Day 9 - The Special Materials Arrive

Today no actual work got done, but a shipment of the "special order" materials arrived. This board is special because it is engineered to support the load of the entire roof structure. Because we have an overhang on our house, the roof can't attach to the house for any load-bearing purposes, so this is the creative work-around that's taken several weeks to materialize. This delivery contains two engineered boards that are 18"x2"x30'. Yes, that's 30 feet. It's hard to get the perspective of how huge these boards really are, but maybe this photo will help.

Standing Up

Ian's main goal during playtime is to pull himself up to a stand on anything and everything he can find. His favorite is his activity table.



He would also rather stand than nap.

Day 8 - More Roof Framing

Today the crew added more framing for the roof structure and fixed the opening for the staircase (yesterday it was 3' wide and it's supposed to be 5' wide). The building manager was here this evening and he told us that the roof materials are special order and need to be approved by the County engineer, so there will be a lull in work for a while. The project is way behind schedule because of all of the unique (read: difficult) considerations for the roof structure. We are very frustrated because we don't think our builder is using his time and resources efficiently, but that's coming from a professional project manager's perspective so maybe I'm a bit biased.

Meanwhile, we've purchased most of our outdoor furniture and light fixtures. The dining room is getting very crowded, so I hope they finish soon. Plus, it's awfully quiet around here without Clipper and Teak!

Day 7 - More decking and the start of a roof

The deck is really starting to take shape. They started putting up the structure for the roof.

Day 6 - Decking goes down

Very exciting progress today. We can actually walk on our deck for the first time, well at least half of it anyway.

Ian loves to ride on his newest toy. The toy changes to a walker and he pulls himself up on it, but much prefers to sit and be pushed around the living room by his Daddy.

Ducks

A pair of ducks have taken up residence in our yard. This is probably due to two factors. First, our yard is so wet it could be re-classified as a swamp. Second, Clipper has moved to Grandma and Grandpa's house for the month finally giving the ducks some peace.

9 Months Old

Ian is 9 months old today! It's been a rough month for the little guy - he had ear infections, pink eye, high fever, a trip to the ER, lots of different medicines that gave him diarrhea and diaper rash, and another cold virus complete with more fever and a wet cough. He's finally on the mend and is starting to be his happy self again.



At nine months old, Ian:
*weighs 18 lbs even and measures 28.5 inches tall.
*wears mostly 6-12 and 9 month sized clothing and has just graduated to size 3 diapers.
*has graduated to a convertible car seat (in one of the cars at least).
*won't let me feel around in his mouth for more teeth, but has two very prominent ones on the bottom.
*is an expert at crawling and pulling himself up to a stand. He's started cruising and is getting very good at climbing, much to our dismay (see below).
*prefers to feed himself finger food and is getting very good at chewing.
*drinks a little bit of water out of sippy cups with meals and when we're out and about.

Today's birthday photography session was very quick because he almost immediately figured out how to climb over the arm of the chair and onto the bookshelf. He was very pleased with himself. We were not.



See all of Ian's month-by-month birthday photos.

Day 5 - Another Inspection and more materials

The framing inspection happened today.



And more materials arrived late in the day.



Other than that no work was done. I'm hoping on Monday there will be a lot of progress.

Day 4 - Filled holes

Not a lot happened today. One guy came around to fill the holes and put on these strange metal caps.

Day 3 - Framing

Now we are starting to see some real progress. Today they put up the framing and put concrete in the holes. Although with no more materials in sight I'm anticipating another pause in work.

Day 2 - Materials and Inspection

Nothing happened for 4 working days. But on the 5th day the holes were approved by the inspector and the materials arrived.

Day 1 - We have holes

On a day with record-breaking temperatures (93 degrees), the crew dug 10 holes in red clay soil with rocks as big as Teak. They used manual post hole diggers and digging bars and worked for 3-4 hours digging holes from 4 feet to 8 feet deep.

Day 0 - The day before the deck work begins

After many delays the work on the new deck should start tomorrow. The deck will be 18x24 feet with a roof, three sky lights, 2 fans, composite decking, and a set of stairs. The contractor estimates it will take 3 weeks to finish and I will be posting updates as they work.

Happy Easter!

Ian is cheerful again after a long week of ear infections, fevers, antibiotics, and his first trip to the ER.