Lactose intolerance

We have suspected for a while now that Nicholas may be lactose intolerant. He was able to tolerate formula just fine, but for some reason, he started getting really sick in January. He would throw up after drinking milk. He also had a fever and diarhea so when I took him into the doctor we assumed it was some kind of stomach bug. Well, it lasted about 4 days and he was fine again. In February, he got sick again, but so did the other kids. It started with pink eye and then Devan got laryngitits... I spent so much time in the doctor office, that when Nicholas got sick again, it was easy to just say that the whole family is just having a rough month. So, his doctor stated that it may be necessary to see a GI doc if it doesn't clear up. Well, it did and it started again in March. I am getting concerned at this point, and I called the GI doctor that helped Devan when he was 2. He needed a referral from our regular doctor and was completely booked up until after April 10th well, I was not able to get in to see his regular doctor by then and of course he wasn't sick at that time.

Well, when he got sick again this last weekend for no apparent reason, I decided to get the next available appointment with this doctor to get the referral to the GI doctor just to get it checked out and tell someone (who may have an idea what I'm talking about) what has been going on. Well, I will have to update later as to when and if I can get in with the GI doc any time soon, and if so, what he says, but for now, here is a picture that shows how yucky Nicholas has been feeling.

Most recent project completion

Justin finally finished the Mustang. Well, not completely finished.... He still has to finish the transmission issue, but the car is running like none other, all the interior is in tact and has been painted back to the original black color it should be. The dent in the fender has been repaired, and the broken headlight has been replaced. As for the paint.....

Before...

After...


See it has black racing stripes... right?

Nope! They are black cherry red! When you look at them in the sunlight from straight on, they almost blend into the red of the car. They become translucent! It's pretty cool!

Now all we need to do, is detail the inside, fix the tranny and get it sold! Justin is concidering changing the tranny from the tired 4 speed auto to a more appealing 5 speed standard, and I have a girlfriend who's kids are looking for a way to earn money this summer and for $10.00 they will come over here and detail the inside. Not a bad deal really. It's not even all that dirty!

Well, here's to hoping we can sell it soon! ;)

Dinner is served!

I like to let the kids help me cook once in a while. Here are some pictures from our most recent child prepared dinner.

Enchiladas - I think they ate more cheese than they put on the pan, though.

Yummy!

Pause from baking cookies for an Angel Hug!

KeLauna's first time using the electric mixer. (With a little help from Mom of course)

Bathroom remodel

Since the end of 2008, we have been down to only one bathroom in our house. You see, one day, when Justin was taking a shower in the upstairs bathroom, the kids came up and told me that the water was coming out of the ceiling downstairs. So..... We had a pipe burst and mildew a hole in the drywall in the downstairs bathroom doorway that made it look like a water fall just inside the bathroom. It was a curtain of water behind the door.

We had our home insurance send an adjuster out to help figure out what to do and just how bad the damage would be. He sent over a professional clean up crew to remove the wet drywall and dry it all out. Justin fixed the pipe and the insurance left us with an unusable bathroom and a check for $1000 to completely fix the downstairs bathroom. They expected us to just replace the damaged drywall and fix the burst pipe. They didn't take into concideration the fact that the break in the pipe was between the water heater and the upstairs bathtub in a space that I kid you not, is only about 8 inches wide and almost impossible to get to without removing the water heater.

Long story short, Justin fixed the burst pipe with a very creative solution. And we finally started fixing the downstairs bathroom. One of our freinds came over last week with a couple of his kids and he started going through the drywall to see if anything could be salvaged. It was all mildewed. We decided that since it was all nasty and had to be replaced anyway, that we would go ahead and remodel the bathroom/ laundry room the way we want it instead of the way it was. Here are a few pictures.

Keep in mind, we didn't decorate it. This is how it looked when we moved in. The 1st picture is taken from the doorway it shows the big Jacuzzi tub and this is right where the waterfall was.

This second picture is of the shower. It was in the corner of the room, you couldn't even see it from the doorway. There was a walkway about a foot and a half wide where you could open the door and climb into the shower. It was pathetic.

This is after the 1st day of demolition. As you can see a lot of the dry wall is gone and the concrete wall is showing. The toilet has been removed and temporarily placed inside the tub.

This is what's left of the shower. (Taken from the edge of the tub) The picture doesn't show it very well, but the light switches and their wiring are part of the room that got wet. When the drywall was removed, we found that the electrical wiring was wrapped around the sewer pipe (big black pipe between the shower and the light switches).

Here is a picture of the Jacuzzi tub after Justin, Devan and I removed it from the downstairs bathroom on the second day of demolition. It was definately interesting to carry a fiberglass bath tub up the stairs, out the door and place it onto a trailer to be hauled away. Even better, it didn't stay on the trailer, the next morning, we loaded it into the bed of the Dodge. It fit perfectly between the wheel wells. It looked like we had a Jacuzzi tub instead of a pickup bed. (very redneck!)

I don't have any pictures of the bathroom with all of the fixtures and drywall out yet. When I get those, I will be sure to post a remodel update.

Camaro

Justin has been putting together a 1992 25th anniversary edition Chevy Camaro since December 2008. It has been a long tiring project that has yet to end! Here are a few pics of his progress.

I'm sorry, I don't have any pictures of how it started out.

The front end was totalled and he had to rebuild it and swap the front from another camaro but here it is after the reconstruction with the motor as well.

Here is a better picture of the motor because it is so pretty. I wish I had a picture of the motor before he tore it down, cleaned it up, and painted it. You would be surprised that it's the same motor. The cool part of it is that the pistons and everything inside the motor are BRAND NEW! He didn't even have to clean them. They only have break in lube on them. That means this is a brand new rebuilt motor. The thing is we ran the numbers and it comes back as a motor from a large pickup so since it has been bored and has a few extra ponies, it is going to be too much for this Camaro. So, he will probably take it out and put it in my truck. (someday)

Here is the make shift paint booth that Justin made in our driveway so that he could paint the Camaro. He is very proud of just how Red his neck is!

Here are some before pictures.

This is what it looked like when the paint booth was constructed around it.

And, after.....

The car was originally going to be 100% silver with black accents, but the silver was not covering the way it was supposed to, so Justin added 1/8 of a quart of Jaguar Blue Metallic to the silver and he got this color. I wish I could find the right pictures, but if you look at it at a certain angle it looks silver, another angle blue, and still yet another angle makes it look green! The color turned out really neat!

So, if you know anyone who may be interested in buying a custom built 1992 25th anniversary edition Chevy Camaro. Let me know. ;o)