Highchair Re-do

Sometime ago I shared my adventure of re-doing an old highchair for Amar'e. Well, even though it turned out amazing....something went wrong in the painting department and the tray became very sticky along with the arms, and the top of the backrest.  Almost like the paint and primer never dried right, or the cleaning up after meals broke down the paint. Whatever the reason, I knew we had to re-do the chair for her and now for the next little one that is coming. I came across this blogger who wrote about painting and sealing a wooden highchair for her little one, and I couldn't wait to give it a try. Well, the result is awesome!  Andrew and I sanded and scraped off all of the sticky, tacky paint and it came off like gum stuck to the underside of a table.....yummy! Then, Andrew took the chair outside and gave it hell....which means he painted it. We ended up using 2 cans of the spray paint and a good amount of the sealer. Word of advice: buy an extra can of sealer so you can redo the sealing when needed. Anyway, here is the blog post that lead to the this wonder re-do of this great highchair:

Color: Seaside

Where Have I Been?

Well.....anywhere but here on the blog. I have been so blog-absent for the past few months and it saddens me. My lack of energy is probably to blame. I wish it was because we were so busy with summer fun that I had no time...but that isn't the case. I think that this summer was great, but we didn't do anything as a family to blog about or anything at all for that matter. Most days were filled with me being consumed with exhaustion.  Most of my energy went to getting out of bed and to work for 7 a.m.  Most days are a task in itself and throwing pregnant onto that seems like a cruel joke. After work was lunch and nap (if I was lucky). The most we did the whole summer was make our monthly (now its weekly) visit to North Conway to see the midwives (and get sushi, french fries, and edamame). The one weekend we were suppose to head to Maine to see family and friends, and to visit an aquarium everyone,besides me, came down with HFMD. Yah, not fun. A good amount (almost all) of the summer weekends Andrew was away playing shows, so this left me home with the children with absolutely no energy to venture out to do anything with them solo. It just seemed overwhelming to try and wrangle a 2 year old and an 11 year old (who would insist on brining a friend...I dont blame him) on my own. So, not much venturing took place. I also hoped to put up a few food posts but I barely wanted to make food, never mind photograph and blog about it. I have this awesome vegan fettichini alfredo to share eventually. So yeah, this post is a bit whiney and I apologize for that....but it's real.

Now, we are heading into fall. Damien is in middle school, and I'm just waiting on a baby. I feel that I have to make up for the lack of summer fun during this fall season. We will see how that works out for me. Well, at the very least we do have a Maine Apple picking adventure planned for this upcoming weekend and this is Damien's last week of regular soccer and it's gonna be a busy one with three games and a practice. Bored, I wont be......I see these upcoming events as opportunity to work on my photography and get more familiar with my editing program (Lightroom 5).  Sigh.......


This is what our calendar looked like at the beginning of the month. Some changes since the picture was taken...but mostly adding events.

Also this happened: Gorham Soccer tournament champs! Yay!

Where have you been? 

34 Weeks

How far along? 34 Weeks 

Total weight gain: 9 lbs. Lost a pound since last week.

Maternity clothes? Yes.Tops only. I am still wearing my pants...unbuttoned of course. 

Stretch marks? Yes, but my generic Cocoa Butter lotion is doing a great job.

Sleep: Not so good the past weeks. Think I got 1 hour in the course of 48 hours. 

Best moment this week: Amar'e shining a flash light into my bellybutton. As you can see above.

Miss anything? Breathing normally. Still short of breathe a lot. Stable emotions. 

Movement: Out of control! Sometimes it feel like the baby is sitting on a nerve and the numbing pain shoots down my leg....stopping me in my tracks. 

Food cravings (this will be an ongoing list I will add to) : Fruits and vegetables,lemons,tomatoes,nachos,chocolate chip cookies, salt, this chickpea concoction that Andrew whipped up one day for lunch, Brussels sprouts lot and lot of brussels sprouts, caramelized onions, Mangos,Watermelon, cucumber and avocado rolls, water with lemon. Salad and corn on the cob, pasta.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Not queasy anymore...lets keep it that way.

Gender: We will not be finding out the gender until the day the baby arrives. I say boy. 

Symptoms: Heartburn, shortness of breath, slight swelling. Headaches. 

Belly button in or out? In but flattened right out. 

Wedding rings on or off? On.

Happy or moody most of the time: Still mostly happy for the most part. Some sadness....and a few emotional ups and downs. 

Looking forward to: Next appointment and doing lunch before with Andrew and Amar'e.....Cucumber and Avocado rolls at Delaney's!!! YES!!!!  

I came across this article and wanted to share it. This article is about doing squats and how this will help with strengthening your pelvic floor. I am one of those people who hates doing those Kegel exercises and once I came across this article I was relieved. Not that doing squats is easier....but I enjoy doing squats more than doing Kegel exercises! Happy squatting pregos and non-pregos. 

