Sunday, November 27, 2011

It's a...

BOY! We found out the sex of the baby during my 20 week ultrasound last week, and let me tell you that we were both shocked. When the little penis appeared on the ultrasound tech's screen, we both did a double-take. Hubby had wanted a girl...friends and random others told me that the signs (terrible morning sickness, weight gain in my chest, etc.) indicated a girl was on the way. So, I was convinced they were probably right. Even though Hubby had wanted a girl, he said that he adjusted to the idea of having a boy rather quickly. Me...not so much. All that I could think about on the extra long, Thanksgiving-eve drive to my parents' house was, "What am I going to do with a boy?" I am a girl (obviously), so I have a little insight into what to do with one of those, but my niece is a girl (again, obviously) and I have two sisters and I wasn't around boys while I was growing up. So again..."What am I going to do with a boy?" reverberated through my thoughts. My family, who, with the exception of my dad who has been surrounded by sisters, daughters, and female pets all of his life, wanted a girl. Needless to say, they were beyond shocked when we told them. I think they were disappointed. But alas, the important part was that our boy has a healthy heart, bowels, lungs, spine, brain, and extremities. Whew...a sigh of relief.

After a lovely Thanksgiving Day filled with turkey and other gluten-free goodies (everyone LOVED my gluten-free stuffing), we lurched into an awkward day-after-Thanksgiving ritual. The ritual of purchasing an ornament on the day after from local crafters isn't the awkward part, but interacting with my sis and mom (between whom the the tension was thicker than GaGa's eyelashes) definitely was. I was honestly a bit relieved that we had to leave early to welcome our new renters (another story for another time).

So, after one more breakdown last night, my uber-supportive Hubby (who also made me gluten free cc cookies and sang to me for my b-day last night) made me sit down and start looking at boy nursery ideas. He knows that I need something tangible to reduce my anxiety. The result was, as predicted, a relaxing reduction in anxiety, and I found lots of cool, non-blue, non-teddy bear, non-baseball bat themed rooms for CHEAP posted by women who want to have children without literally buying in to the consumerism and commercialism that comes with that dangerous four-lettered word: BABY. Here are some of my favorite designs


Sunday, November 6, 2011

Baby Donahue

So, the other really big news...I'm pregnant!

Return of the blogging

It's been a hundred years since I have last written a blog post. Life has been busy. We moved out of A's house and are still working on getting the Sparks house rented or sold. Most importantly, we FINALLY moved in to our new old home. Note that I didn't say that our new old home is finished. The reality is that it is still very much a construction zone. Hubby couldn't resist not sleeping here despite the dust, bare unpainted walls, mud for a backyard, drafty windows, etc. So, here we are! The truth is that our house is beautiful, and I am amazed that all of my thrift shopping and the family painting efforts have culminated in an (almost) Dwell-worthy home.

The TO DO list:
Paint all trim
Paint ceiling touch ups
Srape paint from all windows
Repaint all windows
Paint exterior of house
Obtain and install storm windows
Acquire random pieces of furniture
Sand and polyeurethane stairs
Grade yard and install concrete patio
Install fence
Get remainder of household goods that government has skillfully "misplaced"
DECORATE
Throw housewarming party :)