Friday, September 2, 2016

Lilyann's Birth Video


I know, I know...Lily is 4.5 months old and I'm just now getting around to posting her birth video. For the longest time, I was upset about how her birth went and her subsequent stay in the NICU so I didn't want to talk about it or look at pictures. I'm just now getting to the point where I can accept what happened and move forward.


I would like to write her birth story, but those 13 days were such a blur that I don't know if I can remember everything or write it in a way that would be easy to read. At least I have this amazing birth video to share in case I never get around to writing her birth story.

I will be forever grateful to my Sister in Law for being by my side through her birth to document the occasion and create this beautiful video.


Sunday, March 20, 2016

Shabby-Chic Table Re-do

Around the time we started building our house, my mom offered to give us her old blonde-wood table. We were really wanting a pub height table or at least a dark stained table, but you can't pass up a free table! So, we started the project of re-doing the table...it was a big undertaking (especially considering we found out I was pregnant before we motivated ourselves to start the project), but I was determined to make it into our dream table! We took our time on the table, so it did take us quite a few weekends (longer than it would take most people), but I'm so happy with the end result!


I forgot to take a picture of the assembled table before we started the project, so this will pick up from when it was disassembled.

We started by sanding the table and bench top with a hand sander. In order to get all of the finish off, it took a few hours...


We used sandpaper on the chairs and table legs since it was a smaller surface and had the round spindles.


I then wiped off all of the sawdust/cleaned it all with Mineral Spirits:


Then, we used the best DIY invention known to man: Liquid Sandpaper/Deglosser! Because the table legs and chairs had so many round edges, I didn't trust that the sandpaper was enough. I simply painted two coats of this stuff on with a paint brush and let it dry.



Once the Liquid Sandpaper was dry, I used Gripper primer on the table legs, trim on the table and bench, and chairs (since I was painting them). This stuff was THICK, but still took about two coats before there wasn't any wood showing through.





Once the primer dried, we painted the table legs and trim white and painted the chairs this color. As you can tell, I've had this paint for several years just waiting on the perfect project! haha


The primer helped, but it was still necessary to paint two coats on the chairs to get an even coverage.


I didn't think we would need much paint for the table legs and trim, so we just bought a sample of white paint, but of course that wasn't enough. Who knew it was so hard to get even coverage with white paint (especially considering I used primer too)? Probably, everyone but me! haha. Learn from my mistake and buy a quart! 


I always said I would never stain another piece of wood, because I hate it so much, but I really wanted to have a stained table top, so it was time to get it over with! We chose Minwax Classic Gray Wood Finish. We used a high density foam brush to paint the stain on, let it sit for 15-20 minutes, then wiped it off using rags. We did this twice to get the color we wanted. 





Once the desired color was achieved and it had dried, we used Wipe-On Poly to seal everything. I went a bit crazy with this stuff because I couldn't stand the thought of it getting damaged (I probably did like 5 coats).


Because the chairs would get the most wear and tear, I didn't trust the Wipe-On Poly for them, so we used Paint-on Polycrylic. I did two coats on the spindles and three/four on the seats. 


Unfortunately, because we finished this project a few months before we moved and didn't have room to set it up in our apartment, we had to wait until we moved to see the finished project. But it was so worth the wait! I'm so in love with how it turned out!



In hindsight, I probably should have used a darker gray on the chairs because it almost looks white depending on the lighting, but I already had the gray and it was free, so I'm okay with my choice!

Friday, February 12, 2016

I'm NOT a First-Time Mom

This has really been weighing on my heart throughout this pregnancy, so I decided to write about it for the Oklahoma City Moms Blog.

Go check it out if you feel so inclined! 



Monday, January 25, 2016

Life Lately

Wow, it has been a hot minute since I blogged! I have been so busy that I just didn't even give blogging a second thought. So that means it's time for a life update!

First, and foremost, I have spent a great deal of time reading pregnancy/childbirth/sleep training books. I am happy to report that I have read 3/4 of these, but have added a few more to my pile now.


As you probably remember, we were supposed to move into our house in December, but as you can probably guess that didn't happen! We are very close to the finish line, though, and should be moved in by the end of February! We have started packing up non-essential items and I am still in shock of how much stuff we have accumulated! 


Our Christmas didn't go exactly as we planned this year, but we did manage to make it down to the Festival of Light in my hometown for a photo-op! We have successfully taken a photo on the bridge every year that we have been together (which is a pretty big accomplishment for us since we suck at taking photos of ourselves), so I couldn't ruin that tradition this year! It's hard to believe that next year we will have another person in the photo with us!

Clockwise from Upper Left: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015

I applied to be a blogger for the Oklahoma City Mom's Blog back in December and I'm happy to report that I was accepted! I am so excited to start writing contributor posts for the site!

I have successfully taken bumpdate photos every two weeks throughout this pregnancy (despite going through about three packs of chalk markers), but I haven't taken my 24 week photo yet this week, so I will show you the last one I did:



We have slowly been marking items off our "Baby To-Do List," so far we have purchased/been gifted:
I'm so ready to get into the new house so that I can unbox everything and start getting ready for Lilyann to make her appearance! In the meantime, our living room looks like this:

(and that's not even half of it!)

Last week, I was finally able to have a girl's night with my favorite former coworkers! It had been waaaayyy too long since we got together so we had a lot of catching up to do!


Unlike you North-Eastern bloggers, we don't have snow down here in Oklahoma--just a lot of cold weather. I have enjoyed seeing your snowstorm pictures but I'm certainly not envious! Is it spring yet? 

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