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While the immediate goal is to get the upstairs levels complete and the house closed on so we can move in, we are already dreaming of the basement level and future finish projects for the coming months. We plan to be in this home longer than our previous, but nonetheless want to get started sooner than we did in our last home’s basement.

We’re already further along than we were the first time around, having the basement level framed, now. (I continue to be amazed that Page did this step completely on his own in the first house with no experience!). In this case, the basement is larger than the last, and with a baby on the way, his time was worth the money to have this phase done for us. We also had this level stocked with drywall so it’s ready and waiting when we need it. The number one phase Page did NOT want to repeat himself was the HVAC, so we asked the builder to have a crew run that as well. Much of the plumbing will already exist by the time we move in, where we need it, so it’s a matter of getting both an electrician and plumber in to finish those phases, hang the drywall, trim it all out, install flooring, and paint the walls and ceilings. Our goal is that over the first year in this house, we’ll be able space out the time and cost to finish the construction of this level. In the meantime, we are logging our ideas…

For a bathroom…

For a spare bedroom…

(Here’s the current state of these two spaces!)

For a storage area…

For an under-the-stairs playhouse…

(Here’s our staircase, with the little doorway already framed out for future finish!)

For a toy closet…

(This closet is opposite the staircase and playhouse area.)

For a workout room…

(Page modeling the future workout space…)

For a golf simulator / bar area…

(Fore!)

And for some general living space in the middle of it all…

It’s a lofty list, but considering the upstairs is not a full two-story, we know much of life will take place on this lower level as our family grows. We are excited to grow into this house and finishing this level over the coming year will be a fun way of doing so!

Our goal in life right now, is to be able to roll into our new digs in the coming weeks, in this manner. 🙂

A lot has been happening at the house. The week before Thanksgiving, the drywall started to go up and Page texted me these pics from a couple lunch hour drop-bys (since it’s too dark to see anything after work now!)…

…after it was mudded and sanded, the belly and I stopped by to check it out for ourselves!

Outside, a “warm” (aka above freezing) day allowed for the driveway to be poured…although you can’t see it under the tarp here. You CAN see our garage doors!

Meanwhile, more selections have been made. We met with our rep at the closet store to determine what would go in the bedroom closets and pantry. She was so good at configuring based on our needs, while helping us stick close to what we wanted to spend. Excited to be swapping the standard white wire shelving to a nicer, nickel finish, option!

We also went to pick out both our interior and exterior stone finishes. We were all about this flat, dry-stacked stone and are doing the light color (on top) on the exterior, and the darker (below) in the interior.

We have finally gotten word on a tentative closing date. Granted, it could move a day or two sooner/later, but in all, we’re looking at February 6 to wrap this party up!

…to meet you, Baby.

Thanksgiving | 34 weeks

It’s hard to believe we are in the final 5+ weeks before this little man’s arrival. We have seen more than one baby arrive early this year, so I have that in the back of my mind (although my doctor thinks I’ll go past my due date). I’ve been drafting a list of things to remember for the hospital, tackling some box-packing around the apartment, doing a little baby laundry, and trying to stay on top of my workload as I plan for maternity leave, juuuust in case I have less time than I think.

 Car seat bases and backseat mirrors installed…check!

We’ve been crossing things off our list like grabbing the last essential items off our registry, getting my car in for an oil change, dental check-ups, taking a baby CPR class with some friends, deep-cleaning the apartment, and stocking up on some household basics. We’re hoping to make the first weeks at home with a newborn just a tiny bit easier and with fewer to-dos. Just getting our new routine down while trying to move to the house will be work enough, so anything that can be done now (and to avoid taking a newborn out and about in January weather more than necessary), is being done.

I even schemed to get Page into a Baby Gap one night after dinner…after lecturing ME that Baby has enough clothes, he found a couple items that will allow him to match the new “mod lodge” house…and we even made a second stop at the other location across town to grab a matching onesie that became a “must”. Hehe…turns out no one can resist adorable baby clothes!

In some ways, being in the apartment is a blessing and helps me to keep things simple. I’m not overwhelmed with the tasks of readying a nursery (baby’s “room” is a rock ‘n’ play squeezed next to our bed!), or agonizing over which Pinterest freezer meal recipes to make (our freezer is the size of a microwave – no room for pre-prepared meals… just order pizza!). It has been nice to have wrapped up the last of my photo sessions for the year, so I can enjoy just working ONE full time job and take better care of myself in these last weeks. I’m looking forward to getting our Christmas cards in the mail, and putting my feet up for some holiday movies and hot chocolate. Other than that, our plan for the coming weeks is to slow our pace, get in some dates with friends, work on the next stages of house progress (stone and closets are the next meetings!), and get ready to meet this tiny new family member.

