It's a Girl!

Our new baby girl, Zaida, finally arrived on Thursday 8/2, and man are we ever happy she's here. For me, it begins a much needed break from our fast paced finish everything rush of the past few months. (And also relief from all the back pain and heartburn.) Finally, I get to just sit and relax and recuperate with a little girl happy in my arms.

It also gives me time to catch up on all the computer activities I had to put aside in the last couple months of pregnancy.

So, here are some much needed house blog updates:

Baby Room
First, lets get the final picture of the old office, now split with room for my desk and all of Zaida's things.

As you can imagine, the desk is on the other side of the room. And I am waiting for the pictures for those frames to arrive in the mail. (Another computer job I was finally able to complete.)

Basement Bathroom
Some time before I gave birth, Mike installed the basement bathroom doors. No, they're not stained yet. No, they're not trimmed yet. But they're hung! And you can close them! Oooo! Stain and trimming are next on the agenda. Next on my agenda in the basement, the closet. I'm so sick of having to travel up and down for towels and toiletries. And I can't wait to store bulk items like diapers, paper towels, and toilet paper in there. All I need is a closet organizer. This one from Rubbermaid is pretty much exactly what we need: http://www.lowes.com/pd_325991-315-FG3R16FTWHT_4294857751__?productId=3239927&Ns=p_product_qty_sales_dollar|1&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNs%3Dp_product_qty_sales_dollar|1&facetInfo=

Four deep adjustable shelves. What do you think it costs? Well, at the local Lowes, it costs $150. What what? That's over $35 per shelf. Redonkulous. But I'd really like to get the Rubbermaid, since that's the same one we have in the mudroom and we can use some of the extra shelves and tracks leftover from that project, if need be.

Chimney
Mike was sick of waiting for the inspector. He imagined that he'd already come, but not signed off on the permit because it was inside the house, taped to the window. So he went to the town hall with it, and got it signed in person.

Straight from the town hall, he went and ordered all the chimney block and other needed materials to build. Those were just delivered a few days ago and already Mike has scheduled the chimney dude to start building this coming Monday. We'll see just how fast this thing can go up. The dude told him it would only take a couple days, max. It will be nice to complete this project and fill the hole. (And yes, it has once again caved in from recent heavy rain. Mike's going to need to dig it out again, so you can imagine his excitement.)

Exterior
Outside the house, Mike spent part of his paternity week off cleaning up the yard. Our neighbor recently contracted Lyme disease with several horrible complications all arising from a tick bite. Fearful for the fam, Mike borrowed a brush cutter and took down the massive overgrowth in the back back yard. Then, he cleaned out underbrush along the edges of our property and used the weed whacker to take down the tall grass on our hill (too steep to mow) and around the house.

Next Up?
Don't forget, there's still a tarp over the kitchen roof. This will need to be completed before the winter.

Making Half an Effort... Maybe

Friday the 27^th – day four past my due date. I’m tired. Lethargic. Bored. Most everything has been done… I’m procrastinating a whole lot of stuff that doesn’t matter too much. Like D batteries. I’m not sure if I have any. And I don’t feel like checking.

The office/nursery is all set up except for a random extra changing table and the bassinet, which are both just hanging out in the room for now. Both will eventually go into our bedroom – again, I just don’t feel like making the rearranging effort until I need to. Mike will have some time off to help me when this baby finally does come anyway.

And have I taken a picture to show you all? No.

Meanwhile, other things are just trudging along slowly. Down in the bathroom we put up one hook for towels, a toilet paper holder, and all the lightbulbs for the vanity and fan fixtures. I bought a dimmer switch and a wall plate to go with it yesterday on my way home. That will probably go up in the coming days along with the closet light and light switch. I’m also looking forward to doors… nothing new in that department yet.

Outside, the chimney foundation is still as it was. We’re still waiting for the town to come and inspect. In the past week or two, heavy thunderstorms have caved in the hole more then once. Mike dug it out, then dug it out again, then dug it out and made a barrier of wood scraps to keep it from washing out. So far, it seems to be holding, but we hope for the inspection soon.

No sign of our carpenter in regards to work on the porch. But we were all out of the house on a family outting last Sunday anyway. Doesn’t much matter since we haven’t ordered or even listed out the next round of materials needed.

And that’s just about all the news that’s fit to print. Mike’s had a ton of misc stuff of his own to take care of – a jetski fix-to-sell project, a 4wheeler fix for a friend, a lawn tractor fix… There’s no shortage of work to be done out in the garage.

Me, I’ll just keep on waiting.

