Belly Pics

Okay, so Nate said I should do this, even though I really hate these pictures. We haven't been very good about taking pictures up to this point, but there hasn't been all that much to document. All of a sudden, though, this stomach of mine is really starting to grow. In fact, I had my very first stranger ask me if I was pregnant yesterday. =)

These are backward chronologically, but I don't want to mess with it.

22 weeks

20 weeks


18.5 weeks

11 weeks

**My stomach was definitely bigger than normal and I thought people should be able to tell. Looking back, though, I realize that was nothing. =)

Baby Moody's Ultrasound

We had our first ultrasound this morning and it was a lot more exciting than I'd anticipated. We didn't find out the gender. There were a few people at my school who were speculating about me changing my mind and finding out, but they don't know me very well! =)

The diagnostic center was really nice. The technician was great, they made us a DVD, and they even include a 3-D ultrasound at 27 weeks for "free." (Baby has to fatten up a bit before the 3-D one...)

Baby measured 10 days ahead of schedule (Oct. 12), though chances are they won't change my due date. Due to the number of birthdays we know in the second half of October and early November, it's quite possible it'll be born on one of my family member's or friend's birthdays.

We're more excited than ever. Here's the video and slideshow they made us.

Kitchen Flooring

After months of walking on plywood, we finally have our kitchen floor done! Well, there are still some small details to take care of, but the majority of the work is done and it looks great. We used what's called "luxury tile." It looks like tile but is warmer and we could choose not to use grout with it. (It's a mixture of marble and polymers...not that that means much to me, but that's what the packaging says.) Both of us are very pleased with the outcome. We just finished this morning, so don't have our appliances back in the kitchen yet. (They've spent the past three weeks in the living room.) The kitchen is a wreck, too, but I figured if I didn't just take pictures now, it could be months before I got around to it. =)

We put hickory down in our dining area about two months ago, but apparently I don't have any pictures of that yet. I can't take one now, because most of that floor is covered with tools and such from this most recent project. It's okay. I'm feeling optimistic, because all of the big stuff is done and we should finally be able to put our house back together once and for all (or at least for
a long while...).

It's been awhile!

It has been too long since I've written an update about our progress! I've been enjoying cooking in our kitchen for about six weeks or so. All of the details in these pictures were finished weeks ago. Nate also installed really nice under-cabinet lighting, but I haven't been able to take a good picture of that yet. (Admittedly, I haven't tried very hard.)

We still have lots of small details to take care of, but haven't made much progress lately. Between our jobs and other responsibilities, it's hard to find the time to work on it sometimes. We haven't chosen flooring yet, and Nate needs to crawl under the house to hook up the water to the fridge and then go in the attic to vent the exhaust fan. Then there's the touch-up painting and final details to finish up. Most of the crown molding is done, but we can't finish until Morgan brings us up a little more wood. There MIGHT have been a mis-cut or two when someone was getting near the end and very tired. =) Once it's done, I'll get some more pictures posted...of the whole kitchen. Some of the pictures make it hard to get the overall "feel" of the area.

Our new knobs and pulls

An up-close look: the knobs have a swirl design on them

The pendant lights hanging above our counter . They are the same style as the light that hangs over our dining room table and the new light we put in the hallway between the kitchen and the laundry room (see next picture).

The hall light

Cooking our first meal in our new kitchen in early January. I hadn't been to the grocery store yet, so we had grilled cheese and tomato soup. Unfortunatlely , it was the last of the bread and I completely scorched the sandwiches. It hadn't occurred to me that I'd have to relearn how to cook thing on my new stove! =)

We have working appliances!

Exactly seven weeks after we tore out our old kitchen, I have a functioning kitchen again! Nate and I primered (is that a word?!) and painted two coats of paint ("tealight") on Thursday and Friday. I really like the color. You can't tell what it is in these pictures because we still don't have our lighting done. It's a basically a creamy yellowish color.

My dad came up on Friday night (while I was hanging out with my college roommates and having SO MUCH FUN!). He and Nate got the appliances in, put the backsplash and valence up, and did multiple other jobs. There's still a lot to be done (including choosing and installing flooring), but most of the major things are finished. As long as Nate wired the light cans correctly, that shouldn't take too long. Time will tell...

My "caffe brown" sink (yes, two f's) and fancy window sill

Christmas

Nate and I drove down to Bandon on Christmas Eve. What a thrill to be in a house with electricity and a kitchen! =) Here are a few pictures of our time with my family.

The Boyd Family

Anna's first Christmas as part of the family

Moses hides under a present while Maxwell looks on

My parents' huge, beautiful tree...I took this picture from upstairs

Freezing Rain

So, most of us probably don't want to even think about the storm anymore, but I wanted to post some of our ice pictures from Sunday, December 21. I didn't do it sooner because that's the day we lost our power for FOUR DAYS. It was not at all fun, though I tried to convince myself we were camping. No power meant no heat, and our house got down to 47 degrees. Yikes! We lost a lot of branches and a few entire trees, but thankfully none did much damage.

Frozen trees and our barbed wire fence

Our neighbor's poor trees leaning with the weight of the ice. Two of them fell.

Focus on the crazy amount of ice on that tiny little twig, not on the weird expression I'm making! =)