It's been a while...

I didn't realize how long it has been since I blogged last. Laziness I suppose or maybe there isn't anything noteworthy to write about? Naw, probably the former. I am going to talk about some things I would rather remain private for now so my blog is only readable to myself right now. I will let some people in as time goes by and it will eventually be opened up again for all the world to see. There are just some things I would rather keep to myself right now.

On a totally different note, I decided on what exact flooring will be installed in our house! I am so excited that I can't wait to see exactly how much it will cost, what it will include and how long it will take to get done. I might add some information later about the details.

Also, my Sensaria National Convention is coming up next weekend. I can't believe it is already here and that I have been a rep for almost a year now. Time does fly when you are having fun!

Until next time,
~Monica~

Bamboo Hardwoods

I talked on the phone and exchanged a few emails with this company and like them a lot so far. Very informative and I like their web site too. We even decided to visit their showroom today and am still very impressed. The sales guy knew who I was and took the time to explain their products and what makes bamboo a good option. He even went into what makes them different from their competitors when I asked him to be honest. Unlike some of the other stores I visited ... he didn't feel it necessary to bad talk the competition in order to make their product seem better. I think Empire was the worst about this! The Bamboo Floors guy did mention some negatives about other companies but only after I brought them up and again I didn't get the feeling that he was trash talking them but it was more like a friendly warning to be cautious.

Now the true test is to bring some samples home and see how I feel. We were initially drawn to the vertical natural style since we thought it would be the most neutral with our furnishings. Bamboo generally comes in two varieties -- horizontal or vertical grain -- and two colors -- natural and carbonized. Basically, the bamboo is cut into thin strips and then laid down either horizontally or vertically, glued together and milled like hardwood planks to get the "boards". With horizontal grain, you see wider (maybe 1cm?) stripes and darker tones where the "knots" of the bamboo are. The vertical grain has much thinner (maybe 0.5cm?) stripes and the knots are harder to see. We not only liked the look of vertical natural but we discovered that it is slightly harder than the horizontal grain and even more harder than the carbonized (a coffee/caramel color) style. We are very concerned about durability because we have a dog and a kid and we know they will be hard on the floors.

Then we get introduced to strand woven bamboo. It is more than two times harder than all the other versions! It is made by shredding the bamboo into strands and combining them with a glue/resin mixture to create boards. The pattern more closely resembles a wood grain and the color is a blend between natural and carbonized. That was one of our biggest issues with the bamboo ... natural was almost too blond/pale and the carbonized was almost too dark. This strand woven seems to be between the two colors. Perfect!

We were also impressed with BHW's "tropical" species of bamboo which is significantly harder than the standard Moso variety that most bamboo floors are made from. I also like the different color variations it had and if I didn't love the strand woven, this would have been our second choice. I also liked that BHW has an exclusive contract to harvest this variety of bamboo because they helped create it. Sweet.

Now they need to come to our house and measure and get the estimate closer to what we actually want. When I spoke to them initially, I gave them 100sqft more than we are actually covering and with a slightly less expensive material. Even so, their quote was on the lower end from the other two companies and if I compared the quote to the one store that had Teragren which I felt was almost identical to BHW ... then the quote was at least $2k less! I am excited to see what they can do for us!

~Monica~

More flooring options

I spent much of the weekend and past few days looking at other flooring stores and took home some samples too. I originally was thinking that laminate flooring that looked like hardwood was going to be the way to go but as I was looking around, I noticed there were some samples of bamboo as well. I thought it was an interesting material but probably too expensive. However, when I mentioned it to my husband, he was more interested than I thought he was going to be and I ended up going back to one of the flooring stores to see what they had and took some samples home.

Today was the estimate from Nielson Brothers and I had them run the numbers for laminate and bamboo as well. It turns out that the difference in price was much less than I thought. Maybe less than $1000? I also decided to not replace the carpet in the bedrooms for now so that I could spend a little more money and get a nicer quality of bamboo. There is a huge difference out there in quality and I am learning more each day. I also don't want carpet on the stairs anymore so I am hoping that getting the stairs done in bamboo won't break the bank either. It is another reason why I am sacrificing the bedrooms for now.

~Monica~

First Nurses Appointment

I had my first nurses appointment today which is mostly just filling out paperwork and going over your medical history. I also get to pee in a cup again and get three vials of blood taken too. Fun! Most of the appointment was uneventful but we did talk a bit about my concerns about my body not rejecting the baby this time. The nurse said that they don't usually say that your chances of a miscarriage are increased until your 2nd one. However, since I am nervous they are accommodating of my fears and they will do an early ultrasound most likely. She also said that my doctor will try listening for the heartbeat at my next appointment and that amazingly most doctors are able to find it quite early. I am doubtful however since my uterus tips backward and it was really hard to hear anything with a doppler. It was even hard with the regular over the tummy ultrasound so the only way I can usually get confirmation is with that vaginal ultrasound. Super fun. I don't think I heard Davin's heartbeat for the first time until the 12/13 week appointment in my doctor's office with the doppler. I don't want to do that again!

My first doctor appointment is on 6/28.

The other news today is that I got another estimate from Great Floors today. They are slightly cheaper than Nielson Bros but not by a huge amount. For the flooring that I really liked (Teragren Bamboo) they were much more expensive but that was mostly due to the cost of the material. I have done more research and decided to give a store that specializes in bamboo a try. It will be interesting to hear what they have to say!

~Monica~

It's confirmed!

Even though I had to deal with the biggest poopy mess this morning, I managed to make it out of the house before we head out to gymnastics to pee in the cup at the doctor's office. I hope nothing is wrong with Davin since he woke up grumpy and then had the biggest, messiest diarrhea which leaked out his diaper, down his leg and onto the carpet. I didn't realize this when I picked him up to take him to the bathroom but the act of lifting him up must have released the damn and we dripped all the way to the bathtub. YUCK! This was the start of my decision to look into replacing our flooring with laminate or something besides carpet. Hopefully, more on that later.

Back to the doctor's office and they have a new office now so the whole peeing in a cup thing is a new procedure. Davin of course went into the bathroom with me and was pretty good the whole time but very curious what I was doing. I am not entirely sure these new bathrooms were intended for peeing in a cup because they used to have everything within reach of being seated on the toilet. They pretty much had that but there was no counter to put your cup after you pee. I had to put the cup on top of the toilet paper dispenser and when I did my son started reaching for it and saying, "Juice!" UGH. How gross! I immediately intercepted him and said, "Oh no that is not juice. It is yucky!" Whew.

I didn't see the usual receptacle for placing the full cup so I had to take it with me and was wandering the halls wondering what I should do with it. Thankfully, the lab tech spotted me and rescued me from my bewilderment. About 10 minutes later, they told me the good news ... I was indeed pregnant! I went ahead and scheduled my next few appointments and it started sinking in that yes ... I am pregnant ... again!

Oh, I also got an estimate from Empire Today on new flooring and I went into this without much research at all. I see their commercials all the time and thought what the heck. Let's see what the ball park is and if it is something we can even consider doing. Well, I am not impressed with them. I don't like the way they just write down a price out of thin air which I thought was ridiculous as the "retail" price. It was over $20k for about 1000sqft?? In laminate? Even their initial price was a bit steep and she was only able to lower it if she called the "warehouse" to see if there was a special price on the flooring I picked out. Of course there was a better deal out there and that was a much better price but the whole process left a bad taste in my mouth. I guess if you like a limited selection of products/colors and not having to think about the process at all, then Empire is the way to go. I am just not willing to spend over $10k of my hard earned money without getting informed and educated about what I am buying. On to more estimates!

~Monica~