some siding this week

This week, though beautiful weather, is not resulting in as much work as last week. ;) First of all, we don't have nearly the help we had over the BIG RUN. We're not going to be able to get all of the exterior complete before I leave (IN FOUR DAYS!!!) but we have made tremendous progress.

Yesterday Matt worked all day by himself, and although my estimation of the work at the end of the day was pretty good, he was rather discouraged by how little he thought he had gotten done.

to the left of Owen you can see a panel around the window by the door that Matt has just tested for fit (all the openings fit perfectly, and it was up before lunch).

Today Matt had a productive morning while the kids and I were at Reuben's private therapy, spent mostly getting the battens on the fireplace bump on the north side of the house. Doesn't it look nice??

And then this afternoon he worked on his "real work" (as in, "work that he gets paid for") while the little ones napped so he could monitor Reu while Leah and I got a bunch of errands run. We picked up the cash we need for various medical things for Krassimir next week, as well as enough to exchange to cover meals and things that we don't put on the credit card. We also picked up a number of various feeding supplies from Target - I'm getting fantastic suggestions from families who have already brought their children home from Krassi's orphanage about thing to try to attempt to keep him hydrated and fed during the pick up week. These children have been through so much trauma in their lives that they have few reserves for transitions such as the one that Krassi will have next week, and many of them respond to the stress by shutting down - refusing to eat and drink. When you consider that feeding has itself been a very harrowing thing for much of their life (because of the way these children were fed - thick liquid in a bottle with a half inch hole in the nipple, bottle propped while they were laying in their cribs - some children have died from aspirating during these feedings) it's not hard to understand that this would be their reaction. We have no way to know how Krassi will tolerate the changes. He has the advantage of being "sturdier" than some at 28 pounds and we know that he is capable of eating a soft diet from a spoon, but I feel much better being more prepared than less. So I have a variety of bottles, sippy cups, and a syringe all lining up waiting to be packed!

On our way home from errands, we picked up Matt's mom who helped play with Reuben so Matt and I could be up on ladders on the back of the addition working siding up a little higher. We got it from one row below both of these windows to just past the junction of the link roof.

If you're looking, you can see Baby "helping"!! My due date is six months from today. (Thanks, Leah, for a great photo)

 

 

Up, up, up! Still a lot of pink wall up there to cover, but this stretch is the last bit of the lap siding. The stair bump still needs its board and batten siding...

Grandma G, Reuben, and Rinnah

Matt measuring for the last piece of the day.

Matt was able to get some more caulking done after supper. There are many things that Matt does well. Despite his many moments of uncertainty and "I have no clue what I'm doing," he's still building this thing!!! And I've always thought he does a beautiful job of caulking. Lest you think the caulk doesn't matter, here are shots of with and without caulk.

with caulk

without caulk

Oh, hi Owen! Having fun with that drill??  This boy is having a great year. ;)