Nursery Update

Last week, the DDH finished up the nursery floor.

Here it is with two coats of poly:

Two coats.

 And then with three:

Three coats.

Here's a picture from a different angle once it was dry, without as much glare. It looks like a real wood floor, right? (I mean, it is a real wood floor. And IRL you can tell it wasn't professionally done. Not necessarily because of the DDH but because someone messed it up doing a bad refinish job in the past, and the DDH doesn't have the tools to fix their mistakes.)

Dry and finished!

The floor needs one last thing, however. In a few places, most notably this back corner, there is a gap between the end of the wood floor and the baseboards. It appears that when the floor was wood before, there was another piece of baseboard that covered up this gap. That piece was pulled up when they carpeted the floor. We decided to put it back in.

Gap.

 So we bought some baseboard pieces:

Long sticks.

 And used the DDH's miter saw:

Yay power tools!

To cut them to size, mitered to fit together at the corners.

Miter saw and boards--no action shots, sorry.

We measured everything about ten times:

Room measurements.

Measuring the board.

And did bunches of weird thought experiments to make sure we were cutting everything at the right angle so all the pieces would fit together properly.

In this picture, you can see the tiny tiny piece of board in the corner that indicates to us there used to be two pieces all the way around the room. We had to cut the piece that fit here longer, and then the DDH used his Dremel to shave it down so it nestled perfectly with that tiny nub.

Not yet fitting.

 We lined everything up (and it fit perfectly!) and nailed it down.

Baseboard.

More baseboard. Ignore the obvious disaster area in the hall.

Then we had to fix the doorway so there wasn't just a jagged piece of carpet jutting out over our nice refinished wood.

We had to trim out the carpet pad and part of the carpet strip (the board with nails in it that holds the carpet down around the edges) underneath the carpet, because it was too fat to fit the little strip we bought:

See the line between the unfinished and refinished wood?

Trimming the carpet.

Scraping up carpet strip.

You can buy metal strips designed for exactly this purpose at the hardware store. We had to trim ours down to fit the doorway, once again using the trusty Dremel (I'm not sure what tool would really be more appropriate for cutting metal, but luckily the DDH has some metal-cutting bits for the Dremel and it worked okay).

Fitting in place.

Then we just nailed it down, and ta-da! A nice clean doorway:

 

Doorway.

So now the floor is done. I'm at work right now (yes, on a Saturday morning, ugh), and the DDH just texted me a picture of a line taped on the wall (we're painting it half brown/half blue, remember). I'm not sure exactly what he plans to do while I'm gone today, but it looks like painting is the next step!

We're getting so much closer. It's a big relief to at least have the floor done. In a pinch, we could move T-Rex into a room with unpainted walls, but not one without a floor. This is a big relief, and I'm quite impressed with the DDH's DIY skillz. ^_^

Yay!

I am worried.

We have six-and-a-half weeks left until the due date. The DDH has made impressive progress on the nursery. Almost the only thing left to do now is paint, and we even bought paint.

I wish I were being as productive and making as much progress on my own projects. Mostly I'm just tired, and anxious, and freaking out about everything. And we end up eating fast food every night because I spend the afternoons curled up in bed instead of cooking, and I can barely drag myself out of bed early enough to make coffee for the DDH, much less get a chicken into the crockpot.

I'm worried because T-Rex measured a week small on Monday. The doctor isn't worried; he said there can be a lot of variation in the measurements based on how the baby is lying in the womb and the measurement is not that far off anyway. But it could be there's not enough amniotic fluid and he'll be brain-damaged. So I worry.

I worry whenever I don't feel him kick for awhile. Most days he's active, but some days, like today and yesterday, he's quiet, and I just don't know enough to know what's normal. And sometimes I worry when he is moving around, in case he's having some sort of epic death throes or something. So no matter what I worry.

I worry about what people think about the baby things we registered for.

I worry about sundry things at work.

