We have started the big fence project!  One of our neighbors has a gas-powered hole borer on loan for the weekend, and he offered to let us use it if we needed to dig any holes.  Well, it just so happens that we needed to dig about 15 of those guys for our fence posts!  Now, if you've never tried to dig a hole 2-3 ft into the ground by hand, you have no idea how amazing it was to use this gas powered hole borer.  For our retaining wall, we started digging the holes with a shovel (we had no idea what we were doing), and our helpful neighbor took pity on us and offered to let us use his manual hole borer.  AMAZING!  We literally saved hours and hours of manual labor time.  So, naturally, a gas-powered one would be even better!!  So on Saturday, Mark and 2 of our neighbors teamed up and dug 10 of our holes in under an hour!!  We thought it would take us weeks and weeks to dig all these holes, and they pretty much got it all done in a weekend.  Then on Sunday Mark was able to finish the last couple holes! We have ordered all the wood needed for our fence, and it was all delivered today!!  Now we are able to start putting in the fence posts this week! 

We may actually be able to get this fence project done by the end of March!  Our goal was to have it done by June-ish, so March would put us way ahead of schedule!  Then we can work on building our BBQ... there's always something, right?  In fact, while Mark was busy digging holes, I was equally busy pulling weeds all along our front yard.  Now how many weeds can one yard possibly have, you might ask.  Well, today I pulled 10 wheelbarrow's full of weeds, and that's not even half of them!!  I spent HOURS pulling weeds, and the yard looks much better (I should have taken a "before" photo for comparison), but there is still a ways to go!  Sadly, pulling weeds seems to be my only form of exercise lately, but it's tough work!

Anyway, a few photos for you!

We have done 8 of the 13 fence posts... which was about as fun as watching cement dry... literally.  Mark did most of the work, but he couldn't set them in concrete by himself, so I got to hold them, level them, and make sure they stayed that way... until the cement dried.  Lucky for me, it was pretty quick drying, but still, not the most exciting project I've ever done.  But they should be completely dry by tomorrow, and then later this week hopefully we can make some more progress.  And then when people drive up the road (which is right behind those posts), they won't stare straight into our dining room window and watch us eating dinner.  More pictures to follow later in the week.  And a 22 week update will be coming tomorrow!

Just wanted to share a few before and after pictures of some of the *almost finished rooms in our house!!

Lounge: (before and after)

There are still a few things to be done, like re-upholster that ottoman we are using as a coffee table.  We had a real coffee table, but it was wood and glass, and probably not the best choice for when we having a moving climbing baby, so we traded it in for the ottoman, which doubles as future toy storage (and made $70 in the process!)  And please ignore the fan, it was hot that day.
And one more lounge photo...

The dining room: (before and after)

The kitchen: (before and after) 

Now this kitchen is not exactly an "after" photo.  We half not finished painting (check out the right side of the range hood...) and we are planning on putting in granite countertops... eventually.  We are also going to put in a tile backsplash after the countertops go in... but again, not for a while.

A few other details... the entryway, and the hallway...

No pictures of the bedrooms or bathrooms for now, they aren't quite done yet (and probably won't be for a little while)!  But someday I will post the before and after pictures of all those rooms too... And then, some time much later, I can post all the before and after pictures of the exterior!!

I'm currently working on operation "make the nursery more girly" using the existing items (and maybe a few new ones).  Here's what I've come up with...

(1) The wall decor I originally bought is blue, green, and yellow.  It looked like this...

Those little circles say "sweet," "creative," and "adorable," in case you can't read it.  And then there are yellow, blue, and green stars.  So I painted the blue and green stars PINK and now I have yellow and pink stars!  Can you even tell the stars are pink in this picture?  They look a lot more pink in real life.

(2) I bought a PINK crib sheet, which actually goes surprisingly well with the rest of the bedding.  I think it adds just enough of a  "girly" touch for me.

