27 weeks

You can officially say that AJ and I are three shades of crazy! At one week shy of being in my third trimester, we've decided to gut and remodel our guest bathroom. Most of you have been to our home, but for those that haven't, let me give you the back story. We bought our home four years ago this June. It was a foreclosure and was in need of a LOT of elbow grease and TLC. The only reasons we felt confident that we could fix up this fixer upper was because I qualified for the First-Time Home Buyers credit of $8000 and I knew my wonderful future-hubby, friends, and family would be cheap labor-just pizza and beer! As we thought, all our friends and whole family pitched in and helped us remodel our kitchen, paint every room, replace base boards, and clean the layers of dirt off the walls and floors. When we moved in, the guest bathroom was in working order with a separate shower and tub. Our original plan was to gut the existing shower and tub, which looked more like dark dungeons and replace them with a glass-enclosed shower stall and separate tub. Since we had so much help from family and friends, we didn't just start one project at a time. At the time we thought this was a great time saver idea, but as first time home buyers we had to make a few mistakes along the way and this turned out to be a BIG one! Within the first week of owning our home, our shower and tub were gutted. We decided to remodel the kitchen (or lack there of) before we started on the bath and whad'ya know that ate up all our moola. So, since 2009 we have been living with a partially gutted guest bathroom. Every year we told ourselves that was our next project, but then something else always came up; I'm pretty sure that's how life works. The only modifications we did make to the bathroom was lovely blood splatter paint that AJ SWORE would come off after our Halloween party was over. So not only was half our bathroom gutted for the last four years, it's also looked like a crime scene!  

With Emerson on his way we knew that we'd have to get that bathroom fixed up so that we could have a bathtub for him to play with rubber duckies in. When we got our tax return we vowed to buy our bathtub and not let anything else eat up that money. To save to money and time, we decided to purchase a claw foot tub that had the shower accessories. If we don't install a shower stall we save money on tile, glass walls, and additional plumbing work. After doing some research, we ended up ordering this tub/shower combo.

Our new, beautiful bathtub is expected to arrive on Thursday! Since we finally sucked it up and made our purchase, AJ figured he better start getting the bathroom ready. This weekend was the beginning (or 2nd attempt) at demoing the whole space. We didn't anticipate having to tear down all the walls, but like any other home reno project, there are surprises behind every wall! There isn't a way to cleanly tear down just the wall around the existing tub/shower area so we'll be spending a lot more time and money on dry-walling this room. This is a huge project to take on 13 weeks before Emerson is expected to join us, but we both know if we don't do it now, it won't get done once he's here. Hoping that we'll (AJ and his helpers) will be able to knock out the whole reno in just a few long weekends. 

Before: The dungeon, aka shower stall.

Before: Existing tub made to only come up to your belly button and again with a dungeon feel.

Before: shower/bath combo

During Reno: no more dungeon!

We (AJ) have some plumbing to move around.

Our master bedroom is on the other side of this concrete wall, but it was added on so the bathroom walls are all exterior walls. 

In the meantime, I'll be working on the finishing touches on the paint job in the nursery and do my best to help strip the many years and layers of paint on the chifferobe and start painting that. Things are coming together! We have a new window on it's way so that our little Emerson is nice and warm or cool in his room and very secure with new locks!

Sanding down the edges to give it that antique finish.

Cheese!

In pregnancy news, I had my glucose tolerance test on Saturday and I was very nervous about not passing it. The actual drink wasn't too bad, just tasted like flat orange soda, but all the needle pricks and hours of waiting was no bueno. After two hours in the waiting room and three needle pricks later, I learned that I passed with FLYING colors! It's such a relief that I have one less thing to stress over!

Next week marks our THIRD TRIMESTER! I can't believe we are coming to an end in this pregnancy. If my family history plays any part in my pregnancy, I'll be at least a week late, but knowing that at this point Emerson could come at any time makes me so anxious! I just can't wait to meet him, but until then I'll keep looking forward to the baby showers coming my way! I can't wait to start nesting and organizing all our new goodies!

Only 13 more weeks!

How Far Along: 27 Weeks

Weight gain: 27 lbs, but probably more once I see the Dr next week 
Maternity clothes? Of course!
Stretch marks? None-keeping an eye out for them everyday.
Sleep: I'm sleeping off and on every night. Some nights are better than others.
Best Moment of the Week: Passing my glucose test!
Miss Anything? Being able to bend over without losing my breath.
Movement?: All day! He is starting to do some big rolls and/or kicks that move my whole body!

Food cravings: Strawberries and Dole Whip Pineapple fro-yo

Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope
Gender: Baby Boy
Labor Signs: None yet

Symptoms: Peeing every half hour, starting to get a little restless leg syndrom going on at night,  and sore hips
Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? Off
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!
Looking Forward To: Starting our last trimester!