I've been thinking...

So, I've been thinking about how I can be a bit more creative with my blogging.  I feel like my blog has gotten a bit lazy with only talking about my growing stomach and updating and decorating my house.  You thought I was going to say that I have an idea as to how to be more creative didn't you?  Well, I don't have any ideas!  That's the problem!  Maybe I'm reading too many deep meaningful blogs and it makes me feel like my little blog is all fluff.  Well, let's be honest, my little blog is fluff because right now that's all I can think about and this is pretty much a journal of my thoughts.  I have enough on my mind to have time to think about deep meaningful thoughts.  Does that sound bad?  Maybe it's these crazy pregnancy hormones...

Maybe I'll get a stroke of genius and think of wonderful words I can type.  But until then, you get to see pictures of Dakota.  Last weekend when Jonathan and I were at the Ballard's Outlet (boo) there was an outlet next door called Frontgate.  Now, I've never heard of this company before and I told J it must be because its stuff that isn't anywhere near our price range... not even the outlet prices were reasonable!  (Although they did have the most adorable outdoor furnishings!)  They had sections of the store that were an additional 50% off the outlet price so we wandered around and found ourselves in the pet department. 

Jonathan spotted pet beds.  Now, If I'm being honest here, I have to admit that Dakota is more than just a spoiled rotten dog.  He's a pest...with a lot of energy.  But he's my baby and I love him.  In the past we have given him cute dog beds and he immediately starts ripping apart the fabric as if it's a giant stuffed animal that he is trying to de-fluff.  But Jonathan really thought we should get one of these pet beds for Dakota.

I hesitate to say how much the dog bed was (because my mom informed me that she had multiple people not believe what I spent on {discounted} sheets {which was totally reasonable BTW!} after I answered a question to my cousin about our new bedding on facebook) but because I like to keep it real and I want you all to have a proper understanding of this dog bed, I will tell you.  The original price...wait...are you ready??? was $180!!!!  WHAT?? Seriously, who pays that for a dog bed??  We got it 50% off the clearance outlet price and spent $40 on it.  Which is actually more than I thought we should spend knowing he's never used a bed in the past.  But we bought it, came home and Jonathan vacuumed it off (the outlet stuff was a bit dirty) and let's just say that it is now Dakota's favorite sitting place.  It's absolutely adorable.  I find him in it in the morning before I leave for work and in the evenings he doesn't curl up with us anymore to watch TV.  He goes and lays on his own "couch".  I think this will be good for him when the new baby comes because he will have a place that is all his.  (It doesn't hurt that it has a perfect view out the window to the yard!) Anyway, I got a couple pictures of him curled up in his little bed. (Ok, so the bed looks giant compared to Dakota!)

"Don't take my picture, Ma.  I'm trying to get some rest!  It's been a stressful day!"

Here he is looking out the window. (Probably growling at the squirrels.  Even if he can't see them. He knows they are there!)

That's about as deep and meaningful as I can get right now.  Who knows what these hormones will do next.... maybe I will have some inspirational thoughts next week... guess you'll just have to wait to see!

16 Weeks

I think this is becoming a normal routine...I'm a day late in posting my 16 week belly shot.  Oh well.  I get a pass since I'm pregnant right?  RIGHT??  We actually took the pictures on the 16 week mark this week.  Go us!  But our camera is doing funny things and keeps taking blurry pictures.  It's driving me crazy!!  I thought that maybe it didn't like the white door background so we tried a different wall, and that was just as bad.  *sigh* oh well.  Gotta live with it (which means I stand for 15 minutes while J takes picture after picture saying "*snap* no, *snap* no, *snap* no"  you get the idea?)  All of that to say that half of the pictures my smile looks a bit forced...I can't imagine why! :)

I have finally made it to the 4 month mark!  Only 4 weeks until the big 2-0 week mark (It's almost like waiting for your 21st birthday...except not really at all) !!  I have an appointment next week to hear the heartbeat and I can't wait!!  I don't think my belly looks quite like a pregnant belly, but it is continuing to grow.  (I had a couple people at work tell me yesterday that they could notice my belly getting bigger - or maybe that shirt was just too tight and I should retire it for the next 6 months.)

