Gossip Bench Goodness

Who has heard of a gossip bench?!  If you have, and you've been holding out on me shame on you.  I am obsessed with these adorable pieces of furniture.  We were lucky enough to get one!  The piece has been in Tim's family for years and I love that we get to keep it with a fresh new look in our home.  I actually did this furniture makeover a LONG time ago (like before I was pregnant a long time ago).  But I love how it turned out and thought I'd share.

This was my very first painting furniture experience EVER.  I didn't really know what to expect but I followed some great tips from this tutorial.  The one thing I did not have that I wish I did was an automatic sander.  This would have saved me hours and probably made the whole experience take about a quarter of the time that it did.  Nonetheless now I know for my future furniture painting extravaganzas.

Here it is at the start

Here it is after what felt like days of sanding it down

Tada!  And here is the finished product! I used Benjamin Moore Woodlawn Blue paint and got the knob from Anthropologie.

29 Weeks

How far along? 29 Weeks

Monthly Check in: 17 lbs gained, got a stretch mark RIGHT on my behind, thought it was a scratch! Here we go!
Maternity clothes? Yes, just ordered a couple dresses to try for the baby shower :)
Sleep: Got a lot of sleep this last week since I was home sick but nights were pretty rough.  The humidifier definitely helped.
Best moment this week: Feeling the baby doing what feels like somersaults in my stomach. :)
I am so bummed.  I was supposed to be in Chicago this week for work but got completely taken out by a nasty cold/flu and was literally in bed almost the entire week.  It was not fun.  While I feel like I did my best to recover fast, the highlight of this week was when I was feeling better and actually left the house!  I kept getting nervous about coughing so hard and it affecting baby but he's been a trooper and kickin away.
Food cravings: Soup, not sure if it was because I was sick and the windy cooler weather but soup has been delicious this week.  Had some chicken noodle (homemade by Tim, he's a way better cook than I am) 
Looking forward to: Our 4D ultrasound!  I'll be 30 weeks on Fri and they say this is a good time to get one.  We can't wait.
Baby item of the week: I'm looking for a pouf or an ottoman for the nursery.  So far the stuffed Moroccan Pouf is my top pick.  There is a similar one in this adorable nursery here or a blue one in the picture below.

 

I did a lot of relaxing and getting better this week which consisted of a lot of pics of these guys.

 

Had a garage sale yesterday which ended up being a bust but look who scored from it.

Is it weird that there was a 28 year old bearded man riding around on this in our neighborhood?  This goped used to be my little brother's when we were kids.  My dad brought it over to sell at the garage sale.  It hadn't been started in probably ten years.  Tim was so giddy fixing it and then riding it around after.

And here's a few pics from dinner at my parents today.  Had a little photoshoot action.  (Left Pic) BreAnne & I - she's trying to keep baby Will in as long as possible but he is getting impatient! (Right Pic) Me & my momma 

 
My bearded man

28 Weeks

How far along? 28 Weeks

Maternity clothes? Yessiree and still making what I have in my closet work for the next couple months
Sleep: Been getting a lot of sleep lately which is great.  I've also started hoarding all the pillows on our bed.
Best moment this week: Coming home from work and finding Tim playing the guitar in the nursery.  Can't wait for the sweet moments when Tim is playing the baby music in there.
Food cravings: I'm loving honeycrisp apples with peanut butter 
Looking forward to: My Dr. appt tomorrow morning with the new Dr. - hoping all goes well and I can transfer to him. Then we wouldn't have to drive all the way down to UCLA for appts.
Baby item of the week: I had a quick work trip to SF this week and when I came back I had the most pleasant surprise at my desk from a work colleague - this adorable elephant and flash cards for baby!  In love!

And yup, you guessed it, I wasn't let down at the Oakland airport this time!

I'll be in Chicago this week for a couple days for work.  It's my first time and I'm pretty excited.  I may have a little bit of down time one day so I'm planning on doing the architectural boat tour.  Has anyone else been, suggestions?  Have a great week!

27 Weeks!

So happy to be writing this post.  We are officially in the third trimester, the home stretch!

How far along? 27 Weeks

Maternity clothes? Yup!
Sleep: Not what it used to be, my legs get really achey at night. Weird
Best moment this week: The nursery is painted!  And the beadboard is up. Tim is literally working on the chair rail and baseboards as I write this.  I'm so excited to see the final product.
Food cravings: I pretty much crave the same stuff. Going to SF this week for work and you know what that means!
Looking forward to: Seeing the nursery walls done!
Baby item of the week: For our rocking chair in the nursery we are planning to recover my sweet Grandma Hazel's old rocker.  She recently passed away this last March.  I am excited to have something that reminds me of her in our nursery.  I am debating between a striped fabric or something that is plain (leaning towards stripes).  Here are ones that I've been looking at:

 

Here's cute Tim working on the nursery walls

So we didn't end up going with the original color I had talked about (Benjamin Moore Palladian Blue).  We decided instead to do something a little softer beigey/grey.  I have the most patient husband.  He painted the nursery and it wasn't quite what I had imagined... so on the second try it's perfect! :)  We ended up going with Dunn Edwards Muslin.

