Good-bye Blue Hello Khaki!

They started putting the siding up on Friday and it is looking great. Our only snag at this point is that the weather man is calling for snow all week so we have no idea how that will affect the progress.

On the flip side, the addition is about 85% done and the major dusty mess is done. They painted the ceiling and primed the walls on Friday so tomorrow they will continue to paint and hopefully get a ton of the base coat done. The moldings and wiring will then follow. Our only other snag with that is that the carpet won't be installed until one week from tomorrow. So they might be done with the room and we will be twiddling our thumbs next weekend waiting for the carpet to come on that Monday. I am becoming more patient though, so at this point I am very looking forward to Monday, the 24th! At least next weekend we can give the house a BIG cleaning and de-dusting before the carpet comes. We also sold our old couch on Craigslist (love that site!) so we are headed to pay for our new set today and we will pick it up later in the week. It's hard to believe that in a little over a week we will be able to sit in our new room and kick back. We can't wait!

Lagging

Sorry for the lack of posts this week, but Seth and I have been sick and there is nothing exciting going on at our house except for mud drying.

We have come to the conclusion that Seth's cold is due to him finally breaking his second year molars through on the bottom. There are little points sticking out and we know from past practice that whenever he gets a tooth, a cold and/or stuffy nose comes along with it.

I do have a sinus infection and I'm on day 4 of meds. My sinus' feel better, but my congestion isn't letting up at all. I'm trying to be patient, but I'm exhausted so I'm staying home and trying to catch up on some rest today. Seth is home with me and he is very mellow thank god!

As far as the home remodel goes. They are putting the final skim coat on the walls today and doing the decorative ceiling coat. They are also starting the siding. The siding crew is here and working as I type. We have been waiting for this day since it seems like the mudding is taking forever. I should have some new pictures in a day or so.

Here is to everyone everywhere feeling BETTER!

Mud & Wait

We are at the point where we have to be extra patient. They come daily to sand and mud and then paint later this week. It is still moving along at a great pace and our contractors are great! The mess and chaos is getting to me a little, but there is nothing I can do but WAIT!

Over the weekend we bought our entertainment center and picked out furniture and a new TV, but we have to wait until the 24th for the carpet installation to move everything in. That will be an exciting day. We just stare into the room in amazement that we are finally accomplishing a dream we have had for such a long time.

End of the Week Wrap Up

The pictures aren't as good as the room truly looks at this time, but it was dark and hard to take pictures from the angles I was at.All of the windows are now in!
All of the drywall is hung and ready to be taped and mudded on Monday.

We were also given a BIG surprise... they will be doing all the painting and we don't have to hire it out. We are thrilled and de-stressed by that fact. So we are headed to Sherwin Williams in a little bit to pick out paint and have it here and ready for the middle of next week.

Tonight we are headed to our friends the Castana's for a Welcome Home Party for Lee! I can't wait, it will be so much fun!

Laugh it Off

I picked up one of my students this morning for a one on one session and her teacher asked me if the baby was moving and such. So we chatted for a minute before I left with the little girl. Walking down the hall she says to me, "I didn't know you were pregnant I just thought you were eating too much!" So I said, "I definately wouldn't eat that much and let myself get this fat." She then says to me, "Well my mom eats too much and she has gotten really fat, not pregnant!"

Oh, the brains of children! You just have to laugh it off and move on!

OHHH the Excitement

Today a ton was accomplished once again. They tore out the exterior wall to the house and opened up the room. We can now finally tell how large the room will be and get a feeling for it. They also insulated the ceiling in the old part of the room along with the rest of the wiring. As you can see in the picture, the drywall will come tomorrow.

Four out of the five windows are also in. The last one is yet to be installed because they are still climbing in and out of it to get to the room.We are still amazed that the work is coming along so quickly! In other news, I went to a conference in SYR today and it was great! It was also nice to get away from school for a day.

Happy 31st Birthday to Jen Voss today too!

We will celebrate this weekend with you!

Day 4 Progress

Today our contractors worked their butts off once again and they were able to do all of the insulation inside and below as well as gut out the little TV room to get that ready for insulation and sheet rock. Tomorrow they say the windows are going in and the sheet rock is going up. YIPPEEE!

