nokoikonomia

Packing Plan: Changing the Default

2012-01-29T12:16:00.000-06:00

As we thought about packing up the contents of our home over breakfast this morning, Phil and I decided to change/reverse the usual approach. Usually, you'd assume that you were bringing everything you owned, but maybe leave out a few things you didn't really use anymore. Instead, we're going to assume that everything is not coming with us and only bring those things we do actually need. For example, we have several little drawers of extra pencils and free pens from different places. Do we need them? No. We have plenty of writing utensils even without those. So they don't get to move with us. That broken immersion blender? It's broken. So it's out. Phil's statement of this sent me into a fit of laughter this morning. It made me realize the ridiculous levels to which people take clutter. We've kept that broken immersion blender in our kitchen for over a year already. It's gone now though.

We're framing the move as an expedition of sorts. And on an expedition, you don't need to carry a bunch of extra crap.

Nursery: Library Cart Bookshelf

2012-01-24T12:43:00.000-06:00

While Phil and I were still dating, I fell in love with rolling library carts. I really wanted one. So, for Christmas one year, Phil made me one!

I wanted to use it in Jaye's room and decided to both paint and stain it to match the two-tone look of her crib. So I bought a little sander at Home Depot and went to town on it in the basement.

Once it was all sanded, I wiped away all the sanding dust and started staining. The staining was the hardest, and least successful part of the process. I did two applications, but still felt like it wasn't the right color. Unfortunately, I didn't actually compare it to the crib before doing a third super coat. The super coat was a mess. I left it on too long and it was really, really sticky and hard to wipe off again. And it turns out that I didn't need it at all. The cart shelves are definitely darker than the crib drawer. Oh, well. Live and learn.

For the painting step, I hauled my shelf out to the garage since the staining had stunk up the basement. I did one coat of primer, using a stain-blocking primer that we'd bought for a certain ceiling stain. Then I did two coats of plain white. I used a foam roller. It turned out pretty well. Before I painted, I had used some wood filler to smooth out certain spots, but after painting I noticed WAY more spots I wish I had filled. Oh, well. Live and learn.

I don't have a picture of the empty final product, because I was too excited to put it in the nursery and fill it up!

I'm so happy with it. I love that both Phil and I put our own love and sweat and frustration into it.

I love it! Do you?

Nursery: Art Wall Finale!

2012-01-22T10:35:00.000-06:00

I actually finished prepping and hanging all of the artwork on the nursery wall over New Year's Weekend, but finally have some pictures to show for it!

Before (the room as our bedroom):

After (Jaye's nursery):

Here's the full wall as seen from the doorway. I like to do frame collages like this on this wall because of the corner. I think it's nice to connect the two walls with one "piece" of artwork, like this collage.

To figure out the layout, I cut squares from newspaper to correspond to the size of each frame/canvas. Then I used tape to position them on the wall until I liked the look and balance. Using newspaper also makes it really easy to hang the nails. Just hammer a nail in through the newspaper at about the spot where the hanger is on the back of the picture and then rip the newspaper down. I didn't take a picture this time, but here's a picture from hanging the old mirror collage.

The star pieces of the left side include:

This print of the Mississippi River (from this etsy shop) which I loved because (duh) Jaye's middle name is Mississippi. I also thought the blue would tie in well with the colors on the other prints.

Next up, the orange is my favorite of the Noah's ark prints. It's called "Drying Up" and shows the ark stuck on top of the mountains as the water recedes. The print in the top right corner of this picture is actually a greeting card I ordered awhile back (from this etsy shop) just because I liked it. It reads "Let's paint the insides of our hats yellow and put grass in our shoes so that we'll always feel like we are walking outside in the sun." Here, I didn't want the weight of another frame, and it was an odd square shape. So I painted one of the tiny clothespins I bought for the Christmas garland and hot-glued it to a square for a frame mat from JoAnns. Then I just clipped the card up. Finally, the pink heart was a deeply discounted Christmas ornament from Target.

On the right side of the collage, mixed with the Noah's Ark prints, we have:

This cool orange giraffe print (from this etsy shop) and a little Ikea clip frame with a picture of Jaye from our three-month photo session.

Phil and I took these photobooth pictures at a friend's wedding Memorial Day of May 2011. I really love them. I just put them on a piece of colorful paper and wrote the date underneath. I think it's sweet for the nursery because I was about 7 mths pregnant with Jaye.

Finally, there's this postcard (from this etsy shop) which just really, really tickles my fancy. I LOVE it. Because, really, what in the whole entire world would be happier than a bird with a french fry? It makes me smile every time I see it. I have a larger version framed in our bedroom, but wanted it for Jaye, too. It's mounted on mat board the same was as the card on the other wall. I actually have one more Noah's Ark print to hang (once I get a canvas for it, somehow I miscounted the first time). I'd also like to add maybe a picture of Phil as a baby and one of me as a baby.

But it's done for now, and I like the look!

Nursery: Art Wall in Progress or How to make your own canvas art

2012-01-20T09:59:00.002-06:00

My plan for Jaye's nursery was entirely inspired by and revolves around the awesome, colorful, Noah's Ark prints I bought from Katie at oohmoon.com.

So my first step was to get the prints ready to hang. Since I'd bought the prints as files, I had to order them from Shutterfly. They're 8 x 10 glossy prints. I decided I wanted the look of the prints hanging on canvas unframed because that felt more free and fun than a bunch of heavy frames.

I bought some Matte Medium at JoAnns because my Google research told me that would hold better than spray adhesive or some kind of glue.

I used a paintbrush to spread the matte medium on the back of both the print and the canvas.

Then I used my light rail pass to scrape and smush along the back to stick the two together. Be careful not to get glue on the front. I'm a mess, so that definitely happened on a couple. I used a slightly damp washcloth to wipe the glue off.

I left the edge of the canvas white. You can see that the picture hangs over the edge a tiny bit, but it doesn't show from on the wall.

And that was that. They look good on the wall and seem really firmly attached to the canvas!

Pinterest Perspective

2012-01-18T16:01:00.000-06:00

What Pinterest and I wish my medicine cabinet looked like.

What my medicine cabinet actually looks like.

And that's just fine.

Jaye: Five Months

2012-01-10T08:57:00.003-06:00

I can't believe I'm writing this post already. That my little baby is five months old! This past month with Jaye has been so much fun. She's more interactive every day. She has started laughing a lot more and at different things. This month she cracked up at Laura's dogs, silly games where you "boop" her nose, tickling, and playing "pounces" on the bed.

She had her first Christmas. Since Christmas, she's really discovered that her hands are excellent "getters" and she uses them to "get" everything in sight, even if that includes faces, or noses, or eyes. Ouch! For Christmas, Phil and I got her an exersaucer bouncy seat thing which she really likes. She moves around to all the toys. She seems to really like the spinning ball with beads in it. She spins it and just looks at it.

She started eating solids too! We started with rice cereal at the beginning of the month, just a tablespoon in the morning. It was pretty messy at first, and I'm not sure how much actually made it to her stomach. This morning, she at over 4 tablespoons of oatmeal cereal. She loves it. She opens her little mouth SO SO wide for each bite and reaches out for the spoon to make sure it gets to her mouth. If the next bite doesn't come soon enough, she pants a little bit in excitement.

This is pretty much what happens as soon as you lay Jaye down. No more laying still underneath the play gym for her. She's trying so hard to learn to crawl. She can get her belly button up off the ground pushing up with her arms. Around Christmastime she started getting her knees up underneath her. She'll be moving once she figures out how to combine the two!

Jaye now naps in her real crib downstairs and sleeps in her pack and play upstairs with us at bedtime. She takes three naps a day, starting about an hour and a half after she wakes up for the day. Jaye, you are so perfect and wonderful and bring us SO much joy and happiness. Thanks for being our baby girl!

Nursery: Yarn Ball Mobile

2012-01-07T21:21:00.000-06:00

I wanted a mobile that would look as interesting from Jaye's perspective lying beneath it as it did from my standing perspective. I wanted something light and airy and playful and colorful and fun. I decided to make a mobile out of the yarn balls in the tutorial here.

source: Spearmint Baby

I was inspired by this image. Last June when my friend Aki came to visit, I used her art major skills to give me a confidence boost and we both sat down to tackle the project.

First, take a balloon.

Then, take some yarn.

Grab a friend.

Dilute some Elmer's glue and mash the yarn down into it.

Wrap the wet, glue-y yarn all around the balloon in all different directions until it's covered to the thickness you want it. I wanted an airy look, so we used less yarn. If you wanted a more solid look, just wrap more yarn around.

Let your yarn balls dry overnight.

Before you pop the balloon inside, I found it helpful to loosen the yarn from the surface of the balloon. I used one of those long green plastic stoppers they put in your drink at Starbucks because I found it lying on the table. I just slid it under the yarn to gently loosen it from the balloon. Then pop the balloon and voila!

Laura and I made a few more using some pink yarn and they turned out equally well. Once all my balls were ready, I just had to figure out how to mobile-fy them. I painted a dowel rod and, once it was dry, I arranged the rod and all the balls on the floor.

I wanted the balls to hang at all different heights along the length of the rod, so I just spaced them out and arranged and rearranged them until I liked how they looked. I tied them to the dowel rod using invisible jewelry wire from JoAnns (a.k.a. fishing line?).

I hung two hooks super securely in the ceiling and attached the rod to that. It's roughly centered over the crib and high enough up that even once Jaye can pull up, she won't be able to reach it. I really LOVE the end result. Though this picture isn't great.

I'm trying to decide if this wall needs anything else. I think it doesn't; anything else might make it feel busy or cluttered. Thoughts?

Getting Around to It.

2012-01-06T20:45:00.000-06:00

On Monday, I start my final semester of law school. This week I've been busy with a semester's worth of work crammed into one week-long course. Both of these facts motivated me to get moving over the long New Year's weekend on a long, long overdue project: Jaye's nursery.

Last summer, I'd made a couple of mood boards, here and here. Then I decided on one of them here. I ordered the prints I wanted, but that was about it. Until last weekend. When I spent pretty much every spare minute working on something. Bookshelf, mobile, art gallery, crib skirt. It's not all done yet, but I really LOVE what I have done so far. I hope to finish more this weekend. Pictures coming soon.

2011 vs. 2012

2012-01-01T10:24:00.000-06:00

Happy 2012!

2011 was a big year for us. Mostly for one currently 14 pound reason. Tidbits from 2011 include:

January: Redoing our bathroom and getting use to the empty house without Big Margo.
February: Settlers weekend, getting our house ready to put on the market, and a fun trip to Arizona.
March: a quiet month, but we did officially announce our pregnancy.
April: Found out our baby was/is a little girl!
May: Got a new dog and finished my second year of law school.
June: A baby shower and a trip to Texas.
July: I took a two week class and focused on getting ready for baby.
August: Jaye was born! Also, we celebrated Phil's 30th birthday and our 4th wedding anniversary.
September: Jaye survived her first month. Blog posts were scarce. We had lots of visits from family. We returned our new dog Stella, who had turned out to be a dud.
October: We visited the Mississippi Headwaters and Jaye and I flew to Dallas for a weekend.
November: Jaye turned three months old. We celebrated Thanksgiving in Indiana.
December: Jaye's first Christmas.

2012 is also looking like it's going to be a great big year. We're looking forward to some big events, including: graduating from law school, moving to Texas, Jaye's first birthday, getting a new mastiff maybe, becoming landlords, celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary, at least one fun vacation, and hopefully lots more adventures!

