There it is!

I finally caught one of Lucy's smiles on camera. Her smiles are becoming more frequent now which is a lot of fun.

And we thought we were done...

After all the sewer and plumbing craziness that happened 2 weeks ago we thought we'd gotten everything taken care of. I think I mentioned in my last entry on this subject that we had to have some guys come and snake our drain because they thought that after all the work being done the trap was clogged. Parks Sewer came out and did just that, but all that happened was black muddy water pooled up around our drain. Still nothing would go down. Parks contacted the people who did the job and told them what happened and come to find out that when the guys were hooking our new sewer line back up they didn't connect this drain. Luckily we have 2 drains and this was the floor drain that is just for draining any water we get in the basement. All the water from the house and laundry goes down another drain and then out the house where the two lines are supposed to connect. So, they have to come back out and dig up a section of the trench again and reconnect this line. This is getting frustrating!!!

6 weeks old

Here's a picture of Lucy. She turned 6 weeks yesterday. I wanted to take a one month picture, but we were in the midst of our sewer problems and staying at my parent's house when she turned one month. With all that was going on I just didn't think about it, and when I did I didn't have her outfit or the camera with me.

Why is she wearing a huge onesie? This was mom's idea. She saw this done on Martha Stewart. I am supposed to put her in this each month on her birthday and take her picture. Then at the end of the year we can look back and see how much she's grown into the 12 month outfit. I am not sure what to do if she grows into it sooner than 12 months. I'll have to figure it out when the time comes.

I can't believe that she's already 6 weeks. She's changed so much already. She just started smiling but she makes us wait for them. She's only doing it about once a day. I can't wait till we see that toothless grin all the time.

Home Sweet Home

Well, after a week of being out of our house, we are finally home. The plumbers finished up on Thursday and got the water turned back on.

I last blogged on Tuesday about our flooded basement. That was just one of the many "incidents" that happened during the week. After all that rain on Monday, the workers could not come back till Wednesday to start up again. They had a few setbacks that day that prevented them from finishing the job by that afternoon. First the Bobcat they were using broke down and they had fix it which took a few hours and second, one of the guys was injured on the job. While working down in the trench, a 10-12 foot section of our concrete curb broke off and fell into the trench landing on this guy's foot. They had to take him to get it looked at to make sure it wasn't broken. Last I heard, it was just a bad sprain.

Then Thursday morning I called Dan to see how the work was going and he was in the process of trying to locate the breaker for the garage. The pump they were using to get all the water out of the trench was plugged into an outlet in our garage. The pump tripped the breaker and Dan was trying to locate the box. Just as he feared the box was in the garage. for most people this wouldn't be a problem, but you see, we only have an overhead door as access to the inside. The only way inside is to use the garage door opener. With the breaker tripped, the opener doesn't do us much good. So Dan had to break the latch on the window and one of the workers crawled through and all was well. Except now Dan has to fix the broken latch.

Finally, Thursday afternoon, they were filling the trench in with dirt and cleaning up the huge mess in our neighbor's driveway. With the exception of our torn up front yard, it looked like things were going to get back to normal...we couldn't get off that easy. In trying to get the basement floor cleaned up, Dan sprayed water on the floor and it collected at the drain like it's supposed to BUT it won't drain. The other drain that's connected to the washing machine drains just fine. We now have to have it snaked because they think the trap is clogged.

In all this, we got the nicest note from our neighbors down the street. Inside was a giftcard to Pizza Hut. The card said, "Between the plumbing and the new baby we thought you could use a pizza". How nice! So last night, we ordered pizza.

And the water saga continues....

I was wrong. Now things have gone from bad to worse. Yesterday the plumbers came and started digging up our sewer line and they got about half way to the street and then quit for the day. With the rain coming they didn't want to tear out our backwater valve and leave the line open. They said they would come back today to finish the job. Dan got up early to go to the house to be there when the plumbers came back and then he was going to work. I also went in to stay at the house, since Dan had to go to work, so that they could have access to the basement. I got to the house this morning, took some stuff in and found Dan talking to one of the workers in our backyard. I stepped down the back steps off the kitchen and looked down into the basement and the sight I saw made me want to cry. Our entire basement was flooded with about 3 inches of muddy water. When the plumbers left yesterday they capped off the line as best they could, but we got so much rain last night that the 6ft deep trench was half filled with water and all that water seeped into our basement. I'm assuming Dan called them this morning when he discovered the mess. By the time I got there they had a pump in the trench that was pumping the water out into our backyard. I'm hoping the basement will be drained by late aftenoon. Dan is needing to work down there to get orders out. The plumbers obviously can't do any work today because of all the excess water. They are supposed to come back tomorrow and I HOPE they get it fixed and we can be done with all this mess. Although, now we have an even bigger mess to to deal with. Once this water drains we will be left with a muddy basement that will have to be cleaned. I don't think too much will be lost because we were always prepared for water and kept everything in rubbermaid tubs or up off the floor. BUT, all those tubs will need to be moved so the floor underneath can dry.
I guess we'll be staying at mom and dads for another night.