According to What to Expect, baby is the size of a Turnip (as if I really know how big a turnip is.  Could they not find a more normal veggie/fruit to compare it to?) and about 5 inches long.  Baby is starting to grow toenails and eyelashes.  How cute!

In other news: I had a dream last night that I went running.  I think my body is trying to tell me that it needs to be more active.  I had to give up running at the very beginning because it made me so nauseous so now that I'm not sick anymore, I may try to get a slow jog in!  We'll see how that goes...

UPDATE: Since writing this post, I talked to Billie and she came over and we went running together!  What a good running partner!  We went 2 miles (although I did have to walk at one point) and I feel great!  My legs felt like they were bricks, but you have to expect that after not running for 3 months!  We're going to get on a normal routine for as long as it feels good to me!  Yay!

Meant To Be?

Yesterday Jonathan and I took another trip up to Cincinnati to return and exchange some items at Ikea and then stop by some outlets.  Poor guy just wanted to stay home and work in the yard, but he was a good sport.  We did a really quick run through (didn't even take a cart!) at Ikea for the two things we needed.  Then we went through the clearance corner.  Do you all check the clearance corner when you're at Ikea?  You can find some great deals there.  Well Saturday they had bins of plastic bags of random textiles.  Well, I know they have some cute fabric by the yard and also some cute pillow covers so I started looking through the bags for some fabrics I could use for sewing.  Unfortunately the clear bags were sealed so you couldn't really see what you were getting.  So I settled on a bag that I could tell had a fleece throw and some brown and white fabric.  I thought that the fabric would be great for a purse because I thought I remembered seeing it somewhere in the store and that it was cute and modern.  So for $15 I left with a bag-o-surprises!

J and I stopped at the Ballard's Design outlet and let's just say I was underwhelmed.  It was more like a scratch and dent warehouse and they didn't have many textiles.  We ended up not going to the Pottery Barn outlet because I hadn't done my research and when we put the address in the GPS it was over an hour away from where we were.  So we ended up just going to the Pottery Barn in the mall there and picked up our Duvet!  (That same mall had a Crate and Barrel and also a Restoration Hardware store but we didn't find anything there.)  Unfortunately Pottery Barn did not have the shams or the sheets that matched.  What I do know is that the price for the duvet in the store was $100 less than online!  WHOOHOO!  I love a good deal!

We got home and I opened up my bag-o-fun from Ikea and much to my utter delight I pulled out a KING size DUVET!!  Wha??  And the matching brown shams.  I could not believe it.  The duvet itself at Ikea alone is $60 and we got that, the shams, a blanket and also two black curtains (which will be used for sewing) all for $15!  This pattern is one that had caught my eye in the store last month when we were there but I thought that it might be a little too wild and non-traditional for me.

So here's the deal, we now have 2 duvets!  I'm going to be using a white bed skirt so should I keep both and just switch them out when I feel like a change?  What do you think of them?  I think after looking at the Ikea duvet, that the Pottery Barn one looks quite boring.  J is leaning toward the the Ikea one (possibly because of the $$).

Here is the Ikea set:

Here is the Pottery Barn duvet (don't have the shams yet):

I do like the way that the PB one is a little lighter.  If we decide to keep this set, I'll have to order the matching shams and bedding.  We're on our way to a bedroom makeover!  Yay!!

15 Weeks 2 Days

I hit the 15 week mark this past Tuesday.  I had a late meeting at work so we took belly pictures at 15w1d yesterday, but I was uninspired to write a post so here it is...2 days late!  I know you were all sitting there wondering where my weekly belly picture was.  Your week was not complete without it.  I just know it so don't tell me otherwise!