Deck the Halls

2011-12-20T14:01:00.001-06:00

We did not put up a Christmas tree this year. *Gasp. Our house is feeling so small and cluttered right now, and the idea of doing the tree seemed stressful. Plus, we'll be in Dallas for 6 days for Christmas itself. Next year we'll go all out decorating, and Jaye will actually be aware of what's happening.

But here's what we have done to decorate. I made a Christmas card garland. Easy peasy. String ribbon up. Clothespin the Christmas cards you get to the ribbon. I found tiny red clothespins at a scrapbooking store at the Mall of America. We really needed a longer garland because I've had to swap out cards as we keep getting new ones. I love this garland because it's fun to actually enjoy the cards people send for longer than one moment as you open them.

I also hung Jaye's Christmas art and a cute ornament from her Great Aunt Susie on the garland.

I also made a fun felt holly garland. Please excuse all the crap piled up in the background, particularly on the little landing. This is why I felt too cluttered to have a Christmas tree.

The garland was easy to make. I printed out a picture of a holly leaf and berry from the internet. Then I traced them onto some cardboard to make a sturdier stencil.

Then I traced around my stencil onto some felt that I had leftover from an earlier project (my coat tree, which I had intended to add magnets to and different felt leaves for the different seasons). I cut out all my shapes (Phil even helped!) and strung them together on some thread. The stringing was the trickiest part because at first all the shapes mushed together. Once I had them all strung, I had to carefully spread them all out again.

We leave for Dallas early, early Thursday morning and will be there until Tuesday evening. I'm looking forward to it! Hope everyone else has a lovely Christmas planned!

Christmas Crafts, Four Month Old Baby Style

2011-12-19T10:37:00.000-06:00

The other morning, Jaye and I spent some time doing a Christmas craft. Well, it was mostly me and Jaye's foot. Jaye herself was pretty oblivious to the fact that we were doing a craft. Using some washable fingerpaint, a few pieces of cardstock, and the cutest foot in the world, we made these!

It's supposed to be a Christmas tree, if you were wondering. Several of them got sent out to Jaye's doting relatives, but I kept one for myself too. It's hanging on our (yet-to-be-blogged-about) Christmas card garland.

Weekend Tidbit

2011-12-11T15:04:00.001-06:00

We've had a nice chill weekend. Jaye has been sleeping extra since she had her immunizations on Friday. Phil and I have been taking turns playing a lot of Skyrim. I finished a Christmas garland (pics coming soon) and Phil and I had a night out at the annual Thanksmas party. We are anxiously watching the Vikings game now and may venture out to the grocery store later.

Freezer Cooking

2011-12-07T19:58:00.001-06:00

A few weeks ago, I did a batch of freezer cooking, and it was awesome! I went to the grocery store by myself (!) on a Sunday morning and spent a few hours that afternoon chopping and preparing double-batches of three recipes. I ended up with six meals.

The awesome catch is that all the meals were crockpot dinners. So to prepare them I just had to chop the veggies and put all the ingredients in freezer bags. Then when I'm ready to cook them, I just take it out of the freezer, cut the bag off, and dump it frozen into the crockpot.

I used the three recipes posted here on the blog Mama and Baby Love. A few things I might note: although it doesn't say so, don't cook the pasta in the goulash recipe until right beforehand (though Phil thought it was fine all cooked to mush in the crockpot); all the recipes were pretty mushy so we ate them with quinoa; next time, I might use boneless chicken for the barbeque since it was hard to eat in such a runny sauce; the barbeque sauce is a little runny so I add extra tapioca.

Jaye: Four Months

2011-12-07T19:48:00.001-06:00

Jaye is four months old now! I'm not sure how much she weighs right now. She has an appointment with the pediatrician on Friday.

Jaye has been so much fun lately. She loves putting her hands in her mouth and sometimes sucks her thumb when she's sleepy. She's started grabbing toys and trying to put them in her mouth too.

We've started a sleeping and bedtime routine. Jaye sleeps in her bassinet and is doing great! I spent a good bit of the month worrying about Jaye's childcare for when I go back to school full time next semester, but I think we may have finally figured that out.

Jaye had her first Thanksgiving this month. We spent a week in Indiana with Drew, Margie, and Zadie. We saw Phil's parents on Thanksgiving day itself.

Jaye: Three Months

2011-11-09T07:45:00.000-06:00

Three months old! Such a big girl. Last week, Jaye weighed 12 lbs 5 oz. I bet that by today, she's doubled her birth weight! Look at those gorgeous baby thighs starting to look a little chunky. I love them!

In the past month, Jaye has continued to be more and more aware and social. It is really fun. She smiles and talks to you a lot. She has laughed a few times, just a little giggle.

She still loves to play under her play gym, even more so now that she's learning to bat at the toys. It's pretty adorable to watch her try so hard to direct her hands where she wants.

We've been supplementing with formula as well as milk, and Jaye is a champ at that too. She has never minded the bottle. I've had some worries about my milk production since sometimes Jaye seems annoyed that nursing isn't as fast as a bottle, but the midwives assured me she's gaining weight well, so there must be plenty of milk.

Since last month, Jaye has been to Dallas and to the headwaters of the Mississippi. She's a fabulous traveler. We're looking forward to many more adventures with our darling baby!

Dallas Trip!

2011-11-07T09:14:00.000-06:00

Last weekend, Jaye and I traveled to Dallas to visit her grandparents. She took her first plane ride!

I asked the woman sitting next to me to take our picture. Unbeknownst to me, my camera seems to have a fishbowl setting. Jaye did really well on all the flights. She didn't sleep as much as I had hoped, but she was happy and smiling at the other people.

She had a fun time hanging out with her Pops. We went to one of Will's baseball games and got to watch Lucy's dance rehearsal. We ate Tex-Mex, of course.

And Jaye had her first Halloween. She dressed as a cute baby in a ghost covered onesie with a pumpkin hat.

Until she pooped all over herself and I had forgotten a change of clothes so then she just wore a hoodie with ears on it and got wrapped in a blanket.

After "trunk or treating"at a local church, Jaye's great grandparents surprised us and visited! Here she is with her Papa Ford.

And with her Nanny Ford. We had a really great visit!

Jaye: Two Months

2011-10-10T19:51:00.001-05:00

At two months old, Jaye weighs 9lbs, 12 oz. She's 22.5 inches long. That's the 20th percentile for weight and 54th for length/height. Her head is the biggest, in the 66th percentile at 15.5 inches.

She's outgrowing her aardvark already.

Month two has been full of fun and joy. Jaye learned to roll over and has started smiling. She's much more aware of her surroundings and likes to look around. She can hold her head up really well and support her upper body on her forearms when she's having tummy time. She has fun playing with her daddy. He's teaching her to streak through the house. She likes to ride around in her daddy chair and look at things.

Month two has also had its fair share of uncertainty. I've had a hard time with whether or not and how Jaye gets a schedule (she doesn't have a semblance of one), whether she should be able to go to sleep without nursing (she occasionally does), whether we are creating bad habits (worry and freak out!) and when she should learn to sleep in her bassinet (she says never). We've been working through those common new parent feelings of "I have no clue what I'm doing; How can I possibly be doing it right?"

But she's happy and growing and beautiful, so we must be doing at least something right. :-)

Recipe: Egg Muffins

2011-09-14T13:40:00.000-05:00

Post baby, I needed a breakfast that I could eat with one hand. Cereal and nursing results in more cereal on the baby than in my mouth. So when I found a recipe for egg muffins on Pinterest, I had to give it a shot.

Basically, you chop up some vegetables and brown some sausage.

Then you mix up eggs, milk, salt, pepper, and baking soda.

You grease some muffin tins and fill them with your veggies and meat.

Then pour the egg mixture over everything and bake.

You can find the full recipe here.

My take: I only used half as much meat as the recipe called for and it seemed like plenty. I used more vegetables and used peppers instead of broccoli because that's what I had. I didn't have quite enough egg mixture to fill all the cups of a muffin pan, so I had to whip up a little bit extra.

The verdict: Delicious, but not the best breakfast for me as a new mom because I didn't want to eat them cold and heating them up was too much of a process since we don't have a microwave.

Jaye: One Month

2011-09-07T11:36:00.000-05:00

Jaye Mississippi

2011-08-21T15:18:00.001-05:00

If you want more goodness like this, check out the addendum to this blog: minikonomia. Bookmark that baby!

Or get there through the link I added to the top of this blog!

39 Weeks

2011-08-14T21:09:00.001-05:00

39w

Jaye Mississippi Schrader was born August 5, 2011 at 3:04am. 6 lbs 10 oz, 20 inches.

38 Weeks

2011-08-11T12:12:00.000-05:00

We had a busy weekend, and even though I wore several cute outfits and actually looked put together, I didn't remember to take any pictures until last night. When I was just wearing this dress because it was comfy. And hadn't showered.

38w5d

I wrote the above portion of this post on Wednesday, August 3rd. But never finished it... I wonder why?

TO BE CONTINUED...

The Basics

2011-07-28T08:44:00.001-05:00

I don't have a perfectly designed and styled and finished nursery. I haven't hand-sewn a quilt or anything for that matter. I haven't finished a DIY project. But we have the basics ready for the baby.

First, a pack and play with a bassinet. I scored this from a garage sale for $15. I was so excited that weekend. I'd gotten up early just to go to one sale that had advertised lots of baby stuff including a pack and play, but the pack and play had already been swooped up by another pregnant lady before I could get to it. It was a pregnant lady madhouse at this garage sale. As I was leaving, I checked craigslist to see if there was one more sale between me and home. I stopped at that one more sale and, lo and behold, an even better pack and play with a bassinet part and changing table part! The stars had really aligned because just that week I had been stressed about getting the rest of the "big" items from our registry and having things ready for a baby.

Now the baby has somewhere to sleep.

Second, a car seat. I'd planned all along to get a BOB stroller as our only stroller and use the infant seat attachment for it. And then get a separate car seat. But we went to Target for the car seat and came home with the all-in-one-car-seat-stroller-travel system. Because that's what people who are having babies do, right? The car seat is installed. Phil said it was really easy to do. I think it looks great in our lovely "new" Subaru.

37 Weeks

2011-07-26T09:38:00.001-05:00

37w1d

The baby is officially full term now! We have midwife appointments every week from here on out. At our last one, the midwife said to me, "Feel that?" I thought it was the baby's bottom, but it turned out that my whole uterus was rock hard due to a Braxton Hicks contraction. Apparently, I've been getting them all the time, only I don't feel anything at all. Now that I'm paying more attention, I do get them a lot.

I've still been sleeping well and feeling good. This week, my hands have started to feel sore. The joints are achy. Yet another "old lady" symptom. Being pregnant makes me feel like an old lady.

I've also been so incredibly emotional, irrationally so. I really don't like feeling like this. It's not me. There have been a couple of unexplained crying sessions this week, and the days I haven't cried, I've been trying hard not to. So, anytime you want to show up, Baby, is fine by me!

I finished my two-week class last week. I just have to write a short paper for it by this Friday. I finished up one of my last projects for the Bankruptcy Judge last night and am having lunch with her and the clerk today. Soon I'll be all baby, all the time. We have the major things done to prepare, but there are still little "nesting" things I'd like to take care of.

The Birthing Bag: A Beginning

2011-07-24T10:09:00.002-05:00

Packing a bag to take to the birth center has begun!

I've started a list on our kitchen wall, adding to it whenever I think of something. A lot of the items can't really be packed until the last minute. But we have a few things in the bag now.

First, bendable straws! For encouraging me to drink lots of water and making it easy for me to take a sip or not in between pressure waves.

Second, a very important item, a Summer Shandy beer for me. I've been waiting all summer for that little can of beer. Also, I hear drinking a beer helps your milk come in.

