DIY!

When we planned our trip to the Outer Banks, Glenn thought that week was his spring break, it was actually the week after. Lucky mistake, because that meant I got two whole weeks with my husband! Those were by far the easiest and fastest weeks and really helped the countdown to baby! We are addicted to HGTV and DIY network home makeover shows and have been inspired to get our DIY on for quite some time. Now that we finally had the time we spent the week refinishing not one, but two dressers.

Me and the DIY process had a love/hate relationship with each other. I admit that I have expensive taste. I like shopping in actual stores and buying shiny, new, and clean things. I have difficulty looking at Craigslist and people wanting me to pay anything at all for their damaged, disgusting, dirty, old crap. We’re broke though, and I need to suck up my snobby tendencies at times. I wasn’t sure I was a believer in the DIY process either. Sure I like watching professionals work their magic on TV, I read tons of how-to tutorials on Pinterest, my husband builds professional sets for a living, but this was my first time and I doubted. We bought a dresser on Craigslist for $30. It has a charming curvy shape that we loved, but looked like someone threw it out the window, kicked it around for fun, and left it out in the rain. We bought another dresser at The Salvation Army for $40 that had lots of nice detailing, but was so dirty I wasn’t sure I could put my germaphobia aside and actually put my clothes inside. Are these dressers beyond repair?

In the end – it was all love for the DIY! We were so eager to start that we were at the school first thing in the morning to get started. I thought it was pretty ironic that Glenn spent his spring break working in his scene shop every single day just like any other work day. Glenn got to work repairing the ‘hippie dresser’, it really does have these huge wide lady hips, filling in all the cracks, and literally building an entire new corner out of plaster for one of the dressers. I sanded and sanded the blah brown dirty dresser for hours! It was a Zen-calming experience for me. With every circular motion I literally felt the ugly washing away and already saw vast improvement. I felt better as I ripped off the entire backside and underside that was covered in some oily substance and Glenn replaced it with new clean ones. I loved picking out paint colors and new hardware at Lowes. Best part – we 100% agreed on everything. With every little step I could see these dressers transforming and I was excited to go back each day and make more progress. A couple days in, In the middle of painting the insides of the nasty particle board drawers to disguise the ugly I started to waver in my enthusiasm. I was just having an emotional day, had stared at the same thing for too long, and was sore from sitting in the same position too long. I was anxious to get to the fun part, painting the outsides. Once we got the first coats of paint on the dressers I was much happier! Rose dust for baby girl, and Monterey Bay Teal for us, or just pink and blue. My favorite part was when we did the distressing on the dresser for us. I am hooked on the look of a distressed finish, and the dresser really started to look like an expensive piece of furniture at this point. The final touch on baby girl’s dresser – glitter! We bought paint crystals that you mix in with a clear glaze and didn’t skimp on the amount of glitter. I love pink and sparkly, and was so giddy as we painted this on. I love that we’re having a little girl because I need an outlet for all the pink and sparkly that I love. The last and final step was just putting on hardware and placing the drawers back in, simple, easy, task. We go to put the drawers back in and they don’t fit. Not happy as I watched Glenn sand down the sides of our lovingly painted drawers. It was fixed, the drawers now fit, and we can’t stop smiling at the final outcome. The teal and cream combo with distressed finish and perfectly accented hardware give our dresser a Bohemian vibe that I’m in love with. And baby girl’s dresser is whimsical and fun, and looks straight out of a Disney movie.

I was won over by the DIY process. I loved having a project to work on with my husband. I loved getting something I love for less money. For $143 we got two dressers that we are so pleased with. I loved getting a little down and dirty every day. I loved that our visions came to life and it was all because of our hard work, and yeah we’re a little proud! I even have ideas circling around in my mind about starting a dresser flipping venture!

Before.

Before



What was done to this dresser? It needed lots of TLC.

The entire corner was busted and had to be rebuilt from scratch.

I'm not sure Glenn understands why I take pictures of everything.

Already better after a nice sanding.

Painting a creamy color on the insides.

After!



After!



Glitter close up! This was also the hardware that came with the dresser, all we did was spraypaint.



Fox reunion in the Outer Banks.

This blog post would be more aptly named a partial Fox family reunion, Brett and Andrea, Rob and Shannon, you were missed. A couple months ago conversation started swirling around Facebook about a Fox sibling reunion, last week it actually happened. Shauna and Jesse flew from Utah, Bill and Suzanne plus 2/3 daughters drove from Virginia, and Glenn and I plus puppies drove from Durham, and we all stayed in a lovely beach house, less than 200 feet walking distance from the water, for the week.

