Meet the Twins

This is the first photo of the girls together. Being born extremely prematurely they were whisked away to the NICU and stored in separate isolettes. This was the first time we were able to hold both of them and they were able to see each other. It was the most amazing moment!

What a Difference a Year Can Make

So I know it's been a while since the last time I sat down to blog, thirteen months to be exact. And boy what a difference a year can make! The last time I blogged my husband and I were going through the ringer with fertility treatments and I was working my butt off trying to renovate our big ol' house. Well if you know me IRL or were friends on Facebook you know that we did get pregnant and stay pregnant! In fact I am now the proud momma of TWIN girls!!!! That's right I got pregnant last September and gave birth to Whitley Jude and Anna Swartz on April 24th. I am still a stay at home mom but boy has my job description changed. I spend all day changing poopy diapers, cleaning up spit up, doing laundry, and of course pumping. In my free time (eyes rolling) I've decided to start blogging again. I want my blog to serve as an evolving baby book and memory keeper. My days go so quickly that I can't remember what happened yesterday and I think one day I will want to look back and want to remember this time. I am gonna back track a little and write about my pregnancy, warning: it was not an easy one, but I want to remember and some day I want the girls to be able to read about how much we wanted them and what we did to keep them! So for now I've used all the free time I have but I'm hoping to put some pictures up in the next few days! CSR

Where we've been

OK so sorry its been quite a bit since my last post. I have been putting every spare minute toward working on the house. We've lived here for a little under 4 months now and the progress is incredible! I am so pleased with what we've been able to get accomplished. I think we could have probably gotten more done, but we're trying to take breaks and stay relatively sane. Two people with OCD living in a construction zone does not equal harmony! We have not hired out any work, but we are really thankful for our family because they've really come up and helped out a ton! Our main focus right now is the main floor! We've gotten a lot done but none of the rooms are fully complete so these are sort of "in progress photos". And so sorry about the poor quality I was too impatient for my camera to charge so I've taken all of these with my phone.

The first major project was the walls. Most of the walls on the main floor were covered in "stucco". Really it was just joint compound that had been textured out. Some of the spikes were 3 inches deep. I dont know how the family lived here with 4 children, 3 boys. These things were dangerous and painful! It took us a whole month to remove it from the walls. We had to soak the walls, scrape it all by hand, skim coat every inch of drywall, sand the skim coat, seal the drywall, prime the walls, and finally they were ready for paint. We had a company come in for an estimate and the lowest they would have done it for was 3000.00 CRAZY! So of course I spent the first month here learning how to dry wall and I am so proud we did it ourselves!

The flooring was the next challenge. From the store to the sub-floor we did it all ourselves.
Before: The flooring was a mix of linoleum (3 layers), shag carpet, berber, and ceramic tile. Well the linoleum, shag, and berber have been replaced with our new laminate floors. We had quite the decision to make when picking out floors, having 1288 sq ft. of flooring to replace on the main level. A thick hardwood was out of the question for our budget, but we could get an engineered hardwood. So we are standing in the store and we decide to try and scratch the floor model with a key. Well the hardwood scratched instantly and deeply while a high quality laminate was soo durable. We had to decide if we sell the house are people gonna wanna have scratched up thin hardwoods or gleaming high-gloss laminate. We actually spent more per square foot on a high quality laminate than the hardwood, but having a great dane I think its worth it!
Layers of linoleum straight from the 70's-

After: Beautiful laminate floors! We still have to do the foyer and formal living room, but some are done!

Laundry room: Before 70's linoleum and dark wood trim

After: I painted the walls a pink salmon color and salvaged a bank of cabinets from the kitchen. Picked up some green glass knobs from Hobby Lobby for the doors.They work out perfectly over the washer and dryer. I also got some bins from Home Goods, and they fit inside the cabinet so I simply left the door off, and a matching ironing board cover. I love all the storage and the happy color scheme.

Dining room Before: Brown silk curtains, DARK woodwork (were painting throughout the whole house), stucco below the chair rail, and sculpted shag carpet.
After: We scraped the stucco off, finished the walls and added picture frame wainscoting below the chair rail. I painted the walls a green gray color called French Gray Linen. I love it. The chandelier is beautiful so it stays. We are still adding crown and a ceiling medallion.

With furniture! No curtains yet. Cant decide on a material! Help!

Kitchen Before: AHHH nightmare! Dark and heavy!

Kitchen In progress: (I cant believe im sharing these!) Scaling back is the name of the game. We've removed the hood & all the lights, the cooktop and Jenn Air grill from the island, and the built in oven and microwave. We then moved things around saving space with a range, moving a a side by side refrigerator into its place. We painted the cabinet frames white and added an IKEA butcher block. We are still working on the soffit, adding the trim and bead board, painting the cabinet doors, building in the fridge, and then when that is all finished we are having granite put in. I cant pick a color. Dark or Light?? HELP!

Next to the fridge we are adding open shelving with all our glass wear. And over the island we are adding some glass globe pendants. The crown molding on the soffit is still in a pile in the garage, but itll be beautiful! Ohh and we built the microwave into the island! LOVE IT!

TV Room Before: Just dark with bad carpet.

After: Just some paint, crown molding and flooring.

I love the built-ins and all we had to do was re work them. It only cost 12.00 for crown molding and half a gallon of paint. Ohh and four 2.00 knobs from hobby lobby!

We got another white IKEA couch and above I got to do a large grouping of mirrors. I got most of them at thrift store and sprayed them a satin black! Pat hates them but I love them.

We've also been working on the outside, but that's another post! We put up a six foot privacy fence and fully landscaped the back yard. Ill definitely start posting more often and keep everyone updated.
We are going out of town this weekend to see a very good friend get married! I cant wait to see everyone in Kentucky!
Please leave comments and suggestions I need all the help I can get!
Cassie Rice