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary

2011-07-22T08:35:00.000-05:00

How does your garden grow?

With lots of weeds and little care

And four raspberries all in a row.

36 Weeks

2011-07-20T07:52:00.001-05:00

36w3d

I looked at these pictures after Phil took them last night and marveled at how far my stomach sticks out now. I remember back at 29 weeks, when I thought I looked so pregnant.

Ha. I've definitely started getting comments about the bump. Nothing too incredibly offensive, but really I find them all offensive. Even when someone says I look fantastic, what they really mean is that I'm not as large as other pregnant women they've seen or known. But I think those other pregnant women looked beautiful and pregnant! Plus, what right do they have to comment on the shape of my body just because I'm pregnant. They would know it was rude to comment if I wasn't pregnant. I got lots of funny conversation yesterday because I was wearing my "All I wanted was a backrub shirt." Many people appreciated it.

Otherwise, this week I've still felt pretty good. Just dealing with swollen feet in the evenings and some lower back-aches. My main pregnancy side-effect right now is just being extremely emotional and hormonal. Last week was a stressful week because I started my two-week class and was worried about preparing a presentation for it and worried about getting work done on my project for the judge. And I still feel like there is a lot of stuff to do to get ready for the baby. The emotional-ness is not really rational though. It's not really related to anything other than just being pregnant. But, I gave the presentation today, so that's one thing off my list. And Phil brought home flowers, pizza rolls, straws (for the birthing time), and a jigsaw puzzle as a surprise for me last Friday.

Were the Old Wives' Tales Right?

2011-07-18T14:30:00.001-05:00

Everyone likes to guess the gender of the baby. My own prediction was that we would be having a boy. That was just based on a gut reaction. My mom says she knew it was a girl. I say, there was a 50/50 shot that either one of us was right.

Ultrasound: Girl

Chinese Gender Chart

The Test: Find the age of the mother at the time of conception (26) and follow across to the month of conception (Nov).

The Result: Girl

Heartrate:
The Test: If baby's heartrate is 140 or above, it's a girl. If it's below 140, you're having a boy.
The Result: Boy

Cravings:
The Test: Craving sweets means a girl. Craving salty or sour means a boy.
The Result: Both. I craved salty at the beginning (Mmm. Salt and Vinegar chips) and I've been craving sweets now (Glazed donuts...).

Morning Sickness:
The Test: If you don't have morning sickness, you're having a boy. If you do, it's a girl.
The Result: I wasn't sick at all, so that would point to boy.

What other ones are out there? I know there's something about carrying high or low, but I don't know how to tell if I'm carrying high or low.

35 Weeks

2011-07-13T11:34:00.001-05:00

35w2d

This past weekend, we had an awesome couples shower and pool party at a friend's house. We relaxed and swam and chatted and ate meatballs.

And some of us enjoyed beers by the pool. I had a fabulous faux-ito. We got some nice presents from our friends to pretty much finish up the major things we need before baby arrives. I was especially excited to get a changing table pad so I can hopefully finish up that area soon.

Last week, it became very urgent to me to get the pack & play bassinet that baby will sleep in at first and the carseat, since those are the two items we actually have to have before we bring the baby home. As of a Target trip two nights ago, we've completed that task!

34 Weeks

2011-07-10T08:46:00.000-05:00

34w3d

I'm definitely feeling really pregnant this week! I wore this outfit out to dinner on the 4th of July. I noticed when I put the sandals on that the straps felt a little tight, but by the end of the night they were pretty unbearable and leaving marks over my puffy pregnant feet. I'm also starting to think that I might need to take off my wedding ring soon as it's been getting increasingly tight. In other weird-side-effect news, I had a couple of "hot flashes" where I just suddenly became incredibly hot and sweaty. I'm not sure if this is pregnancy related or not!

This is my last totally free week before I start my two-week long summer class. I'm feeling like by the end of that class, we'll be at the point where baby could come any day, though she can take her time as well if that's what she wants!

Nursery: The Crib

2011-07-07T14:24:00.001-05:00

We bought a crib.We ended up choosing the Baby Mod Park Lane crib from Walmart.

How did we settle on this one?

Style:

I liked the two-tone look.

I also liked that it had a drawer.

I wanted neutral and modern.

Other Requirements:

A non-toxic finish.

Made out of real wood and not some freaky MDF or something.

As cheap as possible, under $300.

The Park Lane crib met these requirements according to its online description. And the site-to-store free shipping is awesome.

Last weekend, we brought it home (just barely) from Walmart in the little yellow Aveo. It really just barely fit-to get it out, we had to open the box and take it out piece by piece. But we did it, setting up the pieces upstairs.

The only downside seems to be this label I found on the inside of one of the pieces, which states that part of the crib is made of MDF, which definitely contradicts the statement from the website that there are no paper press boards and the crib is made only of solid wood. The whole "Compliant for Formaldehyde" part kind of freaks me out too, since the whole point of getting a solid wood, non-toxic crib was so that it wouldn't off-gas weird, carcinogenic chemicals like formaldehyde. At least the concentration of formaldehyde is low enough that California approves?

Well, it's the crib we have now and will have several months next to the window upstairs to hopefully off-gas BEFORE it's occupant takes up residence.

As for assembly, the drawer and it's railings were the hardest part. We had to build the drawer earlier in the process than the instructions suggested to try to figure out how to attache the railings to the side of the crib.

We ended up having to attach and reattach the railings. But, after studying a drawer from our current dresser, we finally got it right.

But we finally got it right!

Phil approved!

And Baby Schrader approved too!

33 Weeks

2011-07-05T18:46:00.000-05:00

33w0d

This week we bought and put together a crib, which is basically the first (and only) thing we've done to get the house ready for baby. I also started making a mobile for over the changing table.

But mostly, I just grew a ~~basketball~~ baby sticking off the front of my body.

Nursery: The Plan

2011-07-04T18:08:00.001-05:00

The current plan for the nursery is really an anti-plan. We won't have one space dedicated as a nursery. Instead, we're going to spread it throughout the house. In our bedroom, currently downstairs, we'll have a portable crib with a bassinet. The desk has moved upstairs and the baby will sleep where the desk is/was.

The changing table/dresser/baby storage will be in the hallway outside of our bedroom. I've bolted together some of our Target "itsos" to make them super sturdy. We'll add a changing pad on top. Baby's diapers and clothes will be stored in bins in the "itsos." Here's what this nook looked like the last time I took a picture of it. It's not a very recent pictures, but it can serve as the "before" shot.

I'm planning a little art collage for the wall, which has actually been painted tan/khaki. I am making a mobile out of yarn balls like these to hang over the changing table. Picture and how-to for the yarn balls are from here.

And here they are hanging more like a mobile.

(source: my pinterest says spearmint baby, but I can't find the original link)

Then, we're planning on rearranging the dining room a bit to make room for the rocking chair I scored at a yard sale and plan to refinish. That way the rocking spot will be near the bedroom.

I think we'll move the small buffet/storage piece you can see on the back wall away into the basement. Then we can push the table up against the wall, which is fine since it's usually just Phil and I perched on one end of it. We could always move it around if we had guests. Pushing the table back should leave space for a rocking chair in the left foreground of this picture.

Upstairs, at the the very back of this picture, is where we built the crib and where I'll probably hang the Noah's Ark prints that I love. I think at some point, baby will move to sleeping up here. And we may or may not join her as well. I've been debating making some type of curtain to separate this "nursery" from the rest of the large room, but I'm starting to think that it would be too complicated with the sloped ceilings and expensive to be worth the trouble for a house we won't live in for much longer.

And finally, the inspiration and mood board for the nursery is actually this one, which I'd originally created in case we were having a boy. You can read the full details here. I'd made a mood board for a girl too, but I just didn't love it as much. Nothing about the girl nursery idea really inspired me, but the Noah's Ark prints here do inspire me and I absolutely love them. So I'm still using this mood board even though Baby Schrader is a baby girl. I think I'll focus on the oranges, light blues, and greens instead of the darker navy blues.

32 Weeks

2011-06-26T17:02:00.000-05:00

32w0d

This week I felt some Braxton-Hicks practice contractions for the first time. It was just like my stomach/uterus got super tight all of a sudden and hard, like I was flexing a muscle. Then it went away quickly. Other than that, all is going well. We're feeling like it's getting closer, less than two months now!

We were in Dallas visiting my parents for all of this week. So we snapped a few pictures in my parents front yard. Including a sappy little heart on the belly shot.

And Phil even got to be in some since there was someone else to take the pictures!

Thank You Card

2011-06-23T09:52:00.002-05:00

White Fiesta Thank You Card

I made this thank you card with my promotional code to send to all the friends who've given us baby gifts. I liked how it had some of my nursery colors and was fun, but not too babyish.

Summertime Goals: Updated

2011-06-22T11:47:00.002-05:00

After school finished, I posted two lists of goals and tasks for the summer, here and here. At the time it seemed like May would never end and summer would last forever. Now, suddenly, I find it's almost June. I had what seemed to be a stress dream the other night about not being ready for the baby. So I thought I'd go over the lists again and note my progress and maybe reprioritize.

Outdoors:
~~-Pick up sticks from front yard.~~ This could be an eternal, ongoing task, but I did do it.
~~-Remove front bed liners.~~ Done.
~~-Rake front beds.~~ Done.
~~-Plant garden.~~ Done, see it here.
~~-Plant flowers in pots for front steps.~~ They've died now because the front steps are too shady, but they looked lovely for the party I hosted.
-Plant more grass out front (maybe?). Not going to happen.
-Mulch front beds (maybe?). Not a priority.

Miscellaneous:
~~-Organize summer clothes and put away winter clothes.~~
~~-Make and mail birthday present for Linda.~~ Yes!
-Take clothes to consignment shop.
-Detail the car: clean out, wash, vacuum.
-Research and buy a new car. Probably happening this weekend.
-Organize pictures on computer and backup to somewhere. I've started working on this.
-Create at least one photo album using Picasa. I've created quite a few pages.

Living Room:
-Paint ceiling. Not looking good for this happening.
-Vacuum snuggler and couch. The couch needs this really badly due to Stella.
-Dust bookshelves.
-Dust baseboards.
-Dust frames.
-Dust media stand.
-Wash windows and door.
-Wash curtains.
-Reorganize and declutter bookshelves.
~~-Sweep.~~
~~-Mop.~~

Dining Room:
~~-Dust frames.~~
~~-Dust baseboards.~~
-Rehang picture.
-Clean out itso. This is at the top of my list, because I'm thinking of moving it into the hallway to use as a changing table.
~~-Wash windows.~~
~~-Dust itso and table.~~
~~-Sweep.~~
~~-Mop.~~

Hallway:
~~-Organize and de-junk linen closet.~~
~~-Dust baseboards.~~
~~-Clean mirror.~~
~~-Sweep.~~
~~-Mop.~~

Kitchen:
-Clean out and organize all cabinets.
-Clean out and organize top of fridge.
-Clean and organize butcher block counters. Reoil tops.
~~-Wash front of cabinets.~~
~~-Wash front of appliances.~~
~~-Clean out fridge.~~
~~-Clean oven.~~ It was good to do this before it got too hot.
-Wash windows.
-Wipe down walls.
-Clean trash can.
~~-Sweep.~~
~~-Mop.~~

Bedroom:
~~-Dust baseboards.~~
~~-Dust ceiling fan.~~
~~-De-clutter desk and dust.~~
-Organize closet. This won't be done for awhile because the closet is storing baby stuff, and I'm not sure what use it will take on in the future.
~~-Dust wall decorations, mirrors and picture frames.~~
~~-Sweep.~~
~~-Mop.~~

Upstairs:
-Paint walls. Not going to happen.
-Paint trim, bannister. Also off the list.
~~-Wash windows.~~
~~-Reorganize and dust bookshelves.~~
~~-Dust.~~
~~-Vacuum.~~

31 Weeks

2011-06-20T12:27:00.000-05:00

31w1d

At 31 weeks, we were headed from Minneapolis to Dallas in a pick-up truck with the heat stuck on. It was loud with the windows down and incredibly sweaty. My arms got sunburned.