Side wall in small TV room with Ro's hole covered so minimal dust came through to the breakfast nook.

Opposite wall of small TV room where our TV used to sit, now gutted! Notice there was NO insulation in the walls at all. No wonder our heat bills are so high!

New room all insulated!
New large side wall all insulated. Where our new TV will sit in a few weeks!

Messes & Goodbyes!

We officially moved all of the furniture out of the small TV room last night in preparation for the gutting of the room. Now our diningroom is all tarped and ready for the dust.

I'd like to say a special goodbye to the beautiful ceiling that my hubs built for me in that same room a couple of years ago. I went to NYC for a weekend before we had Seth and when I came home an ugly cracked ceiling was covered with a beautiful wood ceiling and now we have to say goodbye to it because it will be covered in recess lights and new drywall! So goodbye to the old and thank you for many good years!

3 Days

This is what has been accomplished in only three days. We are impressed and thrilled!

Side view from the driveway

Back side view

View from the fence side of the yard

My boys standing in the new room

We will keep updating you as the days pass! Have a great week!

Addition Updates

Our work has finally begun and we are thrilled with the progress made in just two days. Take a look...

Day 1

Day 2

We will be sure to update you daily on the progress. From what we are told they will be working on the roof on Monday! Stay tuned!

Happy Halloween!

I will be sure to share all of the pcitures from our first trick-or-treating adventure tonight! We are all very excited! I'm hoping Seth gets lots of Snickers bars since that is my latest craving! I'm hoping that he will share with me!

Bring on the Characters

Last night our close friends The Castana's invited us to go to see Sesame Street Live out on Fort Drum. Seth had been to see The Doodlebops over the summer so I knew that he would be interested in going and he was in awe.

Seth and his buddy Jacob!

At first Seth wanted to sit with Lee and that made me sad, but a little while into it, he came and sat with me!

We had a great night and I think I was more tired than Seth because I was in bed and asleep before 9pm! Tonight it will be a much calmer night at home.

Cookie Time

On Tuesday I promised Seth that Grandma would come over and that we would make Halloween cookies. You would have thought that I was giving him a million dollars because that is all he talked about and he was super excited. We rolled them out and used a new pumpkin cookie cutter and everything. There was flour all over Seth and all over the kitchen, but he loved it.

Remember the sprinkles!

Can I PLEASE eat one Mommy?So Yummy!

Thank you Grandma Puccia for coming over and assisting!

We had so much fun!

Updates

Roland has been working on the babies closet whenever possible and he has done an amazing job! Here is what it looks like right now...

I take that back, I need to take a new picture because he now has the moldings up and it looks even better.

We also got a shipment of supplies last night for our remodel, so if the snow stops they can start anytime.

I never imagined that a truck that large could fit down our driveway, but it did!

Our Carving Skills

Last night we carved our first pumpkin together as a family. We thought that this year was the perfect time for Seth to get right into it and enjoy the carving process. Check it out...

Step 1: Choose a designStep 2: Stick your hand way down and scoop out the guts!

Step 3: When you decide you don't like the feeling of the guts, have your mom do it for you!Step 4: Help Daddy carve the face of the pumpkin!

Step 5: Smile with your finished product!

We had a blast designing and carving our pumpkin and we even baked the seeds, BUT upon his initial taste test, Seth decided that he did not like them at all!

At least he tried!

1st Official Outfits

As previously blogged, my feet have grown so my mom and I went to Kohls yesterday and looked for shoes as well as little girl clothes. We had a ball looking around and here are Baby Girl Charlton's 1st official outffits compliments of Grandma Puccia.

Video Catch Up

I have been taking videos here and there this fall, but I haven't had the time to upload them, so here are a few!

Roland swam with Seth for our last Parent/Tot Swim Class this past week. Thank goodness, because I wasn't looking or feeling very pretty in a swim suit. Seth loved swimming with his Daddy!

Roland took Seth to the Halloween party at Kidnastics on Friday night and he had a blast!

What did we do before videos? Seth loves to watch these all the time and relive his memories!

Girls Night

Tonight is Girls Night out and the first with my little girl in tow. We are headed to the haunted house in Sackets (9 of us) and then dinner at the Boathouse (10 of us). I'm sure there will be stories to share of my mom peeing her pants in the haunted house and all of us linked together walking through the dark hallways.

