and as my husband says, the worst birthday he can ever remember having.  

it would be another week before our lives were changed forever.

fast forward to 2010.  i'll say it again.  what a difference a year makes.  no, i don't love it here.  i'm not even sure i like it here, but it's been quite a year.  with highest highs and some lows as well, but i can tell you there's someone who's made our lives so different.  so how does this weekend end?  with husband's birthday of course.  the best husband/daddy ever, of course.  happy birthday, husband!  we love you!

more birthday fun later!!

single digits

that's what we're in now- otherwise known as- it could probably happen at any time... crazy thought. are we ready? ready as we're going to be I guess, but i'm sure i'll think of a million things I need to do while we're on the way to the hospital.

we went to our childbirth express class yesterday. it went pretty well. other than the fact that it's 6+ hours worth of class. did we learn anything? I guess we'll find out when we actually are in labor. the only thing i learned from the videos is that I have a weak stomach, and i wasn't sure if i wanted to really have a baby... too late for that.

so we're trying not to have baby this week. my Dr.- Dr. Uma- is out in Dallas, or Denver taking her board exam. I'm sure she'll pass, and it'll be awesome that she's board-certified. I just hope that baby doesn't come while she's in this process. Also, our heating in the house is pretty jacked up right now- it either runs for hours at a time (our gas bill is going to be out of this world) or it doesn't run at all for hours at a time (and everyone freezes to death). Right now, it's choosing not to run, after running ALL night (it's exhausted, i'm sure), and it's 7 degrees outside. Lovely.

Dave is going to the Blackhawks game tonight with Chazzer. Chazzer has only asked him a million times, but we've always had plans or something else. I'm sure I'll go into labor while he's gone. It's only fitting. Lord, I shouldn't say things like that because I really don't want that happening.

ok, Dave keeps calling me to come downstairs, he can't figure out why i'm not down there already...

just random thoughts

i keep thinking of thoughts for entries- but there's a lot going on, so i don't always have time to write. besides, my weekly to-do list update is probably getting old. here are a few things I thought about writing about, but i'm just not going to dedicate a full entry to.



1. things i am looking forward to once i'm not pregnant: wearing my regular clothes again, sleeping comfortably, although probably not sleeping well, shopping for clothes, wearing my wedding/engagement rings again, being able to squat down, bend over, see my feet, etc. But most of all- seeing/holding our sweet baby boy!

2. I've learned that you have really got to love someone to live with them when they're pregnant. So people, don't ever try to get pregnant to save your relationship. I have learned that my husband must love the crap out of me because people (or maybe it was just me) are not the most pleasant people to be around when they are growing a baby. You're moody, emotional, irrational, happy, sad, angry, etc. So bless my husband for putting up with all the mess I put him through, and all the stuff that had to be done just the way i wanted it to be. I love you.

3. I'd also like to get my memory back- because I know I had more to write about, but I am always forgetting things (and I'm always dropping things).

4. I can't decide whether the induction is a good thing or not. On one hand, I'm going to miss out on the last (and most uncomfortable from what I hear) weeks of my pregnancy, plus, I know when the baby is going to be here (or at least around when). At the same time though- I'm missing out on those last 3 weeks or pregnancy and the surprise and nervousness of randomly going into labor when my body decides it's ready to go into labor. I know a lot of people say i'm lucky that I know, but the element of surprise is something I think i'm going to miss out on!

Well, we have a busy day ahead of us. Last night after we celebrated Christmas at my in-laws we put together our new bookshelf and moved our books and dvd's around, plus I washed the last load of new baby clothes (for now) and we did some general straightening up of things.

Today we have (or should I say Dave has) put the rest of our pictures up on the wall and it will be followed by a whirlwind of errands: picking up a few baby things, packing our bags, doing a little shopping for us, a pedicure for me, finishing thank-you notes, and making sure the house is clean for everyone's arrival.

Tomorrow consists of: 8:30 at the hospital for my amnio (ugh, nervous about this), going by work to drop off my LOA paperwork, anything we forget today, spending last precious moments just us before our world amazing changes forever, and back to the hospital whenever Dr. Barthel tells us to be there to get this baby show on the road. It seems like just yesterday that the test said "YES+" and here we are almost 8 months later. It's just flown by! I can't wait to begin this new chapter in our lives together!! wow!

