Pirate Dinner Show

We went to a Pirate Dinner Show last night and had a blast! At first we were going to Medieval Times but we thought that Ben would have more fun at the Pirate one. I am so glad that we did because Ben had a blast. We were seated in the Purple pirates section so we were on the purple team.


The Purple Pirate!

The food was amazing too. We were served a salad first, and we had ordered the chicken as our main entree. I thought that it would just be a chicken leg but holy crap the chicken portion was HUGE! It was seriously like half a chicken. We were all starving so we had no problem finishing it. The dessert was really yummy too, apple pit with ice cream! Ethan slept for the first five minutes of the show, but five minutes in some gun shooting started and woke him up. I thought the loud noise was going to upset him, but he did really well. He was so interested in all of the lights :-) Towards the end of the show a man came up and asked Guy if he would like to help with the show. He was didn't want to, but my mom and I talked him into it lol. It was so funny they put a pirate hat on him, and a pirate vest lol.


Guy carrying the booty to be put on the pirate ship

He helped bring some booty in and put it on the pirate ship. He was so embarrassed but Ben had fun seeing his dad up on the ship.


He was all smiles lol

It was a cute story line too, and they had a guy and girl do this ariel fabric performance and it was absolutely beautiful. I had seen them on you tube and TV before but never in person. I never realized just how much muscle strength you need to have to be able to do something like that. I would love to see a show that was all about ariel fabric because it is simply beautiful. I wish I would have taken some pictures of it but I was so focused that I forgot to lol. I can't wait to go again with Ethan is a little older I know he will have just as much as Ben did.


Ben and Mommy with the Purple Pirate!


Daddy and Ben


Grandma and Ethan

Road Trip

Last Saturday my mom, husband, the boys and I loaded up in a rented mini van and started our drive to California. I was nervous traveling with a 6 week old, and had no idea what to expect. Well it didn't turn out as horrible as I thought it would be. The first day of travel was actually pretty good. Ethan and Ben both slept a lot! Only when we were two hours from Richfield UT, did things get a little complicated. We left Denver at 6am and got into Richfield at 4pm, I think we made good timing really. We wanted to be on the road again by 6am on Sunday morning (so we didn't hit all that traffic from Vegas to the California border), but when the alarm went off at 530am we were all so tired that we shut it off and slept till 830 am lol. We were on the road by 10am. This travel day was HORRIBLE! Ben was no tired at all so he was very cranky, and not to mention that he was starting to get sick, and sitting in a car seat is not the most comfortable thing to sit in when you don't feel good. Ethan must have hit his 6 weeks growth spurt because he was drinking so much! I was miserable because I had to keep going to the back of the van, and squeeze myself between the two car seats which was very uncomfortable. Unfortunately because our lazy butts didn't leave when we wanted we hit horrible traffic from Vegas to the California state line. We didn't get in until almost 8pm. I was SO thankful to get out of that van. The boys were pretty happy about it too. Overall the trip really wasn't that bad, however, I will think twice the next time we decide to drive over 1000 miles with two little ones. :-)

