Bell Home Renovations

Michael and I officially took possession of our new home last Monday! We have been working in our home for about a week now, trying to get a lot of our bigger projects done before we move in at the end of the month. Here is what we accomplished during "Week One" of our home renovation plan...

Removing Crown Molding and Shelving. Now I know that most people love crown molding, but for some reason, the previous homeowners installed black crown molding, as well as black shelving in one room of a home that is otherwise filled with pine crown molding and trim. To me, it just looked silly. So for now we are removing it and we hope to replace it with new pine or oak crown molding and shelving later down the road.

Before...

...After

Removing Wallpaper. This was the most difficult task we faced. The home only had wallpaper in three places - covering all walls in our small half bath, a border surrounding the eat-in kitchen, and below the chair rail in our formal dining room. Doesn't sound like much, but what a pain it was to remove. After becoming best friends with a steamer, the process began to go a little faster, but it was mostly just really tedious work that had us up past midnight three nights in a row. Not congruent with my current sleeping needs.

Before...

Before...

Before...

Before...

Before...

Before...

This little section took me one whole hour! That was before
I became an expert in using a steamer... Now wallpaper is no
match for me!

We are so grateful to Michael's parents, Jim and Nancy, for all their help!

Progress...

The final bits...

Removing Popcorn Ceilings. Yep - our hideous popcorn ceilings are completely gone on the main floor and second floor! Of course, we can't take any credit for the work, as we had it professionally done, but we really do love the new knockdown texture. The pictures make it hard to see, but hopefully after a coat of paint, they will look even better. Removing the popcorn ceilings in the basement will have to happen at a later date...but it is definitely happening!

Preparation for Painting. Something that I hadn't thought a lot about was just how much time we would spend cleaning and preparing for the painters to come in. This included everything from removing the hardware in the bathrooms (as well as all of the other things the previous homeowners had attached to the walls), removing the window blinds and valances, removing shelving from the closets, and painting the insides of our wall vents with black spray paint. That last one was a suggestion from my Dad (as I never would have thought to do that in a million years) - but apparently it keeps you from seeing any studs or other framing through your vents. Super important, I know...

 

I forgot to take "before pictures" of the upstairs,
but here is a picture of the Master Bedroom!

Master Bath

Lots of red and gold in this house...they must have been Chiefs' fans!

The picture doesn't do it justice, but I am so ready to have a big closet again!

Selecting Paint Colors. Now I thought this was going to be so easy, but it really was a challenge to select paint colors for a majority of the house. Of course, I wanted everything to flow together, but I also did not want to be too neutral. I ended up becoming good friends with the employees at Sherwin Williams (who all think I am crazy for stopping in at least once a day), and I think we have settled on some great colors - Latte and Nomadic Desert for a majority of the main floor, and then Diverse Beige and Everyday White for the Master Suite. The other three bedrooms, including the nursery, as well as the basement, are going to be painted later.

These are all the updates for "Week One" of the Bell Home Renovation. During "Week Two", a lot of ceiling and wall painting will be happening, as well as working on some of the trouble areas in the yard! Wish us luck!

22 Weeks

This week...

Baby Bell is the size of a... papaya! She’s about ten and a half inches and weighs about 15 ounces - almost one pound! Grow, baby grow! 

My bump is... feeling pretty big, but I know I am only a little over halfway there! I can only imagine how I am going to feel towards the end of this journey! Michael has been getting a kick out of watching me try to get out of bed in the morning because I can no longer just sit up. Essentially, I have to scootch over to the side of the bed and then kinda roll out of bed. It is awkward...and apparently entertaining...

I have been feeling... so much movement! It has been wonderful to feel her kicks/punches getting stronger and stronger. I can generally tell when she is awake and when she is asleep, which is fun. I also have been using the fact that "the baby is still asleep" as justification for not getting out of bed as early as I need to - not so good!

A few nights ago, I could actually see some of her movements happening on my lower stomach - it only lasted a few minutes, but it was really cool to see! Unfortunately, Michael was out of town so he missed it, but I am sure there will be more where that came from! Overall, I am still feeling good - just trying to keep up my energy as we work through the renovations on the home. I tend to run out of steam pretty quickly in the evenings, which is a challenge when you are removing wallpaper until midnight...