Welcome to the Ryan Motel, We'll keep the light on for ya

(This is an update to my last post. So read that first if you haven't done so already.)

Well, this past week our water problems went from bad to worse. Thursday evening Dan came home from work and went down to the basement to do some work. He came back up and told me we had water coming through the cracks in the cement floor. We are assuming the water main leak has gotten progressively worse and with the ground frozen this leaking water had no where to go but under our house and up through the cracks. We'd already scheduled the plumbers to come Monday morning and start the huge undertaking of replacing our entire sewer line, but this new problem could not wait till Monday. The water would just continue to seep in and have no where to go. The solution? Have our water shut off. Dan called the emergency city number and a truck came out right away to shut off our water. This was about 8pm when all this happened. We could not stay at a house without water so I called mom and dad and asked if they'd like company for a few days. Dan decided to stay behind for the night to try and get some work done, but I packed Lucy and myself up and headed to my parents. So, we've been camping out here for the last several days and the workers are supposed to come tomorrow but they are calling for rain. I'm not sure if they can do this job if it's raining.

I'll keep ya posted on the situation.

The joys of being a homeowner

Many of you who read this know that Dan and I have had water issues with this house from the very beginning. Our house was a rental before we bought it so since the owner never lived here, he couldn't say whether or not the basement got water. Well, it does and has been a constant source of problems for us. The first thing we did after moving in was have a back-water valve installed in our sewer line. This was supposed to stop any city water from coming in our line during heavy rains. We forked over $1500 to have this put in and while it does work, we still got water during heavy rains. Then we put new gutters on the house and had the backyard patio redone and those two things helped keep the water out some as well. Our latest problem has been that our drains have been backing up. I usually discover they are clogged when I'm doing laundry and the washer is draining. The line can't keep up with the flow of water from the washer and it backs up into our laundry sink or onto the floor. We've had our drains snaked at least a have dozen times since we've been here, and 3 of those have been in the last 6-8 weeks.
Well, after 3 years of trying to figure out this problem, we've finally figured out why all this keeps happening. When the sewer guys were here snaking our drain, they would get about 20 feet out and then not be able to go any further. They suggested getting someone out to put a camera down the drain to find out the problem. They thought we might have a slipped tile.
Sure enough. We have a slipped tile which is causing debris to get clogged easily, which is why the line won't drain. But it's worse than that. There's a whole section of old clay tile that is slipped and broken AND there's a leak in the city's water main that runs to our house. The leak is before our meter and so we never noticed it on our water bill. This is why we are continuing to get water in the basement when it rains. The back water valve is doing it's job, but this leak is pouring water into our line and then it comes up in our basement.
So, what's the solution? We have to replace our entire sewer line and get the water main fixed. The line runs along the north side of our house next to our brand new curb and neighbor's drive way. The new curb will most likely get destroyed when they dig, so we'll have to have that redone as well as replace a section of the city sidewalk.
What's all this going to cost? Yeah, don't ask. Let's just say when it's all said and done and we've paid for the new line, the new cement work, and the leveling of the yard, we could purchase a VERY nice used car, or take a 2 week vacation to Hawaii at a top resort.

I guess this is the risk you take when you buy an old home with 100 year old sewer lines.

Reason 1001

I love my husband. Tonight he sat and watched the movie The Sound of Music with me. He said he's seen bits and pieces of it over the years, but never seen the whole thing all the way through. I love this movie and never get tired of seeing it, so we watched it together. He must have enjoyed it a little, because even as I sit here typing this, he's watching the end of it by himself. Gotta love a man who'll watch a movie like The Sound of Music and not make gagging noises through the whole thing!

First Christmas

Here are a few pictures of our first Christmas with Lucy.




And baby makes 3!

Lucy wearing the new hat from Aunt Lori. She looks pretty cute!

Settling in

Well, we've been home with Lucy now for almost one week. Overall it's going well. The nights are tough because I've been spoiled and 8-9 hours of sleep was normal for me. Now, I'm not sure how much sleep I'm getting. I try and sleep a bit during the day when she's napping, but sometimes I feel worse after that.