But we stopped to pose with a few bison. And to get ice cream shakes at Braums. And we made several bathroom stops, of course.

I'm as big as a buffalo!

From Texas to Spring Cleaning to Shutterfly

2011-06-19T23:07:00.001-05:00

Phil and I just flew home tonight from a week in Dallas, TX. We left Minneapolis last Friday evening in Brunner (the truck I drove all through high school, named after my favorite hockey player at the time, Jamie Langenbrunner) and pulled up at my parent's house Saturday evening. It was a long hot trip, since Brunner decided to not only have no air conditioning (which I totally could have dealt with) but also to have the heat stuck on somehow, blowing hot air out the entire time. But we made it. And I managed not to stop and pee every 15 minutes.

We had a great trip, but now I'm home and thinking about jumping back into that Spring Cleaning list I made awhile back, which is really more of a summer cleaning list now. In between those boring tasks, I'll try to do some of the more fun things on my list, like organizing our photos and working on a photo book for 2010. I've been trying out Picasa to make more scrapbook-like layouts, but it's time-consuming. I might end up going with the Shutterfly photo books. I've ordered them before for different occasions and always thought they turned out great. Even if I do Picasa pages, I can still upload those to have them bound into a Shutterfly book.

I posted all about the girly baby shower some friends hosted for me, but we still might have a little get-together later with Phil's family and other couples. So I've been looking at some of Shutterfly's baby shower invitations. Email invitations are convenient, but there's something so nice and satisfying and gorgeous about a real paper invitation. Plus, the shower would be around the 4th of July, so I could go with that theme for the invitations.

If you haven't guessed by now, that this post is part of a Shutterfly promo, you should! Because you should sign up as well for a chance to get 50 cards or a photo book!

Baby Shower!

2011-06-16T12:05:00.000-05:00

The first weekend in June, my friends Laura and Maureen hosted a wonderful baby shower for me!

We had mint-orange punch and raspberry lemonade,

cake pops, rice krispy pops, lots of onesie cookies, fruit, and more.

It was quite a spread.

The decorations matched the nursery colors, bright oranges and blues, with some pink of course.

I love the fluffy pom-poms.

And of course, the awesome diaper cake. I've declared that this orange cordury stuffed aardvark will be the baby's favorite stuffed animal, and she will drag it around everywhere.

All my friends decorated little onesies and bibs for the baby using iron-ons. A few daring souls even painted with the fabric paint. The onesies turned out so cute!

We played a few games: matching mother animals with what the baby animal is called (Did you know a baby swan is called a sygnet? I didn't), guessing Phil and my answers to questions about the baby (When will she be allowed to date? etc.), and of course measuring out a length of yarn that they thought would go around my belly (everyone guessed WAY too long of course).

Baby Schrader got some wonderful gifts, including this cross stitched quilt from my friend Kristin,

and her first Vikings towel and onesies from my college friend Katie. A bunch of friends got together to start our stash of cloth diapers. I think we have 10 One-Size Fuzzi Bunz and a diaper sprayer to attach to the toilet. Less glamorous, but very appreciated and practical.

Hooray for friends and baby showers!

30 Weeks

2011-06-09T15:54:00.001-05:00

30w2d

These pictures were from right before I headed to the awesome baby shower that Laura hosted for Baby Schrader and me. We had a busy weekend with hosting a party for the Law Review, the baby shower, Drew and Margie visiting, and seeing other relatives on Monday night.

In pregnancy news, my feet have been starting to ache a lot. I stopped at Payless today and got some shoes that will hopefully be more supportive than flip flops but still cute and comfy. Also, our air conditioner is broken (even though I had it fixed last summer, grrr) which has made for a hot and sweaty pregnant woman. I'm going to have to call someone to fix it after we get back from Texas.

We're leaving on Friday to drive Brunner (the pick-up truck) to Texas. We'll stay for a week before flying back to Minnesota. Phil is attending and presenting at a conference during the day. I plan on swimming and relaxing and hanging out with family during the day while Phil's gone.

29 Weeks

2011-06-07T11:46:00.000-05:00

29w1d

I realized that I'm somehow behind with the pictures. So, the pictures and what I've written about the week don't really match up. For example, last week when I wrote about so much extra movement, I was actually 29 weeks pregnant not 28 as in the picture. Today, I'm posting my 29 week picture, but I'm currently 30 weeks and 4 days pregnant. So I'll post two pictures this week to get more caught up.

28 Weeks

2011-05-31T10:14:00.000-05:00

28w0d

The big highlight/development of this week has been increased baby movement. She's definitely getting wigglier. Sometimes I can feel from the outside that a body part is pressing outward, but I'm not sure yet what part it could be.

We went to the "Complications" class required by our birth center. It was mostly not very helpful to me because the premise of Hypnobabies is focusing on the positive, so most of it was outside my bubble of peace. Also, I trust the midwives, so if they tell me they need to do something or we need to transfer to a hospital, I will just do it. I guess there's something to having just thought through things once, but I'll leave that to Phil. He's been enjoying Hypnobabies and feeling like he's starting to get a handle on what might actually occur on baby's birthday and how we will handle it.

Meet Stella

2011-05-25T09:04:00.000-05:00

On Saturday, we welcomed a new addition to our family: Estelle, or more commonly "Stella." She's a lot smaller than we expected, weighing in at around 100 pounds. We think she could probably stand to gain another 20 or so.

She's a 5 year old English Mastiff, who had been discarded by a breeder once she got too old. She does not currently have any terminal illnesses, unlike her predecessor (Yes! Heartworm free!).

She's very sweet, but somewhat skittish still. She's terrified of bikes; when they pass on the trail, she slinks behind me and tries to hide from them. She gets along really well with other dogs, which makes her so much easier to walk. We're looking forward to even trying the dog park once I've trained her a little bit.

Stella adds a new task to my summer list: Train the dog. We'll start on learning her name and learning to sit and lay down this week.

27 Weeks

2011-05-23T09:30:00.001-05:00

This week, I've definitely been noticing how pregnant I look. I go out to do errands and think about how other people are categorizing me as a pregnant woman. It's kind of weird/fun. I did a glucose test at my last appointment, and they took a lot of blood to test for different things. All the results were good! We only have two weeks left of our Hypnobabies class. I've been feeling calm, confident and positive when I think about my birthing time later this summer.

Growing More than Just Babies

2011-05-21T11:17:00.000-05:00

Raspberry bushes in the backyard. We planted three little tiny plants two years ago. Now look what we have!

The three peony bushes that were here when we moved in. I just put cages around them the other day. Every year, I wait too long to put the cages on and then it's hard work because the plants have grown so tall.

Vegetables! I planted 6 tomato plants of three different varieties. I also planted jalapeno, habanero, and bell peppers. Hopefully, we'll get more to harvest without Margo's help. Phil and I were just reminiscing the other night about her love for green tomatoes.

On a whim one day in April, I planted some of the tulip bulbs I'd purchased last fall, but didn't ever plant. I didn't know if they would grow since you're supposed to plant them in the fall. But here they are. No blooms yet, but growing. Now I wish I had planted them in the ground and not in this planter, because I want to use the planter for herbs again!

The hostas I planted last summer came back. I continue to be amazed by the way plants come back and grow again after the terrible winters. I seem to have neglected to write an after post for this front yard before, but I did eventually buy a few hosta plants, split them each in half and plant a few rows down our front walk. I'm in the middle (and half been for 4 days) of removing the plastic edging because it did not survive the winter. It's cracked and broken in multiple places and makes the beds look worse than before. I started this project on Sunday, but my back started hurting after awhile, so it's been on hold.

And finally, a few pots of marigolds on our front steps to brighten things up.

I Can't Sew a Straight Line

2011-05-19T08:23:00.000-05:00

But that didn't stop me from trying to make a knitting needle holder/organizer for a good friend's birthday. I used this tutorial from DesignSponge. I bought some green twill tape, but reused some leftover fabric from one of Big Margo's beds. I wanted to use a thick fabric so the needles wouldn't poke through.

I just followed the tutorial as best I could. I ripped out a couple of seams and bent a few pins trying to get through so many layers.

The end result is pretty crooked and uneven but full of love. And it looks much more professional when rolled up and tied.

26 Weeks

2011-05-17T09:04:00.000-05:00

26w5d

I'm 26 weeks pregnant and still trying to perfect the hands below the bump pose. Here I think they need to be even a little lower to show all of the bump. Sometimes it just ends up looking like I'm awkwardly grabbing my crotch for no reason. Like here, where you can't really see the bump, but I'm just clutching myself.

But back to good pictures and what's been going on with the baby this week.

We had another midwife appointment yesterday. I'm so far along now that from now on we'll be going every two weeks (though the next one is three weeks from now). I gained weight for the first time in a few appointments. The midwife was proud of me. When I weighed this morning, I'd gained 12 pounds since I first got pregnant. She also said that the 80 grams of protein I'd been shooting for as directed by our birth class was higher than I really needed since I'm so small. So now I only have to try for 60-70. That should free up a lot of room in my diet for things other than protein.

We talked with the midwife more about how the actual birthing time will go. A midwife, assistant, and student midwife will all be present helping out. They said they'll be very proactive with suggesting different positions, etc. So I think Phil can focus more on reading me Hypnobabies scripts if I want. We decided we don't think we need to hire a doula as well. I think I'll be well attended during my birthing time at the birth center.

The midwife felt around and could feel her head at the bottom, right where it should be and her butt up by my ribs. That was really nice to hear and I've been focusing on imagining perfect positioning during yoga or my hypnosis sessions. What your mind dwells on most will come to pass.

Summertime: Goals, Part 2

2011-05-16T08:51:00.000-05:00

A room-by-room list of tasks. I, of course, don't expect them all to get done, but I like to make lists.

Living Room:
-Paint ceiling.
-Vacuum snuggler and couch.
-Dust bookshelves.
-Dust baseboards.
-Dust frames.
-Dust media stand.
-Wash windows and door.
-Wash curtains.
-Reorganize and declutter bookshelves.
-Sweep.
-Mop.

Dining Room:
-Dust frames.
-Dust baseboards.
-Rehang picture.
-Clean out itso.
-Wash windows.
-Dust itso and table.
-Sweep.
-Mop.

Hallway:
-Organize and de-junk linen closet.
-Dust baseboards.
-Clean mirror.
-Sweep.
-Mop.

Kitchen:
-Clean out and organize all cabinets.
-Clean out and organize top of fridge.
-Clean and organize butcher block counters. Reoil tops.
-Wash front of cabinets.
-Wash front of appliance.
-Clean out fridge.
-Clean oven.
-Wash windows.
-Wipe down walls.
-Clean trash can.
-Sweep.
-Mop.

Bathroom:
-Paint vent.
-Paint inside medicine cabinet.
-Reorganize medicine cabinet.
-Wash shower curtain and liner.
-Clean bath mat.
-Dust shelves.
-Clean baseboards.
-Sweep.
-Mop.

