86'n It

11 Days Until Closing: The Cherry On Top?

noreply@blogger.com (Bunny @ 86n It) — Thu, 23 May 2013 15:57:00 +0000

So I was all set to do a post about the new paint color in the rental aka 85...

And then last night this happened:

I was upstairs in the hallway after putting Franca to bed and there was a simultaneous lightening strike/thunder boom literally in front of me. I honestly thought someone might have shot me. It was SO close. (Marc said it made his body shake and he was in the parlor. Neither girl woke up, which is incredible!)

Anyway, I went downstairs really shaken up about it. We chatted for about 10 mins and then I went back up to close windows. I was in our bedroom when I heard a loud noise outside followed by Marc charging up the stairs. Turns out, Marc was in the kitchen when the tree fell and he worried it hit Mina's room.

By some bizarre stroke of luck, the tree only caught the edge of the gutter even though it was leaning COMPLETELY over our house. Amazing. A branch is currently leaning on Franca's plastic picnic table, but everything else is fine.

Here are some old photos of the cherry tree.

To be honest, we knew this tree would eventually need to be taken down, but I wanted to hold off. It is such a beautiful tree, provided great shade, produced beautiful flowers and delicious cherries (if you can get to them before the birds do). I guess nature had other plans.

Farewell, our cherry tree.

You'll live on in some delicious BBQ smoke.

(how young do I look in these photos from 2008?)

I'm going to be a drunk ditch mouse.

noreply@blogger.com (Bunny @ 86n It) — Fri, 17 May 2013 18:54:00 +0000

One of the "needs" for our rental was a space for me to work. Preferably not in our bedroom. Something about spending on average 14 hours per day in the same room made me think I might go nuts. Just like everything with the rental we did get, it *just barely* meets the requirements.

What do I mean?

Let me show you the pantry in the rental.

But let's also call it my office.

1st flr Plan
Click to enlarge

Why does a 1,400sf house have an 9' x 5' pantry but only one bathroom?? Your guess is as good as mine.

I keep saying we are not allowed to keep food in there, only extra dishes, the fondue pot, heck we can even keep the vacuum in there, just no food. Or I'm going to end up not being able to fit out the door.

Remember when your parents used to send you out by the busy highway in front of your house to pick up all the beer bottles people would toss out their car windows and you would find that poor little mouse who went into the bottle, drank all the beer and got so fat he couldn't fit back out the bottle?

Oh, wait, that was just MY parents who did that?? Anyway, you get what I mean.

Yes, I did just compare my future self to a drunk ditch mouse.

Happy Friday!~

Bloglovin' with the Next Toolbar for the Win!

noreply@blogger.com (Bunny @ 86n It) — Wed, 15 May 2013 14:46:00 +0000

So to some of you this might not mean anything****, but to a bunch of us the shutting down of Google Reader as of July 1st is a BIG DEAL. After that announcement alternatives quickly vied for our loyalty, namely Feedly and Bloglovin'. Feedly has a clean layout and the name Bloglovin'. Ew. I could not decide which one I wanted to switch to, so I stuck my head in the sand and pretended Google Reader would be here forever.

BUT then I just found out something that makes BL (I refuse to keep typing Bloglovin') pull ahead.
They have **almost ** a next button like Google Reader.

See that little button up there in my toolbar? Back when Google Reader was my thing, I would click it, and it would take me to the new posts in each blog I read! Amazing.

Now see this? Bloglovin doesn't have a "next" button, but rather a toolbar that pops up and lets you click older and newer! Not perfect, but I'll take it.

(To see this, go to Bloglovin.com, sign up, import your links from Google Reader (so easy), "frame" view should be already be selected in settings, so just click on a blog in your list (but not the title or it will take you to the blog w/ no next toolbar), see now you have your handy toolbar!)

So unless someone tells me that I can do this in Feedly too, looks like I'm a BL girl.

p.s. ****If you don't know what any of this means, a blog reader is essentially a free service where you subscribe to a bunch of blogs and it organizes them and lists all the new posts for you. Pretty cool.

p.p.s. Does anyone know if the Bloglovin' bar gives the blog "hits"? I don;t think it goes directly to the blog itself.

85: Spicing Up a Rented Bathroom

noreply@blogger.com (Bunny @ 86n It) — Tue, 14 May 2013 18:30:00 +0000

Here is the sad, sad rental bathroom.