Introducing Ethan Leigh Pierce

I have had quite a few people ask me about Ethan's birth story, so I figured I would put it in a note so everyone who wanted to see it could... Anyways my story started on Thursday night (1/12/12) around 7:30pm. Guy, Ben and I were on our way to eat at the Yard House when I started to feel some painful contractions. They weren't that bad at first, but half way through dinner I started having to really concentrate to get through them. We had planned on walking around the mall after dinner (to help bring labor on), but my contractions were too painful so we just went home. I wasn't convinced I was in labor yet so we decided to watch a movie. After the movie my contractions were still coming about every five minutes so I decided to call the on-call doc. They wanted me to come in to get checked. This was about 12 am on Friday morning, we dropped Ben off at my mother-in-laws and headed to the hospital. When I got there they hooked me up to the monitors my contractions had gotten irregular and were about 7 mins apart and I was only 2cm and 70% effaced. They were going to let me labor for a couple of hours and check me again to see if I was making any progress. She told me that they would put me back on the monitor for 15 mins and after 15 mins would check me. Well in the 1 hour and 30 minutes (not two hours) that they did let me labor, my contractions were regulating and were five minutes apart. When the nurse came in I specifically told her that my contractions had gotten regular at five minutes apart last about 45-60 secs. She NEVER put me back on the monitor like she she said she would, she just said "oh ok well lets just check you and see if you have changed at all". She checked me and I was I was still the same no change at all. She said "well ok I will go get your discharge papers". I was extremely frustrated at this point, because these contractions HURT! She didn't give me the full two hours like she said she was going to, and she also never put me back on the monitors like she said she was going to do. (Let me add that with Ben when I was in the first stages of labor it took me 8 1/2 hours to go from 1/2-1 1/2 cm) The nurse came to give me discharge papers, and this is when I started to doubt myself. The nurse made me feel like a complete idiot. She told me that this was just "Prodromal labor" and that this can go on for days, I just needed to go home and wait it out, and don't come back till you can't breath through the contractions and they are five minutes apart for at least two hours. Great well, I already couldn't breath through them so I must just be an idiot who didn't know the difference between false and real labor. The entire time she was telling me this she had a very sarcastic tone, she actually seemed annoyed with me because I was a second time mom. Didn't I remember any of this? blah... Anyways we got home around 430 am, the contractions were still present, they hadn't gotten any worse though. I tried to sleep but couldn't because these "false" contractions were painful as hell. Guy went off to work, and I was so frustrated because I was exhausted, still having "false" contractions, and now I had to try and take care of Ben all day. Again, the nurse had me convinced that I was just an idiot and that I wasn't in labor so I didn't even think twice about calling anyone to come help me with Ben. Ben finally went down for a nap around two, I was so happy because I was going to try and nap too. Ha ha this is when I should have listened to my body and not some bitchy nurse. My contactions were still about five minutes apart, but now they were starting to last about 1:15-1:30 long. The night before the nurse told me not to come in again till my contractions were 5 mins apart for more then two hours (well they had been 5 mins apart (except for when I first go there) for about six hours when she told me that...) I wanted to go back in to get checked but again, that damn nurse had me convinced that this wasn't real labor. I text Guy at two and tell him that the contractions are starting to hurt more, but that I don't know if I should go in or not yet. For all I knew it was all just in my mind because I had been having them for over 20 hours at that point. Four comes around and now they are about 3-4 mins apart lasting 1:30. I call Guy tell him he needs to come home because I can barely move they hurt so bad. He leaves and when five hits I was completely terrified. I had been crying so hysterically because I was in so much pain, that I woke Ben up. The contractions were coming fast and hard now about two mins apart lasting 1:30, Ben was freaking out because I was crying, I didn't know what to do. I went to the bathroom and there was BRIGHT red blood, I started to panic. I remember when I was in labor with Ben that when the nurse checked me and saw bright red blood that I was 7cm dilated. Guy still wasn't home and I was starting to panic. I was either going to call 911 or my friend Karlee. I made the decision to call Karlee first because she was close and could be here in ten minutes or so, I was hysterical when she answered crying I told her that she needed to come get Ben, she told me that she was on her way and that everything was going to be ok. I was so relieved when Guy got home it was about 6:10ish (I think), but still completely terrified, because I now had TONS of pressure in pelvic region. Karlee showed up five minutes after Guy, got Ben, and we were off. I seriously thought I was going to die, that was the longest car ride of my entire life. We finally get to the hospital, Guy wheels me up. They get me into a room and at this point I am SCREAMING for an epidural! I wanted to go natural so badly, but I was exhausted and the pain was so intense that I completely caved. Guy kept asking me "are you sure? I know you really wanted to go natural" I told him no that I needed it. I am so lucky to have him he was so supportive of my last minute decision. They had to check me first before they could give me the epidural. I was 8cm, 100% effaced and Ethan was at +1 station. The first thing I asked (ok screamed) was "Can I still get the epdiural?!". The nurse said yes you can, but she also said that if they were to break my water labor would move very quickly, he would be out in minutes and the pain would go away. Guy again asked me if I was sure about the epidural and I said yes that I was sure. They started an IV and five minutes later the anesthisologist came in, ten minutes later the epidural was in. Once the epi was in they gave the epi five minutes to start working. I called my sister and got her on Skype. My mom, Gina, and Cayla were all on there way and I was hoping that the time it took to get me the epi was going to be enough time so they could all make it. Then the doc came in and broke my water. The next contraction sent me to 10cm! The doc got dressed, and two pushes later my sweet little Ethan was here at 7:56pm. Weighing 6lbs 11.4oz and 19 inches long!



