80 degree weather on a Saturday in March can only mean one thing...yard work! It only took an hour or two without my shirt on to get a minor sunburn on my back. Gray states, eat your heart out.
It's been two years since we landscaped the backyard. Over that time it became clear that the sprinkler arrangement wasn't perfect, leaving certain areas of the lawn too dry to grow grass. The large area was behind the garage and a smaller area, right off the patio. Behind the garage the grass wouldn't grow because it was too hot against the cement foundation and the sprinklers below couldn't reach that high. The small area by the patio just wasn't getting water because of the way the sprinkler heads were arranged.
My hope was that I could solve both problems in one shot. I moved the grass area away from the back of the garage. This should fix that problem area. I also swapped out the 180 degree heads for fully adjustable ones. By moving the head closest to you in the pictures forward and adjusting the spray to shoot back just barely past the gutter drain, I'm now dumping some serious water on the other problem spot. In fact, it looks like that area might now be one of the wettest in the backyard. That's a good thing since it's also a high traffic area.
I'm pretty happy that I didn't need to add another sprinkler head, just move the current ones. If not for one of the new edging spikes hitting and breaking a connector, the project went pretty well. We've got to add a few minor things, like window well covers for the kids and decorate the backyard, and then we'll be done.
Today Julia started her first Soccer Buddies class. Although she didn't want to play at first (more tears because she was scared) she eventually warmed up and had a great time. Keep an eye out for the gray pants. I put together this highlight reel of her first class for any scouts that may be following the blog...
I thought about it some more and decided to chisel off the plumbing epoxy and leave a plug. I also decided to use two PVC collars for the most permanent solution short of cutting into the pipe. Thanks to Josh for suggesting this idea (cutting off the ends of a connector for a perfect fit). I used way too much glue on purpose.
This is going to require hollowing out the back of the new sheet rock because the pipe now sticks out a quarter of an inch, but that should be okay. Better that then a leaking pipe. I'm probably going to have to paint the closet and re-mount the shelves to cover up my first ever attempt at drywall.
I've included a picture of cute kids, because otherwise this would be a really lame post.
I still can't get over that the builders put two nails through our sewer drain pipe AND that it took seven years for it to finally be a problem. Ah, the joys of owning a house.
A few days ago I noticed that the drywall in the pantry was looking funny and that two mysterious holes had appeared. I assumed the kids had done something to it, but when I pushed against the drywall it disintegrated. Since we had cookbooks and other large items on the shelves above, I had never noticed that the shelving anchors were sunken in and discolored. As I pushed my finger a little harder a drainage pipe suddenly appeared.
It wasn't very long until I had cleared the area and sawed the drywall off. Any sort of leak could be a serious problem. As I had suspected, the builders had shot two shelving anchors right through the master bedroom sewer drainage pipe on the main level. There was about a foot of drywall that was black and full of mold - and that was sitting inches from some of the food we had been eating. I cut open all the way down to the floor so that I could see the full extent of the damage. Luckily, although there had been some water that had found its way down to the floor, the drywall had actually absorbed most of it. The pipe is literally sandwiched between two pieces of drywall, so that had acted like a giant sponge. Since I know exactly where this pipe is in the basement (paid off to take pictures before it was finished), I was able to check those walls and found no problems. Major renovation averted.
Because of the lack of space you'd have to move the entire wall out if you wanted to cut the pipe and install a new piece. That's probably the best way to fix it, but because of that, it's just a drain with no pressure, and the holes were fairly small and only dripping, I opted for plumbing epoxy. I wasn't too hopeful that plugging the holes with what looks like chewing gum would work, but it seems to be doing the trick. Once it cured it was as hard as a rock, like cement. I taped over it to help hold in place over time and with the new drywall that will be pressed against it I'm cautiously optimistic that it will do the trick. I'm going to watch it for a few weeks before covering it up though. Then again, it is in a closet so I could wait a very long time...
I guess if it does it again I'll probably catch it (I grab food out of there everyday) and need to cut the pipe and move the wall or at least have a bulge in it. That, or sell the house before it happens again (kidding). Over seven years all the weight on the shelf and vibrations of the washer and dryer directly above it must have loosened the nails just enough to cause it to start leaking.
Over the past month or so Julia hasn't wanted to go to school. Usually, it involves tears. We thought for awhile that it was just a phase, then started thinking maybe there was someone at school that she didn't want to see, only to eventually find out it had something to do with her not getting a snack.
Like most kids, we didn't get the real story at first. Julia seemed to be suggesting that her teacher didn't give her a snack one day as a punishment for looking into another classroom. Since Julia communicates verbally very well and remembers everything, it was really only a matter of sitting her down and talking her through what really happened.
The more questions we asked, the more the story came out. Apparently, when it's snack time, all of the kids leave the classroom and grab their snack from a cart in the hallway. We think Julia probably got distracted and/or stayed away from the mass chaos and peeked around the corner into another classroom. After everyone had been handed their snack, the teacher probably told everyone to go back to their seats to eat. Julia probably got back to her table and realized that everyone else had been given a snack except for her and was crushed that she either had forgotten or perhaps even not been given a snack. She was the odd one out. In addition, she had to muster up the courage to ask the teacher for a snack, something she doesn't like to do (speak up in class). Of course the teacher gave her a snack, but it was still a traumatic experience.
