He's a keeper!

It's been "out" for a few weeks now...I'm expecting our second child (eeeeee!!!!! :D :D :D). But this is my fifth pregnancy. Yeah, not great odds. There was a time we really weren't sure if we would have more than one child. I learned to soak in every second of my sweet Lily Pants, and I grew up a lot. Growing up sucks, but then things start to click together and you start feeling like you aren't just out treading water anymore.

Anyway, I'm pregnant! We found out in early August after three long months of trying (I know this isn't long to some, but when I've always gotten pregnant on the first or second month, it felt like forever, plus we had been trying for over a year to keep a pregnancy) that we were expecting. Cue the insane, stomach-clutching worrying! I did blood draws, early ultrasounds, and took a bajillion different pills every night. Then I started getting nauseous. Oh, thank goodness! I loved that constant reminder that everything is ok. I still found myself keeping the baby at arm's length...trying not to think too much about it.

My midwife is amazing. I drive almost two hours to see her (the minimum around here is an hour anyway, so I figured I might as well be driving to someone who knows me, she delivered Lily, and whom I love), and I get reassurance and a hug at every appointment. I hit the second trimester and she celebrated with me when we heard the heartbeat on the doppler.

I'm 16 weeks today, and I still catch myself thinking..."I get to have another baby! Thank you Lord!" Lily will get to be a big sister, I will get to breastfeed again, I will get to have another baby!

Another awesome thing and another big announcement...we bought a house! We close the end of November and will take 2-3 weeks to paint and do some remodeling, then move in. I can't wait to NOT move again! Josh and I have been married 3.5 years, and this will be our 4th move in that time. Not cool! Hopefully this house will last us 10 years until we can save up for our forever home in the country. The house is on an acre, with apple trees, grape vines, raspberry bushes, and a massive garden. Hopefully within the next year we will add a chicken coop, more apple trees, peach trees, pear trees, and possibly a horse pen. :) Should be an interesting journey and I look forward to sharing it here!

Bench Dilemna

There's this little thing called Junk Jaunt that happens every September out here. And it's dangerous. Aside from the crazy Beverly Hillbillies-esque pickup and trailers and their insane drivers, it's dangerously easy to spend a LOT of money on...well...junk.

I spent one hard-earned dollar on a bench that is just plain ugly. I saw the potential, though, and forked over a dollar (actually, I forked over a twenty and she handed me back $19, because I was silly and didn't break down my $20s beforehand...) and tossed it in the trailer.

The top has about four layers of--something. One of the layers (the bottom on) is cane, the top layer is linoleum. Yeah, linoleum. But I just loved the legs of the bench and thought it would be cute as an end table or padded bench in the Pants' room.I finally got around to ripping off the top couple layers and found cane in horrible shape on the bottom.

It's attached in there pretty good, too, not something I can just rip out, even if I knew if I could add new cane.

So. What do I do? Here are my options:

1) Paint it white and distress it, then add a padded top (after some plywood) and use it as a bench either at the end of Pants' bed or in our small mudroom. I'd probably go with a fun print for Lily's room and brown or something equally easy to hide dirt with for the mudroom.

2) Try to find a new top that matches (?) and paint it to match the rest. If so, where would I find a new top? The bench is so cute and would prefer this option, but I just don't know where I could find a new top. Do they sell those at HD or Lowes? Hmm... Also, if I could find a new top, I could paint it pink or aqua for Pants' room.

I also picked up a *few* other gems, including this medicine cabinet-turned-message center for our mudroom. This one was my first finished project.

It was a white washed wood and not super attractive with ugly, rusted handles and hinges and chipped laminate on the side, and I fixed the laminate, changed out the hinges and knobs, and painted it white, then distressed and stained it. I'll just add some cork board in the sunken parts behind the shutter fronts to be used as a message board. Those hinges and knobs did turn my $5 medicine cabinet into a $20 message center, though. :S

And last but not least (in fact, it cost the most), is the "new" dining room table.

I really went out on a limb on this one and spent $100 on it. It's pretty beat up, but I just love the legs, and I see tons of potential. I had originally planned on stripping the entire thing and restaining it to about the same tone, then adding black mismatched chairs. Then I saw this blog post at Crafty, Scrappy, Happy on her dining room table up-cycle. I loooove the white! What do you think about painting the bottom of my table white (um, hello! Wasn't looking forward to stripping those legs!) and having mismatched white chairs instead of black? My biggest concern is that I have a messy toddler and a husband who works in a blue collar field...will I be scrubbing those table legs constantly?