Kind of old news...

About a month and a half after Mina's birthday I wasn't feeling like my old self. I was tired, emotional and kind of ill. 

So I took a test

and three weeks after that I went to the doctor. 

I was pleasantly surprised to find out I was 7 weeks along with a due date of June 1st!

I'm now 13 weeks along. I have another appointment in 2 weeks, we'll have another ultrasound and get an updated picture. Plus, if all goes well, we will find out if our little baby to be is a girl or a boy. 

I've been really tired this time around.  Although I haven't thrown up nearly as much as I almost feel worse. Plus, I have to eat ALL THE TIME and nothing sounds appealing! All the discomforts aside, I'm really grateful that our family is growing. We have a lot to be thankful for not only during this holiday season but all year long. 

Initially I was going to announce on Facebook this week but I think I'm going to wait until we have our next ultrasound. Thanks for keeping it under wraps, I feel like we have the worst kept secret! 

Mina turned one!

Two months ago. 

Where has the time gone?

Eventually I'll upload some pictures from my camera on to the computer. 

It's hard to believe she is 14 months old. 4 more months and then she is in NURSERY! Holy cow!

The time goes by so fast. We sure love our little girl!

11 Months!

Mina turned one today and I realized I have really slacked on this whole monthly update thing. Here are some pictures I took when she was 11 months old.

She was NOT interested in posing for a picture.

 I tried distracting her with a mirror but she was more interested in eating it.

 Or holding it up so I could see it.

 Then she tried to eat the camera.

 It was all very funny.

 Then she walked away.

This adorable little romper is the same design as the romper she wore home from the hospital.

I was lucky enough to receive two versions, one in newborn size and another in 9 month size.

It all goes by way too fast.

Mina's Birthday!

Here is the final, FINAL version of Mina's birthday invitation, with a few details omitted.

I followed a tutorial on the really cute Toronto Mama blog, using PicMonkey, a free website. It was really fun and a lot easier than I anticipated.  You can find the tutorial here. I actually made three different versions of the invite; this one is a good mix of the two previous versions.

10 months!

I got a bit behind on the blog.  I could blame the move and that Mina was sick for a little while.
Yeah, those sound like good reasons.

Mina is now 11 months old! It is so hard to believe that in less than a month she will be 1!

Her 10 month stats:
height: 26 1/2 inches
weight: 16lbs
head: 18 1/4 inches

This cute picture was taken at the Minky Couture blanket event at the Layton Park.

Mina still wears mainly 6 month sized clothes with a few 9 month stuff mixed in.  She wears size 2 shoes and size 3 diapers. She is a champion at cruising around furniture and she crawls like a champ! We think she will walk any day now.  Every so often she will pull herself up and stand by herself.  She has even taken a few steps.  It seems like she realizes what is happening and she will quickly sit down.  Funny girl!

Front room and kitchen before and after

This tiny picture is all that remains of how our house looked when we first visited. 

Our front room used to have bright turquoise carpet with white walls with plain baseboards. The carpet and pad were pretty worn out and not really our style. James put me in charge of choosing colors for paint and carpet and together we chose our baseboards and trim.

BEFORE

AFTER 

 Originally I wanted to paint or stain the pocket door for the closet but it didn't happen. In the end it doesn't bother me that much that we have multiple colors of brown in our front room, it's okay.

 The front room has a large window that was previously enshrouded by a gauzy lace topped curtain.

We are currently waiting for our blinds to arrive so that we have some privacy.  It should also help to block out some of the heat in the morning.  I guess that is what you get with windows that face East!

  

And this wall still needs a few pictures.  Theoretically it will look something like this when it is done:

Or something not at all like that...

 I think it is interesting how different the wall color looks in pictures and in different light.  Here it looks really gray but in real life it is brighter and blue-r.

We used Behr Premium Plus Ultra in Frosted Jade. We used the same color in our bedroom and the hallway.

On to the kitchen!
The kitchen had been updated in the 80's with nice cabinets and carpet.  I'm not a massive fan of carpet in kitchens or bathrooms so we wanted to put something else down instead of the lovely pink carpet.
 BEFORE

 AFTER

We added dark wood floor, tall white baseboards and blue-green paint. I wanted a color that would compliment the existing cabinets as well as the new flooring.  

 We also removed the extra tall door leading to the basement.

 BEFORE

 AFTER

BEFORE

 AFTER

 We also dropped the doorway down from the living room to the kitchen and added casing.  This helps to tie the doorway in with the other doors.

 It also makes it possible for Mina to do this:

She loves to jump!

 Our kitchen paint color was also Behr Premium Plus Ultra but this time in Lap Pool Blue:

Our House! (Door edition)

Back in April we closed on our house in Layton.  Over the next month we worked on the house to make it our own. James and my Dad did a majority of the work, I mostly stayed home and took care of Mina and made decisions. One of the first projects they tackled was to replace the doors in the upstairs.
The original doors in our house were really unusual.  They were tall, closed to the wall instead of into a casing and most of the latches were painted over so they didn't lock. I was familiar with this type of door because my Grandma Keller's house is in the same neighborhood.

The super tall door in our bedroom

The really tall door in the kitchen

The doors HAD to go.  Luckily, my Dad found a new method for installing a door using brackets. He and James tore out the existing door frame, built in a new header and hung the new door! It was a lot less painful than we anticipated, thankfully.

Mina's room and her new door

After the walls were taped and mudded, we painted and installed the trim.  Once again, the "we" was mostly James and my Dad but I did do quite a bit of painting. We painted the casings and baseboards before they were installed.   I patched the baseboards and trim and then covered the patches with more paint.  I really hated trim at that point but I'm REALLY glad we put new trim in our house. It makes a huge difference.

Mina's room, ready for carpet!

Mina playing in her new room

9 Months

9 Months old! It seems like just yesterday Mina was a tiny baby with lots of dark hair.  Now, she is a wiggly baby who loves to move.

Last summer, before Mina was born, I received two rompers at two different baby showers.  One was newborn sized, she wore that home from the hospital and the other was 9 month sized.  I dressed her in the larger one this week and she was swimming in it.  I figure she will be able to wear it around her birthday.

The time has officially passed too quickly.

I made a romper to commerate Mina's 9 month-ness and I was so excited to dress her up and take some pictures.  Mina had other plans on Monday.

I had slightly more success on Tuesday.

At least she was happy! Unfortunately the paper didn't survive.

 Mina's stats for 9 months

25 3/4" tall

15 lbs 10 ounces

18" head

Diapers: She moved up to size 3 diapers recently. She was teetering on the edge between the two sizes and we had two HUGE boxes so we moved up the 3's.

Clothes: Most of her 6 month clothes fit perfectly.  I packed up the last 3-6 month items this past week but I rediscovered some shorts from last summer that fit and her jeggings are now cute capris. I figure they still work.

Sleep: She still gets up twice at night to eat.  I figure she needs it because she is so small.

Noises: Lots of them and at high volume.

Teeth: Two cute razor sharp teeth on the bottom.

Food: She doesn't like to eat baby food from spoon but she will eat it out of pouch.  Thanks to my sister-in-law Jessie, we have a bunch of reusable pouches.  Mina likes to try whatever we are eating and she likes to feed herself.  She loves to gnaw on apple slices.

Skills: Mina can pull herself up on just about anything, or anyone! She is so determined and brave.  She will scoot around her crib and the banister if we give her the opportunity.  Mina has also figured out how to clap and she will play peek-a-boo as well.  We love our little munchkin!

 Crawling will probably happen any day now, unless she starts walking before!