Thankful for all of it

This month has been filled with many, many projects, accomplishments, fun times, and, well frankly, a lot of chaos.  I haven't been posting much lately due to everything that's going on.  But, believe it or not, life is slowing down.  I'm thankful for that too.

Here's a quick look back at November by way of a few photos I snapped.  I must warn you, much of it is remodel related.

BK putting in plumbing and electrical upstairs for the new upstairs laundry.

Friends Olivier and Alex gave up a perfectly good Saturday night to help us tear out part of a load-bearing wall and put in a new beam to support the house -- not in that order.

Putting in the posts to hold up the new beam.

Ryan helped us with framing and electrical work.

Wall was out, beam was in, house was still standing.  Byron was happy.

Late-night drywalling by BK.

We spent a week insulating, drywalling, muding and taping with the help of three helpful guys from Casa Latina.

Me, trying not to forget to take a picture of myself at 32 weeks pregnant amid all the chaos.

Plastic, plastic everywhere -- in an attempt to control the drywall dust.  Alas, I still managed to give myself a sinus infection due to breathing too much of it.

Good friends pitched in to drywall, paint, and more.  Thanks Mike!

Our "painting party" participants included Erin, Darcy, Becky, Darren, Brian, Karen, and Sam.

Thanks to Joe and his multiple loads to the dump, we have managed the construction rubble quite well.

BK patched the floor where we took out the load bearing wall, prepping for carpet.

We completed painting the living room and bedroom before carpet went in.

Our friend, Bob, spent two days installing the wool pad and carpet for us.  Looks and feels wonderful!

While carpet went in, we drove to B.C. to load up and move Byron's dad.

Up and back in the same day -- a bit nuts -- but we were glad we did.  Snow hit the Coquihalla pass the next day.

Despite all the chaos, Oggy managed to get several naps a day.  The rest of us weren't so fortunate.

All work and no play makes for a bad month -- so luckily, our good friend, Lisa, had a birthday party that we made time to attend.  A festive, fun evening with great music!

Marie, Lisa, Linda, and me

Mom and dad came to visit the week before Thanksgiving -- and we put them to work right away.  Dad helped remove and then replace the bathroom floor in Herman's suite, prime and paint, and many other jobs.  We may have worn him out by week's end.

Mom cooked and did baby laundry and must have unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher more than 20 times.  Thanks, Mom!

Snow and 20-degree weather kept us all indoors on Thanksgiving week.

Our deck.

On the baby front, we also had some November festivities. (When I get photos, I'll post more.)  Early in the month, friends from the Green Lake Church hosted a shower for me.  I received many lovely and generous gifts from this thoughtful group of women. 

I also had the pleasure of a visit with my friend Melodie this month. We had a fun afternoon catching up after not seeing each other for several years.  It was like we picked up just where we left off last and no time had passed at all!  Thanks, Mel, for making the trip and for the cozy stroller blanket.

And later in the month, I was treated to another celebration for Grover and me hosted by my friend, Lisa.  It was a cozy evening shower made extra special by the fact that my mom came up for it, my sister attended, and several long-time friends from near and far came as well.   

We also had another ultrasound this month just to check on Grover's size.  Seems he had a growth spurt mid month and my OB was wondering just how big this baby was getting.  Well, he's a whopper.  We learned that at 34 weeks he had a 10 cm head.  Argh.  Not sure I want to think about what this will mean . . .

Here's one of the 3-D ultrasound pictures my friend, Cathy, made possible.  It's almost like a photograph of the little guy.  I wonder how much he will look like this image when he arrives.

Well, that's the month in quick review.

I'm determined to slow it down a bit in December.  The Christmas tree is up and smells great.  And my friend just sent me a new book to read . . . maybe I'll put my feet up and read a while.