Harlan at 6 months

I have been meaning to create this post for about 3 weeks now. Technically Harlan turned 6 mos on April 7th. We have had lost going on since then so I am just now getting this posted.

Harlan has acquired a few nick names but the one that has stuck is Harlie. In fact if you follow me on Facebook you will see that I almost always call him Harlie. I think it is cute and fits him!

Here is a picture of all my kiddos!
They all love Harlie so much and love posing for pictures with him!

At his 6 mo well-baby visit he weighed 15 pounds 4 ounces
And was 27 1/8 inches tall. Long and lean!

He is a very happy baby that rarely cries.
He smiles alot and likes to watch his brothers and sister run amuck.

Harlie has a great relationship with each one of his siblings. He espeically loves to roll around with Mason on the floor. And Mason has the ability to make Harlie laugh out loud!

Harlie has 3 teeth. 2 on the bottom that he got in his 4th month and 1 on top that he recently cut. He is working on the other top tooth. Teething has been a challenge for him and teh only time really that he is inconsolable. He responds well to pain relieves though.

Harlie is also eating soild foods like a champ. We started with jarred purees and now have moved onto table foods. He likes fruits and veggies and loves to self feed. He really loves pancakes smeared with my homemade strawberry jam and cut into little squares that he can self feed.

Harlie is such a joy and has fit seamlessly into our family. I am so happy that he has completed our family so perfectly. At the beginning of the month Tim got a vasectomy so we are done having babies. It just feels so right and we are thrilled to have taken that step. I am just savoring every baby moment with Harlie. They grow so fast and he is the last of my babies!

Basement Bedroom is COMPLETE

A few weekends ago we got all the furniture moved in and the kids moved! It went very well! My brother Dave came over to help Tim move the furniture. Then I sent in and unpacked and organized all the stuff. I am very happy with the way it turned out. They do need some more wall art but we are gonna work on that soon!

Here is Mason standing on Jasmyn's bed

Jasmyn is obviously excited!

Jasmyn's area. She needs art on the wall!

Kaleb's area. He has lots of art work!

The room!

And the transition of the kids sleeping down there went way better than I expected. They have enjoyed sleeping downstairs and love the new bedroom! It is just awesome!

Basement Bedroom Part 3

Work has continued on our basement bedroom project. The floor proved to be a huge challenge. When Tim pulled up the linoleum that covered a portion of the floor he found it very securely GLUED to the floor despite having been there since ... well forever I think! The plastic layer came up but the paper backing stuck to the concrete. Here is what it looked like:
Obviously it needed to be removed before we could put new flooring down. The new flooring is an adhesive plank type flooring that is moisture resistant and rated for sub level concrete. So thus began our quest to remove the mess from the floor! We bought an industrial size floor scrapper from home depot. That didn't work. We bought a floor stripper that was supposed to remove the glue and paper. That didn't work. We did find a solution eventually. A 4 inch wide wall paper scrapper with removable razor blade type blades, lots of water, get on your hands and knees, and apply lots of elbow grease!

We took turns scraping while the other one used a push broom to wet the paper and glue to help loosen it. The kids picked up the scraps of paper and put them in a bucket. In about 2 hours the floor was clean enough! The next step was to let the floor dry. We turned on a space heater.

Tim then spent a few nights after work painting the doors and trim white. Then he painted the ceiling and 3 walls yellow and one wall green. The colors came out great!

The next day I went down and swept the whole room and then mopped. After the floor was clean I let it dry completely again. Then we needed to use a concrete preparer to help the adhesive planks stick to the floor more effectively. I got the job of rolling on the floor paint.

After the floor was dry again we were ready to start laying the flooring down. Thankfully Tim had some help from my brother Dave. It took the two of them about 3 1/2 hrs to lay all the planks and then Tim still had some finish work to get done as well.



Here are a few pictures of the floor and the pain now that it is done. The kids as you can see are thrilled with the new room! The space heater is still in the room helping the adhesive cure to the floor.



The room is very long and narrow. It should work great as a dormitory type setting for the boys! Well and for Jasmyn too until her room is finished upstairs. We do still have some work to do before we move the kids into the room. We need to get some baseboard trim painted and installed. All the outlets in the room need to be replaced with new plate covers. The light switches need to be replaced and they need new cover plates as well. And we have 2 low profile ceiling fans to install as well. And the cover that goes over the water main needs to be sanded, painted and installed. We are getting closer to being done! I can't wait and neither can the kids!