The finished product!

Here it is, the our new basement family room! You can see that the ceiling isn't finished, but that's one thing we're not in a hurry to do. These were taken a few days ago, I'm still working on getting everything arranged and a little bit decorated. I'll take more updated pictures later.

Before:

I hate elections

I really do, and this year, even more than ever. I don't feel like the elections are about the issues this year, I feel they are about race/sex of the candidates or thier running mates. I've felt this way for months now, and it's gotten to the point that I just despise the whole thing.

I have to ask too, why is it that I'm being looked down on for not wanting to vote this year? I should vote for someone that I feel comfortable saying "Yes, I feel this person will make a good president" and to be honest, I can't say that about anyone running in this election. I think pushing/guilting people into voting is a poor idea. Then there are people going into it completely uninformed and candidates are being elected for the wrong reasons. It's so silly, IMO.

Let's face it, politics are a slimey deal. Politicians lie, they make false promises. We all know this, so how can we vote for someone based on these false promises. Our government system on top of that is just as screwed up. I feel like most of these people are just playing games, with only a few that truely care about what is best for the people of our country.

I'm interested to see who is going to end up in office next, and what he will do for our country. Chances are, Bush will be the last thing we are complaining about 3 years from now...

Today's the day!

As I sit here, the installers are in the basement putting in our new carpet. It's the final step, which means our basement is almost ready for us! Zane is in the shower, and he's going to go pick up our new couch, so my dad can come over on his lunch break and help him get it down there. Then we'll spend the rest of the day moving the computer, toys and everything else down there to officially make it our space.
Once that's done, we'll paint the baby's room, which will hopefully sometime later this week. We bought Abby's bed and dresser last week and have that set up. The dresser is in our room until we can move the other one out of Abby's room and into the baby's room. (post-painting) It will just be a relief to start getting things really ready for the baby and feel like we can bring her home and have things set up.

Update - they just left, it's done! I could cry I'm so happy (or maybe that's the pregnancy hormones). I feel like I've been waiting forever to get it done, bugging DH to decide if he'll do it himself, and if he's going to hire someone, to get estimates. Then our contractor was only working weekends, so it took weeks to get that part done, instead of days. Anyway, I'm sure anyone reading this is sick of my rambling about it. Pictures to come very soon!

Feeling inferior

I always hated being due at the end of the month with Abigial, because everyone else was weeks ahead of me. I hated when babies started being born at the beginning of July and I knew I would be another few weeks at least, until I had mine. Being due at the beginning of December this time, I thought I would escape that...I guess not. Everyone else I know that is pregnant, is due in November. Ughh! They ask me how I'm feeling, what do I say? They're 2, 3 or 4 weeks ahead of me, so obviously thier aches and pains are worse than my own. I know from last time that it only gets worse as you near the end of the pregnancy. It doesn't help when someone says "Oh, I was still feeling good when I was that far along". Let's face it, we're all pregnant, we all feel like crap many days. The worst part of a 2nd baby, is knowing what to expect. I know everything gets worse the farther along I am, and by the time I hit 38 weeks, I'm going to be pretty miserable. I'll also be so much closer to holding my baby, which makes it all worth it.

Family cold

It just figures that everytime one person gets sick, the rest of the family isn't far behind. Abigail caught a cold and sure enough, not even 24 hours later, I had the same thing. Usually, DH is behind by at least a few days. Why can't these things just be quick, too? Our last cold lasted well over a week. This one started on Tuesday and it's Saturday, and still going full force. I wish we would get a little bit of a break too, it hasn't even been 2 months since our last one. It could be a long winter...

This time next week...

I will feel so much more complete!
We went back in and found another style of carpet that is already in stock, and cheaper, so we ordered that instead. Fred (our contractor) is coming Saturday and finishing the basement on Monday. The carpet installers will be here on Tuesday and we bought the couch for down there yesterday and it will be delivered on Tuesday! Here's the one we decided to go with:
http://www.vcf.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?partNumber=1096796&Nao=7&langId=-1&numberOfResultsPerPage=12&referrer=shelfPage&storeId=10001&catalogId=10153&N=4294966708%200+4294967163&categoryId=4294967256
We love it because it's the chaise style. We used to have a chaise with the couch we have now, until the movers lost the ottoman to it when we moved to Florida, grrr! We only got to use it a few months, and we've missed it since, so when we saw this sofa, we fell in love with it. It will provide us with a ton of seating down there too, which will be nice. I have a feeling we'll spend a lot of time there with the kids. I can't believe the basement will finally be finished on Tuesday, I am so excited to start using it. Then that means we can start on the baby's room once we move the computer and desk out of there. Hopefully by the end of next week that will be painted and set up too, yay!
We also bought Abigail's new bed yesterday *sniff* I'm excited, because we've needed to move her to a twin bed. She's in a toddler bed right now, which isn't bad, but I'll admit, it will be more convienent for me to have her in a twin. Right now, she nurses in the rocking chair or wants me to lay down with her (just imagine, my preggo-butt trying to squeeze into a toddler bed with her, yikes!). Now I can just lay in her bed with her to nurse her. We'll need the rocking chair for the new baby anyway, so we would have had to figure something else out if we kept her in the toddler bed. I already bought her bedding and I'm excited to get her room set up, it will be so cute! We pick it up today, so I should have it done by tonight. I'll post pictures of everything in the next few days!

The end is nearing

48 days left, yikes! It seems like the end of the pregnancy is quickly sneaking up on me. While at other times, it seems like there is still so much longer to go. I'm starting to feel the crunch a little bit. I would ideally like to have everything ready between 36-38 weeks. It's not so much that I want to be prepared in case she comes early, I know the chances of that are slim. Being realistic though, my energy level is going to drop dramatically over these next few weeks. I know it will be hard to get even the simple tasks around the house done, let along the extra stuff. Our basement is still in the works. We have the walls partially done, and painted, and this weekend the contractor will be back to finish them. The fact that he only works weekends has really put things in slow motion. Then, we went in to order our carpet and it turns out it suppose to be 2-3 weeks before it comes in! They were out to measure yesterday, so that's 2-3 weeks from today before the basement is ready for us to start using. *cries* That alone puts me at 36 weeks, and I was waiting for the basement to be finished to start on the baby's room, because everything we have in there now, has to be moved into the basement. I'll be honest, I'm sick of waiting though. I told DH we're going to start moving things out of the room, putting it in the storage area and go ahead and paint and set up the crib and dresser. Then at least I can start decorating the room and get things washed and put away. I just want to feel like things are getting done, especially when I know I have the time and energy to do them.