Truth is....

Truth is... I've had a lot on my mind lately. So here comes a brain dump:

Truth is... Breast feeding sucks. Literally! It's painful and makes boobs look ugly. Once you get over engorgement there's always the cracked/bleeding nipples creeping around the corner. I hate breast feeding. If I didn't have a ridiculous notion that the world is coming to an end and formula won't be available I'd give it up right now! Luckily, however, there is technology out there that helps ease the pains. I've found a fabulous nipple shield (which has saved my cracked and bleeding nipples from feeling like I took a cheese grater to them) and I have a good pump so why am I complaining?

Truth is... I'm in love with my little baby Connor. He's so special. He has the most gentle, calm disposition and I'm thankful my Heavenly Father sent him here to me at this time. It's stretching me emotionally and physically to be a mother of two but when I sit and think about it, this is exactly what I want to be doing right now.

Truth is... With my last semester of school quickly approaching I'm having a hard time wanting to let my babes be taken care of by someone else. It's only for 16 weeks and will most likely go by quickly once it gets started, but seriously! I just wanna be done with the student phase of my life so I can move on!

Truth is... As frustrating as a two year old can be, I think this is my favorite stage that Carter has gone through. He is so full of life and energy! He has the best memory in the world and never forgets anything. He's in love with super hero's and pretends to be spider man on a daily basis. He can even almost sing the entire spider man theme song from the 1967 cartoon that's streaming on Netflix. He speaks incredibly well for a kid his age he easily speaks in full sentences (if not paragraphs) that are very articulate and understandable and never ending (he talks A LOT). He often tells me that he wants to be a doctor. Wouldn't that be cool?

Truth is... I need to get out of my house more and start enjoying this beautiful new area we live in. I've been stuck in the house basically since we've moved here. At first it was because I didn't know my way around (and I still don't) but now I'm just timid to leave the house with two munchkins. But, alas, I need to get over it. I'm a big girl and can adapt... I suppose.

Washington: Week 1.5

Well, we've officially lived in Washington a little over a week. So far it has been great! Luckily with a baby on the way and unpacking and having a two year old life has been too busy to really get home sick. I'm grateful for that every single day.

Anyway, we are renting a cute little house in a great neighborhood. We are close to church, schools, parks, shopping, the temple and pretty much anything else you could possibly need. Carter loves it here too! Sometimes when we drive away he whines and says, "No, I wanna go back to Washington!" I don't know if he fully understands that even when we leave the house we are STILL in Washington...

We attended our ward for the first time on Sunday and everybody was really nice. Our church building is basically in the same parking lot as the temple and I LOVE that. The temple here is small but beautiful. I can't wait to be able to go inside and attend a session.

Baby Connor is scheduled to be here next Tuesday October 23rd. I'm a little scared for the labor and delivery but I think that's natural. Being induced is ALWAYS risky but I'd rather risk it again than have to deal with the same kind of tearing that happened with my big boy Carter... (I just have to keep reminding myself of that.) My new doctor's name is Michele Johnson. I've met with her two times and really like her. She's very personable and was REALLY patient with me on the first visit. I went alone because it was Blake's first day of work and had to take Carter with me. He was really good... for a two year old but still, I'm sure patience was practiced and I appreciated it.

Carter's been expressing interest in potty training! I'm excited for him to be potty trained so we don't have two munchkins in diapers. Plus, he's almost 2.5 years old, it's about time. I think it will be a good activity for us to focus on once Connor is born since we probably won't be leaving the house much. Carter also has a new found fascination with Spider Man. He LOVES him. Luckily Netflix has a wide variety of Spider Man shows from the 60's that aren't too scary for my little super hero. Today he even went up to the wall and tried to climb it. He turned to me and said, "Mom, I wanna climb the house like Spider Man! Mom, I can't do it! Why can't I do it?" So I told him he needed sticky hands... Hopefully that doesn't come back to bite me!

Blake has been enjoying his new job. It has a lot of similarities to what he had been doing as far as managing goes but he's had to do a lot of learning about the healthcare field too. Luckily, he's very smart and remembers stuff like that really well. I'm lucky to be married to someone like him. He works so hard at work and then still actively participates in our family life when he gets home. I'm grateful for his sacrifices everyday. His children will grow up knowing that they were a priority in his life!

