A 2 year old and a 2 month old

A belated Happy New Year to any and all who read our blog!  Due to starting 2015 off with 2 children instead of 1 we have put the blog on the bottom of the priority list after feeding children, cleaning children, cleaning up after children, putting children down for bed, feeding ourselves and putting ourselves to bed.  God in His infinite wisdom, however, has decreed for a cumulative total of 83" of snow to fall on us in the past month so while we are stuck inside, we wanted to update you on how life with 2 children is going.

Josiah turned 2 on January 29th and our sweet little Olivia turned 2 months on February 8th.  According to the doctor, they are both growing beautifully and we are thankful for their health and growth thus far.  Josiah seems to enjoy having a little sister and Olivia is all smiles when he comes over to say hi to her.  He likes to check in on her and hold her hand sometimes.  I do hope they grow up to be great friends and we are so curious to find out how their personalities mesh and bump into each other.

So far, Olivia is quite the opposite baby that Josiah was.  Josiah took forever to eat and still didn't grow as fast as the doctor hoped.  Olivia eats super fast and is putting on pudge everywhere.  Josiah did and still does prefer to be awake due to his insatiable curiosity.  Olivia prefers to sleep.  It seems like she sleeps all the time and when she's done being awake she lets us know and falls asleep as soon as we put her down.  They both, however, were and are very smiley and I think that is one of my favorite things about my children.  Their smiles do wonders for this mommy's heart.

Although I called this an update, it doesn't feel like there is a whole lot to "update" everyone on.  Our life is busier with another little person around but also full of more smiles and laughs as the little ones keep growing and learning.  Josiah continues to amaze us with his memory and his vocabulary and makes us laugh when he confuses the state of Arkansas with Esau from the Bible.  Olivia has found her vocal chords and we think she might actually give our first little chatter box a run for his money when she starts to learn words.


We are enduring a very snowy February and sometimes it feels like we are always stuck inside.  I do miss getting out and seeing friends or going shopping which feels so much harder in the snow with two kids to tow around.  But we still have many many reasons to be thankful.  Our home is warm and dry and food is always on our table.  We continue to have steady income and get to enjoy small luxuries like an occasional date night or an occasional 8 straight hours of sleep!  God is so kind to us and we are amazed at the grace He bestows on us each day.  We are looking forward to the melting of snow and getting outside again but until then, we press on with the daily mission that He has given us to love Him and love each other with the strength that He gives each day

Bathroom Project

Bathroom Project

The picture below shows the original state of the upstairs bathroom in the house we bought. It was cluttered! Our plan to try to meet our mortgage payments was to convert this half bath to a full bathroom and rent out the downstairs bathroom and bedroom to college students at Gordon.  You can see we have our work cut out for us.

We removed all the clutter from the room and got it down to the shag carpet.  The toilet did not flush well and the sink did not drain well.  Our plan was to accomplish the following: remove the shag carpet, install tile, install a family size vanity, and install a bathtub with a shower.  What an intimidating task!  I would never call myself a handy man and I did not know where to start. 

Here is the carpet we wanted to replace with clean white tile. 

The bathroom was 60 inches wide, the perfect size for a tub although the slanted ceiling and window would certainly provide a challenge to installing a shower. 

Day 1 was fun and fairly easy! I ripped everything up with my friend Joe.  In hindsight I probably should have done my demolition more carefully because careful demolition makes for easier repair. 

Here we are in the midst of the chaos with our plumber Jon.  No turning back now!

This is why the bathroom sink was not draining. Yuck. 

The tub is now in place.  However at this point it was very hard to picture a finished project and I was so intimidated about all the hurdles I could see on the horizon. 

Hurdle 1, awkward floor holes: Patching the floor so it could bear weight required a really unique puzzle piece cut out of plywood.

We then put down cement board in preparation for tile. 

That crowbar made me bleed more than any other tool.  Probably because I would leave it around like in the picture above. 

Here is the floor completely repaired with cement board including a hole cut for the toilet drain pipe. 