ISSUES

We can't paint - Ugh. I know.

The vanity is the crappiest cheapest thing ever. - We will have to live with it.

My first thought was to throw a bunch of color at this space. I kept trying and it just wasn't working.

Then I decided to go with the melancholy vibe.
What better to do that than The Odyssey theme shower curtain?
(Also, Marc pointed out that it is a little "Where the Wild Things Are" which is a favorite in our house.)

SPICE IT UP

new rug - new window blinds - new shower curtain

new wall shelving - plants - baskets - new hamper

For the record

This is also NOT a mood board

A Word About Moms (and Sisters)

noreply@blogger.com (Bunny @ 86n It) — Sun, 12 May 2013 10:00:00 +0000

There are about a million things I love about my Mom,
but this photo illustrates one of the best:

My mom on the left and her sister (my favorite Aunt) doing the locomotion

at my cousin's insanely beautiful Key West beach wedding.

SILLY& LOYAL
FUN & SUPPORTING
MOMS

I can only hope someday my sisters and I will be the dance floor
showing Franca and Mina how it is done.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's out there,
but especially these two. Love you!

Mina: 4 Months

noreply@blogger.com (Bunny @ 86n It) — Wed, 08 May 2013 18:26:00 +0000

So, I went searching for Mina at 3 months post. Errr. Ummm. Yea. Didn't happen did it?

Can you believe it has been 4 months?

Weird that she doesn't look physically much bigger right? She looks "older" and less chubby though.

(She is robust 14lbs 13oz and 24" long.)

She's so entertaining lately.

She's finally ticklish which is great fun.

She rolling over back to front and then getting mad she is there.

Grabbing for things (like her sisters hair).

On walks she likes to look up at the sky the whole time.
She knows to load her diaper when I'm *not* the one caring for her (atta girl!).

Weird to think she probably won't remember this house...

27 days!

85: The Rental

noreply@blogger.com (Bunny @ 86n It) — Mon, 06 May 2013 01:27:00 +0000

I'll have to post the story later this week about the amazing rental we didn't get due to Franca + naptime + half a chocolate cookie + and some clompy shoes. We keep trying to laugh about it, but it still hurts a little too much.

Remember how our wishlist for the rental included a/c, 2 baths, and 3 bedrooms? Who the hell were we kidding?? The rental market is so tight here it is ridiculous. I'm not joking at all when I say it got to a point when I seriously thought we were going to end up living in a trailer.

While losing the amazing place still stings, we are very very happy to have the rental we DID get. It is close to downtown, has a great fenced yard, close to Franca's school, and has an "office" space for me. Most importantly, it is 3 doors up from my good friend and running partner!

With no further ado,

let me introduce you to our new rental
85

Living Room

Exterior & Play/Guest Room

Kitchen & Pantry aka my "office"

Kitchen

Franca's Room

Mina & Our Room

Backyard

And because I'm a huge dork who LOVES moving and arranging furniture, I spent an hour this weekend when I should have been working (or *gasp* relaxing) and drew these up:

1st floor

2nd floor

All but our dining table and the white borrowed couch fits.

Not too shabby huh?

Now I'm chomping at the bit to move! 19 days!

Can you believe it?

Rental Request: Room for a Bucket O Snails

noreply@blogger.com (Bunny @ 86n It) — Thu, 02 May 2013 14:20:00 +0000

The rental search is in full swing and let me tell you, it is exhausting! Prices are high, there is no much out there and what is gets snapped up quickly.

Here's our short list of wants:

3bed

2bath

Fenced yard

Close to downtown

Office space for me

I thought I wanted a suburban house until we started looking. Carpet, not squeaky wood floors, a/c, and a two car garage, all seem so nice, but pickin's are slim for that type of thing here unless you want to live far out. Plus, it just doesn't feel like 'us'. I'd always feel like I'm living some lie. (Ha!)

Asheville is a pretty hilly/mountainous town, but I was reminded this morning how important it is for us to have a yard for Franca. The girl likes to be outside. Exhibit A:

A bucket of snails living in my dining room. I'm a country girl at heart, so give her a lot of leeway with this type of thing and all was well until she decided they needed water this morning. They in turn decided they needed to make a break for it. Not good. They are now living on the porch with the bucket of worms from last week.