One week to go!

It is ALMOST here (finally)! Just one week until we know if we'll be seeing pink or blue! I think it's definitely going to make things a little more "real." When you finally start seriously talking about names, registering, and doing all the other things in preparation for baby's arrival! I just keep having these thoughts that baby isn't going to cooperate and I'm not going to get to know, and then I'm really going to be freaking out!

On the house front we may be closer to getting someone in! We actually were expecting that our tennant would be moving in this week, but the Atlanta Housing Authority had other plans for us. We received our tennants voucher and filled it out on July 23rd. We sent that back to our real estate agent, who transcribed the info, and dropped it off at the AHA. 3 weeks later (2 weeks ago) on the 14th, our tennant called us to see if we knew what was going on because she had called the AHA and they had no records of her voucher being turned in. I called the AHA and Dave called our agent in a panic- the AHA had no record, and the agent had turned in our forms. We had to start all over again (it's a 3-4 week process, at least) with our prospective tennant having to pick up a new voucher. We are currently waiting on the forms to be overnighted to us- which means they should be arriving today. We fill everything out, sign it, and then either return it to our agent or to the AHA to wait again. The process consists of a credit and background check on Dave (to make sure we own the house and aren't in foreclosure) and who knows what else. Then the AHA comes to inspect the house, and when it gets the ok, our tennant finally has a place to live. I haven't seen our house in over 2 months :( I assume it's still standing...

Once someone is in our house, and we are receiving rent for it, we can move toward finding our own place to live. I wish I could say we'd been able to save money during the 3 months I've lived up here, but with my not having a job until about a month ago, it really hurt more than helped us. We've paid our bills, and eliminated some of the debt (Dave's car! All we have left is our student loans- we have no credit card debt)! We've saved some money not having to pay for cable, phone or the net, but our storage unit made up for that! We are hoping to receive something from the insurance company on our storage unit, and we have to put some money back into our "tax acct" (we used this money to take taxes out of my nannying paychecks since I didn't pay taxes). I think i've set a reasonable goal for us to be moved out of here by December (sooner would be better), but December allows us to save a lot of money b\c renting a house or apartment here will be more than our mortgage. We just need everything to go smoothly this time! In 4 weeks we will hopefully have someone in our house, and that's what matters!

I now need to get ready for work- today starts my 7 day work week- yes, let's pick on the pregnant girl.

no signs of relief

morning sickness is apparently never going to way. at least it seems that way to me. it's endless. at first I thought it would be gone by week 12- the end of the first trimester, nope. then a lot of people said they felt better by week 14- not me. then my Dr. said I should be feeling better by week 16- wrong. Although i haven't been physically ill in about a week, the nausea is awful still. I haven't felt well since waking up this morning, and my pill obviously hasn't had time to take affect. Here I have to be at work in about 90 minutes, and I feel like death. I had a similar problem at work on Saturday, where I worked only a short shift, but the last 2 hours were absolute torture.

morning sickness makes no sense. sometimes i have days, even a week where i've felt wonderful, but there are other times where every day seems to be a struggle. i am on my last refill of my 2nd prescription of zofran, 9 pills left, and I go back to the Dr. on Monday. Here i'm hoping that Dr. Uma will have some insight to why I still feel like death at nearly 5 months in!

In more delightful news we have only 2 weeks until we find out what flavor baby we are having. See poll to share your thoughts.

In even worse news we hit a roadblock with our house. Even though we filled out all necessary paperwork for the AHA on July 23, that our real estate agent says he dropped off, the city of Atlanta hasn't seen this paperwork and therefore we are not in the process of having our house approved. Here we thought that our tennant would be moving in during the next 2 weeks, and we now have to start all over. She has to go pick up her voucher all over again, which has to be filled out again, which has to be dropped off again, which has a waiting period of 35 days again, then a home inspection. It's a mess. So maybe by the end of September we will have someone living in our home. One can only hope.