Taking a Break

Well, this past weekend we gutted the bathroom.  When I say we, I really mean Chris did.  I was sent away so that I wouldn't pester him with questions or annoy him with "trying to help" or get all the tile dust and such in me.  Saturday Chris did demolition while I went to a 1 year old b'day party for a friend.  He managed to get all of the walls down and out of the house that day.  I'm sure our neighbors love us, but hopefully they will more when it helps the resale value of their condos.  Sunday was an adventure because we ripped up the flooring.  It came up significantly easier than Chris was expecting so that was quite nice.  We also got the old ridiculously heavy bath tub out with help from a few church friends.  We got the new tub in with only one friend, if that tells you the extent of the old tub.  It was a wrought iron tub coated in ceramics -- impossible to do much with in reality.  The new tub has whirl-pool jets, arm rests and hold enough water that it covers my legs when I want to get in it -- you know, we had to test it out to make sure everything worked properly. Since the new tub is deeper than most we needed a special drainage kit and the one Chris got first didn't work.  I got sent to Lowe's with the kit to ask for help, apparently people love helping pregnant women who look clueless with their plumbing problems. Monday I went to work and Chris got a lot of stuff together so we could get the sheet-rock and backer-board in for the tile after I got off of work.  He also got the condo association to turn off the water so that he could replace the plumbing in the walls just a bit.  Yesterday (Tuesday) he started sheet-rocking walls and putting up the backer-board.  He also got the walls primed and ready for me to paint.  I'm currently taking a break after scraping the old paint off of the ceiling and letting Chris finish putting up the backboard around the new tub.  We bought all the tile and stuff today, so the people at Lowe's won't have to see me a whole lot more (hopefully). 

Today at Lowe's I had a whole new experience with a complete stranger walking up and congratulating us.  We had a flatbed full of stuff and the lady (lady A) was having a conversation with the check-out lady (lady B).  They both believe that I'm having a boy because I'm not "big all over", though lady A did lift up my jacket in the back and say I had some hips on me to help me carry the extra weight.  She didn't actually attack me or try and touch my stomach, though she did make motions like she wanted to.  Chris was glad of this because originally he wondered how many hands he would have to break from people deciding my abdomen was public domain.  So far his total is zero, but this is also the first time any complete stranger has said anything.  I also got the traditional, "I hate you. I wish I could have looked like that at months," when Lady B asked me how much longer I had to go.  Apparently me telling them 2 months, that I was 8 months into this pregnancy was NOT what they were expecting.  However, since I get that from EVERYONE -- from the OB/GYN to friends -- it is what I expected.  

On the Ripley front -- we regularly see him move, it isn't uncommon at any point in time, so I get some weird looks occasionally because people don't expect it from my abdomen.  We get arms and legs and random body parts that stick out quite a bit sometimes.  It has become interesting to wonder where exactly Ripley thinks it is going.  Apparently my abdomen is getting a little small because kicks to the ribs are painful and it still likes to stay hang out playing piano on my spine. 

Anyway, it sounds like Chris is almost done roto-zipping the backer-board as the last piece for the tub so I should get to painting.  I'll post a series of pics (since I've taken some everyday) once this is over and we have everything back together.