Wish us luck on the rental search, we should know tomorrow about something that meets only 3 of the 5 "wants", but is a great place for snails. Priorities people. Priorities.

HLWAWOOH! Part 2: Key West

noreply@blogger.com (Bunny @ 86n It) — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 18:06:00 +0000

Last week Mina and I took a little jaunt down to Key West for my cousin's wedding.

It was a great time! Many Many thanks to my parents for sponsoring our trip!

While there, my cousin Rick who used to live in Key West brought me a Cuban sandwich.

Turned out to be the BEST SANDWICH of my life.
Seriously.

Pulled pork. Ham. Grilled onions. Mayo. Cilantro. Banana Peppers.
All on a cuban roll. OMG. So good!
I asked my dad to take these photos and send them to Marc to make him jealous. ;)

It was from a little place called Paseo. Highly recommended!

Obligatory house update:

Inspection went well, due diligence period has expired.

Closing in 36 days!

Finding a rental stinks!

Have a great week!

HLWAWOOH! Lazy Sunday Morning

noreply@blogger.com (Bunny @ 86n It) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 12:00:00 +0000

First, let me explain. I've decided to do a new series called:

Hey, Look We Aren't Working On Our House

HLWAWOOH!

Pretty silly title, but if you try to say it out loud it comes out a combo of Hallelujah and Woo-Hoo! Which just about sums up how I feel about NOT working on our house.

The first installment of HLWAWOOH! is:

Lazy Sunday Morning.

We got up, we stayed in our PJs,

Marc made challah french toast,

we did laundry,

Marc and Mina hung out

while Franca and I ran fun errands,

Marc actually watched hockey,

and we didn't paint, hammer, drill or scrape a single damn thing.

It was glorious! Hope your weekend was terrific too.

In house selling news, we currently have first & second offers plus a steady stream of people driving up the alley. The first offer people are from out of town, so they came today to look and the deal is still on!

Closing May 30th or June 3rd.

New House Dreaming

noreply@blogger.com (Bunny @ 86n It) — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 14:24:00 +0000

So now that it looks like we really will be 86'n 86'n It, we've started talking about the new house.
Marc even actually made me go look at a lot two days ago at lunch.
It's ON!

I just stumbled upon this house at Contemporist (which is a really terrific modern architecture blog). It has so many of the things we want in the new house. Check it out:

(all images from Carr Design Group via contemporist.com)

Big open living space with large glass doors to the outside? Check!

Sleek, open modern kitchen? Check!

Simple bedrooms with tall cabinets in lieu of closets? Check!

Granted, this is much larger and fancier than we will do. The palette of white & black is a little sterile. I like it, but throw one of Franca's toys on the floor and it ruins the whole thing.

It is just exciting to be able to collect these images as actual ideas not just architecture porn. Marc has his own collection of images, but you know, he keeps them in a folder on his laptop like it is 2002. Hey at least he doesn't print them out. ;) Here's my Pinterest collection.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Under Freaking Contract

noreply@blogger.com (Bunny @ 86n It) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 00:18:00 +0000

Insanity.

Absolute insanity.

That's how it has been since we listed.

I'm reeling.

I'm happy to report we are under contract with a really great family. Fingers crossed all goes well.

Marc is already planning our 86'n 86'n It party...

The Final Before & After

noreply@blogger.com (Bunny @ 86n It) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 10:00:00 +0000

7 ARDUOUS YEARS AGO TODAY

NIKKI & MARC
STARTED ON AN ADVENTURE.
THIS IS WHAT THEY DID:

click image to view slideshow

As of today my fine ladies & gentlemen, 86'n It is on the market!

(If you are interested email me at bunny@86nit.com and I'll send you the MLS listing.)

4 More Days...

noreply@blogger.com (Bunny @ 86n It) — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 15:52:00 +0000

...until the house hits the market and I don't think I can make it.

My feet are swollen.
We have no food.
My back hurts.
All our clothes are dirty.
Evil oak pollen made my head explode.
My hands have splinters.
Mina has a cold.

4 . MORE . DAYS

Tonight we clean the basement, load up the truck for the dump run I'm doing solo (despite Marc's objections. I mean dude, I don't some pretty intense work on this house, I think I can go to the dump by myself, ok?).

This weekend I finish the front porch floor patch, we demo & repour the front concrete step, Marc maybe does gutter downspouts? We for sure need to clean the closets.

