Home Improvement

So it has been a while since my last post and I have been very busy.  Well, I guess I haven't actually been that busy, but it feels like I have.  Ever since we found out we were pregnant Jordan and I have been in the constant process of prepping the house for baby and fixing all of the things that we probably won't have the time or money to fix after she comes.  At the beginning of the summer we planted a lot of flowers in the front yard, and pulled up some really ugly shrubs in the backyard and planted a garden there.  The garden has actually turned out better than I expected, and we had squash, beans, tomatoes, and watermelon grow in it.  

Squash is to the left, beans, tomatoes, watermelon.

We also fenced in the backyard and installed a doggy door so that Scooby would be able to go in and out on days we both had work.  However, we underestimated his jumping abilities, and it turns out he is able to jump over the 5 foot fence.  He doesn't do it when we are at home, but he has really bad separation anxiety and when we leave he wants to find us.  One day he jumped out when we were both at work and I was scared he would run away, but when we got home he was laying by the front door and there were paw prints on my car from where he had jumped up to peep in the windows.  Jordan's parents were nice enough to send us an electric fence this past week, so we plan to line our fence with that and hopefully he will learn not to jump.  Other than that, the fence has been wonderful.  It makes the yard look so much bigger, and it will be nice to have a fenced in yard when Cora is old enough to play in it.

The fence

The escape artist

We have also done a lot of work to the inside of the house.  The biggest and our favorite new feature is definitely our floors.  The house had carpet flooring that was about 8 years old, so it was time for some upgrading.  We had the carpet ripped up in the living room along with the laminate in the kitchen and installed some hardwoods, which have been WONDERFUL.  They are easy to keep clean, durable, spill proof, and they look great.  We also had the carpet in all the bedrooms replaced.  The new carpet is mostly tan, but it is the multicolored carpet that has the little dots of different colors in it so that it hides dirt really well.  The last big living room/kitchen purchase was a new kitchen table.  The old one was smaller and had a glass top, so we opted for a more durable wooden one that is still relatively small, but it has a self-storing leaf so that we can pull it out to seat 6-8 people if needed.

Hardwoods in the kitchen

New kitchen table

Living Room with the new floors and rug

Jordan also recently replaced the bathroom sink faucets and shower heads.  I was skeptical of his plumbing capabilities but he watched "how to" youtube videos and managed to do it all by himself.

And last but not least, we got new bedroom furniture!  All of my bedroom furniture went into the baby's room, and all Jordan had was a tiny little dresser and night stand, so there was no room to store stuff in the master bedroom.  We got a new headboard/footboard, dresser, chest of drawers, and two night stands.  It looks great and I was really excited to get my clothes out of the baby's room and have a place to put them in our room.

New bed!  It is really nice to finally have a headboard and two night stands.  You can also see the carpet that is now in all three bedrooms.

Chest of drawers... along with the most amazing fan I have ever purchased.  It cools the air as it blows it and I keep it pointed straight at me while I sleep.

Dresser... and a lot of extra storage space 

Our recent purchases have also taught me that Jordan can pretty much sell anything on Craigslist.  He posted a bunch of things we needed to get rid of... a table, rug, dresser, night stand, a weight bench, and a bookshelf and sold all of it for about the same price he paid for all of it, if not more.  He sold the bookshelf for $50 when he only paid $10 for it at a garage sell, which was pretty impressive.

Hopefully I will get around to posting another pregnancy blog later this week.  I am in the third trimester now... bigger and better than ever :)