Bedroom:
-Dust baseboards.
-Dust ceiling fan.
-De-clutter desk and dust.
-Organize closet.
-Dust wall decorations, mirrors and picture frames.
-Sweep.
-Mop.

Upstairs:
-Paint walls.
-Paint trim, bannister.
-Wash windows.
-Reorganize and dust bookshelves.
-Dust.
-Vacuum.

Summertime: Goals, Part 1

2011-05-16T07:35:00.000-05:00

I know summer will feel like it just flew by when it's over, and I will wonder, "What did I do all summer?" I made lists in my favorite notebook of the goals I have for each room of the house and in a couple of other categories as well.

Law School:
-Work for Davis.
-Work for bankruptcy judge.
-Send out applications to bankruptcy judges in Dallas.
-Attend Law Review meetings and work on that as needed.

Pregnancy:
-Exercise every day-either yoga or at least 30 minutes walking.
-Practice Hypnobabies every day.
-Eat well. Lots of protein. Maybe even some fruit and vegetables.
-Listen to Joyful Pregnancy Affirmations every day.
-Finish reading Ina May's Guide to Childbirth and maybe read some other books about babies once they're on the outside.
-Attend baby showers.
-Rest and relax as needed.
-Have a baby.

Outdoors:
-Pick up sticks from front yard.
-Remove front bed liners.
-Rake front beds.
-Plant garden.
-Plant flowers in pots for front steps.
-Plant more grass out front (maybe?).
-Mulch front beds (maybe?).

Miscellaneous:
-Organize summer clothes and put away winter clothes.
-Make and mail birthday present for Linda.
-Take clothes to consignment shop.
-Detail the car: clean out, wash, vacuum.
-Research and buy a new car.
-Organize pictures on computer and backup to somewhere.
-Create at least one photo album using Picasa.

Fun Things:
-Spend a week in Dallas with the family.
-Celebrate the third annual sisters day.
-Attend a wedding.
-Go tubing down a river.
-Watch a lot of Friday Night Lights with Phil.
-Visit with Drew, Margie, and Zadie.
-Host a Law Review party at our house.

Two Years Down, One to Go

2011-05-13T15:32:00.000-05:00

As of Wednesday evening, I'd completed my second year of law school! Whew. And hooray!

It's felt so good to be done and stop thinking about school for a moment. I've been enjoying focusing more on home projects and of course, the big pregnancy project.

This summer, I'll be working up to 20 hours a week total for two different jobs. I'm continuing to clerk for the bankruptcy judge I worked with this semester. I will also volunteering as a law clerk with a solo practitioner doing business law. So far both are interesting and useful work.

My first two days of summer were filled with:

eating ice cream for dinner,
writing long lists of my summer goals and plans,
posting these lists only to discover that the post didn't work,
a lovely dinner out at Sanctuary in downtown Minneapolis (I had Texas Red Drum fish. It was tasty.),
our last Guthrie play of the year with Laura and Chris (We saw Arsenic and Old Lace),
breakfast at Victor's 1959 Cafe with Kelsey and Katie,
prenatal yoga,
a midwife and chiropractor appointment,
and tonight we're going to dinner at Il Gatto, one of my favorite Italian restaurants, for free,
and then playing Settlers with Chris, Laura, Joe, and Kristin.

Laura and me at the Guthrie

Phil and me at the Guthrie

25 Weeks

2011-05-04T14:34:00.000-05:00

25w0d

Our second Hypnobabies class last night talked about how much protein I need again, 75-80g. I'm still not feeling very hungry, but I've been trying. I have big plans for after exams to really focus on pregnancy nutrition and get back to doing some meal planning. I'm also planning to start going to prenatal yoga more than once a week and taking long walks. I requested Anne of Green Gables on audio cd to come to our newly opened neighborhood library. I think that will be a fun summer read/listen and keep me walking along the creek or around the lake for a long time.

I have a baby shower coming up too! My friend from law school, Laura, is throwing a shower one Sunday afternoon in June. I think she's got a lot of fun things planned from the few little peeks I've gotten to see. This shower will be just gals, but we'll probably have another get together of some sort this summer to celebrate the baby with all our friends who come in couples. After learning last night about how babies remember and feel and experience things already now, I starting adding some favorite kids books that I remember from my childhood and from my brother and sisters being little. It was fun to remember those little board books and will be fun to read them to our baby soon.

24 Weeks

2011-04-29T21:10:00.000-05:00

24w1d

1 week more pregnant, somewhere around 15 or 16 to go.

1 final exam down, 3 to go.

1 Hypnobabies class attended, 5 to go.

2 classes completed of my second year in law school, 3 to go.

1 baby girl's name chosen but not told, 0 to go.

4 kicks felt just now, countless more to go.

Baby's First Candy Tax

2011-04-27T08:54:00.000-05:00

Two chocolate Easter bunnies arrived in a box for Baby Schrader from her Grammy. A rather hefty candy tax was exacted by her parents, the first of many, if I remember correctly how that works from my childhood. I don't think I ever got to eat an Almond Joy from my Halloween loot. My memories of trick-or-treating include being really tired, but my mom saying, "Just one more house, just one more house."

23 Weeks

2011-04-23T09:35:00.000-05:00

23w6d

I'm posting really late this week, because it's been a long one. Classes are wrapping up and final exams are approaching. It's starting to get stressful.

I've been feeling lots more movement from baby this week. I wonder what she's doing in there. We had another midwife appointment last week. She went over the results of the ultrasound. Everything looks perfectly healthy! Apparently, baby's legs are super long compared to the rest of her. Her legs were measuring at a week more developed than her other measurements. They're still estimating August 12 for an arrival. I still haven't had much appetite, but the midwife wants me to make sure to eat three good meals a day and to make sure I eat enough protein and not just carbs. I had hamburgers for three meals this week.

Since I only have three more weeks of school left, that means I only have three more weeks until summer. And summer is when we have a baby. That's pretty weird and exciting all at once. It's starting to get more real. I made a guest list for a baby shower and started putting things on a baby registry. Holy cow, we need baby supplies, because we're having a baby!

22 Weeks

2011-04-15T17:18:00.000-05:00

Phil felt the baby kick for sure for the first time last night! She gave three little kicks or punches. I knew he must have felt them too because his face lit up just as I felt her move. I feel like in general I've been noticing a lot more movement.

My "Top Model" pose

I also signed Phil and I up for a six-week Hypnobabies birth class. We start April 26th, once a week for three hours. I'd been feeling the need to start preparing mentally more intentionally, so I'm glad to get started earlier rather than later. I'll have to start practicing 30 minutes a day, but I think the more practice the better.

22w0d

I've been going to prenatal yoga once a week at Blooma, which conveniently has a location above our birth center two blocks from school. Yoga this morning was especially great. I had a bit of a breakthrough with my breathing. Usually, when doing something physically hard, I tend to hold my breath, but today during a long set of squats, push-ups, and chair poses, I felt like the deep breathing was the only thing keeping me able to hold the pose. I suspect this knowledge will be helpful during birth too.

How to Save $10,000

2011-04-13T12:34:00.001-05:00

You could save $10,000 right now by buying our house. As of last night, our house is $10,000 cheaper.

So if any of your friends, or enemies, or anyone you know, or don't know, is looking for an awesome house in an awesome location in South Minneapolis at an awesome price, please click here to check it out officially or here for my own home tour posts.

21 Weeks

2011-04-08T08:27:00.001-05:00

I think I'm definitely "showing" now. Still feeling good. No weird cravings, not really feeling any pregnancy "symptoms" other than starting to feel way more emotional than normal. The song "Lullaby" by the Dixie Chicks always plays during my yoga and almost brings me to tears.

Phil and I discussed more names we like last night. We have one picked out, but you hear those stories of people who changed when they met the baby because she didn't "fit" the name they picked out. Does anyone agree? Will we meet our baby and just know that she has a certain name? I'm a little skeptical that you can tell that much about who they are, whether they look like a certain name or not just from a little wrinkly newborn.

Nevertheless, we came up with two extra names in addition to the one we'd picked out already. One of them had just sort of randomly come to me in the car on the way home from school that afternoon, and Phil really liked it. So what does that mean? What put that name in my head? Did the baby do it?

Grocery Comparison: The Results are In!

2011-04-06T15:22:00.001-05:00

I had planned over my spring break a few weeks ago to compare prices on products we often buy at different stores across the city. And I mostly did it. I went to: Cub, Target, Rainbow, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and Mississippi Market, the co-op.

I made a worksheet in Excel with the names of each product and the price at each store. I wasn't too picky about brands, I just compared the cheapest brand that met my requirements (e.g. organic, no-salt added, etc.).

Not all stores carried everything I wanted, so I just left those spaces blank. Phil did some analysis for me afterwards and added the categories and the priorities. I wanted to make sure one store wasn't "winning" on cheapest just because it had the cheapest of the less frequently purchased items.

Phil made this graph. I have to confess I'm not entirely sure how to read it, but I couldn't figure out how to make another one that expressed what I wanted to. I think it does show the end result by the highest overall bar: Whole Foods is overall the cheapest for the products I buy!

And Target came in second. I've heard that Rainbow is super cheap on organics, but the location I went to didn't carry many organic products. I have yet to check out a second location to see if they can beat Whole Foods. Also, Trader Joe's is not this amazing cheap place like people are always talking about. They have a few products that I like that aren't carried elsewhere and a few products that are cheapest (like the sesame rice crackers).

I'm also excited to have the document, so that when I see a sale or a coupon, I'll know what price I need to actually compare it to before declaring it a bargain!

20 Weeks = Ultrasound

2011-04-04T08:27:00.001-05:00

20w0d

I'm 20 weeks and 3 days pregnant today (March 28, 2011), and this morning we had an ultrasound! It was so cool. Baby Schrader is healthy and hearty, weighing 13 ounces today. We got to see so much; it's really impressive. We saw toes, fingers, heart, spine, mouth, face, and, of course, the sex!

We're very excited to be having a little girl this summer! Of course, we would have also been very excited if we had been told it was a boy. It was really a win-win situation.

Coupon-ing Adventure

2011-04-01T08:19:00.001-05:00

I've started trying to use coupons to cut our groceries, toiletries, and household supplies budgets down. I added two coupon websites to my Google reader: MoneySavingMom and Organic Deals & Coupons. There are tons of other coupon related blogs and websites, but these are the two I keep tabs on. I also got a subscription to just the Sunday paper through a recent Groupon deal. I'm not sure I'll continue the subscription past what I've already paid for it because I use the online/printable coupons the most.

Anyway, the motivation for this post is to share my current, super-exciting, personal best number of coupon money used in one trip: $15.75.

I used $15 worth of coupons to bring my $47 total at Whole Foods down to $30. Here's what I got:

2 big jugs Seventh Generation Laundry Soap: Originally $14.99 apiece, but on sale for $11.99. Then I had a $1.50 off manufacturers coupon, $1.00 off Whole Foods coupons for each one, plus a $2.00 off two 7th Generation products coupon that was stuck to the product. Total for each jug was about $8.75.

2 bottles Seventh Generation Laundry Soap: Originally 2.99 apiece, but I bought for $0.75 each due to a $0.50 off manufacturers coupon, $1.00 off Whole Foods coupons for each one, plus a $2.00 off two 7th Generation products coupon that was stuck to the product.

5 cans Muir Glen, No Salt Added Diced Tomatoes: Originally 1.99 apiece, but I used a $1.00 off Whole Foods coupon on each one! I probably could have gotten Muir Glen cheaper somewhere else (like Rainbow on a double coupon day or something), but Whole Foods is the only place I've found with a good selection of the No Salt Added variety.

I also got two organic mangos on sale for $1.00 each.