I have been craving... nothing too specific. Apparently, she is not going to be a picky eater - definitely takes after her Dad on that one! However, I have been forcing myself to eat at least one, if not two, bananas every day. During these past two weeks, I have started getting leg cramps in the middle of the night - seriously painful! I am trying to cope by getting some extra potassium in my diet, as well as drinking more water! We shall see how it goes!

Our favorite thing has been... enjoying the reactions of family and friends when we shared that we are expecting a little girl! It has been so fun to talk with our family and friends about our little one and how the pregnancy is going! We have also gotten some really sweet notes and gifts, making us feel so blessed and supported!

I also had a chance to go baby shopping with my mom last weekend when Michael was out of town! We went to Buy Buy Baby and Pottery Barn kids in Kansas City. I have never been so excited and so overwhelmed, all at the same time! There was so much to get that I hadn't even thought about, and then there were so many choices for every item that you "need". How is someone supposed to choose?!?! After the initial shock, it got a little better and I started putting things on the registry. We were able to decide on a lot of the items for Baby Bell's nursery, including a majority of the furniture and the general theme. I am excited to see how everything comes together!

We are looking forward to... making our house a home! We have already started in on the wall paper removal and our contractor is starting the popcorn ceiling removal. It is going to be so nice once everything is done and we can settle in! Until then, we are just going to enjoying watching our place come together! We will also be enjoying the last few weeks of summer before our favorite time of year begins - football season of course! Go Cats and Chiefs! :)

We're Homeowners!

As if we didn't have enough going on with the move back to Kansas City, our new jobs, and a baby on the way...Michael and I have also decided to take on the adventure of becoming homeowners! We officially closed on our new home this morning and couldn't be more excited!

While we have closed on the home, we won't be moving in right away. There are some changes that we want to make before moving in, including removing the popcorn ceilings, removing the wall paper, painting a majority of the rooms, as well as some modifications to the main staircase. If all goes according to plan, we will be moved into our new place by the end of August!

Oh, and the best part...our new home is located on Bell Road. That means we are the Bells on Bell Road - aren't we too cool... :)

More pictures to come as the renovations begin!

Baby Bell is a Girl!

 

Michael and I are so excited to share that we will be having a baby girl! Even as I type those words, I still cannot believe it. Here is the story of our 20 week sonogram...

On July 30th, we had our second sonogram and anatomy scan. It was so amazing to see how much the baby has grown since our last sonogram at 13 weeks! As I mentioned in my 20 Week post, we were able to see all the different aspects of her little body, including her spine, her brain, the four chambers of her heart, her arm and leg bones, and her tiny hands and feet. Essentially, everything about her was textbook - weighing in at exactly 10oz.

Side profile of Baby Bell

Baby Bell's foot - so much bigger than the first sonogram!

There was never really a question in my mind as to whether or not we would find out the sex of the baby - I am a need to know type of person!

Baby Bell was in an awkward and unusual position during the sonogram. Her spine up was against my belly and her head was on my right side, facing my back. In addition, her legs were crossed and tucked up underneath her stomach and her hands were tucked into her face. Basically, she was in "cannon-ball" position. Of course, this position makes it extremely difficult for the sonographer to determine the sex of the baby. When she told us that it was going to be difficult to determine the sex, I almost started to cry. I was convinced we were going to have to leave the doctor's office not knowing. I think the sonographer could see the panic in my eyes because she started to reassure me that she would do whatever she could to make the baby change positions. We spent the next 30 minutes prodding and massaging my stomach and flipping over from side to side. Baby Bell was being pretty stubborn - she gets that from her Dad (and probably her Mom as well!). Finally she decided to uncross her legs and started to change positions. A few minutes later the sonographer finally felt confident enough to share that we are having a baby girl.

In this photo you can see Baby Bell's two femur (thigh) bones.
The white lines between the femur bones indicate that Baby Bell is a girl!

The moment she said "girl" - I completely lost it. We're talking some serious waterworks! I couldn't believe it and had to keep asking the sonographer if she was sure. With seven boys and only one girl amongst Michael's siblings, I had convinced myself that we were having a boy. Ultimately, I know I would have been completely happy and excited either way, but there is something so special about a "mother-daughter" relationship, and now I am sure that I will get to experience that from the mother's side!

134 days until our due date! Can't wait for baby girl to arrive!

