General State of the Casa Update

The heater issues have finally ceased to exist, and by ceased, I mean the furnace finally quit a few weeks ago.  It just doesn't work anymore, so there's really no more issue (other than it needs to be replaced). 

We put a floating shelf up in Robert's room to place various decorations on.  The Ikea shelf was about $15.  We got the white shelf to contrast his green wall and also match the white trim.  Installation was really easy given that it just required three screws.  I used three hollow wall anchors rated up to 80 pounds each.  They required 5/16 pre-drilled holes, so we placed the shelf on the wall, leveled it, then marked the holes.  I drilled the middle hole first, then the right side, then the left.  I discovered something interesting, though, when drilling the hole on the left - drywall!  Yes, even though there are plaster and lathe walls all around the house somehow there's a slab of drywall in a few places in Robert's room.  It makes me wonder what work was done to this room!  Anywho, three holes drilled, I partially clamped the hollow wall anchors, then reversed the drill to remove the screws before they settled in to a spinning position.  We put the washers between the wall and the shelf, fed the screws through, then screwed everything in to place without any of the three holes finding a stud.  There are three framed pictures on it as well as Robert's signed SF Giants baseball (about 14 autographs on it including Carlos Beltran, Andres Torres, Sergio Romo, Dan Runzler, Brett Pill, Brandon Belt, etc.)

I also installed another sliding door latch on the door to Robert's room,  Can never be too safe. 

Heater Issues

The heater works, that's not the issue.  The issue that I'm experiencing is that in one room - Robert's - the air coming through the heater vent smells like something's burning!  Of all the rooms, why his?!  Since no other room is afflicted with this tainted air, I'm guessing it's something in the vents leading to his room.  I wish I had $15,000 to do some asbestos abatement and install a new heater!

Floor mats Are Here!

The rest of the floormats I ordered finally came in!  We got 80 square feet of 3/8 inch gray floor mats from EZGoodDeals.com.  It was by far the most affordable place to get them.  Installation was a snap (HA!  Get it?  Snap?  Cuz they snap together...).  Anywho, it adds that necessary face plant padding to the floor in Robert's room. 

He's been sitting up a lot more lately, but when he's over it, he just tosses his body backwards.  I don't think anything is going to absorb that kind of hit, so I still just sit behind him so he can fall into me. 

As he's doing tummy time, though, I no longer have to worry about him getting tired and dropping his face into the floor.  The mats provide a sufficient cushion for the 3 inch face plant. 

Here's how his room looks now:

Robert's Dresser

The dresser from Amazon arrived on Monday. Hinojosa had helped me bring it to Robert's room. It's pretty heavy. Sandra was concerned about the state of the dresser, since the delivery man basically dropped it on our front steps. Yesterday was the day to build the dresser! I could watch the Giant's game in Robert's room, so it all worked out.

I started around 5:30, and by 7:00 PM, dinner had arrived (pizza!). I had pretty much everything except three drawers done. It was looking pretty good! The wood that's visible is solid and nice. The problem is the wood that makes up the other three sides of the drawers - they're pretty flimsy. I'm pretty sure I could've cracked a piece in half putting it together, if I just pushed on it a little hard. I made sure I took my time to read the directions, lay out the pieces, and put it together really, really slowly, just to it'd only happen once. Here she is, done:

It's the four drawer dresser that matches Robert's crib.

Curtains, Robert's Room, and un Raton

It seems like forever and a day has gone by since I've updated the blog.  The house is extremely livable, and we've been here for almost a year now.  Robert Jacob Leung was born around the end of last year, and his room is almost ready for him.

Yesterday, after work, I put up his curtains.  While I was drilling the holes in the walls to hold up the curtain rod, I noticed movement outside in the backyard.  I paused to get a better look, and I discovered a HUGE rat climbing up the dying vines in the backyard over the fence to the neighbor's side.  I really hope this thing doesn't live underneath our house.  Just to be sure, I'm planning on getting under Robert's room this weekend.

Anywho, the curtains are up.  We used the brown curtains with the blackout lining that Sandra's mom made for us.  We got the curtain rod from Ikea a while ago.  It was the only one we could find that was long enough for the 9 foot sliding glass door.  Instead of putting the cloth over the rod, I decided that I wanted the curtain to open and close easily while sliding along the curtain rod.  We picked up curtain clips from Target.  They were about $4.50 for a pack of 7.  Because the curtains themselves are a bit heavy, we got two packs to distribute more of the weight.

Robert's room can now be shrouded in darkness any time we want!  The problem with that is that it gets too dark, so now we're looking for night lights...

Built a Cage

The little man will begin his cage days with this cherry stained, Million Dollar Baby crib, courtesy of Poh-Poh.  ()