Lucas & Layton's Newest Family Member

2011-03-20T05:13:00.000-07:00

So it's been awhile since the McCanns have posted! But now (thanks to Lucas's dad) we have a new flip video camera, so we have something to post!

Here's a few videos from our visit to Emily, Joe, and Lily's Grace's house in Hanover! They have a wonderful swing set in their back yard!

My Baby's Gonna Crawl!

2010-08-23T18:23:00.000-07:00

Not that I am ever rushing Walker's stages in life... but after 9 and a half months, he still was not crawling! The pediatrician was not concerned. Most people thought he'd skip the stage since he found a way to be very mobile without crawling -- it's the roll and pivot method! Walker was very efficient with it. Then today, August 23rd, he quit the RNP (roll and pivot) and began "army crawling" and making forward progress on his belly. It's funny how he literally changed methods of transportation over night!

Check out the video:

I also learned that one does not need a DVD player to entertain Walker with a DVD:

9 Months Old

2010-07-27T17:08:00.000-07:00

When did nine months go by? He's almost as old as the time I spent pregnant :) It's been an exciting and busy month - School's been out so I've been home with Walker and we've had quite a number of adventures!

Our Air Conditioner went out, so we spent 6 days with Grandma and Grandpa. We have a brand new HVAC now, just in time to put the house on the market this Spring!

We took a trip up to New Jersey and New York with Deirdre to see Elyzabeth and Al, and Elisa and Ian! Walker was a great car rider. He took his naps right on schedule and we learned that the New Jersey turnpike rest stops are great places to stop to stretch our legs, get fresh air, and eat lunch.

We flew to Chicago to see Ellen and Pat, and Ben and Jamie. Again, Walker was an excellent flyer! We found his favorite book about animals on the farm and it kept him entertained for the entire hour and a half flight. On the way home, Walker slept sweetly for the last 30 minutes, just like his daddy!

We drove down to the Outer Banks so as to not miss our annual camping trip at the beach! We took off at 9pm so Walker was fast asleep. It was definitely a different trip this year. Not quite as relaxing, but super fun!

On August 2, Volleyball started up again so Walker went back to Ms. Carmen part time! She missed him so much in July :)

Check out the video of Walker with his teether... still no teeth yet!

Walker is 8 months old!

2010-07-06T06:57:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened in the last month! Lucas had his first Father's Day! Mom finished school for the year and Walker started his swim lessons with Ms. Leah at her pool!!! Check out these videos - At first he was unsure about the cold water, but as he got used to it he loved it!

Over the fourth of July weekend we went to Lake Anna for two days with Taylor, Cristina, and William. Walker LOVED the lake and his new raft. :)

Seven Months!

2010-06-04T18:45:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, June 5, Walker Huse turned 7 months old! As usual, this past month has been jam-packed with new experiences and milestones!

We graduated to a big baby crib! We outgrew the co-sleeper and thanks to our good friends, Hanna and David Chang, we now have a nice big crib! (Yes, in our bedroom with us.... it all fits!) Walker didn't know what to do with all the space he had.

Walker now sleeps on his side and turns over while sleeping! We often hear he's awake, go in his room, and he's on his belly, happy as can be!

Walker can roll continuously on the floor. Sometimes while he's on his belly he pushes his butt into the air! He'll be crawling pretty soon! Dad tries to teach him and promote it, Mom is satisfied with him doing it on his own time... even if it's "late."

He's talking a ton, but we are working on making some consonant sounds. We hope to have some of those by our 9 months Dr. appoinment.

First Mother's Day! That weekend we also spent the day with Auntie DD and Auntie Elisa having lunch and shopping in Clarendon!

Walker had his first sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Mom and Dad went with the Tovars to Chris and Theresa's wedding in Connecticut.

Mom turned 28!

Walker stayed with his first paid babysitter, Hadleigh Rhodes!

Walker finally got to meet Ellen and Pat McKenna! They came to town from Chicago for the long-weekend.

We all drove to Pennsylvania to see Steve, Amy, Olivia, and Ella. What a great visit and a great, historic house!

