Trifecta

My dad came over and looked at our water heater today. We took Kaden to Lowe's to pick up a new one. I called my father-in-law for assistance and he called my brother-in-law to help with some heavy lifting. Let's just say it was a really long day. I so appreciate the fact that we had help to fix the water heater. It would have cost around $300 just to have a water heater installed.

One good thing about hearing the sump pump running last night (other than drawing my attention to the busted water heater) was that it also brought our attention to the fact that our sump pump wasn't draining properly. So after 4 trips to Lowes, our brand new sump pump is almost installed.

To top the evening off, after one of our trips back from Lowes, there was an incredible amount of kitty barf strewn across the kitchen floor and on one of the rugs. That finished off the trifecta. I think I've hit my quota for a while.

I love being a home owner.

First, the highlight of my day was picking up a copy of Twilight on DVD at Target. It was just released today and on sale. My sister Lori and I have planned a movie night on Monday to watch it. Yay!

I come home after visiting at my parents house and put Kaden down in his bed. I put away some groceries and grab the laundry to drag downstairs. I hear a motorized purr coming from the basement and instantly recognize it as our sump pump. We just turned on our sprinklers today so I think it's no big deal and nothing to worry about. I pull the plastic cover off the hole and sure enough it's chugging away. Then my attention turns to the wonderful stream of water that's trickling from the water heater. You know when you put a cup of ice water down on a surface and look at it a bit later and there's a ring of condensation around the bottom? That's what our water heater looks like. How super. Now instead of going shopping for fun stuff, like a new tree for the front yard we get to go look at water heaters. I have my fingers crossed that Lowe's or Home Depot will have a sale tomorrow.

It's almost Christmas!

Well I'm on the mend. I finally decided to go to the doctor to get some antibiotics. Sinus infection. Really fun. Even more so since Ryan is catching the same thing too. So we're both downing some antibiotics so we're healthy for Kaden's first Christmas.

After my last post, Ryan urged me to try to get some sleep. I got another hour or so before I had to get up and get ready for work. He came upstairs to wake me up and said to come downstairs to see the "changes" he made while I slept. He decided to rearrange the furniture. Our family room is more open and it's a better use of space. There's a ton of extra room in front of the TV now, which will come in handy when Kaden is crawling around on the floor or playing with toys.

We're going to try to do all our Christmas shopping today. I know it will be a mad house but it's better to do it now than Christmas Eve. Wish us luck.

It's almost done!

Friday we had the last of the new carpet installed upstairs.  We finally have new carpet throughout the house!  Yay!  The last bit was installed in our bedroom and in Kadens, the top three steps, hallway and hall closets.  We had to pull everything out of the closets and all furniture and baby stuff out of the rooms and were piled up in the living room from Thursday to Saturday.

Jesse and his brother (the carpet guys) helped put our bed back in place - it's a Tempur Pedic bed and is very heavy.  Ryan was a sweetheart and instisted on putting at least my dresser back in the room before he left for work.  Saturday was Amanda's bridal shower/bachelorette party.  While I was out of the house enjoying the festivities, Ryan was able to put everything else away.  What a good husband!

Sunday we were able assemble the crib we got last week.  It's exciting walking into his room and seeing the crib with the bedding set up, blankets hanging over the side and the musical giraffe tied to the frame.  I'll post pictures when I get a chance.  

I informed Ryan that I'd like to have the car seat installed in his Blazer about a month before (or at least have the base installed) just in case Kaden decides to come early.  What a great birthday present for him!

Books for Kaden

Today Ryan and I ran quite a few errands.   One of our stops was TJ Maxx.  It's one of Ryan's favorite places to go and see what odds and ends can be found to decorate our house.  He surprised me when he steered toward the baby section and looked at the toys and books there.  

Ryan couldn't resist picking up a few books for Kaden.  Wacky Wednesday by Dr. Seuss was the first one he decided Kaden needed.  As it turns out, this book was a grade school favorite for both of us.  Ryan said you practically had to be on a waiting list to check this book out.

Another book that we picked up is The Giving Tree.  I can remember this book from when I was younger too.  We picked up a 35th Anniversary Edition book that has a cloth cover and sleeve.  I can't wait to read this to Kaden!