Gina walked in right as I was starting the second push. Unfortunately Cayla missed it, only by a few minutes too, because she said that when she pulled into the parking lot her clock said 7:56 :(. My mom missed it as well she too was pulling into the parking lot as he was being born. This killed me the most! My mom had missed Ben's labor too because she was at the airport going out of town. It kills me that she missed it when she was in town. All because I let someone get to me so much that I doubted myself. I will forever regret NOT listening to my body, if I had, everyone who I really wanted to be there would have. I am however very thankful that I had such a smooth delivery, and that Ethan had no problems with his blood sugar. I am also thankful that I was able to keep my Gestational Diabetes under such great control that he was not a big baby at all. In fact I carried him a week and four days longer then I did with Ben, and he was smaller then Ben was. My biggest overall lesson that I learned from all of this is to ALWAYS trust your body! You know your body better than anyone else does.

Ethan, Mommy, and Daddy


Daddy, Ethan, and Big Brother Ben


Daddy and Ethan

Yes I am still alive

My last post I talked about how I had been accepted into a nursing program and how worried I was about not being able to do it. Well everything worked out in the end, like it always does. God always comes through for me. I hadn't been able to post at all because if I wasn't studying for a test I was either watching Ben, working, or at clinicals. Yes I did have the summer of 2011 off I thought about starting the blog back up then, however shortly into my break I found out I was pregnant! So everytime I got a minute to myself I would lay down and take a nap. Now that I have successfully completed the nursing program, I feel like I will have more time to keep up with this blog. :-)

Good/Bad News

I have been accepted into the Nursing Program. I am excited, nervous, anxious, all of those normal things that come with something so life changing. I hope and pray that I am up for the challenge. It is not going to be easy financially. I will have to work Part Time, which means I am going to loose my benefits including Health Insurance, which also means that naturally my checks are going to be cut in half. This scares me I have no idea what we are going to do; Ben can not be with out Health Insurance. My husband is trying to find a job that has benefits, but lets face the facts, he has been trying to a good job for the last four years now with out any luck; so I am being completely honest when I saw that I am stressed to the max right now. I know that if this is what God wants me to do than everything will work itself out. I just hate not knowing what is going to happen. I want to go to be a nurse not only because it is a dream of mine, but because I know that I would be able to provide a good life for Ben. I want to be able to give him everything that my parents were able to give me. If I can't do this program, I can't see myself ever being able to provide for him the way my parents did for me. Being an adult is extremely frustrating at times... I find myself bursting into tears a lot lately. I hate feeling so weak, that I am letting such mundane things take control of my life. I wish I was stronger. Everyone is always telling me that I am strong person, because of how much I have already gotten through. The truth is, I am not as strong as everyone makes me seem to be. How could I be when I let all these stupid little things completely take over my life? I pray that God helps me to not be so vulnerable. I want to be that girl who see's a challenge or an obstacle and walks right through it with her head held high, instead of running away like a scared little girl who ends up feeling sorry for herself. I am not going to get any where in life with that kind of attitude! Ridiculous how I know all this; but yet here I sit with a box of tissue's to my left, and a stack of Oreo's to my right.... ::sigh::

Um long time no post...