Anyway, life is good. It's better than I expected it to be. I'm actually kind of enjoying my time in Washington so far. I'm a little afraid to admit that and I'm not sure why. Rest assured, however, that my "home" will always be South East Idaho and I will always yearn to be back there again. I will update again once baby Connor is here and by then I will have some pictures ready as well.

Front Door

Soooo... Another household project. This time I tried to make-over our front door. It's a metal door and was originally dark blue. Here is a before picture (I'm really bad at before pics and so once again I had already started working on it.):

I primed the door with a primer made by Glidden called Gripper Grey. It's an indoor/outdoor primer used on and under dark colors. I primed it and let it dry over night. I don't know if the door was still too hot from the sun baking on it all day but the primer kind of crackled in a few places as it dried. This was really frustrating to me because I tend to lean towards the perfectionist side of things when it comes to painting and crackled primer is not perfect. Also, I think because the door was still warm from the day it was really easy to over-work the primer. It got tacky really quickly and if I accidentally went over it too much it kind of got gunky and weird. Anyway this is what it looked like after it was primed:

Next I painted it. I used the darkest shade of black that Behr makes in an outdoor paint and I got it in a high gloss (a big mistake). I love the color, and as always the Behr paint covered beautifully, but super glossy paint is really difficult to work with (as I learned the hard way). It would have turned out much better with a semi-gloss or even a satin finish. I've decided that I'll just stick with satin finishes from now on because they almost always look perfect when you're completely finished.

The shiny paint was difficult because if there was an inconsistency in a brush stroke or roller stroke it showed, even when it dried. This was annoying because making one long stroke from the floor to the top of the door is hard, especially being in the 8th month of a pregnancy. Oh well, this was a good learning experience for me. I did about four coats (is it cotes or coats? I dunno) and finally felt like it was "good enough". I wouldn't say that I failed miserably but I also wouldn't say that it was a huge success...Not my favorite project so far!

If you're going to paint your front door consider using something other than a high gloss paint... Unless you're going to get it painted at an auto-body shop then it will most likely look exactly how you want it: shiny and seamless. :)

How to be a good Stay-At-Home-Mom?

This summer has been a lot of fun for me and my little family. We've been crazy busy updating and cleaning our home that I haven't really had time to sit and think.

Except for this week.

Since we got the new carpet in our basement, we've been taking a chill pill from home projects and it's been wonderfully relaxing. However, I now have almost nothing to do (except the typical house work and chores). And I seem to be doing too much thinking and going a little bit nuts. This seems to happen every summer. I get bored, which leads to anxiety, which leads to any other number of unpleasurable Nakelle mood swings. And then I go back to school and order is restored. But school is quickly ending for me and I'm a bit worried that this insane feeling I have will become something that I experience all the time.

So my question is: How do stay-at-home-moms do it?

I have a wonderful 2 year old boy who is great and loving and fun and everything in between and another little boy in the oven. So, the possibility of being a SAHM (stay-at-home-mom) is quite a reality for me.

How do SAHMs not go crazy? How do they keep themselves from feeling run-down and worn out? How do they stay positive when their kids are sick and cranky? How do they make time for themselves when there literally is no more time in the day? How and who do they vent to when they need to vent?

Anyway... this is just what has been on my mind for a while. If you have any tips to pass along, please do!

Here are a couple of recent pictures of our summer:

 Carter was "helping" us organize all the baby stuff. I honestly can't believe how much of that stuff we have...

My cute family enjoying the coolness of the basement.

A quick shot of what the new carpet looks like. It's one of the in-stock carpets that Home Depot carries. It's called "Firework Explosion." So far it's been fabulous and I really love its color.

Kitchen and Vanity Details!

Kitchen and Vanity Details!

Ok, so the vanity and kitchen start out basically the same but the vanity has a few more steps because it's distressed. But basically here are the steps:
 

Kitchen:
1. I wiped the wood down so it was clean, then primed it with 2-3 coats. I used Zinsser 1-2-3 bonding primer. It bonds to slick surfaces so you don't have to sand the wood. Let it dry.
2. Then I painted it the color I wanted (which was Swiss Coffee and Broadway by Behr). Another 2-3 coats. Let it dry.
3. Then I used Minwax polycrylic in the clear satin finish as a top coat. I used 1-2 coats. I used more for places that will get used more. Let it dry.
For the center of the cabinet doors the hubby and I cut out bead board on the table saw and glued it in place with liquid nails. We caulked around the edges to make it look more finished, like they were made that way. We also put the bead board around the peninsula and I LOVE it. It's probably my favorite part. (see previous post for pictures)

Vanity:
1. Same as kitchen.

