House Updates

In December we will have owned the new house for one year. It seems like such a long amount of time to have so little done. Nolan spends a lot of time reminding me of all the things we HAVE done, which is actually a pretty long list. When I truly think about the things we have accomplished so far I am SO proud of us. For me personally, because I work from home and am surrounded by it all day, I tend to only see the looming mound of projects ahead of us, and tend to forget quickly about the hurdles we have already conquered. At any rate, a lot has changed-

Did some demo downstairs...

With my favorite helper!

Built a chicken coop (well, it's about 98% finished)

Built a fence along the back stretch of our backyard.

Began frightening the neighbors with black paint.

This is what the side the neighbors see looks like.

And this is what our side is painted to look like. Don't worry, in about two years you will all see the vision.

Decided I needed a giant painting of an ape.

Didn't want to pay $3500 for one, so I painted one myself instead. Meet Stella.

Dug a trench and ran electrical and plumbing for a water play area for the kids.

Cleared out endless dead trees, brush, ivy, bamboo, and other unidentifiable foliage. Now finally have a level back yard! Driveway gate to come (to plug that gaping hole in the fence).

Demoed a disgusting poorly constructed shed.

Much better!

My favorite girl "LuLu" turned out to be "Luca" the rooster. Despite my desire to keep him around, for the good of the flock (and our neighbors) Luca went to a new home this weekend :(

Built a firewood holding device while Nolan was at work. I think my neighbors think I'm crazy.

Found a vintage rattan patio set on craigslist for $60. There is a love seat that goes with what is pictured here, but it's in storage. I still need to refinish the sofa and upholster some cushions for them, but seriously, how great are these?!

Kids started school (Jax insisted on having his eyes closed...)

Kindergarten.... ugh, where did the time ago?!

Became an official construction zone.

Protecting our living space (and my 1800's piano) from the demo.

Proof that I help.

Even in unsafe footwear.

Seriously, this addition was the dumbest, most pointless part of the house. WHY? WHY WAS IT THERE?! It served no purpose other than to block where the garage door belongs! Ugh. Anyway, see where the plastic is, covering the gaping hole on the right there? That is where this is going-

Isn't it fantastic? I designed it myself :) Obviously it still needs paint, and hardware, but seriously so beautiful. 

And look at how much natural light will come in when the glass door is there instead of plastic?!

Here's my super fast, not even close to scale sketch I texted to my friend in another state so that she could understand what the heck we're doing. That circled part is the part of the house we just demoed. The person living here before us converted the garage into a "meditation room..." yeah...
That's going back to a garage STAT.

Anyway, that should sort of catch you all up. So much more has happened that I never even photographed, and so much more that I don't want to let you in on until I have "after" shots. To say we are surround by partially finished projects would be a huge understatement.

New driveway and garage coming soon!

Imagination Station

Here are some drawings the kids and I did tonight :)

 Mine

Jax's, which he copied mine. Looks pretty good, very detailed.

Maddox's, he did a good job coping mine then he did his own thing. Looks good.

Lola's, it'a a drawing of Missile.

Last is a deer on the service road behind our house. He had a friend, but he was shy. I love living on the west side of Redding.

Saturday Pictures

 Jax made a Pretzel man with a hammer

 Maddox made a Pretzel man with the sun above

 Lazy Missile

Jax and Maddox having a "sleep over" in Jax's bed...this was at 1:00am

via IFTTT

via IFTTT

Texas

For a quite some time now the NAIT (Neonatal Alloimmune Thrombocytopenia) support group that I am part of has been working as a sounding board for a pharmaceutical company which is working to develop a cure to NAIT. 

Let me repeat- A CURE!

When we received the NAIT diagnosis six and a half years ago, I went through several stages... First I was really really sad. There was a good six months of morning where I had to come to grips with the fact that I may never have more children. At that time I was told "Be happy the child you have survived. One more would be risky, any more than that is not recommended." I had to come to terms with the fact that MY body was responsible for this. MY body was acting as a baby assassin. It flew in the face of everything I knew and felt about motherhood. I was supposed to protect my child above all else, not harm him. This something I still struggle with.. I don't know if I can ever forgive my body for what it did. However once the initial sadness passed, I became angry. How dare something I had no control over dictate to me how many children I had? I became completely obsessed with learning everything I could about NAIT, and in the process became more educated than most doctors on the subject. With that knowledge came a great desire for research, and an end to this evil disorder. There had to be a way to cure this. I found an online support group who at the time consisted of about 50 people (we have now grown to almost 1000 worldwide) all sharing the same desire. We wanted to make such a stink about this thing that it couldn't be ignored. We were going to educate anyone who held still long enough to hear about NAIT. Education, as I have learned is power. Here we are six years later, working alongside an amazing company called ProFNAIT, which is now FDA backed, and is moving in clinical trials with their cure.

The interesting thing about disorders, is the majority of the time the cures are made up from the blood of those with the disorder. Such is the case with ProFNAIT. The only way they can create their drug is by using the plasma of mothers who have given birth to NAIT effected babies. So, at the beginning of April, ProFNAIT footed the bill to fly me to Austin and donate my plasma. It was a process I was so proud and honored to be a part of. I may be done having babies, but there are thousands of women out there who aren't. Women who will, until there is a cure, be forced to find out the hard way that they have NAIT. Because there is no prenatal screening, most women are not diagnosed until their first NAIT effected child is born. Unfortunately many times that means the child is born still, or has suffered a life altering brain hemorrhage. This is a cruel and horrible disorder. I don't think I have ever had so much contempt for something in my life. I will not allow our children to be forced to deal with this when their time to start a family comes. This is going to end with us.

In the midst of taking part in something truly altering to society, we managed to have a little fun too. Austin is truly an amazing city. 

Night skyline

 Late night dessert at the oldest hotel in Austin

Boots. Texas is full of boots.

Shopping on South Congress

 Can I just say how AMAZING food truck food is? Well, food in general in Austin is amazing.

 Capital Building

Waiting for the famous bats to fly out from under the bridge.

Last night

Natural bottom swimming hole.

After five days in Austin, Nolan and I drove to Dallas. Nolan flew home, and I spent another five days with my best friend in Fort Worth. The highlight of my trip was finally meeting little miss Hannah for the first time!

 

CHICKENS!!!!

We are knee deep in chaos, as usual. The "new" house has provided us with a literal endless supply of projects, some fun, some not so fun. Right now we are in the midst of refinancing to get into a standard bank loan, and out of the private lender loan. In a few weeks when the financing has gone through, we will start the real work, which we are both anxious to begin. I cannot wait to see this house take form!

As if home remodeling isn't chaotic enough, Nolan and I also bought six chickens which now need a coop built for them. But seriously, how amazing is it going to be to have fresh eggs every day? And honestly, how cool are these chickens?

Meet Lulu, Co-Kee, Fatso, Penny, Floki, and Enzo:

 The kids adore them :)

Here is what they will look like as adults:

Co-Kee

Fatso

Floki

Penny

Lulu

Enzo