The time has come.....

6:15am - Headed to the hospital...
Checked in and ready to go...

My wonderful husband got carried away taking glamour shots - very annoying...
Current time - 10am.
Status - On the "Pit" / Water has been broken / Epidural is in
Stay tuned.....

Ready or not.....

...here comes another one!!!!!

Tomorrow morning we head to the hospital to deliver Baby #8.....BOY #5!!!!

WISH US LUCK!!!

We'll keep ya posted ;-)

My little cowpokes!

You may remember that we re-decorated Jacob & Matthew's room a couple of months ago and we went from "nursery" to "big kid" room. Well, most of the decorating was completed, but we were waiting on gramma to come work her magic and sew some cute covers and curtains to finish the job! So yesterday, gramma got busy.....
She made the curtains and two duvet covers for the boys' feather beds, plus a few cute throw pillows.....
I really love the finished room- that little bit of fabric really made a big difference!!
Thanks gramma!!!

Movin' right along...

The furniture for what I'm now calling my "sitting room" as opposed to "the lanai" finally arrived! I still have a little decorating to do, but it's shaping up nicely, and I am sooooo excited about the new space....
I got Zack to hang my huge magnolia wreath last night above the new couch...
And today I hung a couple of things on the walls....
Here's the room looking into the hearth room- I can't believe how much more light there is in the "sitting room" versus the dark hearth room!
And with all this great new light, I plan to spend many hours nursing and cuddling Baby #8 in there ;-) I've got a basket of burp cloths and a baby lounger all set up and ready to go...
Allie thinks I should blow up a picture that I've taken of the kids into a poster size and hang it above this chair....
Sounds like a great idea to me! I did get 1 Cor: 13 hung up today too!
Here's the view of the room from the hearth room area...
And another...
Ok, just one more....
Tonight we decided to test out the new t.v.- our favorite family show was on....
WE being Caleb and I....
Oh yeah, and Jacob too ;-) He sure likes the new couch!!
And now that the room is done, I'm ready for Baby #8 to make his debut. Today I had my FINAL OB appt! I have to admit, I was a little sad- I've met some really fabulous nurses that I've enjoyed spending time with each week. I also had my final sonogram today and was thrilled to have Zack there with me to see Baby Caleb opening and closing his eyes on the screen for us!!!!!!! It was the coolest thing EVER!!!!!! My doctor checked my cervix, and things are looking good for induction this Friday- dialated to a good 3 and 60% effaced.... ripe and ready! I also had my first-ever experience of having my membranes "stripped." (I've never heard of this before, but it's when the doctor runs a finger around the membranes- supposed to help get labor going!) It was fairly uncomfortable, and I walked out of there feeling like something was going on, but after several good strong contractions.....nothing. Oh well, at least I have Friday to look forward to ;-) My induction is scheduled for 7am!

My mom spent the day sewing covers for the boys' beds today, and I am planning to post pictures tomorrow night- be sure to check back and see how their room turned out..... it's sooooo cute ;-)

It.Is.Finished.

Last week was the end of this....

The final step in the process of our house renovation was to recarpet the ENTIRE house. My husband decided to do all the moving of the furniture and the removal of the old carpet to save a little money ;-) Here's just a small taste of what he had to move.....
All of the furniture ended up in the areas with the wood floor, so my formal dining room was a little crowded!
And so was the slate in the basement.....
This is the living room in the basement- Zack put all the girls' bedroom furniture in there while he ripped up the old carpet.....
This is how Allie and Sophie's room looked after Zack moved out all the furniture...
Yet another shot of the living room in the basement.....
And while the carpet was being installed, the final touches were being put on the new rooms that we added!
That's our old lanai that we converted to be part of our hearth room. The previous room had been outside and the walls were stucco- now they're drywall! This next shot is just a random shot of the upstairs with the new carpet- don't know why it's in my post, but I'm not gonna mess with taking it out!!!
Here's a shot of the new carpet- a little hard to see the pattern, but we sure love it!!!! It has completely changed the look of the house!
So, the painters finished up, the tile guy finished up, the carpet guys finished up, and we are finally able to enjoy the results of the last few months of upheaval and chaos.....
Zack and the boys are really enjoying the additional space we have added to the hearth room area- no, it's not going to stay unfurnished.... the furniture comes tomorrow!!
This is the room now....
And this is how it looks with the old hearth room area- the arched wall used to be the window....
This is how the area looks from the kitchen- sorry, it's a little dark as I had to take pictures tonight instead of earlier today when I spent 3 hours at urgent care....



It's so nice to have the house back to normal!
Here's the living room in the basement.....

This is the new wall that was added to make Emily's room in the basement.....
And here's Em's new room....
It has 2 sections to it- one is a sitting area and the other is where her bed is.....
The sitting area is also where the guest bed is, and it's currently Gramma's space as she is staying with us while waiting for Baby!!


Allie and Sophie's room changed slightly as well- they got a new chandelier....
And they also got some new shelves- to replace the window that they lost when we added Emily's room on to the outside of the house ;-) Allie is pretty happy with the new shelves!
We spent the weekend cleaning up after months of construction, and the final room left to organize was the storage room- we got it ALL done!!!
Not only did we recarpet the whole house, but we also repainted the whole thing!!! We were able to save some of the stencil that I had on the back staircase by having a frame made to go around it, and it worked perfectly!
And one of my favorite things was decorating the nursery for Baby #8! This is Emily's old room, and I chose the theme based on the color that Emily already had on the walls so that Zack wouldn't have to repaint this room!
It's a western/farm theme....




There will be a chair and ottoman under this wall hanging in a couple of weeks....
And probably a new baby too!!!!!!
Well, that's it for now. Sorry for the long and boring post, but I have so much on my plate these days that this is as good as it gets! Not to mention the fact that I'm 39 weeks pregnant, exhausted, hormonal, and ready to have a baby!!!! And speaking of Baby #8, is he doesn't come on his own this week, I will be induced on FRIDAY!!!!!! Four more days, four more days, four more days.......!!!!! Stay tuned........