Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Our shower is done!

So about a week or so ago we FINALLY got our shower finished. We had it totally redone with new tile and fixtures and everything and I could have sworn I had posted pictures of the tile, but I am looking through posts and I don't see any so I thought I would do a few before and afters for you. We started our remodeling of our bathrooms last summer. We did a lot back then - got new tile on the floor, installed new lights, mirrors and fixtures on the sinks, and painted. Our guest bathroom has been completely finished except for the staining of the cabinets for a while, but our master bath was going to have to have some more work done.

A couple of months ago we hired some guys to retile the shower and put in new fixtures for the shower and bath tub. While they were working on it we basically lived out of the guest bathroom. They finished the tile and everything in about a week, but then we had to wait about three more weeks after that for the glass for the shower! They said they kept breaking the glass or something. We finally got it installed a week or two ago and it has been so nice! It is a little taller than our other one which Jason loves and I am loving the cut outs in the wall for our toiletries. Besides the fact that it just looks so much better.

So without further ado, here are some before and after pics of our shower!

Here is our old shower...


And here are some pics of the new, much improved shower! The first couple are when it was a work in progress, but it shows a little better detail than my 'final' shot.



Monday, March 23, 2009

Pictures as Promised

Ok, I finally went today and got a new memory card for my camera so I have taken some pics of the new nursery as well as my latest belly pic. I am officially 37 weeks pregnant so I don't have long to go or much bigger to get...as if that were even possible.

Here is the dresser and hutch I got from Lone Star Baby


And here is the crib with the curtain hung and side table


Here is her name on the wall


And here are some crosses that are on the wall when you walk in


And this is a table I got at Target to hold my record player I got for Christmas. I have a ton of records from when I was little and I wanted her to be able to listen to them. It also has a CD player and radio, so don't worry. She won't be stuck in the 70s.



And here is my ginormous stomach. The guy at Office Depot today asked me if I was sure I wasn't having twins. I said I was sure. He says 'cause it looks like you're having twins'. Nice, right?


Ok, those are all the pics for now. More to come as I finish more stuff!

The Weekend

I apologize I still don't have pictures of the nursery to update you with. My SD card has run away and I don't believe it is coming back. I meant to buy one this weekend, but totally forgot. But I promise to get one this week!

This weekend was fun and busy and productive! Friday night we went over to Jarrett and Gab's for grilling out and the boys wanted to watch basketball. Seems there is some tournament on right now... So we ate some hot dogs and and chips and queso and cookies and then Jason and I headed home because we had to get up early for our Breastfeeding class at the hospital in the morning.

Jason was SO looking forward to this class. =) Not really, but most people had their husbands with them, so I was glad he came. He wanted to go to the Arboretum after that because he has joined this photography group who was going to be there practicing their skills. However, we were running sort of late to it, so we decided to go see the new Whole Foods in Lakewood and get stuff for a picnic there instead. Neither of us have ever been to the Arboretum, can you believe that? So we go and the parking lot is full so we drive over to the shuttle parking. We go to get in line for the shuttle and realize the line is about a mile long and that it will be probably an hour before we get on. So we give up and end up driving over by Winfrey Point on White Rock Lake to have our picnic. The weather was awesome and we just watched people running and biking while we pigged out. After that we went home, took a nap and then got ready for dinner and a movie. I had a gift card to Macaroni Grill so we went there and ate and then went to see I Love You, Man. It was so hilarious and I think I liked it better than Jason a little bit. Not sure why, since it is sort of a guy movie, but oh well!

So we got to have a lovely Saturday of couple-dom to try and make up for all the free time we won't have in coming months. It was really nice and relaxing and fun. But then Sunday came and then it was time for productivity! We got up and went to early church and then had some lunch at Gloria's. Once we got home we were in 'go' mode and so I started cleaning out cabinets and continued my deep clean of the house by totally organizing and dusting and vacuuming etc, the guest bedroom. So now when my mom and mother in law come to stay they will have a spotless bedroom and bathroom! Hopefully I can keep them that way for a couple weeks. =) Also did some other stuff around the house while Jason cleaned out the garage and got all his lawn stuff together and ready to go. I don't think he has mowed in like two years and now that we are tightening the purse strings we can't pay someone to do it. So he got all his mowing stuff fixed up and mowed the yard and it looks great! I know he hates doing it, but I love him for doing it anyway. =)

So last night we were both EXHAUSTED! My back is really killing me lately so an entire day of housework did not help and I know Jason was tired from being out in the sun all day. I had thrown a pot roast together before church so we ate that for dinner - delicious if I do say so myself! - and then Jason watched Body of Lies downstairs while I went upstairs and watched The Big Sleep, an old Bogart/Bacall movie. Jason came up and watched basketball and rubbed my poor little aching back while I went to sleep, pretty sure by 9:30.

