06/03/11: I haven't blogged in awhile

So I thought I should get something out there to let you know I'm still alive.

I'll admit to being a bad blogger and, even worse, a bad supporter/reader, too.  I'm not even reading anymore.  I'm reading tons of stuff about babies, mostly in the form of an online mommies group for November babies.  I'll be back to blogging about weightloss someday...but my head is so totally not in weightloss mode right now and, well, it's hard to read about all that when I have to be ok with actually gaining.

And that's the great news.  I am ok with gaining.  Although, it's not much so far.  In 16 weeks of pregnancy I've gained 8 pounds.  I'm actually trying to gain more - twins require more, or so they say - but if I follow the whole 'eat when I'm hungry, don't eat when I'm not' thing...well...gaining isn't just happening.  It's kind of funny to throw all caution to the wind and just be...but here I am.  It's even funner to throw all caution to the wind and just be...and not be getting into trouble on the scale because of it.  I wish my metabolism could always do this!

I think my bump has definitely appeared.  My upper abdomen area is as hard as a rock.  It's kind of freaky.  And it's popped.  It's also interesting to me...I am definitely "carrying high" right now.  People are speculating it's two girls - I still think it's one of each.  Hopefully we'll find out in two weeks.  We scheduled an elective ultrasound (3D/4D) for June 18th...and hopefully babies behave and we get some info.  If not, we'll reschedule and try again.

Not much else going on.  Hahaha.  As for the pregnancy, though, not much else.  I think I've finally beat "morning" sickness.  I still have brief windows of not feeling "good" which can lead to serious quease if I've done too much - but that's to be expected...and, of course, I'm trying not to push it anyway.  When that not feeling "good" feeling kicks in, I race for the bed and chillax. 

So why might I be doing too much, you ask?  Well...I think I've taken nesting to a whole new level.

Our house is a disaster right now.  Over Memorial Day weekend my hubby and two friends pulled up the tile and thinset in our kitchen and the carpet in our dining room.  Our house is a major dust factory right now, to say the least.  Everything in every cupboard has had to be washed - and yes, we covered EVERYTHING with plastic...and while it helped it didn't stop the dust from getting everywhere.  And as soon as I dust each day, I've just stirred up more dust that settles elsewhere.  It's funny...I can dust the table in our gallery and then go dust the family room to wind up back in the gallery 30 minutes later redusting that same table.  Each time the dust settles it is less and less...but it's been fun to try and get the upper hand on all this dust.

And it's futile.  We will get the new tile installed next week and then proceed to rip up all the carpet in the house.  That will be another round of dust - although not nearly what ripping out tile and thinset does.

In the midst of all of this, we are fixing baseboards and sheetrock in two rooms - kitchen and dining room.  In our kitchen, we have a dog door in our door to the backyard and if the rain blows in the right direction, which it usually does, that rain gets in the dog door if that dog door isn't closed.  That sitting water has destroyed the baseboards next to the door.  Luckily, the sheetrock is fine above the baseboards, it's just right behind the baseboards that needs to be replaced.  I say luckily because this means we don't have to worry about retexturing - which never matches perfectly when redone.  In our dining room, well, we have a cat that thinks the dining room is his own personal "area" and so that's why we are switching from carpet to tile - although even if he weren't "doing that" I'd still switch that room.  It makes no sense to me to have a dining room be carpet, personally.  "We" figured out long ago that it's not sanitary to have carpet in bathrooms and kitchens...but yet we still do dining rooms?  When I built the house nearly five years ago, it wasn't an option to do anything but carpet in the dining room.  But since we are replacing all carpet and the "architect" isn't controlling the decisions now...I get to have it be what I want.  Now, add in the cat problem...and...well...we are cleaning the slab (done) and then sealing it.  We are replacing all baseboards as they've been affected as well as sheetrock behind those baseboards - again, luckily, only behind the baseboards, not any higher.  And we are sealing inside the wall, too.  We are trying our best to eliminate his scent.  And, of course, he has lived in the garage for awhile now in efforts to control/stop this problem.  He is allowed inside when I'm home and awake and that is it.  He's a sweet cat other than this problem.  And, without going into his history, there is a sad reason behind this problem, too, so I can't hate him for this.  Even my husband, the man who hates cats, can't hate him for this.  He really is a sweet cat.  And he will use his litter box if he has no other choice - hence living in the garage.  I hope with this switch that we kill this problem for once and for all - but at least it will be tile now and not carpet.  It will be a lot harder for this problem to cause such a great problem again.

