Bathroom Renovation Update, Minor Kitchen Remodel, and Fourth of July

  • Post category:Holidays / House
  • Reading time:4 mins read

Bathroom Renovation Update

Stacy and James spent two weeks living in a hotel and are back home now. The bathroom renovation isn’t done yet, but with the demolition and framing phases completed, there shouldn’t be much dust kicked up, so we felt it was safe for them to move back. They have been sleeping in the living room because the hallway to the bedrooms is tarped off and getting James to his room is a bit difficult. They had been sleeping on the floor, but on Thursday the 2nd James woke up with what we think was a bug bite on his hand.

 

James woke up with what appears to be a bug bite, shown as a red, irritated patch on the back of the hand.
James woke up with what looked like a bug bite on his hand

 

Circled the bug bite to see if it spreads, showing a red, swollen patch of skin outlined with marker for monitoring.
Stacy circled the bite to see if it spread

 

The next morning it looked worse, so she called the pediatrician. He didn’t want to diagnose it over the phone, so Stacy brought him in to see him. The doc didn’t think it was too serious, but just in case there was an underlying infection, he prescribed an antibiotic.

After James woke up with the bite on his hand that Thursday morning, Stacy decided to try having James sleep on the couch that night. The next morning, she found him like this:

 

James sleeping on the couch under a colorful blanket on a red sofa, one arm hanging over the side while a stroller and window are visible in the background.
James sleeping on the couch

 

We were slightly concerned that he may wiggle himself off the couch one night and wind up on the floor, but we weren’t sure what to do to prevent it from happening. If we were to line the side of the couch with pillows to cushion his fall if he did fall off the couch, is there a possibility of him suffocating when he lands on the pillow? Do we line the side of the couch with boxes or something so he can’t fall off and move them out of the way every time he needs suctioning in the middle of the night? Or do we do nothing and hope nothing happens? We chose to do nothing, and he’s been fine for the past two weeks.

I know I said in my last post that I was going to wait to post pictures of the renovation until it was completed, but we’re starting to get excited now that we can envision what it’s going to look like when it’s done. Here is a sneak peak of James new roll in shower:

 

Tiles installed in the roll‑in shower during the bathroom renovation, with tan wall and floor tiles and a light blue accent band running horizontally towards the top of the walls.
This will be James’ new roll in shower

 

They still have quite a bit to do, but they’re getting there. Hopefully just a couple more weeks.

 

Minor Kitchen Remodel

For those of you that don’t know, Stacy and I drove Route 66 all the way from Chicago to Santa Monica for our honeymoon in 2005. We actually got married in 2004, but since Stacy was teaching, we postponed our honeymoon until the summer of 2005. Anyway, it was an amazing trip full of old diners, ice cream shops, and gas stations. When we bought our house, we wanted our kitchen to have a sort of retro theme. As luck would have it, my mom is a real estate agent and was selling a house whose owners no longer wanted their retro kitchen table set so we took it.

 

Route 66–themed kitchen nook with a mint‑green table and matching L‑shaped bench, set against a vintage café mural and Route 66 décor for a cozy, nostalgic dining space.
Our old kitchen table

 

A couple of weeks ago a local ice cream and coffee house that Stacy and I go to frequently announced that they were changing their theme from the retro look to a more modern style and was selling their old furniture. The prices were reasonable, so we jumped at the chance to have a commercial-grade retro table with booth seats. It looks amazing!

 

Retro diner‑style booth iwith red‑and‑white benches, a white tabletop, and a Route 66 café mural creating a cozy, nostalgic kitchen nook.
Our new kitchen table

 

 

Fourth of July

On July 1st James had a 4th of July parade at summer school.

 

4th of July parade outside at summer school, with students and staff, and gathered with small American flags, decorated wheelchairs, and patriotic signs during the outdoor celebration.
4th of July parade ad school

 

James riding in his stroller decorated with red, white, and blue fan accents for the 4th of July parade at summer school, wearing a blue hat with an “A,” sunglasses, and festive red and blue clothing while an adult pushes the stroller outside.
James’ stroller was decorated for the parade

 

On Saturday, July 4th we went to a 4th of July parade. James doesn’t handle heat well, so we tried to keep him shaded as much as possible and also clipped a battery powered fan onto his stroller. Not sure how much it helped, though.

 

James at a 4th of July parade, sitting comfortably in a shaded stroller wearing a blue shirt, denim shorts, and red sneakers, cooled by a small fan on a sunny day.
Trying to stay cool at the parade

 

He was doing fine until a firetruck turned on its siren. He didn’t like that at all.

 

The loud sirens at the parade made James upset, shown in a close‑up of his face with eyes closed, lips tightened, and a tear running down his cheek while someone gently holds his head for comfort.
The sirens must have hurt his ears

 

We may need to see about getting some ear plugs or headphones for him for situations where we know there will be loud noises.