Today was my first day home alone with her. Dan took the week off, but had to go in today and do the bulletin. He's the only one who know's how to run the program that it's designed in. He's taking next week off too. Most of you know that Dan runs a decal business from home and December is our busiest month. After not working for 5 days because of staying in the hospital with me, he's trying to play catch up. Just to give you an idea, he had over 800 emails to reply to and he has over 500 orders to get out. Soooo, he needs time to work at home to get caught up. I told him we'll have to try and plan the next child during one of our slower months!

We've been blessed with great friends who have been bringing us meals in the evening. It's so nice to not have to think about cooking right now. We have friends bringing us meals through next week. I will have to do some major grocery shopping after that.

Here's a picture of Lucy that I took today. Take note of the onesie she's wearing. I could not resist buying it when I saw it.

SHE'S HERE!!!!!!

Many of you have heard by now that I had our baby this week. Lucy is doing great and I am slowing recovering. If you want to see pictures you can go to our website and open an account to view all the pictures from the hospital. Go to niebrugge.com/lucy and you'll find what you need to do.

I'll post more when I have the energy.

Ramblings

Dan and I slept in till almost 10:00 this morning. Dan's been getting up really early to do decal work before actually going to his job at church and so he deserved a day to sleep late. I also figured that we need to enjoy this time as much as possible because in a few shorts days, we will not have the luxury to lay in bed for as long as we please.

I got started on my holiday baking today. I made cut-out sugar cookies. It didn't take long, and I'll save the decorating part till I actually need to take them somewhere. Till then they are in the freezer. I also started my chocolate dipped pretzel rods. I made the white chocolate ones today and I'll have to do the regualr chocolate ones later.

Dan put together the pack-n-play. It didn't take long, but it's nice that it's ready to go. It's bigger than I remembered it being. I don't really like where it's sitting in the living room right now, but until the tree is taken down this is the only spot for it.

Dan also started working on installing an outlet in the baby's room. We needed a plug behind the dresser for the lamp and cd player. It's turned into a much harder job than we expected. There's a light switch above it and Dan was going to tie the wiring into that. Well, we have an old house and some of the wiring has been updated, some hasn't. He can't tie into the switch, he'll have to run a whole new line. So this "quick and easy" job is going to take longer than we thought. Oh well.

I'm kinda wanting to go to the Olive Garden for dinner. We have left over soup from last night, but pasta sounds so good right now. I don't really feel like getting out though. But, this could be our last chance for a nice quiet dinner out by ourselves-just the two of us-no baby to worry about. I don't know what we'll do yet, we still have some time to decide. Their open till 10 or 11pm right?

Those are the highlights from today. Sorry it's not very exciting. Hopefully I'll have an exciting email to send out here in the next week.

Place your bets

Anyone want to place a bet on what day you think I will deliver??? No money, this is just for fun!

Come out, come out wherever you are...

I'm officially full term today! I had my 37 week appt today and everything still looks good. I got another ultrasound. The doctor said she wasn't worried but wanted to check the baby again. So we got to see her. Well, saw a little of her. She's been head down for months now and she's so low that the tech can never get a good look at her face. She's measuring 6 lb 11oz already. If I go beyond my due date, she's probably going to be a little fat thing. So I am really hoping I go on or before Dec. 10. I really don't want to be pushing out a 10 pound baby!

My doctor doesn't do internals either, so I really have no way of knowing if I've started dialating.

We have the nursery all done. I am still on the look out for an antique mirror to go over the changing table, but it might take me awhile to find exactly what I'm looking for. So that part of the wall will be empty for awhile. I took a few pictures so you all can see what our baby girl's room looks like.

The crib we bought new but the other furniture I found at antique stores or flea markets and painted it white.

I love the way this shelf turned out. It was the molding that came from the bathroom window we replaced. I painted it and antiqued it and Dan made the letters for me. The hooks came out of our house, I think they were in another closet at some point. The vintage dress came from my Grandma Eva's house. They think it might have been my dad's when he was a baby. I don't know, looks a bit girlie to me.

The set of frames also turned out really well. Right now they are pictures of my mom and the middle one's my dad's cousin. I eventually will replace these with a picture of our baby and her handprints and foot prints. I really like the way the pics look in there now, so if I don't get around to changing it, then that's ok too.

Just about ready

I think we're just about ready for this baby. I've had all my showers and gotten lots of great stuff. I went to Babies-r-us Wednesday to pick up some of the things we still needed and we're going back tonight to get a couple of the big items we didn't get. I have been busy putting everything away and getting it all washed up.

The only thing we don't have yet is the video camera. Dan's been wanting to get one and he realized last night that we shouldn't wait too much longer cause I could technically go anytime.