A Rug Counts For Something

Yes. Yes it does. You see, I was searching for an economical and quality rug option for the upstairs old-office-turning-new-baby-room/office for quite a while. Probably close to a month - ever since we had the yard sale, really. The problem is, large 7x10 to 8x11 area rugs in modern colors and designs just don't come cheap. (Neither do traditional colors and designs, actually.) I scoured the internet and local stores for weeks... even looked in New Hampshire while I was there a couple weekends ago. Nothing. I was looking to spend about $150.

Of course I'm well aware that these sizes of rugs run upwards of twice that amount. And to top it all off, I was looking for something of quality. You know, a nice pile height that your feet would be pleased to walk on... that your butt would be happy to sit on... that your baby could fall over on and not cry for too long... So obviously it didn't surprise me that finding such a rug was nearly impossible.

Then on an exasperated whim, I did a google search for "discount rugs." One of the first sites on the list was Overstock.com. Hmmm. I'd never thought of searching there. I clicked in, started looking around, and was surprised to find a HUGE selection in my price range. From descriptions and ratings, the rugs seemed to be of good quality.

I picked out this one:

For a price of just $164. (Don't forget their $2.95 everyday shipping, too!) I added it to my cart and said to myself, "I'll buy it on Friday." This was on Wednesday or Thursday. Friday comes around and I'm all excited... go to the cart... and now it's on sale! $146! I was getting the rug I wanted and the price dropped under my budget. Psyched. So psyched.

Ordered it and it arrived the following Tuesday - just this past Tuesday, if fact. (Fast shipping for $2.95, right? I was def impressed!) It's up in the room now, laid out but still awaiting a non-skid pad for underneath.

Then, we can start assembling all that lovely baby furniture and arranging and re-arranging.

So that's my long rug story. Around the house, not much has been happening. Mike was in NH for a week and I've been completely helpless with allergies and back pain. (Very frustrating.) Needless to say, we still have the giant hole in back of the house where the alleged wood stove chimney will go. No word from the dude who's supposedly building it for us as of yet.


Then, randomly, we got the permit in the mail. So they granted us the permit without the plans they asked for. Strange. Ok. So we're all dressed up and no where to go at this point.

Furniture Face Off

On a previous post, you'll see the couch placed on the far wall of the living room. This was Mike's suggestion. I wanted to try it on the opposite wall from whence it started. So of course, on Monday, Mike moved it where I wanted it.

But I have to admit, after starring at it and thinking about it for Tues-Wed, I couldn't help thinking that I didn't like it. It divided the room - which I thought I wanted when I envisioned the arrangement. But in practice, it was too much of a division and left little room for Mikey to play on the floor, which is what I really wanted for him.

And on Thursday I couldn't shake the thought as I sat at my desk, leisurely working on a non-mission-critical project. Then, I had a crazay idea. Mikey was at day care that day... I could rush home at lunch, put down the old rug, and rearrange the couch. The more I thought about it, the more excited I became.

When noon came around, I was on my coffee induced mission home. Arrived in 15min, vacuumed the floor, carried the rug up from the basement, put down the carpet pad, put down the carpet, moved the couch back to the far wall, and vacuumed the carpet. I was back to work by 10 after one and sweaty as hell. But I was lovin the results!

Then, the call came in. I hadn't even gotten to the office - I was just getting off the highway in fact, when my phone rang. Day care. Mikey was running a fever. And wouldn't you know, I had to get back to the office, make a host of phone calls, turn around and go back past my house to day care, pick up the poor baby, take him to the doctor's, pick up a sandwich (5 dollar... 5 dollar foot looong!) (Gimmee a break, I hadn't eaten lunch and was ready to pass out.) and returned home.

Yeah - teething plus double ear infection plus a cold... equals one unhappy baby.

Luckily for me, Mikey took a nap around 5. And I should have relaxed. But no, I got my 5th or 6th wind and got back to moving and arranging and re-arranging furniture. I put in the chair, then one end table, then the second end table... moved the end tables several times until I liked them. I added the lamps, cleaned up a bit, and then stood back to admire the result.

I loved it.

Mike got home, visibly impressed. He wanted to bring back the entertainment center and get the TV going again. But I just didn't have it in me - no way I could lift up that thing. Not to be deterred, Mike called our neighbor, who was happy to lend a hand for a few beers.

Couch - TV - lamps - end tables - rug... not the new rug of course.

And look at all the room for Mikey to play!

And from the opposite angle.

And from the side.

All that remains is the bar and some smaller items. And of course, when the rug arrives next Wednesday, everything is going to have to be nudged out of the way. No big deal.

Despite the exhaustion from all the running around, the site of that room just made me so happy. It's so funny, I said to Mike, "It's like we have a real living room now!!" And it's true. It doesn't feel like a stinky old house. It feels grand!

And we watched TV on the couch for the first time in weeks and weeks. It was awesome.