So that's the very long story of what was (to me) a very exciting trip to the grocery store.

19 Weeks

2011-03-30T07:33:00.001-05:00

19w5d

Still feeling good! On Friday evening, I started feeling what I think might be the baby! It feels like something hiccups inside me. I feel like I can feel it from the outside as well as the inside, but since Phil can't feel it I think I must just be feeling it all inside. I'm super excited to be feeling the baby! I feel so much more connected to it then.

Or is it a girl?

2011-03-28T10:43:00.000-05:00

1. Tissue pom-poms or similarly colored globe lights.

2. Nurseryworks Storytime Rocker, my biggest "splurge" want.

3. I love the Jellycat stuffed animals, especially the corduroy ones, Cordy Roy Cat, $22.50, amazon.com

4. Fabric ideas for window treatments, decorative pillows, and crib skirt. I also plan to make these, following various tutorials. There's an easy crib skirt one from Young House Love here. From L to R: Bliss by Valeri Wells Lions in Tangerine, Jennifer Paganelli Pretty Please, Paula Prass for Michael Miller Pink Chevron, Sandi Henderson for Michael Miller Splashy Rose in Persimmon.

5. Espresso tone crib, Child-Craft Brook Bridge crib, $129,99, target.com

6. Refurbished dresser with clean lines. I'm hoping to score something on Craiglist for cheap and refinish either in a fun color or stained to match the crib (also to be accomplished via the YHL tutorial.)

7. Paper mobile. I plan on making this as well, out of colorful cardstock or maybe pom-poms or silk flowers or something. I like the modern style of this one.

8. Dark woven baskets for extra storage

9. Cute prints like this one in a art wall collage with baby pictures of Phil and I.

10. More fun fabrics, possibly used to cover awesome alphabet letters as below. From L to R: Anna Maria Horner Good Folks Cathedrals in Peony Pink, Bliss by Valori Wells Tangerine Medallions, Robert Kaufman Metro Living Circles in Fuschia, Liz Scott for Moda Raindrop in Brown Orange.

Other inspiration:

I really like this alphabet, the way the letters are all different shapes, colors, etc. I think it could work great in either a boy or girl nursery.

Fabric on needlework circles would be an easy, fun way to add pattern or color to a room, especially if we're renting.

Another easy way to add color, fun, and whimsy as a renter.

Is it a boy?

2011-03-27T08:07:00.000-05:00

1. Orange Paper Globe Lanterns, probably hung over the rocker for soft nighttime lighting.

2. Nurseryworks Storytime Rocker, my biggest "splurge" want.

3. Espresso tone crib, Child-Craft Brook Bridge crib, $129,99, target.com

4. Fabric ideas for window treatments, decorative pillows, and crib skirt, probably in that order. I also plan to make these, following various tutorials. There's an easy crib skirt one from Young House Love here. From L to R: Robert Kaufman Metro Living Circles, Alexander Henry 2-D Zoo, Robert Kaufman Teal Geometric Playday Fabric.

5. Refurbished dresser with clean lines. I'm hoping to score something on Craiglist for cheap and refinish either in a fun color or stained to match the crib (also to be accomplished via the YHL tutorial.)

6. Dark woven baskets for extra storage

7. Paper mobile. I plan on making this as well, out of colorful cardstock, maybe with animal shapes or just circles if the animal theme is becoming too much.

8. And finally, the inspiration for the entire room, these awesome Noah's Ark prints from oohmoon.com

Ready to Sell: What We Did

2011-03-24T12:53:00.001-05:00

Even though our house is in good shape and was already pretty put together and decorated, it seemed like we still had a lot to do to get it ready to sell.

We moved our bedroom upstairs to showcase a "master suite" area. This was relatively simple, but did involve us hunting down split box springs because our regular one wouldn't fit up the stairs.
We touched up paint upstairs.
We bought a futon and set up our previous bedroom as a guest room.
We had the shower redone in the bathroom.
We repainted the entire downstairs, walls and trim. Goodbye beautiful blue and orange. (Except for the kitchen. I put my foot down there, and it's still blue).
We bought a new light fixture for our living room. And installed it.
We brightened the basement with yellow walls and gray paint on the floor, a muslin billowed ceiling, and some staging.
We touched up the paint in the stairwell to the basement and massively scrubbed down and repainted the stairs.
We restained the front door.
We rearranged the furniture on the main floor to have a more traditional living and dining set-up.

Layout Changes: Upstairs

2011-03-22T14:08:00.000-05:00

Ever since we've lived here, the upstairs has been our hang-out room. It's had a few different layouts as we tried to figure out the best way to fit a t.v. and couch in the long, narrow space. Here's the most recent set-up after we finished our massive de-junking campaign upstairs.

It looks a little different as a master suite now. We moved the bed and headboard upstairs, but had to buy new split boxsprings to fit up the stairs.

The dresser and the closet are across from each other in the back corner.

The bookshelves stayed and created a bit of a "reading area" at the top of the stairs. Yes, that's the picture from our dining room still propped against the railing. We haven't put it up again since we painted downstairs.

Overall, it's been kind of nice to have a bedroom that's more of a retreat from the rest of the house, even though we don't spend much time in it. Although, it's becoming increasingly more annoying to have to go downstairs for the bathroom, thanks to the bump.

Layout Changes: Bedroom

2011-03-19T12:26:00.003-05:00

Since we moved in, we've always used the one downstairs bedroom as our "master bedroom." We liked being near the bathroom and don't mind that the room is small since we don't spend much time in it.

It was a olive green when we moved in.

It's gone through some transition since then. I repainted a light gray last summer and added the mirror arrangement over the bed and made the headboard.

And now, for it's final iteration, the downstairs bedroom has become a guest room and study instead of our bedroom.

We bought an futon from Ikea and moved the desk in to accompany it. The entire upstairs is now our "master suite." The headboard moved upstairs to that bed. Stay tuned for "master suite" pictures.

18 Weeks

2011-03-17T12:27:00.003-05:00

Not much has changed this week. I started a prenatal yoga class that I'm hoping to go to once a week, maybe more once we move to St. Paul. I felt like it did a lot of good stretching of my back and hip muscles, which I didn't realize I needed until the class. We have an appointment with the midwife on Friday afternoon. We'll get to meet the second of the three midwives that work at our birth center. We'll also probably get to hear the heartbeat (again!) and schedule a date for our 20 week ultrasound!

18w1d

Layout Changes: Living Room

2011-03-15T13:51:00.003-05:00

Here's our dining room when we first moved in. This was the view of our house from when you first come in. This half of the dining room has pretty much stayed the same the entire time we've lived here until now.

To the left of the front door, we used to have this set up with the Itso storage and this chair. But we never used it and so eventually moved the snuggler chair here from the blue room. We found we used it a lot more then.

On the wall between the windows, we've always had these wooden plaques from World Market. Now they're just on a more neutral background.

Now that we're on the market, we've moved the couch and t.v. to this room to make a traditional living room. We're actually finding the setup to be really nice. We use the couch more for relaxing, and we've enjoyed watching more movies together.

Here's the view from the other side of the room. I think the new light looks really nice in this room too!

So that's what our living room looks like currently. Hopefully, it makes someone want to buy it!

Layout Changes: Dining Room

2011-03-13T08:04:00.002-05:00

We did some rearranging of our furniture and the layout of our rooms in preparation for trying to sell the house. The "blue room" started out as our living room when we first moved in.

I don't have a picture of it's next transformation, but the snuggler moved into our orange front room. The white sofa thing went upstairs and was replaced by some Itso storage. The desk moved in and the "blue room" became more of an office.

Now that the house is on the market, we (along with the realtor) decided it was best to stage the front room as a more traditional "living room" with the t.v. and sofa set-up (We used to have it upstairs) and this room as a dining room. We also had to sacrifice our bright colors for more buyer friendly neutrals.

So that's what we did.

A Month of Meals: Low Sodium

2011-03-11T08:10:00.005-06:00

Our midwives are awesome. They spend so much time with us at each appointment and care about our health in general. They've been taking Phil's blood pressure as well as mine each time because it tends to be kind of high. After a few times of it being high, we decided to do something about it. I bought some low-sodium cookbooks on Half.com and have been trying to eliminate salt from our dinners. I wanted to plan an entire month of meals over spring break, but didn't get to it. So, it won't be an entire month at this point, but here's the plan.

I have three cookbooks so far:

Everything Low Salt Cookbook (ELS)
The No-Salt Cookbook (NS)
Low-Salt Cookbook (LS)

I tried to make a menu with a few recipes from each one, so I can decide if any of them are duds.

I also made a list of things in our pantry to use up because the cheapest method of grocery shopping is in your own cabinets. This list includes: coconut milk, artichoke hearts, fettucini pasta, lasagna noodles, split peas, raisins, peanuts, red curry paste, and sauerkraut. I'm not sure if I'll use the last two because the paste is pretty high sodium, and Phil hates sauerkraut. These might just go to the food shelf. I used some raisins and peanuts and chocolate chips last night to make Phil some trail mix for work, so that's one off the list.

Week of March 7-13:

Monday: Leftover tacos

Tuesday: Brie burgers on English Muffins (our own recipe inspired by the 112 Eatery), Canteloupe

Wednesday: Pot Roast, Carrots, Rice or Couscous (ELS, p. 121)

Thursday: Scrounge (I have class until 8:30pm on Thursdays and Mondays and don't usually cook those days)

Friday: Beef and Cabbage Soup (use leftover pot roast) (ELS, p. 150).

Saturday: Alfredo Broccoli Lasagna (use leftover broccoli and lasagna noodles) (LS p. 170) or this Beef Lasagna.

Sunday: I plan on using this method to cook a chicken for meals for the next week.

Week of March 14-20:
Monday: Scrounge

Tuesday: Bordeaux Braised Chicken, Frozen Veggies (NS, p. 162)

Wednesday: Chicken Curry with coconut milk, Rice, Broccoli (NS, p. 173)

Thursday: Scrounge

Friday: Chicken Cacciatore, Rice, Frozen Veggies (ELS, p. 80)

Saturday: Italian Casserole (ELS, p. 140)

Sunday: Catch-up. I figure we'll be behind by this point due to eating leftovers or eating out some other time.

Week of March 21-27:
Monday: Scrounge

Tuesday: Sloppy Joes (we have tried these before, and it's currently the best low-sodium recipe we've had)

Wednesday: Curried Split Pea Soup (LS, p. 34)

Thursday: Scrounge

Friday: Beef and Broccoli, Rice

Saturday: Pizza with artichoke and broccoli

Sunday: Catch-up. I figure we'll be behind by this point due to eating leftovers or eating out some other time.

Week of March 28-April 3:

Monday: Scrounge

Tuesday: Burgers and Fries

Wednesday: Spicy Pork Tenderloin, Frozen Veggies, Couscous (NS, p. 187)

Thursday: Scrounge

Friday: Beef Bourg. (LS, p. 138)

Saturday: Three Amigos Dinner at friends house

Sunday: It's April now, time to plan again!

17 Weeks

2011-03-10T07:57:00.004-06:00

17w1d

I'm 17 weeks pregnant this week. Feeling good. Starting to get some lower back pain. We're very much looking forward to finding out the gender of the baby in about 3 weeks now. We go back and forth almost daily, thinking one day it's probably a little girl and the next convinced it will be a boy. I'm missing a good cold beer every now and then.

O'Doul's is just not the same.

Spring Break Recap

2011-03-08T08:00:00.001-06:00

Well, I'm back in classes this week. I, of course, didn't do everything or as much as I wanted to on either of my lists. It was a nice break though.