I'm guessing that she doesn't want to go to school because she's afraid something like that might happen again. She's also doing the same thing with church, trying to avoid going to Sunday School class, probably for the same reasons. The funny thing is that every time we pick her up after school or church she's in a great mood. She's happy, won't stop talking, and tells us all about her day.
Jonathan really liked the animals...I couldn't tell if he liked the horses or the dogs more. My personal favorite was the llama, specifically the one sporting a green tie in the picture below. My second favorite animal had to be the slightly inebriated (assumed) gorillas dancing to House of Pain's "Jump Around". Actually, the bagpipes (even though Scottish) were pretty cool. A parade just isn't complete without bagpipes...
Jonathan has started using more then one word together at a time. In the past few days he's started to combine simple words together, like "Dadda" or "Momma" and "no". Most of the time it's him trying to tell us he wants the other person. It's fun to hear him communicate verbally.
Stacey also taught Jonathan to say the word "yuck", usually when referring to his dirty diaper and other associated dirty things. The funny part is not so much the word, it's that the word is accompanied by over dramatic facial expressions involving squinting eyes, a crinkled nose, and lips tightened to reveal his front teeth. He's a total cheeseball.
March Madness is upon us...the Zags once again won their first round match up. In a good way, the game last night was pretty boring. The Zags led from wire to wire and seemed to always have at least a ten point lead.
Since the game was played at dinner time here, Julia watched the first half with us while we all ate. She just couldn't figure out why the announcers kept talking about "mangos" for Gonzaga...
We explained that they were talking about the player named Pangos, not the tropical fruit. That in and of itself was funny, but then she was a little embarrassed and laughed, which made it more funny, which made her even more embarrassed, which made it even more funny.
Over the past week or so I've been saying that Jonathan is looking taller and feels thicker, especially in his legs. I was pretty sure that he had grown and gained weight, but we were waiting for the official results from his visit with the dietician today.
Finally some great news: Jonathan gained a pound and a half over the past month! That's two to three times the expected amount. If you look at the slope of the points on the growth chart, it appears almost perpendicular to the established percentiles. Kudos to the dietician and new doctor for taking a less aggressive approach and recommending we feed him only the amount his body needs (versus 125%, for example). Between that and the new medication, Jonathan has been keeping everything down.
One of the other benefits of this approach is that as he gains weight over time, he can control that last 5-10% of the calories he needs because he's eating it (real food). He's self-regulating - at least at the very end. So, as of today he's 20.5 pounds (9.3 kilos) and 30.5 inches. Going forward we're going to feed him an extra 60 calories to bring the total up to 930 calories of formula and let him eat whatever else he wants above that. If he can somehow continue to gain a pound a month from now until June, by his second birthday he'll actually be on the 3% curve.
Things have been going pretty well for us over the past week or so. We all recovered from the bad cold passed around, Jonathan has been doing well, Julia got a new jean jacket and sunglasses and Stacey started training for the Bolder Boulder in May with some girls from church. The highlight of my week was spending today playing in the sand (patio) with the kids and downloading Coldplay's latest album from Amazon for a mere 25 cents.
Our second attempt with Bethanechol yielded the same results so we took Jonathan off of it for about a week. Today was the first day we tried him on Cyproheptadine, an anti-histamine. He was definitely more interested in food then usual. He ate apple slices, potato chips, a bite of a Luna Bar, and almost went for an olive and a cucumber. Scrambled eggs are always a winner. It will take a week or so until we can determine whether or not there are any side effects and if it's really working.
Julia has been wanting a new jean jacket and sunglasses for awhile. I know she's at least been talking about new sunglasses for months. Although they were only two dollars at Walmart, we didn't exactly feel the need to run right out and buy them for her. Now that we have, she's been wearing her new sunglasses non-stop - even inside the house. She's also very excited to start Soccer Buddies next weekend.
I think February is my least favorite month of the year. It's still snowy and cold outside most of the time, there isn't anything going on except a badly-timed and invented commercial holiday, and the sun starts shining just enough to tease you that spring, although coming, isn't here yet. That's probably why the month usually only has 28 days, 10% less then most months. In the past, everyone agreed to only give February the minimum required number of days to make it a month. Then, on to March...
I was reviewing the posts over the past month and saw that there weren't very many. It's not that I don't want to and am not looking for things to post about, there just isn't much going on in our lives right now other then work, taking care of the kids, and keeping up the house. In terms of Jonathan, this is a good thing since nothing major is going on and we don't have any appointments to talk about.
We've been trying to check out a new church, but over the past five Sundays we've only gone once because someone has been sick the other four times. At first it was Julia, then Jonathan had his allergic reaction, then Stacey caught a bad cold, and now I have it. In many ways we're looking forward to the weather warming up, being outside, and having some things to do. We have a few things already planned in March - parades, races, and Julia's first real soccer class. We hope to get out a lot this summer since the kids are getting to that age.
Don't forget to change your clocks next weekend...
