Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Takin' it while we can

- Student teaching has eased up a bit
- Rainy weather
- Renovation completed
- Sarah's due date is less than two weeks away

Add it all together and what do you have?
Movie Night!
Hanging out in the quiet!
Naps!

We hear it every time we go out (granted, S hears it ore than I), "get sleep now." So we do.
We can't wait for Hannah to come. The house is set and Sarah's ready to get her body back to herself. Still, we're enjoying out us-time while we can.

You'll be getting "the call" soon

Friday, October 22, 2010

How Sarah's Doing

 Dear friends,

Today we are 2 short weeks away from Hannah's due date. All is well at the 646; Sarah is happy and fit and all sings indicate that Hannah is as well. The midwives agree that Hannah is head-down and weighs somewhere in the neighborhood of 6-6 1/2 lbs. We'll be there in no time!

Pregnancy, as I'm sure many of you well understand, is forcing Sarah to be okay with some things that would not otherwise be okay. For instance:
- Sarah got a pedicure last Friday. Why?  Because she can no longer reach her feet.
- Sarah and I weigh the same. (That's if we allow Sarah's weight to include that other person she's carrying around).

Here follows a brief photo-history of Hannah's journey thus far.

It was too good to not include again!

Also for good measure- our cat! Here we see a not very pregnant Sarah, a very content Keeper, and a not yet renovated kitchen.

Next up is a set from our time with my sistah and family in Seattle.




Above, we see Sarah standing in front of an assortments of baked goods that, despite appearances, she could take or leave. Really, it's Rob that could eat the whole thing!


To the left we see Sarah with our niece Ashley. Yes, Ashley is still alive here, but man, what a good sleeper! I'm praying that Sarah will be able to get similar results with Lil' Hannah.


And below is a candid shot of the fam working its way through the now famous stalls of Pike Place Market. Look at that pretty smile!





 
 


Up next are two from our home renovation which was completed about a month ago. 

 
Finally! A shower we can turn around in!

Can you find the Star Blanket?

And how far dost Hannah protrude now? 
This image was captured last weekend at a Cyclocross race in Dahlonega.

The more tactful in attendance commented on "how nicely Sarah was carrying." One not-so-tactful man was quoted as saying, "You're about to bust!"

Where was Rob? Here:
Doing this:
                                             It was a beautiful day with good company.

What is cyclocross? Check this!
_________________________________________________________________________________

      A quick story...
So, my brother-in-law is trying to quit smoking. To help, he's chewing lots of gum, Nicorette, presumably. One of his daughters noticed that he was chewing a lot of gum and asked why. She was told that it was to help him stop smoking. She thought for a moment and then and said that she needed some gum too. Why? She needs help quitting eating her boogers. 

True story. 

Thursday, October 7, 2010

The Renovation, in brief

Well, at this point it's almost over. All that's left is some painting, some cleaning, and some sorting. Here are some pictures to speak louder than my words.


This is our back porch (such as it was) before the renovation began. Below is the after. Notice how the back door is out 4'. Ugh, nothing like some exterior work to make you realize how shabby your landscaping is!

We worked on three rooms, well four if you count the two that we merged. Looking at the above pic, to the left is what's now the master bath which adjoins the master bed (oddly enough). Straight ahead and to the right of the stairs is what used to be the 'utility room' (read: "I don't know where else to put this room") and the kitchen which are now one.

Let's start with the bathroom.

Here we see a moderately-pregnant Sarah Simpson pontificating the future this room with our fearless, competent, head-scratching, ex-bike mechanic leader and contractor Zack Brendel. Look below to see what they came up with.


And then one short month later...


Not bad, huh? Standing in the shower and looking out you see:

Cypress door, reclaimed sashes for a vanity, and a magazine shelf. Oh, yeah. 

On to the bedroom:
Remember those maple floors I was talking about? Here's what they looked like before we knew they were there. 
 Seriously! We thought we were going to have to just cut through all the way down to joists. That's what we had to do on the other side of the house. But Lane, Zack's sturdy sidekick, took the time to see if there was anything worth saving. Here's what he found:


No, he didn't find the cat; the cat found us, but that's another story. Here's what the floors look like now after they've been finished, dappled in the morning light.


By the way, here's what Zack and Lane look like, complete with floating drywall dust particles. Only slightly tongue in cheek, eh?

 Note the storage (oh, glorious storage!) being framed out in the background. Zack's standing in front of what is being affectionately called the "Man Closet," so called because it's where all the tools, tarps, paintbrushes, and extension cords live. The rest will be used to hold everything that we've been shoving into the corners for the last couple of years.

Paint!groan...

So, I hadn't considered that when you build a closet, there are now 5 surfaces to paint where there had only been one. Remember this before you...
 

 On the other wall, we had to cut out a bigger door. I'm tall, but not so tall that I should need to duck to go the bathroom in my own house. 


What does this look like now? Funny you should ask!

Sarah's steady hand with the paint brush truly astounds me. We've had terrible luck with blue painter's tape. Either it doesn't block well or it takes the good paint off with it when we peel it back. Who needs it!? Bah! Free-hand from now on!


And here's how the room has come together:
              (Gawl! Look at that belly!)


Up next time will be the kitchen.
More soon- All the best.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Our First Post!

There have been many goings on at the 646 lately, not the least of which is the continued development of the newest addition (edition?) to the Simpson clan. This photo was taken months ago and is hardly a realistic depiction of what Lady Sarah carries around with her these days.

Hannah Marie Simpson is due to join us on November 9th. In preparation for her arrival, Hannah is stretching, kicking, flipping, doing crunches, lunges, swimming the breaststroke, and practicing zen meditation. And judging by the way she presses primarily on Mommy's right side, we also suspect that she may begin a new art movement based on asymmetry and the use of negative space.

Sarah's Mom, thinks Hannah will be Harry. She is basing this on the way Hannah hangs straight out in front of Mommy, not off to the sides. It's true, from the back, you'd never know Sarah was carrying- it's remarkable. However, there'll be no more unltrasounds 'til the little one joins us. We'll  just have to wait and see.

The Renovation!

 
We've been tearing it down and building it back up again, here at the 646, and now it's all over but the painting. The work took just a little over 6 weeks, and Sarah and I are pleased with the results.

What did we do?

Well, the house had been divided into 2 apartments. With lil' Hannah/Harry on the way, we felt it wasn't reasonable to expect a renter to be okay with a baby crying in the middle of the night, so we took over the entire house. We turned what had been the rental kitchen into our master bed, renovated the rental bath into the master bath, and (just for good measure) nixed our 'utility' room and added 100' sq to our kitchen. Easy enough to say, huh? The pic above is a view from the middle of what is now our bedroom into what is now our bathroom. That door had been so small that I hit my head on the top casing if I didn't remember to duck... which was pretty often.

We pulled up to layers of linoleum in the kitchen and found 100 year old maple floors. Here's a pic of our cat sitting on them. Little Keeper (so named because we didn't give him away) has been all out of sorts with the excitement and noise of the project. He's passively protesting by spending more time with our neighbors than us. Fickle, fickle cat.

More soon.