2. I painted a darker color all over, it was the darkest brown I could find by Behr. 1-2 coats. Let it dry.

3. Then I rubbed candle wax on all the corners and places I wanted to look old or have the dark color show through.
4. Then I painted the lighter color, Antique White by Behr. 2-3 coats. Let it dry.

5. Then I used a spoon (you can use any dull edge, I'd imagine) to scrape off the places where I had put the candle wax and wanted it to look distressed. The corners worked really well but some places I did have to use sand paper to help scrape away the paint. Make sure you wipe away all dust and paint particles before you do anything else.
6. Then I made a glaze out of the paint. It's what makes it look kind of dirty/old. All you do is water the paint down a lot, like 1 part paint to 3-4 parts water. Then I used a brush to put it on (it's really runny so work fast) then I wiped it off with a lint free cloth. It dries quickly so work in small portions.
7. Then I used the minwax polycrylic as a top coat. Let it dry.

I used Behr paint in satin finish and Minwax polycrylic in a satin finish too. For the bathroom it took less than a quart of paint for every color. I was also able to use less than one gallon of primer for both the vanity and the kitchen. I used normal paint brushes and foam brushes. It doesn't matter what kind you use. I preferred the normal brushes because it seemed like the foam brushes left tiny little air bubbles in the paint and I wanted it very smooth. So there it is! I didn't take step-by-step photos of the kitchen because I was too impatient. But the end result is fun! If you have any questions on products or procedures let me know!

Our Fixer-Upper

This winter/early spring we purchased our second home. We got a slamming good deal on it, but let's just say we got what we paid for... It was a wreck! The previous owners unfortunately had to foreclose on the property and it sat for a long time smouldering in its own filth. We had to yank out ALL of the flooring (I mean all of it) upstairs, seal the floors from odors, paint every wall (oh, did I mention remove the plaid wall paper that came off in 1 inch chuncks?) and every inch of the ceiling. Phew! And that's just the upstairs!

At first I HATED this house. I had serious buyer's remorse! It was stinky, gross, and straight up nasty to be in. We now have new flooring upstairs and with all the cleaning and new paint it's starting to become ours. Since we'll be making this home beautiful and wonderful and full of goodness I'm going to document our progress. Hopefully someone can learn from our mistakes and successes as we venture forward in saving this home. And hopefully if someone has already experienced some of the things we plan to tackle they will pass on their tips and tricks of the trade.

So. To begin... Even though we're kinda in the middle of everything:

This weekend my wonderful hubby and father started framing in the second bedroom in the basement, (which will give the house a total of four bedrooms) while my mom, my sister, and I got a head start on painting down there. I decided to do everything white for now just so we can see what it looks like to have clean walls (we cleaned them before painting but they were still yucky). Maybe later I'll add color to the walls but for now everything is going to be very white.
Today I went out on a limb and I'm trying a new product I found off someone's Pinterest post. It's a primer/sealer that I'm using on the oak vanity in the main bathroom upstairs. This vanity was/is in pretty bad shape and hopefully this little bit of effort will bring it back to life. What I plan to do is prime and paint it and maybe distress it so it looks a little antiqued. If this works I'll do the same to the vanity in the master bathroom as well. It's in better condition but I think it would be nice if they were the same/similar in style.
 Here's a picture of the before and finished product. We still plan to put new tile and a new counter top in this bathroom. I think overall this worked out really well.

 This was so much fun! Doing this gave me the confidence to do my whole kitchen. Here are some before/after pictures of that:

I was so excited to get started that I almost forgot to get before pictures (that's why it's a mess and some of the doors are already down).

So, things aren't 100% finished. We're still going to put in new flooring and lights and stuff. Decorating and everything will come later too. It was so fun to do this! I started on a Monday and finished the following Tuesday. Being about 5 months pregnant and having a two year old, I didn't have the time or patience to have my house messy for any longer than that. I'll eventually get around to the big grand reveal with details on all the products and procedures I used to get this amazing look but for now here is a brief update! I got this amazing idea from a blog I found on a Sunday evening right before bed and I started the very next day. Let me know what you think!

P.S. We get new carpet in our basement the Friday after the 4th of July! So a grand reveal of our cool new basement will be coming shortly!!