Happy New Year!

I can't believe it's 2010! It's amazing how fast a decade goes by. I remember when I rang in the year 2000 at a party I threw at my parents' house with all of my best high school friends. I was in 10th grade! Listen to me......I sound like an old"er" person.

We rang in the new year by going to Shogun for hibachi...YUM...and then playing games at the Jefferson house with the whole fam. It was very fun to have everyone sit around the table and play Catch Phrase! I am looking forward to some game nights in the future that we can hold at our house :) For most of the rest of the weekend, we worked at the house. We attended a funeral for Ryan's cousin on Saturday in North Carolina, so we didn't go to the house on Saturday at all. We spent most of the day in the car listening to the 90's station on Satellite radio. Bryan rode with us, and we actually had a pretty fun day despite the circumstances.

While working at the house over the weekend, we put the baby's crib together and moved it and the "chifferobe" around until we got them into the "perfect" position. We still need to order the dresser for the room. After we get this and I get a few decor-type items, his room will be complete! Of course, we also had tons of help again this weekend. Here are some pictures of our work crew:

Louise painting the closet doors
Rog putting together the glider
The screws for the baby's crib
All of the crib parts
Ry in the middle of putting the crib together...pun intended haha! :)
Bry putting up more crown..they finally got it all up and caulked this weekend. The last step is touching up the paint over the areas that were caulked and spackled.
Opa putting up a ceiling fan in the guest bedroom

Mom and Renee also came over and helped move boxes all around the house! I didn't take any pictures because I was too busy directing them from room to room. I loved it :) This weekend should finally be the weekend that we will start living there! I am excited excited excited to get settled in and get ready for this baby to be here. Speaking of him...

I am 32 weeks now. Here is the info about the baby:
By now, your baby weighs 3.75 pounds (pick up a large jicama--) and is about 16.7 inches long, taking up a lot of space in your uterus. You're gaining about a pound a week and roughly half of that goes right to your baby. In fact, she'll gain a third to half of her birth weight during the next 7 weeks as she fattens up for survival outside the womb. She now has toenails, fingernails, and real hair (or at least respectable peach fuzz). Her skin is becoming soft and smooth as she plumps up in preparation for birth.

I cannot believe that in two months he will probably be here! It is too crazy. He is moving around like he's doing an aerobics class as we speak!! I signed up for childbirth classes today, which apparently is considered "last minute" since most of the classes are full until February, which will be too late! We were able to sign up for a two-Saturday class at Chesapeake General. They also offer a breastfeeding class and a class about introducing your baby and dog that I think we'll take as well! The dog class should be interesting. I feel like the more info the better. I will report on how all of my informative classes go as soon as I attend :)

Okay..off to research hotel rooms for an overnight trip this weekend. We have a work dinner to attend in Bedford, VA on Saturday night. It's four hours away, which kind of stinks, but it should be nice. Wish me luck!

Christmas and Crown Molding

It is hard to believe that Christmas is already over! We had a really great Christmas and were blessed to be able to spend it with all of our family, as we have been every year. It was weird not having our own house to decorate and our own tree, but none of that really matters anyway. I do have to say that I am looking forward to decorating in our new house for the first time next year! ...and even MORE so I am looking forward to spending next Christmas with our sweet baby boy. It's crazy to think that we will be Mr. and Mrs. Claus next year ! I can't wait. Here are some pictures from our last Christmas without a baby:

Opa and Omi
Breakfast at my parents' house Christmas morning!
Lace and Bry
Me and baby J--31 weeks
Haley and Ian
Our current landlords! :)
Getting into position to open all the gifts!
Ryan with my gift to him--rain boots for doing all the crazy yard work we will have to do in our muddy, muddy lake of a backyard!
Jefferson Family Photo 2009!

Over the weekend, Ryan, Bryan, and Rog worked on putting up crown molding in the bedrooms. It seemed like it took forever but there was a lot of measuring and cutting involved. It looks so good and makes SUCH a difference! They still have some more to do this weekend. The plan is to move most of the boxes out of the garage and into the house, too. We'll see how that goes. Here are a few pictures...

Brothers working hard in Baby J's room
Daddy caulking in the baby's room
The master bedroom
The study

On Monday night we went to Haynes and picked out a bedroom set, a couch, loveseat and recliner for our den, and a desk! It is all on it's way and will come in two deliveries. The first will be next Friday, and the second should be the week after that. We are thinking that we will probably start living there sometime before then but I will be happy to get the furniture there and really get settled in.