Blueberry Picking

Over labor day weekend (yes, I am a bit behind on my blogging) my mother-in-law, Damien, Amar'e and I went Blueberry picking. I've never been Blueberry picking in a Blueberry orchard before this (or would it be called a Blueberry grove or Blueberry field?). In the past it has always been us pulling off to the side of the road to randomly pick some blueberries on a whim. Going to a Blueberry orchard/grove/field was much more efficient and fun, especially if you want a good amount of blueberries for cakes, pies, pancakes, or just to eat. These Blueberries were organically grown, a huge plus! As you can see in the last picture, these bushes were so high we didn't even have to bend in half to pick the berries. This was such a relief for this 31 week pregnant mama. We made Blueberry pancakes, and my mother-in-law and Damien made Blueberry cake. It was amazing. We still have a full Zip-loc bag in the freezer.

32 Weeks

How far along? 32 Weeks 

Total weight gain: 10lbs

Maternity clothes? Yes.Tops only. I am still wearing my pants. 

Stretch marks? Yes. I am officially out of bio-oil and now using some generic Coco Butter lotion that I've had for a million years. It works and it's not tested on animals....win-win!

Sleep: OK, I guess.  

Best moment this week: Amar'e helping rub lotion on my belly. She is so into this. It is beyond cute.  

Miss anything? Breathing normally. Still short of breathe a lot. Stable emotions. 

Movement: Some days the movement is non-stop and I and convinced that this child is trying to break a rib, and other days the baby is a little quieter. 

Food cravings (this will be an ongoing list I will add to) : Fruits and vegetables,lemons,tomatoes,nachos,chocolate chip cookies, salt, this chickpea concoction that Andrew whipped up one day for lunch, Brussels sprouts lot and lot of brussels sprouts, caramelized onions, Mangos,Watermelon, cucumber and avocado rolls, water with lemon. Salad and corn on the cob. 

Anything making you queasy or sick: I have been getting occasional nausea. Probably because my stomach is being squeezed by the little human I'm growing. I am getting third trimester morning sickness (anytime sickness). Like I can afford to be losing calories at this point. Yikes... 

Gender: We will not be finding out the gender until the day the baby arrives. I say boy. 

Symptoms: Heartburn, shortness of breath, slight swelling, nausea, vomiting. 

Belly button in or out? In but flattened right out. 

Wedding rings on or off? On.

Happy or moody most of the time: Pretty happy for the most part. Some sadness....and a few emotional ups and downs. 

Looking forward to: Next appointment this coming Wednesday. They may offer another ultrasound if we want to do it in the case I am concerned about my lack of weight gain. I am not concerned but we'll see.....so tempting.   

A Farm Stand, Horses, And A Strange Obsession

The other day was beautiful, so Andrew and I decdied to take Amar'e to our favorite place, the Shelburne Park. Well, our plans got a little distorted because Amar'e fell asleep on the way to the park.  We decided not to wake her, so we took a nice ride to Maine. On the way we stopped at a Farm stand and got some yummy goodies like Cucumbers, Tomatoes, and Corn. Seriously, the best tasting Cukes, Toms, and Corn yet this year. Now, I'm born in raised in this area and I'm still blown away that the honor system still exists. This makes me feel that there is still some good in this world. There was no one at the farm stand, just a scale, lots of wonderful veggies, some horses, and a container to leave your money in. Yah, I've seen this before but this time I really thought about it. It makes me smile that there are people out there that still have trust in others. Well, why wouldn't they? Who in their right mind would steal vegetables? You would have to be crazy.....or starving (if that is the case I understand)....or downright not a good person. Anyway, there happened to be a couple of small horses there as well. Fun fact about me is that I am slightly frightened of horses. These horses weren't that big so they were less frightening to me. But the horse that is one farm over is HUGE! I love how beautiful they are, but they frighten me with their size and strength. This time the huge horse only peeked his head out to see what we were doing unlike the last time, when he came out into the field and stared us down. After getting our veggies and hanging with the horses, we took a ride on a back road to Maine. I've done this more times than I can count, but we never get tired of it for some reason. Now, here comes my strange obsession part....The reason I love this ride so much is because it has a few really old cemeteries on it. Yes, I have a strange obsession with old cemeteries. Now, dont get this confused with an obsession with death....not even close. Death is something that scares me but old cemeteries I feel drawn to. I love the creepiness of them, the old headstones, the creepy looking fences that surround them. Strange, yes I know, but I can't help it. I've probably visited these old cemeteries more than a dozen times each. I do it more often in the month of October....fall in Northern NH is unbelievably beautiful and the foliage is breath taking, especially driving down North Road in Shelburne.  I can't put it into words as well as I'd like but it feels like home when it's peak foliage out, drinking vanilla chi, listening to my Practical Magic soundtrack (super super lame I know), and driving down North Road. I look forward to these days coming soon. Until then.....we will enjoy what's left of our northern New England Summer.

Dr. Seuss Trees??