To be honest this vacation was off to a rough start before we even left home. We budgeted our vacation money, woke up the day before we’re supposed to leave, and see that some stupid company decides to take out an unauthorized payment that completely threw us off. Sunday morning we were super anxious to get on the road, I couldn’t sleep anyway, and we were up at 6:00 getting ready and packing our car to go. About half way there we get a speeding ticket! Really?! The worst part is that this was a speed trap that was impossible to avoid. We were following our GPS, it shows the speed drop from a 65 to a 55, we drop down to 53 because Glenn just saw a cop, cross a bridge and wham we’re being pulled over. What?! The cop tells us we are now in a 35 zone. “When did that happen officer?” “It turns into a 35 as soon as you cross the bridge.” Yep that’s right, before we have a chance to see a sign or have the new speed register on our GPS; barely over the bridge and we get a ticket. To make it worse the officer also takes Glenn’s license while he’s at it saying it’s inactive. Thinking I’m going to have to drive we ask the officer what will happen if he sees Glenn drive away. He says he won’t stop us but if another officer does it could mean prison and all that jazz. So Glenn drives off anyway and I become a speed Nazi the rest of our trip, no joke the speed limit was a 25 forever and you better believe we stayed true to that. Feeling broke, stressed, and like we can’t catch a break when we finally get there it took me a couple days to unwind and start enjoying this vacation. Sunday it was raining all day, not just a light drizzle, but a crazy storm that trapped us inside all day. Glenn and I seriously spent 4 hours watching American Ninja Warrior that night until we fell asleep. Monday it was freezing and no one was up for much. Other than our walk on the beach that morning it was more staying indoors. I was going stir crazy and feeling like this was too similar to my normal everyday life. I received bad news from my OB that I failed my blood glucose test and I’m anemic. I received bad news from Corey and thought we may have to cancel our visit to see him on our return trip home. Trying to coordinate with so many other people’s schedules and interests was difficult, and as much as I love Glenn’s family it’s trickier when it’s not your own, and you still feel like the newbie. I wasn’t happy or having any fun. Glenn told me we aren’t going on vacation again if it stresses me out so much :-( After a much needed heart to heart with my husband things brightened, literally, still cold and hovering around 50 degrees, but the sun graced us with its presence a few hours every day.

Tuesday morning we walked on the beach again with our puppies. We were the early risers of the house and enjoyed some us time each morning. I’m a person that needs routine, and having one each morning really helped me start to calm all my anxious feelings and relax. I loved taking pictures of Glenn running with Rocky and Lexi full speed on the beach completely in their happy place. My favorite was watching as the puppies ran away from the waves as the freezing water brushed against their paws. Rocky enjoyed tasting some of the local cuisine; he had a knack for finding dead crabs, yuck! We teased that these puppies are going to be very disappointed when they resume normal walks around the parking lot of our complex in the mornings. Rain or shine, we were going sightseeing today too. There is something to be said for learned behaviors. All vacations I can remember with my family were jam packed with activities and sightseeing. When you are in a new place that’s just what you do, and setting a schedule for the day is how I know to vacation. Glenn had to remind me that everyone else there was taking a break from something, work, school, watching children, whereas my life is kind of leisurely at the moment already. Sleeping in until noon and chilling all day is a treat for most people, and I can’t be upset if people aren’t up to our plans. I went about the rest of the week with that mindset and not feeling like we needed to coordinate with everyone all the time helped me relax. Knowing it was acceptable to leave and do my own thing on a family vacation and I wasn’t being rude helped me breathe. Still learning life lessons at 24. Anyway– I would be a disappointment to my mother if I didn’t visit the nearby Currituck Lighthouse. We invited everyone to come with us, and everyone was up for it. Turns out we were only a 1.2 mile walk away, and a majority of that could be walked along the water! A nice long walk was just what my little pregnant body needed, and between the lighthouse and walking around the local village we walked about 3.5 miles.