We are also a step closer to having a completely recarpeted house!  Our floor guy is coming over today after work (5 or 6-ish) to lay the padding and carpet in Kaden and our bedrooms.  I'm not quite sure how long it will take or if he'll just lay the padding down tonight.  That may mean that Ryan and I will be spending the night on the pull out couch downstairs in the office.  (Right next to the bathroom that doesn't have the plumbing hooked up.)  It may be an interesting weekend.

Baby Updates!

I'm in my third trimester now and will be 29 weeks on Saturday. I start my twice monthly baby appointments this month and will go weekly sometime in late August.

Last Friday Ryan and I had a 3-D sonogram! At almost 28 weeks, Kaden was 2 pounds 12 ounces. Based on measurements the sonogram tech put my due date at 9/11 instead of 9/20. Only time will tell if he decides to come early, late or on time. We got to see Kaden wiggle around, move his arms and legs, kick and even suck on his hand. Here's some of my favorite pics:




It was amazing to see some of the details like his little fingers and toes. You can even see his lips and chubby little cheeks. His foot measured two inches! I wonder if he'll take after mom or dad.

Here's the "How big is baby?" fruit for the 7th month:

Month 7: Baby’s energy is surging, thanks to the formation of white fat deposits beneath the skin. (Have those kicks and jabs to the ribs tipped you off yet?) Baby is also settling into sleep and waking cycles, though -- as you’ve also probably noticed -- they don’t necessarily coincide with your own. Also this month, all five senses are finally functional, and the brain and nervous system are going through major developments. Average size: 15.2 oz to 16.7 in; 2.5 to 3.8 lbs

We also had carpet installed on our stairs and in the living room! Our old carpet had such a short nap. We can see the new and old carpet side by side in the hallway upstairs and can definately tell that it was in such a bad need to be replaced. A few more weeks and we'll have the same carpet throughout the house! How exciting.

New Office, Baby Bump, Mom Update

Saturday we finally got our carpet installed in the basement bedroom!  Here's Ryan and Fez testing it out:

We (Ryan and his dad) were able to move the office downstairs right after our carpet guy left.  Even the pictures got hung up!

The hardest part of the move? Getting the couch (complete with a fold-away-bed) out of the bedroom upstairs and into the bedroom downstairs.  Let's just say that in addition to family help there were some choice words mentioned about the size of the couch and the size of the doorways.

We even went to Lowe's to get paint for the upstairs bedrooms.  Kaden's room will get a coat of "Zen Garden" green (think pastel green) and our bedroom will get a coat of "Bamboo Leaves" which Ryan described as a Grey Poupon type of yellow.  With the office fully relocated (and empty), it's finally starting to sink in that we're preparing for Kaden's arrival.

And at long last, an updated baby bump.  This was taken last night right before Ryan headed to work.  I really don't feel that big, but I only get the view from the top.  Ryan's response to "Am I really that wide/deep?" was "Well yeah, you're pregnant.  It happens."  He's so sweet!  

I think, weather permitting, that we'll try for a nice evening bike ride this week.  I've been eyeing our bikes for a while now.  We both got really nice Trek bikes two years ago and haven't had a chance to ride them yet this year.  They're hanging up in the garage on the ceiling and I'm not quite in the position to try and get them down myself.

I've saved the best news for last - mom is getting out of the hospital today!  We're not sure when she'll be release, but more news certainly to follow.

5 1/2 months!

WSU Graduation is over! Thank goodness. Saturday also marked my 22nd week or 5 1/2 months of pregnancy. It's so weird to think that there's only 4 months left until we get to meet and hold baby Kaden.

This month's fruit is a papaya. Month 5: Watch what you say -- baby is now able to hear outside noise from down in the womb. Studies show that baby finds gentle music and your own voice most soothing. Nipples are starting to sprout, and that little face is fully formed. And, baby's starting to settle into sleep cycles, snoozing about 12 to 14 hours a day. It shouldn't be hard to figure out when -- just pay attention to those kicks as they start and stop. Average size: 10.5 to 11.8 in, 12.7 to 20.8 oz.

He's been kicking quite a bit for the past few weeks. This morning I slept in to catch up on sleep and when I was thinking about getting up, I felt him move on both sides of my belly. It was so weird!

Home improvements: The bathroom floor down stairs is about 50% done. We're getting closer to moving the office downstairs which Ryan and I are both looking forward to. There's also supposed to be a Lowe's that's going to be built by Fall 2008 just around the corner from our house at 29th and Maize. It may not help with finishing the basement, but it will help with the deck and shed we'd like to put in the back yard sometime next year.

