Liam Can Sleep Through Anything

WARNING: references to vomiting below (this means you Dad)

As if we needed any more obstacles to completing the renovation. It's not really 'the bathroom renovation' any more, it's more like the upstairs-mess-that-requires-a-lot-of work-to-clean-up-and-put-everything-back-in-order. The actual bathroom is fully functional again as of last night - toilet, sink, and tub all installed and working. But it's not like the TV shows where someone (ie. a crew of 12 or so) takes care of all the little details, such as installing hooks and doors and caulking everything that needs it, and cleans up the mess and sets everything up for 'The Reveal.' No, it's more like, you finish installing the toilet just in time for your two year old to wake up and puke all over her sleeping brother - his hair and half the bed the whole family shares. At least there is a tub to hose everyone off in.

It's a good thing pressures have changed and we had already decided not to try and make the weekend deadline for floor refinishing. Life just keeps getting in the way of us finally putting this renovation to rest. Still we soldier on - we do have a bathroom again afterall! And that's pretty exciting. There have been a few showers and even two baths (in the last 12 hours) - but it won't be photographed till the latest dust barriers come down. Oh, and I finish dealing with the non-stop laundry that has suddenly been thrust apon me. Sigh.

It's looking to be a long day. The only one who slept through the night - through the puking (even on his head), the screaming, the sheet changing, the screaming, the bath, the screaming, the frantic removal and replacement of towels, the screaming, and so on - was Liam.


Post Script:
On the bright side, Zoe is officially potty trained - day and night. She's be dry through the night for over a week now and last night - between dry heaves - she choked out "me have to pee mommy" and insisted on using her potty. Liam has been inspired by his little sisters dry nights and has had started waking dry more often than not. This could spell the end of diapers in this house for good!!

Our Tub Runneth Over

We started off Friday evening discussing the plan, 'the timeline,' for getting the reno completed in the next week. And I mean complete. No pansy-assed half-measures for this tribe of weekend warriors!
So of course Liam woke up at 6am on Saturday with a case of the 24 hour flu - the kind that requires laundry, as well as dry toast and apple juice for a day. The day was off to a slow, if early, start, but all we had planned was plumbing in all the bathroom fixtures - a day should be enough shouldn't it? let's just say by Saturday night we had the tub plumbed in - and now that it's Monday morning, well, we have the tub plumbed in. I think it's that whole 'Don't Fuck It Up' rule that breeds procrastination when there is plumbing to be done. Of all the trades that we have tackled in this reno, plumbing is definately the scariest to take on.

Actually by Saturday night Steve had all the shut-offs installed, as well as the drain, supply lines, faucet and shower heads for the tub installed. In order to reach that point though, he needed to level the tub with shims and then cut all the VERY EXPENSIVE chromed tubing to fit our tub (or maybe it's the cost of our footed tub hardware that breeds procrastination). The biggest stumbling block was the drain since the height of the tub meant that there wasn't exactly enough room for the escutchion that covers the compression fitting on the floor. Hmmmm..... Steve was toying with the idea of grinding that down when I suggested we raise the whole tub - I mean we're shimming two feet anyways, why not shim them all? So Steve made cute little coasters out of old growth fir (the crazy hard stuff from the interior of the house) for all the feet and voila (as Liam says these days) we had a tub hooked up to a drain.

Riding the crest of accomplishment, and finding that the rest of the tub plumbing was going quickly and smoothly, we started to fantasize about having a bath after the kids went to sleep. Two problems with this idea; One, Zoe had a two hour nap in the afternoon so she wasn't likely to go to bed anytime before 10:30pm, even though she was up with the rest of us at 6am. And, two, more importantly, it had been a long day already and, even though it was only 8:30pm, reflexes were slowing down. Once we had the plumbing essentially in we grabbed the hardware for the shower curtain ring and started holding up bits to get a feel for the finished product. Unfortunately, one of the chrome pipes slipped and went crashing onto the newly refinished surface of the tub. The surface we have protected so diligently over the past few weeks of contruction. The surface that we had only minutes before uncovered so that we could run water through the newly installed fixtures. The surface that we paid Big Bucks for... The Tub Doctor will be by on Thursday to fix the chip.

