daddy's little helper

diedre carrying little pieces of wood for daddy to help clean up the reno mess

putting the wood in the pile

helping daddy shovel sawdust for the big clean up

fun running on the ramp

after church diedre was getting chased by some girls



 

our suite reno is complete!!!

we had an amazing crew of helpers throughout the project. thank you so much to Grandpa Gagne, andrew, shawn & joanna, steve (5.30am record holder!!!), waldy, erwin, dave & sharon, paul, nancy and to michelle and stuart who provided us with yummy pizza last night! it has been such a crazy three weeks in the life of derek, and also Grandpa as he put in many days on the project. my poor man was working days and staying up working on the suite until 2 to 4 am with last night being the latest at 5am!!!

we are soooo thankful its "done" although we have a list of things we will be getting around to in the next while, but they are thankfully not immediate "must-do's."

these pictures are from February when we installed laminate flooring in the living room. the bathroom is very 70s/80s. the hallway had a very low drop ceiling.

here are some of the guys hard at work installing a brandnew bathroom with laundry included (our new tenants brought their own laundry machines so we don't have a picture of the space "in use" at this point).
the guys tore down the wall between the laundry room and bathroom to make a larger more practical space. we bought all new fixtures (toilet was only $64 & the pedestal sink was only $35 at Home Depot--although the sink was quite the pain to mount as it did not have holes to secure it to the wall).
the wiring and plumbing was crazy bad in the two rooms and Grandpa and derek set about updating and making it safe and legal.

here are the before and after shots of the kitchen: new tile flooring with cedar trim along the walls.

here are the upgrades to the hallway and another shot of the laminated living room.
the hallway was given new tile flooring also with cedar trim and a raised drywall ceiling with new light fixtures and paint. steve worked all evening and night taping and mudding drywall so it would be ready to sand and paint for yesterday.

here is the storage area under the stairs getting fitted with insulation and drywall. sparky is spending his nights on the landing/entry way down the stairs. it was extremely loud to hear him or derek in his work boots walking up and down the stairs, this solution has drastically cut the noise down.

diedre and i are so happy to have derek back in our lives again :D

more pictures

following are some larger pictures of the renovation that i'm sure our parents will be happy to see :)


hallway


kitchen area


kitchen sink


peering up into the kitchen


toilet and bath shower unit


pedastal sink


laundry area

treat please

diedre, the hippo, dressed up with david, the construction worker

here was our trick or treating group.
diedre would say "treat please" and seemed to enjoy her time out. it was too much walking for me and i was in rough shape that night.

cozy

she likes to wear this tea cozy sometimes...

37 weeks pregnant

there it is folks! my biiiig belly! the doctor's not giving any hints about if this one is coming early. he says baby's in a great position and hopefully won't shift around posterior. i'm measuing 35cm which means the baby is very low down and in position--yay!

if anyone is interested, here is what i looked like at 37 weeks pregnant with diedre

i'm getting really excited about going into labour, even though i'm totally scared of the pain, i'm just really really hoping baby will be anterior and it will be a "breeze" like dr. says. ha ha. i plan to try to go without drugs again (although, i'm kind of open to the gas, as its something to do if the pain is really bad--although it was not a pain reliever per se with diedre. dr. said often women find it did not work for first pregnancies but subsequent pregnancies, it did).

unfortunately i got my results back for Strep B and its positive, which means, i will have to be on an IV during my labor. i HATE IVs (they hurt my bony hands). dr. said if i come in there at 6 or 7 cms dialated that we will have to skip the whole IV and he'll be there to catch the baby (apparently they need at least 4 hours of labour to administer two doses of antibiotics through the IV, if i'm that far dialated, there won't be time for two doses which means it would be ineffective anyway).

other than that, i'm feeling very huge and having a hard time walking around or rather sitting and then standing again...my doctor advised me to "not worry" about exercising but to eat well and drink lots of water (uh...doesn't he know its halloween time = lots of candy??). i need to remember that these are the weeks where i gained 4 to 7lbs PER WEEk when i was preg with diedre, so i need to weigh my cravings carefully and not give in to them every day...several times a day...maybe i should keep track on my other blog so that i have a bit of embarassing accountability...hmmm...

i think i gave diedre her "last bath" today. it hurts way too much to crouch down and try to reach over our large tub. so hopefully derek can take over the baths (most likely showers until after the 31st, because he's too busy in the suite to give her a real bath).

i'm totally nesting, but i can't do much since i can't move furniture and thats my main desire right now...mom & joanna are scheduled to come over saturday to help move some stuff around for me. hopefully it works with 4 little ones running around. i guess we could close the kids up in diedre's room with heather while i commandeer the room swap (what do you think about that heather?)

i keep thinking i should pack my hospital bag and diedre's overnight bag but then i think there's so much else to do, that i do almost nothing...if i only had a maid or something for a week, i could get so much done. things that i REALLY want done that would not be a priority to derek but would make me feel much more organized. i wonder what life would be like if i had been more organized all this time...hmmm...oh well, no sense wondering now.

next week my mom has a surgery that could either turn out minor (in and out in a day) or fairly intrusive (several days in hospital) so that is another thing on our minds and hearts. we will be in town that day for a doctor's appointment so we will probably hang around to visit her later on.

then the next day our new renters officially move in. goodness, things sure are happening these days!

i better get to bed. i drank more coffee than i should have today so i think thats probably why i'm still up...but man, am i in a good mood!

g'nite

progress

cutest little helper!

progress is being made on the suite

the "new" bathroom

kitchen has new tiles 

fall play date

diedre and i went to visit Grandma while she took care of miles for the day.

grandma initiated all the leaf throwing

diedre is removing the leaves from Grandma's hair

diedre tries to get mommy

several VIDEOS: playing with leaves
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR

giggling cousins

VIDEO: miles is hilarious

ahh snack time

hanging out in the suite

diedre and i go down to play in the suite while daddy does the renos (thats why there's a toilet in the background...its brand new, never been used, honest).

video of diedre having fun

princess party

our friends had a princess themed party for their daughters 2nd birthday. diedre made a bee line for her favorite toy: baby!

here she is interacting with the birthday girl.

checking out another toy

watching pin the bird on the princess game

sticking the bird on the game

waiting her turn to hit the pinata

trying to hit it with two hockey sticks--pretty coordinated!

video of diedre and the pinata (her first try)

kissy face & renovations

diedre looking very pleased with herself

she went and sat on the potty and blew me a kiss! silly girl

derek's been hard at work in the suite, here is the tile that will be in the kitchen, bathroom and hallway.

ripped out/gutted bathroom and my superstar husband who's been working himself ragged to reinstall a properly functioning bathroom/laundry room. Grandpa Gagne and Derek have been getting together as much as possible to work on the room. Grandpa has the wiring and plumbing skills to teach Derek. we are so thankful for his expertise and willingness to take the long drive out here to help us out. we are aiming for November 1st.