Bananas, Bumps, Floor and Roof

Here's a general update of things that have been going on this week. I'm working all 6 of WSU's graduation ceremonies this weekend so I can pretty much guarantee that I won't be up for posting this weekend. Friday's time commitment will be from 1 pm to 9 pm which means I won't get to see Ryan that evening (and that sucks). Saturday will be from 6 am (which will also suck) to 6 pm. At least I'll be able to see him for a few hours Saturday before he has to go to work.

On to the review:

Week 21: Baby gulps down several ounces of amniotic fluid every day, both for hydration and nutrition and to practice swallowing and digesting. And, these days, those taste buds actually work! Studies show that after birth, babies are most interested in tastes they've already experienced through amniotic fluid. Meaning, think about what you want your future child to eat as you prepare your own lunch. Average size: 10.5 in, 12.7 oz

From here out, unfortunately, we only get one fruit per month instead of weekly (5 - 9 months). That means there's only 5 more fruits till Kaden's here!

Bumps! It feels like my belly has popped sometime during the past week. Kaden is still moving around and the day after I felt him move from the outside Ryan was able to feel him move too. It was so wild to have Ryan feel Kaden and I think it just makes it feel that much more real for him.

Floors. Troy, our firefighter friend, has started work on the bathroom floor. He's going to do concrete stain on the floor and it will be etched to look like tile. The cool part about the floor is that he etched the tile with wider grooves so we'll actually have to grout the floor. It'll make the floor look more like tile. I'm looking forward to getting it done since that will put us so much closer to moving the office downstairs.

And now for the (sarcastic) best part of this week's blog. Remember my blog about wind damage? If you think that sucked, look at this:



We have 3 spots on the front of our roof that have shingles that are "waving" at us and three or four spots on the back of our roof that have missing shingles. We called the roof guy on Wednesday around noon or 1 pm and he didn't call back until 7 pm Thursday. He said he would come over sometime Monday since he lives just right around the corner from us. Well, it's 10 pm and no sign of the roof guy. A naked roof does not look very cool. I'm hoping the rain will stay away!

Week 17

Week 17: Baby's skeleton is hardening, changing from rubbery cartilage to bone, and fat is finally accumulating around it. The umbilical cord is getting thicker and stronger, and those little fingers and toes are now topped by one-of-a-kind prints. Average size: 5.1 in, 5.9 oz

Nothing much new and exciting happening. Still no weight gain (which I can bet I'll get a conversation about that at the next doctor's visit if that keeps up). I've felt the baby move a few more times. It still doesn't seem real yet that I have an actual person growing inside of me. I'm sure it won't hit me until he or she is born.

We've had a guy muding our basement over the past few days and is almost done. Just one step closer to finishing the basement! It'll be nice when we have more usable room down there.

Baby Bump, No Laundry

Here's a picture Ryan took on 3/31.  This is the most recent baby bump picture I have, but certainly not the last.  I was 15 weeks and I think this was just after we ate, so some of that bump is food :)

I officially am off the hook for doing laundry right now!  We have some people coming over in the evenings mudding and taping the walls so we can paint them later.  They might (?) be done by Sunday, if not, don't be surprised if you live in Wichita and I show up at your front door with a laundry basket full of dirty clothes.

After the guys finish in the basement, Ryan will kill then paint the walls.  (Kills is a primer that will cover up any mud or tape marks. It just sounds fun to say that he's killing inanimate objects.)  After that's done, we'll have Troy back to concrete stain the bathroom floor and Jesse to install the carpet in the hall, closets and bedroom.

After that's all said and done, we'll be able move the office downstairs.  Then comes the most exciting part of all this planning - we'll get to paint Baby Snyder's room!  I'm looking forward to that.  We have carpet literally sitting in the garage to re-carpet the upstairs so Baby will have a brand new room to move into in September.

Reminder - We get to find out if a little boy or girl will be joining our family on April 23rd.  If you haven't voted on what I'm having (which all 8 people who ever read my blog probably already have once, if not twice) vote over on the right under our picture!

Week 14

I found this really cool sight online that shows how big baby is by fruit. Each week is a different fruit except towards the end where each month is a fruit.  Of course it would have to end with a watermellon!  We'll see how long I can keep it up - it's kind of cool to see the progression.

