OH BOY!!! Another Project!

Momma says that we need to get cracking on remodeling our third (and final) bedroom. This new baby is going to be here before we know it and we need to be ready! We have decided that the nursery will remain the nursery and Julia will get a brand new room...she is the princess after all!

This room is easily the coldest room in the house. It's on the northwest corner and has trees blocking what little sun it might see during the day. It does have a fabulous view of the lake though.
Courtney and I kick the project off by spending Martin Luther King Day stripping wallpaper. We actually did a great job...and by the way, the mixture of white vinegar and hot water is great for removing wallpaper and a lot cheaper than chemical removers!We finish stripping all four walls and Courtney is just whooped...we are admiring our work and I start thinking...that's where it gets dangerous. Our house was built in 1927. So I start wondering if there is any insulation in the walls at all. After performing a highly scientific "hammer test" it is determined that my suspicions were correct.

Well my little princess needs a warm room! So yesterday, we started stage two of the project. We removed the plaster in two walls, installed insulation and began hanging new drywall. My goal was to get all the drywall hung and we're a little less than half way there. All in all, I couldn't be more pleased with the progress.
Now that baby is coming quickly and I couldn't be happier. I have so much to teach him...plumbing, electrical, insulation, flooring, drywall, painting. The things that I've taken on in this house (with the help of some fantastic friends and family) are really starting to impress me. Now Julia is a big help, but I'm sure he will take it to the next level.Oh yeah...It's a BOY!!! Here's the photographic evidence...a view from the bottom. Let's the hope the ultrasound tech wasn't wrong. It looks pretty clear to me! Julia will soon be terrorized by a little brother. Boy oh boy is her world about to change.
But she is still and always will be my princess. There is nothing that I wouldn't do for that beautiful child...wouldn't you agree?

-Andy

So Much to Do...But Will There Be Time to Do It?

I was driving to work on Tuesday, a day on which Courtney had another doctor's appointment (not unusual) when it hit me like a Gabrielli Mack Truck (EFC reference). We were FIVE DAYS from the due date! By this time next week, I could be any number of days into fatherhood!

Immediately I was overcome by thinking about everything that I needed to get done before...but there was the problem. Before when? I am a planner. That's what I do. I spend no less than eight hours a day planning. But not knowing exactly how long I have to get things done is killing me! I can handle totally switching parks 18 hours before the start of a 60 team national softball world series, but this...this is an entirely new challenge.

So I plug away, getting things crossed off my lists (thanks MAP for that little habit), not knowing just how far I'll get. What will be will be!!!

So Momma and I wrapped up a couple of details tonight. The nursery had been done for a while, but waiting on our replacement windows to be installed. On Monday they were installed, on Tuesday I painted the molding and tonight we completed the final touches, adding blinds and curtains. Here is what might be the final picture of Momma as LBMF's personal caddy.

I also wanted to share some of the other decor of the Nursery. Here are a couple of shots, one of them was Courtney's idea to enlarge some really bright photos that we had taken and hang them in the room. I'll let you guess which picture was my contribution!

This is the 49th pre-LBMF post on the blog. I really can't believe that there have been that many. But something tells me that the fun is just about to begin. Soon LBMF will have an actual name!!! I just hope that Momma's water doesn't break on the good furniture!!!

- Andy

Finishing Touches

Leave it to Uncle Louie to start a comment revolt relative to our lack of posts lately. And leave it to Liz to latch onto that revolt, throwing out big pregnancy words that make me uncomfortable, even though I'm not totally sure what they mean. Regardless we're back!

We continue to try to put finishing touches on preparing for LBMF's arrival. I really can't believe it, but we're down to four weeks!!! And as I make that statement, in my head I hear my father laughing his semi-evil "now you'll see" laugh.

First we had our new windows installed. And I'm really impressed with how easy that installation is. I think I can definitely do that job myself. Anyhow, I have a piece of advice for soon to be homo's Amanda and Kenny. When you hire someone to do some work at your house and in the midst of that work they turn to you and say, "Ut-Oh!" That's not a good thing! It seemed that the manufacturer shipped the wrong sized windows for two of the windows in the nursery. They were about six inches too short, so we're stuck waiting about another week to FINALLY complete that room.

We used all of our wonderful Babies 'R' Us gift certificates to purchase a dresser for LBMF, so thanks to everyone who helped make that possible! That's a funny story too. Basically, I think that I shut down the entire computer system for Babies 'R' Us when making that purchase. I was at the register for about a half hour and at one point there were about 8 customers waiting on three store employees who were frantically trying to make the computer work. I just stood there smiling because no matter how aggravating it was, I could not possibly be more angry than the pregnant women standing in line behind me.

We also picked up a rocker, courtesy of Grandmom and Pop Jones (thank you very much!) that is on my honey-do list to get upstairs this weekend. And we added some wall decor to the nursery. Check out the pictures below!