How far along: 34.5 weeks

Gender: BOY

Weight gain:   up 20lbs…praying a body can only pack on so much with less than six weeks to go! Baby is guesstimated between 5 pounds and 5 pounds, 2 oz. Guesses are that he will be 8+ at delivery!

Maternity clothes: Definitely favoring the most comfortable of maternity options at this point. Leggings and my Uggs seem to be the staples of most outfits.

Stretch marks: Still no…knock on wood!

Belly button in or out: no popping, but pretty flush

Sleep: I have finally figured out some comfortable positions that allow me to stay asleep for longer stretches before hip pain, heartburn, extra-strong kicks, hunger, or all of the above, wake me up :). I am still up a couple times a night to pee, but between a routine of popping Tums just before bed and recruiting extra pillows on top of the Snoogle to get comfy, sleep has improved a bit and just in time – I’ve been dragging myself through many of my days!

Best moment:  I was blessed with a GORGEOUS second shower hosted here in town to include local girlfriends as well as my bestie who flew in from Philly. Page’s agency hosted a shower where the focus was on him for a change – go cart racing and a diaper cake topped with bourbon for the daddy-to-be! Both such thoughtful events arranged by great friends. We are SO lucky to have so many loving people in Baby’s life!

Worst moment: I can’t think of anything worthy of a WORST moment, but getting around on the ice with no sense of balance has been interesting, as has scraping my SUV windshield with a belly in the way! Page ordered me a new brush/scraper that extends a couple feet. I feel a little geriatric using it, but not complaining! Little things like just trying to roll over in bed have become something of a three-point-turn. I constantly feel like a big, awkward dork!

Miss anything: My regular clothes and more choices of what to wear. Red wine. Alcohol in general. Sleeping on my stomach. Sleeping in general. A decent sense of balance. Visiting the bathroom a normal amount of times in a day. Soft cheeses. A waistline. Clearer skin. Did I say red wine already?…

Movement: Stronger than ever, becoming more flip and roll sensations than kicks, as he gets more crowded with less room to “wind up” his punches and kicks.

Cravings: So much for the healthier things I craved earlier on! Juice and clementines, but also cinnamon rolls and salt and vinegar chips – all at the top of the list. I’ve reverted to a touch of the first trimester in terms of aversions…most meat and fish turns me off again. Lime Tostitos and mango salsa are my go-to salty-sweet thing!

Queasy or sick: Not sick, just getting uncomfortable. Pressure and a sense of feeling overly stretched comes and goes from my lower belly, along with some Braxton Hicks contractions. The tailbone pain comes and goes but trips to the chiropractor are helping. I instagrammed a pic at a recent visit, and couldn’t believe how many mamas commented that they, too, found major relief (even turning breech babies!) from chiro visits. This would be my “one piece of advice” for expecting mamas…go and get some relief from an adjustment!

Looking forward to: Our final holidays as “just us”, and I can finally say we are looking forward to Little Man’s arrival! We know it is still (likely!) a month or more away, but we feel ready and anxious to meet this babe already and begin new adventures in 2015!

The home-building process is not without stress. Not by a long shot. The dollar amounts can be overwhelming at times and the progress seemingly extra-slow. Lists are made, priorities are noted, and items are eliminated. Costs are checked. Timelines are pushed back. Calls are made. Emails are sent. Selections are poured over. Meetings are set. Meetings are re-scheduled. Plans are studied, re-worked, and studied again. There are so many moving pieces and while we’ve done a simpler version of this rodeo once before, we are certainly not experts. We knew we were signing up for a lot of work when we did this, and I think sometimes from the outside the idea of building a home seems luxe and rose-colored. We know we are blessed to be going through this process…but there are definitely two sides to the experience!

Thoughts on Finances:
Sometimes I think, it must be so amazing to walk into an existing house, make an offer, and be done. There is no guessing game about what the rates will be months from now when you close and no magical options being dangled in front of you that of course you drool over and want to add to the growing budget. You just know the price and what you’re paying, that day, and it’s done! With building, you know the price point of your home plan when you start out, but of course the elected and the unplanned things add up. Time costs real money, too. With the multiple delays we’ve had, knowing that we are adding months of interest to our construction loan (cha-ching!) and now month-to-month rent at our apartment (more cha-ching!) the focus is more than ever on the bottom line as we move forward.

