Reading to Markus

Sandra and I are still residing at her parent's house, but we're planning on moving back in the next few weeks. We haven't been letting anything stress us out, and everything is good. We've committed to host a dinner party (the International Dinner, our favorite!) in February, so we're definitely going back soon.

Markus continues to grow and my arm is starting to get tired. Sandra continues to send me a daily picture on my cell phone when I'm at work. I look forward to them each time. When I come home, I try to play with him for a while and then it's bedtime. We're lucky that Markus (for the most part) sleeps 5-8 hours at night. He's not even 12 weeks! From what I understand, we're VERY lucky.

One cute thing about Markus is that he gets super-excited when you read to him. He doesn't really pay attention to anything to long, but when you read to him, and hold the book over him, he starts moving his feet like crazy and making sounds. It's really amazing. I'm putting a picture below, but I'll try to post a video of it soon.

Since we haven't been home, we've been using Sandra's laptop to store photos, and her hard drive has actually filled up to capacity! It was never meant to be the primary computer, and I'm going to upgrade her hard drive. So we don't have a place to save our latest pictures!

(me reading to our little guy)

"Easy to Install"

I went to Home Depot the other day to buy paint. I passed by the plumbing section and noticed a Fluidmaster Complete Toilet Tank Repair Kit on sale for $20. Perfect! One of our toilets was refilling itself sometimes, which was a signal that there is probably a leak. Since the toilet is old, it was probably time to change the contraption inside the tank. On the side of the box it had 10 pictures and it said "easy to install". Perfect! I figured I could do this in half an hour and then continue painting as I had originally planned.

When I got home, I opened the package to find 20+ steps. (Note: that is more than the 10 pictures on the side of the box.) Undeterred, I proceeded with this endeavor. I should note that I grew up in apartments that had toilets that were pressure-assisted, and hence I have no real experience with tank toilet systems. I'm not foreshadowing an excuse or anything...

After an hour and a half, and a lot of mysterious dirt/grease and toilet water, I was stuck on step #5. I had shut the water off, drained the tank, and was in the process of removing the tank from the bowl. I was using a screwdriver, two wrenches and a ratchet to remove two screws. That took me an over an hour (too much to explain). Finally, I was supposed to unscrew the middle part (whatever the hell it's called), but the screw was like 3 inches in diameter with 1 1/2 inch cogs. Not to mention that this was a few decades old and rusted on. I could not do it with any wrench that I (or any normal person) owned.

So later that day I had to explain to Sandra that after two hours, nothing was painted and we no longer had a functioning toilet in the bathroom. And the explanation, "I thought it was going to be easy", didn't really make me sound any better.

However, I am proud to say that I came back with a bigger wrench and finished the toilet project! In retrospect, if you have the right tools (and a more recent toilet), this wouldn't be so bad. And now that I own a badass wrench, I'm just looking to reasons to use it. We do have two other bathrooms...

2 Month Appointment

We went to the pediatrician on Saturday for Markus' two month appointment. He now weighs 14 pounds and measures 22 inches. So he grew 3 inches (which is 15.8%) and gained ~7 pounds (100%!) in two months. He is actually in the 75th percentile of weight, so we were glad to hear that he isn't setting any records. We were also concerned that he isn't focusing on things too much, but the doctor explained that won't happen until the 3rd or 4th month and we'll notice those changes; it's too early for him now. Overall, Markus is in good health and everything is fine!

He also had to get his first immunization shots...poor little guy. He got two in his right leg and one in his left. Also, he had some oral gel stuff. He cried for a few minutes from the needle pain and then calmed down once I picked him up. It really wasn't that bad. 5 minutes of crying is MUCH better than polio or the whooping cough! He slept on the way back home. =)

The next day Markus and mom did all they could to root the Giants on during their playoff game against the Eagles. Alas, it wasn't enough as the G-MEN played a stinker of a game, losing to the Eagles 23-11. Markus then made his own sympathetic stinker later that night.

Home Renovation

"The buyer of a fixer-upper with a kitchen that hasn't seen a paint brush or a scouring pad since 1967 doesn't have a choice but to renovate." - David Crook, WSJ 01.06.09

There was an article in the WSJ yesterday highlighting (more like warning) the fact that most home renovations don't pay back 100% of their cost and people have been spending like crazy on their homes. Also, it's best to minimize the labor cost and do as much of the work yourself as you can, which is what we're trying to do with the other parts of the house.

No surprise there.

The underlying assumptiopn of the article is that all home improvements are investments. While this is probably true for a lot of people, there are also people out there who would actually enjoy using their new kitchen/bathroom spa/master suite for themselves.

We, for example, know that the new kitchen will most definitely improve the value of the house. In fact, according to the quote above, we "have no choice"! But we're also going to immensely enjoy our new kitchen in our new home for the next "x" amount of years, and that's not a monetary issue. Could we have used a different/less expensive countertop than granite? Yes, but it doesn't factor in our enjoyment. Plus, I haven't met one person yet who hasn't been wooed by the granite. It must be all those damn HGTV shows.

Speaking of the kitchen, the contractor is finished, and we just need to set up final inspections. We (my dad and brother) are also finishing up the painting/plaster this weekend and taking some final pictures. The next kitchen posting should be (WILL be) a bunch of before/after photos.