Wednesday was my favorite day. I learned that the Corolla area is best known for the wild horses that run on the beach, and I absolutely had to go see them. Glenn and I went on a date in search of the wild horses, and even though we didn’t see them we had the best time. There is about a ten mile stretch of beach that allows cars on the sand, and we were literally driving just feet away from the water. Talk about the most scenic drive in the entire world! No stop signs or lights, traffic, cops, speed limits, listening to some Chili Peppers, Glenn was practically giddy. We actually drove all the way to Virginia where there are gigantic pillars all the way across the sand into the water because Virginia doesn’t allow cars. We had fun taking pictures touching the beach in two states at once. We stopped at a couple different sand dunes and hiked to the top hoping to find the horses maybe sleeping or running around behind them, but nope turns out they are seasonal. We had a tasty Oreo picnic at the top of a sand dune. We stopped and did a six month baby bump photo shoot and played around balancing on some drift wood. No horses, but I was totally content enjoying the search, scenery, laughing, taking pictures, and having a beach date with my man!

Thursday we had another group outing. We went to Roanoke Island and went on a tour about the Lost Colony that lived there in the 1500’s. Then on the way back we played a round of miniature golf at the sweetest looking golf course you ever did see. Glow stick puppies on the beach that night was by far one of the highlights of the trip for me. We attached glow sticks to Rocky and Lexi and let them run around on the pitch black beach. All you could see was a pink and blue glow bobbing around like crazy. Best idea! We love our playful puppies! We laid in the sand and looked in awe of the stars, you can see so many with an unobstructed view, and watched as the moon rose. The sunrise gets all the attention, but a moon rising is pretty spectacular. We went to karaoke that night, and I watched in moral support as Glenn, Shauna, and Bill dominated the stage. One day I’ll build up the nerve to karaoke and make Glenn the happiest husband.

Friday we woke early to catch a sunrise. Go figure my camera was dead after two pictures :-( It was nice to just hold hands, admire the colors, and watch as the sun rising looked like it was setting the clouds on fire. We were out of the house pretty early and had some time to kill before heading to Virginia Beach to see Corey, who luckily caught a break with his schedule. Shauna and Jesse also had some extra time before their flight so we went to the Wright Brothers museum together. “From Kitty Hawk to the moon in just 66 years” – there’s some history for ya! We drove to Virginia Beach after that and met up with Corey, who got to get off base for the first time, and all this pregnant woman wanted was some curly fries and a milkshake. Luckily he didn’t care and we enjoyed just chatting for a while. Short visit, but Corey’s worth the detour. Then we drove home. All in all, my week vastly improved from its rough start and I wound up with lots of memories, photos, and even some life lessons from our Outer Banks vacation.

Tuna Gorda beach house - Our home for the week.  

Not too shabby of a view from our deck.

Morning run.

"It's very cold, we need our sweaters."

Rocky and Lexi got a little wetter from this wave than they wanted. With a little help from their Daddy ;-)

Running to get dry.

Perhaps my favorite picture from this trip.

Happy puppy :-)

Currituck Lighthouse

This should be an ad for Scion!

Foolish man built his house upon the sand?

Virginia being lame.

Romantic picnic atop a sand dune.

Karate kid.

Falling with style.

Trying to avoid falling, but look at that six month belly!

First and only dip in the ocean.

Really sad puppy.

"I'm a man!"

Those who braved the water.

Warming up!

Swimming lessons. Rocky lives up to his name, he is like a rock in the water, and has never been a good swimmer.



Monument to Virginia Dare, the first child born in the Americas to English parents. Her Grandfather, John White, returned to England when she was two weeks old to retrieve supplies for the struggling colonists. When White was finally able to return three years later on Virginia's birthday, all the colonists were gone. What happened remains a mystery today. Maybe it's my pregnancy emotions but this story is terribly sad!

 

Kinda creepy.

Just playing with glow sticks on the beach.

LOVE.

Monument to Wilbur and Orville Wright.

Rocky flying a plane!

28 weeks.

Hello, third trimester! I have reached that point in my pregnancy where my belly size is assuring enough for complete strangers to be comfortable randomly striking up conversation and asking when my baby is due. The first time this happened was earlier this week while out bowling with our friends Stephanie and Jeff. We were being silly and going by the names Barney and Betty, and Fred and Wilma. This guy walks over from the lane next to ours and asks if those were our real names. He then comes back a couple minutes later and asks me when Pebbles or Bam-Bam was due. Kinda funny. Then again the next day a woman in the bathroom asks me when my baby is due and starts chatting about how she loves being a Grandmother. I know some people are easily offended, but I’m just excited to finally have a noticeable bump.