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Announcing Our Newest (And Best) Home Improvement

We finally have our new addition! That's right - baby Mike Jr is finally here! I was a total of 10 days late, giving birth on Saturday May 9th at 1:38am - just a couple days before I was scheduled to be induced. He was 7lbs 2oz and 20inches long - very healthy and beautiful. We got home this past Monday and have been adjusting ever since.

Mike Sr had the week off from work (thank god) to help me out, so we decided to commemorate the occasion by planting two new trees in the front yard. (As I've said before, have a baby, plant a tree - it just makes sense.) The trees I picked are both Kwanzan flowering cherry trees, which I've always loved and wanted for years.


We just barely made the flowering cherry selling season - the garden center only had two left and wouldn't be ordering any more, since they would soon be out of bloom. Lucky for us, that's all we needed.

The next order of business - taking down that disgusting old pine. Which proved to be no big business at all. Mike had the whole thing down and chopped in what seemed like just a few minutes, although I'm sure it had to have been at least an hour or two. And the next day he took the whole thing to the dump. Simple.

The trees didn't prove to be much trouble either. We picked out the locations and Mike dug the holes, digging in a cone shape, with the bottom of the hole about three times larger than the tree's planting container and the top only about the same size. This was advised by the garden center guy, so we could grow grass right up to the base of the tree.

The front yard and the driveway look so much bigger with the pine gone! And we placed the new trees equidistant from the road, house, and driveway, one across from the french doors and one across from the front door. So no more threat of trees getting in the way as they grow.

Two new trees, one old stump

Tree #1

Tree #2

Next order of business - get some siding on the front of the house. While Mike was home, he also took some measurements. Our carpenter TJ did the calculations for us - so now we know how much... but we don't know how much - money that is.

Mike stopped by the Home Depot yesterday on his way home from some errands and discovered the pre-primed cedar clap boards to be very expensive. Around $120 for a bundle of 10, if I remember right. We need over 100 16 footers just for the front of the house. So what does that come out to be.... (getting calculator widget)... $1200? I may have my numbers wrong. For some reason I thought it was more expensive. Ok - I'll check on that.

Not that we'll purchase from the stupid deepHo anyway. A big purchase like this definitely deserves a trip to Morse Lumber. They'll treat us right. Mike will probably go there on Monday to check out pricing. I doubt we'll be puchasing at the moment, but you never know. We've been selling off some of our extra junk to pay for these repairs - a chainsaw paid for the trees, for example. A welder may just pay for the siding.

Negative 4 Days of Baby

I hate to report - there's nothing new to report. No baby. It's been 4 days since my due date and we're still waiting.

My last day of work was the 30th, and after just a few stuck-on-the-couch rainy days, I'm fed up and uncomfortable.

Mike brought home a stump grinder on Saturday and finally took care of a few of our biggest tree stumps. (Never let Nstar touch your trees. They promised us that all stumps would be ground 2" below soil level... and they weren't ground at all. That was about two years ago.)

Sunday we returned the stump grinder and picked up the overseeder and some cape cod grass seed. (For sandy soil.) Mike overseeded the lawn on Sunday afternoon, just in time for the evening's showers. And with showers all week, it should come in nicely. Plus, today we picked up some loam and Mike spread it on our major trouble spots, where grass has never grown. Hopefully this will guarantee an awesome lawn.

And me? I'm just watching him work from out the windows. Ho-hum.

Later this afternoon, we'll probably put up the closet shelves in the baby's room and the upstairs office closet - which has been awaiting a shelf for years. (I really need the storage space now!) If there's time, I'd love to have Mike throw a coat of stain on the baby's room window bottoms and another coat of paint on a toy box we're refurbishing. No big hurry though. The yard work has just been kicking his butt. And it doesn't help that I'm out of commission.

15 Minute Man

As promised, Rich was over on Monday to help Mike with the drywall in the hallway and downstairs bedroom. And would you believe it only took 15 minutes to fix and get a first coat on everything?!

Rich was just leaving as I was getting home from work - amazing. But, it's as he said - small stuff, easy to fix.

Hallway

Downstairs Bedroom

The two of them are getting together again tonight, first to put another quick coat on the downstairs bedroom and maybe some sanding in the hallway - should only take another 15 minutes or so. Then they'll go over to Rich's house, where Mike is helping him tape up his Jeep in prep for painting. Everybody wins - I love it!

The drywall, if finished this time around, will have to dry for another couple of days before it can be painted. It may turn out to be an all-paint weekend for Mike, who'll be painting the Jeep and now possibly these two rooms. (Although he may also help his parents, who are moving back to the Cape. If so - paint can wait until next weekend.)

And the big exciting news from yesterday - we both went to my ultrasound in the morning. And it is definitely a boy. =) We're so psyched!

"HI EVERYBODY!"