It actually took half of Sunday to get the shower ring installed. You see, we have a sloped ceiling now, and the hardware isn't exactly designed for our situation. And then the sink. Don't get me or Steve started on the sink. Let's just say I have to go buy a plumbers tool today so we can install the thing tonight.

So all our Friday night planning is pretty much out the window. There is light at the end of the tunnel, and we will have a bathroom by the end of the week - or before. But right now the priority is getting the hallway prepped for refinishing the floors - long story. This means I have a LOT of cleaning to do upstairs, Steve has a LOT of sanding to do, and the dust barriers are going back up! But after the weekend there will be little keeping us from moving back upstairs. Zoe might even get to sleep in her new bed for her birthday!

Snippets

TO THE TUNE OF 'YELLOW SUBMARINE:'

"I'm a knight
I'm a knight,
On a horse that's really good"

CONVERSATION ON THE STAIRS:

Liam:
No, Zoe, you shouldn't go upstairs
You could get a sliver

Zoe:
No, I'm a princess

Liam:
No, Zoe, you can still get a sliver
Princess's skin isn't magic, just their dresses.

The Gang

Liam on his 'Gang' at preschool:

A gang is a group of kids all stuck together with someone who likes them.

A gang loves each other in the group.

A gang is about each person that loves each other.

Girls can be in the gang but there aren't any in Liam's gang.

When you are in the gang you can do whatever you want to do.
And you can take turns and share with them.

The Gang:
Liam
Zach (he has a 'Z' in his name just like Zoe)
Owen P
Owen C
Merlin
Oh, and Sophia - I guess there is one girl in the gang
Zoe too - I guess there are two girls in the gang
Liam wants to invite Lexie into his gang tomorrow - that's three girls now.
And Liam just decided tomorrow he also wants to invite the new little girl who just joined the class but he can't remember her name.

Liam says, "I love you Gang"

The Malls Are Already On Christmas Hours And We Still Don't Have A Bathroom

I did get a bathroom for my birthday - just not ours. I also got to go on a date till MIDNIGHT with my husband!! So as birthdays go these days it was pretty awesome.

Given the weekend's activities, even though we moved the tub into the bathroom last Thursday evening, we haven't had a chance to plumb it, or any other fixtures, in. That won't happen till the weekend now. Still, the room is coming together and looks amazing. Steve completed the electrical and all the lights are in working order - even the sconces, which are on a dimmer and provide both bright make-up and dim mood lighting. Pretty much all the finicky bits are done - except attaching the built-in doors. And the towels I picked out... ooh la-la! This all means that we are back to that nasty bear... the plumbing! But that's another story.

As you might imagine, there is a great deal of procrastinating going on around here these days. At least I am moving forward with the paint prepping for the hall/stariway. Steve even got some in after the kids went to sleep last night. It's amazing, really, how nearly everything we touch in this house reveals the incompetence of the former owners. The paint on our bannister, door trim, and base boards, has always chipped easily - and now we know why. There is no need to use fancy heat guns or chemicals to strip this paint, a scraper will do a whole door frame in a matter of minutes. Underneath you will find a darkly stained wood with patches of varnish still intact, and not a flake of primer in sight. At this rate the paint stripping should be complete this week.

At least the malls are open late now. We won't have to waste precious reno time on Christmas shopping.

