We're in the final countdown...about 2.5 weeks to be exact and we finally finished the nursery. Baby Girl Schorr is getting bigger and all the more squirmier, making sleeping and relaxing a little more difficult these days. We've had a few close calls watching the Jayhawks in the tournament and Mom has to learn to calm down and breathe through the tense moments or we're going to have a March Madness baby (wasn't easy with the added bronchitis, but we are luckily almost over that). We're already starting the calming chants while the Jayhawks take on Purdue in the Sweet 16 in a few hours.
Now back to the nursery...luckily this project wasn't as big a project as some of our other ones. We just scraped the popcorn ceiling and cleaned it up and added some crown moulding and then got to start decorating. We also scored an amazing deal on a 3 piece nursery set on Craigslist that was in excellent shape. We are using 2 of the pieces in the nursery and the big armoire is in the sun room repurposed as a Princess/Dress Up closet. We chose to keep the paint color the same as the old guestroom because it is still one of my favorite paint colors, so we had fun finding fun accessories to mix in. Take a peek:
Special thanks to Kathleen Puls for hemming our curtains!
Girl's already got a sweet collection of bows (no surprise there)
Nothing more fun than a baby girl closet
Now we wait for baby girl's arrival. And no, we don't have a name yet so everyone can quit asking :) we're not holding out, we just are super indecisive and have had a bunch of other things on our mind!
Good luck Jayhawks on your big game tonight, we'll be cheering hard!
XOXO,
Sara, Brian, Bailey, Tequila and Baby Girl Schorr #2
Oh and let's not forget that today is National Puppy Day! There is not a sweeter pup and best Bubba around! Love you Tete!!
Can it be? Can we really be done with the basement? Well, yes and we have been for a little while, minus a few tweaks that we just finished...but it has definitely been livable and playable for some time. This evening with Miss Bailey asleep, we got to clean it up enough to take some pictures without our little tornado running around.
It seemed to take forever for our carpet to come in so we took the time to work on a few other projects while we had the open space. But as soon as we got the call that the carpet was in and they were coming to install, we got to work cleaning out all the dust and debris. It was a full family affair as my family helped move some of the big stuff out, Brian did most of the heavy cleaning and lifting, Bailey threw on one of her favorite princess dresses and played Cinderella and Tequila helped eat chunks of the drywall dust.
Our little Cinderella
Clean enough to do a little yoga
The carpet guys came early in the morning and got to work right away. Bailey tried entertaining them a few times but they never slowed and got all the carpet in by mid afternoon. Carpet was our major splurge for this renovation...we wanted something super durable and very cushy so this prego and the kiddos could sit and play for hours. It was totally worth the extra money spent! Bailey pretty much summed up my feelings for the carpet in this clip:
She spent most of the afternoon doing this...
Didn't take her long to figure out the stairs
Let's just say we eventually wore ourselves out. Here are a few pics of the carpet around the entire basement:
With the carpet in, the real work could be started (ha ha honey...I mean the fun, pretty work). The first was a play kitchen for Miss Bailey and her sister. We wanted to get this in first so that we could work on the basement while keeping her occupied at the same time. This was a total surprise for Bailey so she didn't have a hand in the building and it was a lot harder to sneak around than you would think. I'll have another post with more information on how we created the play kitchen, but for now here is the finished product and Miss Bailey's reaction:
We like to get fancy for our reveals...if you haven't noticed...
Bailey was really excited to see a photo of herself in the window
The second major project was the built ins for our TV. When we opened up the back room and took out the wall, we lost quite a bit of storage and we wanted to make up for it with built ins. After a lot of research and pinning, I found a design I wanted to aim for with a lot of extra tweaks. I'll do another post about how we built everything later on but I can tell you we saved a ton of money doing it ourselves, with a few bones from IKEA and matching materials from Menards. I think I'm most proud of the doors that we built ourselves because we saved about $275 on that alone. Of course Miss Bailey helped Daddy whenever she could (and was allowed to).
The bones we started with
Bailey helping with the hinges
Custom built doors
A look at the finished project (and of course JoJo is on)
One last view
We are really excited with the way they've turned out and the best news is that Bailey can't open the doors just yet so we can keep things in there without child safety locks for a few more months!
Now to one of my favorite parts of the basement...the playroom. I don't know who is more excited with the playroom...Bailey or us. We love that she has a place to roam free and make as much of a mess that she wants while we can relax and not have to worry about her getting into things she shouldn't...or leaving our kitchen a disaster. Here are a few pics of the (momentarily) cleaned up playroom:
Check out the free rocking horse we stumbled upon!
