Gramps and Ethan. Elisa is narrating.

It looks like Ethan just has his hand in his face, but this is actually a video of Ethan sucking his thumb, which he found all on his own.

more baby Ethan

Sierra and I with baby Ethan

My sweet Geoff with the baby.

me again! It feels so good to hold him.

Mom, big brother Jacob and baby Ethan

new nephew!

My sister Elisa had her new little boy Ethan Gabriel on July 17th. Elisa and her two older children are now living with us and Elisa actually chose to have a home birth with a doula and mid-wife so this little guy was born right here in our house! Quite an interesting experience I must say. Elisa and the baby did great, though. He was 9 pounds! I'm very proud of my sister and think she is a great woman and mother. Thanks for sharing your kids with us Elisa!

My dad holding little Ethan. He and my mom have really been helping out and we are very grateful!

With my mom

With his older sister Sierra

Mom and baby on the bed where he was born.

more remodel pics

Pics of the drywall being put up around the double sliding doors into the new bathroom.

Our new walk in closet with lots of shelves!

New siding on the eaves

more drywall pics. Isn't our new door beautiful?

we're so close!

We are getting so close with our remodel! The whole house smells like paint today because they have started painting the new addition. Then the final electrical, plumbing and floors need to be done. I'm counting down the days!

The new raised ceiling in our hall. The duct work was all redone and should distribute air much better. It means we have some type of construction in every room, though!

new outside stucco. Yay!

Geoff home for lunch observing the work on interior paint.

the outside door from our new bedroom all prepped for paint.

The inside door all prepped for paint.

The magic touch

Normally Jacob cries and resists when it's time to have his teeth brushed. Well, we've discovered that Geoff has the magic touch. Jake not only lets Geoff brush his teeth but he likes it! Good job sweetie!

My good man

My sister and her 2.9 kids (she is due with her third on July 11th) moved in with us for a while and my good husband has taken them in with open arms. I have really enjoyed watching him interact with the kids. It has truly brought out the best in him and he has stepped up to the task without complaint. He gets up at 5:30 AM with Jake, cooks him cream of wheat and takes the dog for a run. He bathes the kids, brushes teeth, reads stories, and occasionally even changes a diaper. He helped my sister buy a new car, is handling the remodel, working full time, helping with household chores, cooking dinner and serving at church. Oh, and taking care of the dog, too.

It was a little bitter sweet for him on father's day, having 2 kids with us at church but realizing that they're not really our kids. It's been a little difficult for me, too. I was thinking about this in the shower the other day (a good place to think) and the thought came to me: all children are God's children. They belong to Him first and He asks us to take care of them, whether or not we bore them. My good husband has really taken this to heart. You would never know these weren't his children because he treats them like he would his own while still respecting my sister and the children's father. He not only will be a good father when we are blessed with children of our own, but is a good father figure now and will only get better. I am lucky to have him. Thanks for all you do sweetie.

more crazy remodel day

The blog will only let me add so many pictures at a time, and I'm also not used to thinking in reverse, so you'll just have to reverse all my blogs and pictures! In other words, don't start with the most recent blog if you want to follow chronologically!
Poor Gracie spent the day in her crate, and poor us listening to her barking!

The air conditioning guy in our current room. I did my best to cover things up and they used plastic, but there was still dust everywhere. Notice he's wearing a mask. Those of us living in the house just got to breathe in all the insulation and dust! My sister eventually took the kids to the play place at the mall to get out of the house. Meanwhile, I was still transferring stuff from the den into the front room and onto the front porch so they could get to the duct in the den.

In the new addition we have our contractors and the electrician. He put in new can lights throughout the house. He didn't bother to use plastic when sawing through the ceiling, so, you guessed it, more dust. It was about this time that Geoff and I started talking about staying somewhere else that night because they were going to tear out the hall ceiling to put in new ducts at 6:00 AM the next morning. We ended up staying 2 nights at the hotel because the house was such a mess and they were basically in every room.

They have the outside in the back all ready for stucco.

Aah, roofers in front and back! Just imagine the noise of roofers up top, the guys putting in ducts inside the house, the compressor in the new addition and the noise of 2 little kids and a dog! What a day. Oh, and did I mention that the guy came to put in our new dishwasher that day, too? So, roofers, duct workers, electrician, dishwasher guy, contractors. Phew! I was happy to be out of the house and not too excited to come back to the mess. Geoff and I spent 3 1/2 to 4 hours after work on Friday cleaning the house so it was livable: vacuuming the floors and couches, dusting everything, sweeping, cleaning the bathroom (I think I've cleaned the bathroom and the floors every other day in the past 2 weeks), wiping down everything in the kitchen. I vacuumed and cleaned the bathroom again today. The joys of remodelling!

Crazy remodel day!

Last Wednesday was a crazy remodel day. Here are niece and nephew Sierra and Jacob eating breakfast. Around them there was chaos!

The workers from the air conditioning company were here to put new air ducts in all the room. Notice that pile of insulation from the roof. We're still finding it in cracks and crevices all over the house, despite the plastic.

All of the stuff from our old bedroom and other stuff we had stored in the front two bedrooms ended up in the den when my sister and her two kids moved in with us. Of course, they had to put a duct in this room so I had to move the stuff out of this room and into the living room when they finished there.

The roofers started at 5:30 AM, pounding in all the new roof tiles.

I love the new color of our roof! We'll be having the trim painted also, and we're thinking of a gray/blue color. The black car out front is the new car Geoff helped my sister buy. Isn't it cute?

Geoff knocking down the wall

Remodel update

The addition is really coming together. Geoff and I even got to knock down part of the old outside wall. It felt great swinging that sledge hammer and having bricks go flying! Geoff enjoyed it so much that he came home from work and spent another hour knocking down the wall. The next day our contractor told me I should inform Geoff that he shouldn't do any more demo because it could cause too much of the wall to collapse and there would be a big hole in the side of the house!

I come home from work every day for lunch, hence the work outfit, including pager. That sledge hammer was heavy!

Geoff pulling a funny face. Look at those buff neck muscles!