It's So Quiet...

When DearHubby and I bought our house 7 years ago, we didn't know all that we were in for. We saw the bad shape it was in before we purchased it, but I was ignorant of how much work was needed. DearHubby convinced me that in 3 month's time the house would be done.

It is now 7 years later. We knew that the house had some termite damage, but didn't realize how bad the damage was. DearHubby could walk up to a wall stud and it would literally just crumble in his hands.

The old parts of the house were also so musty that I didn't think it was really conducive for a baby to live in.

Through the years we've been renovating each room as we've had money, however, it wasn't until my pregnancy with DearDaughter1 that we really took our house renovations seriously. Until that time, we only had our tiny living room, kitchen, and bathroom completed. That was really all DearHubby and I needed at that time. Because of DearDaughter1, we picked up the pace on our home renovations and completed our laundry room, hallway, and DearDaughter1's bedroom.

When we discovered I was pregnant with DearDaughter2, we knew that we had to pick up the pace even more on our home renovations. DearDaughter1's room was too small for the girls to share a room (for now) and we knew that DearDaughter2 couldn't be in our room permanently. Well, DearDaughter2's room was a difficult room to tackle because the project was not a straightforward paint and refloor type of project (nothing in this house is). Her room is above our basement and we've had problems with the basement walls leaking. In addition, her room's roofline was not aligned with the rest of the house. Therefore, in order to do this project right, we had to redo the basement wall and roof. DearHubby also thought that since we were redoing the roof anyway, we should redo the whole roof of the house, which included an extension of our living room.

After praying much about this project, we went into debt for the first time in years and took out a big home equity loan. We had planned for demolition and construction to begin in May, but we had a lot of obstacles to overcome from the county and township offices. Therefore, we decided to renovate our house after DearDaughter2 was born. Providentially, my father in law just retired in December 2006 which gave him an unlimited amount of free time and my brother in law was in the middle of changing jobs. They have been the major workers on our home renovations and so my father and brother in laws arrived on August 24th to help us work on our house.

For 3 weeks, DearHubby, the girls, and I woke up and went to bed with PaPa and Uncle as part of our family. As they were with us working on the house, there was a lot of noise in the house from the demolition of our old sun room to the building up of our living room extension and baby room. From sun up to way past sun down we could hear hammering and sawing and digging, etc... Though it was difficult at first, the ongoing construction became a part of our lives and so did PaPa and Uncle. Throughout the day, DearDaughter1 would catch a glimpse of PaPa or Uncle out the window and wave and shout hello. When we went outside to play, if DearDaughter1 got bored of Mommy, she could easily convince PaPa or Uncle to throw her the ball once or twice just by being cute. For the most part we also had all our meals together.

So, this morning, DearDaughter heard the tapping of the tarps hitting against the side of the house. It was like one of the familiar banging noises DearDaughter1 had heard these past 3 weeks and her face lit up and she cried out with excitement, "PaPa!"

"No, PaPa went home."

"Uncle?"

"Uncle went home too."

"Uncle PaPa home?"

"Yes, Uncle and PaPa are gone."

Once again, the tarps hit against the house.

"PaPa!"

Even DearDaughter2 misses the noise of PaPa and Uncle with us. She's had a difficult time staying asleep this morning and I think it's because the house is just so quiet.

We got quite far in these past 3 weeks. For years we had dreamed about extending our living room and now we finally did it. PaPa and Uncle left on Saturday, September 15th. The living room addition and new baby room has been framed and roofed and DearHubby is left with putting on the shingles, siding, dry wall, and flooring, but for now, our house sits still and is very quiet...

We miss PaPa and Uncle...