Bodie Updates!

Bodie is 8 weeks old today! Time FLIES!

We take weekly pictures of him so we can see how much he is growing. Here are a few of my favorites:

("just chillin'" at 2 weeks old)

(lovin' bath time at 6 weeks)

(dreaming of being a middle weight boxer at 7 weeks)

(nap time with mommy)

(the boys!)

So Bodie had a rough couple of weeks there at the beginning of life. He struggled with reflux, poor guy! Now that he is on a special formula he is doing much better. He's already made it through his first cold/ear infection which was probably worse for me than it was for him. I hated to hear him all congested and upset!

Now that he is over his sickness and the reflux is under control he has started sleeping better! WOOHOO!! He usually goes down between 9:30-10:30pm, wakes up once to eat, then gets up between 5:00-6:00am. After that its time for more napping. :)

Bodie has also started smiling and trying to giggle which is the cutest thing in the world! I'm so excited that he is starting to interact more.

He is a bit of a hungry, hungry hippo. He easily eats 4oz about every 2-3 hrs, except at night when he goes a longer stretch. He's tall too! I had to go buy him some 3-6 month sleepers today b/c he is outgrowing his others. He couldn't avoid the tall genes...he gets that from both sides of the family.

Obviously I could go on and on about my cute little man but I'll save it for another post.

Signed,

Proud momma!

Pictures of Bodie's First Day

Click the title to go to the photo album of Bodie's first day.

Nursery updates!

Well, Bruce had some time off during the holidays so, of course, we did another project!!

We decided not to use a bedding set for the nursery (like we originally planned) and to go with separates instead. This gave us a lot of freedom in choosing paint colors.

We started by painting three of the nursery walls a light green color.

The fourth wall we striped with light green, light turquoise, chocolate brown, and white. Each set of stripes for each color had to be measured, snapped with a chalk line, lined with painters tape, and painted. We had to do each color on separate days as well. Lots of work!!

Here is a picture of the finished stripe wall. I think it looks pretty cool! There was a little bleeding under the tape due to the texture of the wall but what can ya do? After the striped wall dried we put the crib and changing table up against it and it looked pretty good.

I'm going to try and paint an owl similar to the one below and hang it on one of the green walls. I'll make the eyes turquoise instead of pink, and I'll omit the name of course.

I'm getting really excited now that things are coming together!

Less than 3 months to go!!

Over half way there!

I'm a little over 23 weeks pregnant now and I can't believe we are over half way there! April 3rd sounds far away, but by the time the holidays are over we will be in the 3rd trimester already. WHOA!

Our little man already has a first name, Bodie Edwards. Middle name still TBD though. There is still plenty of time for that. I think my short torso isn't leaving him a lot of room so my belly is already sticking out there pretty far!

He has been wiggling and kicking for a few weeks now which feels so cool. A little soccer player perhaps?? :)

So far we have slowly been collecting baby furniture and clothes to get the nursery ready. We picked out this crib and changing table (courtesy of my in laws) at a labor day sale. Thanks Hal and Karlene!

My mom got us our travel system (thanks again!). It has the option of flipping the handle so the baby can face you or face away. Pretty cool!

Here is the bedding set we picked out. We plan on painting the walls a muted green color.

So far we have been spoiled by grandparents which has been really nice for us! Bodie better get used to it...I bet his grandmas will keep on spoiling him for a long time :)

Kitchen cabinets are done!

Thanks to the help of our friends, the Clarkes, and a free saturday afternoon...our kitchen cabinets are finally done!

The original plan was to paint them ourselves, but after a few missteps and a lot of good info from another customer at Lowe's, we realized it would be better to get them repainted by a professional.

Here is a before picture of the kitchen:

Below is a picture of our attempt to paint the cabinets with what turned out to be the wrong paint, the wrong sander, the wrong brushes, and the wrong technique. AWESOME! What you can't see in the picture are the very obvious blue streaks of the old stain showing through about 6 coats of paint.

Finally we were put in touch with a professional painter who gave us a great deal if we would

remove the doors and hardware and reattach them ourselves. This is the final product!!

Now we just need to touch up the wall paint and replace the counter tops .... someday :)

196 days and counting...

About 196 days until the Edwards family becomes 3. That's right, we are pregnant and due at the beginning of April!!

Here is a picture of me at about 11 1/2 weeks pregnant. That is a combination of baby bump and pregnancy bloating, lol. So far I have been blessed with a fairly easy first trimester. I started having some mild nausea around 6 weeks and it went away at 10 weeks. Couldn't ask for better than that! Aside from a few other uncomfortable symptoms, things have been going really well.

Today we got to hear our little peanut's HB, 160 bpm! It was amazing. My friend, Jonelle, took her little boy to her OB appointment and the conversation went something like this. When they did the doppler her son said, "oh there's a choo-choo in mommy's belly!" The mom replied, "no, that's the baby." To which the son replied, "oh, the baby is riding a choo-choo in mommy's belly!!" I totally thought of this when the nurse found the heartbeat. That is exactly what it sounded like....a little choo-choo chugging away in there. :)

Now we are almost in the 2nd trimester and are starting to get really excited that this little bean is probably here to stay!

Project #1: Enlarge the patio

We love our house, but wanted to make some improvements. We started with the patio, which was too small for a gazebo, table, and chairs. The solution was adding 3 feet on each side with paver stones.

We got started by digging out the grass around the existing patio

then laying down the paver base

The next steps were adding a layer of sand and putting the paver stones in place.

The pavers were level with each other, but not level with the existing patio, so we started again.

After putting down about 9 pavers (in 3 hours), we realized that the pavers were not 12"x12". Since the pattern would result in terrible misalignment between the pavers and the patio, we started again.

We dove right back into the project knowing we have a good design and construction technique (notice the level).

We ran out of time and had to put a tarp over the project to protect it from the incoming storm (and tornado warning). After two days, we hoped to pick up where we left off, but found we needed to start again. The pavers had shifted out of place.

In the final start, we used the design that we knew would work. Christie had mastered the technique of adjusting the amount and position of the sand to get pavers in the perfect orientation.

It was a long workday, but we the patio is now larger and we think it looks great. I got pretty dirty lifting and shifting pavers all day. Christie's work resulted in a patio to be proud of.

With a larger patio, the gazebo was put up and chairs were set out for relaxation.

With a fully functional patio, the grill was put to use for the first time.