Year of the Monkey.

So, happy LATE New Year and Happy ON TIME Chinese New Year! It’s been awhile since I have posted any updates on our house. I was on bedrest from October to December and had no motivation to do any of the things I had on my to-do-list of “awesome things to get accomplished while on bedrest.” I am very confident about getting things done in 2016. After all is my year: Year of the Monkey!

2015 was a great, jam packed year for us. I just realized today that I had also gallbladder surgery in January followed by a new job. That should have been an indication of how busy and crazy 2015 was going to be for us. Then came surgery for Matthew followed by bedrest for me. And believe it or not it has gotten crazier, but way more fun with the arrival of our little Elijah. He is a little over 2 months old now, born on December 18th, and we couldn’t be more excited to watch him grow each day. He has cheeks and lashes for days and is constantly kicking which is no change from inside the womb. I think it was all the soccer I watched while pregnant! Since his birth I have decided to also use the blog as an online scrapbook for both our babies (the house and Elijah) and you will be able to watch them both grow!

We are coming upon a year since we purchased the house in March 2015 and the progress we have made is amazing even though it taking longer than we anticipated, but to be expected with one amazing dude doing all the work himself. I am so thankful Matthew shares the love of preserving and restoring the old just like I do. Matthew has been working hard to get us in by the end of March and I am confident we will be! Of course we will be working on things once we move in, making everything look pretty now that the bulk of the hard stuff is over. Probably take another 6 months of work to be where we want it, but that is the fun part. And I’m sure we will always be busy making some improvements and adding different things here and there. Are you ever really done?

Progress recently made:

Running water and working lights!
Wood floor hand scraped, plank by plank, and put back into place in the kitchen. Needs to be stained.
Kitchen cabinets installed ready to be painted. Some had to be reworked.
Farmhouse Sink purchased and set in the cabinet ready to be hooked up to the
water lines.
2 working bathrooms! Upstairs bathroom and Powder Room under the stairs.
HVAC installed by Matthew (what can’t he do??)
Both fireplaces closed up!
Plaster cracks in the Dining Room, Kitchen and Staircase repaired.
Front door purchased.
All lights purchased except for the Powder room under the stairs. (pics coming soon)

Next up cleaning and painting! I am so excited to actually be able to help since I couldn’t do much while prego! Some updated pics below!