I feel like my belly is growing way faster than it should be when I look at other prego people, so I'm trying not to compare myself to other people!  I'm still in between fitting into normal clothes and maternity clothes.  Jeans with a below-belly panel are my best friend and I'm loving that the current style is blousy shirts because so far that's about what I can wear.  (I would never wear blousy stuff before I was prego because they would make me look pregnant so now I can actually wear them!)

This week, baby is the size of an avocado (or apple depending on which website you look at) (4-5 inches).  It's a-growin'!  All the baby websites say that their little ears can start hearing this week!  And their little eyes, while still shut, can start to sense light.  How fun is that!  I'm going to need to get a sweet little crib sound machine that I can start letting baby listen to!

We still have 2 more weeks until our normal doctor's appointment and it can't come soon enough because 1) I'll get to hear my baby's heartbeat again! and 2) I'll get to schedule the big ultrasound appointment and will have a date to countdown to for when we know the sex of the baby.  I'm so overwhelmed with choosing a name that we are waiting until we know the sex so we can have 50% less names to choose from!  I want to name this child!!  Once we know the sex and a name, my nursery makeover extravaganza will begin!! :) (Which means the rest of the house will go to shambles...again reiterating the need for me to finish the rest of the house in the next 4 weeks!)

Our weekend in a nutshell...or a novel!

First of all, thank you all for your suggestions on my last post!  Heather recommended Restoration Hardware (which I have heard of before but never even thought of!) and there was some really cute stuff there!  Unfortunately the style I liked was on sale so all of the king duvets were sold out!  Bummer!  I think the current verdict is to get the Pottery Barn set.

Our weekend was quite full so I'll try to give a brief overview...

Friday night Jonathan and I walked our legs off until I had literally hit a wall and was "over it" looking for bedding and curtains and running errands.  We stopped at Home Depot on our way home and found drawer pulls for the kitchen.  The ones at Lowe's all had designs and I wanted plain knobs for the kitchen, so I was pumped when we found them at HD and found a package of 25 for $30 (instead of paying $3 per knob!) Whoohoo!  While we were at HD, J wanted to show me the deck table set that he had found.  I had wanted a tile top table and he wanted a glass top table, but he found a tile table he liked.  It's a Martha Stewart and was on sale.  We had a 10% off coupon for Lowe's and asked HD to match it and guess what!  They matched it!  All we had to do was ask!  So, even though we came home without bedding and curtains, we came home with a table and chairs:) HA!  Told you!  Decorating ADD!

Saturday morning I woke up at 7:30 (seriously!!).  I'm having issues sleeping in lately which is totally not me!  When i got out of bed, I came downstairs to Jonathan already working in the kitchen!  He had switched out the door pulls!!  Then he put the patio set together by 9:30!  He's a hard worker!
Here's the before/after shots of the kitchen.  It's a subtle change, but the subtle changes are the ones that make the big difference!

Then we went to Janine and Josh's couple's baby shower!  We had a great time.  Since J and J moved away, we have barely seen them so it was great hanging out and having a good time.  You can click over to Janine's blog to see tons of pictures of the dessert spread and adorable decorations!  Lindsy went all out hosting!  Here's a fun picture of Janine and I rubbing each other's bellies:)  It's fun to be prego with her after we both struggled with infertility.  It just seems like we understand each other in a different way!

Sunday after church we went to Eli's baby dedication at church.  Our church only does baby dedication services once a year so there were TONS of babies.  They had two different services and the service Eli was dedicated in had at least 90 babies dedicated!  Wow!  He looked so precious and never cried!:)  Then in the evening Billie and Derek, Jonathan and I all went to Tim and Lindsy's house to help them eat all of the leftover shower desserts.  YUM!  Jonathan got a little cuddle time in with Miss Kennedy:)  She loves her Uncle Jonathan:)  It's precious!

Tonight I got a wild hare to make a casserole!  I never fix food like that, but Kelly was talking about poppy seed chicken last week, so I just HAD to make it.  I wish your computer screen had smell-o-vision!  It smelled amazing and was so yummy.  Reminded me of childhood!  And now I have leftovers for the rest of the week:)  (Kinda like my craze yesterday to make pasta salad so I could take it to work for lunch all week!)