Thoughts on Communication:
While yes, it is a CUSTOM build this time around, we realize we are probably extra-involved compared to many other home-building clients. We also know that this home is the ONLY one we are building, and one of several in a portfolio for the builder. The pace and quality of communication isn’t what we expected in this very hands-on process, and it’s not what we would feel comfortable with for our OWN clients as business-owners ourselves, but it seems to be on par with what we hear from others in this industry and local market. Ultimately, we chose the team we did for their talent and finished product, and continue to be impressed with the quality of the work and the end product…we just have to GET to it! We are doing our best to roll with the punches in the interest of crossing this finish line sooner than later.

THE LATEST:

So after womp-womping you with the less-than-awesome parts of building (just trying to keep it real!), let’s get back to the fun stuff. It’s been a little more than a month since our last update on the build, and several things have been accomplished in recent weeks. Despite some rain and wind that delayed progress prior to the roof (finally!) being built, we can now move forward with hopefully fewer hiccups, since weather is no longer a factor in timeline.

We selected our exterior paint color for the shake and siding portions of the house. It’s a Sherwin-Williams color, “Cyberspace”, 7076. With white trim all around the house and grey stonework on much of the front, along with some timber accents and a copper accent roof, we’re excited to see all the colors and textures come together. I love THIS example of Cyberspace as an exterior color.

We completed our electrical walk-through (above) to note exactly where we had any special requests for outlets, or hard-wiring of certain fixtures. One more step checked off the list so progress could continue! Page did an informal walk-through with both the HVAC and plumbing crew to note a few things, and those rough ins are now complete. Windows are in and shingles are being installed. It’s such a relief to see things happening at a visible progress pace!

To save a little cash, Page repeated his performance as low-voltage electricity runner and installed speaker wire and ethernet cables, himself, in the main living area and in our master and his office. While the builder would have done this for us, Page actually enjoys thinking through exactly how he wants it, and his labor rate is much cheaper for our bottom line. 🙂

Decisions have been made for all plumbing fixtures. While it’s a really fun part of the process, that darn budget keeps factoring in. Ah if only there were no prices! 😉 Above are a couple of our choices.

I took on the task of narrowing down electrical fixtures to a list of final choices. Given an overall budget that we could spread however we wanted, I pinned, deleted, pinned some more, and eventually put together a spreadsheet of every fixture in the house, and one or more links to products, for Page’s final buy-in. Above are a couple of my favorites that are on their way. The geometric flush-mounts are from Lowe’s and will be in hallway spaces (ta ta, pun intended, to the boob lights from the last house!). The honeycomb pendants will go in our front entry, and the chandelier in the dining space, both from West Elm.

It is during this next stage (drywall) that, to me, it really starts to take shape and feel real. I’m hopeful that with everything closed in now, different crews can overlap and work uninterrupted by weather. The latest deadline is mid-to-late January…depending on when this little person makes his arrival, I’m still holding out hope that it might be after we can move in. More to come!

We are into the fourth quarter, leading up to Baby Smith’s arrival…so crazy!

Since last month’s update, we celebrated a shower with members of Page’s family, we’ve learned how to use our stroller/car seat, are scheduled for a hospital tour and baby class, and ordered our crib and glider, both of which are (fortunately!) back-ordered, since we’d rather they not arrive until we’re ready to move in. But a friends and family event from PB Kids brought a discount we couldn’t afford to pass up. Baby’s room is, while in pieces now, ready to pull together once we get the keys to our new front door. 🙂

November promises to fly by…I’m squeezing in as many photo sessions as possible before giving myself December to relax and regroup before the little guy’s arrival in early January. (While it’s looking like we won’t be moved ahead of time, we will at least be in the final stages of prepping to move, in December, which will keep us busy as well.) I feel like this third trimester is moving so quickly compared to the other two, and will only gain speed as we go. We’re okay with that though; we are getting very anxious to meet this tiny person, and I’m okay to be done being preggo and have a nice big glass of wine 😉 We are so looking forward to doing nothing but enjoying a simpler and slower pace of life with a third member of our family (and hopefully doing so sooner than later in our house!).

