Nursery Painted, Cribs Ordered!

I spent the weekend visiting with my parents and shopping for the nursery. Mom and I hit several baby stores, fabric stores and a great mom’s consignment sale. On Sunday, I met my mother in law for a few hours of maternity clothes shopping. While I was away, my husband finished the bead board and paint in the nursery. I’m so proud of him! I have been utterly spoiled!

I wish I could figure out how to create a “mood board” to give a better idea of the look I am going for in the nursery. I succumbed to a girly look, so much for the safe route I had originally intended.

PS - Sorry for the weird spacing between photos, I give up!

Cribs: Peyton 3 in 1 Dropside Crib by Bonavita



















Paint: Pale Shrimp by Behr
























Bedding: Waverly Lovely Lattice Lagoon (More Aqua than Pictured)



















Bedding: Penny Lane Meadow Fabric




















Bedding Trim: Pink Grosgrain Box Pleat

Ultrasound Photos & Gender News

Well, our 18-week appointment went really well. As predicted by the sonographer at our 14-week appointment, we are having two girls! Both babies weighed in at exactly 8 oz with heartbeats of 148. Everyone is looking healthy; profiles of each baby are below. Baby B is transverse and at the appointment was pretty much kicking Baby A in the face. I was diagnosed with partial placenta previa but am told it will likely (hopefully) correct itself as the pregnancy progresses.

Luckily, my husband is extra motivated to get the nursery going and has recruited a team of buddies to start putting up trim and bead board in the nursery tomorrow. I am working on narrowing down the mind-boggling array of pink paints. This weekend I will head home for a visit with my parents and some shopping. I’m hoping to have the nursery completed by 28 weeks in the event I end up on bed rest (knock on wood). Thanks all for the sweet comments on my previous post. Things are definitely looking up.

Good News First?

Well, the good luck had to wear off at some point. If any of you are still even checking this blog, let me explain why I haven’t been posting. First of all the babies are doing great. Wednesday we will find out their sexes. At our last ultrasound, the sonographer said her guess would be two girls but not to buy anything yet. So, we are anxiously awaiting our next appointment in T minus 36 hours.

I have had a spate of bad news recently. Sadly and most importantly, my father has been diagnosed with advanced kidney cancer. He has a 10-inch tumor on his kidney that has spread to his liver. Even worse is that the doctor has given him a life expectancy of one to three years even with successful injectible treatment of a drug called Torisel. I’m not sure I’m ready to go much further on this topic because it has been tremendously sad and difficult. I tend to gloss over the bad stuff to others but take it much harder than I let on.

Next month my brother will depart to Afghanistan with his Air Guard unit. Sadly, he will be on leave when the babies arrive. I am most concerned about how his absence will affect my mom while she is caring for my dad. Again, not going in to much detail but let’s just say it hasn’t and won’t be easy.

Today I learned that my hours, salary and vacation time have been cut back at work. This comes after learning about two employee layoffs and a few other budgetary cutbacks at my office. I am very thankful to have been spared the “chopping block” so to speak. This news is really a blessing in disguise because I was going to propose a reduced workweek upon my return from maternity leave. While I would have preferred to carry out a full week prior to maternity leave this time off will allow more flexibility for me to visit my parents who are a 5-hour drive away.