Never Ending Rain

It's been raining, a lot, and tarps are expensive ($160 each for 30'x50') and for the last few months we've been covering the construction, then uncovering it, then recovering it almost on a weekly basis. We have to have the tarps off to get some work done but every time we uncover the forecast calls for rain within a few days. The neighbors have started making a joke that every time they see us up working on the house they know it will be raining within a day or two. Back to my point, the tarps have started to wear thin, and leak (more like seep), to cover the whole project we need three 30x50 foot tarps but I don't want to waste $500 bucks on tarps when we are so close to getting ready to paper and shingle the roof. Plus, good weather can't be that far away can it? It's spring in Southern California for crying out loud! Hopefully we can "weather the storm(s)" and get rid of the tarps for good within the next month or so.

Since the last house post we were able to finish the roof rafters and continue to sheet the roof across them. Only one more, but major, section of roof to complete. Here is a picture of it all under wraps (as usual).

We had a break in the rain Tuesday so my Father and I took the day off from work so we could cut back the front of the house and frame/tie in the small front addition to the kitchen and dinning room. This addition needed to be framed before we remove the rest of the roof and get the beams up because they span from the last beams all the way to the new front wall (approx 20 feet). You can see our new front windows will be very different then the originals. My Fathers friend gave us four 6 foot double hung windows he removed from a construction job he was working on and I've been storing them in the garage for almost two years. I also found a really nice 4 foot wide Milgard kitchen window on clearance for $75 from $300 at our local lumbar yard when we were picking up supplies about a month ago, we totally scored. The other two 6 foot windows we have will replace the two front windows on the porch (see photo at end of post).

These are the two windows that will be replaced to match the other two 6 footers in the new addition. The window on the side of the house is going to be replaced with a fire place; another one of my Fathers friends/co-workers gave us one and I've been storing it in the garage too. Thank goodness for helpful & generous family and friends!

Fun Weekend

Aside from fact that it rained like crazy, hurricane force winds ripped our tarps, the roof leaked, water started dripping in our spare room, and I was awake all night waiting for the ceiling to collapse or the apocalypse. If you forget all that is was a pretty fun weekend.

Friday Baines slept from 7:30 pm till 7:30 am. It was awesome because we got some alone time. We watched Black Dynamite and ate warm biscuits with honey butter. Those are my favorite night, when we just stay home and chill. Saturday I had to run errands with Baines and we just hung out. I leave for Dallas again on Wednesday so I wanted to spend quality time with her. We went to dinner with our friends Kevin and Sadie. With the baby and the house we haven't seen them since I was pregnant. It was fun to catch up.

Nicholas took Sunday off from construction since it was raining. We went and visited our friends Scott & Jeanie in Lake Elsinore. They had their second little boy in December, this was the first chance we had to go visit. We had such a good time watching the little kids play. Scott rocked the house with home made vegetarian Pho. It was super delicious!!! Jeanie took some great pictures while we were hanging out. I had to share because I thought they were so cute. I’m always jealous of her great photography on her blog Mama Sparrow.

Earthworm

Baines is almost crawling but for now she's doing the Earthworm/ army crawl. I love the look on her face when she reaches her goal. This video is so freakin cute. Did I mention I love her?



Yesterday we moved the mattress down in her crib. The first thing she did was sit up on her knees then pull herself to standing. She's never done that before so its a good thing we moved the crib.

Momentum

We've got a good rhythm going and I hope it can continue. Last weekend was very productive and now that the time has changed, our days are longer and we can get a little work in on the weekdays. Here are a few pictures of what we've accomplished since the last house update. I've been trying to take step by step pictures so you can see what it is we've been doing.


This is the second quarter of the roof after we've removed all the rafters and ceiling joist. My Father is standing on top of the bathroom wall, not the drywall.
This is our bedroom underneath the roof/ceiling we tore off. We used 2x8s to brace the drywall so it would stay up until the new ceiling joist were hung. Once the ceiling joist were in, we screwed the ceiling up to them and removed the 2x8s (it creates a huge mess).
Here you can see the new ceiling joist are in.
Once we got the ceiling joist completed on the back half of the old house we were able to install the next ridge beam (6"x12"x12'). My Brother came by to help us get that up. The next ridge beam is a laminated 6"x16"x20' beam and we'll have to get a crane to lift that one for us. Luckily this beam was not too hard to get in with just the three of us.
You can see how much higher our new roof will be compared to the old, existing roof.
One side of rafters were installed so far. Tomorrow we hope to get started on the other side.
Looking in from the side we've yet to complete.
You can see the roof line will be very different then the original. Because it has been raining so much the last six months most of our pictures have parts of the house covered in tarps. I hope we can pull them off soon and get some pictures that show a bigger picture of what we've done so far.

