March for Babies

We had the March of Dimes MARCH FOR BABIES this morning! I think this is the first year it hasn't been rainy and nasty the day of the march. Team Hartman turned in over $4,000 at Tara's last check. Thanks again to everyone who donated!!!

Here are the boys playing with those slap things. You hit two of the purple things together to make a slapping noise
Connor...not quite happy about the hat issue
Brandon..just chillin'
Connor...10o% passed out!
Brandon...tuckered from all of the excitement.
Reese...poor guy just couldn't hang on anymore!!!

The boys fell asleep right when the race started, slept the 3 mile walk, and were gitty and laughing their cute little heads off in the car on the way home. We all had fun and WORE OUT Grandma Karen today!

Say WHAT????

Brandon has his appointment today with the audiologist. I was able to get him to fall asleep to perform the ABR test, but he woke up when they put the electrodes on his head and wouldn't go back to sleep again. Instead, she performed a basic hearing test and he passed WELL within normal range. One month ago, he barely passed with a score of 15 (meaning the lowest number of decibels he can hear). Today he MORE than passed with a score of 10! That is well within the normal score for a child 15 months of age or even his adjusted age of 13 months. I self diagnosed him with "early onset selective hearing" HAHAHAHA!!! We have a developmental appointment on the 21st and I'll talk to them about his speech. I really don't think he needs speech therapy right now, but if they want to offer it, I'll take it!

On a construction note, no new pictures today. They put in the vents in the floor, but that's about it. Nothing else happened today!

Ridin'

Connor has changed so much in the last 2 weeks. He's taking more and more steps each day, can climb into the laundry basket by swinging his legs over the side, and now he's starting to understand the concept of sitting on things and riding things. I bought this little wagon on craigslist about a month ago. It's part of the peek a blocks collection. Connor spent a good 20 minutes trying to figure out how to sit his little bottom into the wagon. It's so cute to watch them figure things out and struggle a little...sad too....it means they are growing up :(

Next, Brandon became very interested in it so I put his little bottom in it and it fit perfectly!!! Scrawny little guy. There's a handle on it that tucks up underneath it. I started pushing and pulling them around and they were laughing hysterically...soon enough they'll be pulling each other.
I tried putting them BOTH on there, but as you can see by their expressions, they didn't like it. Connor looks so pitiful!

They had turkey pepperoni for the first time today and CHOWED DOWN! I laid out 7 pieces for each and put a piece of provolone cheese on the top and nuked it for 15 seconds...I call it tomato-free baby pizza! They also devoured 10 stalks of asparagus and an entire mango...geez!

End of Wednesday Construction

So close...but not quite. The room is ALMOST finished. The heating/air is finished under the house, but the vents haven't been added to the floor yet. The ceiling fans need to be installed, the carpet and wood flooring need to be connected, and a few paint touch ups. The deck stairs still need some work on the banister, an air duct need to be replaced and a joint sistered...and that's about it! Here are some pictures from today





If you look closely, you can see Connor crying at the baby gate since he threw his milk over the top...hahaha

We had a really hard time deciding what to do with the bare space in the living room where the fireplace used to be. We didn't want to do hardwood through the entire room, but weren't able to match up the existing burber carpet. So, this is what we came up with and I think it looks pretty darn good. I'm ready to get rid of the burber carpet, but maybe in a year or so. At that time, we can run the carpet right to the archway if we want to.

It's so close to being finished. I'm heading to Raleigh at the crack of dawn tomorrow to pick up Grandma Karen from the airport. Zack is going to work on some of the outside things. I told him I wasn't going to leave my house unlocked all day but he was more than welcome to work on the exterior. The painters will be back on Friday to finish up some trim in the living room, and Zack hopes to get all of my blinds hung for me. SOOOOOO close!

March of Dimes

A BIG thank you to the following people for donating to the March of Dimes...

Grandma Karen
Aunt Bridget
Bettina
Theresa B.
Deana S.
Renee M.
Beth N.
Sevasko Family
Jean Marie G.
Janice G.

Those people who donated received a special little gift from me. If you're curious about what that gift may be...THEN DONATE AND FIND OUT!!!

I am only $100 away from meeting my goal of $500!!!! There are still a few days left and an easy way to donate. Visit my personal March of Dimes page at

www.marchforbabies.com/katedanko

Some of you have told me that you already donated to MOD this year, and that's WONDERFUL!!! This is a great cause and is an awesome way to support all the little miracles out there...including Brandon and Connor and our friend Reese.

We will be walking proudly on Saturday with Team Hartman. If you would like to walk, meet us on the campus of FTCC in the student parking lot #5 across from the child care building. Tara Hartman has a BIG red sign that says TEAM HARTMAN and we'll all be wearing green shirts. The walk is 2.6 miles, and friendly canine companions are welcome as long as the are leashed. No scooters or bikes please. If you want to walk, please take the time to register online. Last year the turn out was MUCH higher than anticipated and they ran out of water and snacks. If you email me and I will be happy to register for you.

Thanks again and have a great rest of the week...hope to see some of you on Saturday!

End of Tuesday Construction

The room is really coming together....windows and doors are framed in...




This is the color...it looks a little minty in this picture, but it's not like that on the walls. This color is on the 3 walls that have the windows and the door, and a lighter creamy green is on the wall that used to be the outside of the house.



This last picture is to try and show you the difference in color between the 2 walls. The color isn't as light as it looked on the sample, but it still looks awesome.



The flooring is wood with a cherry like finish. I think the redness will make the room look amazing! The plan is to finish the painting first thing in the morning, have the heating and air work done, and then spend the afternoon doing the floors. Hopefully I can start moving the furniture in it by tomorrow night or Thursday!

End of Monday Construction

There's not much to see! Zack sanded the drywall and the painters came and primed it. Not to self...next time sanding of any part of my house is ever involved again, demand them to put up plastic to keep the dust contained. I spent all day cleaning up and I'm nowhere near done. It's going to take a week or so to get it all..arg.





The old doorway is all painted!
This is where the window used to be
This is where the door used to be

They should paint the room today as well as put up all of the trim and casing around the windows. Flooring and A/C is tomorrow. They should be completely done with the room by tomorrow night. There might be a few things on the exterior of the house that will need to be touched up, but the rest should be done!