A little change will do you good.

My wonderful hubs keeps changing our "renovation schedule" first he decided to paint before laying the floor, then he changed it to lay floor before painting, now he is back to the original plan. So, you can replace 'Lay Flooring' with 'Begin Painting' on the Week 2 plan. He is over at the house painting as I type. The termite treatment was changed from week 1 to week 2 and is now going to have to be moved to week 3. They can't do it unless it has been dry for the 48 hours before and here in Kentucky it has been raining just about every single day. Hopefully, the termite treatment will happen next week but I've said that before. Seth did finish repairing the sub-flooring and is almost finished with the drywall, so kudos to him for working so hard. I just love him dearly, can you tell?

Another big change this week... MY MOM GOT A NEW DOG! Brandy our full size Doberman Pinscher died several months ago after years with our family. My parents house one of my dogs, Dallas and my sister's dog Cophie (like Sophie with a C) so they were maxed out on dog room. BUT once we move into the new house we are taking Dallas (German Shepherd) with us so we will have two dogs, Dallas and Daisy. Mom decided that since Dallas was leaving it was the perfect time for her to get the new puppy she had been wanting. So last night they traveled to Eastern Kentucky and my Father got my Mother a Mini Pinscher for their 25th Anniversary which is in mid August. She named her Roxy and she is incrediby adorable. See for youself below. I guess it is true, a little change can do you good.

Tiny Miracles 2010 - A Calender *Submit your photos now*

'Just Call Me Mommy' is now accepting pictures of Preemies (then and now) to include in the 2010 Tiny Miracles Calender that will be sold at the end of this year. All (100%) of the profits will be donated to March of Dimes. You have from now to September 15, 2009 to submit your photos.

FYI By submitting photos of your child you are giving us permission to use said photos in the 2010 calender. Again, all profits will go to March of Dimes, an organization committed to giving all babies a healthy start.

You can send your photos to CGDarnell67@hotmail.com. More details coming soon.

Wordless Wednesday - Fryin' Pan

You've heard of Grilled Cheese... How about a Grilled Colton!?

A Work in Progress

My new bathroom floor, vanity and granite counter top. I love it! Obviously the bathroom is not finished (surely you knew that already considering the toilet is in the bathtub) but I just had to share. Seth and a handful of his helpers are over at the house working again today, I think they are finishing up the sub-flooring and drywall repair. We are STILL waiting on the exterminators to treat for termites but have heard nothing from them since last week. Hopefully that will happen in the next few days. That's all for now, Colton will be waking up from his nap soon and I need to squeeze in a shower before then.

The Plan - Week 2

Today ends the first week of our renovation project and I must say that I am very impressed with my husband and all his helpers. They have managed to achieve everything listed on Week 1's list. As I type Seth is already at the house this morning working on the bathrooms, which are not even on the list until next week which begins tomorrow, so we are AHEAD of schedule!!! Just to review our first week consisted of closing, making lots of appointments, getting water and electric turned on, the delivery of our rental dumpster, tearing out wallpaper, knocking down walls, starting to repair sub-flooring and drywall and a little bit of packing. Shew that's a mouth full. We had hoped to have had the termite treatment completed this week but because of all the Kentucky summer rain, we have moved that onto the week 2's list. Speaking of which, here goes...

Week of July 27 - Aug 2, 2009

• Termite treatment (hopefully)
• Finish repairing sub-flooring and drywall
• Start bathrooms (already started!)
• Lay new flooring (Seth has decided to do this before painting, I don't know why)
• Continue packing here.
  

A big chunk of week 2 is going to be spent on the flooring. Yesterday, Seth had our dogs Dallas and Daisy at the house, they LOVE their new backyard. Check back soon =)

Wordless Wednesday - Coca-Cola

Colton loves coke just as much as his Daddy...

Renovation - Day 1

We are full speed ahead with the first step of our renovation --- demolition! We closed yesterday afternoon at three and soon after my hard-working hubbster and his dedicated helpers began...

ripping out carpet...

and knocking down walls.