Walker experienced his first Memorial Day! (and Falls Plaza annual cookout)

Lastly, Walker had surgery! On Friday, June 4, Walker had surgery at Inova Fairfax Hospital (the same place he was born) with Dr. Gibbons to repair his hypospadias. The hospital, doctors, and nurses were wonderful. Of course they LOVED Walker and commented on how happy he was and how well he responded. Walker had to be under general anesthesia but the procedure was pretty simple. It took about an hour and there were no complications. He did get weighed though, and was up to 18 pounds!!

A video of Walker pre-crawling:

Coming up next month.... Mom wraps up the school year, and Vacation Bible School so she has an entire month off to spend with Snugglepuppy before volleyball starts.

Walker is 1/2 a Year Old!

2010-04-18T16:08:00.000-07:00

The Easter Bunny showed up at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Walker got 2 new books and a really cool teether to suck on:

This month was a big one in the McCann household. Mom went back to work full time so Walker began full time day care with Ms. Carmen. Of course, Walker loved it and did great! Dad gets him up each morning, feeds him from the milk that Mom pumped at 5am before she leaves for work. Dad dresses him and drops him off with Ms. Carmen, then Mom get to pick him up between 4-5pm.

Here's Walker on his first day with Ms. Carmen!

Walker also starting rolling over on his 5 Months Birthday and has been doing it ever since. We can place him on a blanket on his back and he'll start rolling and end up a yard off the blanket. Here's some videos!

This month we also added some new foods to Walker's diet. We got the Beaba Baby Cook Steamer and food processor. You dump fruits and veggies into it and it steams and purees them all with one machine. On Saturday, April 17 Walker tried (and loved) sweet potatoes! Next was fresh avocado, then fresh bananas!

He loved everything we had him try. OK, so it took two tries for the pears. He did NOT like the first batch I made, check out the video. After this incident I made more pears and cooked them for longer and he loved them!

There have been FIVE babies in our Sunday School class since October.... and we have two more on the way! Here's four of them on Easter (Hudson was too young to stay for class):

Walker Turns 5 Months Old!

2010-04-04T17:49:00.000-07:00

First of all -- I'm tired of writing in the blog from Walker's point of view, so from this point on, it's his mother writing!

Walker Huse turned 5 months old on Monday, April 5. We had a lot of firsts this month! It FINALLY warmed up and we got to wear some spring clothes!

This past month we celebrated Lucas's 1st birthday as a dad:
Walker celebrated his first St. Patrick's Day:

We took our first trip in the jogging stroller. It was a sunny day, but not the warmest, so W is all bundled up. He really did enjoy it, the look on his face is reacting to the sun being in his eyes!

We hung out with our friends. This is Walker with Anna Pae and Addie:

We made it through church without having to have clothes changed due to a diaper blowout!

Walker had his first bite of "solid" food. The rice cereal was very watered down at first, but now it's cream of wheat consistency and he LOVES it! Next month we'll try some other things.

Walker found his feet... and he can't get enough of them!

Walker got a new infant bathtub. This was his first bath immersed in water! Again, he loves it and has a bath almost every night :)

Walker had his first Easter. We went to church, and then went to Grandma and Grandpa's afterward for a DELICIOUS lunch with friends and family.

Walker Learns a New Skill

2010-03-11T14:14:00.000-08:00

So at first my mom thought this new skill was rude and that I shouldn't do it, but then she learned it's actually a developmental milestone that babies need to reach, so now she encourages it!!

Check me out:

Walker Turns 4 Months

2010-03-05T19:24:00.000-08:00

Friday, March 5 - Walker turns 4 Months old!

This past month it snowed a whole lot! My parents promised me Spring was coming and that i would love it. As the snow melted we wore some nice Spring outfits to get ready!
Here he is in a nice Spring church outfit from Ellen:

I like to join my parents for dinner -- while I still only drink milk, I like to watch my parents eat real, grown-up food! Now they have my high chair set up so I can join them a little more appropriately :) I'll probably start rice cereal in a month or so.

The Flash! Thanks for the shirt, Uncle Nick!

I can check out myself in my play mirror!

I rode up to Baltimore one night to see my grandpa who lives in Houston!

I can still nap like a champ:

I hung out with my friend Anna Pae -- She's two weeks older than me but I think I've surpassed her in size.