My parents helped me an incredible amount.  I simply could not have done this project without them.  My mother is quite a carpenter!  I took a picture to prove it!  

Hurdle 2: I had to purchase electric box extenders to get these switches flush with the wall after we put in the dry wall. 

Here we have put in new insulation and you can see I still have a wooden window in the shower.  Wood and water are not friends, this will be a problem. 

Hurdle 3: There is a 1/2 inch gap on the back end of the tub.  I cut strips of plywood to function as studs on which to mount the 1/2 inch shower cement board. 

Hurdle 4: What to do about the window in the shower?  I know water and wood do not go well together so I purchased a custom vinyl window at Lowe's. This was very expensive and I am sure there is a cheaper way to get a good window. 

I made the mistake of taking the suggestion of the window guy at Lowe's to get a "new construction" window instead of a "replacement" window.  This created a lot of extra work for me.  I had to remove the trim on the exterior wall and then repair the stucco.  Bethany's aunt Sue was a huge help getting this vinyl window in. 

Here is the window in the shower with the cement board around it.  I bought a piece of vinyl siding for the window sill and used waterproof tape to seal the joints.  It is looking pretty water tight at this point. 

 Hurdle 5, laying tile:  I had no idea how to lay tile!  It was back to YouTube to watch videos and they were very helpful.  I quickly gained confidence and momentum and I found I did not mind laying tile.  It was fun and the result was well worth it.  I had to buy an angle grinder and borrow a friends tile cutting tool to cut all the tile pieces.  Make sure to lay them all out first because that thin set mortar dries fast!  My friend John bailed me out on this one late at night when I needed help.

 I used the spacers and they seemed to work well for me.  If you don't lay the tile right is it going to look bad! 

The best part is my wife really likes the tile!  Much better than the shag carpet.  It gives the whole bathroom a very clean and bright look. 

The next step was to grout.  This was also quite easy and made a big improvement on the look of the floor.   However, mixing up cement, grout, and thin set is messy business!   Make sure to have a disposal plan.  Mine was to put the leftovers in double plastic bags and immediately wash my buckets and tools. 

Hurdle 6: The heating duct came out right where the vanity was supposed to go!  I was going to have to learn how to do some basic duct work or call an HVAC professional and drive up the cost of the project.

I extended the heating duct to come out above where the mirror would go. Home Depot was a great store for this entire project!  They even keep an online record of your receipts.  This was really helpful for me because if I lost a receipt I could print it again and then return an item. 

The shower is almost ready to be tiled.  However at this point I was running out of vacation time and out of days before our tenant we going to move in.  What should I do?  I was not going to have the shower done when Jon was scheduled to come do the finished plumbing. 

Jon installed the vanity and the toilet.  They both work great!  Some friends from church came and helped me paint the bathroom light blue to go with the wood trim. 

I ended up hiring a guy named Chris to do the tile. Someone at Gordon knew him and he did a great job!  He did the whole shower in 1 day.  This helped the timeline considerably but hurt the budget.  This is one of those home improvement project trade offs you must consider. 

Hurdle 8:  How to hang a shower curtain on an angled roof?  There actually were no satisfactory ideas I could find on Google for this problem!  What is a tech minded guy to do when Google does not have the answer?  I decided to cut two pieces of wood and use 2 tension rods with flanges.  I think the end result looks pretty good!  

We asked a friend to hem the curtain for us and then had the plumber come back and finish the shower plumbing. 

Here is the curtain hanging nicely now that it has been hemmed. 

Hurdle 9: The bathroom did not have an exhaust vent so I needed to install one and this included cutting a hole through the exterior wall.  Yikes. 

 
Here is the vent installed and ready to go.

The finished ceiling of our new bathroom with the heating duct up near the top of the wall.  

We chose dark blue bath mats to go with the light blue walls.  It is primarily a two color bathroom, white and blue. 

The bathroom is finished and it has been serving us well.  Bethany said she feels like she is showering in a hotel!  The upgrade cost between $5,000 and $6,000 dollars for labor and materials. It took about 2 months to complete and I used 2 weeks of vacation time.  But now it is done! 

