Before and After...

We are still not done yet but here are some before and after pictures....

This is what the stairwell used to look like. It was nice and dark!

And this is what the bonus room looked like after some of the furniture was already taken out...

This is what was on the other side of the door from the bonus room... lots of empty space that we used for storage.

Now, this is what the stairwell and bonus room area look like without the stairwell and wall there.... a whole lot brighter and a whole lot more open!!! We took out the walls and the door, added columns with rails (they are not done yet) and had hardwoods laid throughout the upstairs... they are currently being sanded and stained so it will be a few days before we can get any more pictures as we are not able to walk up there for a while...

When you go down this hallway, there is an open area on the right, a bathroom to the first door on the left, a closet on the second door to the left, then the second floor kitchen, the den/family room, and the sitting area. There are two doors in the family room... one is a crawl area for access, the other is a storage closest that runs the length of the house.

Again, this was before...

This is the after....

This is the bathroom...

This is the closet...

This is the kitchen area...

This is the den/family room...

This was the before area of the sitting room... we had to rip out some of the roof support line and rebuild this area to open this us!

Can you tell we have been busy?? Chayse is having so much fun running around up there through all of the open areas. She went to the doctor this week and has reached 21 pounds! She is growing away and is so much fun to watch. She has recently started walking on her tippy-toes, she dances all the time now, she is very vocal (although we are still not sure what she says half of the time!), and she LOVES to be outside. She could care less if it is 110 degrees out there or not... that is where she wants to be!

The bean is growing away, and I do mean growing. He is consistently measuring larger that I am as far as his gestational age. I am still having contractions but he is not engaged, I have not dilated any and am not effaced so that is a great thing! So far so good!! It is hard to believe that in just a few weeks we will have TWO little babies in this house!! Once we get construction done upstairs, we will be cleaning out the guest room and office so that we can start his nursery.

Short Runs...

Well, I haven't blogged in almost two weeks if you can believe that! It doesn't seem like it has been that long! We have been SUPER busy with the upstairs and are close to being done. We hope to have our final inspection sometime during the week of July 13th! I will get some new pictures and post those later... maybe today if I have enough time.

Chayse is doing well. She is now "dancing" which is quite comical and last night when I turned on the bath water, she started pulling her clothes off. She is growing right in front of us and it is amazing to watch her learn! Chayse has the best personality and it shows in everything that she does. She is truly a wonderful blessing in our lives!

June 14th

Hope Noelle introduced us to Holland, a place that we never wanted to go... Although I have no idea who wrote this, I read this right after she died and it has stayed with me. Now, here we are three years later... on her birthday and on her death day... the day we let her go.

"I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It’s like this . . .When you’re going to have a baby, it’s like planning a fabulous vacation trip to Italy. You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum, Michelangelo’s David, the gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It’s all very exciting.After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, 'Welcome to Holland.' 'Holland?' you say, “What do you mean Holland? I signed up for Italy I’m supposed to be in Italy. All my life I’ve dreamed of going to Italy.' But there’s been a change in flight plan. They’ve landed in Holland, and there you must stay.The most important thing is that they haven’t taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine, and disease. It’s just a different place. So you must go out and buy new guidebooks. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.It’s just a different place. It’s slower paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you’ve been there for awhile and you catch your breath, you look around, and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills, Holland has tulips, Holland has Rembrandt's. But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy, and they’re all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life you will say, 'Yes, that’s where I was supposed to go. That’s what I had planned'. The pain of that will never, ever go away, because the loss of that dream is a very significant loss. But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn’t get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland."

Hope and Holland. We learned so much from a 9.1 inch, 8.6 ounce little girl and our hearts still mourn for her. We have looked around and caught our breath, we have seen the windmills and the tulips and still, we miss her. Not a day goes by that I don't think of her or look at her little urn sitting on the fireplace and wonder how different life would have been. Today, I look at Hope's younger siblings... my 13 month old daughter Chayse and at my growing belly with our soon to be born son, and think of how truly blessed we are. Thank you, God, for all of the beauty you have given to us in both of our girls and in our son. We would have never known the beauties of this country without God's plan. Holland truly is beautiful this time of year... Happy birthday sweet baby girl, happy birthday.

ONE MORE WEEK FOR THE FREEBIE....

only one more week to get your name in the running for the chance to win a free 4th of July giveaway.... a $10 value!!! You don't have to flow that blog or even make a purchase! Go check it out!!
http://www.coastersandcards.blogspot.com/

Construction 100!!!

We have been busy little bee's over here! Well, I have been busy going up and down with refills of water and Nathan has been busy working!! Progress is coming along well with the house and we are hoping to have the upstairs construction done in the next 3-4 weeks. Sheetrock is being hung today and I am sure that will make it look so different! We are both getting excited about the extra space we will be gaining from this!! Here are some pictures of a few of the rooms I took this morning before they started hanging sheet rock.

This is what will become the play room...

This is where the new office will go...This is looking down the hallway into the den...
This is the looking out into the den from the second floor kitchen...
And this is what will be the sitting room area... my favorite place!!!!

Chayse is doing much better. She still has a little bit of a lingering ear ache but we are working on that. She is currently weighing in at 19 1/2 pounds! AGH!! She is getting so big! She is a long skinny little thing! Baby Boy is growing away. In fact, two weeks ago he was measuring 3 weeks ahead! I think that maybe it was the way he was laying because I am not that much bigger than I was with Chayse. My total weight gain is now at 8 pounds. We don't have the nursery set up yet as his room will be what is now the guest room and that won't be moved till upstairs is done.

On a totally random note, I doubt you guys know this because I never have blogged about it before but, I have a second blog that is about all things Etsy... a place where you can buy anything handmade. Anyhow, I currently have a blog giveaway going on for a 4th of July hair bow that has a $10 value on it. If you know any little girls, nieces, neighbors, grandchildren, etc who love to get all dressed up for holidays, you should check it out... no purchase needed!! Have a great week!!!!

What are you laughing at Mama??

A Week Of First's...

This week has been a week of firsts for Chayse! It started off with her FIRST EAR INFECTION, which was actually a double ear infection causing her fevers of over 105. She was not a happy girl for a few days but she is feeling much better now!

Chayse went to the BEACH for the first time this year...

Chayse sat on the POTTY for the first time, although she has no idea what she is supposed to do with it once she is on it...

Chayse played with BUBBLES for the first time, at her first VISIT to her Great Aunt Gracie and Great Uncle Temus's house...

And she added "ALL DONE" to her vocabulary this week!!