I hang out with my friends, Anna Pae Wojo on the left and Carly Melissa Patterson on the right. Addie Lynn joined later, I've got a lot of ladies to pick from!

My classic photo face :)

On my 4 month birthday my mom set up the Johnny Jump Up. After 15 minutes of just kind of hanging there, I figured out how to make myself move on my own! Check out the videos!

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-15T07:39:00.000-08:00

Wishing everyone a Happy Valentine's Day:

I've also been very busy while I was snowed in. My favorite part is that my dad was home for four days during the week! Lucky me! My mom liked that part too. I didn't get to see too much of the snow, but here are some pics of when we did go out:

My 6 Months size bearsuit: The blue 3 Months one is too small now :(

Daddy helped me work on my Tummy Time. My hair stuck straight up for a few days. Whatever my parents do with my hair when it's wet, it stays until the next bath. Dad brushed it straight up so I had my hair sticking straight up for a few days:

On President's Day weekend my parents left me for the longest time yet Saturday night (almost 7 hours!) with my grandparents so they could go to a wedding reception in Annapolis. I had the best time with them! I talked to them a lot and watched some Olympics with my Grandpa.

On Sunday, I had my first Valentine's Day and it was so exciting! I got to wear a new red t-shirt that said, "Mommy's Sweetheart" to church but I messed it up before anyone got a picture. After church we had a pancake party at my grandparents' house. Lots of friends were there so I got held by a lot of people and those pancakes (7 different types) sure smelled delicious! My grandparents got me two new books (my favorite) and a sweet card. On Valentine's night I went to bed at 8pm like usual so my parents could have their 7th annual Valentine's Lobster Dinner. My dad is SUCH a good chef, he made lobster bisque with fresh lobster and then two steamed lobsters for them to eat straight. I was asleep but I know it was delicious! It's important for my parents to be able to spend time together without me sometimes.

Some new things: I rolled over from my tummy to my back twice last Friday! It kind of surprised me. I'm working on doing it again so my dad can see. I was propped up on my forearms and pushed off a little and then it happened! Also, my parents put away my pack n play from the living room. Now that I take regular naps, I have to take them in my bed. My parents have decided to stay in the condo another year so I can't be taking up more than my fair share of the 559 square feet :) The pack n play will now be used for travel, so I can nap or sleep when I go to friends' houses with my parents.

I'm 3 Months Old!

2010-02-06T13:37:00.000-08:00

As I turn 3 months old, I'm saying goodbye to my 3 Months clothes :( I'm now wearing my 3-6 Months clothes and 6 Months in some brands. I can go through the night without a feeding, but I still wake up once or twice because I'm caught up in my swaddle. It might be time for Mom and Dad to ween me off of my swaddle if it's causing me to wake up! We also have decided to stay in the condo another year, so I'll be sharing a room with my parents a bit longer. I'll need to sleep better so I don't wake them up at night :)

One reason I like living in the condo is that after almost two feet of snow, when no cars were able to pass on the roads, my dad was still able to walk to Giant to get us more milk, a bottle of wine, and more goodies! Giant was open and well-stocked!

While my bedtime is 8pm, my parents still wake me up at 10pm to eat one more time since they're still up and that helps me make it through the night. They are going to slowly start moving that 10pm feeding back until my last feeding is at 7:30 and I'll sleep for 11 hours! I can do it!

My parents are wondering which sports I'll be good at! I give them some hints:

My Bumbo chair helps me learn how to sit up. I can sit up on my own using the Bumbo but my head still bobs a bit.

My last time wearing my favorite ducky jammies -- they're just getting too short and I can't straighten my legs:

Mom tries so hard to capture me smiling in a picture, but once the flash goes off I stop smiling and bug out my eyes like this so we have lots of pictures of me with my eyes bugging out!

I can entertain myself on a blanket with a new mirror/toy from Mommy and Daddy's realtor, Mrs. Szymasnki and a toy for me to play with:

On my 3 Month birthday, it started to snow... and it kept snowing the whole next day. I've seen more snow in my three months of life than some people see in their entire lives! This is my second BIG snow and my 5th snow that accumulated. This picture was only halfway through the storm! Hopefully tomorrow my parents will take me out in my bearsuit to play in the snow and I'll post more pics!

