Kitchen Renovation

I'm so excited to finally be able to post pictures of our 

kitchen transformation! :)

We've been working on lots of renovations to our house 

ever since we got it.

Lots of painting, fixing, and figuring out cheap ways to make things look 

much better.

The kitchen was one of the worst rooms in the house when we bought it.

I was excited to be able to "fix it up"

but nervous about how it would turn out, knowing we didn't have thousands of dollars to pour into fully renovating everything.

The many years of watching HGTV have paid off by giving me lots of ideas for DIY projects.

Sometimes I think I'm too much of an "over-achiever" and I start projects I wish I didn't have to finish. 

At least I'm happy after actually finishing the projects.

After just finishing the kitchen earlier this week I'm ALREADY on to the

 back deck.  

No break for myself at all.

I think with John going back to school while working also, and our recent loss, I'm just finding it's better (and I'm happier) when I stay busy and achieve things.

I'll post pics and info on the back deck later on. (I also intend to write a post about the miscarriage for those that want to understand what happened, I have to really take time to think that one out though.)

So... on to the kitchen.

First I want to explain what was re-done. First thing was changing the HORRIBLE counter tops. 

We don't have very many before pictures (we lost some "before" pictures of the house, which was such a bummer, but... i'll survive) but I do have a couple.

The counter tops were baby blue, and scraped and nasty. 

I found a kit at Lowe's to re-do counter tops DIY style.

My friend helped with the counter tops and I'm very grateful. It would have been a lot harder to do on my own.

The first step was to paint on the black adhesive coat 

(I know, black... scary!! It was hard to start, knowing I couldn't go back)

then right after you'd use a hand held machine that "shoots" rock chips onto the adhesive

(much like the green things you roll around your yard to fertilize the grass, except in your hand, shooting rock chips)

Then, I had to wait 12 hours so it could dry, but no longer cause after 24 hours it's solid.

After the 12 hours I had to sand the surface down to make it smooth

(my arms were KILLING me after hours of sanding)

Then, you paint on a clear top coat that seals the counter tops. It's worked so well so far. I don't have any cuts or nicks in it. I'm very happy with it! 

Second I painted the cabinets.

I really didn't like the cabinets in there. I always loved bright kitchens and it was so dark before.

I painted them off white and replaced the hardware with chrome handles and spray painted the hinges to match (purchasing the hinges would have been over $100!! Instead, the chrome spray paint was $3... much better)

The cabinets took SOOO long to paint, and so many coats. I was regretting it while working on it, but am very happy with the result now.

Then, i painted the nasty bright blue trim white, and the dirty white walls a nice light sea foam blue/green color.

Lastly, John and I worked on the stone backsplash.

It took forever to actually get to the backsplash... frankly we were both scared to start, worried we'd ruin it. We were both nervous the whole time but were pleasantly surprised with the nice result!

Before we could finish the backsplash John had to mount the microwave over the stove.

(when we moved in there was a horrible yellow range hood that was all rusty underneath)

This was a hard job, but he was a trooper and after a full day of figuring out how to mount the microwave on a wall with no studs 

he finally figured it out!

So...

Now for the pictures!! :)

This was what the kitchen looked like when we bought the house...

Notice the horrible counter tops and not so great cabinets and hardware.

You can kind of see the horrible range hood, and the nasty walls and the horrible window trim that doesn't even match the countertops.

Now I'll show photos of after I did the counter tops and cabinets and hardware and paint (I forgot to take pics of each step as I went)

Here you can see the cabinets with the new hardware (the one unpainted piece of wood on the cabinets was a broken piece we had to fix and I had to repaint afterwords.)

 The walls are the new color and the counter tops are done! 

The tiling is still not done or the microwave yet.

Ready to start tiling!! :)

Marked out the design for the tiles over the sink! 

Next step is the adhering the tiles...

Not finished or grouted yet, but this shows the design over the sink well. We were worried it was too detailed to do, but with the help of my awesome husband we made it work! 

Then we had to grout it all... such a messy process!

I couldn't wait to be done and clean up so I could have my kitchen back! But, it was totally worth it...

Now, for the final product!

Nice new microwave! So much better than that nasty range hood!

I love our new kitchen!!

Such a big change!

Such a big difference, but in my opinion, a great renovation. All for under $600. (You can't even replace counter tops for that little of an amount)

I've been so happy with how it looks

and feel awesome knowing much we did it all ourselves.

Let me know what you think of our "kitchen makeover." 

Like I said, I'll post about the back deck soon! 

That's a work in progress!

Childbirth/Breastfeeding classes?

Lately I've been thinking about looking into childbirth classes 

and/or breastfeeding classes.  

You hear a lot about them, 

but I've never really heard what people think about doing them.

Do you guys that have done either one of them think they were really helpful, or really just unnecessary?

Opinions?

Symptoms so far

My first doctor's appointment is Aug 15th. 

I'll get to hear the heartbeat.

I'm sooo excited!
I'll be 8 1/2 weeks then, and I can't wait for that to come!

I'm starting to get a belly. 

I know it's not from baby yet, cause he/she is too little still, it's more bloating I'm guessing.

I don't like it.

It looks like I have a small beer belly.