I worry that I'm going to be a terrible mother, that I'll snap and yell and be tired because I will be and do all those things, and I guess in the end it won't matter, but I still worry.

I worry about balancing schedules and sending him to daycare and never being able to get anything done because if I can't keep up with it now, how will I do it with T-Rex around?

I worry that I complain too much. Because I do.

I don't really worry about traffic accidents or natural disasters or germs (though I do worry about the house burning down. I never got over the burning-lava-coming-down-the-chimney nightmares I had when I was little).

I used to get exasperated with my mother for worrying so much. She is a champion worrier, the kind who can't sleep if she knows we're traveling (and told me, when I was away at college, not to tell her if I were going anywhere until after I got back, because there was nothing she could do from two states away but she'd worry anyway, if she knew).

Now I'm exasperated at myself for worrying so much. But knowing everything will be okay and feeling it are two different things, and so I worry still.

Maybe that's just what parents do.

I am dressed (don't ask much more of me)!

I don't know if it's allergies (usually is) or a cold (the coworker in front of me has had one all week), but for whatever reason I have been blowing my nose every ten seconds since 2:30 this morning and it's getting really. old.

In other news, I've been remiss about doing my What I Wore Wednesday posts because, well, I just haven't been feeling that creative, wardrobe-wise. I've officially outgrown every belt I own, and my clothing options are becoming more limited by the week. And outfits that are just a top and the same rotation of work pants don't seem worth photodocumenting.

But here are a few anyway.

Shirt: Old Navy; jeans: Kohl's.

This is from August 25. It's just (maternity jeans) and one of my favorite in-rotation t-shirts (it's striped, but you can't tell in the pictures). It's too small now.

 

Also, this is almost a month ago now and look how huge T-Rex looked then:

But I think it's partially a trick of the shirt, because here I am the very next day:



Shirts: Old Navy; belt: Goodwill; skirt:
consignment; shoes: Target.

I guess I don't have a belly shot. But look how much less pregnant I look in a looser shirt. Or maybe it's the belt. Belts are magical, after all.

 

Also, that's a maternity skirt and it's black with white polka dots and I love it.



I fished this shirt out of the donate pile when I found out I was pregnant. I had decided the babydoll cut was unflattering and made me look pregnant when I wasn't. Now of course, that's the idea:

Shirt: Sears; cami: Old Navy; pants: Kohl's.

I got these brown maternity pants at a consignment sale, and I was so happy to have a third pair to toss into my work outfit rotation. But the band rolls so. badly. that it's pretty uncomfortable. I'm wearing almost this exact same outfit today, and man. Blah.

Shirt: borrowed; cami: Old Navy; pants:
consignment.

Here is an attempt to perk things up by pairing a casual t-shirt with a skirt. I was enjoying the outfit well enough, and then I found those sandals while I was out shopping and yay:

Shirt: Hard Rock Cafe; skirt: Old Navy;
sandals: JC Penney.

Apparently, however, the outfit was not so flattering from the side, heh:





Also, those are platform heels and make me over six feet tall. I tower over the DDH a bit in them. Do not care. Too cute.

 

Anyway. Here's a dress I borrowed from a friend, I think. Classy:



Dress: borrowed; necklace: gift.

I've very much been appreciating dresses lately. I can't wear them to work because it's too cold in the office, but it does help me feel like I'm coordinated and wearing an outfit now that I have so few options:

Dress: Loft; shoes: JC Penney.

Also, heels again, because mama loves them.

 

Here is possibly the most unflattering picture in the history of unflattering pictures. Even the beagle is looking at me and wondering why I thought this pose was a good idea:

Shirt: borrowed; pants: Kohl's;
beagle: Animal Aid.



 This is from Saturday, so pretty recent. My comfortable clothing for our all-day childbirth class:

Sweater: borrowed; cami: Old Navy;
jeans: Kohl's; Labrador: followed us home.

It was pretty comfy, too. Layers are my friend right now.