After dinner Jonathan put my new drapery rod up.  Did you all know that Lowe's has an enormous selection of curtains and rods??  Crazy!  Anyway, I had picked these curtains up from Pier1 a week ago and wasn't sure if I loved them or not, but I think I like them!  My mom asked for a picture of them so here is one: (please disregard the decorations lying on the ground!)

If you made it to the bottom of this novel then you deserve a reward!  Since I don't scrapbook (although after seeing a Cricut I want to be a scrapbooker) I use this blog as a scrapbook so I can remember all of this stuff down the road!

Decorating HELP!

Bloggy friends....I need you!  I keep stressing about decorating my house.  I feel like I have some form of decorating ADD.  I go from thinking about what I should hang over the mantle in the family room, to where I can find the drawer pulls I need for the kitchen, to what drapes I should hang... well, in every room.  Then I start thinking about new bedding and what color our bedroom should be...which will in turn decide what color to paint our master bathroom (which needs to be decided before my parents come to visit and help paint again in about 3 weeks!).  Then there is the guest bathroom that has hand painted frogs on the wall that desperately need to be painted over and I don't know what color!!!  I don't want to be a house full of beige!  I'm sure none of these crazy feelings have anything to do with pregnancy hormones!

But seriously, I do need to choose some bedding.  I enjoyed the bedding that we had from our wedding.  It was cheap Target stuff and let's just say it's seen better days so we need to move on.  It was brown, green, and tan (imagine that! do I have a problem with brown and green??) and even had cute polka dot sheets!  So our towels and accessories for the bathroom and bedroom are the same brown and green color.  I can't decide if I'm tired of the brown/green or if I'd rather keep the colors so I don't need to switch out our blanket, decorations, towels, etc.  So as you can tell, I have NO CLUE what I want!  I see pictures in magazines and online that I think are pretty and it seems like lately all bedding is white.  I love that idea, but I have a little dog that likes to sleep with us and although he doesn't shed, I just don't like the idea of having a white bed.  I LOVE Tracy over at Beneath My Heart's bedroom makeover!  If you haven't seen it, you have got to see the beautiful bedroom she put together on a very small budget!

When we were at Ikea, I bought a duvet because they have great prices on that stuff.  So I'm looking for a duvet cover (which in turn I think is limiting me in my quest for the perfect bedding).  Here are the places that I have either gone online to see or in the stores... Macy's, Dillards, Kohls, Bed Bath & Beyond, Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, CB2, Ballards, The Company Store, and West Elm.  Maybe it's me?  Why is it that I cannot find anything I love?  I found a set at Kohls.com that I liked from Vera Wang but it's not carried in the store and then I saw that it was Dry Clean Only!!!  Um...no.  I don't care how pretty you are, you need to go in my washing machine!  I wanted to find a set that had fun matching sheets, throw pillows and a bed skirt and that seems to be few and far between.

So far, here is the front runner from Pottery Barn (it's even on sale!):

It's kind of plain, but I like it and I'd like to get the center pillow monogrammed.  But the only bed skirt that they have to go with it is white.  Will that look ok?  Is this too boring?  Do I need to do something unsafe and get something a little more daring?  The good thing about this is that I could get some different colors of accent pillows.  What color would you paint the walls??  Go for something different? Light blue?  I don't think I can paint another room of my house green... And I don't think I want a brown bedroom so I can't think of any other colors!!  Ack!!  Please help!!!

I'll be forever grateful for any insight or any other websites!  In the meantime, Jonathan and I will be walking our legs off going to TJ Max, Burlington, Macy's and any other place we can think of tomorrow in search of some sanity!  Hopefully I won't be too worn out for Janine's baby shower!! :)

More Lights!

So that list about my hubby?  Yeah, you can add plumber to it.  We had a broken toilet and he had to replace the whole flushing mechanism (as if I know what I'm talking about).  Thankfully he's a fast learner and looks a lot of this home improvement stuff up online to see directions and he's so OCD that he does things right and always does a good job!  I'm so blessed to have a wonderful husband!

