37 Weeks--Link to other blog

http://trialsoftrying.blogspot.com/2013/03/37-weeks-milestone.html

Here is a link to our other blog, about to essentially be closed out.  Check it out if you are interested in my latest post!

Amanda

Baby Shower #2

I know this is out of order, but here are some pictures of my second baby shower, hosted by my insanely creative and sweet friend, Crystal Baldwin.  I didn't have my camera at the last shower, so I am waiting on some shared pics from guests.  Don't worry; I'll post those as soon as I get them.  I just figure I'd better post this stuff before Eleanor gets here!

Showin' the belly at 33 weeks, I think.  I love the banner that my friend Crystal made! 

The invitation.  I love it!

Late night diaper thoughts!  Everyone wrote a message on a diaper for those midnight changings!

My favorite part!  Crystal asked everyone to bring a letter of the alphabet (she assigned letters) and held a contest.  People got so creative!  I couldn't choose a winner, so we took a vote.  The L made by my friend Aliza won.  She took an Alice and Wonderland book, cut it into the shape of an L, and pasted pictures from the book all around it.  It looks amazing, and took forever, I would imagine!  I  love how everyone got so crafty!  I still need a couple more letters, and then we will put these on the wall in the nursery.  I can't wait!

We decorated bibs.  Some of these were downright funny!

Reserved seating.  Awesome!

"Baby Shower", get it? 

Words of love for Nora.  And the flowers are pens!

Talking with my friend Aliza.  She took a lot of these pictures for me, and was the winner of the alphabet contest!

My aunt Kathy setting out some quiches.  It was a breakfast theme because, well, breakfast is best!

My friends Kisha, Crystal, and Nichole working hard to make everything perfect!  Thank you girls!

Crystal made the most delicious cupcakes!  They were (almost) too cute to eat, but I went for it anyways, and I'm glad I did!

Details.

I was so blessed to have so many friends and family there. 

Even if they hijacked the camera.

Decorating bibs. 

Getting ready to open presents.  I look like a kid on Christmas morning!  All except the pregnant belly part.  Kids don't have pregnant bellies. 

It's amazing how difficult it becomes to bend over to pick things up!  This is obviously at the beginning of opening presents, or else I would look really exhausted.  

All in all, it was a very nice baby shower.  Very pretty, and lots of fun!  My favorite part is just being with all the people who make me smile.  Thanks to everyone who helped me celebrate and helped us get ready for Nora!  I can't wait for her arrival!
Amanda

Nora's Closet (Link)

I posted this on my personal blog, but it technically belongs in this blog too.  My husband and I made a custom closet for our nursery, and it turned out great!  Check it out, if you haven't already... http://thedougs.blogspot.com/2013/01/noras-closet.html

<3 nbsp="" p="">Amanda

Nora's Closet

 We hate the closets in our house.  They aren't very big, and they all have this useless wire shelving that seems to be just randomly placed.  We are gaining a beautiful baby girl, but losing an entire office space that housed a lot of "stuff".  We are also gaining all of the "stuff" that comes with having a baby.  Clothes, toys, books, etc.  We knew something had to be done about the closet.  In fact, it's the one house project that I felt NEEDED to be done before Nora makes her arrival.  So we finally got the nerve to tackle it.

Here is the before... We hated the wire shelving, to bad we didn't get a picture with all the stuff and creative stacking that was involved.

First, I spent a lot of time on Pinterest looking at closet ideas and tutorials.  Doug had some ideas of his own, but I always feel like I have to watch videos and look at tutorials before I make a big decision.  Here are some tutorials I felt were helpful: Shanty-2-Chic, Pick Up Some Creativity,

Spackling all the holes...

We also had to figure out the layout.  The best thing I found on the web was at Easy Closets, a company who does custom closets.  You put in the measurements of your closet and the style of closet (reach-in, walk-in, etc.) and they suggest a design for you.  Then you can play around with it, adding shelves, removing shelves, etc. until you like what you see.  They can then send you a kit to build your custom closet.  But we are better than that.  We don't need a kit!  We can DIY (or DIO?)!  The kit they would have sent would have been nearly $400.  We were able to make our own for a fraction of the cost.  And I think it's even sturdier. 

Painting the closet.  We decided to go with a clean white.  After the paint dried, Doug drew the outline of the closet to show where the support boards would go.  

Buying the supplies.  1x2's for the supports.  We bought two big pieces of MDF board and had them rip it into 14" wide pieces.  Way cheaper than buying the pre-cut particle board, or buying the shelving boards that have the little holes in it. 

Cutting the boards.

He got reprimanded for not wearing safety goggles in the picture above.  Here is a picture to prove that safety is first!

After all the boards are cut.  Good job, Doug!  Sawdust for miles.

We pre-painted the boards.

Putting up the first support board.  Some tutorials say to glue these on, but we just screwed them into the studs.

The top board. 

Adding a shelf and making sure everything is level.

Shelves and support boards in place.  Just needs the vertical board.

All the shelves are in place.  Now we just have to finish painting and add the rods!

Completed but empty!

Amanda filling up the new closet! 

We have had a lot of hand-me-downs given to us, and we put some bins up for all the odds-and-ends. 

Doug did an AMAZING job, and I helped a little too!  The space is so much more useful.  We can fit 3x what we could fit in there before!  I feel much more at ease with things being organized.  We hope to re-do all of our closets soon.  But not too soon, lol! 

All done, except for the doors!!!

21 weeks and a look at Nora

Well, it's been a while since we have posted on this here blog.  I am now 21 weeks along, and everything is going very well.  The other night, Nora gave a kick big enough for Doug to feel!  Now he doesn't just think I'm crying wolf.  

Yesterday we had another ultrasound with the perinatologist.  My dad and Mel came with us this time.  Nora was all curled into a ball, so it was hard to see anything, but the tech was able to measure everything she needed to see, so that's all that really matters.  My favorite part was seeing her "little" feet!  The tech said she had Smurf feet and a fat belly.  

Eleanor's face!  She looks like Jello.

Smurf feet!  :)

How Revealing!

Well, we weren't expecting to know so soon, but we were lucky enough to find out the gender of our little baby!  Aaaannnndd....

It's a GIRL!!!! (Hence Doug's bright pink shirt, purchased exclusively for this event.)

We are so thrilled!  We would have been happy with either gender, but it is so awesome to know!  And we have a name for her! 

Eleanor Fern Standridge

We'll call her Nora for short.  Eleanor means "light", and she has already been a light in some really dark times.  Fern was my great-grandmother's middle name, and the main character in my favorite children's book, Charlotte's Web.

She is a healthy, active girl.  She was scratching her head, kicking her feet, and moving her mouth.   She's already a little chatterbox!

We had to have the ultrasound because I have an M antibody in my blood, which, if it crosses the placenta, can cause the baby to be anemic.  Thankfully, there is not much of it in my blood, so it could likely be a false positive, or not enough to have much of an effect on the baby.  They wanted to do an ultrasound to make sure she is growing and developing properly, which she is!  She weighs 7 oz., and is measuring the right size for how old she is. 

Her little profile.

You can see her cheekbones in this one.  Crazy!

This shows the bones of her leg and foot, as well as her arm and hand.

We can't wait to meet our little girl! 

2nd Ultrasound

We had our 2nd ultrasound last week and everything is looking good!  The baby even danced and waved at us!  For pics and more info, see our other blog, Trials of Trying.