 

And finally, Sunday's outfit, in which the strappy red super sandals make another appearance:

Dress and sweater-thing: Old Navy;
shoes: JC Penney.

 

Also? Old Navy seriously should be paying me for these posts. Apparently almost everything I own comes from them....

 



Phew! Are you tired of looking of mostly-headless pictures of me? ^_^ What has everyone else been wearing lately?

I am busy (but accomplishful)!

Let's see. It was a busy weekend, but we got a lot done.

Saturday the DDH and I went to childbirth class. This was helpful and reassuring while at the same time terrifying. By the end of it, I decided that going without an epidural sounded less horrifying than having one. I cannot cannot cannot bear having my legs constricted or unable to move. Even when I'm freezing in the dead of winter, I have to wiggle my feet out from under the covers so they feel free. The idea of being conscious but unable to use my legs is pretty much my worst nightmare.

This opinion is subject to change once I actually know how badly contractions hurt, however.

Oh, and also the DDH tells me I can't listen to Christmas carols during labor and delivery because it won't be after Thanksgiving yet. I tell him that when it was his turn to push out a giant baby through a tiny bodily orifice, then he could listen to whatever painful dubstep nonsense he wanted, but in the meantime I should be able to listen to whatever I choose. He counters that listening to Christmas carols during the birth of a non-God-baby was a bit presumptuous. I point out that it's not like Mary was cranking up Mannheim Steamroller in the stable. We'll see where this ends up.

Anyway. We also bought some wedding presents and generally ran around doing useful errands.

Most importantly, of course, and the part everyone wants to see: the DDH got some more work done on the nursery.

To recap, this is where we left it, with a twice stained floor:

Yesterday, he gave the stained floor one more light sanding:

I'm sorry for the ridiculous glare, but I can only photograph
from the doorway most of the time, and there are no blinds
or curtains on the window at the moment.

Which took away some of the pretty red color and made me very worried for awhile.

Then he tacked up all the sanding dust:

I swear it looked different IRL once it was de-dusted, even
though the picture looks the same.

And gave it a coat of polyurethane sealant:

Here the upper left corner is done. You can see where
the shiny ends and the non-sealed part begins.

Shiny!

Here it is yesterday evening without the window glare and mostly dry:

Still kind of shiny, and also still a pretty color.

It's looking good, I think! He still has two more coats of poly to go, and then we'll be done with the floor.

...which means we'll still have to install new baseboards, paint, buy and set up furniture, decorate...good thing T-Rex still has eight weeks to go.

Meanwhile, with the DDH's help I'm working on my own little project for the room. Would you like a peek?

Photo project.

More to come on that.

How was your weekend? Working on any fun, exciting, or lengthy projects?

I am making progress on the nursery.

Or, technically, the DDH is. Heh.

You may remember that we started with this:

Carpet, blech!

  Which became this:

No more carpet!

and then this:






First layer of sanding.

Then it became this:


Sanding done.

 Which was lots of progress, but the place was pretty gross:

Dusty.

Dusty windowsill.

Clean me.

So we cleaned it up! 

Cleaned.

 

The windowsill is better; ignore the windows.

Clean slate!

 And spackled the walls:

The pink stuff is spackle. It dries clear, or white, or something.

And that's how the place sat for a few weeks. But in the last two weekends, the floor has gotten first one:

Stain One.

 

and then two:

Stain Two.

coats of stain.

And that's where we are now. He needs to, apparently, sand the floor yet again, put two coats of polyurethane on it, sand AGAIN, and THEN we can paint the walls. And THEN AFTER THAT hopefully we can move some furniture back in and put up new blinds and curtains and hopefully this will all be done by November. Although technically T-Rex will be sleeping upstairs for a couple months, it would be nice to be able to clear the guest room out again, since we'll definitely be having visitors soon.

Everybody clap for the DDH and tell him how wonderful he is! I have done absolutely nothing other than help wash down the walls. It's awesome.

Yay! Says the T-Rex.