Seeing Gray....Or Blue?

Well, I'm 26 weeks pregnant and we decided it was time to start on the nursery this weekend.  I know there are people out there who start in on decorating the nursery as soon as they find out they are pregnant, but that certainly was not going to be me.  Heck, if I could I'd wait until these babies are actually born, but I know that probably wouldn't be the smartest idea either.  So, a couple weeks past viability I finally felt comfortable enough to get this thing started. 

So, are you ready for the long drama?

We had tossed around a few ideas for how to do the room.  Let me just say, trying to figure out how to decorate a room for both a boy and a girl is hard.  Like, really hard.  At first we were going to do a jungle theme - and somewhere along the way decided we weren't in love with that idea.  Not to mention I was stressing out about how uncreative I am and wasn't sure I was up to the challenge of doing a themed room and having it come out cute.  So, in the end we finally decided to paint the walls gray, figuring whatever girl and boy bedding we find would go well with that color.

Ok, back to the drama.

Gray.  If I hear that word one more time I think I'll shoot myself.  Last week was spent scouring Pinterest and Goo.gle Images for gray nursery ideas and paint colors, and running around to various stores getting paint samples to see how they would look on the wall.  We painted the samples on over our currently beige wall, and everything came out....blue.  Off to the store for more samples, put them on the wall, and.....blue.  WTF?!  We finally figured out the beige was coming through, turning the colors into something they weren't.  We were trying to avoid priming, but decided it was inevitable if we wanted the paint color to turn out right. 

Jeff's mom, bless her heart, had decided to come to our place for Thanksgiving this year and stay through the weekend so she and Jeff could paint (neither of them wanted me around all the paint fumes, which was probably the right thing to do).  So they got the walls primed Friday, and Saturday morning we painted the samples back on the wall.  What a difference!  The colors actually looked gray, and matched the paper swatches this time.  Right away all 3 of us zeroed in on one color and immediately decided that was the one.  It was Benjamin Moore's Coventry Gray. So, off to the hardware store to buy a gallon of paint.

Here's where the drama continues.  BM has 3 lines of paint, and only their high end line (i.e. their $67 a gallon line) carries the satin finish, which is what we (and doesn't everyone else?) wanted.  Jeff was not happy.  At all.  Jeff can be, shall we say, a little tight with money.  I have to say I can't blame him in this case though.  $35 for a gallon of paint?  A normal amount we were expecting to spend.  $67?  Holy moly, that's unreasonable!  After arguing talking it over, we decided we already had the color we liked picked out and didn't feel like starting all over again with trying to find one we liked.  So, we forked over the dough and headed back home for Jeff and his mom to get to work:

(notice the window sill? he needed to calm his nerves after all that)

 

Finally getting some color on the wall!  Looks so pretty going on doesn't it?

 

Pretty gray walls:

 

 

Or is it baby blue?

 



Gah!  Now that it's all on and dried, it's giving off more of a baby blue hue - although still sometimes gray depending on what light it's in.  It's not exactly what we had in mind, but what can we do at this point?  We've already spent $67 on a gallon of paint, plus primer, plus who knows how much in samples.  It's too late to do it all over again.  I really think the beige ceiling, beige carpet, light brown woodwork, and light brown dresser (that we may end up not using afterall) is making it have the blue tint.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that once we get our dark cribs in there, with some cute bedding and fun stuff on the walls, that it will look much better. 

Needless to say, what was suppose to be a fun experience, turned out to be pretty stressful all the way through to the end.  I sure hope the rest of the decorating is smooth-sailing from here on out....

So what do you think?  Is is gray?  Or is it blue?

24 Weeks....

....and all is well on the homefront.  I can't believe I've made it to viability.  And I also can't believe how fast this pregnancy seems to have gone so far.  Even though we have so much to do, I'd be okay with it continuing to fly by.  Not because I'm not enjoying pregnancy, but because I'm starting to get anxious to meet these little ones and see what they look like and what their personalities are like.  Not too anxious though - I'll gladly wait until they are nice and fully baked. 

How are the babies doing?

Great!  The ultrasound this week showed everything was as it should be.  Baby A (our girl) is estimated to weigh 1 lb, 11 oz and Baby B (our boy) is estimated to be 1 lb, 8 oz.  Fluids, placentas, and all that other stuff looks good.  Right now Baby A is head down and Baby B is breech, but that can always change before delivery.  Whether I have a vaginal delivery or C-section all depends on their position at the time of birth.  It mostly depends on if Baby A is head down or breech.  As much as I don't like the thought of pushing 2 babies out of my hoo-ha, I think I'd much rather avoid a C-section if at all possible.  Either way, I just want them to get here safe and healthy no matter how that happens.

How am I doing?

Good for the most part.  I've just started to see/feel some changes with my body this week that are a little alarming, and not things I was expecting this early on.  My belly is already measuring 30 weeks, so I guess I need to remember that those uncomfortable symptoms that start later on for most people are going to start happening to me earlier. 

My feet:  are starting to feel achy for most of the day, and I've noticed some swelling in my feet and ankles.  I went to the mall for a couple hours Friday afternoon and that about did me in.  My feet were so sore afterwards, and were even still really sore the next day.  I think it's time to find some more loose-fitting, comfortable shoes. 

My back:  not too bad yet.  If I'm up walking around for awhile (like my mall trip, or just cooking supper and doing dishes) my back starts to hurt.  I was expecting my back to be the first thing to go, but so far it's holding up okay.

My insides:  one word:  squished!  This is the first week I've been able to tell that I'm running out of room in there.  I can't eat (nor do I have the desire to) like I have been anymore.  I eat a normal amount of food for a meal and feel completely stuffed and miserable afterwards.  I've read in several places that the rule of thumb with twins is to gain the weight early (ideally aiming for 24 pounds by 24 weeks) for exactly this reason, and now I can see why!  Seeing the scale creep up over 25 pounds these last few months is a little scary, but I can now see it was all for good reason.  I'll be interested to see how much my weight gain slows down now that I can't stuff my face like I use to (although managing a bowl of ice cream every night hasn't been an issue yet ;) ).

Other than that I don't have much news to report.  Feeling a little overwelmed now by all the preparations we need to start making, but that will be an entirely new post....