Monday night he fixed the toilet, switched out a faulty shower head and then took down this ugly light fixture from the bedroom. (This has GOT to be from the 50's and our house was built in the 90's!! The funny thing is that multiple people that have seen this fixture and the matching one in the nursery have mentioned that they look like they are from the 50's so it's not just me that thinks that!)

He replaced it with this fan!  A bit more goes into installing a fan than a normal light fixture, but it was necessary! (You're welcome mom and dad!)

Then Tuesday night, he took this lovely fan out of our master bedroom (please do not look at the wall color or the lack of decorations in the background - this is one room that we have yet to paint and decorate!  I'm focusing on the main floor right now!)

And he installed this fan!  On a shorter pole so that it doesn't cramp the room as much.  What's the point of having a vaulted ceiling if the fan is so low that subconsciously it feels like a low ceiling?

And one of my favorite things is that all 6 of these old brass light fixtures that we have removed will not be going in the garbage.  I will be taking them to my church to donate to a ministry we have called Helping Thru Him.  HTH takes donations like goodwill and then gives them to people in need.  I called and sure enough they take light fixtures and they said that they will find someone to give our old light fixtures to.  They aren't my style, but they work and I'm sure that a brass ceiling fan will be a wonderful thing to a family in the heat of summer!

14 Weeks

Today marks 14 weeks and we actually managed to do my belly shot today!  Yay for us!  My pregnancy symptoms seem to be getting better.  I don't usually feel nauseous anymore (except when I get overly hungry and if that happens...watch out!).  I still feel tired a lot, but I have a feeling that also has to do with the fact that we are running busy all weekend and every weeknight with trying to get this house in order.  (I am proud of us for getting so much accomplished in 3 short weeks!  The only boxes that have yet to be unpacked are boxes of books for our book shelves that I haven't decided where I want.)  But let's be honest...we have a deadline of 5 1/2 months to have all of our home improvement stuff done!

Baby is the size of a lemon (3 inches) right now and somehow that lemon is making me bust out of all of my normal clothes!  Because of multiple requests I'm posting my 9 week picture and my 14 week picture to show the difference!

9 Weeks

14 Weeks

It is amazing what a difference 5 weeks makes!  I think I look way further along than I am!! 

SWAGGER WAGON

Jonathan was sent this video from a co-worker who said that this is what his life was about to turn into.  I watched it and could not stop laughing.  Hope you enjoy.

My husband, the Electrician

Over the past couple weeks my husband has put on a few different hats.  He's been a cleaner, a painter, a builder of furniture, a gardener, and an electrician.  He's absolutely wonderful!!  Some of the first items that blaringly needed to be replaced were all of our light fixtures and ceiling fans.  This house was decked out in shiny brass fixtures (good for you if you like shiny brass...personally my eyes practically start bleeding when I have to look at them).  And don't think I'm not eyeing all of those doorknobs and hinges!  Those will be another project.

Anyway... we finally settled on 3 ceiling fans.  One to replace the brass living room fan.  One to replace our brass bedroom fan.  And one to replace the hideously ugly light fixture in the guest bedroom.  I know ceiling fans aren't the prettiest decorations and I'd love to have a chandelier in our bedroom to dress it up, BUT I have to sleep with a fan on and I figure our guests do to.

I couldn't find a chandelier for our living room that I liked at Lowe's or Home Depot so I went to a specialty lighting store.  I was a bit overwhelmed with the massive selection but the workers were super helpful and they had a HUGE variety of styles in all price ranges.  I found a chandelier that was 50% off and actually cheaper than the ones at Lowe's and I think it's totally original and perfect in our dining room!  I may have to go back there in a couple months when we're ready to switch out or kitchen light.

