OMG! It's really going to be a house!

Keep in mind, this has all happened since last Friday. We've had a lucky streak of gorgeous weather, and our contractors pulled together and really kicked ass!

By the end of last week, the foundation was filled in and the PEX tubing was laid.

The PEX tubing will carry warm water and heat the whole house and garage through the floor. The garage won't actually house cars for awhile... it will hold my printing equipment, so it will be nice to have a warm, dry place to print.

On Monday, Alchemy had the brown concrete pumped in over the PEX. They finished it to a nice smooth surface. (Thanks, Amy, for these brown concrete pics! I'm charging my camera battery more often now.)

That afternoon, they topped it with a cure mat and finished up the foundation in the garage.

Here's a closeup of the concrete color. Of course, it will look different on your computer monitor than it does in real life, but it gives you an idea. I think it looks like chocolate pudding.

On Wednesday morning, the regular old gray concrete floor was poured in the garage. I apologize for not getting Art, Eric and Mike's best sides, but they were hard at work and I didn't want to bother them anymore than I had to.

We put our hands in the concrete in the corner of the garage. Andy went first...

Then it was Ava's turn. She wouldn't flatten out her hand, so she left a paw print in the concrete. It's still pretty darn cute. (Thanks, Steve, for taking these photos while we wrestled the baby!)

I'd SO rather have my picture taken than touch this cold goopy stuff! Cheese!

I went last. It was fun, and it really gave me a sense of ownership. (That, and one of the guys called me "Boss" as I walked out there last week.)

The final prints. Set in stone. Yikes!

Dustin is happy to be working on the job site again...

...and so is Koa! Thursday, lumber was delivered and Adam and Dustin framed the south wall.

Today Adam and Dustin continued to frame, and as far as I could tell, they got the rest of the perimeter walls put up.

It's amazing how the feeling of the house has changed from stage to stage. When it was just a slab, it felt small. When the PEX was laid out, the wall layout had been spray painted on the floor and the house felt small. Now the real floor is in, some of the walls are up with doors and windows roughed in, and it feels bigger and livable. It's really going to start looking like our house soon! :)

9-month check-in.

That's right. Ava is a whopping 9 months old. It's hard to believe that she's already spent more time outside breathing air than she spent inside me. The pregnancy seemed to go so slowly, but infancy has just blown by.



She's still a bit big for her age, but her growth is starting slow a bit, as babies do around this age. We bought a bigger car seat and we'll probably have to switch to it soon. Ava hasn't yet pulled herself up to sitting in her co-sleeper, though there's nothing stopping her. She can do it on the floor rather easily. So, we're shopping around for a crib. Next week I go back to work 4 days a week, so we're also looking for a Thursday-Friday care provider. It is not an easy process. There are lots of things going on these days.

In the two weeks following Christmas, Ava figured out how to:
- wave (at everything and everyone)
- clap (often after waving because she's so proud of herself for waving)
- play peekaboo (she holds the blanket up and down in front of her own face)
- pick up and eat solid food (with fingers, not utensils)
- notice her shadow
- crawl! (truly, on all fours, and she gets faster everyday)
- say lots of fun babbly things (dat, dot, dis, ath, ma, da, ba, ga, na and more)
- trill her R's (see video for clarification, it's hilarious)

PROGRESS!

Ava's been on the job site again, this time, she made sure Alchemy was doing everything according to her liking. They're doing the foundation, radiant heat and colored concrete floor.

As you can see, the weather was still nasty when they poured the concrete for the stem wall. (That's the perimeter of the foundation.)

I spread grass seed and then Art and I sprinkled straw over the whole front yard area. Erosion control. Silly, since the lot is almost flat, but it's what the county requires...

The concrete set overnight, and they pulled the forms off and began to fill in the foundation with various sizes of gravel.

Then they covered that gravel with plastic sheeting, and the plastic got covered with sand.

They used two little Bobcat tractors to help backfill and infill. After the sand, a layer of rigid foam insulation went on, then rebar, then they'll attach the PEX tubing to the rebar. The PEX tubing is where the warm water will flow to heat the house. Then Monday they'll pour brown colored concrete on top and finish it until it's nice and smooth ,and that will be the finished floor surface inside the house. All I have to say is, "hallelujah, the weather has been so nice all week and should be good enough to finish the foundation off on Monday!"

Ava and Art are pretty happy about it, too.

Ava and dogs.

My friend Kerri's dog, Sofie Lou, is a sweetheart, but she's not sure what to make of Ava.

Kerri and I went shopping and found this adorable and super friendly Italian Greyhound in a little clothing boutique.


This Boston Terrier puppy wanted to nibble on Ava's toes. I'm sure Ava would have nibbled on the puppy's toes if it had stayed still long enough.

Oh, and Ava likes cats, too. Likes to grab them and yank on their fur. So they usually don't stick around for pictures.

Selected Christmas photos.

This is going to have to be a "mostly pics post" because there are lots of photos, not much time to write captions, and my fingers are too cold to type! For lots of Christmas pics, visit our Flickr site.

This is just before my mom and brother ended their Christmas visit with us. (The restaurant was out of high chairs.) We were all really glad they came up for the holiday and glad Cal won their bowl game.

My good friend, Wendy, lives in Germany. She sent these adorable tights and the cutest hat over for Ava. Thanks, Wenner!

Art got a kick out of Ava enjoying the wrapping paper more than the gift. :)

Ava and Aunt Sheri finally met!