S is For...

I am nearly in my 36th week of pregnancy, and the whole "nesting" phase I heard so much about is no myth! It's real, and I'm in the thick of it. Last week I organized and reorganized every cabinet and storage space in our house, cleaned the refrigerator, and de-dusted everything possible...oh, and I even folded and color coordinated tissue paper and ribbons (what?). This week has been the week of getting the sweet babe's nursery ready. We're getting close to being done, and ready to welcome our baby girl home.

Brett has been so wonderful. Though I keep him awake at night by all my tossing and turning, multiple trips to the bathroom, my new-found sound effects that accompany any new movement or roll, he is very gracious and understanding. Despite our sleepless nights, he has somehow found my pregnant tendencies endearing, including my nesting phase. He has been so helpful and accommodating, and quickly recognizes when I'm on a mission. He has been amazing at coming alongside me, helping to get sheet done! I am so grateful. The nursery is no exception. He has been my incredible furniture mover and re-mover, picture hanger, picture/art holder, among other things that a pregnant lady simply can't do.

Here it is, our Tiny One's very own room!

I have loved anticipating the arrival of our baby, and have excitedly and lovingly worked on many different sewing projects. I made these bumpers, dust ruffle, pillows and quilt for her crib (not that she'll know, or care...but I care!), which were all really enjoyable projects.


This is the "S" that Brett made for Tiny One's room. I love, love it. Swim, Swami, Slippy, Slappy, Slim, Slimmon, Ssswanson...Samsonite!

The Forgotten Fence

I realized that I never posted a picture of the fence that Brett & Chip built this fall after the massive retaining wall was conquered. It turned out great!


Now that the inside of our house is pretty well completed (huge, huge sigh) we can begin focusing our attention on the outside. This is very exciting. Brett has been preparing our garden beds (the two lower terraces), which may be the only thing we can focus much attention on this year. We are so looking forward to getting outside and playing in the dirt this spring/summer! I think that once the little babe is born, however, I will be able to contribute more. Maybe post-baby I'll be able to bend over to participate in garden activities without making excessive noises indicating discomfort. But then again, perhaps this is a permanent trait that has developed? Poor Brett.

Since the upcoming arrival of our Tiny One will most likely steal Gideon's spotlight, it only makes sense that he'd get a little shout out. Gideon, though not totally in his element when we lived in Encinitas, is most definitely solar powered. We call him our little TJ (Tijuana) dog because when the sun is out he can always be found basking in the most exposed part of our yard, staring directly into the sun, plopped down on a nice solid patch of dirt, or atop our compost pile even though grass may be a very nearby option. Is it terrible that I'm blogging about our dog? Don't answer that. Thank you.

More Fireplace Pics

Just so you can get a little more up close and personal view of the handiwork.

ta-daaaaaaa!

Here it is, what we've (I've) all been waiting for: a honeycombless, brand spankin' new fireplace!! Brett and Chip did such a wonderful job demo-ing and rebuilding. The brick work turned out beautifully, and we can hardly wait to install our new wood-burning stove. Our house is going to be a little oven in no time. Just in time for summer. In addition to a new fireplace we have some sweet new built-in bookcases on each side of the fireplace. Hello, storage, how I love thee. We will soon have glass cabinet doors for the bookshelf sections, and drawers on the bottom for wood storage (Brett & Chip will be making those). It's funny how changing that one wall has changed the whole look and feel of our house. I'm just thrilled to have our house back in order, and be rid of perma-dust. Halle-freaking-lujah. Believe it or not, ripping out a brick fireplace creates quite the mess. Avoid if possible...just sayin'. Unless, of course, you have a 15-year old colony of bees residing within, then by all means, go hog wild.
And now onto the nursery...sigh.

Brickity-Brick

The bricking has begun, which I might be so bold to say goes considerably slower than tiling. Sigh. We are, nonetheless, taking steps toward completion, and perhaps toward getting our little house back in order. Saturday wasn't the best day, as it resulted in two frustrated guys, but Sunday proved to be more promising. Here's to more days of promise!

Reconstruction

Yesterday's progress was great, but at the end of the day I feared this project would be a never-ending one. I was wrong. Brett & Chip made great progress today! We're well on our way to having our little home back in working order...I think. Next comes the brick work. Stay tuned for next weekend's adventures.

Honey, I Ripped Out the Fireplace

The dreaded project of all projects began this weekend, thanks to Brett & Chip. What wonderful (and brave) men! The bees that I've posted about in the past have been exterminated, as of several months ago; however, the comb and many dead bees remained behind our brick fireplace. We had no idea what to expect. It was an adventure, to say the least. We are very hopeful that the extraction of the comb will prevent any future bee return visits. Fingers are crossed...tightly.

Here's how we began. A lovely white brick fireplace.




The lovely brick fireplace quickly became a not-so-lovely mess.


Within a couple hours all the brick was down and all the remaining comb was exposed. It was gross, if I may add my two cents, but it wasn't as bad as we were anticipating. I'll provide you with some more detailed shots to try and give you a better idea of what we were dealing with.

We had at least a wheelbarrow full of old comb. Honey, anyone?

Then came the removal of the firebox. This was much harder to remove than anticipated.


After a few hours, finally a breakthrough happened, and they successfully removed that beast.

This is what we were left with yesterday evening. It felt like we had taken 50 gigantic leaps backwards, being that we're well versed in the demolition zone. Our home that finally felt so cozy and complete is back to being a disaster zone. Oh, well. At least we got rid of the bees, right??