(3) We have a white glider, and we have will be getting a PINK boppy pillow on it as an accent.  Right now it's green.

(4) We will be putting a PINK cover on the changing pad (it is currently white/green).

(5) Wall letters... well, this will require us to decide on a name, but I picked the letters that I want to spell out her name!!  The letters are pink and green!  And no these are not the letters we will be using, just random ones to show you what they look like.

Anyway, more photos... This is the view from the door. As you can see, it's quite a tiny little room, but I think it will serve its purpose just fine.  in case you can't tell, that little nightstand dresser thing is pink (although I've yet to paint the drawer, which is still white).  

Why don't I just get a close up for you?  I paid TEN DOLLARS for this piece of furniture (plus $10 for paint)... baskets and pink covers included.  And yes, those baskets have baby books in them!

And lastly (for now), the closet, which is not quite organized.  And proof that we really did buy some pink clothes.  Now I think you can see why we really needed to take the doors off... literally, no room in this room!

I had a request for some pictures of patio and nursery, so, here you go!  We'll start with the patio. To start, here's a before picture (or 2).  As you can see we removed that fence, and put in a patio where the existing grass was.  Now the grass looks nice in this picture, but I think that was a summer day after weeks without rain.  So you can see actual grass, and not swamp land.  The second picture is the view from the dining room right after we moved in.

So now we have the "after" photos.  There is still work to be done, but this is pretty good I suppose.  We sort of ruined the grass in our attempts to correct the drainage problem, which was pretty much unavoidable.  So we need to fix that up, as well as build our built in BBQ/outdoor kitchen right where the clothesline currently is. (Not to worry, we have another clothesline behind the house).  But now we have much more usable room in the back, and just you wait until that BBQ goes in!  So the new pictures... we have 3 different views for you, I should have taken the cover off of that fire pit (the black thing between the 2 chairs) but oh well.  And just pretend the hose and those piles of leftover sand/rocks are not in the picture. :)  Now all we need is some bug repellant or something because I can't seem to go outside without get at least 1 bug bite.  And it's only me, not Mark.  Lame.  Feel free to click on the images to enlarge. :)

Now just give me a few minutes and you can see some nursery pictures too!

We'll keep the same format as last week's update, because, why not?

Symptoms: We can feel the baby moving from the outside!!   Also, I can definitely feel when the baby is kicking/punching my bladder!  I thought that was something people just said because they have to pee so often while pregnant, but I could actually tell that baby was kicking my bladder because I could feel her move, and then feel a more urgent need to pee for just a second, and then it went away.  Sorry if that's too much info for you, but I thought it was interesting to note.

Also... this pregnancy is causing my skin to freak out!  I've developed allergies I haven't had before (like now I'm allergic to all 3 different deodorants I have... that's fun).  My face also gets really blotchy sometimes, which luckily seems to go away, and is also semi-masked by all the freckles on my face, so that's good.  And my skin is starting to just get itchy... on my stomach mostly, but other places too, including my face.  Luckily my skin has stopped breaking out (that was an early early pregnancy symptom).
Weight gain this week: 1.5 lbs
Total weight gain: 5 lbs!
Showing?: Same as last week.  Yes there's a bump, but not noticeable to strangers or to anyone if I'm wearing my usual attire!  Apparently I should be experiencing a growth spurt soon.  I think 3 of the baby books I have say I probably have gained 10-15 lbs by now. 
Stretch marks?: Still nope.
Fun facts about baby:  So for some reason last week I said baby weighed almost a pound, which was not exactly true.  For some reason, 10-11 ounces all of a sudden meant almost a pound to me.  Which I guess is kind of close, sort of, but seeing how baby won't weigh a pound for a little while longer, I suppose I should be a little more accurate with my info.  This week, baby is the size of a banana (hence the picture above), and I think roughly 13 ounces, if I remember correctly. Apparently over the next 10 weeks baby is going to grow quite a bit, and I should be experiencing a bit of weight gain as a result.  We'll see!