Tummy Time and Wee Wee Blockers

2010-01-28T08:42:00.000-08:00

First of all, I need to toot my own horn -- Last night, on the eve of my 12 week birthday, I slept for 9 hours straight! Mommy and I were so well-rested the next day that we had such a good day! I even got way better at Tummy Time and didn't fuss!

Mommy and Daddy have several tricks to keep me from peeing on them while they kindly change my diaper. I like to pee so much, especially when I have no diaper on. There are some GREAT inventions out there to block the pee pee. Mommy's co-worker bought us the original "Pee Pee Tee Pee". They look like little party hats with terry cloth inside to absorb:

Aunt Hanna gave us a "Wee Block" that she received as a gift, but my friend, Matthias never pees on his mommy and daddy so she thought we could use it. It's like a sponge jock strap covered in soft cloth.

But I like to kick and move a lot while being changed as you can see in the picture above so sometimes these fancy things fall off my pee pee, so mommy and daddy also use the classic, washcloth!

New Tummy Time Mat

2010-01-25T13:00:00.000-08:00

Grandma got Walker a surfboard for him to work on his Tummy Time on. There's things for him to look at as he's struggling to push up. We'll post a pic when he finally gets it!

Walker makes a statement

2010-01-25T12:52:00.000-08:00

Check out Walker's shirt from his Uncle Ryan. This shirt was a hit! His girlfriend, Anna, said it's ok... FOR NOW!

January 2010

2010-01-14T05:52:00.000-08:00

This month we are working on holding our head up more than 45 degrees while on our tummy. We don't like "tummy time" too much, probably because it's frustrating. Can't see anything! Check out some pictures and videos!

PS -- I slept 8 hours on the eve of my 10 week birthday! Mommy was so proud of me (and well rested)

I'm wearing a t-shirt of my favorite band. The lead singer visits me regularly! How lucky am I? (I also know the other guitarist/singer/writer :))

Check out my hat -- it's wearing a hat of its own! This is from my mom's cousins, the Phipps. :)

We all like to nap :)

Check out my booties from Natalie!

Here's a video of me trying to hold up my head -- it's very hard and it frustrates me:

Here's a video of me on my 10 week birthday after sleeping 8 hours straight -- see how happy and well-rested I am?

Walker's cousin William's birthday is January 14. We went to have lunch with him and Aunt Cristina to give William a gift!

Two Months Old

2010-01-14T05:33:00.001-08:00

On January 4, Walker had his 2 month check up. He weighed in at 11lbs., 1 oz and 23 inches. He did great and barely cried when he got 3 shots and a 4th vaccine by mouth! What a trooper :) During his 2nd month of life, Walker saw his second snow, which happened to be one of the biggest snowstorms our area had ever seen, traveled abroad to St. Kitts, had his first Christmas, and rang in the new year. We are also smiling now and making pre-word "coos". Check out some pictures!

We should have been in St. Kitts but instead -- waiting out the storm:

We finally made it!

One Month Old!

2009-12-09T12:19:00.000-08:00

When Walker was exactly one month old we got our first snow of the season so we thought he should experience it! Mom and Dad aren't big on snow, but we did take him out for 4 minutes :)

Family @ Thanksgiving

2009-12-09T12:16:00.000-08:00

Walker was 3 weeks old at Thanksgiving!

Walker Huse McCann

2009-11-05T18:06:00.000-08:00

Walker Huse McCann
Thursday, November 5, 2009
16 pounds, 15 ounces
22 inches

November 5, 2009

2009-11-05T17:53:00.000-08:00

So Mom went to the Dr. on November 4th for her 38 week check-up and got a little surprise! The doctor checked her and laughed because she assessed her at being about 6cm dilated.... The doctor suggested we get the hospital sometime that night. So we made some phone calls and headed there! Due to Swine flu happenings, NO visitors are allowed in the hospital... not even the grandparents! So we were all on our own:

We checked in and were settled in the Labor and Delivery room at INOVA Fairfax Hospital by about 6:30pm. Not much more progress was made, contractions got a little stronger (keep in mind I got to 6 cm without even noticing any...) The doctor broke my water around midnight and things went pretty quickly after that!