And here are some photos of Michael being annoyed that he had to hold the balloons outside in the heat while I changed out the signs...

20 Weeks

Again, I am a few days late on this post! I was in Las Vegas for my friend Amanda's Bachelorette Party this past weekend, so I am just getting around to posting about Week 20, which was actually last Thursday, July 31st.

This week...

Baby Bell is the size of a... banana - which just seems crazy big to me! Baby weighs about 10 ounces and measures about 6.5 inches. Can't believe we are halfway there!

My bump is... becoming more "real" every day. I can no longer sleep on my stomach - which is my favorite sleeping position - and sleeping on my back is becoming less and less comfortable. Everyone has been saying that this is the time to start sleeping on your side, but I just haven't figured out how to do that without having my whole arm go numb! Ah, the problems of a pregnant woman...

I have been feeling... pretty good! It seems that life has finally slowed down a little bit and the to-do list keeps getting shorter as items get checked of the list, which I am sure helps with my stress levels! We have another doctor's appointment tomorrow, during which I am hoping to see normal blood pressure levels. I am just hoping this feeling can be sustained as we go into a busy August and September!

I have been craving... nothing too specific lately - just whatever sounds good in the moment! However, the Z-Man sandwich from Oklahoma Joe's sure has been sounding good multiple days/weeks in a row...

Our favorite thing has been... there has been so many exciting things happening that I can’t choose just one. So here are three favorite things!

Two weeks ago, Michael's sister Emily and her family were in town for a week-long visit. We spent a lot of time hanging out with our nieces and nephews. It was fun seeing how excited they are about the baby - giving my belly hugs and kisses and talking about the baby. It just made me feel so blessed to know how much this baby will be loved - not just by Michael and I, but by our family and friends as well! Our niece Miriam has already drawn the baby multiple pictures and our nephew James is fully convinced that Santa will be "delivering" the baby via chimney on Christmas Day. He was sure to remind me that we do not want to have the fire going on Christmas Eve - otherwise the baby will be burned! :)

Over the past two weeks, Baby Bell's movements have become stronger - to the point where Michael is now able to feel some of the movements and kicks! It has been awesome getting to feel the baby move around several times a day. It is nice having a constant reminder that I am going to be a mom in just a few short months! It has also been interesting to track where Baby Bell "hangs out". The baby is usually on my lower right side, but I have noticed that when I am around loud noises (for example, this past weekend in Las Vegas), the baby burrows further down to try to "get away" from the noise!

On July 30th, at nineteen weeks and six days, we had our second sonogram, including the anatomy scan. It was so amazing to see how much the baby has grown since our last sonogram at 13 weeks! We were able to see all the different aspects of baby's little body, including the spine, the brain, the four chambers of the heart, the arm and leg bones, and the tiny hands and feet (pictures to come!). Essentially, everything about the baby was textbook - measuring the appropriate size and weight for this point in the pregnancy. Baby was in an interesting position during the sonogram - with the baby's spine up against my belly and the baby's head facing my back.  It was difficult to get a great profile shot, and even harder to see the sex organs. In order for us to find out the sex, we had to get the baby to flip around - which was apparently not on the baby's agenda for the day. After 30 minutes of prodding, massaging, and flipping over from side to side, the sonographer finally felt confident enough to share the sex of the baby, which I promise we will be sharing later this week!

There was one downside to the sonogram. The sonographer informed us that I have a low-lying placenta, which essentially means that my placenta lies low in the uterus. At this point, the sonographer couldn't tell if the placenta was just low-lying or if the placenta was partially or completely blocking my cervix - a condition called placenta previa. The hope is that as my uterus grows, the placenta will subsequently move higher in the uterus. However, if it it remains where it is at as my due date approaches there will be a lot of risks for a natural birth. Women with placenta previa usually deliver their babies before their due date by cesarean delivery. As I keep telling Michael, it is nothing to panic about yet. We are going to talk with my doctor more tomorrow and do another sonogram at 28 weeks to check on the progress.

We are looking forward to... moving into our new home! Michael and I have officially purchased a new home in Lenexa, Kansas and we are closing later this week! I am so ready to be out of our crammed apartment and have all of our things with us again! This will also allows us to begin thinking about the nursery - a decorating task that I am so excited for! Here is a quick preview of our new home - more photos to come!