I am slightly obsessed with this picture.  It just makes me happy.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

26 Weeks

How far along? 26 Weeks

Maternity clothes? I have a new found love for ASOS and Gap
Sleep: Can't get enough of it.  I love my weekends when I don't have to wake up to an alarm clock.
Best moment this week: Had a great week with Tim and my parents at the Dodger game and then at a friend's bday party on Saturday.  I'm really trying to soak up all the carefree time that I have left because everyone keeps warning me that in a few months things are going to be quite different...
Food cravings: Cafe Rio... I miss it, I want it... it's so far away :(
Looking forward to: Seeing the baby on Friday at my Dr. appt.  After this appt. I start going to more frequent office visits which means we're getting closer!
Baby item of the week: This isn't so much an item as a picture and question.  I've been thinking about newborn pictures and announcements.  And I want to do something different and creative.  Check out this adorable announcement below.  Anyone have any ideas?!

Pictures from last week... Tim & I at the Dodger game

Jenna, Kimmie and I at Javier's for her bday dinner.

Hanging out with my pups on Sunday.

25 Weeks

How far along? 25 Weeks

Monthly Check in: 13 lbs gained 
Maternity clothes? If only I could wear my lounging clothes to work.  Need to do some more shopping!
Stretch marks? nada
Sleep: Sleep has changed a bit.  My legs are starting to get restless and achy.  Nothing too bad but definitely noticeable.  Also speaking of sleep... in the middle of the night this week Max insisted on going outside where he found an opossum.  Totally freaked me out.  Luckily Tim got the dogs back inside but I will not be letting him out anymore in the middle of the night.  Lesson learned.
Best moment this week: Hanging out with my cousin and sister-in-law.  I always get the best advice from my SIL and can't wait for all of our BOYS to be born. All pictured below: Jamie (1/6), me (12/20) and BreAnne (11/5).   
Food cravings: Nothing new.  I stocked up our pantry with plenty of cold cereal.  Hits the spot. 
Looking forward to: Meeting our new Doctor.  We have been seeing a Dr. that isn't too far from us, but with traffic it doubles and sometimes can triple the drive.  After lots of discussing with Tim and a warning from my SIL that it may be scary to have to travel during rush hour once I'm in labor, we decided to look into finding a doctor that is local.  
Baby item of the week: Check out this onesie. Precious.



How cute are my niece and nephew? I'm kind of obsessed with them.

Me, Jamie & BreAnne :)

The bumps

And here is an adorable picture of Tim and his brothers (sorry it's blurry).  Tim is the little guy at the top.  I hope our baby looks just like him.

24 Weeks & Labor Day Weekend

How far along? 24 Weeks (this picture was taken way late... I'll be 25 weeks tmrw, whoops)
Maternity clothes, stretch marks, sleep? same as last week
Best moment this week: Hanging out with my family in UT.  Tim had to work last weekend so I flew up to see my brother Glen and sister-in-law Sam with my parents.  We had a lot of fun hanging in Park City, eating great food and shopping.  And everyone got to feel Baby B kick!
Food cravings: They were out of the one flavor of ice cream at Fentons at the Oakland airport, it was a sad day.  But instead I got to eat lots of great food in UT (Cafe Riooooo) over the weekend which made up for it.
Looking forward to: Using our stroller!  I ordered the Baby Jogger City Select and am real excited for baby to come so I can take him on long walks.  In the mean time I might practice with Walter & Max. 
Baby item of the week: We went to Swiss Days in Midway when I was in UT.  My mom got baby a real cute piece of decor for the nursery (see below).  I'm not sure which color she ended up picking but I'd be happy with any of them!

Check out this picture taken when we were walking on Main Street in Park City.  Already the leaves are starting to change, I just love UT in the fall.  Wish CA had these fall colors.

And here are a couple pics from Swiss Days (Mom, Sammy & I) and then Sammy and I getting ready to devour a crepe.

And you can't forget my Cafe Rio salad! I heard a rumor they were opening one where I live.  Please let this be true.  And here's a picture of the delicious yogurt parfait my mom made us.  I tried to mimic it when I got home and it just wasn't the same.  I'm considering crashing daily breakfasts at their house just so I can get some more of this goodness.

And then I took this picture of Tim resting with the dogs on Monday. He's the only person I know who likes to nap on the floor... I think he likes it more than the dogs.