-Andy

FIN!

We set out on Sunday with these goals:

• Cleanup dust from sanding trim - Check


• Paint trim - Check


• Install ceiling fan - Check


• Assemble crib - Check


• Haul all tools out of the room - Check


• Clean entire room one more time - Check


• Move baby stuff into the nursery - Check!!!!!!!!

We got it all done!!! The key word in that sentence is "we". Courtney was right there with me and we made quite a team. All of the finishing touches on the project that was the nursery came together nicely.

The rest of the evening, I found myself randomly walking into our new nursery and just looking at it and feeling pride in our accomplishment. All we need now is a LBMF to call it home!

Here are a couple pics:

-Andy

Crib (some assembly required)

Thanks to Nana and Papa Wisk, LBMF is the proud owner of the "easiest to assemble crib on the market". Only thing is that it was up to me to prove that statement true.

The time comes to bring the 4' x 6', 80 lb. box that contains the crib up the stairwell that makes a 90 degree turn. I'm pretty tired, but I refuse to let Courtney know, because as hard as she was working, I couldn't possibly compete with how she might be feeling. Well, I don't want her to carry it, so I hitch up, slide it over to the stairs and get ready to haul it up. As I make my way up, I realize that this wasn't as bad as I expected. It's then that I turn around to see Court right behind me, quietly carrying this monster with me!

We open it up and unpack everything and believe it or not, the directions are pasted to the board that supports the mattress. The good news is that the directions are easy to read and your never going to lose them. The bad news is that the piece that they were attached to gets installed in instruction #4 and there are five more after that!!!

Anyhow, we got it put together and it looks great in the room. Here's a picture of me taking a rest. That crib should be strong enough for LBMF if it can support my portly posterior!!!

And last but not least...some finishing touches!!!

-Andy

Momma...Hard at Work!

There she is! Super Momma!!!

It seems that her patience with me has run thin as now Momma has taken things into her own hands to finish the nursery. She's tired of waiting and listening to me procrastinate! So here you see a couple shots of Momma and LBMF hard at work!

Actually, I'm only joking. She didn't take over the project, but we did work together to put the finishing touches on things yesterday. I can't thank her enough! I was so proud of her, keeping up with me while carrying around an extra 20-30 lbs.! I know that I woke up sore today, so I can't imagine what she's feeling!!!

In the top picture, she's taking on a part of the project that she wanted to try. We decided to try sponging in the super-secret room off the nursery and I thought that I better let her handle that, as anything that random and imprecise would surely get on my nerves!

In the other photo, she's playing with one of our newest toys...a mega wet/dry vac! I don't know how we lived without one for this long and let me tell you...this baby really sucks!!!

More pictures are coming soon as the nursery is...well let's just say that we can't use "working on the nursery" as an excuse anymore.

-Andy

Good Friday!!

So Good Friday was indeed a good friday!! Not only did we get lots done, we (and by we I mean Andy) even painted the ceiling! Lots of progress was made. We decided that in the super secret room, because the walls are not exactly flat that we would try our hand at a painting effect. So we bought one of those super fancy sea sponge rollers and decided to try that. I did a little experimenting yesterday on some cardboard to figure out which effect we liked best and to see exactly how it would need to be done. Doesn't seem too hard, but Andy has left that part up to me. I'm sure there will be a post about that later!

So I just wanted to share with you what is, in my opinion, one of the coolest pictures I think I've ever taken. The picture of Andy painting the ceiling has an interesting effect. I was sitting on the floor in the hallway and the shadows cast by "the best light ever" (Thanks again Mr. Wisk!!) make the photo pretty neat! Despite what it looks like, it was VERY bright in that room when I took the picture!!

And just in case you didn't believe me about the hot pink cabinets, I included this photo. This is our first meal in our new house. The day before we moved all of our stuff in, Andy, my mom and I spent the whole day cleaning the house. Well, Andy and my mom spent the whole day cleaning, I helped in between working at the clinic and working a football game. So we took a quick break for our first lunch!! Oh how hideous that kitchen was!!! Unfortunately you can't see the wallpaper that went along with it in this picture! I'll try to dig up one of those pictures later!! Anyway, I'm sure Andy will be posting again at some point. He is back to painting already!!

HAPPY EASTER!!!

~Courtney

Spring Has Sprung!

All the signs are pointing to it...baseball season is just around the corner, Louie's softball team has double digit losses, the NCAA Tournament is here and the new baseball video game is out...Spring is just around the corner!!! It's an exciting time here on Delmarva. Lately it seems like Mother Nature is trying to blow all of us off the peninsula...it's been really windy for a while now. But at the same time everything is starting to bud and it won't be long before we're cussin' about how hot it is.