Now my vacation is officially over (sad), and today was my first day back at work.  I have 3 more weeks of my normal work routine, and then everything changes!  One of the babies I look after is starting daycare, so we're changing the arrangement a bit.  I will still be looking after Hugo in the mornings, but in the afternoons I will be looking after 2 more kids as well!  Now they are a bit older, so a little more self sufficient, but this should be interesting to say the least!  Yikes!  Hopefully looking after 3 kids won't wear me out too much!

We're close!  We have laid down all but 4 of the pavers, because unfortunately we had to go back to the store to pick them up, AND, we need to cut them to fit in the remaining space, so it's going to be a bit of a pain.  But once that's done, we just have a few finishing touches to do, and then we're finished with the patio!  One big project done, one more BIG project to do before baby comes!  Pardon the uneven color of the stones, we just sprayed them with the hose so parts of the pavers are still wet.  If you look at the picture on the right you can see the little bit we have left to do.  Sorry the lighting of the pictures is so bad, I should've waited until tomorrow to take the pictures but I'm not that patient.  Maybe tomorrow's pictures will be of the finished product! 

Things are moving along nicely in our backyard!  We finally got the pavers for our patio delivered (although they were 4 pavers short, which is clearly not ideal).  As of yesterday, Mark had even laid four pavers down, and as of the end of the day, we're half way done!  And luckily we've been getting pretty decent weather, so he's able to work pretty consistently.  We may even be able to finish laying all the pavers by the end of the weekend!  That would be nice for more than one reason... Currently we have the sand base down, but because this is Wellington, it's windy, which means, sand blows pretty much everywhere.  So there is sand all over the backyard.  And, we have neighborhood cats, and they are apparently trying to turn this sand pit into the biggest kitty litter box ever.  We see little footprints going through our perfectly  level sand, and a few areas where they probably have been digging, and I'm too afraid to look and see what buried treasures we might find in there.  Yuck.

Anyway, a little look at the progress we've made...

You can see the close-up of the patio on the right, the pavers are kind of a cream color, each one is slightly different and they have this really nice textured finish to them.  See the rocks close t the fence behind the pavers??  That was my contribution to the project.  Mark pretty much wouldn't let me touch anything else, (apparently too much manual labor for a pregnant lady), so I got to be in charge of the drainage ditch.  But it looks beautiful, I must say.  Hopefully in a few days I can post pictures of the finished project, maybe even with furniture on top!!  Although, our built-in BBQ will not be built for quite some time.  Oh and you can click on the pictures above to make them larger. 

Two quick things to post.

(1) Mark felt the baby move from the outside last night!!!  So exciting!  He's been waiting for this since the day I told him I was pregnant, and yesterday it happened!  I thought I could feel her from the outside, but I wasn't really sure, it was kind of hard for me to tell.  So he put his hand on my belly, and... nothing.  I could feel her, but he couldn't.  But then right before we went to sleep, I could feel her moving a lot, so I put his hand on my belly right where I thought she was moving, and we waited, waited, waited, and BAM!  He felt her right in the center of his palm!  He was soooo excited!!  It was one of those pregnancy moments I don't think I'm going to forget!


(2) We bought our baby her first pair of nike shoes (used, of course).  

This week I've been keeping my eye out for bargains on trademe (NZ version of craigslist/ebay), and I spent about $50 total, and I think we have a pretty good wardrobe now for our little baby bug, and I can't see us spending any more money on clothes.  And yes, many of those things we bought are pink. :)  

So this post is coming a few days earlier than it had in the past because the due date has moved up a few days.  So here we go...

