The Nursery, Projects

We have a couple of pieces of furniture that we plan on using in the nursery, but need to update or upcycle or however you appropriately describe refinishing old pieces. 

We tackled the first piece this weekend. Justin did most of it, really. I wish I had a "before" picture of this dresser... it was an oak color with brass handles. It was my mom's and I love that our baby girl will get to have something that belonged to her grandmother in the room! Justin sanded, primed, and painted the dresser and each of it's drawers. Then, we added some aged bronze pulls and popped it into the nursery. I love it! Plus, in this picture you get to see a peek of the black and white chevron rug I got last week, too!

Our next project is this changing table that I got for $10 on Craig's List. Steal!! I love the spindles and vintage-feel of this table. It will be perfect with our Jenny Lind crib and "antique" dresser! I sanded it last weekend so maybe it will get primed and painted this weekend... Justin?? :)

And coming soon... a recliner/glider! We officially ordered ours this week. In 6-8 weeks, I'll share!

And lastly, an updated belly pic. It's been a week and a half since then, but here ya go!

It's a...

GIRL!!!

I took off a Friday so that Justin and I could go to our 18 week appointment together and find out whether baby P was a boy or a girl. We had been anticipating this day for SOO long and were SUPER happy when it came. I wanted to make sure that we could get a good picture, so I drank some apple juice before going (man, did that work).

Funny though, I felt really nervous before going - more so than any track meet and more so than when we got married. Crazy, right?? Well, we sat there very patiently while the sonographer measured all the little baby parts before she finally revealed that we're having a little girl! We're so happy to be able to envision our future family a little easier now.

Justin had to go back to work at the house, but I got to spend the day spreading the news to our family! Mom and I decided to go to Canton that next weekend to start collecting some sweet baby girl things. Now, we're having so much fun!

Here are some pictures from our sonogram:

Baby Nursery, the Beginning

We got started early on Baby P's nursery by cleaning out the guest room furniture and closet and painting it a neutral tan!

When we got back from Florida, we picked up our Jenny Lind crib and started to assemble the very first piece of furniture for baby P!

 Before...

I helped a whole lot. 

 Look at him go!

 Putting the final pieces together...

Ta da! Even put the mattress in.

Now, what will I do with the REST of the room???

Spring Break in the Keys

Justin took some time off this March so that we could go to Key Largo with his family. We got to visit with his grandpa and sister Josie who is studying hard at SCAD. Mostly, we relaxed and hung out, but Justin got in some scuba diving and I took a couple of "beach" pictures. See Bob Peipert's facebook for more pictures!

Justin reading. 

Around 16 weeks pregnant. 

The LAST Bathroom Remodel

When we bought our house, we knew that it needed a little bit of updating. We started with the half bathroom downstairs. Pretty easy - did most of it ourselves. Then, the kitchen got a face lift. Then, we were forced to update the master bathroom when our shower pan failed. Phew!

That means there's just one bathroom left. The one that never gets used. The one that never even gets looked into.

Well, here we are with a baby on the way and it became time to start thinking about that last bathroom. After deciding that paying a contractor to do all of the work for a LOT of money, we decided to do most of the work ourselves, especially since plumbing was not something that needed to be worked on this time. Oh, and by "ourselves", I mean Justin and his dad (thanks, Bob!)

After the cabinet was taken out and wallpaper ripped down. 

All tile removed from the shower walls. 

Drew helped, too. Such a good neighbor!!!

So far, everything has been ripped out and some hardy board has been put down on the shower walls and the floor.

Next step is tile, if only we could pick one out! I'll keep you posted...

September 1st, 2012

Around Valentine's Day the time came to start spreading the news to our family & friends about our big news! This is the picture we mailed out to family to announce our pregnancy (how precious are those baby Toms??):

I loved sharing with my class the big news, too. It's hard to tell from this picture, but they each painted a heart with a different letter on it. We put the "surprise" message up in order so that it read "Mrs. P is having a baby!" Their reaction was hilarious. Our Valentine's Day party was that afternoon, so when we got to "Mrs. P is having a ..." they were sure it was going to say PARTY! I suppose that is a good inference based on the situation. :) Once we put up B & A, they started to figure it out and chant "Baby! Baby!" I had a sweet parent there to video the whole thing. They started to hug each other and when asked "What do you tell Mrs. Peipert?" They all replied, "Thank you!!!!" LOL They're well-trained.

So, mark your calendars for Labor Day weekend (ironic, right?) because that's when we'll go from a family of two to a family of three! Or so that's the plan...

Ski Aspen

I love that Justin's company SenseCorp includes family in their annual meeting trips. We've been fortunate enough to travel to Vail, San Diego, Austin, and now Aspen, Colorado together. I think that in the last four years, since we've been out of college and on our own, we've taken one other true vacation together outside of these trips.

That being said, we decided to head to the mountains early so that we could get some quality skiing in before Justin had meetings. Well, Justin got in some quality skiing (of course with no proof since he doesn't take pictures). My days consisted of hydrating, sleeping, and snacking to avoid getting sick. We did get one good day out together, though. Here are some pictures of the beautiful mountains:

We took a gondola to the top to eat lunch and walk around. 

At the mountain-top restaurant. 

I love the mountain air! 

We went on a sleigh ride through the woods! 

Bundled up - it was pretty chilly!! 

At least we got some hot chocolate.  

Our horses for the afternoon. 

We saw someone at the hotel order these, and had to try it ourselves... tableside s'mores!

Our First Appointment

If you've ever been pregnant or have tried to get pregnant, you know that there is a lot of time, especially at the beginning, when you anxiously await the next "big" moment. Or maybe it's just with the first baby. Or maybe it's just me. :)

Waiting to find out officially whether you're pregnant or not is the first thing. Then, you have to wait for your first appointment with the doctor. We had ours at 6 weeks where we got to see the first picture of our little one!

The cutest thing you've ever seen, right??? It really is amazing how they can see something so tiny. 

Baby is the size of a pea or something even smaller probably at this point. Half a centimeter I believe was the official measurement. And you might think, "Yes, I can see how that could be a little baby in there," but then I tell you that the part that kind of resembles a head -- nope, not part of the baby. Baby P is in between the two crosshairs. That's it! Just a little bean.

But it was SO sweet to be able to see an even tinier little heartbeat on the ultrasound, although we didn't get to listen to it quite yet. We can't wait to start making a place for our little bundle at home! But more waiting was yet to come... what will it be?!?!? 

The BIG News

Well, halfway through your pregnancy isn't TOO bad of a time to update the blog, right? I thought it was time to start giving some official updates, so let's start at the beginning!

It all started in Illinois over Christmas. Justin and I, along with my parents, Krista and Collin, were visiting family and I got a hankering for some old fashioned tomato juice. And that is an understatement. We got home and I bought a whole big bottle of it, just for me. It was gone in a week. I thought it was really strange at the time, but when I saw THIS it all made sense:

Justin was back at work and I wanted to tell him in person so I had to sit on this big news for a few hours. THAT was hard. I went out to run errands, with my Clearblue stick, trying to kill time. I almost told the cashier at Target but decided against it. When Justin came home for lunch, I FINALLY got to share the news! I think he knew what was up before hand. I may have made an incredibly awkward phone call to him that morning suggesting there was something to "talk about". :) After work that day he brought home some "Happy Pregnancy" flowers.

We decided to wait to share the news with family and friends until I was further along, but ever since about 10 weeks, we've been SUPER happy to share with everyone that we're expecting!!