Home Improvements

Although our home was move-in ready when we bought it, we've been busy adding our personal touches, changes and upgrades. Below are some before and after pictures of the multiple projects we've had going on over the past three months.

Can you see a difference between the pic above and below?

Jason looked into having someone reseal the driveway pavers but ended up pressure washing them and re-sanding them. Looks much better!

New Solar Hot Water Panel Newly Installed

Did you know that 30% of your electric bill is hot water? Ours is now free! New hot water tank and meter in the garage.
Master Bath
There are four large windows in our master bath that let in a lot of light. It gets hot in the afternoon. At night, I was paranoid the neighbors could see our silhouettes since these windows face the street.

Jason had a handy man remove the molding around the windows.
Here, he is touching the paint up around the walls.

The solution, we had custom plantation shutters made to cover the windows. I'm pleased with the clean look. We will add molding around the top window curves

This was our shower before. Also, note huge ugly fan in the mirror.

New frameless glass shower

There was an existing fan in the bathroom, it was huge and gaudy. Jason replaced it with one that was proportionally more fitting for the room. The TV was a birthday gift from Jason for me. It is nice to listen to the news and weather while I get ready for work in the morning.

Laundry Room. The buyers of our old home insisted on our washer/dryer be part of the deal. So we had to buy new ones for our new home. There was a counter you could buy to place over the washer and dryer to protect it from getting scratched. Jason figured he could build one but he hasn't had the time so he had our handy man build one. It works great for folding and sorting clothes.

Our Family Room Before:

Family Room After
We have replaced the blinds, coffee table and end tables.

New custom plantation shutters over French doors to the pool area.

Coffee and end tables now match the media cabinet under the TV.

Formal Living Room Living Room blinds were also replaced with plantation shutters that match the family room and master bathroom. This is the first room our guests see when they walk in the front door. We still haven't gotten any furniture for in there yet. Another future project.

Outdoor Improvements

Our spacious backyard - LOL
New sod to replace the mud walkway.

Old back yard with old walkway and slab to nowhere.

New paver walkway from the pool to the pool bath.
Also, old concrete slap was broken up and removed and replaced with new sod.

New Seminole Chips and hibiscus plants in backyard bed.

Two New A/C Units

18 SEER High Efficiency units replaced the 10 year old original 10 SEER units. These new units are 80% more efficient and has already cut our electric bill by 35%.

New Fence Gate and Freshly Painted Fence

We only had one gate. The right side of the house had a gate but not the left. Major pain to have to walk all the way around the house. So handyman James has helped out again and installed a left side gate and painted it and the entire left side fence, the length of the house, to match.
The new A/Cs produce a lot of water which leaves the ground a constant soggy, muddy mess. The next project that Jason is currently investigating is to have French Drains installed in the ground to get rid of all the standing water. This is the gate that already existed but when the workmen were installing the travertine around the pool, their constant foot traffic and wheel barrows over the weeks wore the grass bare. We are looking into the French Drainage system on this side of the house as well. The landscape bed also contains new landscape rocks, Seminole Chips.

New Bedroom Wall
When we bought the house, the wall between two of the bedrooms was removed. It made for a nice huge play and sleep space but not very practical. We wanted the wall back up. One side is Colby's bedroom, the other side is the boys' playroom. We added a pocket door so he can go from his room to the playroom. On the other side of Colby's room, it connects to a Jack and Jill bath which connects to Hayden's room. So the boys have rule over 4 rooms that all connect. Another nice feature, Colby's bedroom doubles as our guest room. When we got our new master bedroom furniture, we gave him our old suite. A queen bed is rather much for a young boy but it works out well for when we have family to visit over night. Our guests stay in his room, and Colby moves to the playroom. The Ikea couch folds out into a bed.

Handyman James put up the studs and wired for electrical outlets.

Next, the drywall went up.

Jason used drywall mud to cover the seams and nails.
Then he sanded. I'm still cleaning up dust!

He still needs to spray texture, and paint.

Pool Area's New Travertine Deck

Pool deck before
TV above window was removed just before we closed on the house.

Still the old deck but we installed a new TV for the pool area.

New Travertine!
What a project! What was quoted to take 5 days, took over 3 weeks. We had planned to have Colby's pool birthday party here but it wasn't done in time. We still need to have the stone sealed and the child gate put up. The gate guys have to re-drill the holes for the poles and we are getting a new entry panel.

The coping around the pool really took a long time to complete correctly.

Well Check-ups

Today both boys had their well check-ups at the Pediatrician's office. Colby for his 4 year check and Hayden for his 6 month check. Both boys are healthy and growing well.

Colby has grown 3 inches and and gained 4 pounds since his last well check-up a year ago. Hayden has gained 11.5 pounds and grown 6.5 inches since he was born 6 months ago. He now weighs what Colby did when he was a one year old!

