Oh Abby!

I guess I need to shave. Abby had her head in my leg earlier and she said "I don't like the way this feels. It hurts me and cuts me and makes me bleed." 

Also, I asked another kid today if he remembered Abby and he said "Yeah, the naked one?" 

Grant-isms

When Grant dreams, he says, "My bed told me a story last night." Then he tells me about the dream. It usually involves superheroes and Abby in some way. 

Remodel update - Front room

In the front room, we decided to remove all the pony walls, demo the built-in book case, build in a new closet, and refinish the fireplace. Oh - and raise the floor a foot or so... It was sunken before and we wanted to "update" that.

Here are pics from before we moved into the house 7 years ago:

Please note the lovely wall color... also the fireplace is a ton of masonry, covered by wood paneling. As it would turn out, that tile in the entry would be the most difficult of all our flooring to demo out. It was tile on top of tile on top of tile. And that original tile was laid with CEMENT not thinset.

When we moved in, we painted the walls (and the walls behind the built-in book case), got rid of the popcorn ceilings and also got rid of the brass fixtures. A few years later, we updated the off-off-white trim to bright white. This was the shape of that area before the remodel:

Here are the remodel progress pics!

After Day 1:

After the wood covering was removed:

Bricks on the ground, bricks on the ground.... lookin' like a fool with your bricks on the ground.

Holy shiz! We gained a whole foot (at least) with everything removed!!!

Take a look around at the other framing work (and my cute photo-bomber) - After Day #9:

Now it was time to raise the floors (Day #17):

Then glue and screw the plywood on top (Day #19):

The leftover framing has disappeared below behind sheetrock (Day #21):

I'm sorry mama. I never meant to hurt youuuuuuu. I never meant to make you cry but tonight, I'm framing out my closet... (Day #24 - a/k/a Christmas Eve):

Day #31:

That top right corner of the crown was (apparently) a real bear!

At this point, I wanted them to add insulation under the raised wood floor. I know it won't ever have the same sound as the concrete slab, but it was sounding VERY hollow. So on Day #40, they cut some holes in the floor to blow insulation. I had a small heart attack with this photo:

But it turned out to be the right call! Here is Day #45:

Floors are down, walls are painted and there are holes in the floor for the plugs we have added in the raised floor.

Between Day 45 and today, they have worked on the electrical in that room, added and painted base boards and we've met with the mantle designer (although we don't have a sketch of that quite yet). But the floors are covered in paper so the pics aren't quite as fun.

Remodel update - Living Room

Our remodel started on December 1st with Demo Day #1. I was out of town for work so I kept up with progress with texts. Derek had to brave the dust with the kids! We are now on Day #56 of the remodel and I think we are about 10 days away from being done. Maybe (hopefully) less.

Our biggest challenges thus far have been (1) under-estimating flooring costs and sq. footage; (2) delay of 7-10 days for city permitting inspections - did not factor in inspector's vacation!!; and (3) countertop installation delays.

Here's a photo-summary of the progress thus far:

This is when we moved in 7 years ago. The fireplace brick was a dusty rose color. It doesn't show up here, but all of the trim was off-off white and all the fixtures were brass. We had popcorn ceilings!

This is just before the remodel. Before we ever moved in, we changed the fixtures to nickel and got rid of the popcorn ceilings. When Grant was a baby, we had the trim painted bright white. In 2013, Derek and his dad painted the fireplace bricks bright white.

Featured above with the lovely bi-fold blind-like doors is the World's Smallest Coat Closet. It's not even wide enough for coats unless you shove them in, close the door quickly and run away.

During Day 1:


After Day 1:


This is when we learned that the columns that I'd had in my plans weren't necessary. OH HAPPY DAY!!!

After Day 4:

You can see between the column and the blue wall what was once the World's Smallest Coat Closet. We have turned that into (awkward but useful) cabinets for storage that can be accessed in the new powder bath. You can also see that they have drilled through the slab, filled at least 10 bags with dirt and tunneled through to connect the new powder bath to the sewer line.

After Day 9:


In the first pic you can see between the living room and the foyer (where we once had glass french doors) is MUCH taller now! It went from about 7' there to 10'. In the second pic you can see the header that spans between the kitchen and living room. In that pic you can also see what looks like a board on the ground on the far right. That's actually where the framing was removed. We opened up that wall as much as we could. In the "before" pics, it's the wall where I had the canvas of the Pantheon on the wall.

This is where we had several slow days. There was plumbing work going on that can't even be seen in photos. Then the city inspector was gone on vacation...

After Day 20

My new bathroom!!! Sheetrock is so beautiful!

After Day 31:

After mud, texture, primer and the first day of crown molding installation!

After Day 45:

Paint is on the walls, crown molding is done (we even added crown over the window in the dining room in the background!), color is on the walls and FLOORING is down!!

Most of the work from Day 45-now has been touch ups or electrical or in other rooms. I'll update on those next time I blog (don't hold your breath). For now, here's a sneak peak at my new bath:

Abby is THREE!!

Abby is THREE! She's growing so fast.

Height: 37 inches (up from 35" at age 2) = 50%
Weight: 30.2 lbs, (up from 27.8 lbs at age 2) = 50%

Those awesome PJs are hand-me-downs from Eve, one of Grant's friends. They have been in Abby's pajama drawer for 8 months or more, and I've been telling her she can wear them when she's three. Do you think she was excited to wear them?

Potty: Accidents are VERY rare, but have been more frequent with the remodel going on. She still wears a Pull-Up to bed.

Clothing: 2T & 3T tops and 2T bottoms

Sleeping: She usually sleeps 8 p.m. - 7:30 a.m., but over the past month she's been getting up at 5:30/45. UGH! One good 1.5 hour nap though.

Abby-isms: "I hold you!" and "But I WANT to!"
She'll chant "Tony Romo - bam, bam, bambambam".

When we drop the kids off at school, we always remind Grant to be on green (behavior chart). She tells us that she stays on pink & purple. There is no behavior chart in her room, but to her pink & purple are the good colors so that's what she wants to be on.

Favorites:

Food: Ketchup and "Cheerios" (not together) The "Cheerios" get quotes because a long time ago, I started mixing Cheerios and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Now that's her go-to for breakfast and snacks. Shocker - she eats the sugary stuff first.
Movie: Frozen

TV Show: Paw Patrol and Dora
Book: Richard Scarry's "Best Word Book Ever" - she loves it.
Toy: Usually, whatever Grant is playing with.
Milestones:
She can say the letters in her name but can't write it yet.

She can count to 20 in English and tries really hard to count to 15 in Spanish.
She can dress himself, but she still needs help with shirts.

She's been to the dentist three times and does really well every time (well - except the first trip, which was more of a wrestling match).

We had her birthday party at Chuck E Cheese the day before Thanksgiving. Abby LOVED Chuck E!!

I think she had a good time!