How far along: 30 weeks

Gender: BOY

Weight gain:   +14lbs…still on track for the final ten weeks (and crossing fingers things stay that way!)

Maternity clothes: Almost exclusively at this point, with the exception of a few open/drape-style cardigans, and a few swing-cut tops and dresses. My mom bought me a much-appreciated maternity coat…so nice to have one that zips!

Stretch marks: So far, no, but I check daily with paranoia and am guzzling water!

Belly button in or out: quickly becoming flush, but I would still call it an “innie”

Sleep: I hear this is how your body “trains” to be up with a newborn, but between multiple bathroom trips, heartburn, not being able to sleep on my stomach anymore, baby’s STRONG movements, and aches and pains in my hips and lower back, I find myself awake multiple times a night. (Although I must be dozing off at some point… Page reports I now snore…awesome!)

Best moment:  We enjoyed spreading bump love among family at a shower in Missouri last weekend. Page’s family got to feel kicks and we received some much-appreciated items for Baby. I’m so glad we could see everyone that we won’t be able to see at Christmastime, as we’ll be hanging close to home by then.

Worst moment: I can’t complain about much — but the sciatica and hip pain has not been fun! I’ve been seeing a chiropractor for the first time ever, and as a new mom herself, I’ve really enjoyed working with her and am finding some relief from the adjustments.

Miss anything: Solid nights of sleep. And some living space to sprawl out as we move in more baby items. Something as simple as making room for a cradle required some major rethinking on how to fit all the furniture. I’ve been taking a fresh look at things I was originally okay to “make room for” in the apartment…but now that it’s looking like we WILL be bringing a baby home here, more of it is going into storage to make room and create a little more zen for those first weeks.

Movement: I’m supposed to be using this app to count kicks (you pick an active time of day and check for 20+ kicks in a 2-hour period of time each day). Let’s just say, the app is not needed. I could pick any number of times throughout the day and get to 20 within a few minutes’ time. This kid is mobile!

Cravings: Yogurt, salt and vinegar chips, cinnamon rolls 🙂 In general, I feel like I’m starting to eat less. I can be famished, have a few bites of something, and then I’m suddenly full already. More mini-meals, but not room for much at any one time.

Queasy or sick: Not sick at all – just the physical aches and pains!

Looking forward to: My bestie flying in to co-host our second shower, and getting everyone together that day. Also anxious for the continued progress on the house (it has a roof and things are full steam ahead now!) and narrowing down the realistic timeline of when we might be able to close and begin moving things in. I was really hoping to not spend my maternity leave moving, but there are worse things. We’ve been told to “plan for January”… but let’s just say I’m hoping for a Christmas miracle!

While this may be as far as we’ve gotten on the physical room, I’ve been continuing to pull together some details for this space, when we ARE able to move in and set up shop for Little Man. While he may arrive even before we close on the house, and likely will sleep in our room anyway for the early weeks, I still have the nesting bug and something about pulling a room together for him (whether he NEEDS it or not right now), helps me feel more prepared and ready to meet him.

Baby’s dresser arrived at our apartment a couple weeks ago, in time to house some clothes and provide a decent surface to change him on, as we’re planning on still living there for the first couple weeks after we bring him home. His crib and glider are on order, but both are backordered several weeks, which is fine with us, as it has nowhere to go in the meantime!

A couple things pictured are items I have my eye on, another couple are items on our registry, and a couple (okay…maybe half??) are things I’ve already purchased. 🙂

The hardware in the room (curtain rods, door handles, etc) will be chrome, the trim white, and the walls SW Sea Salt. I’m planning to do white wooden blinds and DIY some navy/white strip curtain panels for the window.

The mobile is from PB Kids, and is what kicked off this whole scheme! I love the boats but don’t want to go TOO theme-ish, so adventure/water/boating/whales is lightly incorporated throughout. (I’m planning to design a little print with the words to “Row Row Your Boat” as well!) The fabrics to the left are two crib sheets I bought – the aqua from Land of Nod (along with the aqua “Things” bin), and the navy from Etsy. The arrow fabric at right is a changing pad cover, also from Etsy. The adventure pillow was a find from West Elm, the lamp and striped pouf are from Target, the picture frame from Michaels, the whales print is from an artist named Lucy Darling. The dresser is from a local furniture shop.

I’m excited for the months to turn to merely weeks as we count down to both the time I can put this room together for REAL…and meet its new tenant! 🙂