Big thanks to Home Depot, YouTube, Google, friends, family, and the provision of God for the final result of this bathroom project.  We are so grateful to have it finished. 

Reinhold Summer Highlights

Apparently the passing of Labor Day weekend means that summer is over but it sure doesn't feel like it on this 90 degree day at 51 Odell.  Because even the thought of moving my body makes me break out in a sweat, I figured it was a good time to sit down and catch up the blog.  Everything summarized below could have it's own separate post to elaborate on details but for now, here is a summary of our summer and the things we are excited about for the fall.

Eric & Bethany

This summer marked 6 years of being married and we were blessed to be able to take a week away and go to Bar Harbor, ME at the beginning of June to celebrate.

Josiah stayed with his Oma and Papa Adler and had a great time while we enjoyed the ocean, seafood and a chance to talk to each other without being interrupted by toddler babble.  We could have never foreseen all of the wonderful plans God had for us 6 years ago when we first said "I do" but we are so thankful that He put us on this journey together and the blessings He has given us along the way.

 The rest of the summer has kept us busy taking care of our house and son which is not without it's challenges but is also rewarding as we see the fruits of our labors.  

Josiah

Josiah seems to have grown by leaps and bounds this summer.  Although he is still small in stature, his mind is learning and processing new things every day.  His vocabulary has exploded and we call him a parrot now because he loves to repeat everything we say to him.  Among our favorite things that he says, "Thank you" is probably in the top 3.  He even says thank you when he gives something to us, or if we tickle or kiss him.  He also recognizes all the letters of the alphabet now and the numbers 1-9 although putting them in order is a different story.  His favorite song is the ABC song and he has started to be able to put some of the letters in their place if we sing it for him.  He loves to be read to and one of his favorite books right now is a book about being a big brother.  Josiah spent his summer playing with bubbles, reading, helping Grammie and Grandpa with our house and learning how to go down the stairs backwards to avoid more tumbles!





 He also got to meet some of Bethany's cousin and visit "Pepop" when Bethany traveled with her mom and sister to western NY in July.



We are just delighted to be his parents as he grows into a little boy.  

51 Odell

The summer project at 51 Odell was to renovate the upstairs bathroom and turn it into a full bath with a shower.  We were thankful to have a great plumber help us out on this DIY project and Eric's mom and dad also put in countless hours helping Eric each weekend.  Eric will probably write a more detailed post about the whole process but for now, here are some pictures of the before and after.

This is what the upstairs bathroom looked like 2.5 years ago when we first considered moving into this house.

This is what it looked like after we cleaned it out and got it ready to be gutted and redone.  

Here's what it looks like now with only a few touch ups left to go! 

This was a long tiring project but we now have a fully functioning bathroom with a shower upstairs. Our purpose for expanding the bathroom was because in August we welcomed our first tenet to 51 Odell and we offered her the downstairs bedroom and bathroom as her own.  She is a student at Gordon College and has been very flexible about sharing her bathroom while we finish ours up.  She also loves our old house and Josiah so we are thankful for a good match and the extra income it will provide.  

Looking Ahead to Fall

As we look ahead to fall, it doesn't seem like the busyness will decrease but there are some exciting things planned for the future.  At the end of this month we will welcome our first Tucsonians to 51 Odell so we are busily preparing a room for them and can't wait to see friends from Arizona!  We are also preparing for a more permanent guest who will arrive at the beginning of December.

Here I am half way through my second pregnancy.  As we post this, I am headed into my third trimester.

Lord willing, our daughter will arrive in safety and health sometime around December 2nd and we can't wait to meet her!  When I was pregnant with Josiah, I felt completely inadequate to care for a newborn and was willing to let him hang out inside of me for as long as he wanted.  Now that I know how sweet and precious babies are, I would much rather have her here hanging out with us than have her hanging out inside making my belly huge.

Thanks for letting us fill you in with our summer happenings.  We look forward to sharing more pictures and stories as we add another member to our family and continue to renovate and restore our home.