So those are our tile rooms.  Next...carpet throughout.  So our house is just about to be five years old.  And the carpet that was put in when the house was built is absolute crap.  I had an option to do better carpet but I didn't have an option to do a better pad than what I did, so, not knowing if I really wanted the color that I chose, because, of course, this was long before I went furniture shopping, I went ahead and opted for the "crap" so that I'd be able to (and be ok with) coming back in about five years to get what I really want.  And I'm glad it's worked out.  Turns out, the color I chose - we both don't like.  So we will have a better color as well as much (hella much) nicer carpet.  We will have the best of the best pads, too.  We are excited about this carpet and pad.  We also now know where our heavy traffic is - and the builder put the seams of the current carpet in exactly those spots.  So now we'll get to put the seams in much better areas, too.  The carpet has needed to go for about six months but shopping and taking our time looking for the best deal has gotten us here.  But I think I'd do exactly the same thing again with another new house - pick crap knowing I will replace in about five years and see how things develop.  While we have the carpet out, we are cleaning the slab.

Funny story.  So I built this house before I met my hubby.  And during construction I'd go check on progress at least once a week.  Towards the end of construction I was going about three or four times a week.  I went in the house one day and they had all the dust and debris swept into nice neat little piles in each room.  I knew they were carpetting the next day so I assumed they'd clean those piles up before they actually laid the carpet.  I go back the next day to see the carpet.  And I walk into the gallery - room that the entry hall opens up to and room that leads to every throughway in the house, all hallways, all rooms, etc.  And right where there had been a debris pile the day before, I hear and feel a crunch as I walk over it.  I think 'no way'.  So I go to the study towards where a debris pile had been the day before...crunch.  I go to the family room to "the spot" and...crunch.  Yep.  Not one of those piles had been swept up.  I was pissed.  And there was nothing they could do because the carpet had already been stretched.

So that's another motivator for this project.  Get the slab clean...FINALLY.  And we will also paint the baseboards and trim.  We, i.e. my hubby, has painted all our ceilings and we want baseboards/trim/window sills to match that color.  And we want that color down to the slab, not down to the carpet.  He is also painting the guest room.  He just finished painting the nursery - it looks so awesome.  I can't wait to get carpet back in that room so that we can start our furniture shopping!!

What else?  Does this not sound like enough already?  Nah.

We are putting an outlet in the floor in the gallery - another major dust factory right there.  We put our christmas tree in that "room" and we have to run an extension cord across the path to plug our lights in.  We have outlets in the floor in the family room to avoid that extension cord across the path thing...so we will do that to our gallery and make sure we have no trip hazards.

What else?  Yep, still not done.

Hubby will also refinish our front door.  We have, what I think is, a beautiful mahogany door.  And like with most other things about this house, well, they could have done better about finishing that wood.  He will take the door down, strip it, sand it down in a few places where our dogs like to "greet" guests, then refinish and oil it.  He did this for a neighbor and knows the process is...not pleasant.  But with her door, he did the outside only - no dogs to greet guests.  Our door will get done on both sides.  Luckily, he did her door "too well" as far as sanding and stripping is concerned, so ours should actually be a little easier for him.

What else?

Notice that hubby is doing the lion's share of the work?  I can't play with chemicals so that means no painting, no cleaning the slab, no sealing the slab, no stripping the door, nothing.  But I am doing what I can.  Right now - I'm dusting.  A lot.  And washing dishes.  A lot.  We almost have all of our kitchen rewashed with cupboards cleaned out and reorganized.  As I go through everything Goodwill and/or the Salvation Army are making out like a bandit, as well as the local library.  We are changing our study from a study to a playroom so a ton of books will find a new home.  If I were the sort to do garage sales this would definitely be a good time to do so...but I just am not the sort to do so.

I guess this is enough to report.  Suffice it to say, free time isn't really free right now.  And I'm actually working at work!

In other news, we have names picked out.  We are reading our baby names book on the way to work and the way home each day.  It's so much fun to sit there and read out name after name after name that we have no interest in.  hehehe.  Anywho, I say "names", but really, it's "name".  If we have a girl - Chloe Elaine.  Elaine for my mom, Chloe cause we like it.  If we have a boy, he will have the name Andrew but we aren't sure whether that will be a first or middle and we aren't sure what that will go with yet.  And we'll see in two weeks, we hope, whether we need one girl, one boy, or two girls, or two boys names.

So that's all I got.  Sound like enough?

I hope y'all are well!  I promise, I will be back someday soon.  I am gone but I have not forgotten.  I can promise, when I go on bedrest, I know I'll be back for that span of time.  :)