Colby is 38 pounds and in the 50-75th%

He is 40/34 inches tall and also in the 50-75th%

While waiting on the nurse, I read over the brochure "Your Child is 4." Always anxious how my child compares to the norm, I scanned over the developmental areas. I felt very confident that Colby is meeting/surpassing all of his milestones.

Movement:
Hops and stands on one foot for up to 5 seconds (See pictures below)
Goes upstairs/downstairs without support (YES -our old house was 2 floors)
Kicks ball forward (YES -he was on a soccer team and he can walk while dribbling a ball too!)

Hand and Finger Skills:
Copies square shapes (YES- he can even draw a house)
Draws a person with 2-4 body parts (Yes - he drew his whole family -4 heads all with faces, arms and legs)
Uses scissors (Yes - he got his own pair for Christmas)

Language:
Speaks in sentences of 5-6 words (YES - he was doing this at 2.5 years old. He will re-tell an entire story with all of it's details down to the hair of his chiny-chin-chin.)
Speaks clearly enough for strangers to understand (YES)

Social:
Increasingly inventive in fantasy play (YES - he has us going on virtual trips from Disney to outer space daily. He loves to dress up in costumes and use his pretend weapons to fight)
Dress/Undresses (YES - see costumes above)
More Independent (YES - has even told me to leave him alone, he would like his privacy!)

Emotional:
Often cannot distinguish between fantasy/reality (I think he has a pretty good grip. As a son of a librarian, he knows Fiction and Non-Fiction and is always using these words to describe his TV shows/characters)
Can express anger verbally rather than physically (YES - he lets out a huge sigh, squeezes his fists together, and says I am so angry! He will also call me Amy, rather than mommy when he's mad.)

Though, I wasn't quite sure if he could balance on one foot for up to 5 seconds - he never stands still. So I had him try it out while we waited in the exam room.

Karate Kid

He then took it to the next level and began leaping off of the stool on one foot.
Right after this shot the stool flipped over and crashed.

Next the nurse asked me if he knew his letters. I excidetly told her he did! Then I realized she wasn't interested in how smart he was but rather which eye chart to check his vision - the shape chart or the letters. We tried the letters and he recognized/saw all the letters correctly. His vision is 20/25 for both eyes.

He got his blood pressure checked, 90/58. Although this sounded low to me, it is normal for someone his size. He also got the flu mist.

Chubs is tipping the scale at 19 pounds (75th%). He is 27 inches long (50th%).
His head circumference is 44.5 inches (65th%)

Hayden is able to babble for more than 2 seconds, roll over, scoot, bounce, move objects from hand to hand, reach for objects and hold them, bring his feet to his mouth, turn towards a voice, recognize strangers. He is working on sitting without support - he can for a short period and then collapses forward.

Hayden got 3 vaccinations - 2 shots and one oral.

Thank God for healthy boys!

We've Moved!

Moving Day

The months of April and May have been a blur. April was busy planning for the move, while May was actually moving and unpacking it all. In April, I was packing boxes every free moment I had. Which meant either while both boys were sleeping or while Hayden slept and I had something to occupy Colby. We planned for the movers to come the week after our closing to give us time to move smaller things in our cars. I'd spend a day packing up the car. Then the following day, I'd leave early in the morning and spend the day unloading and unpacking the car.

I made countless car trips like this. Car loaded down and kids strapped in. Pretty sure it's not legal to roll like this.

Hayden was easy to shuffle back and forth but Colby, with his adventuresome, boundless energy and never ending quizzical mind, is more exhausting than the labor of moving. So, I arranged for him to go some extra days to day care during the moving process.

I spent hours arranging the kitchen. The old house had 9 cupboards. Our new house has 16! It is nice to have so much space. Some cupboards currently don't have a thing in them.

Love my new kitchen. It is open to the living room so I can watch the boys and TV.
Lots of storage space too.

Empty cupboard. I'm sure I will eventually fill it but it is nice to have the extra space for now.

I also love my pantry. I like to stock up on sale items at Publix and my new pantry has plenty of shelving space to store it all. It is so easy to take inventory to see what I need for my next shopping trip. I have also loved organizing everything.

Eat-in kitchen area with a view of the pool area.
Have been enjoying my coffee and news paper here in the mornings.

Plenty of space for all the baby gear. The coffee table and end tables are next on our list of things to replace.

The month of May was busy settling in to our new home. The first weekend I barely stopped physically moving except to eat and sleep and to feed Hayden. My mom flew down to visit and help babysit while Jason went to San Diego. While she was here, I was able to run errands and complete a couple projects - painting Hayden's room and the boys' bathroom.

Our first visitor, Bebe, one week after moving in!

There was no end to all the miscellaneous stuff, towards the end, at the old house. I kept making trips over to the old house with both boys, thinking it was my last trip and quickly fill the car up with the random stuff still in cabinets, drawers, closets, shelves, fridge, freezer. I had to work fast before someone exploded - either me or them and with them, the explosion could come out of either end and at any moment.