So it was a great weekend and now I am officially 37 weeks, which is considered full term!! The baby could literally come any time, and with these weird feelings that she is coming early I am trying to be prepared for anything. This is my last week of work before I start maternity leave so I am just wrapping things up at work and trying to get my hospital bag packed and ready to go at a moments notice! I think my mom freaks out every time I call her now. =) Knowing me, though, she will go as far past her due date that my doctor will allow! I don't know that I will ever be 'ready' for her to be here, but I am SO ready to not be pregnant anymore. I will miss feeling her kick and stuff, but I will not miss the backaches and sleepless nights. Haha, oh wait I forget the sleepless nights have only just begun. =)

Friday, March 20, 2009

Buzz Agent Review: Neutrogena Makeup

This is my first review as a Buzz Agent and my first products were makeup from Neutrogena. I will start by saying I have never used any Neutrogena makeup and so I really had no preconceived notions. As a Buzz Agent I am supposed to be totally honest so here I go!

Healthy Volume Mascara -
I have a really hard time finding mascara that I like, so I tried this with the assumption that I probably wouldn't like it. I have a couple of strict guidelines. The first, I like to have a very full brush that separates each lash instead of spiraled brushes with just a few bristles that clump. So on this first point, the mascara passed with flying colors! The brush is awesome and each lash was easily separated. The second guideline is that it comes off easily with water. Well, this got pretty good marks on that. I mean no mascara really comes all the way off, but I hate to have to scrub my eyes with eye makeup remover to get it off and I didn't have to do that at all. As far as how it looked on, I think it looks great. It is a volumizing mascara and I would say it does its job well. I personally am more of a fan of lengthening mascara and it doesn't really lengthen that much, but that isn't its job, so if you like volumizing mascaras, I would totally recommend it.

Mineral Sheers Concealer Kit -
This was my least favorite product. It is a creamy concealer that you put over blemishes or under eyes and then you pat it with a powder to set it. Well the concealer I didn't think blended very well in the first place, and then patting it with powder just made my skin look dry and brought out the lines around my eyes. So I personally wouldn't recommend it.

Nourishing Eye Quad in Tea Biscuit -
I started out thinking I was not going to like this eye shadow. I don't usually wear brown and when I do it is very shimmery. These were mostly mattes and I just didn't think it would look good on me. But I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. I followed their little guide on the back on how exactly everything should be applied and I thought it looked great! I didn't want to jump to any conclusions, because some days you know you just have good makeup days? But I have worn it a few days now and I always like it. I would highly recommend this.

Nourishing Eye Liner -
This eye liner came in brown sugar and it went on very smoothly. It was a great accompaniment to the eye shadow they sent. However, it does not go on very dark. I usually only wear eye liner at night and when I wear it I usually want it to be a pretty dark line. This was more of a day wear eye liner, and I just don't really wear eye liner during the day much. But having said that, it was very pretty and easy to put on!

Ok, so that is my first review as a Buzz Agent. I hope you liked it and feel free to comment away or ask questions. I also have several coupons for this makeup that they gave me so if you want one, post a comment and I will find a way to get it to you!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

What Have I Been Up To?

So I took a bunch of pictures of the nursery and my latest belly shot and such and then I realized my memory card wasn't in the camera. And now I can't find it anywhere! So I will just have to describe all the progress I have made and will post pictures later.

This past weekend, while not officially St. Paddy's day, is when the city of Dallas celebrates. They have a big parade and you basically start early and play all day and wear green and have lots of fun. I am a big fan of any holiday where you have to dress up, such as Halloween, and yeah you don't technically wear a costume or anything, but the fact that I have to find something green totally counts. I also am not a night person so any holiday where you celebrate mostly during the day also get extra points. Add to the fact that I don't hate beer and you have a really great holiday in my opinion. So I usually look very forward to St. Patrick's Day. This year wasn't quite as great only because it was a) freezing outside, so no parade for me! and b) I am not allowed to drink in my current condition. But I did get to wear my green headband that makes an appearance annually so it wasn't all bad.

Jason braved the cold with some of our friends for the parade and I instead took a nap in my nice warm bed until they went to Jessica and Chris's to grill out. I met them down there and had a tasty hot dog and lots of chips and dip, then me and Gaby decided to go get stuff for s'mores since the Jordan's had a fire pit going. So we spent a good amount of time roasting marshmallows and making s'mores. It was really a fun day, just felt more like something I should be doing for Thanksgiving rather than SPD. We also played poker for a while and then switched to Apples to Apples, which I am still not convinced is that fun, though so many people seem to love it.

Sunday Jason and I had vowed to be super productive so we spent most of the day in the nursery. Jason hung letters and towel racks and fixed the changing table to where the wipe warmer can sit inside and still be plugged in through the back. I finished washing Isabella's things and completely organized the dresser and hutch how I wanted it. I also got the diaper bag all stocked and ready to go and figured out how to use my breast pump. (Sorry if that is TMI, I promise not to go in to too much detail about these things in the future =) ). We also got the car seat installed in the car and it was way easier than we thought it would be. I am waiting on my car seat protectors to come in from Target so we will just have to do it all over again, but that's ok. I also ordered my bath tub from Babies R Us as well as another car seat base for Jason's car. So really the only things left are to hang a couple of things in the nursery, but we have to wait until the rocker comes in to make sure we know where it will go. Should be here very soon. They said middle of March so...

