We took possession of our house at the beginning of December. A.’s brother and his fiancée, and his parents, came to help us rip out the carpets and do some other prep work for the painting and wood floor refinishing. This was the same weekend that we were losing Caleb, so it was really emotional, alternately devastating and exciting. We’re so grateful to A.’s family for coming to help! Also my parents came to help us grieve for Caleb, and we really appreciated that.

The pictures are by Jan Carlisle, but I blurred out the people in some of them.

Here’s the bathroom…

More bathroom… We took away the vanity, cupboards, and toilet and eventually replaced them (after brushing our teeth at the kitchen sink for a while).

The master bedroom.

Another view of the master bedroom, looking out into the hallway.

The baby’s room, with the carpet pad still down.

The dining area, looking into the bedrooms.

Looking into the kitchen, at the door to the backyard.

Standing by the bedrooms, looking toward the living area.

The kitchen.

More kitchen. We took out the dropped ceiling!

Living room – removing the wood paneling.

Another shot of the living room.

The basement!

As you can see, the wood floors were in pretty bad shape. It’s AMAZING what the floor people did to them. The wall under the paneling was also in bad shape, and the painters did a wonderful job with it. More on the floors and paint later!