I really need to start Christmas shopping. I think this year all the nieces are just going to get cash or a gift card. That'll make things easier on me!

34 weeks

I had my 34 week appointment today. I had the usual weigh in, urnine sample, and hear the heartbeat routine. I was surprised though that the doctor ordered another ultrasound. My belly growth is way behind and since I haven't really increased in size much, she wanted to check and make sure the baby is still growing on schedule. I was glad Dan came with me today because he missed the last ultrasound I had done. Anyway, everything still looks good. I just hide the baby well I guess. In fact the technician said the baby's even measuring a day ahead. She's already up to 5 pounds and I still have 6 weeks to go! This little girl may end up being a 9 or 10 pounder. Who knows, though. I am hoping that their guess is a little off and she's not quite that big upon arrival.
It's hard to believe though that in 2 weeks I'll be full term and we'll just be waiting for her arrival. I'm so glad that everything is ready to go and we can enjoy the last few weeks without having to get any last minute projects done.

I just found out today that our neighbors are moving. Unfortunatly, it's not the hoodlums who live on the South side of us and like to throw hot-tub parties. No, Brian and Betsy are moving. They have been very good neighbors and I will be sad to see them leave. It has me a bit worried because you never know who's going to be living next door to you. I am hoping whoever it is will be as nice and courtieous as the Yeagers.

Dear Neighbors,

Thank you so much for inviting Dan and I to your hot-tub party last night. I'm sure you sent out a formal invitation, but since we didn't receive one, I'm assuming it just got lost in the mail. Normally, at 2:15 am, we are sound asleep in our beds, but how exciting it was to be ripped from our slumber by the shrieking of half naked girls and yelling from you and your roommate. We loved listening to your loud and annoying chatter that I'm sure was alcohol induced. We especially liked that you continued your party until 4:30 am, ensuring that we stayed up with you while you enjoyed your good time. We hope you liked the gift we sent over. We called in a special delivery from the Police, just for you. We'll be more than happy to call them again, should the need arise.

Sincerely,

You're sleep deprived neighbors

I think I can, I think I can

Last week I wrote about my pregnancy blahs. I was seriously wondering how in the heck I was going to make it 2 more months. Well. thanks to Dr. Penwell I am feeling sooooo much better that the end of this process actually seems bareable. I have been seeing Dr. Penwell (chiropractor) for over 2 weeks now and I feel like a new woman. I get adjusted 3 times a week and I'll probably have to continue with at least that for the rest of the pregnancy. That's okay by me, as long as I continue to feel better, I'll go as much as necessary. I am just so thankful to be able to walk normally again and go up and down stairs fairly comfortably.

Now, if we can just get Dan's foot out of that cast....

Welcome to the Neighborhood...Now Leave

I've always joked around that I am a nosy neighbor. Actually, I think that I am just aware of what's going on around me. I pay attention to things, kinda like the neighborhood watch program.
Anyway, a few weeks ago I noticed that our neighbor on the south (the bachelor guy) was moving out. I saw a truck in the drive and some men were loading furniture. This guy was living in a house his parents owned and he was hardly ever home so it made sense to Dan and I that he was finally moving. Then the next day I heard some commotion and looked out to see several ladies carrying in cleaning products and a vacuum cleaner. I figured they were going to get the house all clean before they put in on the market.

Dan and I were looking forward to a "For Sale" sign going up cause we wanted to go see the house. Not that we're wanting to move, we are just curious to see the whole house.

A few days after they ladies came to clean, I happened to look out the front window and saw a U-Haul truck out front. I then started noticing some movement in the house. (They keep the blinds open, so it's hard not to notice things at night) I kept seeing different people come and go and I couldn't figure out who was living there.

I'm still confused as to what is excatly happening over there, but here's what I've figured out so far. There's a white guy who drives the car with the CiCi's Pizza logo on it, there's a black guy and then there's a blonde lady who either lives there or is the girlfriend of one of the guys.

They have 2 small black and white dogs, one of which chased me back in my house last week. He came charging at me and was barking in an aggressive tone. This has me concerned. We saw the dogs loose again yesterday. I don't want to have to be afraid to be in my own yard. I'm tempted to call animal control.

They also like to have very loud conversations in the backyard at 3 am! We woke up last Saturday in the middle of the night to the sound of yelling and loud talking. They were out there for a long time and it really started to get annoying. The next morning, I found a pair of shorts in our driveway. I threw them back over the fence. I guess they got in the hot-tub after all!

Anyway, if this is going to be the norm, then I'm ready for these people to move out. Who'd have thought that I'd miss David.