Speaking of the closets, I went all 3rd-grader style when I cleaned & staged for the listing photographer. The closets were PACKED with crap. I did NOT throw anything under the bed though, promise.

Speaking of the listing photographer, we don't have her images back yet, but after she left I ran around taking crappy cellphone shots of the house at it's cleanest and more styled it has ever been. Here are some sneak-peaks:

At least it is looking pretty good, right?

Michelle in Asheville

noreply@blogger.com (Bunny @ 86n It) — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 14:51:00 +0000

Checkout Michelle's awesome post about her visit to Asheville & us here.

She needs to visit more often because:

1) Now I'm so lonely when I go to Target alone.

2) OMG, look at these photos. She is so talented, amiright?!

Bathroom Materials & Cost

noreply@blogger.com (Bunny @ 86n It) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 10:00:00 +0000

Material List

A - Speakman shower head
B - Speakman controls
C - Hansgrohe Starck hand held shower & wall clip
D - Schluter shower drain
E - Schluter kerdi shower base and curb
F - Kohler persuade circ toilet
G - Hansgrohe toilet paper holder
H - Ikea Godmorgen cabinet in white oak w/ Odensvik sink
J - Hansgrohe talis faucet
K - Hudson Reed Towel Warmer/ Radiator
L - Progress Lighting Vanity fixture
M - Halo recessed can light (for in shower)
N - Crossville Shades Vapor 12x24" unpolished wall & floor tile
O - Dark gray wall color - Bear Creek by Ben Moore
P - Crossville Shades Whites mosaic tile shower floor.

Cost Breakdown

Towel bar $50
Radiator towel warmer $450
Plumber to move radiator pipe: $201
Paint: $60
Wall and ceiling insulation: had free
Wall board & installation: free from larger job
Tile: $853
Kerdi: $551
Tile setters: $2060
Vent pipers & wall framers: $100
Toilet: $266
Shower head & controls: $420
Hand held shower: $240
Sink & vanity: $340
Vanity light: $173
Overhead cans & trim: $50?
Misc elec: $75
Misc plumbing: $200
Plywood & wall framing: $150
Window frosting: $30
Door: $60
Slender window glass: $275
Tp holder $52
Sink faucet: $190
Mirror: $110
Plumber to connect radiator: $320

Total cost: $7,276

Honestly not bad considering it was not a remodel, but a bathroom from scratch AND we hired some of it out!

Check out the Before & After here.

Bathroom Before & Afters

noreply@blogger.com (Bunny @ 86n It) — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 20:07:00 +0000

****I should be working or doing a billion other things, but I'm going to quickly do this post.****

A million, billion, trillion chocolate-dipped-Oreo thanks to Michelle from SoWonderfulSoMarvelous (& the Davester) for cleaning, staging and photographing the finished bathroom while I tried to keep my daughter from sitting on yours too much.

Here we go. Ugly, terrifying

BEFORE*

(*Well, sort of before because this bathroom didn't really exist.
It was a closet and non-functioning bathroom/laundry room built mostly on the back porch.
See the weekend when Marc went to Vegas and I tore that shit DOWN.)

It is hard to tell what the hell was going on in these photos because well,
it was hard to figure out in real life what the hell was going on here.

And the beautiful, wonderful

AFTER

Quite the improvement right?

I'll post a material list and cost breakdown for y'all on Monday!

Have a great weekend.

We will be busy purging, staging, & prepping for the listing photographer on Tuesday. Eeeek!

Easter!

noreply@blogger.com (Bunny @ 86n It) — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 02:12:00 +0000

So.
Much.
Happening.

I'm blaming the lack of posts on Michelle from So Wonderful So Marvelous who is in town, making me awesome salads, letting my kid choke-hold her kid, and taking actual NON-iPhone photos! (gasp!)

I'll let her fill you in later this week on our Easter together, but for now, let me just drop this info and run:

-The bathroom is 100% done.

-We have a shiny new vent hood and 75% of the kitchen-side wall wood up.

-Our front porch is painted and has new decorations. Franca insisted on the "ruby" chairs you see in the pic.

I really want to show you all the pics and share the details this week, but...

-I'm having too much fun with Michelle,
-have 5 new webpages to make for work,
-have to finish a filing drawing set for work this week,
-AND need to sand and install 65 more square feet of wall wood.

So I'll try.

