HaleyLooking back at the end of last week, I now realize just how much was accomplished at our new house. James’ mom came up Wednesday late afternoon and stayed until Friday morning. Then my mom tag-teamed in Friday morning and stayed until Saturday evening. And on Sunday afternoon our friend Chris Bair offered his handyman skills to round out our constant help for four straight days.
I am hoping to never move again while pregnant, but if I get into a situation where I don’t have a choice, having help is huge. I can never describe how grateful I am for these three people who selflessly volunteered to get their hands dirty and help us get settled.
We tackled so many projects during those four days and worked hard while still tending to James Michael, who woke up with a fever Thursday morning, and, as it turned out, came down with Strep Throat. But after his fever subsided, he was his happy, normal, crazy self and used his tools in the toolbox he got like daddy’s on Father’s Day to really lend a hand.
Between both grandmas, Chris Bair and me and James, we…
- cleaned all the cabinets of the mess the granite guys made when removing our laminates
- cleaned our hardwoods downstairs
- organized everything piled upon our dining room table into our buffet table (including washing the two dozen drinks glasses)
- finished assembling the two master bedroom Ikea dressers
- unpacked all of James Michael’s clothes and organized his closet
- purchased a patio set and umbrella and put together the patio table
- swapped out clothes dryer with our old one and changed out the dryer plug
- recovered the breakfast room table chairs with new fabric
- hung a ton of huge living room wall art
- dug up a magenta hydrangea and replanted
- planted flowers in the front yard and in deck pots
- trimmed all of the bushes and trees in the front and back yards
- cut down large weeds in front and back yards and removed as much ivy as possible
- hung wall art in other rooms throughout the house
- updated air filter setup upstairs
- hung master bedroom curtains
- installed guest room ceiling fan
- replaced nursery light fixture
- installed top of stairs baby gate
- replaced half of brass door knobs
- hung hooks in laundry room
And I still managed to make some yummy dinners for our guests:
- chicken and stir fry veggies with Thai peanut sauce
- pot roast using our grassfed beef with sweet potatoes and onions
- grassfed burgers topped with sauteed onions, homemade sweet potato fries, mega salad and paleo peach crisp
- breakfast casserole
And of course we squeezed in lots of fun with James Michael as we were stuck around the house most of the time.
And there is still a ton to do, it feels like. But we’ve knocked out a lot of the big stuff. On the list for the next couple weeks (or maybe months!) is:
- Grout where backsplash meets granite
- Install bottom of stairs retractable baby gate
- Install wire conduits for mounted TV
- Install guest bathroom hardware
- Install rest of updated door knobs
- Schedule painter to strip downstairs half bath wallpaper and paint
- Update living room wall art more to my aesthetic
- Create pallet art to go above master bedroom bed
- Update bathroom fixtures and shower kits from brass to brushed nickel
- Replace door stoppers
- Organize James’ office
- Refinish and/or paint dining room table set and recover chair seat fabric
- Install dining room curtains
- Refinish and stain back deck
- Paint laundry room
- Paint garage
- Figure out how to set up garage fridge and deep freezer with only one existing plug nearby
- Decorate and personalize James Michael’s room
- Hang wall art in nursery
- Organize garage so that both cars can be parked inside, this includes garage gym equipment
- Hire someone to fix gutters and small roof issue
- Install new air filter setup downstairs
- Clean blinds
- Repair outside fence gate
If somehow you made it to the bottom of this post, then I applaud you. Luckily for you, it doesn’t include the list of stuff we tackled the first 2.5 weeks in our new house 🙂