Sometimes I put my hand on it so it's clear I'm pregnant and not just fat. 

It'll be a while before I have a belly big enough to know it's a baby and not me though. I can't wait for that. I know it'll be uncomfortable, but I can't wait to look pregnant and feel the baby.

Anyway,

Symptoms so far have not been too bad.

I've been super thirsty, which means heading to the bathroom every hour pretty much.

I haven't had morning sickness yet. 

I'll be 6 weeks on sunday.

A lot of things say morning sickness doesn't kick in until 6 or 8 weeks for some people.

I'm just hoping I'm part of the 25% of people that don't get morning sickness.

The main symptom I've had so far is exhaustion.

I can barely make it through the work day.

By the time I get home I try to get motivated to make some sort of dinner before John gets home 'cause I know if I sit/lay down I'll be done for the day.

I can't stay up past 11 anymore.

Some nights I even fall asleep earlier.

I used to go to bed at about midnight or so every night.

Now, I feel like it's midnight because I'm so tired, and I look at the clock and it's 9.

It's so weird to feel so tired.

When I sit on the couch after making dinner I feel like I've played a full day of sports. 

Without the awesome post exercise feeling.

Just the exhaustion feeling.

I'm not complaining!

I'm so happy this is all I've had to deal with so far.

No morning sickness makes me so happy!

I just didn't really understand how exhausted you could be in the first trimester. 

I always assumed it'd just be exhausting in the third trimester.

The only other thing I've had to deal with is cramping.

My "time of the month" was always accompanied by terrible cramps, and I thought during pregnancy at least I wouldn't have to deal with that. 

However, 

I've had a bit of off and on cramping.

It's definitely not as bad, but still can be uncomfortable and a little painful.

Apparently it's normal, and it's just a sign of my uterus growing like it should be.

And... 

It will continue throughout the rest of the pregnancy.

I guess there was no escape.

Hehe.

I don't really have anything going on until the doctors appointment. 

I'm just waiting for that.

I already have some nursery ideas.

I'll share those later on! :)

Thankful!

Just a quick thought today.

My estimated day of conception is July 1st. 

That's the day we were in the car accident. The accident that, if the girl had swerved a little less and had hit my door instead of in front of my door, could have put me in the hospital very hurt, or worse.

It shocks me sometimes 

to think about how much God knows, that we don't.

He knew I was going to be having a baby.

He kept us safe. 

Very thankful to my God! 

Not only for keeping us safe, but also for giving us this gift.

A Baker with a bun in the oven

I'm so excited to start this blog! This is where I'll be posting updates on my pregnancy and our family after the birth! I'll start with how this started!

 John and I had decided to wait to have a child until after he finished his bachelors degree at SUNY Brockport. He was scheduled to graduate in Spring 2013 (more on this later).

 Earlier this week I started feeling off. Extremely thirsty, I had to pee so many times, and I felt a little queezy. I didn't think anything of it, until my period was late. My period was due to come on Sunday July 15th. By Tuesday the 17th I was wondering why I was late, (I'm usually never late). So, I decided to get a pregnancy test. I thought I was over-reacting, I'd had a few times before when I had thought I was pregnant, but didn't end up pregnant. So, I thought taking the test would end up negative and I wouldn't be anxious anymore.

 So, I decided to get a test while I was at the store during lunch break. I took it, and to my complete surprise it said pregnant. I was thinking, "Why didn't I wait till after work, now I have to go to my parents (where I work) and keep this a secret until I get out and John gets home."

 The day dragged by, but finally I went home. John was out shooting a concert and got home around 11 that night. I didn't know what he'd think. I knew we both love and want kids, but we'd planned on waiting a little longer. So, I gave him a hug when he walked in the door and said, "I have to talk to you." Then I showed him the 3 pregnancy tests (I got two more on my way home from work to make sure). He thought I was joking at first, but then realized it was true. He was so shocked he gave me a hug then just said, "I need to take a shower."

 He then hurried out of the shower realizing he thought I might think he was upset (which I didn't, I just figured he was overwhelmed, as was I). He then came, and hugged me, and we talked about more details of how far along I am and what to do next.

 So, we decided to tell our families after work the next night. So we did. Then told some friends the next couple days, and now have told most of our friends. :) 

 I have an appt. scheduled with my OBGYN for mid august and I can't wait. I'll get to hear the heartbeat and everything, which I think will make me feel a bit more like I'm actually pregnant. Right now it doesn't really feel real yet.

 That's about where we are right now. I'm due March 24th. Tomorrow I'll be 5 weeks pregnant, we're suuuper excited! Now that the shock has settled down a bit, we're extremely happy.

 Because I'm due in March John decided that instead of having an 18 credit spring semester (which he was going to have to do to graduate in the spring) he's going to split up his courses over spring and next fall. That way he can work a bit more and be around some more for the birth.

 I'm excited to keep you guys updated through this whole process. :) We do plan on finding out the gender and have names picked out already, but I'll keep that a surprise for when we find out the gender. ;)

 This was a super long post. If you made it to the end I'm surprised! I just love writing on blogs, so I don't know if anyone is actually going to read this or not but it's fun to write! 

 Can't wait to meet my baby! :)