Once we moved into our new place, with all of our never ending stuff - our house is still a little empty. We've never had a formal living room before - so that room doesn't have anything in it except for the dog's bed.

The empty living room. Colby loves to run circles in here.

We've already been busy buying new stuff for the place. New bar stools for the kitchen bar, new area rug for the family room - our old one was too small but fits nicely in the office. New area rug for the dining room. New washer and dryer for the laundry room...

Home office. Jason can work from home if he needs to. He can just close the double doors.

New Whirlpool front loader washer and dryer and new upright freezer.
Doing laundry is fun in my beautiful laundry room.

We get free cable with our HOA, and it seems every room has a jack, so we've bought a few more TVS. One for Colby's playroom and one for the patio. We also want to get a small one for our master bath - because there's a jack there too! Can't wait to soak in the roman tub and watch movies - yea right, more like I'll enjoy listening to the news while I get ready for work in the mornings.

Colby's (and eventually Hayden's) playroom.
We got him a TV too so we can finally watch something other than Handy Manny,Max and Ruby or Jake and the Neverland Pirates!

Patio with new TV mounted. It streams Pandora -internet radio so we don't need to add outdoor speakers. It's been nice to swim in the late afternoons and cookout while having some background music or news.

Pictures are finally hung! Feeling more and more like home every day.
For the first couple of days, our dog Tucker kept marking his territory on these white columns in the dining room. Now Colby just tries to climb them. Can we not have anything nice?

Front door and entrance way. Need to find an indoor welcome mat. Chandelier needs updating.

The boys rooms are connected by a Jack and Jill bath.

Hayden's room, newly painted and with his letters hung over his crib. Also with new leather shag area rug.
He has yet to spend a night in here since he is still in a bassinet alongside of my bed.
Colby, however, has climbed into the crib several times to take naps. Who am I to argue over where he sleeps!

Another view of Hayden's room. I was able to reuse all of Colby's nursery decor and furniture.
A benefit of having the same sex sibling spaced 3.5 years apart.

Colby's big boy "car" room.
His room doubles as the guest room when we have company, as we passed our Queen bed set onto him. The playroom has an Ikea couch that folds out into a double bed that he camps on when we have visitors.

I was able to reuse Colby's nursery letters in his new room.
I love that his closet has double shelving for seasonal and his next sized clothes.

Our Master Bedroom is more like a Master Suite! If I'm in the master bath I cannot even hear the children. Our old master bedroom was so cramped with our new furniture. Now our King size bed looks a little lost in the vast space.

The curtains are also too short for the 12' high ceilings.

We would like to get a over-sized chair with an ottoman for a sitting area along the window.
Also, maybe an area rug for the bed to break-up the emptiness of the room. Another view of our Master bedroom. Love the tray ceiling!

It's the first thing I see every morning when I wake.

All the neighbors we've met have been very friendly. Can't wait to meet more and get to know everyone better. We've been taking walks to the park/clubhouse each evening. The first time I had to coax Colby into going. I said let's go for a walk and meet the neighbors. The first couple we met along the walk, he embarrasses me by pointing and yelling are they our neighbors?!

We pass this gazebo along our walk through the wooded preserve to the park. Colby has to run inside it every time.

Once we got our electronic cards to the club house, I've enjoyed walking with the kids there and working out at the fitness center. They have a stocked playroom full of toys adjacent to the gym with window dividers. Colby asks every day if we can go to the "playhouse" instead of calling it the clubhouse. He's now my daily workout motivator - plus the mile walk there and back is my warm-up and cool-down.Our tropical "courtyard." Our old house had a huge backyard with a custom built swing set that we sadly had to leave behind. Our new house has a pool that takes up all but a fraction of our backyard.

At least Jason's yard work will not take up a chunk of his weekend.

Colby is enjoying the pool daily. He will be a good swimmer before the end of Summer.

We are loving our new place. We are both closer to our jobs. Jason's work is 6 miles and mine is 8 miles. We are also very close to toll roads, 417 and 408 - which means we can be connected to any part of Orlando in minutes. Waterford, where we do the majority of our errands - Target, Home Depot, Lowes, Kohls, BJs etc., is only 4 miles away. Publix is only 2 miles! Where we used to live, I'd have to methodically plan out my errands making one big trip that would take hours. Now, I can run out several times a day. Downtown is only about 15 minutes and the airport about 10. My gas tank has already noticed a difference - filling up only every 2 weeks instead of one.

This is the home where our boys will grow up. There is plenty of room for them to run around and be boys. Although the cleaning is never ending. Just a matter of time before I have some helpers though. We are not moving again unless they can physically help out next time!

Our new house lit up at night. We wanted one story, with a 3 car garage, and a pool, in a nice neighborhood and found exactly that! It was actually the first house we looked at too.