We will probably add a few more pictures to the wall, but the main focal point are these awesome Disney Princesses images that xNoxyArt created and enlarged so I could create a gallery wall. She is so responsive and does fantastic work, I definitely recommend her and plan on going to her for more work in the future! And Bailey totally squealed when she saw her favorite princesses on the wall.
Seriously, how fun are these?
Did I mention that we are definitely glad to be having another girl? Not sure how boy stuff would fit in with all the princesses.
Now, on to the rest of the basement. We added baseboards and crown moulding, doors to the HVAC closet, a railing for the stairs and the elliptical and treadmill to the workout area.
Tequila's a fan of the carpet (and the couches)
View from the stairs
Stairway
To show how much work we did, I have a few before and after photos with some before and after comparisons...enjoy!
It may have seemed we drug our feet on some of the finishing touches but we've been just a bit busy...with growing a new human, raising a tornado (Bailey), a few injuries and of course creating a new nursery all at the same time. It has definitely been a labor of love, but we are really proud of our work and can't wait to make plenty more memories in our new basement.
Our next update will be the nursery, which is almost finished...and we have just about 4-1/2 weeks to go until we meet the new Schorr princess so it's crunch time! I'll also do a few breakout posts about the play kitchen and built ins because we've had a few requests.
Before I go I want to give a special thanks to everyone that helped us out with this project. To my husband who tirelessly busted his tail getting everything done during his free nights and weekends, I love you so much and thank you for putting up with all my requests and crazy ideas. To my Dad who guided us through many challenges and spent a lot of time and energy helping us create the space and showing us how to do it right, even when we had to make a couple calls to China to reach you. To my Mom who helped clean up so many times, helped with the lifting and the building, and mainly helped wrangle the monkey so we could get some work done. To my brother who also helped wrangle the monkey but also did a lot of the heavy lifting. To Zac Besse for helping us get the couches back to the house and moving them in for us. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts...we appreciate you all and couldn't have done it without you!
XOXO,
Sara, Brian, Bailey, Tequila and Baby Girl Schorr #2
Sending our love and prayers to all those that were affected by the storms and tornadoes yesterday, we were fortunate not to have any damage but know a lot of people that were not as lucky.
Bailey is 22 months old today and we are getting ready to celebrate with a morning of friends and trampolines. Like they say, laissez les bon temps rouler!
This past month I have really started seeing my baby slip away to an adventurous, daring and adorable little girl. Everything from her vocabulary to her strength and motor skills have strengthened and she is becoming quite the independent young lady in a pint size little body. She loves playing with the big kids and trying to emulate them...she's tried cartwheels, climbing ropes, jumping off of platforms, swinging on the big swings and walking with the swagger of a teenager (lord, help us). Bailey is learning new words everyday and so we have learned to be very careful with what we say. Here are a few of her favorite words this month: happy, Abby (from her favorite movie - Ghostbusters and Franny's dog), hop, truck, geese, beer (thanks Dad), Pop Pop (Grandpa R), num num (we're getting our 2 year molars in - super painful), Beast (her other favorite movie), dish, guest, Mulan, Moana, Belle...notice a theme? Her vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds so communication is a lot easier and there is less frustration...unless you aren't quick enough to act. She can repeat her ABC's almost to the end, with a few letters that are more difficult than others. She loves the Hippopotamus Christmas song, Three Blind Mice, Do You Like Bananas and Wheels on the Bus and has different dance/movements for each song.With all this growth and activity comes a lot of sweetness and at times Miss Bailey can be as sweet as the come. She will shower you with kisses and hugs, often times at a running leap. We are so blessed to have this little monkey in our lives and love being a part of her adventures.
Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays and always has been and it is so much fun to share the love with Bailey. She had so much fun making homemade Valentines for family and she even made one for her baby sister. Daddy definitely spoiled both of his girls this year with beautiful roses, chocolate covered strawberries and a wonderful dinner.
Decorating Mom's belly for her baby sister
My funny Valentine
My heart and my always Valentine
Fun surprise stop at Deanna Rose
When it's 70* in February, you have to make a trip to the zoo...and since we are FOTZ members, we had to try out our new membership. Bailey loves animals - she loves to imitate them and make animal sounds so the zoo is one of our favorite places. We got to take Uncle Mat and Grandma so it was an even better time!
Dancing to Wham!
Too cool for school
One of Bailey's favorite things to do is jump and she is a natural on the trampoline. We have a smaller indoor one that she likes to hop on, but we recently went to Urban Air for our friend Cullen's birthday and absolutely loved it and had to come back for Toddle Time. We also got to spend the afternoon with our friend Miss Ally and her kids and jumped around on their outdoor trampoline as well. Bailey is really making a case for an outdoor trampoline :)
Bouncing with our buddies Dylan and Miss Nicole
Happy Birthday Cullen!