Paint peeling revenge

noreply@blogger.com (Bunny @ 86n It) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 10:00:00 +0000

Remember when I repeatedly almost lost it about the paint that Marc got all OCD and peeled in our house.

That I then had to look at for 5 years????

Revenge was had today. Marc was sanding the mudroom door frame for painting prep. We ran out of sanding pads, so he decided to peel a bunch of it to minimize sanding. He yells up to me:

"Hey, Nikki. You know that punishment where a kid has to smoke an entire pack of cigarettes as punishment for getting caught smoking? This paint peeling is like that."

Mwahahaha!

Apparently, the paint wasn't coming off that easily and it was jamming itself under his fingernails.

Revenge.
I has it.

What's Done: Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Bunny @ 86n It) — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 14:12:00 +0000

If you like 86'n It on facebook, you already know this, but this weekend we managed to get 3 of the 9 things done, plus some.

1
Back porch light is installed and switch swapped. I ended up chickening out on the ceiling fan. The installation was just going to be too complicated and I was feeling lazy.
Any tips on straightening the light cord? I know that a professional photographer we used to shoot our products for the blind used to take a hairdryer to the cords to straighten them, but I'm not sure on the safety of that!

2
Marc made the threshold and installed it. I actually stained it too, but I'm too lazy to go down and take the pics. I'm waiting to poly it until Wednesday and Thursday when the girls are out of the house more. It's so stinky.

3
I also installed the towel bar. Such a simple, practical thing. Felt good to get it done.

I also touched up paint in the bathroom, painted the missing play/guest room radiator cover, and cleaned the stain off the back porch doors (Marc told me that would make my Father-in-Law happy, he hates dirty glass!). Plus, I did a ton of laundry, ate an amazing lunch at the Greek Community Center in our neighborhood and worked a little bit.

Phew!

Marc has a deadline Tuesday, so Wednesday and Thursday we are going to hit the kitchen trim and wood wall full force and get it done. The Realtor comes Friday. Too excited!

I'm resisting purging and staging even though I'm dying to do it. It will be much easier if I just wait and do it all at once.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

What's Left?

noreply@blogger.com (Bunny @ 86n It) — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 17:57:00 +0000

I know I talked about selling the house and getting ready, but then have just let it slide. My goal was to have it listed March 1st, and well, we are 21 days late for that goal.
I did schedule the Realtor to come next Friday to get the ball rolling. Eek!

So what's left? Here goes:

Bathroom threshold

(Marc do this weekend)

Bathroom radiator plumbing connection

(hire plumber because neither of us can solder worth a crap)

Paint front porch floor and ceiling

dark brown floor & light blue ceiling

(I got a quote yesterday and it was reasonable,

so I think we will pay to have it done instead of breaking our backs.)

Install gutter downspouts

(Marc do this weekend)

Last piece of back porch trim

(Marc cut, I paint)

Fix front walk wall

reset broken piece back into place, repour last step?

(Both of us do this weekend?)

Install ceiling fan on back porch

(Nikki do this weekend?)

Kitchen trim

(Both of us Wednesday & Thursday of next week)

Dining room & Kitchen wood wall

More about this here and here.

(Both of us Wednesday & Thursday of next week)

And after that is all done, we list this house

and commence snuggling with this little thing!

Can't wait!~

The Window that Broke the Camel's Back

noreply@blogger.com (Bunny @ 86n It) — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 04:03:00 +0000

I can't honestly say that I don't have the teeniest, tiniest smudge of reservation about selling this house, because I do. The smallest. smallest. smallest. reservation, but it is there. It grows sometimes when people try to talk us out of selling it.

Up until now the renovations have been fun and rewarding, but also hard and stressful.
Up until now.
Notice that part?

Let me introduce you to a window. The window that broke the camel's back actually.

I hate this window. I would like to take it and smash it into a million tiny little pieces, then burn those pieces in a big firey ball, then take the ashes and pulverize them, and then feed them to a shark.

I. Hate. This. Window.

Window's story goes a little something like this: Innocent, dirty window starts out on the back porch "bathroom" (as much as you can call it a "bath" in that none of the plumbing fixtures actually worked, and as much as you can call it a "room" in that it had paperboard walls between it and the outside.). I digress. But I took this window out when I demolished that "bathroom" to make our lovely screen porch.

