Two Months Old

Kevin,


Congratulations!  You are now two months old.

The past two months have been a bit crazy and we've become accustomed to a new normal.  Sometimes I see the situation through the eyes of someone else - an aunt or friend - and I realize how strange our situation is but regardless we are so lucky to be here and so proud of your progress.

Look how much you've grown since your birth day.  By one month you had just started eating and gaining weight and now you are just about to grow out of your micro-preemie clothes.  Real preemie clothes now fit - and that hat?  That's a newborn hat!  You're going to read this one day and not get why that deserved an exclamation point but it so deserved one - if not more than one - I'm showing restraint here.


Your Aunt Katie is visiting from Spain so I let her hold you tonight.  Your Nana McCluskey was the first grandparent to hold you two Saturday's ago and now Katie is the first aunt/uncle to hold you - Liz would have gotten the honor on Saturday but the timing didn't work out.

Kevin, I love you dearly.  I'm looking forward to so many firsts and to the normal parts of parenthood.  I can't wait until you are off the ventilator and we can hear you cry.  I'm sure you have an ear shattering cry given the faces you make and how purple you become when you are upset.


I love you,
Mommy

Linen Closet Makeover

Sometime in the next few years I have a not so secret plan to gut our only bathroom and sections of the adjoining rooms to create a master bath/closet and a second bathroom.  In the meantime, I'm making minimal changes to make the space more attractive and functional for as little money as possible.


Project #1 was our linen closet which went from this...

To this...

Steps:
1.  Purge the closet.  Donate or recycle the unnecessary crap.

2.  Clean.
3.  Prime and Paint.  I used leftover paint samples in fun greenish yellow shades for the rear wall of the closet.  My goal was to smile whenever I open the closet door and this paint job makes me smile.

4.  Cover old shelves with shelf paper - I used a fun yellow and white pattern from Home Depot.  This picture shows the flaw in the shelving - the anchor seems to have slipped.  Yes, I should fix this but it's a bit beyond my abilities.  The space functions well so I'm not spending anymore time or money on it at the moment.  May revisit if I get the rest of my To Do list done.

5.  Organize linen closet items into an assortment of repurposed and new storage containers.  I have to confess that I did a bit more purging while putting items into the storage containers.

Half of the containers shown in the after picture are EMPTY!


Sources:
Paint - Base color is Glidden's Pale Shadow.  Happy greenish yellow shades are Benjamin Moore Ginseng Root, Hawthorn Green and Greenmount Silk.  Trim is Glidden Raindrops.
Storage Containers - Ikea Kassett boxes, Skubb storage boxes.  The green bins are from Target a few years ago.  The yellow box with the green lid contained a gift.
Contact Paper - Con-Tact Grip Prints in Yellow


Ahhh, how pretty!

Next up:  The Bathroom Vanity...

Elements of Kevin's Room

Since I had Kevin rather unexpectedly early I had not prepared his bedroom - or even registered - so now I am trying to pull it all together before my maternity leave ends in mid-March.  Kevin won't be out of the NICU by mid-March but I'll want to spend my non-working/sleeping hours with him, not pulling together a nursery.

Bedding is The Morning Zoo from The Land of Nod.


Crib is Baby Mod Modena in Navy from Walmart.  Originally I was planning to use a lovely crib from a friend but I was gravitating to a modern style and the crib is definitely not modern.  Since the Walmart crib is $250 I can afford to pass of the free crib.


The dresser I bought for $28 (not a typo) from a local estate liquidator.  I will repaint it to be less girly and post pictures of the before and after.


The lamp is from Urban Outfitters.  I purchased two of these a few years ago hoping to use them in a baby's room someday.  We moved three times since I purchased the lamps and one of the shades was damaged in a move.  I just found a Etsy seller who will recover the shades since it has been impossible to find a new shade that will work.  

Ha!

I started this blog for two reasons.  First, I want to capture the changes we make to our home.  Second, I want an outlet for my thoughts on and about being a mom.  


My husband and I put an offer in our our first home on March 13, 2010.  The offer was accepted and we were so excited.  We had our home inspection the next weekend and then drove to my in-laws house to show them pictures of the new house and tell them that we were expecting a baby in November.  


Happy, happy, joy, joy!


Life said Ha!


The following week I found out I'd had a missed miscarriage.  Bummer.  But we dealt with it and regrouped for a second try with our infertility clinic that summer (yeah, I'm skipping over the infertility part, there were issues, blah blah blah, did an IUI and it worked, did another in June 2010 and that worked too - we aim to distort medical statistics).  


In May 2010 we settled on our house.  That same day my sister, Katie, and her fiance, Miguel, arrived home for their wedding and we moved.  Settled, moved and visitors all on the same day - yup!  Luckily soon-to-be brother-in-law saw the craziness in the situation and decided they should stay elsewhere.  Bless your heart, Miguel!


Crazy unpacking and painting ensued that first week along with the wedding planning (which was that Friday - a week to the day after Kate and Miguel arrived home) and a baby shower and then I collapsed and hired a painter and gave up on decorating for a few months.  


During those months I got pregnant again and did a very good job doing the minimal around the house - knowing I'd go nuts nesting towards the end of the second trimester.


Once again, Life said Ha!


Thanksgiving 2010 was viability day - 24 weeks.  About 60% of pregnancies that make it to 24 weeks result in a living, breathing baby.  For some reason I had this day engraved in my mind after clearing the hurdle of the first trimester and the CVS test.  I had big plans for Thanksgiving weekend - the nesting urge had kicked in and I was determined to get lots of projects done by Christmas.  I was hoping to host my family for Christmas morning and I was going to be the uber-hostess.


The day before Thanksgiving I ended up in the hospital due to high blood pressure, I was discharged but was back again the next day.  Discharged again but this time with a diagnosis of mild pre-eclampsia and placed on bed rest.  This didn't stop my nesting instinct - just complicated matters while helping me focus on the minimum that needed to be done before baby arrived.  You know where this is going.


Ha!


I lasted two weeks on bed rest at home before ending up in the High Risk Maternity unit.  Just as I was feeling confident that I'd last in the High Risk unit when my liver enzymes went nuts and I had an emergency C-Section.  I was 26 weeks, 4 days pregnant.  Kevin Patrick arrived at 12:48pm on December 14, 2010.


Lots of drama, tears, worry, joy, prayers of need and prayers of thanksgiving (and this is coming from a borderline agnostic).  Now it's February and I'm going to get this house in shape in time to bring my little boy home  whenever that time may come.


Life don't you dare say Ha!