Another not so fun pregnancy update, I failed my blood glucose screening for gestational diabetes. I took this test seriously and was sure not to eat any sugar all day prior to the test. I was starving. They took my blood, I passed out. They call me on vacation and tell me I missed passing by 6 points. I was a 146 and needed to be a 140. They told me I needed a three hour appointment and more blood drawn. I cried. I seriously felt like a failure, especially considering right beforehand the Doctor was telling me how all my stats have been perfect every time and I was not someone they considered to be at risk. The Doctor calls back again later that same day and says they don’t want me to pass out again (I was 2/2 when they take my blood) and says I can monitor my blood sugar four times a day for the next week. Yes! I felt so much better about this option. Lucky for me, my husband is actually diabetic and I don’t have to worry about where I’m going to pick up a prescription while on vacation for a week. So, Glenn lets me use his glucose monitor and pricks my finger every time. You see, this is truly very kind, because it hurts every time, and I don’t think I could bring myself to prick myself over and over. Especially when I decide not to bleed in that finger, and it winds up taking four tries! I want this to be an accurate portrayal of what my eating habits are normally like, so I still eat cereal, ice cream, juice, and all sorts of yummy sugar and you know what, my result were freakishly normal, if not low every time. I would hover around the 80’s and went into the low 100’s twice. How I failed that freaking test is beyond me?! In a way I appreciate this experience. I was able to bond with my husband in a way I never thought possible, and share in just a tiny bit of his pain.

In other baby news, I am starting to feel a little better about baby preparations. Glenn and I were at Target this week and just had to peruse the clearance section for baby girl. After finding a few cute items on clearance, we are suckered into all the really cute clothes nearby and wind up allowing ourselves full price splurges as well. We literally have to ban ourselves from going ‘clearance shopping’ again, we have no will power! Baby girl’s Mom and Dad have also been getting their DIY on all week (blog post coming soon) refinishing a dresser for all the new pink clothes. My parents, already smitten with their first grandbaby have found themselves enjoying buying clothes, books, and the fancy shmancy baby stroller we wanted as well. Glenn’s parents, excited for grandbaby #14 bought us our crib and mattress. I am incredibly grateful for the loving and generous parents we both have! We value their happiness and support and excitement so much! The overwhelming list of what babies need is crazy, but I’m feeling good about what we have done so far.  

I think I have hit all the interesting baby update highlights. I could talk about how I have pregnancy acid reflux, pee just about every hour (or if I’m lucky three times in the same hour), and how my boobs leak, but really who wants all those details. Rather, I’ll leave you with some six month belly shots instead! I hit my six month mark while vacationing in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and of course had to take advantage of the gorgeous backdrop with a baby bump photo shoot!

Currituck Lighthouse, Outer Banks.

Balancing skills.

This was thee perfect log! It had a nice comfortable arch for my back! And I think laying down like this really showcases this baby!

I'm a real boy.

It’s no secret that we treat our dogs like they are our children. They have a wardrobe of t-shirts, sweaters, and coats. We take them to the park and buy them new toys. Their favorite treat is Peach O’s! I talk to them (I really need to get out more). They get lots and lots of cuddles. We pay ridiculous travel fees so that they can come with us. We bought them a toddler size pink princess bed, that is covered in pillows and blankets, because they can’t sleep on the floor! And NO I don’t think any of this is overboard. This is just how all dogs should be treated. Well, that being said I think we have a confused puppy in our home. We always tease that Rocky’s biggest wish is that he will wake up human one day. I honestly think that baby girl coming is going to be really difficult for Rocky. So Rocky had to amp up his cute factor and his efforts to become human, by wearing pajamas! Just playing around Glenn slid Rocky into a pair of his pajama bottoms and he stayed like this for a solid half hour not moving!

Momma, I'm a real boy!

Not even Lexi jumping up on the bed would make him flinch.

5 months!