Home:

~~Grocery Comparison: I want to compare prices at all the stores around town on our most commonly purchased items.~~ I started this on Monday. I was so tired from walking around grocery stores all day. I have one more stop to make before I can tally the results.
~~Shopping: Laura and I are doing some shopping research this afternoon. We don't plan on buying too much today though.~~ Our plan was to check out the options for affordable maternity clothing (though I don't need any yet) and baby stuff. After a depressing first stop at Nine in Hopkins where we were saddened by the overpriced, unfashionable ugliness that seemed to be maternity clothes, we had a much more successful time at NuLook Consignment, and Bellies to Babies. We also checked out pricey strollers at Baby on Grand and peeked in Once Upon a Child to see what their inventory looked like. Since we finished the used portion of our trip so quickly, we headed for the Mall of America and checked out the maternity lines at Forever 21, H&M, Old Navy, Gap, and Motherhood Maternity. We finished with delicious half-price frozen yogurt with all the toppings you could want. Overall, we found that there are cute things to be had, but that creating a new wardrobe won't be cheap. Hopefully, I won't need many shirts at all (or at least not until they can all be summer-y).
~~Tabulate February budget and prepare for March.~~
Make a meal plan for the entire next month of dinners. Low-sodium.
Print pictures and add to scrapbook. Didn't do this. The "scrapbook" is actually the Belly Book journal I have. I haven't been doing much pregnancy journaling or photo documenting. I'm hoping to start now that maybe some progress might be actually noticeable in a picture.
Think/research digital scrapbooking? Didn't do this either. I want to organize our current pictures and figure out a good way to organize/display family pictures in the future.
~~Plan and host a dinner party for some friends.~~

School:

~~Bankruptcy outline.~~ Started.
~~Bankruptcy reading.~~
~~Real Estate Transactions reading.~~
~~Admin Law reading~~ and outline.
Con Law reading.
Con Law outline.
~~Finish writing bankruptcy alert for judge.~~

Nokoikonomia on the Nest

2011-03-07T11:03:00.001-06:00

15w4d

Yep, it's true. We are expecting an addition to our family! Baby Schrader should be making an in-person appearance sometime around August 12, 2011.

Spring Break

2011-03-02T09:53:00.002-06:00

Phil and I returned from Arizona to snowy Minneapolis on Sunday evening. We had a great trip. It was warm and relaxing. We ate a ton and laid by the pool reading or sleeping. Poor Phil had to go back to work the next morning, but I am on spring break from school this week.

Here are my goals for the week:

Home:

Grocery Comparison: I want to compare prices at all the stores around town on our most commonly purchased items. I started this on Monday. I was so tired from walking around grocery stores all day. I have one more stop to make before I can tally the results.
Shopping: Laura and I are doing some shopping research this afternoon. We don't plan on buying too much today though.
Tabulate February budget and prepare for March.
Make a meal plan for the entire next month of dinners. Low-sodium.
Print pictures and add to scrapbook.
Think/research digital scrapbooking?
Plan and host a dinner party for some friends.

School:

Bankruptcy outline.
Bankruptcy reading.
Real Estate Transactions reading.
Admin Law reading and outline.
Con Law reading.
Con Law outline.
Finish writing bankruptcy alert for judge.

I'm not sure it's all going to happen!

Gloating: Where are We?

2011-02-24T08:00:00.000-06:00

By the time you read this, Phil and I will be on a plane to Phoenix, Arizona, to spend 4 days at this sunny resort courtesy of Phil's job. Phil will do some golfing, and I have a massage scheduled. We have a few work dinners to attend, and Phil has two working breakfasts, but mostly we plan on relaxing around the pool. Hopefully, it will stay around 70 degrees, but most importantly, there won't be any snow!

Home Improvement Pirate

2011-02-22T08:23:00.000-06:00

And There Was Light

2011-02-20T08:14:00.000-06:00

I mentioned earlier that a new light fixture was on the way for our living room. Well it arrived. And after several weeks of it sitting in its box on the living room floor, we enlisted the help of some a very generous friend, Chris, to help us get it installed. He's an electrical engineer; Phil is an HR data analyst. Guess who I wanted messing with electrical stuff in my house?

They took down the old, dated ceiling fan. (You can also see the new neutral color our living room is.)

And put up our lovely new light. Then Phil poured glasses of wine.

Then Chris said, "Wait, I think that plastic thing was supposed to cover the bottom?" And Phil said, "Oh, that thing we threw away?" But it was recovered and attached to the bottom of the light so you can't see the bulbs from underneath.

We continued drinking our wine and played Settlers underneath the new light.

Our "New" Front Door

2011-02-18T08:08:00.000-06:00

Our realtor had commented several times on how important the first impression is and wondered if our front door could be re-stained since it had gotten pretty faded in the sun. I definitely agreed with the point, but research into re-staining front doors was discouraging. It seemed like a huge project that would have required removing the entire front door for several days. I thought about those paint/stain markers, but our front door seemed so large a marker product intended to touch up a scratch on furniture. I was about to give up when I found a product at Home Depot for just restoring finish. It was a liquid and it came in a metal tin. I decided to go for it when the employee helping me noted that if we tried some and put the lid back on, they wouldn't know any better if we returned it.

But it worked great! And it was fast! It only took about 10 minutes to rub the door down. See how much better the left side looks compared to the right?

Nokoikonomia on the market!

2011-02-16T12:53:00.000-06:00

We put our house up for sale officially last week! No individual showings so far, but our realtor hosted a "broker open" where all the other realtors come through and nit-pick. We're finishing up a few last touches on the house suggested by those realtors, but we are really looking forward to being done getting the house ready for the market. Here's to it selling quickly!

If I won a free makeover for one room in my house, I would...

2011-02-11T16:03:00.001-06:00

furnish a proper living room. Our house right now doesn't really have a space for a traditional living room, but hopefully we'll be moving to a new apartment by this summer. I expect that our next home might have a more traditional set up.

I discovered by doing this that I have very few inspiration pictures for living rooms and not a lot of idea what I would want. Here are the inspiration pictures I had clipped.

I love the mix of modern and rustic in this one, part of this house tour on Apartment Therapy.

Here's another shot of the same room, showing the rug, which I actually really like in this space.

I like this living room, but I'm less sure what it is about it. I like the simplicity and the fun green couch. This one also came from one of my all-time favorite house tours on Apartment Therapy.

Here's what I've come up with so far for my dream living room.

I love orange and pink, as you can see. I like a mix of textures, metal, wood, fabric. My dream living room would definitely have the shiny arc lamp. I always love those in any pictures I see of them. I find myself, surprisingly, liking cowhide rugs in modern living rooms. The other two musts would be a giant piece of artwork by an artist from the Nicaraguan island of Solentiname and the newspaper-mache animal head from Anthropologie.

This post was inspired by the Blog Party over at It's Great To Be Home, and I'm so glad I joined in! It was fun and informative to start thinking about living rooms. Now I know to extra have my eye out for more inspiration pictures of what I like!

Settlers Weekend

2011-02-03T07:23:00.009-06:00

The weekend before last we finally fulfilled a dream we had long dreamt about: an entire weekend getaway devoted solely to playing Settlers of Catan. Along with two other couples, Chris and Laura, and Joe and Kristin, we headed up to a cabin outside of St. Cloud on Friday evening.

Each couple was in charge of two meals, and we sure ate well: enchiladas, chicken pot pie, stromboli, bacon and eggs, and french toast, and lots of pazouki for dessert.

Of course, we played lots of games of Settlers. 10 total. The final record was: Jill-3, Laura-2, Joe-2, Phil-2, Kristin-1, Chris-0.

Phil and me

Laura and me

Laura and Chris

Bathroom Update

2011-01-31T19:16:00.000-06:00

At the beginning of last week our bathroom looked like this:

Obviously, I showered at the gym for most of the week, and Phil got to know a tiny shower in the basement of the building where he works. The problem was that the tile was bowing out from the walls due to a moisture problem. It turned out that the previous DIY-ers had used sheetrock instead of the proper tile backer-board. Thanks guys.

We opted not to DIY this one, so we wouldn't make a similar mistake. Instead, we called in an expert handyman. And a week later, we had a fresh, new bathroom.

We went with the same classic white that we had before for two main reasons: it goes with everything and it's inexpensive. We got a new shower head and fixtures to match the sink. And Phil finished the touch up paint just the other night.

Isn't this bathroom so nice, you'd just love to buy this house?

The Beginning of the End

2011-01-19T09:01:00.000-06:00

I'm a week and a half into my 4th semester of law school. At the beginning of this semester, I was halfway done. Whew. I'm pretty ready to be all the way done! This semester, I've got a lot going on!

Classes:
Administrative Law: I really like the professor, and I think the topic will be really useful. Several people who are real lawyers already have told me it's the class they use the most in real life.

Constitutional Law, Liberties: Con Law is required, otherwise I probably wouldn't be taking it. Class discussion turns really political often, and I don't enjoy political debates (even if they're friendly really). The professor came highly recommended by first year students who had her, and I can see why, but she's a little dull for an upper level class. She lectures and explains to much and doesn't make it interesting.

Bankruptcy: I've only had one of this class, and it was a pretty broad overview. I'm hoping the professor gets more focused and organized. In general, I think it will be fun because it's based on a Code, and I tend to like those statutory, or Code-based classes.

Construction Law: Along with Bankruptcy, this is my other night class, which is already a point against it. But it actually seems pretty interesting.

Real Estate Transactions: So far, we've been on a whirlwind tour of the process of buying or selling a house, which is coming at a good time, because I'm meeting with our realtor next week. The professor is interesting and engaging, too.

Extra-curricular:
Bankruptcy Extern: I'm working with a Bankruptcy judge in downtown Minneapolis. I'm helping her edit a manual on practicing Bankruptcy. I think it will be a good learning experience, and more importantly, a good line on the resume.

Law Review: No long paper to write this semester--Woohoo!--but still plenty of regular work to do editing articles. Also, at the end of January the application to be an editor for next year is due.

Home:
The aforementioned meeting with the realtor next week has kept us super busy trying to whip the place into shape. Right now it's a disaster because the bathroom shower surround is torn our and there's tarps and plastics everywhere. We just moved our master bedroom upstairs and had to go out last night to buy a split queen boxspring since our regular one wouldn't fit upstairs. Hopefully tonight, we'll set the bed up off the floor and pick up the upstairs.

We miss you, Big Margo

2011-01-11T18:27:00.000-06:00

We miss how you had no personal space issues. We miss what you added to our family photos.

We miss your tail thwomping on the floor when we come home.

We miss how you loved us so much you wore silly Halloween costumes. We miss how excited you got to go on a walk.

We miss how helpful you were in the kitchen, always willing to sleep underfoot or clean out a pot.

We miss you guarding the bedroom doorway as we sleep.

We miss your goofy faces. We miss your goofy snoring, snorting noises.

We miss how much you loved kids. We miss how much you loved us.

We miss how much fun you had posting on Facebook. We miss how many people you made laugh. We miss the joy and laughter you brought to our first home and the first three years of our married life together. We'll always miss you and love you, Big Margo. You are truly the best dog.

Big Margo: Dec. 16, 2010

Let There Be Light

2011-01-05T19:14:00.000-06:00

Our living room is getting spiffed up. I ordered this spiffy light fixture for $65 from Overstock this evening to replace the dated ceiling fan and light fixture combo we've got going on right now.

Live pictures of it to come once the handyman hangs it. I don't mess with electricity.

Still alive over here

2010-12-09T09:48:00.000-06:00

Last weekend: Timberwolves game, dinner at our favorite restaurant in the world (112 Eatery).