After Mother's Day lunch with Jonathan's mom, he got right to work on the living room fan and then on the dining room chandelier!  Poor thing.  His arms were about jello after those two.  I told him he needed a break, so we ran to Lowe's for more supplies and then we stopped at Graeter's for ice cream!!  If you have never had Graeter's you are soo missing out.  They are from Cincinnati and the chocolate chips in the ice cream are about as big as a chocolate candy bar!  We sat outside and ate our ice cream and enjoyed our Sunday evening!

Living room fan - before

Living room fan - after 

The old dining room chandelier

New chandelier

Enjoying our Ice Cream (I could barely get our faces in the picture let alone the ice cream cones!)

When we got home, I talked Jonathan into leaving the other two ceiling fans for another day.  We needed some down time tonight!  I hope you all had a great weekend!  Time for me to relax...

"Um...I own this house..."

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you've already heard this story, but it was just too funny to not share in detail!

Last night we were babysitting Kennedy, so she, Dakota and I were on the couch watching Disney princess movies, while Jonathan was de-cluttering the house of boxes, tools, papers, etc.  (BTW, it looks so much nicer now!  The only clutter is the many decorations that are scattered around that don't have homes!)  Our doorbell rang and I figured it was one of the neighbors.  We have found that our neighborhood is the friendliest and we love it!  Our next door neighbors go to our church and are really sweet and after I heard a man's voice I thought it was our neighbor. 

Jonathan walked back into the living room and said... "Please tell me you just heard that."  Um no I didn't, I have a Disney sing-along going, a 2 year old and a dog in here.  He went on to tell me that there was some councilman going door to door and when Jonathan answered the door he asked Jonathan if his PARENTS were home!?!?  How funny is that.  So Jonathan kinda played along and said, "No."  The guy was like, "Well, are you of legal voting age?"  Now seriously, could he really think my 29 year old husband was not yet 18???  Jonathan said, "Well, I hope so since I own this house."  He said the guy was stunned.  He had to feel soo dumb.  He told Jonathan that he would have carded him at a bar.  Um yeah, if you didn't think he was 18!  (Jonathan even had a day's worth of stubble, with usually makes him look a bit older!) The guy had enough guts to ask us to put a sign in our yard tho!! We were rolling!

Since Jonathan works at the University, he has multiple times been mistaken for a college kid.  Which is a bit funny.  One meeting he was going to, he was told that classes were in the next room!  Hello...have you looked to see what scruffy stuff college guys wear?  Jonathan is always dressed like GQ.  Pretty sure a college guy wouldn't wear button up shirts and dress pants to class.  But at least he's being mistaken for a college kid... A high school kid?  Seriously?  Now, that's a bit extreme!

I guess I'm toast!  When we're old and grey, Jonathan will still have that baby face and I will be wrinkly and old-looking:)

13 Weeks 2 Days

Today was my 13 week doctor's appointment!  To say that I was a bit nervous would be an understatement.  I really hope that I'm not that nervous about every appointment.  I know that I shouldn't be nervous because God is in control, but my human nature takes over every time!

Lindsy stopped by work today to visit with me because she was at the church so we decided to go get lunch.  We went to Panera and it was delish!  We decided to sit outside since it was an absolutely beautiful day.  Does anyone else get annoyed that Panera pretty much has shot glasses for water glasses?  Well, I HATE that and since we were sitting outside I decided to order a pop (non-caffeinated of course) so I wouldn't have to walk inside a billion times for refills.  I maybe have one can of pop a week so I was definitely splurging!  Anyway, once we got to my appointment the nurse asked if I had ingested a lot of sugar recently.  OOPS!  So then they had to bring a glucose meter in to check to make sure my blood was ok.  Of course it was fine.  I tried to assure them that my body is not used to having a sprite in the middle of the day.

My doctor had been called to an emergency C-section so the nurse practitioner saw me.  She was really sweet so that was just fine.  Anyway, she got the doppler out and it took FOREVER for her to find the heartbeat.  She said that it's pretty normal at this size.  But there were all these noises and she said that the baby was moving all around and she couldn't get it to stand still long enough to hear the heartbeat.  Oops!  Too much sugar!  OK, so point taken... I will not drink a glass of pop before my next appointment!  HA!  But, we did finally get the heartbeat and it was a fast and strong heartbeat!  YAY!  Hopefully soon I'll be able to start feeling all of those movements!  I've gained 5 pounds since my last appointment a month ago, so I guess I'll take that.  The nurse said that was just fine!

