In Which We Get Some Help (Actually A LOT Of Help)

The rest of July brought much progress, and many visitors - helpful visitors! Mom (Jan), Marty and Kay (henceforth known as the Kuderling girls) came, as did John and his roommate Dan and Dan's girlfriend Kim (henceforth known as the Phoenix Crew), as did Kelley from Denver (there's only one of her, so I'll just call her Kelley), mostly to help with projects on the house, and partly to join us for the Baby Stogner Celebration! And also to squeeze in a little bit of tourist-ing around in the mountains, not to mention a few rounds of dominoes and Up and Down the River. Which turned into Don't Get Flushed Down the Toilet by the end of the week.

So, to the house. Before everyone got here, we decided it was finally time to replace the ladder leading to the second floor with temporary stairs - oh, the luxury of NOT having to climb that ladder one more time.

The first order of business was for Sarah and the Kuderling girls to fill in fire stops in the first floor ceiling. Fun with nail guns and saws!

And Marty and Kay took on the messy, but quick, job of staining the fascia boards - thank you!

Next order of business was a perfect job for us girls - walk around the second floor to determine whether or not the layout was going to make a bathroom of adequate size. After much discussion and some laying out of 2x4s to approximate tubs and vanities, we decided that it would be fine. So, time to build some interior walls.

We managed to get two up the first day, giving us a great idea of what the spaces were eventually going to look like - VERY exciting!

After that, it was time for the second tier of house wrap, where having all those hands came in REALLY handy. We stationed people in every window on the second floor to support the entire length of house wrap while Sean ran around and stapled like a madman, supported (literally) by Dan and John and Sarah. Worked like a charm!

We managed to squeeze in a (very!) few minutes for the Kuderling girls to do some biking and sightseeing:

And a trip to the Farmer's Market for lunch:

But soon it was back to our slave-driving ways - time for a bathroom wall...

... and to build some windows:

Then we were blessed and thrilled to be joined by our friends and family at the Baby Stogner Celebration - thank you SO much, Anna and Kaycee and everyone who came to play! What a great day, and a great way to celebrate this new little guy...

What's a Baby Stogner Celebration without a few bottles of Baby Maker's?

And a peanut gallery to "awwwww" VERY sincerely as each gift was opened:

The girls even remembered the pinata!

And then everybody went home, to Wisconsin, and L.A., and Phoenix, and Seattle, and it was back to the - much lonelier - jobsite for us. But what a great week!

Next up on the agenda - an actual roof. Made of metal! But first, Sean had to finish putting up the lookouts and the newly-stained fascia board. At least the climbing equipment got SOME use this summer!

And for the slippery, hot, heavy job of getting roof panels on, we called Spicky! Lucky guy...

And Aaron came along, too (after a day of fishing), so the boys decided (after a couple of lunchtime beers) it was time to install the VERY HEAVY front door:

Then it was time for Spicky to get back to his own jobsite (thank you thank you!), but Aaron stuck around to help us put up the half-bath walls (and to "test" the room after it was up):

Before:

After:

Works pretty well!

And then Sean and Aaron decided (after a couple more afternoon beers) that it was time to cut Aaron's hair - ha! Turns out it's really handy to cut hair on a jobsite, what with the air compressor and all.

One last task before we are all caught up (sort of) was to get the windows in.

So now, with the house fully wrapped, the roof on, and ALL windows and doors in, we are DRIED IN.

Kind of a dark picture from this morning, but I'll get a better one with the evening sun on it. Really starting to get there now!

Of course, as I post, we (read: Sean) have already done SO much more. He was able to wire the entire house for lights and outlets and phones (still need to get coax in there somewhere), and we had our rough-in electrical inspection yesterday - and passed! That means it's time for plumbing and then insulation and drywall, oh my. The PEX tubing for the plumbing is scheduled to arrive tomorrow, so this weekend will be all about water!

9 weeks and counting until Baby Stogner is due, so it sure would be nice to have some livable space for us and for Grandmamas and Aunties, too! Last week's appointment assured us that he was growing well (or at least that I'M growing well!). He continues to entertain us with his in-belly antics, and at least one foot (knee?) has found Mama's ribs on occasion. Here's what we look like at 31 weeks pregnant:

Yes, those are baby shower gifts in the background, that we have not quite gotten around to shoehorning into the shed yet. They can just stay there until he gets here, right? Ha! Man, now I'm going to have to get to that this evening...

We Really Are Still Building A House Out Here. Really!

Holy Toledo (or should I say "Heavens to Murgatroid!"?), I can't believe I've let a whole month get by without posting. Sean actually prompted me the other day, with a "Honey, the blog still shows us putting up the first floor walls, for goodness' sake." Now that I've exhausted all my Midwest euphemisms, on to an update about the house. And maybe the baby, too!

We have made beaucoup progress in the last month, let me tell you something (dang, there was another one - and another in the parentheses! I'll try to stop now). To whit:

When we last left the little house in the mountains, Sean had just put up the floor joists and the big beam in the living room (which the joists are attached to, so thank goodness for that).

Then we (that is, Sean, Cody and Spicky, with minimal support but a damn fine lunch from me) put the plywood floor underlayment on for the second floor floor (yes both "floors" are supposed to be in there).

Here's what it looks like from the inside:

Then, yahoo!, time to put up the second floor walls.



After walls came the HUGE roof beam:

And, attached to the beam, the rafters. After one tiny miscalculation, we got the length and birds-mouth cuts right on the second try. So with Cody on the saw, and Sean on the scaffolding, and me mercifully on the ground, they were up in no time. Whoo, really starting to take shape now!

However, even with a lovely house shape, and rafters in place, the really important part was to get the roof sheeting (plywood) and underlayment (similar to tar paper, but the modern version) on, to get us weatherproofed. But before we could do that, we had to get the plywood sheeting on the second floor, install the lookouts (those things poking out of the roof line) and cut the eaves to shape. Voila!

Also, from the inside:






And, finally, here is the first roof sheet on.



After that, I didn't have time to take pictures, because it started to rain and putting sheeting up became MUCH more important than taking pictures! So, after much scrambling, and only TWO wet days (we're really feeling like we got away with something on that one), we were finally "in the dry." Not really, because you're not really dried in until you have all windows and doors in place, but...

A weekend and a half was devoted to painting (priming! plus 3 coats!) all our green windows the burgundy color that matches the existing windows. Finally! A job for Sarah. Can you tell I'm proud? Okay, the picture doesn't really do the three days of taping and painting justice, but here it is, anyway (that's only four of the nine windows, I promise!):



Meanwhile, Sean spent that weekend and a half tying up loose ends (some literal) on the roof and exterior, sealing the interface between the two houses, and most importantly, building the false walls that take up the space between the two houses. Success on both sides of the roof, I might add.

So, on tap for the next week or two, wrap the house in Tyvek (more weatherproofing), and then... window and door installation, otherwise known as DRIED IN. Then there are the interior doors and hardware to order, not to mention the light fixtures, and the interior walls to frame, and wire to be pulled (though Sean did install the electrical boxes), ad nauseum to infinity. But we won't let ourselves get too far ahead of ourselves - would be too overwhelming, eh?

As for the smallest member of the family - he continues to do everything he's supposed to (as do I, of course) and nothing he isn't (again, same with me, though the lack of wine and sushi begins to wear!). He is growing and moving, and kicking like a crazy man in there. His newest skill, learned just a couple of days ago, is hiccuping. It's so cute!

Monday marks the 6-month milestone, and the beginning of the third trimester! I'll commemorate with a picture of the growing belly, but 'til then, here's 26 weeks (this week):