I'm officially halfway there!!  20 weeks down, 20 weeks to go.  Here's a little summary:
Symptoms: No morning sickness anymore, I think it's long gone!  Normal appetite too.   Feeling the baby move every day, mostly when I'm sitting on the couch or trying to sleep.  I don't feel too fatigued UNLESS I do some kind of "strenuous" activity.  And my definition of strenuous has changed greatly since my Stanford soccer days, that's for sure.  Now, a hike up a small mountain (that makes it sound tougher than saying a big hill) is definitely strenuous.  And if I do something tough like that, I am wiped out!
Weight gain this week: 1lb
Total weight gain: 3 lbs
Showing?: Eh... depends.  In my regular attire (shorts and a t-shirt), no way.  But if you're looking at me without a shirt on (no pictures will be shown here, sorry), then yes, you can see I'm starting to get a baby bump.  It's hard to tell because, well, I've never had the flattest of stomachs, to be honest.  It is getting bigger than it used to be, but there is no way anyone on the street would be able to tell I'm pregnant.
Stretch marks?: NOPE! (I think my skin hasn't really had to stretch too much yet)
Fun facts about baby:  By now, she is about 6 1/2 inches from crown to rump (which is apparently the size of a can of red bull), and weighs almost 1 lb.  She has developed sleep patterns similar to those of a newborn.  She is starting to develop eyebrows and hair on her head!  We'll see if she is born with black hair like me, or blonde hair like Mark.  Her heartbeat can now be heard with a stethoscope rather than a doppler (although we have not actually tried this, so who knows...)

And now... a picture of me.  Mwahaha.  I swore I would take a picture every week, but I FAILED big time, but I thought 20 weeks was a good milestone, so I better take one!  It's hard for me to think I look pregnant instead of just fat... so even if you think I look fat, just lie and tell me I don't! :)  And no you won't be seeing any bare belly pics... not now, at least.  And one day, maybe I'll get Mark to take the pic so you can see my face!

Now want to see what is actually inside that belly? (And no these are not pictures of our baby, just what a baby looks like at 20 weeks!)

Ok now we know the sex of our baby, and we can finalize our nursery.  I say finalize because, to be honest, we already painted the room right after we moved in, and we already had a bunch of stuff, so it's already built and in the nursery.  I ordered some wall decor, and I knew the room could be considered neutral, but was probably more towards the baby boy kind of nursery.  If we ended up with a girl, I knew we would need some "girly" touches... somewhere.  Well, now that we actually are having a girl, I'm thinking our room is too boy-ish!!  If I bought everything new, I would have bought white furniture probably, but our furniture we got was free, so I can't complain!

The details: 
Crib: Da Vinci, ebony color   
Retail price: $309.99 (USD)  
My price: $0!!! (Thanks Ashley)  Mattress was free as well, that's another hundred or so dollars saved!

Changing table: Matches the crib, although I can't find the exact picture online, so this is the closest I could find...
Retail price: $139 (USD) 
My price: $0! (Thanks again, Ashley)

Glider and ottoman:  
Retail price: $359 for the glider, $149 for the ottoman  
My price: $75 for the glider, $100 for the ottoman (glider was used, ottoman was new but on sale)

The problem:  We have all this great stuff, but the nursery is tiny!  We can barely fit all that stuff in the room!  So we have to figure out how to best place things, and still have enough storage space for things like clothes, blankets, books, etc...  I already had to take off the doors to the closet in the nursery because they opened out into the room and made it so we REALLY couldn't fit all that stuff.  So now the closet is open, but looks pretty good because it has colorful bins and some shelves and it looks like it was meant to be like that.  Of course I say that now, when it's not overflowing with stuff, and it's easy to keep all neat and tidy.  We'll see, those doors could be going back on before you know it...

I'm going to post some pictures of the nursery soon, I am planning on going to buy some PINK (gasp!) paint tomorrow to have a few pink touches in the room.  NO I will not be painting the room pink.  It's going to remain blue.  But right now everything is blue and green and yellow, which is more baby boy than girl.  So maybe, add a little pink, and we'll be good to go!  I will put up some pictures once I get those finishing touches done!  I've put this up before, but this is the bedding and imagine it in a blue room... oops, not so girly!  But I have a plan, just wait and see!