Geeze I can not believe that is has been nine months since I have posted a new blog... My only excuse is that being a new mommy is a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. Not to mention some pretty difficult things happened after Ben was born... I went into to a deep depression and cut myself off from the world. Probably not the best thing to do, but I thought that it was going to help me. I feel like I am starting to get back to my normal self now... I know I still have a little ways to go until I can say that I am fully myself again, but I feel like starting my blog back up is a step in the right direction. So how do you sum up 9 months. Well lets start with Ben... Ben is amazing; he is the joy of my life. I seriously don't know how I ever lived with out him! He is growing so fast, everyday he seems to change and grow. He just recently got his first tooth! I didn't think he could get any cuter but I was wrong when he smiles now and I see that little tooth it just makes my day. It is SO darn cute! He is so mobile now, he wants to walk so bad. So of course he is a little dare devil and falls a lot. I can't believe he is going to be one in two months! This past year has gone by so fast, I wish there was a way I could slow it down! As for me I am ok, I am exhausted 99% of the time! I work nights at a nursing home as a CNA I do 12 hour shifts. It is exhausting work! Not to mention when you work at night (or at least this is how it is for me) you don't get much sleep during the day. My mom has been my life savor and watches Ben for me so I can get at least five hours of sleep before I have to go back to work. But I can't bug her all the time so some days I up for 32 hours before I get sleep! Like Monday for example I was up for 31 hours before I was able to get some sleep. I honestly don't know how much longer I am going to be able to physically do this. I keep praying and hoping that my husband will be able to find a better job so that I can stop working nights and just got to part time. I also just found out that I have been accepted into the a nursing program. So we can only hope and pray that my husband can find a better job soon because once I start nursing school I am not going to be able to work full time or nights anymore. I am pretty scared to be honest. I have wanted to be a nurse for a very long time, I know that if this is what God wants for me that I will be able to go to school and still be able to pay all of our bills. Well I think that has it for now, I will post again soon.

Always,
Trista

Ben's 1 month old photo shoot!

Birth Story

My birth story starts on Friday June 19th. DH and I were at my BIL's commissioning ceremony into the Marine Core, when I started to have a lot of cramping and back pain. The chairs at the ceremony were really uncomfortable and I thought that was why I was so crampy... So I went to sit in the car. The cramping got a little better. After the ceremony everyone was going to go to Olive Garden to celebrate. We got to Olive Garden (this was about 8:30ish), sat down and ordered our drinks. Our friend was talking to DH asking him far a long I was. DH told him she is exactly 37 weeks today. Our friend than said oh wow so you could have that baby any day now! Literally two mins later, I felt a pop and than a small warm gush. I didn't know what it was and my eyes got really big. My sister saw my sudden reaction and asked if I was OK. I told her yes that I think I need to go to the bathroom when I went to stand up I felt another gush. I knew than that it was my water. My DH and I kinda just froze lol and looked at my mom. She told DH to get up and go get the car, I went to stand up to walk out and another huge gush came out. So my mom wheeled me in the olive garden chair!! LOL SO embarrassing, every person who looked at us funny my mom told them my water had just broke lol. So we get in the car I call my OB, and he tells me to head to the hospital. We stopped by the house real quick cuz we had nothing with us. When I got to the hospital, they confirmed it was my water that broke, and hooked me up to the monitors. When I got there I was 1 1/2 cm and at Zero station. My labor starting to get pretty intense. I had HORRIBLE back labor! It was the worst feeling ever, my contractions were about every two mins apart, so I wasn't getting that much of a break between contractions... after 7 1/2 hours of no pain meds what so ever and only making it to 2cm I caved and got the epi. The epi than slowed my labor so much that they started me on pitocin; this allowed me to dilate but the epi did not take away all of the pain in my back. Around 3:00 in the afternoon I had made it to 9cm. But the epi had completely warn off in my back. Ben was also sunny side up. They gave me some different kind of drugs in my IV in hopes of taking away the back pain. It went away a little but not completely. By 3:45 I was to 10cm and +2 station; and miraculously Ben had turned so he wasn't sunny side up anymore. The nurse had me do a practice push, and than started to set everything up for delivery. After my first real push she called my OB in for delivery. My OB came in and after three rounds of pushing, my ob had me doing half pushes and stopping; at the very end he told me to reach down put my hands under Ben's arms and pull him out. I did! It was the most amazing feeling ever!! I got to pull him up and put him on my chest! My doc said he was very impressed with my delivery. I only had first degree tear and I only pushed for eight minutes! Benjamin Charles was born at 4:08pm 7lbs 4.3oz 19 3/4inches long! I am so thankful to God and to all of our friends and family who had us in their prayers! God is amazing! Other than a little jaundice Ben seems to be doing great.

