Painting, Pregnancy and Priceless Moments!

So what did we decide to do this past weekend with three days of sunny temps in the 70s? Yep, you guess it...we painted. I guess our timing wasn't great, but I told Josh I wanted the downstairs painted before Ethan's 2nd birthday party in two weeks, so the clock was ticking! We did still manage to get outside all three days for strolls with Ethan and Daisy. I think we all appreciated the great weather. :) It was also nice to be able to open all the windows while we painted to avoid inhaling lots of extra paint fumes!

We had three rooms on the agenda: the office, the kitchen and the living room. We managed to complete the first two. We're hoping to get the living room trimmed out this week during the week which will leave just the rolling for next weekend. Last year around this time we bought all new office furniture from IKEA to update our office. All of the furniture is white and the office (which is actually supposed to be a formal dining room) has white wainscoting as well. So, we wanted to balance all of this white with a dark color to contrast with it. We finally settled on a dark cranberry red color - "Spanish Tile" (1010-5 by Valspar at Lowe's) to be exact. Neither of us had previously painted a room red, though working with paint daily, Josh knew that it wouldn't be easy. Who knew it would take 3 coats of trim and at least 2 coats on the walls to look halfway decent?? Ugh. The office took much longer than anticipated to complete and also took an extra gallon of paint too! Despite the extra work, we felt the end results were worth it. The room looks fantastic!

The paint we chose for the kitchen wasn't nearly as temperamental as the red was, but it also required two coats. With the lighter maple cabinets we have in this house, we decided we wanted something kind of dark here too, to be sure the walls contrasted the cabinets rather than matched them too closely. So, we chose a color that I would compare to milk chocolate - "Hubbell House Clayo" (2006-9B by Valspar). I thought this room wouldn't be too bad to complete, but then quickly realized how much trimming around cabinets there was to be done! :( We finally finished on Sunday afternoon and enjoyed the rest of our weekend outside and grilling out. We had to take advantage of near perfect temperatures in February! I am incredibly happy with how well the kitchen turned out as well! :)

Next up after the living room this weekend will be Ethan's new bedroom (the new baby will get Ethan's current nursery) and our master bedroom. Once we get those completed I think we will be content for awhile. Eventually we want to hire someone to do the entryway, stairway and upstairs hallway. Being two levels tall, this isn't something Josh is eager to do himself! We already have our bedroom color paint and I have purchased the bedding for Ethan's new room, so we can soon get the paint to match it too. :) I am determined to get as much done as possible before July because I know accomplishing anything with two little ones around will be difficult!

Speaking of the little one...it's hard to believe that I am halfway there already!! Today marks exactly 20 weeks and I go to the OB on Friday for my next check-up. It seems to have gone much quicker this time around, but maybe that is due to having an almost two-year-old to keep me occupied? ;) I am sure these next weeks will start to drag by a bit slower as I get bigger and more uncomfortable. Fortunately so far I have only gained about 7 pounds, but my back is already starting to feel the strain of the added weight to the belly! According to BabyCenter.com the little guy is now about the length of a banana. No wonder I am starting to really feel some movement in there!! :) I am hoping things continue to go well and that I continue to feel good for the duration.

Our other little guy, not wanting to be upstaged, continues to amaze us daily with the things he learns. While taking his bath this morning he correctly identified the letters A, B, C, D and E when I asked for them!! :) We have been working on letters and numbers a lot lately and he is getting better about pronouncing them and now it appears he is starting to recognize them too! It's hard to believe how quickly he is growing up, but then I remember he will soon be two!! :'( I caught a few pics of him playing with my cell phone camera.

Yep, in case you were wondering, the tongue helps him think and concentrate. ;) We see it all the time lately because he loves spending his time doing puzzles and practicing counting everything. He is too cute for words!!