I also started packing my hospital bag. I have a bunch of pjs and stuff and also ironed Bella's dress she will wear home. Jason and I are currently debating whether she should go home in an adorable yellow gingham dress with ruching at the top and a cute headband and tiny adorable socks where everyone at the hospital will ooh and ahh over her on the way out, or whether she should wear a boring onesie because it might be more comfortable and easier for the 30 minutes she will be in the car on the way home. Guess which one I am voting for. =) Guess which one is more likely to win. =) Anyway, so just have to finish packing that up and get Jason's stuff in there as well.

Last night I put together the pack and play, which is the same on my friend Lacey has and I think really cute. It is now sitting in our living room since there is really no where else to put it. Also, last night we FINALLY FINALLY got the glass door for our shower installed. The tile had been done for three weeks and we had just been waiting on the door. Apparently they broke the glass twice or something so that's why it took so long. But it is in now and it looks great and I am SO glad not to have to shower in the guest bathroom anymore. I was also waiting for this to be done so I could start my deep cleaning of the house. I realize I could have started any time but seems like contractors drag in lots of dirt and dust so I wanted to wait. So from now on every day I am going to try to clean, maybe not a whole room, but at least part of a room really really well. Tonight I am starting with the guest bath since we have been living out of it for a month and it is DIRTY. Plus I have my mom and mother in law coming to stay soon so they will need it squeaky clean! I figure if I can get every room in the house really clean in the next couple of weeks, maybe I won't worry about how dirty the house is in the next couple of months. I already told Jason I wasn't going to cook or clean for two months after the baby is born. At least that way there is no expectation from him or even from myself.

Ok, so this blog is way longer than I intended, but we have just been very busy lately! I will post pictures of everything once I find my SD card. No idea where that thing wandered off to. Ciao!

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Baby Shower

Two weekends ago - I know I am behind! - my friends threw me a baby shower in Dallas. Now I knew I had the best friends ever already, but they really outdid themselves. It was at my friend Gaby's house and my friends Jessica, Jennifer, Tamra, KC and my awesome sister all hosted. Here is the delicious food spread that they made. It was so yummy...


They also had the cutest party favors. They had these boxes printed up - they have Isabella Jane on them in case you can't read that...



and they had a spread of some of my favorite candies you could fill them with...


We also played baby pictionary and Isabella got tons of great gifts! I have to show this coat, although I wish I had a better picture. My friend Courtney got it for her and it is so soft and it has a hood with little lamb's ears. You can sort of see on the back there is a tail. How cute is that!


My hostesses also got me Isabella's stroller. I absolutely love it. It is neutral in case we have a boy next time, but it is RED so I think it is just greatness. And the style is called 'Race' so of course Jason loves that...


Here is a picture of me holding my friend Jen's baby girl Madison. Don't I just look like a natural? And also, is she the cutest baby ever?


Here is a picture of me and my sister and my mom. Like my awesome double chin? =)

So like I said, my friends are awesome and the shower was a great time!

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Special Advertising Section

So obviously in the next few months money is going to get tighter for the Trent family. I have decided that my new part time job is basically going to be saving us money. I have a few blogs that I read on how to save money via coupons and promotions and I have gotten a lot of good ideas from there. I am just going to try to spend the extra time to figure out how to get good deals. If anyone is interested, here are the blogs that I read. They have lots of good ideas and tips almost every day...

http://bargainbanana.blogspot.com/

http://makingcentsintexas.wordpress.com/

http://www.thethriftymama.com/

Anyway, the main point of this post is to inform you that I may be posting product reviews from time to time. In one of these blogs they talk about this thing called Buzz Agents. This is the website for that...

http://www.bzzagent.com/

What you do is sign up and you fill in your profile and you are matched up with 'campaigns' that match you with things you are in to. You will then be sent email offers about different campaigns and then you can sign up for them if you are interested. The first one I have signed up for is for Neutrogena and they sent me a packet of free makeup in the mail to try and review. The point is for me to spread the word about their products and give my honest opinion on how I liked them. So I figure what better venue than my blog right? Anyway, I am going to be writing about the stuff they sent me soon, so just wanted to let everyone know what the heck that is all about when they see it.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

7 and 1/2 Month Belly Pics

More belly pics as promised. I had a shower this past weekend and people were amazed how huge I look. My mom even wonders if I will make it 9 months, that is how big I look. My doctor says I am the right size, though, so I am guessing I just look 7 and 1/2 months pregnant - aka humongous. =) No stretch marks yet thank goodness! I went to the gym this morning and did the treadmill for 25 minutes. It was hard, but I made it. The teacher at our birthing class says if we work out more our labor will be easier, so I am trying to get some more exercise than I have been, which means any at all.

Driving Up to Mount Cook

After a wonderful and too short time in Wellington, the next morning we boarded a plane to Queenstown.  Now, the whole time we had either be...