The kitchen ceiling, part 1

When last we left the kitchen, we had discovered that the roof was rotten (because it was the 100 year old STABLE) and our handymen-cum-roofers had replaced the entire structure of the roof. So much for patching a few shingles. While they were working on the roof, the ceiling had begun to crack, so they jerry-rigged a brace & told us not to worry too much. Here's a picture (the sock hanging from the ceiling was my attempt to keep the bats out - yes, tape would have been more aesthetically pleasing, but the sock was available and I was worried):


And here's a picture of one of the cracks that made the ceiling a wee bit unstable:


And I bet you thought that discovering that the kitchen was actually a stable, that the whole roof was rotten and that the ceiling was falling would be the end of the story, didn't you? So did we until...

We hired a different contractor to do the interior work because I had some reservations about the handymen. For example, we suspected that our roof was the biggest job they'd every done - didn't help that the invoice was #027 and that the guy who took our check was seriously worried about it bouncing (not because he didn't trust us but because he didn't know what they would do if it did). Oh, and one of them told me twice that I was spoiling Thomas. Don't mess with a mother and her baby: I didn't take kindly to his observations.

So our new contractor, Justin, showed up early this week and, with his younger worker Josh, began to demolish our kitchen ceiling. Sure enough, within minutes I could hear the exclamations. Josh was seriously impressed with our stable. True to form, they found hundred-year-old wood & nails and a ceiling being held together with plaster and the thinnest of drywall so that it really was about to fall on our heads. Josh did most of the demolition work and then he stopped. He showed up at the front door and said, "did you say you just had your roof re-done?"

This is not the question you want your contractor to ask.

SO. It turns out that the original contractors were more handymen and less roofers. First, they had cleverly installed the rafters in two parts and then failed to support the joint where they met. Turns out rafters are supposed to be one long piece - who knew? Second, they had attached all these rafters to one of the old beams (remember the old, rotten wood?) - and that beam wasn't even supported on one end!

(Notice how the beam coming across the photo is actually resting above the joist that should be supporting it - oops! This just kills me - I mean, did they not notice that the beam they'd chosen to support the ENTIRE roof was not attached to anything? Sheesh.)

There were all sorts of other construction no-nos, too. (When I asked Josh to take pictures of the problem areas he didn't even take the beam picture - how scary is that?) So Justin suggested that they needed to a) brace the roof so they could finish demolishing the ceiling and b) re-structure the roof in order to continue.

DIDN'T I JUST PAY A LOT OF MONEY FOR SOMEONE TO REBUILD MY KITCHEN ROOF?

Apparently that was for naught. Needless to say, I called Contractor #1 (aka the handymen) and asked the big boss to come and explain. He came on Thursday and said it wasn't nearly as bad as Contractor #2 said, but that I should put them in touch and they could work something out. Not likely. No way was I going to pit one contractor against another. I called the new contractor and asked what needed to be done.

Then I cried.

Then I called the old contractor and told him what the new contractor said and asked for some money back. And shock of the century (granted, the century is not very old yet): he said yes.

I figure they must have done a pretty awful job for him to just agree to give me more than 10% back without even thinking. Maybe I should have asked for more...

At any rate, now Justin, Josh & gang are going to rebuild the roof structure AND re-do the ceiling and one wall. And since they have to re-do the roof anyway, it looks like we're going to have a cathedral ceiling - after all, why re-build a flat ceiling if you're already up working on the roof? And we may get nifty new lights - and we might even put in some windows - assuming that we just want to get deeper in debt. But I'll let you know all that next time I write. Meanwhile, I'll leave you with two pictures:

The one below is the door to the former hayloft. The one on the right is the beautiful wood we discovered between the level of the old ceiling and the top of the roof (the roof on that side is about 20 feet high!). Oh, and the new wood in the right-hand picture is the massive brace Josh put up so the ridiculous roof wouldn't fall on him.

Did he or didn't he?

Today Thomas is 13 weeks old - tomorrow he'll officially be 3 months old. This is all very exciting, no doubt, but the question of the moment is "did Thomas roll over?" Well, obviously he did roll over, tummy to back, or I wouldn't be writing this, but does he know he rolled over? Hmmm...

This morning Thomas rolled over quite easily after I showed him how to do it about 5 times in a row. Does it count as rolling over if you're only doing it to get your mother to leave you alone? This evening he did it again but André reported that he thinks it was more or less accidental and that Thomas looked very surprised.

So, Thomas may know how to roll over. Or he may not. The good news is that one way or another he will definitely roll over before he graduates from high school, so we're not too concerned.

The terrible truth about the jolly jumper

Thomas really doesn't weigh quite enough to get his feet on the floor (don't tell his dad).

sleeping in my crib?

Mommy thinks I should practice sleeping in my crib. Ha! I think I should lay in there and watch the mobile for 15 minutes, pretend to be asleep for about 5 minutes and then cry really loudly. (Maybe she'll turn the mobile back on.)

The sling thing

Here's how Thomas and I travel most of the time - we love our sling!

Baby, look at me now!

Thomas is now 12 weeks old & 12 lbs heavy - no more Mr. newborn! He's changed so much in the last two weeks that it's a little mind-boggling. Where to start?

Well, last weekend we stopped swaddling him at night - we'd noticed that he wasn't relaxing into the swaddle the way he did at first, and he was clearly fighting it in the morning. To our great delight, Thomas slept wonderfully without the swaddle - guess that newborn startle reflex is gone. Yippee!

While we're on the subject of sleep, Thomas has started - slowly but surely - to fall asleep on his own & to nap in his bassinet. Don't get too excited - he's still not sleeping through the night - but he is sleeping better and better and I can almost imagine that someday soon we'll have a schedule and be sleeping five or six hours in a row...

Maybe all this sleep is helping with coordination, too. Two weeks ago I wrote that Thomas could intentionally (sort of) hit things. Now he grabs them & pulls them towards him - and he is starting to grab things and put them in his mouth. I figure I should celebrate that milestone now while it's exciting because I hear that soon enough his desire to put everything in his mouth will be the bane of our existence! Here's Thomas playing in his Gymini (he loves the horse, if you can't tell):

Thomas has also tried out his Jolly Jumper - witness his first attempt below. He's not quite tall enough - or maybe he's not quite heavy enough - to get both of his feet on the floor simultaneously. I would have waited a little longer to try it - babies are supposed to be able to hold their heads up before they use it - but André was convinced Thomas was ready & I have to say that I think he was right.

And that's all the news for now - it's taken me a couple of days to get this written & now I've got even more to write about - in another post!

D'Arcy's Birthday

Yesterday was D'Arcy's birthday. We all went down to Kingston where Leslie had organized a beautiful small burial service followed by dinner at D'Arcy's favourite restaurant, Curry Original.

The day was sunny and warm. Just before the ceremony, a hawk flew down and lit on a gravestone near D'Arcy's - beautiful and appropriate. About 25 of us gathered and listened some of Leslie's lovely poems for D'Arcy and a beautiful a capella song. A few people shared thoughts of D'Arcy since his death and a lot of us shared some tears.

The dinner afterwards was a tribute to D'Arcy's love of good food and companionship. Curry Original did itself proud and we reveled in butter chicken, lamb korma, saag paneer and much more.

We miss D'Arcy more than I know how to say in a blog, but I didn't want to let the day go by unmarked. D'Arcy was fun and warm, challenging and loving. Thomas is already hearing stories of his uncle, and we plan to tell him many more over the years - we'll want to remember this day, too.