They got much more done that any of us thought was even possible the SAME day as closing. Today, FPB turned on our water and BFI delivered our rental dumpster, while Seth spent the entire morning at Lowe's gathering supplies. He took a nap this afternoon and is now out playing softball. I am so incredibly proud of him for working so hard and am keeping my fingers-crossed that he keeps it up. If you refer back to our list from my last post that only leaves the termite treatment, electricity inspection/turn on and the beginnings of repairing the sub-flooring and drywall damage from our tiny little friends, the termites, for the remainder of this week. It looks as though (for now) we are right on schedule. Check back soon for more updates.

The Plan - Week 1

Tomorrow is the big day, we close on our first house! Just minutes after closing we plan to begin work on our new home. We purchased a foreclosed house and plan to do lots of work throughout the next month, we plan to move in the last week of August. I say "we plan" and not "we will" because sometimes my wonderful husband can be a bit of a procrastinator, I still love him dearly though. Here is the plan for week 1, I intend to post updates all about our renovation experiences.

Week of July 20th - 26th

• Termite Treatment
  
• City to inspect Electric (it has been off since last August) and turn it on.
  
• Water turned on
• Rental dumpster delivery (for all of our trash and debris)
• Rip out carpet
• Knock out laundry room wall (this was my hubs idea)
• Start repairing sub-flooring and drywall (from the termite damage)
• and begin packing up our townhouse.
  

Wish us luck =)

Stressed... just a little bit.

We close on our house in just 3 short days and immediately after we will begin renovations. We have a weekly schedule beginning next week, which will hopefully put us moving in the last week of August. Seth is handling most of the work on the house, while I take care of Colton and pack up our townhouse here. I hate packing with a passion but I have to tell myself it will all be worth it once we have our own house.

Samantha did wonderful in the pageant, she got Miss Congeniality. The county fair is still going on in the park just behind our house. As I type I am listening to the sound of engines revving up in the Truck Mud Run.

August is going to be a stressful month...

GOOD LUCK SAMANTHA!

Good luck to my beautiful little sister in the Miss Franklin County Fair Pageant tonight... We love you Samantha!

Short Update

Once again I have gone missing from the blog world. Lots has happened in the last week so I decided to write a short update. After waiting for 6 looooong weeks we finally heard from the mortgage company about our house... they accepted our offer!!! There is a lot of work we need to do before moving in, my husband thinks we will probably move in late August or early September. We will start work on the house as soon as we close, around the 20th of this month. You can look forward to tons of "home improvement" posts.

Colton spent last night in our local Emergency Room. He had a fever most of the day yesterday but around 6 p.m. it shot up to 103.7 so I took him in. He was completely limp in the waiting room and gave us all quite a scare. After waiting for a while, running some test, more waiting, giving him some meds and even more waiting, they determined he just had a bad Upper Respiratory Infection and sent him home to be carefully monitored. This morning he is feeling much better, clapping, playing and laughing. Thank God it was nothing more than a standard illness, with preemies you just never know.

My little sister is in the Miss Franklin County Fair pageant tomorrow night, I know she is going to do wonderful. I will be sure to post pics. Good Luck Samantha!!!

6 years!!!

Six years ago today I began dating the man that I now call my husband. I love you babe... it's been six loooonnng but wonderful years. For your amusement here is a picture of us before our senior year Sadie Hawkins dance in 2003.

Houston, We have a crawler!!!

NEWSFLASH!!!
My little man is now crawling. Finally, after 19 months I get to to chase him around... and yes, I know I will regret this soon enough. It is kind of hard to just sit back and relax while letting your preemie cruise down his own tailored developmental track. I've caught myself questioning, more often then I'd like to admit, if Colton is ever going to catch up with his actual age or even corrected age peers. It's times like this that I shake my head and realize that it isn't the actual "catch-up" that really matters to me, I just want to know that my son is progressing and thriving developmentally. Realizing that I no longer have time to update my blog because my little shadow is crawling up behind me and trying his best to play with the pretty bright light that we all know as the computer screen, proves to me just that... he is doing just fine. I am so proud of my Colt-Colt!