Day 307 -- Breaking in the Bathroom

Callie and Jason came over tonight and Jason hooked up our sink toilet and shower/tub fixtures lickety-split. It would have taken us a lot longer so the expertise was most definitely appreciated. The only issue was that apparently, the previous plumbers hooked up the cold to the hot and the hot to the cold so now we have hot water in our toilet. We'll have to have them come back and remedy that situation.

Izzypop did not seem to care about the toilet situation. She was perfectly happy taking a bath in her new bathroom.

Thanks again, Jason, for the help.

Day 306 -- I Love This Color!

Today Brian painted the kids bathroom. Again, I spent most of the day in bed...I think I'm getting a cold (arg!). We decided to go with a little darker color since there is so much white in this room. We chose Valspar "Jekyll Club Pulitzer Blue". I love, love, love this color. I am always leery of dark paint, but it works so well in this room.

Brian also put up the medicine cabinet. It looks great too. All that is left is to do some touch up on the paint, and install the toilet, vanity, sink and shower fixtures. I see a bath in Izzypop's near future.

Day 305 -- One Man Crew

Brian worked tirelessly again today -- this time on the kids bathroom. He got the walls, ceiling and trim primed, and the ceiling and trim all painted with no help from his ginormously pregnant wife (I sat in bed and did our taxes). We also went to Lowes and picked up everything we thought necessary to hook up the toilet, sink and shower. Tomorrow, the goal is to get the paint and medicine cabinet up. Wednesday, my sister's boyfriend Jason -- who happens to be a plumber -- will come up and help us hook everything up right. Trust me, we need expert advice on this one. I am hoping by Wednesday night we'll at least have a working toilet up here. Those stairs 4 times a night are killing me!

Brian also made sure that his little girl was all taken care of. He put in the hanging rods in her closet and took her to Lowes to pick out her very own closet doorknobs. Purple flowers. An excellent choice, Izzypop!

BTW, let me put in a plug for Lowes. We shop there any time we can over Home Depot. The reason is that they give all military members a 10% discount every day. All you have to do is show your military ID. We support them, because they support *US*. Thank you, Lowes.

Day 304 -- Gotta Love Those Swedes

As I suspected, the minute Brian's plane touched down, he was anxious to get stuff done on the house. Yesterday we made a major shopping trip to IKEA. We got a vanity, sink and medicine cabinet for the kids bath, a shelf for the mudroom and a whole closet system for the master bedroom. Today Brian spent the day getting it all installed perfectly. The whole modern system in an old house idea is, I think, one that works. I think it looks pretty cool especially against the exposed brick. Really, though, I'm just happy to start bringing the rest of our clothing up from the basement. The first pic is taken from the master bedroom; the second is taken from the corner of the closet and the third is taken from sitting on the bench inside the closet.

It's so nice to have a big, strong man around the house again. Thanks, Brian, it's awesome. More to come on the kids bathroom.

Day 301 -- This Renovation Has Been Brought To You By...

Some of you may not know that Brian has been away for the past 8 months. 7 months ago he came home for a brief 4-day visit before heading out to Iraq, but I don't count that as being "home". Today he finally came home. I have to say, next to our wedding day and the birth of our sweet little one, it was the best day of my life. In contrast, the last 8 months were definitely not. I have cried more in the past 8 months than the rest of my life combined. Being pregnant, working full-time, having a 3 year old, and being PM on a renovation project all at once has not been my idea of fun. There are people out there who had/have it way worse than me though, so I'll leave the complaining there.

If there was one silver lining to this deployment it was the $$$MONEY$$$. There is no way in the world we would have gotten this far on this renovation without those military paychecks coming in. Brian was an awesome sugar daddy. He made the money and I spent it. It was a fine arrangement. I also had to make all the decisions which was nice, in a way, but I would rather have had Brian here to give input and to see the final result.

The other great thing about this deployment was the time that I spent with our families. Brian and I have the best families (and friends) ever. I thank my Heavenly Father for them every day. They were so supportive and helpful in every way imaginable. I will always be grateful for being able to grow closer to them during this time. Thank you everyone for everything...I truly couldn't have survived it without you all. Iz and I love you very much.


As far as the events of today, Iz and I went to the airport at about 9:30 this morning to pick Dad up. Delta let us go to the gate to meet him. You should have seen Iz when she first saw her daddy. She went on a dead run half-way across the terminal screaming "DADDY!!! DADDY!!! DADDY!!!" It was the sweetest thing I have ever seen. Then she kept him in a death grip for a solid 15 min before she would let him put her down. The minute she was put down, she asked "Can I have my lamp?" :) She says we're going to have to get a Jasmine costume to go with the cool lamp dad brought back from Iraq.

After the airport we came home so Dad could see the new house. Dad has only gotten 6 hours of sleep in the last 3 days and I haven't slept well in....I can't even remember....so it was a sleepy day spent scuddling on the couch as a family. It was the best. I'm taking the next week off of work and I wouldn't complain if every day was like this one.

Last but definitely not least, Brian, I want you to know how much I love you. I am so proud of you. I am so lucky to be married to such a great man and dad. You are the love of my life and you can't imagine how happy I am that you are back home safe with us just in time to start a new chapter in our life with a new baby and a new home. Thanks for being married to me.

Day 300 -- Who Knew PVC Could Look So Good

We're in the 300's now. Time flies when you're having fun.

Today they put up the beadboard in the kids bathroom. This stuff is pretty cool. It's made out of PVC so it's totally water soluble. No worrying about water damage. The best part, though, is it is already a nice white so we don't even have to paint it. Sweet! I am all for less work. Looks like we are close to being able to install the toilet, sink and faucets. Yea!

Day 298 -- Good Grout

Don't they realize that with a 3 year old running amuck, the blue tape actually screams "Come in here! Walk on me! I dare you!"? Izzypop never really cared that much to go into the bathroom until today. I had to tackle her several times to prevent her from going under the blue tape.

The grout looks great. Pewter gray went on the hex tiles on the floor and white went on the subway tiles on the tub surround. The beadboard is next.