Grandma & Grandpa

Two weekends ago, my parents came to town. My mom’s the director of the cheerleaders at BYU and they had a competition in Anaheim. The Cheer Squad went to Disneyland and we got to spend a whole day hanging out with them. We went to our favorite breakfast place and then went home and hung out. Baines got some good quality time with her Utah Grandparents. She loves them so much and had a blast. I love sharing her with them.

Saturday we went to watch the cheer competition. As you can see from the video Baines had a great time. She was bouncing around like crazy. We might have a future cheerleader on our hands…

March House update

I feel like we've gotten a lot done since the last house update post. In the last month we were able to Sheet the amount of roof we've completed so far and install the 3 windows that the rear addition has (one bath room window and two Bedroom windows).We were able to reuse the existing windows we removed from the house because they were no longer needed and because they were new vinyl replacements that were installed just before we purchased the house. It took a little leg work to get the windows preped to install into new construction but the amount of money it saves us made that well worth it. Now with the sheeting and windows complete, the rear addition is significantly more weather proof.

The next phase of Construction has now moved over our existing house and definitely the messy part. Not only does our old roof have to be completely removed but so do all the old ceiling joists holding up our ceiling. When we originally had the plans created we assumed that we would be able to keep the ceiling intact, just remove the old roof and replace with the new. WE WERE WRONG!

The plans and structural engineer say no way because the old ceiling was built using 2x4s @ 16 on center (oc) and the roof used 2x4s @ 32oc. The new construction must be a ceiling of 2x8s @ 16oc and 2x10s @ 16oc for the roof. Not only that, but the new joist and rafters must run the opposite direction as the old did. So our dilemma is how do we remove and replace all the ceiling joist, keep the drywall/plaster board from falling and still live in the house? Our solution is to remove only a quarter of the roof at a time, brace the ceiling/drywall from below with 2x8s, put up a few ceiling joist at a time and screw the drywall up to them as we go.

My father and I finished one quarter of this process yesterday (ceiling joist only; roof rafters must wait until the other corresponding quarter is complete) and although it was a lot of work it turned out quite well. Removing the roof was a giant mess because below the top layer of asphalt shingles are another layer of very old, crumbling wood shingles nailed to 1x6s.

To save money I've been trying not to rent any dumpsters but I might break down with the roof removal so I can clean up and clear out my construction site (It's been a mess since day one). Once we complete the roof across the to the front of the house we can finish the overhangs by cutting them to length then nailing up the fascia and shiplap boards. I don't want to get ahead of myself though because we've still got two thirds of a roof to remove.

Fuzzy stuffed dog

This super soft but large stuff dog was given to Baines when she was born by one of the stores that McCall's sells to. Last night we gave it to her to play with and she loved it. McCall placed it on her back while she was lying on the floor and Baines thought it was the funniest thing ever.

Absent

You may have noticed that I have been absent from posting on the blog lately. Well that's because I've been traveling like crazy to Dallas, Vegas, back to Dallas, Houston and Austin. Sadly I've missed most of this last month with B. It's really hard to be away but we're in no position to live off a single income. We've been making it work, and Nicholas is a great dad. Plus the In-laws and my Sister in-Law have been a huge help. I really appreciate all their support and we're lucky to have them.

I have been cramming my weekends with her so I can get my fix and Nicholas has been sending me photos and videos. Of course I loved them all and had to share.

7 Months

My Bubbies turned 7 Months on Thursday. This marks a huge accomplishment for me. When I was pregnant, I set a goal for myself to breastfeed until she was 7 months old. I knew it was going to be hard but didn't know all the obstacles I would have to overcome. For me it was the most unnatural, natural thing I had ever done. She had a hard time latching on in the beginning so it was frustrating and emotional. I was lucky enough to get a great Lactation Consultant that really helped. Once we passed over the first hurdles it was easy.

When I went back to work I almost lost my milk and had to pump like crazy and take herbs that made me smell like maple syrup. Even though the past few months have been interesting with all my travels, I still kept going. I had to pump while driving down the freeway on my way to an appointment in Houston. In Vegas, during the Trade Show I had to duck behind a pillar. I've had to overnight milk home because our milk supply has depleted since I've been gone so much.

I am so proud to say that I am a FULL TIME working mom that is still nursing. Now that I made it this far I'm going to keep going.

B's new thing

B's new daily thing is hold onto the car seat by the caring strap. As soon as I put her into the car seat she grabs on with both arms. I have to pull her arms off, one at a time, to thread them through the belts and she immediately puts them back. This morning when I got to my parent’s house to drop her off I opened the back door and her hands were down; she saw me, laughed and threw her hands back up like I caught her slippin'.

Here she is this morning when I got her ready to leave.

This was her last night. I took the picture from above looking down on her in the back seat of my truck (after I parked, of course) .