3-season Room - FINISHED!!!!

Our 3-season room/patio is FINISHED!!! YEAH! It took longer then expected, but after breaks for the holidays and then Steve's injury... well, at least it's finally done now. Here's the pictures of the finished product. We've got the TV and chairs, but still need to purchase an area rug and a small dining table to finish the furniture. We're very pleased with how it came out. A lot of blood, sweat and tears on our part, but we LOVE the room.

Click on the pictures to enlarge them.
Lots of windows provide great light during the day. Comfy leather rocker/recliners make it so you never want to leave!

The 37" flat screen HDTV. Steve's in heaven! He's been watching all the NCAA March Madness games on it. We built in a wall-heater, which works really well at keeping the room warm during the winter.

The new slider door into the living room.

The view from the back wall. The windows are so close together, it almost feels like one big window.

We installed 4 can-lights and added some decorative trim to tie them together on the ceiling. They're on a dimmer so we can make it as bright or soft as we want.

A nice big ceiling fan to keep the room cool during the summer.

The flagstone/slate floors. These were original to the outdoor patio. We just did a deep cleaning and then sealed and polished them with a high-gloss finish.


In case you forgot what the patio USED to look like, go back to this post with the progression of construction from start through the sheetrock:
http://introne.blogspot.com/2007/11/3-season-room-update.html

Easter!

HAPPY EASTER!!!

We hope everyone is having a great Easter Sunday - enjoying time with family and remembering the reason this day is so important. Here's a few pics of the kids before church. YES... we actually made it to church today. Steve hobbled there on his bad foot and all.

The pastor had a joke this morning, and we thought it was pretty funny, so here it is:

A man and his nagging wife travelled to the Holy Land on vacation. While there, his wife passed away. As he met with the undertaker, he was told it would cost $5000 to ship his wife home to be buried, or they could bury her in the Holy Land for only $150. After thinking about it, the man decided to ship his wife home. When asked why, wouldn't it be better to save the money and allow his wife to be buried in this holy place? The man replied, "last time I checked, someone who died and was buried here came back to life 3 days later... I can't take that chance." =)

Too cute for words!

Handsome boy!

Spinning around in circles.

Zach's First Haircut

Well... one of our children FINALLY got a haircut. =) Izzy's 3.5 and still hasn't had her hair cut. Emily could probably get one if we wanted, but I'm letting it grow. So Zach, technically the baby of the family, is the first to get a haircut. Mommy did it all by herself. She cuts daddy's hair, but his is easy - shaved with clippers. On Zach I just used scissors. I think it came out pretty good myself - not bad for a rank amateur. Good thing Zach doesn't know any better to complain yet. He did pretty well - as long as I kept feeding him cheerios.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Emily and Steve's Foot Update

Lately, Emily and Zach have taken to walking in mommy's shoes. For some reason, they find if fascinating and quite entertaining. Trying to take the steps around the house can keep them busy for 30-60 minutes easily!


Steve's surgical incision. The biggest delima Steve's been facing with his recovery lately is the healing of the incision. After trying keeping it dry, no walking, etc. to stop the oozing and get the bottom of the incision healed, they finally opted for a different route. Last week, they scraped off all the scabs (not very pleasant) and have been soaking it 3x/week in a cleaning solution during his physical therapy. They also have a drain in the bottom part (the white piece you see) to allow the fluid to get out. All in all, this is EXACTLY like what I had with my c-section incision. The top half of the incision has healed beautifully, it's just the bottom half there's problems with. So they're keeping the outside of the wound open to force it to heal from the inside out. (The top was scabbing and the inside wasn't healing which is why it kept oozing.) Anyway, it's making some progress, but the scraping and extra PT time aren't too fun. The worst was when the doctor decided to cut off some of the dead skin around the opening yesterday - with a scapel - while Steve watched. You can imagine his pleasure at that! =) Besides this though, he's still doing great. He's got the green light to start walking without the crutches, so he's slowly doing that. We've returned the wheelchair and he hopes to get rid of the powerchair for good within the next week or two. So that's the latest!

Uncle Matt

Melissa's brother Matt flew out for a quick visit this week. We took him sightseeing in downtown Boston. Here we're at Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market. Because of Steve's foot, Matt got to push Steve in his wheelchair all over.

Sitting next to Red Auerbach (at least that's who I think Matt said this was... I don't know.)

Checking out Larry Bird's shoes. (Matt's a big basketball fan. We also took him to the Garden.)

Emily found something funny....

We walked by the New England Aquarium. Didn't go inside, just watched the sealions for a while from the outside.



Dinner at Outback Steakhouse. Izzy got to try on Matt's new Red Sox hat he bought when we visited Fenway Park.


Niece with Uncle Matt. She loves him soooo much!

Izzy's Gymnastics

This session, Izzy is taking gymnastics at the YMCA. So far, she LOVES it. I think it's much better then the sports class. It's longer (45 minutes) and the kids are in the gym by themselves - parents have to sit outside, but can watch through large windows. This way, she can see me, but doesn't have the option to run over and say she doesn't want to participate anymore. They have them doing all sorts of things - walking on balance beams, jumping on trampolines, swinging from bars, hanging from rings and ropes, somersaulting, hand-stands, jumping on vaults. She adores her instructors. She told me after class today - 'my teachers are AMAZING!' There's about 20 kids in the class, then after stretching and warm-ups, they split them into groups of 4-5 with their own instructor and rotate through the different stations. Here's a few pictures from today. Forgive the bad quality - it was with no flash through a window...

Swinging from the bars.



Walking on the balance beam.

Fun with static

Check out that hair!!! Static electricity can be so much fun!



Steve's new tattoo. *Just kidding!* He started physical therapy today and the trainer put this tape on to help with the swelling. Supposedly it's a new treatment from Japan.... Anyway, both the PT therapist and his surgeon were extremely pleased with the amount of flexibility and strength he has, that he's been given the go-ahead to start walking in the boot without the crutches. The only hiccup is that the bottom of the incision is still scabbing and coming loose, so it's moist and oozing. The priority right now is to get that wound fully healed so we don't have any infection problems down the road. (He's already doing a preventative course of antibiotics just in case.) But otherwise, everyone is very happy with how quickly he's progressing. So much so, the doctor keeps reminding us that it's still a long recovery - at least 6 more weeks in the boot.

Atrophy

As Big Bird likes to sing on Sesame Street.... "One of these things is not like the other!"