Potty Talk

BACKGROUND: Zoe is currently potty training herself. Essentially, this whole thing is her Idea and I am merely an assistant in the process. There is absolutely no doubt she is the one in charge. She no longer needs my help - much. She decides she has to pee, gets herself to the potty, pulls down her panties, sits down on her own, and pulls them up again. She even puts her panties on herself. I am only allowed to interfere when things go horribly wrong - like when she puts both legs in one hole and then it hurts when she gets them up to her thighs. It doesn't happen as often as you might think.
She has her potty rituals. We suggested the sing-along princess book, and now she insists on getting the book and all her mega-block princesses in order before sitting down to business.

This morning she couldn't find her Ariel princess and I was tasked with finding it for her while she was busy peeing. I looked everywhere but I couldn't find her. Zoe was done, but not ready to leave the potty, so she jumped up, ran across the room, grabbed a toy phone, ran back to the potty and proceded to have the following conversation (as best as I can remember):

Hello
Hello, Ariel?
Ariel, we lookin for you.
Where are you Ariel?
we lookin for you, Ariel.
Ok
Bye bye

Did Ariel tell you where she was? - I asked her

No, Mommy
All done, Mommy

Home Stretch

Y'know the latter part of this reno is kind of like driving through the prairies - you can see that barn burning in the distance... and an hour later you can still see that barn burning in the distance, but now it's a little to the left.

The title of day 28 was 'So Close We Can Taste It' and, even though it has been more than 20 days since then, the end really did feel that close after days of bare studs and joists. We are moving forward in little steps these days, partly due to time constraints and partly due to the nature of what-still-needs-doing. Our work day is also divided into the noisy day-time/before bed-time stuff and the quiet night-time stuff, not simple charge-ahead-full-bore-get-it-all-done-as-fast-as-you-can. When we entered this phase of the reno we had forgotten how time consuming and meticulous finishing work is, but it is worth every effort. Afterall, we are working on the visual aspects of the bathroom that you will see everyday, and there is a great deal of pride in making this bathroom look as good as it can - dotting the i's and crossing the t's as it were.

On day 28 that feeling of 'almost there' was due in part to a fresh coat of paint on the walls. Tomorrow night, if all goes well, we will be painting the trim and the cabinets, and we are definitely looking forward to that empowering fresh-paint feeling. Maybe, just maybe, I'll get a new bathroom for my birthday.

Review... It Can't Be The End Of Week Seven Can It?

Grout
Grout
Get it all out
These are the things we could do without...

Yah, that's what we did this week. Grout.
First there was the baseboard tiles. That sucked. Not even knee pads can help you. You gotta lie on your belly and cram it in with a spatula. Looks cool though.
Then we did the walls. That wouldn't have been so bad if the only thing that went awry was running out of the stuff with half of the smallest wall left to do. But alas, we suffered a touch of Hamlet's fate and hesitated a bit too long before beginning the wiping phase. DON'T EVER DO THAT! Especially if you are grouting in a small room, well heated by forced air from a furnace set above 70 degrees. So instead of a 10 minute wipe job, we found ourselves engaged in a 3 hour gouge-out-the-dry-grout-and-hope-it-looks-ok torture session. We gave up sometime after 1am. The room looks amazing - as long as you don't look too close.
So that's done now. It's been kinda hard to get motivated to finish though. Steve has a lot of finicky wood-working left to do in the bathroom, and other stuff in the office, before we can shut down the work-shop and put the bathroom back together. It's too bad he can't be in two places at one time - like some have suggested he did the other night. Oh well.
Given all that's left to do, and how close we are to finishing, you'd think we would buckle down and work hard all weekend. That's why we started the day with coffee and a pillow fight. And then Steve and I took the afternoon off to just hang out together (Heidi is TOTALLY AWESOME!!). We shopped for vintage guitars - where I got to reprise my groupie-girlfriend role while Steve tried out an $18,000 1946 Martin - and then went to the mall for some soul-sucking. Thankfully we bumped into our friend Wendy who kicked us in the keester and sent us off to do 'adult' stuff like wile away the afternoon drinking beer at the pub.

There's always tomorrow, right?

