Scripture time

I give you Caleb, reading a scripture.

And it's a....

...baby!

 20 weeks

Last night, I dreamed that we went in for our lovely friend from the ward, Stephanie Rowe, to do the 20 week anatomy scan for us and discovered the baby had three legs. And there was a heart defect. And I had placenta previa (which would necessitate a Cesarean section for birth and make me extremely high-risk, one of my worst nightmares and very far from my beloved natural home birth experience). It was not an uplifting dream.

For this entire pregnancy, I've been too scared to really hope that this would be a girl, so I just assumed it would be a third boy (which we would love and adore!), and if it turned out to be a girl, then what a happy plus! I didn't really feel too different with this pregnancy, so that made me feel more certain that it is a boy.

But this baby is moving differently than my first two-the movements are gentler and farther between. But that could just be a personality thing, not necessarily to be chalked up to gender, right? It also could be affected by the placement of the placenta. I remember wondering if Caleb was all right because his movements didn't feel as strong as Scott's (we discovered Caleb's placenta was anterior, and padded his kicking some--which turned out to be a mercy--what a mover that child was--and is!).

This baby also perks up whenever Brandon is around--the movements become strong when Brandon touches my belly and talks to the baby--stronger than when it's me or Scott or Caleb.

And a couple Sundays back, I was sitting in the early Autumn sun, watching the boys play in the Barrus' backyard. I was searching my feelings to get an inkling of who this baby is. And it came to me that this is a feisty, strong-willed girl who loves her daddy. Again, I was too nervous to hope, but that's what my mother's intuition told me.

Then, today was ultrasound day. I had explained earlier to the boys that Mommy and Daddy were going to look at a picture of the baby to see if it would be a brother or a sister. I asked each what they thought: Caleb opined boy, and Scott thought girl. Scott also added his excitement at the fact that, if it was indeed a girl baby, he would have THREE grandmas, instead of only two! I explained again that this baby would be his sibling, not his grandparent. :)

The scan was started, and I thought I glimpsed something that made my heart leap, but I couldn't quite tell. The baby's legs were crossed and the body folded in on itself, making it difficult to get a clear gender read. Stephanie went through all the other measurements, and everything looks perfect. I'm measuring a week large (both boys were born at 38 weeks 3 days, so I'm not surprised) and the baby weighs about 14 oz. My placenta is in a healthy place (posterior, in case anyone is wondering) and amniotic fluids levels look wonderful. We jostled and jolted the baby, but couldn't get enough movement. Then finally, when I turned on my side, we were able to get a clear angle, and sure enough, just as I thought at the beginning of the scan---

it's a GIRL! 

September 2012

At the beginning of this month, I was 16 weeks pregnant. 

 And yes, all my mirrors are that dirty. Although I am starting to feel better and better as the month wears on. 

 Scott is 4 1/2 years old. 

 Caleb is 26 months. 

 We had family pictures taken, and they turned out great. 

Thanks, Nicole McDonald Photos!

At the end of this month, we will find out the gender of our baby via ultrasound. I keep having conflicting feelings--sometimes I feel like this pregnancy is the same as with the boys, and sometimes I get the feeling that this is a strong-willed Daddy's Girl (the baby always starts to kick hard when Brandon talks to him/her and puts his hand on my belly). We'll see in a few days!

Kitchen Counter Renovation-How to Paint and Seal You Countertops to Look Like Granite

The laminate counters in our new house had definitely seen better days. They were going on 20 years of use, and were looking very shabby. There were even a couple spots where the laminate had worn through to the pressboard underneath. 

Well, seeing as how we just bought the place, we didn't have a ton of money to get all new counters right away, so we decided to fix up what was there by painting and sealing the counters (and this way, I got to choose my own custom color--woohoo!) We spent a little over $200 for this entire project, and we have quite a bit of counter space, so you may be able to do it for less. 

 Before

 Close up of the damaged countertop. The white that you see is not a part of the laminate design--it's where the top layer of laminate has worn off. 