We were 10 cm dilated and the pushing began at 3:15 am -- Baby Walker entered the world at 4:24!

And here he is all cleaned up :)

36 Weeks

2009-10-20T17:42:00.000-07:00

All is well with baby McCann -- we are happy that he has settled head down! He still moves A LOT and regularly, but he shouldn't be able to do any more flips! Mom is 1cm dilated... doesn't mean much... just that there's a good chance of a normal delivery now. The due date is officially four weeks away, but the good start might mean he's ready a little sooner!! Mom is on her feet all day and very active, so we'll see!!!

35 Weeks

2009-10-11T17:55:00.000-07:00

5 weeks to go! It's Sunday, October 11 and we're coming down the home stretch! All is well with mom and baby, but mom is definitely feeling tired and worn out by the end of the day... those 30 extra pounds are doing a number on the feet! This weekend we installed the bases for the infant car set/carrier which was the last of the "must do" list before the baby comes.

Apparently Sidda wants to come to the hospital as well! We've begun packing the bags and Sidda has made it known she wants to be part of this :)

Lucas's baby Nikes circa 1981 :) Lucas says they're still ballin' after all these years.

The Nursery/Bedroom -- Mom and Dad's bedroom is getting smaller by the day. Lucas put together the changing table/dresser and we put it in it's place in our bedroom. This is the view from the doorway -- the baby's bed on the right, and his changing table at the foot of our bed.

32 Weeks

2009-09-23T16:11:00.000-07:00

Mom and baby @ 32 weeks -- I've gained about 23 pounds. I'm still pretty mobile but really can't wear heels for longer than an hour or so and by the end of the day my feet and legs hurt no matter what kind of shoes I'm wearing since I'm on my feet all day and still coaching volleyball as well. Lucas and I have had a tour of INOVA Fairfax hospital and taken all three prenatal classes at Kaiser. I'm headed to a breastfeeding class this Saturday morning for a few hours. In October we will spend two days at Lamaze/Childbirth classes... it's getting close to go time!

Last Saturday, Claudia Peacock threw a beautiful shower for me. Lucas and I got some wonderful gifts from our wonderful and generous friends. We've set up the co-sleeper (baby's bed for the first few months) that Deirdre and Elisa gave us:

That's Lucas's baby blanket hanging on the side. The co-sleeper is the perfect size for our bedroom/nursery. It will last him longer than a bassinet but we'll have to switch to a crib when we move into our townhouse next summer. It holds up to 20 pounds or when baby starts to be able to pull himself up. We have ordered the changing table/drawer piece, it should be arriving Monday. Once we put that together, we can start putting his clothes, blankets, and diapers away.

25 weeks

2009-08-10T14:15:00.000-07:00

Mom and Baby @ 25 weeks -- we feel him kicking regularly and are looking forward to his arrival! I've just had my 25 week appointment. I've gained 16 pounds which is on target to my goal of only 30 pounds total.

14 weeks to go as of this posting -- It will fly right by thanks to the start of a new school year and a volleyball season!

Mommy and Baby

2009-07-19T14:07:00.001-07:00

Baby McCann with 20 weeks to go! We are patiently awaiting his arrival in November! He'll be joining his feline big sister, Siddalee!

Christmas 2007

2007-12-04T17:30:00.001-08:00

So.... what size/kind of Christmas tree do you get for a 559 square foot condo? The smallest one they sell and you prop it up on a stand so it sits taller than your furniture! In the past three years I've managed to collect 8-10 ornaments as gifts, etc. Turns out you don't need much more.

And here's the tree decorated and propped up. Yes, it's propped up or it would be shorter than that.

Here's Christmas for the McCanns in 2007! (Along with SJP larger than life...oops, I guess my timing wasn't great, the condo's kind of a mess but I was excited about the tree.... and no I don't get tired of Sex and the City reruns)

November 2007

2007-12-04T17:11:00.000-08:00

The end is in sight! So here we are in November and the condo is essentially done. We'll be doing a few finishing touches over the next few months, but nothing major :) You'll see since April when the last pictures were taken, we finished the baseboards, doorways, got a new front door, had upper cabinets installed, and added knobs and pulls in the kitchen.