Benjamin Charles is HERE!!

Here are some pics of baby Ben! Also some pics of me and DH... labor is not easy so I will tell you I do not look my best lol

I am exhausted

Yesterday around 3pm, my contractions (that I have on a daily basis) started to get out of control. So I took another procardia (I take them every four hours), and tried to go to sleep. Well when seven came around the contractions which were not stopping were now about every three mins apart. So I took another procardia and decided to wait another hour to see if they would stop. Well when eight came around and they weren't stopping that's when I decided to call the doctor, of course he told me to head to L&D. DH wasn't home so I waited twetny mins for him to get home and we were off. When we got to L&D they were still three mins apart. They weren't registering that intense on the monitors so the nurse went to go call the doc with an update. Go figure when she left my contractions went to every two mins and the were pretty intense. So they decided to give me a shot of terbutaline. It was almost instant ten mins after the shot the contractions had stopped. Once it started to tapper off though the contracts started up again so they had me take another one of my procardia at 11 and than I got another shot or terb. Of course the terb was able to stop them again, so around 1:30 they decided to discharge me and before I left they gave me an oral form of terb. I am still on the procardia but now have an oral form of terb with me as well. I am so exhausted terb makes your heart beat race and make you feel so jittery (sp?). 36 weeks is still the cut off date for my anti-contraction meds, but doc told me that if this happens again at 35 weeks he is not going to stop it. I am trying to cope with the fact that Ben is going to be here early and will not make it to his due date. I am just now trying to fight as hard as I can to keep him till 36 weeks! Thank you again for all of your prayers!

31 weeks

Total Weight Gain/Loss- Ahh well at my docs app I was 142.... so I have gained almost 40 pounds and I will be honest I am freaking out. It's not like I am eating unhealthy, but for some reason I am just gaining weight like crazy. Once again my doc isn't worried in the beginning he told me he wanted me gain any where from 45-50 pounds but I will be honest I NEVER thought I would gain that much.... YIKES! It's all for a good cause I know!

Stretch marks - Nope none yet! ::knocks on wood::

Sleep - Sleep is very very difficult! I have sciatica which is very very painful, so sleep is kinda poopy right now but its ok. :)

Best moment this week - Having my sister feel him kick for the first time!

Movement - Yes yes it feels like he is having a party in there sometimes. I am starting to feel knees and elbows now too!

Food cravings - I have been craving a lot of cheese and rice lol

Belly button - It's sticking out! : )

What I miss - Nothing!

Milestones - Just making it another week! Thank you GOD!! And thank you ladies for all the continued prayers!

31 weeks and 5 day belly pic

31 weeks and 5 days

Just a comparison here is my belly at 20 weeks what a difference 11 weeks makes!

Retaining Wall

I don't know if any of you remember but about a month and a half ago someone ran into our retaining wall with their car. Well thankfully their insurance company did cover the cost of replaces the retaining wall. We finally got it fixed yesterday and it looks amazing!