Poor window sat neglected outside for a little while (bad window parents!), and then sat neglected in a corner of the basement. That is until we decided to construct the bathroom downstairs and someone had the brilliant idea that we needed a window in the shower. We pulled out window. Window was looking bad, but we thought: we will just clean it off, do some bondo-ing repairs, and reglaze it. Pretty easy, right?

Marc got started. About 4 hours of work on the window in, he started to have reservations. Should we really use window? Should we spring for a new window? This might be a lot of work.... Ehhh.... new window will be expensive. Let's just use this one. That discussion happened in October. In February the window is still not done.

Window has a new frame. Window has new frosted glass. Window has been reconfigured to be an awning style instead of casement. Window has new hardware. Window consumed about 3 months of Marc's life.
Every spare moment: I have to work on the window.
That $60 charge at window-hardware.com? Oh, that's for the tiniest hinges you've ever seen.
Every time the bathroom progress was stalled: I won't know that other detail until the window is in.

I. Hate. This. Window.

Here is a really fun fact about me: I like to work hard. I like to be busy. I'm hard on myself. If you have the pleasure of being my husband I expect you to work hard, be busy, and oh, yeah, just for fun, I'm super hard on you. Fun!

Here is another fun fact: I don't appreciate perfection. It's not that I don't get it, because I might if I could actually see it. You know what I like WAY better than things that are perfect? Things that are done. Bathrooms with half-assed windows, but fully functional toilets that toddlers can, you know, like poop in. Sounds better than trying to get them to make it upstairs to go, or carrying a training potty full of toddler poop up a flight.
Imperfect but DONE things. I like.

This window. It broke me. Renovating isn't fun anymore. I despise it. Those doors and thresholds I stained the other week? Excruciating. The thought that we have to trim out the kitchen still? Tantrum-inducing.

I *might* have yelled in the car alone on the way to Home Depot (for the second time) today. To me, this window represents what I hate about renovating this house. You have good intentions, you want to reuse original features, you don't think it will be *that* hard, and then BAM! Window eats your life and your soul and your will to live....err... renovate.

This window? It did get installed. It is beautiful and functional, but I will never know, I'm not touching the damn thing. Ever. I don't care if the bathroom mirror is so foggy I apply mascara to my eyebrows.

I've got a grudge and I'm holding onto it.

Mina's Birth Story

noreply@blogger.com (Bunny @ 86n It) — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 19:28:00 +0000

Since I finally got around to doing Mina's 1 (AND 2) Month post,
I thought it might be high time to tell her birth story.

I had a 45 hour labor with Franca. And I mean ACTIVE labor. (I had been having mild contractions a whole day before this marathon, but I count 45hours as the time I had OMG this HURTS contractions.) I labored at home for 26 hours. Got to the hospital and was 6cm, but then I stalled at 8cm for 8 long long hours. We went thru 3 doctor shifts. It was insanity. After 40 hours we decided to get the epidural even though I had hoped for a med-free birth. I slept for 3 hours, woke up, pushed for 2 hours and she was FINALLY born! If you want to ready the whole story, you can find it here. Franca's Birth Story.

Needless to say, I was really banking on an easier delivery with Mina. Little did we know just how much "easier" it would be! It happened so fast, the best way to show it is with a timeline.

10:19pm
Contractions start 11-15 minutes apart while watching Sleepwalk with Me
11:01pm
Contractions spread to 21-25 minutes apart. We decide it is false labor, go to bed.
12:50am
Contractions return to 11 minutes apart. And HARD. I have trouble getting through them.
1:38am
Contractions at 9 minutes apart. I wake up Marc. Tell him this might be it. He doesn't believe me.
2:06am
Decide to call friends who are going to stay with Franca. I'm starting to panic.
2:46am
Contractions 6 minutes apart and REALLY HARD. Marc starts to believe me.
3:07am
Friends are here. Marc is dawdling getting truck ready. I'm starting to panic.
3:12am
Contractions 4 minutes apart. I'm starting to think I might give birth on the parlor floor.

3:27am
Last contraction timed. We leave for hospital. I ask Marc to run red lights.

3:50am-ish
We get to hospital triage nurse checks me. I'm 9cm dialated with only a lip. She panics. Starts throwing our stuff on bed with me and says: "I've always joked I've never delivered a baby here in triage. Let's not make you the first. Let's go dad!" Then she and Marc push the bed run/walking down the hallway to Labor & Delivery. I'm crying out of happiness. It look me 38 hours to get to 9cm with Franca. It has been less than 6 hours.