This week: 4 law school final exams + 2 migraines (one during an exam!) = 1 Jill very ready for Christmas break.

This weekend: Date night at Il Gatto with Phil tomorrow night (mystery shopping = free!), annual Thanksmas party at a friends house, going to church for sure because it's been a long time, learning the entire course of Agency, Partnerships, and LLCs so I can finish my take-home exam.

Next week: Cleaning the house (is it sad that I'm looking forward to this?), perhaps a massage, Christmas shopping (I haven't started yet), and then flying to Dallas on Wednesday for more Christmas shopping with Mom before heading to OK for Christmas with the extended family and then FL for Christmas with the whole family including my new baby niece Lyla:

Finding Out

2010-12-06T20:14:00.001-06:00

Friday, December 3, 2010: Found out I was pregnant moments before Phil stepped out the door to go to work. I had decided to take a test because my boobs were definitely really sore. I didn't really think I was pregnant at all, but I wanted to just get it off my mind before a long weekend of studying for exams. As Phil was kissing me goodbye, all bundled up in hat and coat, I ran into the bathroom to turn the test over. "Uh, Phil, I think this says I'm pregnant." We were happy, of course, but mostly just weirded out and surprised.

On to the next holiday

2010-12-01T09:00:00.001-06:00

The weekend after Thanksgiving we had a little holiday change-up. I'm very strict about not putting one holiday up before the current one is over (i.e. Christmas decor before Thanksgiving), so we decorated the weekend after Thanksgiving. I was eager to get it up early since we'll be leaving town for Christmas pretty early this year (me on the 15th, and Phil on the 17th).

The artificial tree looks so sad and pathetic when you set it up, but it cleans up nicely with lights and ornaments. Even Margo likes it.

Our Christmas cards are also on their way right now. I was a little unsure about sending Christmas cards, but I decided to send them with a picture and update from us. I think they're so cute. Here's the front:

Our First Thanksgiving

2010-11-30T09:46:00.000-06:00

We hosted Thanksgiving at our home for the first time this last week It was great! Phil's brother and sister-in-law and our niece/goddaugher Zadie got to come up for almost a week! We had a blast spending time with them: playing Settlers, taking Zadie to the Wild Rumpus, hanging out at the Midtown Global Market, going for walks in the cold, catching up together, and eating, of course!

I ordered sides from the local co-op. They were all fabulous except the sweet potatoes. I made a pumpkin cheesecake and the turkey. Easy!

The Little Project that Took a Year

2010-11-21T20:43:00.001-06:00

Last Christmas, I bought Phil two prints from Etsy. I loved them (and I think he did too). They show the same scene in the daytime and at night of a girl riding her bike along the Mississippi River underneath the Hennepin Avenue bridge in downtown Minneapolis. Only the day scene is happy and cheerful: the sun is grinning, a fish is leaping from the water, and a couple with a baby stroller walks across the bridge. The night scene is downright sinister: the sun has a moustache and a pistol, there is an octopus in the water, and someone is dumping a body off the bridge.

A few months after Christmas, I bought frames for the pictures. A few months after that, I framed them, but broke the glass of one frame in the process. A few months after that, I got new glass and framed them again. And then finally, two weeks ago when I was de-junking the upstairs, I set the frames on the couch and vowed that I could not sit on the couch again until they were hung.

And because I wanted to watch the Vikings game, I kept that promise and finally (finally!) hung the pictures on the wall. Whew. That took long enough. I like them even more on the wall, then buried under a pile of crap upstairs!

A Question for You

2010-11-15T10:38:00.001-06:00

Here's the question: Should we send Christmas cards this year?

Here are some more questions:

If you don't have kids is it silly to send cards with just pictures of yourself? A little narcissistic? People don't really care what Phil and I look like do they?
Does it make it better to choose a card that lets you write more about your life? Does anybody read that or even care?
What do you do with Christmas cards when you get them? Do you have a way to display them? Do they get stuck on the fridge or just tossed?
One picture on the card? Or more so that each one is smaller? What if I don't have any good pictures of us?

So if I did send cards, I would probably do photo cards through Shutterfly. I like how you can search by size and number of pictures. We used them for our Save the Dates, and their photo cards turn out really well.

For one picture, I like this one because it has some religious reference, but isn't overkill: Peace and Goodwill Card

For two pictures, this one is a top option: Peace Christmas Card

But these bright and funky ones are kind of more my style:

Funky Pink Christmas

Mod Snowflake Flurries

Also, I like how there are New Year's cards too, just in case finals get away with me, and I can't send cards out before Christmas!

FYI: This post was inspired/sponsored by this Shutterfly freebie deal: Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly… sign up: http://bit.ly/sfly2010

Now it's your turn: Send me some feedback please! What's your take on holiday cards?

The End of Fall

2010-11-13T11:23:00.001-06:00

Friday night:

I'm not crouching, the pile was literally that tall.

Saturday morning:

It's winter now.

The De-Junking Campaign: Tackling the Upstairs

2010-11-10T08:30:00.007-06:00

Our upstairs room has been slowly spiraling out of control over this past summer and fall. It became a dumping ground for projects in process and general clutter we just didn't want to deal with or see downstairs. I'm horrified to admit that this is (pretty much) a true "before" picture. I had pulled some stuff out of the closet to stack it on the sofa at the back and brought those cardboard boxes up to remove some junk, but the rest of it is accurate (gasp).

View from the top of the stairs. Phil is busy getting ready to plastic the back window in preparation for winter.

View back toward the stairs from the middle of the room.

We pulled the couch out from the wall when we started playing Halo and watching more football. It's just been sitting awkwardly in the middle of the room.

Even the bookshelves were getting out of hand. After taking the MPRE on Saturday, I couldn't take it anymore. I took out the last of my stress on the clutter! Starting at the back of the room, I sorted all the crap into recycling, trash, and donate piles. I reorganized the closet so that the bins of off-season clothes and books we have listed on Half.com could all fit inside. I started paring down the bookshelves and the back of my car has several boxes to drop off at Half Price Books this week. I filled up a huge black trash bag and two smaller ones. It's appalling how much and how often, we can remove crap from our home. It makes me really want to toss EVERYTHING and just start over. But I didn't do that yet. Instead, here's the new and improved upstairs room.

I moved the TV into the corner where the internet/cable cords were hooked up. I like this much better because cords are no longer crossing the whole room to get to the TV. It's also pretty cosy over there now.

I love my library cart Phil made me, and now you can actually see it!

There are still a few things stacked up by the top of the stairs. After we clean out the basement over Christmas break, we'll be better able to deal with them.

I haven't put the bookshelves totally back together yet. That's next on the list along with cleaning the carpets. I'd like to fit my chalkboard boxes into the shelves so the tops can be clean and clear.

One more look at the "after": Ahh, SO much better!

Standing in the Light at the End of the Tunnel

2010-11-08T10:23:00.001-06:00

The past few weeks have been rough. First, I had my big 50 page paper due on November first to fulfill my long paper requirement for school and for law review. It's done now! Second, on Saturday I took the MPRE, the required ethics exam for lawyers. I'm not sure how it went, but it's also done now!

With those things out of the way, Phil and I had a great weekend: doing some work around the house (post on this is upcoming), watching Phil's favorite movie (Inglorious Basterds), smoking the strawberry hookah around the campfire, roasting marshmallows. the Vikings game (so tense and exciting), church, ordering Thanksgiving dinner, getting caught up on some regular schoolwork, and these flowers (which Phil brought home on Thursday)!

Also, I just found out this morning, that I'll be doing an externship with the Chief Judge of the Federal Bankruptcy Court in Minneapolis next semester! I'm pretty excited!

Grocery Breakdown: Week of Oct. 18 and Oct. 25

2010-10-29T17:52:00.000-05:00

Total for Oct. 18: $81.68

Total for Oct. 25: $50.61

What did we eat/are we eating? Beats me. I have a 50 page paper due on Monday.

Birthday Weekend

2010-10-26T10:02:00.000-05:00

Last weekend pretty much revolved around my birthday. Starting at the middle of the weekend, we had a fabulous, fun Oktoberfest party on Saturday night. We had a keg of Leinie's, a firepit, smores, yard games, and lots of German food. We cooked: homemade pretzels, Kraut and Kielbasa sausage, Black Forest Cake, Bierockis (like German empanadas), Beer Cheese Soup, German potatoes, and Gingersnaps. We invited a bunch of people from law school, Phil's last job, college friends, neighbors, and even an old professor of ours! It was a blast.

Due to the party, Laura and I spend Friday night cooking up a storm. We were so tired at the end we didn't even feel like playing Settlers!

Sunday, Phil and I went out for a nice post-party breakfast. Phil gave me my present, the jacket from WhiteBlack that I had been stalking/coveting/waiting for it to go on sale. I love it! It's so cute, but we had to head to the mall and exchange it for a more itty-bitty Jill size. They are shipping to to me, but here's a picture of it. Don't worry, when I wear it I won't have such a mean, snotty look on my face. And I (hopefully) won't look so washed out and ghostly.

We ended up doing some other shopping for Phil some new clothes and shoes while we were out, and then came home to an afternoon and evening of studying, leftover German food, and the Vikings game. Overall, a stupendous weekend!

This room would make me happy.

2010-10-20T14:47:00.000-05:00

(from Apartment Therapy's color contest)

Ack: An Update on Law School

2010-10-19T13:22:00.000-05:00

This is the point of the semester where I just want to thud my head down on the desk. Unfortunately, it's mostly due to my own overachieving stupidity (see 3 through 5 below).

Things on my plate:

1. I just finished my second (and last thankfully) midterm. I had midterms in Con Law and Sales. I feel good about Sales. I feel good about Con Law too, but since it's a curved class my "goodness" all depends on how everyone else did.

2. I have about 12 more pages to write on my long paper which is due Nov. 1. Unfortunately, I have absolutely nothing left to say.

3. I have two assigned ACs and I (foolishly?) volunteered to take on another one.

4. I'm trying out for a moot court competition. I sent in a writing sample and cover letter last week. I just heard today that I "get" to do an oral argument as well. I'll be reliving my WRAP summary judgment motion from last year. I never thought I'd have to go through that again. Well, it can't be as bad as that WRAP class was.

5. We're having a big birthday party for me this weekend-Oktoberfest style. Cleaning and cooking are in my future.

6. I'm taking the MPRE (a required ethics exam) on Nov. 6. I think I'll start studying sometime soon...

7. I need to get a second round of cover letters and resumes out to more Dallas firms ASAP.

8. We're hosting Thanksgiving.

All in all, a lot to do, but a lot of fun stuff going on too. Things are good. I'm excited for my party; I wanted to do it last year but decided it was too much. I would say second year is definitely more work, but there's less fear, too.

Inspiration Edition: Dining Rooms and Disco Globes

2010-10-13T10:38:00.001-05:00

(from Apartment Therapy)

I love the combo of the old wood table with the modern colored chairs. I also think the disco balls are awesome. They'd bring a lot of light and fun and funky to the room. The caption said the homeowner makes them out of world globes he finds on ebay and used cds. I could do that. So cool.

Meal Planning Monday

2010-10-11T10:37:00.000-05:00

Monday: Dinner at Green Mill so we can watch the Vikings game since it's on ESPN and not "regular tv."
Tuesday: Thai Curry Chicken (with cabbage and a spice/sauce packet I picked up at Cub last week)
Wednesday: Chicken salad sandwiches with bacon
Thursday: Pork Chops in the slow-cooker
Friday: Date night (GuestCheck at Il Gatto)
Saturday: TBD