The retaining wall when the car hit it

The retaining wall with the car pulled out


New retaining wall

29 Weeks

Total Weight Gain/Loss- Well at my OB on monday I was 138.... So I have gained 35lbs! OB is not worried and he is actually very happy with my weight gain.

Stretch marks - Nope none yet! ::knocks on wood::

Sleep - Sleep is really hard, I can not get comfortable most of the nights so I sleep for an hour of two than wake up and try to get comfortable again. But it's all worth it!

Best moment this week - Just feeling him move is amamzing!

Movement - Yes yes it feels like he is having a party in there sometimes. I am starting to feel knees and elbows now too!

Food cravings - Deli Meat!

Belly button - It's sticking out! : )

What I miss - Nothing!

Milestones - Just making it another week! Thank you GOD!! And thank you ladies for all the continued prayers!

Long time no see..

I am a horrible blogger. So to catch up real quick. Last Tuesday night I had to go to L&D again because I could not get the contractions to stop. We were there for five hours. Man I don't know what is wrong with me, I feel like I am already failing as a mother cuz I keep having all of these problems. I just want to be able to keep him in the longest so I can give him a fighting chance. I am so scared of going in to premature labor... Anywho I had a follow up on Monday, he said did an ultrasound and said that cervix was "ok". He said my restrictions are still the same no sex, lots of rest when I am at home, and to drink lots of water. My appointments are now every two weeks because he wants to monitor me more closely. I am now on procardia for the rest of the pregnancy. I am completely stressed out because of the house stuff that we have to get done before he gets here. I just don't see how we can do it! Or should I say DH, cuz I honestly can't help that much! I just need to pray about it, cuz I know it will all work itself out in the end. On another note one of my friends had her baby on Sunday. She had her on her actual due date! Her baby is really cute! Seeing DH hold a new born is still funny, he tenses up and he kept saying I don't want to break her lol. It was cute. Tomorrow we are getting the new retaining wall put in, hopefully everything goes smoothly with that! I will put updated pics of the retaining wall when they are done! Thanks again ladies for all of your continued prayers and support! You don't know how much DH and I appreciate it!

28 Weeks

Total Weight Gain/Loss- Not sure I haven't weighed myself in a couple weeks

Stretch marks - Nope none yet! ::knocks on wood::

Sleep - I am starting to have to pee A LOT again, so I am not getting much sleep as I was the past couple of weeks- still the same as last week

Best moment this week - DH getting to baby P dance around in my belly

Movement - Yes yes it feels like he is having a party in there sometimes.

Food cravings - Kraft Mac N Cheese!

Belly button - It's sticking out!

What I miss - Nothing!

Milestones - Just making it another week! Thank you GOD!! And thank you ladies for all the continued prayers!

27 week belly pic

Full Body pic stupid rain made my hair go flat! Happy Easter!!!

Bare Belly

27 Weeks

Total Weight Gain/Loss- Well I haven't weighed myself but I am pretty sure I weigh 133 or something so that puts me at 30lbs so far.... But who know cuz I haven't weighed myself

Stretch marks - Nope none yet! ::knocks on wood::

Sleep - I am starting to have to pee A LOT again, so I am not getting much sleep as I was the past couple of weeks

Best moment this week - Getting the baby shower invites done!

Movement - Yea he is still my little dance machine.

Food cravings - Honestly my food cravings have all gone out the window as it is hard for me to eat anything since my heart burn is acting up so much.

Belly button - Starting to stick out even more

What I miss - Nothing!

Milestones - Just making it another week! Thank you GOD!! And thank you ladies for all the continued prayers!

This house hates us!!!