 Another shot of the worn counter. 

Step one was choosing samples at Lowe's that I wanted to to copy on my counter. It's a black-on-black granite look. 

 Step two is preparing the counter to accept paint. I cleaned thoroughly with water, then with Rubbing Alcohol to remove all remnants of grease. 

 Then I did a light sanding to give the paint something to grip onto. It's important that there was no shine left, because it's hard for paint to stick to shiny surfaces. You can get specialty paint for shiny surfaces if you want to skip the sanding step, but honestly I would rather take the extra 15 minutes and save myself some money. I also taped off the counters, but I didn't take a picture. 

 Step three was priming with a tinted primer. I chose Kilz Latex because of its great coverage. I had Lowe's tint it the darkest black possible (free with your paint purchase). 

 All primed. Wait for it to dry completely. 

This little section dried first, so I tested out some of the faux finishing techniques I was considering before I started out on the big counter. It was easy to re-prime this small area once I knew which paint colors I wouldn't be using. 

For example, I had some silver acrylic craft paint (top left corner) that I thought would make a nice accent speckled here and there with the two colors of black I had. I ended up not liking the silver, so I'm glad I tested it on a small area first. 

 After your tinted primer is dry, step four is painting with your base color. I chose a blackish-grey that was slightly lighter than the quart of midnight black I already had on hand. When choosing a base color, look at your sample and see if you can tell which color seems to the be the background on which the speckles appear. 

 Wait for the base color to dry. 

 Step five is the creative part, yay! You get to start making your counters look like stone. I used some midnight black paint I already had on hand and some "fairy dust" glitter (Martha Stewart brand from Michael's) in Black. This is the really really fine glitter, and it gives that awesome little glitter that granite has. Don't skimp on the glitter!

 I used the plastic bag technique to faux finish. It's a technique I learned back in high school theatre class to add texture easily and quickly (and cheaply--no need to purchase sponges). You ball up the plastic bag and get it nice and wrinkly. Then you apply some paint (I used a paper plate for the extra paint) and smoosh it around with your hands onto the plastic bag. Don't completely cover the bag, leave some places free of paint. This will give a more natural stone look. Pounce the balled up bag all around your counter until you get the look you like. Repeat. Again, and again, and again, trying to get uniform coverage across the entire counter. Try to sprinkle the glitter while the speckles are still wet so they stick better. If you are using more than one speckle color, make sure you overlap your colors to get a more stone-like look. I kept it simple, just one color of speckle.

 Here's the finished speckling and glittering, and you can see how close I got to the sample right in the middle of the picture.

 Done with the faux-finishing. I would not recommend leaving your counters this way for any length of time and expecting them to hold up. At this point, I added a couple coats of clear polycrylic, because I didn't want my faux finish to be too scuffed by the time I was ready to complete Step Six.

 There were a few little spots where the paint chipped away during the 10 days between when the faux-finish was complete and when we poured the epoxy-Step Six.

 Step Six is what will keep your counter tops looking great for years to come, and truly makes them look like gorgeous, glossy granite--pouring the epoxy clear coat. We decided to do this the night before we left to go out of town for a few days, and I'm glad we did, because our kitchen is open to the rest of our house, and the fumes were REALLY strong. Also, if kids or pets touch the epoxy while still drying, you'll be looking at those finger or paw prints for many years to come.
Epoxy comes in two parts with need to be mixed completely together to activate and then harden. Please read the instructions very well. Every thing the epoxy touches (other than your counters) will need to be disposed of, so plan accordingly.

 Cover everything well with plastic. Some people lift up their kitchen sinks, but we didn't--we just let the epoxy flow right up to the edge of the sink.

  Before the pour. 

 After the pour. Look at that shine!!

 Gorgeous, if I do say so myself. 

It's hard to capture what an awesome effect the epoxy has, but it really brings out the glitter that we put on before and makes everything look like gorgeous granite. 

Feel free to ask any questions, and go for it! I know Brandon and I were a bit intimidated by the epoxy, but it turned out great!