I literally became a pregnant lady overnight! Up until this past week I had the easiest pregnancy. Zero complaints. About a week ago I suddenly felt like my body was hit by a truck. It hurt to stand up, walk, and move at all! Since the pain was so severe and so sudden I called my OB and went in the very next day. My Doctor said it was perfectly normal and caused by my ligaments stretching to make room for baby. Also, that the pain will probably stay the remainder of my pregnancy. Awesome. To explain just how pathetic I was, Glenn pushed me around Target in a children’s shopping cart while we went to Target afterwards. I was walking slower than an eighty year old woman and it was worth any embarrassment. I’m not one who deals with pain well, so I have been visiting the chiropractor, icing 2-3 times a day, taking pilates, and sleeping with a pillow between my legs. I am determined not to be miserable. Any more pain managing tips are welcome! I have been feeling a lot better and don’t have too much pain until the evenings. The other night I was so stiff and sore again that my husband piggy-backed me up the stairs to bed. That is he picked me up and I informed him I needed a glass of water, then my phone, and to shut the curtains, and, and, and… poor husband just trying to be nice. We were laughing so hard by the time we made it upstairs and he was all keeled over. There is a perk of all this ligament stretching. Baby girl has decided to make an appearance this week and I finally have a noticeable baby bump! Along with my newfound baby belly, I have a disappearing belly button. I seriously looked down in the shower and was like, huh, I had more belly button just yesterday.

And for the happy news. I am finally feeling baby girl move!!! Last Tuesday night we were relaxing on the couch watching a movie and I felt this repetitive jabbing in my lower abdomen. I kept quiet at first because I didn’t want to be a tease and have Glenn feel nothing. After a couple minutes I was confident it was baby girl and I grabbed Glenn’s hand, placed it on the exact spot, and just smiled when baby girl kept moving for her Daddy. Glenn did a little happy dance on the couch. Now I notice baby girl moving all the time. She is especially awake and active in the evenings. I love knowing that my baby girl is healthy and active and growing. I am so excited for every pregnancy milestone and I am getting more and more excited to meet her every day! I just want lots of massages in the meantime :-)

I just want to take a second and say how blessed we are with wonderful family and friends. I know how happy baby girl makes Glenn and I. But, I really love the happiness and support from our family and friends as well. Completely out of the blue my sweet friend Stephanie texted me from JoAnn’s that she saw the cutest fabric and wanted to know if it was a print I liked. She made me the cutest car-seat cover and brought it to church like the next day. I don’t think she knew just how much that meant to me. And just a couple days ago baby girl got a package in the mail from my parents with a cute outfit, some hooded towels, and washcloths. It made my day! Thanks for all the love! I appreciate these sweet unexpected surprises so much. It makes me realize that this baby will be showered with love, and also how loved I am. These parents to be can no longer resist the clearance racks at Target. We always have to look. We ended up buying this super warm baby snuggle wrap thing that obviously she won’t need until next winter, but how could we resist, especially for $6! Baby girl is starting to accumulate some stuff and it’s just one more thing that makes it so real. Just four short months left!

 

Have you seen my green bell pepper?

I am in my 20^th week of pregnancy! I am so happy to be at the half way point. It is crazy how fast I got here, and how our baby girl will be here so soon. Other than my urge to pee every hour, I have truly been blessed with the best pregnancy I could ask for. In other pregnancy news, over the past few weeks I have started suffering from a ridiculous case of pregnancy brain. I have read that this is fairly common because pregnancy shuffles what gets your attention. Between surging hormone levels, new priorities, and baby constantly on my mind its normal that memory may suffer a bit. I just feel really silly sometimes for forgetting the simplest things. Here is a glimpse into my forgetful mind lately:

I was at Cheesecake Factory for a surprise birthday party the other night and someone asked me how old I was. Simple question, right? I didn’t know! I had to stop and think about it, try and do the math, and then still wasn’t sure of my answer and had to double check with Glenn when he picked me up.

I was taking a shower and seriously couldn’t remember whether or not I had already washed my hair. Normally this is the first thing I do in the shower, and I washed my hair maybe for the second time, maybe first time, I really didn’t know.

This past Saturday Glenn and I decided we needed to wash our car. He asked me to run upstairs and grab some rags and towels. I go upstairs, come back empty handed. Run up a second time, come back with towels. Sparing me a third trip up the stairs, Glenn finally goes and gets rags to wash the car himself. Since I clearly never remembered what I was doing up there.

Where is my green bell pepper?! This is the pregnancy brain moment that has bothered me the most. I know we bought a green bell pepper. I use them all the time, so even if I don’t have a current plan for how I’m using it, we buy it anyway. I was making crab cakes to bring to a Mardi Gras party, went to start chopping my green bell pepper, and it’s gone! I have no recall of using my green bell pepper, and yet it’s nowhere to be found. I’m still going nuts over my ‘missing’ pepper, and continue trying to figure out when and what I cooked with my green bell pepper. If you see it please let me know ;-)

Just cause I like us.

20 weeks, 3 days.