Dodgeball with Uncle Mat
President's Day was supposed to be warm and we were going to go to the zoo but the cool temps and the rain kept us from going but gave us some time to explore a new location...KC 360 Gymnastics. They had an open gym time so we decided to check it out and Miss Bailey loved it! I feel like gymnastics classes are definitely in our future!
We've had a few more weeks of Wiggles & Giggles classes and Bailey is starting to get into the new rhythm of this class. There are a lot more temptations (baskets of toys at eye level and suckers) but she is a lot better at following instructions.
Bailey was really excited to introduce Uncle Mat to Wonderscope this month. He has not had the pleasure of going with us before, so Bailey had to make sure to show him all her favorite rooms. And bonus, she got to take him to Fritz's to watch the trains afterwards then a little shopping and some carousel action! She loves her Uncle Mat!
Someone ran of at NFM and found a nice place to nap
Heart melt
When the temps in February are in the 60's and 70's, you have to live outside as much as you can and we definitely took advantage of the gorgeous weather. We cleaned up the backyard and Bailey loves exploring every inch of it. She also loves walking up to the park and digging in the dirt and sand. She's definitely an outdoorsy girl and Tequila has enjoyed the extra outside time. Bailey loves to watch the big kids at the park and has started copying the way they play and climb. She is such a big girl now and loves to try new things at the playground. The dog park is still one of our favorite places to play and now that they have expanded Stoll park, there is even more for us to explore.
Peek a boo!
Picnic in the park
Hanging with our buddy Franny
My big girl learning to climb the ropes
Not bad when you can get the water table out in February
Helping Dad with the leaves
A little dining al fresco
My #1 Stunna
Someone loves her new scooter
Sword fighting with Grandma
Big girl learning to climb up the chains
So proud of my big girl
Our little beauty
Comparing walking sticks
Miss Bailey is definitely a girly girl when it comes to fashion and beauty. She loves to dress up, put on makeup (play makeup) and we even painted her nails and toenails this month because that's what Fancy Nancy does. It is a rare day that a princess dress or tutu doesn't make an appearance and she loves to show off her favorite dresses to anyone and everyone.
Cupcakes and nail polish
Trying on one of Franny's princess dresses
She was so excited to try on her new Beauty and the Beast outfit
Who wouldn't want to be a watermelon fairy?
This is how she likes to dress for bed
A leather mini and a crown make going to bed more glamorous
Our little dancing queen is picking up new moves all over the place. Currently her favorite songs to dance to are from Ghostbusters (the new one), Beauty and the Beast, Trolls and Sleeping Beauty. She also loves Rhianna, Britney, Fergie and Justin Timberlake. We love watching her new moves take shape.
Watching JT open the Oscars
This month we also upgraded Bailey's crib to a big girl toddler bed...not because she was climbing out of it, but more so that Mom's bump didn't get in the way when putting her to bed. In true princess fashion, we had to do a grand reveal and I think she was pretty excited.
Pretending like she goes down this evening every night (HA!)
This girl loves her Bubba and her Bubba loves her...even when he acts annoyed. They have a lot of things in common: they love ham & turkey, they enjoy ice cream, they love to chase geese, they love going on walks in the park and dog park and they both love drinking water from a large dish.
Ham stand off
Inching closer
Success
The sweetest thing
One of her favorite past times
Making introductions at the dog park
Chasing geese is their favorite shared activity
Bailey strikes again
Communal water dish
Our girl is a very active one and she doesn't like letting sleep get in the way of fun, so she likes to go and go until she crashes. She has a knack for passing out in some awkward positions and we try to capture them. We do still get to enjoy some sweet snuggles and we soak them up.
Swimming wears us out so we sleep sitting up
Too much Valentine love
Perfect day for an outdoor snooze
She had to sleep in my T-shirt
The zoo wore us out
We are so blessed to have this little monkey in our lives. She makes each day brighter and more fun while keeping us on our toes and laughing. I know she is going to be the best big sister ever and will be a great teacher. Here are a few more of our favorite pictures from this past month:
Blowing bubbles
Helping Dad and Uncle Mat move things into the basement
Getting ready for Dana's brunch wedding
Teething bites
Loving her new car seat
We scored a free pony
Baby Girl Schorr #2 is growing bigger everyday...we're at 34 weeks and the countdown is on as is my extreme nesting phase (sorry Brian!). We have been so busy the last couple weeks that we haven't been able to put the finishing touches on our basement, but we will be doing that in the next week so expect pictures of our basement very soon. And Brian scraped the popcorn ceiling today so the nursery project has officially started and we'll be posting pictures of that project as soon as it's finished (hopefully before the new baby).
Enjoy this beautiful Mardi Gras! XOXO,
Sara, Brian, Bailey, Tequila and Baby Girl Schorr #2