Week 14: Your adorable little fetus is busy with thumb sucking, toe wiggling, and (not so cute but equally amazing) making urine and breathing amniotic fluid as the liver, kidneys and spleen continue to develop. Lanugo (thin, downy hair) is growing all over the body for warmth. Average size: 3.4 inches, 1.5 ounces.

Morning sickness has decreased but is not fully gone.  I still haven't gained any weight (not that I'm complaining) so I'm hoping that the recoup time after I have my baby will be easy.  I felt the baby move again on Saturday.  It's just a surreal feeling that there's something inside me moving.  Bed time is still around 9:30 or 10 but I've been staying up later and paying for it the next day.  I'm starting to feel like I have more energy, so maybe I'll start going back to the gym and do some walking.

In other news, Ryan finally got home from his out of town training at 12:30 am Friday night/Saturday morning.  He'll be working on grouting and sealing the tile in the master bathroom this week.  I have a good feeling that all our little projects (finish basement, carpet up and downstairs, paint/repaint rooms) will be done by June.  Here's to wishful thinking.

2nd doctor's appointment

I had my second doctor's appointment today.  I figured that this would be a safe time for Ryan to start missing my appointments - wrong!  I got another sonogram.  Yay!  My little one is growing right on schedule.  We don't know what it is yet, but I've been calling it he - it just sounds so much better than calling a baby "it."  With that said, his heart rate went from 131 at the first appointment to 171 at this appointment.  I'll never get tired of seeing that little heart beat.  On the sonogram picture (which I promise to post as soon as I scan it in) you can see a distinct profile - head, eye sockets, nose, ear, arms and legs.  The doctor also told me that I may start feeling flutters within the next month or so.  I'm so excited for that.  

At my next appointment, April 1st, I'll be able to schedule my gender sonogram.  That will happen between 16 or 18 to 22 weeks, which puts us at sometime in April or May.  If I can time it right, I might try to do it on our anniversary - May 2.  Ryan has drill that weekend so that means that he'll have Friday night off from work.

I didn't post anything for my 11 week update since not a lot has changed.  I ended up loosing 4 pounds since I've been avoiding most fast food and other greasy foods and chowing down on fresh fruits and some veggies.  Chocolate is good, but lately nothing beats a grapefruit, watermelon or cantaloupe.  I've been sleeping more on my side and less on my back which is good practice for later on.  I still have a bit of morning sickness which Ryan is getting used to the wonderful sounds I make.  He has noticed that my new favorite foods have been doing wonders for me.  He told me yesterday that he can tell I've lost weight in my butt, thighs and hips.  Big yay for that.  The doctor told me that I can expect little to no weight gain within the next few weeks or month or so and then it should start picking up again.

Ryan has started a side project to the basement.  He's tiling our guest/hallway bathroom.  We love the design we picked out, but it means that every tile had to be cut.  He made the last cut yesterday!  Pending a nap or two tomorrow (he'll have just finished a 10 hour shift at 7 am) he said he'd start putting down the stuff to secure the tile to the floor.

Basement News

Ryan has finished the drywall in the basement!  Yippee.  Here's our new list of Honey-dos:

• Troy, our acid concrete stainer guy, will be visiting us either Wednesday or Thursday to look at our bathroom floor.  I've given Ryan creative liberties with the floor - he can have Troy do whatever he wants down there.  I'm quite pleased with the way the floor around the bar turned out, so I know it will look awesome.
• Check to see when someone can mud and tape the walls and ceilings.  While they are doing that, Ryan will be hanging a ceiling in the laundry room.
• Paint primer on all walls and ceilings.
• Tile shower back splash.
• Install cabinets, sink, mirror and toilet in bathroom.
• Install shelving in the hall closet and bedroom closet.

Flooring is another matter.  We'll need to have Jesse (our carpet guy) come in and carpet the downstairs.  Then we'll move the office from upstairs to downstairs.  After the office is empty, we'll need to some how juggle all the furniture upstairs to re-carpet up there too.  And I'm sure before we rip up the old carpet, Ryan will want to repaint both bedrooms.

The goal is to have all this done by the time the baby comes.  With Ryan's pace, I'm sure we'll have this list knocked out by June or July.

1/4 Pregant

Yesterday was the 10th week of my pregnancy. It's a little exciting/strange to think that I'm already one quarter done. My energy level is starting to go up a little bit, not by much though. So far I haven't gained anything (yay!). My diet has pretty much consisted of fresh fruits and veggies so my healthy eating habits has probably helped.