Every single time we have ever tried to a SIMPLE project, the "simple" project turns into a major wreck.. For example our cousin was coming to live with us; and we needed to paint the room that he was going to live in because it used to a children's room and had a mountain scene painted around the whole room. So we bought primer and white paint... Well we put the first coat of primer on and the paint that was already on the wall just sucked it right up it looked like we hadn't done anything! So we put a second coat on and this one kinda started to cover it. Once we were getting ready to put the third coat on my mil noticed that the paint was bubbling! Huh?!?! The next thing I know she is starts to paint on a wall that had no bubbling and as she rolled not only was the previous two coats coming off but the paint that was originally on the wall was coming off!!! Ahh!!! The enitre room ended up peeling!!! See pic below

Than what was underneath the lovely mountain scene that was peeling off a bright YELLOW wall!! Lets just saw a $125 dollar project turned into a $600 project by the time we were all done!! That is just one example...
Fast forward to our most recent project.. Putting new trim up (took all the old trim off to finish the floors) and new door frames and doors... This should be a "simple" project right? LOL no! As my husband was taking trim off in the bathroom what did he discover BLACK mold!!! GREAT!!! So now instead of fixing up the bathroom next year which we had planned on cuz we can't afford to fix the bathroom right now. We have NO choice but to fix the bathroom now as black mold is TOXIC! So now not only does Guy have to finish the back room (which entails finishing the mudding and taping, laying down the laminate hard wood floors, texturing the walls, painting the walls, and adding new trim), now he gets to completely gut the bathroom all the way down to sub-floors (we aren't taking any chances with this black mold) and re-do the bathroom. Oh and we also have to texture and paint the baby room and the hallway as well. And this all needs to be done in 13 weeks... Here is the part where I start laughing than crying! I feel bad because I can't help DH with much, he has some friends helping him but for the most part this is all on his own! He is SO stressed and I feel so bad for him! I know God will get us through this as he always does. But man I swear this house HATES us and just does not want to be fixed up at ALL!!! On the positive side of all of this after the bathroom is done the only thing that Guy and I have left to update is the kitchen and than the inside of this house will be completely re-modeled!!! If you guys could say a prayer for us that all of this can get done before the baby gets here especially the bathroom as it is DANGEROUS for a newborn, Guy and I would really appreciate it!!! : )

Our House

Wow! Ok so when we bought this house we knew it would be a project house. So far we have re-done the sewer, finished the hard wood floors, added knock down to the front room, and master bedroom (painted those rooms as well), got new front and back doors, re-roofed our back side of the house, and completely re-did our back room (well it's almost done). Our back room used to be two rooms. But it had no over head lighting and no heat! Yes it has a fire place but the fire place does not have a blower on it so that room was FREEZING in the winter time. So we knocked the wall down to make it one big room. The did not have dry wall in that room except for one wall. They had this ugly wood paneling so we took it all down, took all of the drywall off of the ceiling cuz there was water damage.Took all the carpet up cuz it was red and gross. So we added canned lighting, we added a heater for that side of the house. So far we have all of the new dry wall up we still are the in the process of mudding and taping this room is HUGE. But should be done with that in the next couple of weekends. Than we can knockdown that back room, add our laminate hard wood flooring, and add the trim. Than the only thing left in that back room will be the marble for the fireplace and the new mantel.
All of roots that were getting into the old clay pipe sewer line

Starting to dig up the sewer

The entire sewer dug up and taken out

The new sewer in

Me helping to cover up the sewer line

We also added a clean sweep as well

Starting to sand the floors

Floors completely sanded

Floors finsihed!

Another pic of the finished floors!

Starting to take down the wall separating the two rooms

The ugly wood paneling that was through out the whole room

My hubby goofing off

The ceiling exposed showing all of the old nasty insulation

The fire place with all the old brick

Starting to knock the brick down

All the brick almost off

No more brick

Adding the canned lighting

Adding the new insulation

Putting the dry wall up on the ceiling

Dry wall almost all up

Almost done


These are all the pics I have so far! I will post more when we are finished! But last night we went to lowes and we bought all new trim for the whole house, new door for every room and the laminate floors! We hope to have it all done very soon!