A Bit More

Zoe's favourite phrase these days is "a bit more, Mommy"

A bit more bagel mommy
A bit more chicken mommy
A bit more nummies mommy
Tiny bit nummies mommy?
A bit more wa-wee mommy
How do you ask?
PEEEEEEEEZ!
A bit more lip gloss mommy
This is usually followed by a kiss from me
And then another "A little bit more Mommy"
And more kisses
And so on

She is also partial to "You're Welcome" which she uses in place of 'Thankyou' due to an unfortunate misunderstanding early on in the manners learning curve. You see, she started saying 'Thankyou' so promptly and correctly that I found myself automatically saying 'You're welcome' - which she took as me correcting her. Ever eager to please, she had 'corrected' herself within a day. It's been weeks now and I can't seem to get her back to saying 'thankyou.' We often find ourselves in good-natured mini verbal battles;
"You're Welcome"
No, you're welcome Zoe
No, you're welcome Mommy
No, you're welcome
No, you're welcome
And so on...

Week Six in Review - Because We Can't Bear the Thought of 'Day 43'

Week Six has been all about the subway tiles. Every night this week saw another wall completed. Well, except for Thursday - we are allowed at least one night a week off aren't we? Otherwise we have been working till about 1am. Ok, I admit it, we are nuts! Even we see that now.

We have found that life has an odd kind of rhythm to it these days, even though this really has gone on long past the time we allotted. Still it will be nice to get back to some kind of normal with, say, regular showers and actual beds. At least Steve and I have managed to cut TV out of our lives - except for one guilty pleasure which shall remain nameless. We truly hope we can continue that aspect of this altered lifestyle once the bathroom and office are back in regular use. Past experience has shown us that TV can suck the life out of you and takes away the time you could be investing in your relationship and in your personal growth and fulfillment. The kids certainly have watched more than their fair share during this renovation process. Maybe we'll just toss the thing out the window when we're done. Hmmmmnnnn....?

I feel like a broken record talking about the 'last few things we need to do before we get our bathroom back' - so I won't. There isn't much, but with lowered motivation and less time, our hopes of a bathroom in the next 4-5 days may be yet another pipe dream. There are other projects that need finishing before life gets back to normal as well. Such as the extra storage area off the office (Steve's job today), Steve's new desk in the office, our new front door (that project is months old now!) and of course painting the hall and refinishing the floor - both of which have taken a huge beating over the last few weeks. We could put a couple of these items off for later - but let's be realistic shall we, if we don't do them now, they'll NEVER get done. So perhaps we'll get some 'normal' for Christmas this year - "Dear Santa..."

On a lighter note, my internet shopping excursion paid off and the supply tubes etc, arrived yesterday, Fedex ground, from California! Maybe we should have done all our shopping online. Now, for the shower curtain rod - the LAST item. Soon we'll be rounding up all our returns and getting a bit of money back instead of shelling out $$$ almost everyday. My AMEX is getting worn out before it's time - at least we get airmiles!

You know, if this whole ordeal was a 'Survivor' series, by now one of us would have won a million bucks.

Footnote

November 3rd is an important date.
It is the anniversary of our taking possion of our home. So it's only fitting that we be immersed in renovations - and that we took the night off.
But even more importantly, yesterday - November 3rd, 2005 - was the first day Zoe used the POTTY! Sporting her new Dora panties - after only one accident earlier in the day - she had her first potty poop with her princess sing-along-book and her daddy modifying the lyrics to encourage her endeavours ("the more we poop together, together..."). Later that evening she had her first pee, and today continues the trend.

It was not my intention to start potty training in the midst of our renovation chaos, but our little girl has her own ideas and when we ran out of 'princess diapers' (pull-ups from the no-washing-machine-or-dryer phase of the reno) the only thing she would concede to wear was the Dora panties her Nana bought her. Now she has four pairs and from the look of things so far, potty training should be short work. Oh my.