Here's the hall closet from the original pictures. We added the doors, this is Luke's space.

The bathroom, painted Cappuccino by Restoration Hardware, and the shower (converted from a bathtub) is fully tiled from floor to ceiling.

We added wall sconces to the bedroom wall. The more lighting you can recess in the ceiling and hang on the wall, the more usable space you have! This is above our bed. Of course you can't see the bed because it's on the floor. Just a mattress and a box spring. We're getting there!

The completed kitchen
(minus the microwave installed above the stove -- it's currently in storage) We're still using a borrowed counter top microwave -- one of those small projects for the next few months.

June 2007

2007-12-04T17:08:00.000-08:00

So this also has nothing to do with the condo, except that our baby, Sidda, who lives with us, had her fur shaved off for the Summer. Isn't she cute with her lion cut?

She's not quite as large as we thought she was :)

April 2007

2007-12-04T16:55:00.000-08:00

When we returned from our honeymoon, we had our countertops and sink installed! Our kitchen was actually functional at this point! All that was left was the upper cabinets, and those wouldn't get ordered until May.

We could finally begin unpacking our kitchen things and stop eating out!

Here you can see our 18" mini-dishwasher. A perfect size for two people in our small space.

March 24 2007

2007-12-04T16:45:00.000-08:00

OK this has nothing to do with the condo, but we got married on March 24 :)

March 2007

2007-12-04T16:31:00.000-08:00

Of couse March was a VERY important month for us. While we thought we'd be finished at this time, we were definitely not. Early on in the month, our lower cabinets were delivered from Kraftmaid. We un-boxed them and had them installed. The upper cabinets would come later. We're still not living here at this point, so they weren't crucial. We HAD to get the lower cabinets installed so we could install our appliances and countertops. You'll see we rearranged the kitchen from its original format. Lucas sat down with a kitchen designer at Home Depot and decided how to make the most of our space.

Looking into our kitchen with the pantry we added.

Our lower cabinets lived in the "living room" until they were installed.

For Lucas's birthday (3/14) I had shelves and a tv stand delivered on 3/9. We had nothing to put on the shelves yet, and no TV or cable, but I had high hopes that one day we would. :) Luckily Lucas's friends were in town for his bachelor party and they spent some time putting the furniture together. (And in the mean time, we bought a couch that you can see Luke sitting on. Two choices of places to sit!!)

January 2007

2007-11-18T13:39:00.000-08:00

The floors and electrical outlets are finished! The appliances are being delivered and we are beginning to put in some furniture!

HERE: Looking into the kitchen BELOW: Inside the kitchen -- refrigerator (not in its final location)

The dining nook again, now with a new sconce on the wall to provide light during dinner :)

Our living room with our first piece of furniture. A cozy chair from Upscale Resale. Notice on the bottom right hand window, there is no longer a Chicken Out menu filling in for a missing window. We replaced all three sliding windows and repainted the sills.
Looking at the front door from the living room. CLEARLY we have not replaced the front door yet..... notice the graffiti. (I thought it would get replaced sooner that it did :)

The Bathroom: We converted the bathtub into a shower space. Stone tiles were installed from floor to ceiling. The vanity, toilet, and lighting.

HERE: The bedroom with lighting (and new window that LOCKS!)
BELOW: The bedroom closet

December 2006

2007-11-18T13:24:00.000-08:00

Skip ahead -- and then we had painted walls (thanks to help from Natalie Tedder) and our stone floors installed.

Looking into our kitchen from the living room (acutally the floors in the process of being installed at this point):

HERE: The living room - Sycamore Green by Restoration Hardware
BELOW: Standing in the living room looking at the bathroom door, the hall closet, and on the right the entry way into the kitchen.

The kitchen: Butter Cream by Restoration Hardware.

The bedroom: Atmosphere Blue by Restoration Hardware.

In the bedroom, looking into the bedroom closet:

In the bedroom, looking out into the hallway. You can see part of the bathroom entryway and a bit of the living room on the right. Electrical outlets not finished off yet.

