Life Overall
Life is well at the 'Hippie Commune', which is what we have been affectionately calling our living situation with our friends. We are still getting along amazingly well, and our hosts have not faltered in their graciousness to us. We're pretty comfortable in our third floor 'loft', but admittedly do go through occasional down periods where we desperately miss the ease of life in our one story house with its backyard and free-roaming space for Ben, as well as privacy. But we really can't complain - as I can't imagine a better situation considering our circumstances.
It looks like, at this point, Christmas will be the very earliest we'll be back in our house. Our contractor says he'll work hard to make that happen, but it's still a stretch. Especially considering none of the rebuilding has even started yet!
Progress on the house
Chris, our contractor, provided us with his 'bid' for the work to rebuild the house. The number doesn't mean a lot to us yet (except that it's a heck of a lot of money!), because we still don't have the dollar amount from our insurance company. That really frustrates us, as it's been almost two months since we filed our claim! Friday, our adjuster called, and she had just filed the claim with the company. She would not give us a timeline for when we should expect to receive the amount, but said it would be at least another week. We're stuck in a tight spot now, as Chris is ready to start work - and can have a contract ready for us to sign on Monday, but we still don't know how much we truly have to work with, and we also have limited funds to start with, since it's still all out-of-pocket at this point. Fortunately, my company is offering interest-free disaster loans for folks who suffered damages from Ike - and it's a pretty good deal - they give us the money upfront, and then deduct an equal amount from my paycheck over the next two years. But making the commitment to Chris and starting the work makes us uncomfortable because we just don't know what to expect from insurance. Also, we're doing some upgrades in the remodel process, so we know we will be paying for that out-of-pocket, but just don't know to what degree. Fortunately, the first week will be primarily plumbing and re-wiring work (since our walls are all now open, this is apparently a very wise investment for resale), and we're committed to doing this, so that buys us a week of progress with the house. After that, though, it's going to be tough to stay committed to our decisions if we still haven't heard from insurance - as we could opt to go cheaper in a few areas if money is tight. *sigh*
We also are having to deal with re-sodding a good portion of our front yard, as our flood remediation contractor put all the rubble in our front yard for the city to pick-up. It sat there for two weeks, which was frustrating (why didn't he just get a dumpster?!), and then the city apparently hired out the job of picking up heavy trash - who did an AWFUL job of it - and essentially tore all the grass up under the rubble. We're actually going to try to file a claim with the city to get money for re-sodding. In the past, they have always picked up the top stuff with the claw, and then a person got out of the truck and piled the smaller things in the street, so the claw could scrape it up. It was very apparent that no one got of the truck, and instead the claw just tore into the yard. And they didn't even get it all - Mark had to spend a couple of hours picking up what they missed. *sigh*
Life with Ben
Ben is still doing AWESOME at school! We really love his teacher, and he always seems so pleased to be there when we arrive. This has been a HUGE blessing for us, and has certainly freed up a lot of time to deal with things with the house. Plus Mark and I are definitely less stressed and more patient and kind to each other since receiving help in this area.
Here are some photos of our adventures together as a family over the past few weeks:
We've obviously spent a lot of time with our "housemates." Here Ben is eating snacks on "Uncle" Randy's lap, while watching football. Their eldest daughter Megan was over too. She's done some babysitting for us over these last few weeks, as well.
Bathtime is my least favorite time of day. Most parents I know love bathtime, but not me. Babette offered to give Ben a bath one evening. They had lots of fun:
Mid-October marked the annual Trike-a-
thon for St Jude at Ben's school. Here they are raring to go. Ben's teacher pushed his class in the 4-kid stroller - they are in the right.
Ben's class with Nathalie:
Here they come! They completed 16 laps around they gym.
Ben's teacher does all sorts of neat projects with the kids. Here's Ben's first artwork from finger painting:
Mark, Ben and I participated in the Houston Pumpkin Run. Ben's first race! He did great, and we walked almost 5k. Almost because we arrived about 5 minutes late, so to avoid being extremely last, we turned around when we reached the back of the pack. :)
Ben, Megan and I attended a family concert. Ben really enjoyed it, and was watching very quietly - right up to the point where he fell asleep! Here Mark is carrying our sleeping baby back to the car after the concert.
Ben and I had a morning to kill during a no-school day, so we went to the Health Museum. He was fascinated with this video of a talking robot.
I was more interested in the giant mouth display then Ben. I'd put him in the middle, then back up to try to take a picture - but he's obviously ready to get out!
Ben's favorite display was the dancing machine next to the lunch area. And he enjoyed it without me even putting any quarters in the machine! Let's see some moves, Kid!
Mark and I early-voted, and shamelessly used our child to air out our political views:
And of course, we've had many hours in our 'loft' playing, being silly and cuddling:
That's it for this update. Hope you are all enjoying as beautiful a weekend as we are here in Houston (high in the mid-70s!)
