My son was the same way. We were nervous about moving to a house with stairs but he mastered them very quickly. He always slid down on his belly. I couldn't believe how fast he could go. Now my nephew is learning the same way.

Dawnie,
How old is he actually? I know he is smaller than most babies his age but what is his size and then what he is actually suppose to be? I am just curious . .

Let me say that if you can build a house together etc ... But, shoot, you've got that licked with what you have been through with the little fella! He'll have so much fun helping you, too. With what you've been through, the remodel is doable. The GC job is time consuming, but it helps to have contracts and a great binder/organizer that never leaves your sight. Good sub-contractors are a blessing and your access to a contractor for advise will be great.

I'm not sure if you will have the same problems we had. We live in a very small community (p. 1200) with the closest town of 45,000 over 40 miles away and the "City" 75 miles away. Getting contractors to come this far was a huge struggle for us. Getting them to there on a schedule is tough. (i.e. I have a friend that is building their custom home but the builder keeps sending the crews to his "spec" homes because he is paying interest on the spec loans.)

We did our own plumbing, electrical and painting. Watch out for tool-fanatic husbands that "really, really need that tool and he'll get a lifetime of use out of it after the house is finished".

We don't regret building our own house at all. Yes, there were tears. I remember "What do you want me to do, baby". I remember trying to chose carpet, door-knobs, fixtures... all at the same time. The more of those that you can pick early into the job the easier your job will be.

I remember having the plumber, geo-thermal guys and lawn sprigging going on at the same time we were sitting on the new driveway watching custom cutters cutting our wheat thinking "will it never end" and "it will never be move-in day". It is worth it once it is done.

You go girl!

MasterS, Jesse is 15 months old and weighs 15lbs 10oz. An average child of his age should weigh around 24lbs. To be "on the charts" he'd need to weigh about 20lbs. He's 30" tall, which is in the 18th percentile, so he's somewhat short, but very skinny. He has a six pack abb, which hid dad and I both envy, but then again, babies aren't supposed to have defined muscle tone so I guess it's not such a good thing.

So the saga of the igloo...we had our "as proposed" apprasial done, and the appraiser gave us under 10% of the value of our investment in the remodel. He also gave us no extra credit for being lake front, and he pictures an entirely different home in the subject pictures section. The bank wants me to pay for this appraisal, but they've also offered to order another one. Danged greedy banke...oh wait I was one of those :p Anyhoo, it's frustrating because the sub contractors are lined up and ready to go and we're packed, living out of boxes, and now we're going to have to wait on yet another appraisal. Grrrrr

I suppose it can't be too easy huh? That would take all of the fun out of it.

Okie...I'm the one who always want's the tools :p so I may have to add in a contingeny amount for that heh heh My spousal unit has a thing for cooking gadgets, and at this point, he's changed the range set up 4 times, each time going up a couple thousand bucks. I don't think he can go higher, but I'm about to turn off the internet so he can't read any more on the darned things just in case!

I've done much of the shopping, from toilets to faucets, all of those are now sitting in the living room and the garage labeled for each of their locations. The bathtub is on it's way from Calilfornia, and the mirrors, sinks, etc., are all on their way or here. I have 90% of the lighting, and more sinks that we need (we took three trys to get the right bar sink). Now if I could just get the bank on line...sheesh :p

Returning from the to two freakin' feet of snow reminded me of you, Dawnie. How goes it? How's our boy doing? And how's the house coming along? Have we not heard from you because this time a contractor and not the moose cut the computer's lifeline? Hope all's well and we'll hear from you soon.

Honestly, I'm struggling with being at home and seeing my "old world" is kind of hard But I'll get over it.

And my remodel is turning out to be a 150% full time job! Who thought this was a good idea? :p

We are still trying to get started, after having a terrible appraisal and having to go and get another one on our own (because our banker was out of town and the dork he assigned us was too hard to work with). Yes I know I'll have to pay more, but I had to find someone who did difficult properties to get reasonable comparables. Sometimes I think it would be easier not to know what I'm doing when it comes to the darned banking stuff!

I need to take some time and set up the new lap top before Bertha (this computer) passes away for good. It took over a dozen tries to start her a few days ago, and the internet is so slow it's making me nuts to be on it. The CPU is always working at 100% for some odd reason. I think it needs to be shot...

While I am waiting, we spend every second packing or working on the remodel "Stuff". I'm restoring most of the antique lighting we're putting in, which is kind of fun, but takes time. I may become VP of lighting before the year is out.

The little guy is still struggling, which is why we are mentally as well. He seems to get really really sick at least once a month, losing all of the weight he gains each time. His little ammune system (I spelled that wrong) just does not seem to be up to par. I had a sit down with the doctor last week after another hospital stay and asked if I need to become a neurotic mother who runs around with sterile wipes and sanitizer spray for a while. He didn't endorse it entirely, but wasn't against it for a bit either. On the plus side, since this last hospital trip, the little guy is eating well again. I'll just hope it keeps up.

Did I mention how much I miss working! It was so much easier!!!

And that's the update for now....let's see if Bertha will let me post...

Glad to know you are still with us Dawnie. Sorry the little guy is still having problems. One of these days he will just decide he has had enough of this and eat everything in sight. I don't envy the remodeling project at all. I was so glad when mine was over. It drove me crazy and I wasn't nearly as involved in it as you are.

Hang in there. This too will come to an end, someday.

Yeah for Dawnie sightings!!!!

You are constantly in my thoughts, my friend. And you know, becoming that crazy and neurotic mother isn't so bad...

Thanks darlings I'll live eventually I guess. The appraisal did come in over my estimate (the new one) so we get to go forward (which is good news because I have about $50M worth of plumbing and fixtures sitting in the living room waiting to be installed).

Have those packages shown up yet Becca? Or that new baby boy? He's due any day isn't he?

He's set to make his grand entrance March 22.
No package yet...

I sent them via "slow boat to china" since they were heavy I had a bit more "stuff" than I originally thought. I just received an email from another shipper who received a package I sent the same day in today's email, so yours should be arriving soon (since they were on the same slow boat).

Let us know when he arrives. I'd love to hear some good news about the family since they're had a hard time lately!

The slow boat made it to Illinois!
Mandy just called me....

Hey Dawnie, for future reference, try FedEx - I shipped a big copy paper box for like $11 and it was supposed to land in 2 days (Becca, lmk if you hear about it.)

Oh never mind, FedEx says it was delivered at 1.30 this afternoon! (See another advantage, you get automatic tracking capability.)

Anyone heard from Dawnie lately? I've been thinking about her little one and hoping he's doing OK.

I have been thinking about her a lot too. I hope all is well with them.

Dawnie, you're little one wasn't the only one who had it bad this winter. I think it was just a bad year for flu and colds, and especially hard the the little ones. My great nephew, Chance, who will be 3 years old next month was sick every month this winter too. AND, he of course, shared it with Mom, G-Ma and Pa. Made me very glad to be down south!

So, I take it that no one has heard from Dawnie?

It's Spring...the igloo probably melted!

I can't imagine a remodel - I don't even like to move furniture!

Still no word from Dawnie? I only hope that no news is good news. If anyone has a way of contacting her, please let her know that someone_else is thinking of her.

I've been thinking about her too. Its been a long time since she's posted. I hope all is well.

"bump"

Bumping again as Kiwi and I were just wondering if anyone had heard from Dawnie lately.

I have been thinking about them a lot lately. I hope everything is ok.