Our apologies to the regular blog readers. March and April are a really busy time at work for both Courtney and myself and when you combine that we everything that we are doing in preparation for LBMF, that doesn't leave much time for blog posts. As it is right now, I'm missing out on Belmont beating Duke (wouldn't that be nice!) in order to make this post.

We've been spending a good amount of time searching for day care and when I say we, I mean Courtney. I'm glad I have her to take the lead on that one. I don't know if I trust myself to make such an important decision! She's really taken the bull by the horns! I'm confident that LBMF will have a sweet day care hookup!

I'll leave you now with a preview and a taste of Spring here on Delmarva. The preview is that we are not far away from getting to painting in the nursery. I've got about 2 more hours of wallpaper stripping to go in the super-secret room off the nursery and there it is time for PRIMER!!! Courtney has promised to take pictures and share that progress with you. And here are a couple pictures to give you all a taste of Spring!

-Andy

Handy Andy, Part Deux

Seeing as how it rained most of the day yesterday, it was an excellent opportunity to do some more home improvements. We decided to tackle the rest of the outlet project that was started a while ago. Well let me tell you, the part of actually connecting the electricity was MUCH easier than the first part of drilling in the ceiling and cutting the holes in the walls. The old electrical box came out quite nicely and Andy's first drilling attempt in the attic was right on. No holes in the ceiling this time! Andy was actually quite patient and I don't even think there was one utterance of a cuss word!! (This is an amazing feat if you have never done home improvement work with Andy before!) I was relegated to flashlight holder, GoFer, and the official consultant of the Wiring 1-2-3 book (I gave myself this job, just to make sure we were doing everything right!).

So after all of the flack I gave Andy about how hard this project was gonna be and how he should call an electrician, he did a really good job! Either he really did know what he was doing or he is a really good BS-er and it worked out in his favor this time!!! I'm gonna say it was a little of both!

So the nursery remodeling continues. We had our friend come over and measure for new windows so hopefully that will be done within the next month. We thought it probably wouldn't be a good idea to keep the drafty windows that you have to hold open with a wooden stick in the baby's room. We should be ready to paint the front room any day here. We still have to remove wallpaper and paint in the super secret room and Andy also wants to try his hand at re-surfacing the hard wood floor in the room. He's so ambitious!!

So for now...we have sweet success with the electricity! Andy says at this rate, LBMF may become an electrician/handyman when he gets older! I think I'm ok with that!!

~Courtney

Pregnancy...The World Tour!

Coming to a town near you! It's Pregnancy...The World Tour!!! Starring Courtney as "Momma" and LBMF as "himself"! T-shirts are just $14.95!!!

I know...I know...the blog has been dead for a few days! Well, don't worry, everything is just fine! Court and I are taking some trips (while we can) and hopefully we will be coming to a town near you!

Last weekend we visited our friends Kenny and Amanda in NC and had a BLAST! There is much more to come on this excursion as Amanda is sending us scandalous photos of playing Rock Band and the like and we will do a full post on the trip.

Then work took me out of town for a couple days to the tropical paradise of Easton, PA. Driving back today, we left sleet and freezing rain and arrived to 58 degrees. Now who says Delmarva isn't the land of pleasant living! (I might have just opening myself up to lots o comments on that one)

Thursday, we hit the road for an evening in Easton, MD (kinda ironic, eh?). It's our niece Ellie's birthday and another stop for LBMF, Momma and their shared, limited bladder!

This weekend, we are heading to CT for a baby shower that my mother and sister have planned for Courtney (and if you weren't invited, don't blame the blogger; we would have invited everyone as LBMF is eager to meet you all). Unfortunately our time is short there and hopefully we get a chance to catch up with you at the shower. But the next day, we'll be onto the next city as more LBMF fans await.

In other news, the nursery continues to progress. The excess holes in the walls (and ceiling) have been repaired and we should be primaring soon (as soon as the roadtrips end). Courtney will need to do a full post on this soon.

We hope that everyone is doing well and ready for spring!!!

-Andy

The Greatest Tool!

No Liz, it's not Handy Andy, but rather this corner do-hickie that I bought the other day. This is a great stocking stuffer for you ladies that have drywall work to be done by the man of the house! This is without a doubt the best $8.95 that I have ever spent! Let me 'splain to you how it works...

...you see, the curve of the blade allows you to get drywall compound into the cracks of corners. You just load it up and ooze it in! At first I was using my finger to smooth the joints in the corners...just as you would if you were caulking your crack (a great SNL skit for the record). But then as fate would have it, while wandering semi-aimlessly through the Depot (Home Depot for you home improvement amateurs) searching for new ideas for this old house, I stumbled across this tool that was truly designed and sent from a god!

In the wallpaper removal process, my scraper had also done a good job of removing and cracking the plaster skim coat that was over the plaster walls. Nowhere was this more evident than in the corners which had become significantly imperfect. Needless to say this super-corner-tool saved the day! This is truly a tool that every home owner should own!