4:15am
In Labor & Delivery. I can only labor while lying on my left side otherwise it is crazy painful. My nurse is awesome. Contractions are pretty hard. I'm just squeezing the hell out of Marc's hand and moaning with each one. I say to nurse: "Um, what are we waiting for?" She answers: "For you to feel like you need to push." I say: "Um, I think I can push." "Wait, don't your doctor isn't here yet!"

4:30am
Doctor arrives. Checks me. I'm ready to push! Start pushing. It is the weirdest feeling. Doesn't really hurt and I'm now feeling no pain in between contractions. Water breaks during a contraction/push. Marc asks doctor if when he can see her, to tell him if she has a lot of hair like Franca did. A couple of pushes later, Mina is starting to emerge. She's crowning. HOLY HELL THEY ARE NOT JOKING ABOUT THE RING OF FIRE. Her head pops out. Doctor pauses and says: "Hey Marc, look she has hair!" I lose my composure for the first time and growl like the girl on The Exorcist: "GET HER OUT!!!!" I'm in the worst pain of my life and they are looking at hair color. Geez.

5:08am
She's out. And she is beautiful and perfect and wonderful. My heart grows three sizes. They put her directly on my chest. Best feeling in the world.

I have daughters. Plural.

When the cord stops pulsing Marc reluctantly cuts it. Within 10 minutes Mina has rooted and latched on all on her own. That's my girl.

Mina Delancey

born 1/06/13 @ 5:08am

7lbs 12 oz

20" long

(Quite possibly the worst photo of me in existence. And I could not give a shit.)

(Plus, this is the only photo from the hospital where you can't see my entire boob.)

Mina months 1 & 2

noreply@blogger.com (Bunny @ 86n It) — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 14:20:00 +0000

I never did a Mina 1 Month post, so I thought I'd combine them for her 2 month post.

Can you believe it has been two months already? She is huge! As Marc said yesterday: It seemed like you were pregnant forever and now we blink and Mina is 2 months old!
So true.

And what a great two months it has been. Franca was a great baby, but Mina might have her beat. Sleeps an 8-hour stretch at night. Eats quickly. Naps a lot easily throughout the day.

And the smiles.

Oh the smiles.

And the coo's.

And the laughs.

And the half-sneeze sigh.

She's a real charmer. She likes being sung and talked to, but most of all being howled at. That was a favorite of Franca's too, and is convenient because Franca is going thru a Where the Wild Things Are phase right now.

I've been pretty obsessed with my girls this week. They've been so sweet and funny and happy. It is making me REALLY look forward to selling the house so we can spend all weekend in bed laughing, or you know, do something that doesn't involve a hammer.

Dreams. I has 'em too.

Have a great weekend!

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a really big mirror!

noreply@blogger.com (Bunny @ 86n It) — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 15:40:00 +0000

They guys from Blue Ridge Glass (Hi Bob!*) came this morning to install our mirror. I know, this seems like something we could easily DIY, but the installation cost wasn't much more. Plus, if anything, paying for the installation of breakable things is worth it. If I break it installing it, I'm out the mirror cost. If they break it, they replace it free!

There was no breaking going on though, but there was some (OF COURSE) in the field modifications that had to happen. They broke out the grinder and took a smidge off the top to make it fit correctly. So glad to see that happens with the pros too, even though they had come out to measure. It's not just us!

It is crazy-wonky old houses with their

measure twice, cut once and

it STILL somehow doesn't fit!

Anyway, it looks terrific and I can finally see the toothpaste foam on my face instead of walking out the door looking like a rabid dog. It is pretty huge though. Check out this photo with me in for scale.

Plus, look at my awesome new bangs! I cut them myself (and gave myself red highlights) this week while waiting for work files to download/convert/upload.

(Which is actually allowing me to write this post now too, I'm having to work on a crazy 3d model that requires a bunch of processing time.) Sometimes working from home is great.

Marc has 1/2 of a radiator hole to drill in the tile. (He already did 7 of them.) Then we install that and bathroom is DONE! Yippee!

*Bob actually doesn't ready I blog (I think), but Blue Ridge Glass is a great company - and I'm not being compensated in anyway to say that.