I haven't had to start wearing maternity pants yet, but I'm in that odd limbo in-between time when my pants are a little too tight and maternity pants are a bit too big. I bought a Bella Band at a maternity store called Marshmallow Kisses last week. It's awesome. It's like a light weight tube top that you wear over your too big or too small pants and it keeps the pants from falling down.

I'm getting more excited about our basement bathroom. We looked at sink cabinents at Lowes this weekend and tile at Star Lumber. I think we may check in to having the bathroom floor concrete stained just like we had the area around the bar stained. The floor area is only 5 foot by 5 foot, so it would be quite a bit faster to stain it instead of putting tile down.

We picked up cat food this weekend too. We buy the huge 15 or 20 pound bag of food and then put it in smaller cat food jugs that we bought when Fez was little. The food has been sitting on one of the chairs in the kitchen for about 24 hours, but apparently Fez was a little anxious to get to the food. We don't starve our cats - they have an automatic food despenser that gives them access to food at all hours of the day. I think Fez just likes really fresh food (even if he has to open the bag himself).

Breakfast

Ryan has been working very hard over the past few days to finish tiling our kitchen.  His dad and step-brother Zach have both been a wonderful help.  Currently we have all the tile down in the kitchen and one half is still setting up.  This week will start the tedious task of grouting and scrubbing the floors.  Right now our stove, refrigerator, table and chairs are all camping out in the living room.  

Here's a picture of Fez begging for a bite of my banana on our beautiful tile floor.  He never lets Ryan or me alone when he knows we're eating one!

I missed October?!?

So I took a small hiatus from blogging for the month of October.  New Year's resolution to start early: more blogs.  Here's what I didn't post about that happened in October:

Halloween!

Ryan got creative this year with the spooky town village that we have.  Michaels has Lemax Spooky Town buildings, figurines and accessories that we usually buy a few buildings and people every year.  It's growing so big that I think we have to have at least 2 if not 3 of the largest tuffy totes that you can buy.  (In all fairness, we keep the original packing so nothing gets broken.)  

This year my crafty husband went all out.  He bought the fake grass turf stuff that people use for train sets and glued that to ply wood.  He drilled holes through the ply wood so the cords for the larger buildings wouldn't show.  Then he stapled brown fabric around the ply wood to make a table skirt so the cords and stuff wouldn't show.  We had so many buildings and things this year that we had to have two locations!  There was a smaller set downstairs on the air hockey table.  Ryan covered it with brown fabric to make fake ground.  The larger set with the train landscape was upstairs next to the railing on two saw horses.  The kitties appreciated this location - Amy hid under the skirt almost the entire month of October and Fex kept walking all over the spooky town.  I guess he thought he would be the giant black cat that would rule over the town.

Kidney Stones!

Poor Ryan now knows what it's like to give birth.  He was working one of his part-time jobs when he felt like someone stabbed him in the side.  He drove over to the Wesley ER and I met him over there.  They scanned him, told him it was kidney stones and gave him some morphine to help with the pain.  I took him home to rest and sleep.  He couldn't eat anything for over  24 hours.  The morphine made him sick to his stomach.  Two days later he passed the stone: 3mm x 3mm x 2mm.  We took it in to the doctor.  It's a calcium stone which means he should lay off the protein shakes.

Scrapbooking

I'm actually getting somewhere with my honeymoon scrapbook.  I dragged Ryan into Scrapbook Garden one day to get some page refills for my book.  He notices these cute little clear pouches that you can put on a page and it can hold something.  We bought a few packages and I have used them so far to hold a map of Martinique and some Euros (both paper and coin currency).

Construction

Almost all the electrical is done in the basement.  All the walls are up where they should be and there's a few pieces of sheetrock hung so it looks like I have a hallway.  Our next home improvement project is to do the tile in the kitchen and then the carpet in the upstairs.

I have walls!

Ryan's been working non-stop on finishing our basement.  His dad also comes over to help frequently.  Their work has resulted in the framework and electrical work on a bedroom, bathroom with linnen closet, hallway, laundry room and a hall closet.  

The latest addition they have made is to install an outlet on top of our closet in the living room.  Ryan hooked up a time and a rope light and presto we have a really awesome night light.  I'll post a picture here tonight (after the light turns on!)