My next appointment will be at 17 weeks so we again will not have an ultrasound, but the next appointment after that will be the BIG appointment so we can find out if it's a boy or a girl!!!

We again did my belly picture two days late.  Here it is!

This post is for my mom...

My mother has been bugging and nagging me nicely requesting that I post pictures of my new dining room table.  Jonathan got the table and chairs built on Monday night and I put the covers on the chairs.  We were worn out by the time we were finished and yesterday we were busy so today I finally took a picture of our new table.  It's quite ginormous!  It didn't look so big in the showroom.  We're going to have to rearrange the buffet so that we can actually use the end chair (And that is before the two leaves are in it!) :).  But I love how it turned out.  Plain straight lines and dark wood are my favorite!  Hopefully soon I will place a table center on it and get some drapes and the place will be looking good:)

Tomorrow we get to hear baby's heartbeat!  I'll post a belly pic then!!

BTW, is it me or has it been forever since I've posted about something other than my growing belly or my house??  Please don't answer that...

Ikea Weekend

Jonathan and I spent the day at Ikea on Saturday.  A couple years ago we updated a bunch of our fixtures and household things in our old house from there and the stuff was really affordable, so since we needed a bunch of fixtures for our new house we thought we'd take a day and go up there.  It's about an hour and 45 minute drive so it's not horrible.  Well we went through the store and had a full cart and that was without any of the furniture we had found.  So we checked out with all of the small things (we always stock up on energy efficient light bulbs and batteries because the prices are soo good) and loaded them into the back of my SUV.  We did have some decorations and rugs, so we decided that we wouldn't be able to fit any furniture. 

We went back in the store to write down all of the item numbers so we could have them for next time and then we just got a crazy idea to go ahead and rent a van (they have that service there) and get everything that we were thinking we might want in the future so that we won't have to rent anything again.  So yes, I now have a dining room set...well two pieces to the set are up and the table and six chairs are still in flat boxes:).  Whoohoo for that since I didn't think that would happen for years!  And we got a mattress set!  We've needed a new mattress since we got married and we HATE to mattress shop, so we haven't gotten a new one.  This was one thing on my priority list since I figure that I'm going to have enough problems sleeping while pregnant.  The price was surely right on their mattresses.  Let's hope it is as comfy as it seems!  Here are some pictures from the weekend.

This was last night around 10:30 pm unloading the rental van to get back on the road to return the van and get my car!

Yes, that is a king sized mattress shoved in there!  A lot of boxes = lots of work!

We didn't get back home until 2:30 AM and it was raining, so I got this picture as we unloaded this morning.

The kitchen light above the table - before... (I couldn't take it down fast enough - gold is not me!!!)

My wonderful hubby hard at work!  Not my dream light fixture, but it was cheap and will work until we find something we love!  Anything had to be better than builder grade gold stuff:)  (please don't look at the mess in the background!!)

My laundry closet light fixture - before... this thing was soo old and barely gave off light!

Seriously...is this from the 60's?

After Jonathan's handiwork!  Looks nice and gives off tons of light!  Makes me want to do laundry... um...yeah.

The buffet...um...looks like a LOT of pieces!  A bit overwhelming!

It's starting to look like something!!!

Yay!  Finished!  I LOVE it!  (Don't mind the mis-matched decorations and the plastic wrapping still on the mirror.  Had to get a bit of the mirror effect:)

China cabinet finished!  LOVE it!!!

Installing the legs on the box springs!

We still have a dining table, 6 chairs and a desk to put together, plus two mirrors to hang.  But I'm so thrilled with everything we got accomplished today!  YAY!  What a great weekend.  But, will we ever just have a relaxing weekend when something doesn't need to be done any time soon??