Also, FYI my good good friend Kristen's hubs comes home today, actually she emailed to say that the welcome home ceremony is at 1:30pm. I am so flippin' excited for her! He has been gone for 14 months!

DSS Call

Seth's latest "thing" is to say prayers before dinner. He secretly just enjoys the AMEN at the end, but he has learned a couple of prayers now and he loves the whole process of holding hands and such. So we taught him a traditional prayer and then a less traditional prayer that I actually remember saying in Catholic school back in the day.

So the less traditional prayer that he was taught was... "Rub a dub dub, thanks for the grub, yah God!" He knows it by heart and recites it anytime possible.

Last night after we are done, he says to us, let me make a prayer up. This was his orginal prayer:

Rub a dub dub, thanks for my friends, yah beer! NO LIE!

If this isn't a DSS call I don't know what is! YIKES & PRICELESS!

Big Mouth

Do you ever feel like you have a big mouth from time to time? I think we all do. We regret things said in the heat of the moment or look back and think that we should have been more thoughtful and thought before we spoke. Well, I learned a lesson today in thinking before speaking and that everyone is different in terms of how they respond or react to other peoples opinions. Friends who you thought you could say anything to, maybe you just can't. So in the future I will be more careful and less open with people. I tend to ramble on and run at the mouth when I feel comfortable with someone, but life is changing and I will adjust to that. Ro will just be stuck listening to me good and bad! For better or for worse right???!!! :)

Belated Appleumpkin Fest Pics

On Saturday we went to the Appleumpkin Fest at the library for the first time with some friends and Seth had a lot of fun. Check out the pics...

Trying out for the coloring contest!Musical Chairs
Face Painting A little crafty time making a scarecrow!

We had a great morning of fall fun and then we walked down for some pizza at Cam's on the square. All in all it was a great day with friends!

Progress

We can finally say that we have officially started our renovations. Right now we are patiently waiting for the concrete to dry and set so that the men can really start working and making progress next week. All of the materials have been ordered, the new carpet has been picked out and the installation date has been set. Even as a side project, Roland has gotten the closet framed up and the doors on it in the babies room. We now need to hang the drywall and our little girls room will start to take shape. This picture probably doesn't mean much to most of you, but to us it means that the floor won't sink in our brand new family room!

NEEDED: NEW SHOES

FYI- My feet grew a little bit after I had Seth, but not enough to have to go out and buy all new shoes. This time around I have three pairs of dress shoes that fit for work right now and the rest are tight tight tight. On one hand I love the thought of buying all new shoes for work, but on the other hand I don't want to be spending the money right now on top of all the other things that we need for the house and for the little girl. So I'm going to tough it out and rotate my three pairs of shoes until Christmas when I can buy some new ones. Oh, the trials and tribulations of motherhood. hahaha!

It's a START

The holes are dug and are ready for the concrete today! By this time next week we should see some actual progress and I'll have tons and tons of pics along the way!

Roland also started the babies closet this weekend, but I need to take a pic of that progress tonight. There is work going on in all parts of our house and we are very excited about it all! Stay tuned...

Proof

Here is proof that Seth is already taking care of his little sister. He literally takes this doll all over the house with him and sleeps with her. This morning he had a fit because he hadn't kissed her good-bye.

Don't you just love the hair on the doll? So funny!

Have a great weekend! We are off to do a little baby girl shopping, eat some much craved Chinese food, check out something called an Appleumpkin Festival and have friends for dinner.

Lucky!

I am lucky for many reasons, but take a look at these pictures and tell me you wouldn't feel blessed!Looking at these pictures makes any stress I am feeling just disappear!

**Just a couple of side Seth stories to tell...
Ever since Seth learned that he will have a sister he has pretended that his Cabbage Patch doll is his sister and he carries her around with him everywhere. She has to be fed and she HAS to have a blanket around her. He is very particular about that. He even slept with her last night.

Also, Roland took Seth with him to Rotary this morning and I guess there were many priceless moments. Seth had to stand on his chair and he was welcomed by the whole room as well as paying a "Happy Dollar" to announce that he was going to have a sister. I guess he was a hit and everyone loved him! Ro should keep bringing him around town with him, it's good PR for him!