November 2006

2007-11-18T13:06:00.001-08:00

And then we had walls.... and more debris again. The place suddenly shrunk when our new (mold-free!) drywall was installed.

In the living room. A new pile of debris - left over drywall:

The hall closet (will be Luke's). You can see the edges and corners have not been finished off yet and the seams have not been smoothed.

HERE: Looking into the kitchen
BELOW: More debris in the living room

HERE: Looking into the bedroom
BELOW: Our dining nook again

Looking into the bathroom. No sink, just a toilet.... not for long.

October 2006

2007-11-18T12:29:00.000-08:00

We FINALLY removed all of the debris. We re-insulated the walls with brand new (mold free!) insluation. We painted the cement floor, walls, and bottom of the beams with Killz Ultra to seal the wood from moisture and kill any remaining mold.

Looking into the kitchen from the living room. Notice the new breaker box on the right -- all of the electricity was replaced and updated and recessed lighting was added on the ceiling. With 559 square feet, not even your lighting can take up space. No room for floor lights or hanging fixtures.

Lucas in the kitchen!

A nook in the living room space -- the future home of our "dining room". You can see the new insulation and the recessed lighting.

The bathroom still hasn't been touched much yet at this point other than the walls and ceiling: RIGHT - Looking into the bathroom through the hall closet.

Looking into the bedroom. No recessed lighting, plans for a ceiling fan with a light and wall sconces.

Recessed lighting without the ceiling!

Inside the bedroom:

Standing in the bedroom doorway:

Looking into the condo from the front porch:

August 2006

2007-11-18T11:23:00.000-08:00

Day one of demo was pulling up the rotten flooring and the carpet in the bedroom. (No photos)

Day two was knocking out all of the drywall. We were originally going to simply patch the holes, but based on the condition of the floors and the known flood damage, we feared mold on the other side of the drywall.... we were right. It all had to come down. Ceiling, walls... nothing left but cement floor and wood beams. The good news was that the wood beams were in good shape. The biggest challenge after the demo, was disposing of it all. That took several weeks and MANY trips to both the Fairfax County Dump and other various places which will remain nameless.

HERE: The damaged drywall, out on the front patio.
BELOW: The damaged drywall, still hanging.
You can see the mold.

The refrigerator got temporarily relocated to the living room:

LEFT: The wall in the kitchen where the sink, stove, and dishwasher formerly resided. RIGHT: The back wall of the kitchen. Notice the rotten floor on the right, very difficult to pull up when it crumbled into the shovel.

A view from the front door -- looking into the living room, straight through to the bedroom. Taylor's working hard pulling the drywall off of the cinder block wall.

Turned around, looking back outside through a front window. Look at all of the debris on the porch.....

The fuse box -
Lucas working hard pulling off the wall in the kithen:

Of course, I was working hard too:

and PILES of debris....

Looking straight through into the bathroom:

July 2006 - BEFORE

2007-11-18T10:43:00.000-08:00

Closing Date: July 5, 2006... what have we gotten ourselves into?

These are the first pictures we took. This was the weekend after we closed. Uncle Bill, Marilyn, Amy, Steve, and Olivia were in town and got a first look. I think they thought we were crazy. :) We knew going into this that we had a long road ahead of us. The further in we got, the more we realized needed to be done.

Several things the photos did not / cannot capture: 1) the smell of mold and cat urine 2) the hole through the front door 3) The missing window on the front, patched by a Chicken Out menu. 4) The shattered front window repaired by tape. 5) Rusted window frames 6) Holes in walls and interior doors. 7) The only light was ONE ceiling fixture that was falling down.

This is looking into the kitchen. In front of the kitchen is rotten parkay flooring. You can see a bit of the orange extension cord coming out of the kitchen. All of the electrical outlets in the kitchen were cold, so the refrigerator was plugged into an outlet in the living room. On the right you can see a half-functioning old fashioned fuse box.

As you turn left into the kitchen, this is the view! The dishwasher does a great Old Faithful impression. Yes, we believe that's what caused some of the flood damage.

Doorless Hall Closet:

View into the bedroom:

The bathroom -- the room we originally thought needed the least amount of work. Relatively speaking, it wasn't that bad.