Progress

Just for a quick reminder- In December, just before Christmas break, this is what our living room looked like before we did any major renovating.  At this point we only had removed the thin trim that lined the bottom edges of the tray ceilings and taken off the outlet covers.  We had our drop cloths down, a warm fire to cheer us on, and were just getting ready to apply our painters tape.  Our plan was just to paint the room.

And then we decided that we really didn't like the tile used on the fireplace so we popped a few off to see what we could do.  Within an hour or two this is what our room looked like!

And then we were gone for almost two weeks with our torn apart room looming in the back of our minds.  We finally got everything painted just before Micah had to go back to school.

 Nole and Micah changed all of the outlets to white.

The room sat like that for a few weeks as we tried to figure out how we were going to get the fireplace put back together.  Micah came up with a plan but didn't have very much time to work on it.  He found time to start framing the fireplace but that was as far as it got.

  Until last week.  We got hit with a huge ice storm which kept him home for four days!  By Thursday he was so stir crazy he chiseled enough ice off of our steep driveway so he could get the car out and carefully drive to Lowe's and get some supplies. 

He finished framing the fireplace, ran wires so we can eventually mount a TV, and hung and mudded the drywall.

Finally getting some drywall up!

The first three days we mostly just were stuck at home because of very icy roads.  On Friday morning we woke up to this...lots of snow to go along with our snow day!

 After all the drywall was up we took a break so Nole could have his first taste of chocolate.  Yum!  A chocolate covered pretzel :)

Not a bad way to celebrate his 9 month-a-versary!

This is Nole watching the Super Bowl while Micah finishes up mudding.

 And then I gave Micah a break and primed the wall last night.

And finally painted it!  The color is called Mount Saint Anne...which is from the same color swatch as the room color.  It looks a lot more blue than the green-er looking walls so we hope it works.

Still to do:
-sand and paint the mantel white
-build a fireplace surround
-paint the gold fireplace doors black
-install tile on the floor and around the fireplace
-install floor boards and crown molding
-mount TV
-buy a new fan
-install new carpet
-buy some furniture -it might finally be time for the 20+ year old hand-me-down couch to go :( and :)

Hopefully we'll have a finished room within the next few weeks.  No promises though!



There they are!

Yesterday I wanted to get a picture of Nole's new teeth.  All morning he did his best to keep them hidden.

Not even with daddy's help would he open up so we could see.

 At lunch I tried to temp him with a corn bread muffin...open wide buddy :)

But he decided to smash it to smitherines instead.

 Finally, at supper when Nole was laughing at daddy I got them!  Sorry for the disgusting food on his face and in his mouth...maybe next month we'll start working on manners ;)

And for our after dinner joke...this is for all of our friends and family who live in Wisconsin:

"Though he was born in Texas, he decided he doesn't want to be a Cowboy's fan...he wants to be a cheese head" :)

 And all I can say is Yay! for snow day #3.  It's been great having so much time together at home as a little family!



Lots of Videos

I just uploaded our most recent video and realized we have 99 videos on our little camera so I thought I would share a couple...

One of Nole's favorite things is to have us hide and then jump out and scare him or run after him.  Micah is running down the stairs to tickle him in this one.

Nole is usually a active young man but as evidenced by this video, I think he would be fine being a couch potato if we let him.  He loves watching School House Rock on youtube...Micah makes sure that he watches the history ones the most :)

 

Sick Boy, Snow Day, and First Teeth

On Sunday Nole's first two bottom teeth popped through.  And the top left tooth is almost in, too.  Unfortunately for our brave little boy he also is battling his first official (unknown) illness. He has had a fever since Sunday which we thought was due to teething but when it got up to 103.0 on Monday we decided to go see the doctor. Of course everything checked out fine but his fever persisted today (and he was up almost all last night with congestion, high temp and sore gums).  Thankfully it's controlled with ibuprofen, but he was a little sad, clingy, and cuddly again today (Micah and I don't mind the cuddling...usually he's too busy to sit still for a second).

Thankfully school was cancelled today so Micah and I were able to take turns comforting Nole.  This afternoon he seemed to turn the corner and perk up a little bit. 
 And then by bedtime he had so much energy that he was crawling around in circles playing with every toy in sight and babbling and yelling like a goon...it is good to have our normal Noley back :)

 We're praying for a better night's sleep.  Thankfully Micah's school is cancelled again tomorrow!
Another day for dad to play with this little boy.

I can't believe he will be 9 months old on Sunday.

Here's a video of him at lunch...he just learned this new type of yelling.  I guess he wants his voice to be heard :)