Our (my) plans for this nursery continue to expand. I feel like this is my part. I mean what else can I do? She's doing all the work, carrying the future Catcher for the Red Sox (not a pitcher...he clearly has been taking batting practice every night at about 10 p.m.). The least that I can do is make sure that LBMF has a kick-a$$ room ready for him when he chooses to show himself!

I am even going to experiment with refinishing the floor in that room myself. This could be a major adventure, but it's worth a try. Like everything else, in this day and age, anyone can do it...I just hope that I'm anyone!

- Andy

Bladder Control

LBMF is now really starting to make his presence known. Kicks have become more aggressive. One last night was almost startling! Courtney's belly seems to grow substantially everyday and now Courtney's bladder capacity seems to be diminishing.

The latter of those 3 developments has me worried. We've planned a couple of roadtrips for next weekend and the weekend after. One is a 7+ hour trip and the other is 6+. At the rate that she's been going today, those two trips should take 10+ hours each!

Courtney and LBMF are currently out at Home Depot, picking out decor for the Nursery. Apparently the "Procrastinator" is making sufficient enough progress to pressure her into beginning to make color and decor decisions. The room is actually coming along really well. There is A LOT of patch work to do on those old plaster walls, but it is coming together!

Tomorrow is a big day! We're adding an electrical outlet to the room. That's a challeng that I've not taken on before. Courtney might have an entertaining post tomorrow evening!!!

Don't Forget the Before Shots

Just in case you hadn't been to our 1950's decorated house and had no idea what the nursery looked like before the "great procrastinator", as I seem to have been dubbed, started working on it. You'll see that it has a wonderful baby-poop brown hue to it. I thought it was appropriate for a nursery, but Momma disagreed. I just figured that baby-poop will be the most frequent happening in that room for a while anyway.

Regardless, the procrastinator has stepped up production on the room, aided by a rained out basketball game (gotta love a leaky roof) and schools being closed for about 1/2 inch of snow today. Those coincidences have relieved me of my basketball officiating duties. This means that we may begin painting as early as Monday!

In other news, Courtney is expanding faster than the NCAA investigation of Indiana University (that one's for you Louie). Yesterday morning, she came out of the bathroom with her pants unfastened. Aparently she had a problem. The pants that she worn just a couple days earlier could no longer be fastened! I like to think it was because LBMF had set up a batting cage in there overnight.

Also, as we continue to build this blog, we have added some links to the left. There are three that are related to my job and our two festivals (BBQ and Wine). Yes...all we do down here is party. One link is for Liz and Nate's Family Blog and the last one is for Kenny Beck's Infamous BaseBlog. Kenny offers his personal insight into the happenings of Major League Baseball. He and his wife Amanda are good freinds of ours who moved to greener pastures in NC. He has also written a fantastic book about his experience in Minor League Baseball.

Take a look and enjoy. I have more to add soon.

- Andy

Promises, Promises!!

Alright, We've been hearing enough stories about me...now it's Andy's turn! That's right, my turn to pick on him!! This picture is of Andy working on the nursery. This is a pretty hefty task, although Andy would never admit defeat before giving it his best effort and spending lots of money to try to fix it!!

So his initial goal a few weeks ago was to spend every free waking minute working on the nursery so that it would be done before the first shower in Connecticut. That way, we can just bring everything home and set up the room. Great plan by my very ambitious husband, but it seems that he would rather coach a pitiful North Carolina basketball team on Playstation more often than work on the nursery!!! Or he would use the excuse that he couldn't work in the room for long periods of time because he thought he was allergic to the chemical he is using to take off the wallpaper! Likely excuse...he would even cough for the rest of the day to make it seem legit! I think I'm going to start using that excuse sometime...I'll let you know how it works! Anyway, I don't think he realized how little time that gives him. The shower is March 1st, we are going to visit the Beck's in North Carolina the weekend before that and that leaves this weekend coming up....the pressure is on!!!

So yesterday he spent a lot of time working up there and he even got the wallpaper off of the front room (there is another little super secret room attached) and started patching the walls. I am very proud of him for his progress so far! I also told him that I didn't care how often he worked in the room, as long as it is done by the time LBMF arrives. (yea, i'll go ahead and humor Andy here!) So I'll keep you updated on the nursery details!

On another total side note, Andy tells me last night that he is giving up beer! You are probably thinking the same thing I am, "Who are you and what did you do with Andy!" So after I gave him the 'can you say that a little louder into the microphone' look, he says, well during the week anyway! So I guess it only took about 6 1/2 years, but something I said finally sunk in! I've been telling him all he has to do is cut back on beer (not even stop cold turkey) and he would easily lose weight. He always agreed, but never listened. We'll see how long this lasts...I'll keep you updated!!