Now it's time to relax for a bit before going to bed. We both have off tomorrow, so we are getting up and heading over to the house to do anything we can to make progress towards moving in! Nighty night! :)

Pictures from the Weekend

Here are pictures of our "crew" hard at work this weekend!

Bryan laying down the baseboards
Rog laying down baseboards
Louise scraping windows
Baby J and me painting!

The carpet was installed today and it looks soooooooooooooooo good! I cannot wait to start moving stuff in this week. More pictures to come :)

For Those of You Who Have Asked.....

My baby belly at 30 weeks!

I hope you enjoyed it :)

My Little Cabbage

I am currently in my 30th week of pregnancy! It is amazing how fast this is flying by. I have been feeling great and everything has been going well. I do have gestational diabetes and have an appointment on Tuesday with a dietitian to get more specific information about what I should and shouldn't be eating. I am looking forward to it because right now I have no real guidance at all. Things should be okay, though. I am not stressing!

Here is the information about the baby at 30 weeks:
Your baby's about 15.7 inches long now, and she weighs almost 3 pounds (like a head of cabbage). A pint and a half of amniotic fluid surrounds her, but that volume will decrease as she gets bigger and takes up more room in your uterus. Her eyesight continues to develop, though it's not very keen; even after she's born, she'll keep her eyes closed for a good part of the day. When she does open them, she'll respond to changes in light but will have 20/400 vision — which means she can only make out objects a few inches from her face. (Normal adult vision is 20/20.)

Everything at the house is going great. This weekend we finished everything up with the paint so that the carpet can be put down tomorrow. We are sooooo glad that we will finally have the carpet and be able to move in some furniture! We took a few pictures this weekend that I will post later. I am off to bed now. Last night we didn't get to bed until about midnight because we were at the house so late, and we got up at about 615. I am beat!

Painting the Days Away

Most of what we have been doing at the house lately is painting. This weekend, we decided to rip out the bookcases that were built in next to the fireplace and paint all of the remaining wood trim. Of course, we were also finishing up the painting that we have been doing upstairs. We finally took our Christmas card picture on Sunday, and I ordered the cards last night. I am looking forward to sending them out! We went over to the house this evening and painted some more....and we are doing the same thing tomorrow. We have the carpet set up to be installed a week from today, and then we can finally start moving our stuff into the rooms!! I am looking forward to actually living there instead of just going there and working every weekend. Here are some pictures to show our latest progress:

The den before the cabinets were ripped out

Dad taking out the cabinets
..and after! It made SUCH a difference.
Ryan and Bryan painting the beams

Things are shaping up! Now, after a day of regular work and a night of house-work...I am ready for bed. Goodnight!

More Renovations!

So...I've been really bad about the blogging lately. We've been so busy with the house on the weekends, and on weeknights, I'm usually so beat that I don't feel like writing! In house news, Dad finished the hardwood floors two weekends ago. Thank you, Dad!! Outside of that, we have been doing a lot of painting. We are trying so hard to get it ready to move in! We have had so much help from Ryan's parents and brother. THANK YOU so much Roger, Louise and Bryan!! We would not be able to move in until after the baby is born if it weren't for your help..... Thanks to Lacy, too, for your help scraping doors :) Opa also made some amazing shelves for our pantry...thank you thank you Opa!

Now here are some pictures to sum up what's been going on since I last blogged:

Rog replacing receptacles
Dad putting on a coat of poly
The baby's room with a coat of primer
The office/study
Twins hard at work in the office
Painting in the baby's room
Painting trim in the baby's room

That's the color! Here's the bedding we finally decided on:

As of tomorrow, I will be 29 weeks along! The (still unnamed) baby moves around allll the time. He kicks and rolls all day! I can't wait to get into our house and finally set up his room. Here is the 29 weeks info:
Your baby now weighs about 2 1/2 pounds (like a butternut squash) and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. His muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and his head is growing bigger to make room for his developing brain. To meet his increasing nutritional demands, you'll need plenty of protein, vitamins C, folic acid, and iron. And because his bones are soaking up lots of calcium, be sure to drink your milk (or find another good source of calcium, such as cheese, yogurt, or enriched orange juice). This trimester, about 250 milligrams of calcium are deposited in your baby's hardening skeleton each day.

I am off to bed now! I was going to finish up some internet Christmas shopping but this took too long. There's always tomorrow, I guess.......goodnight!