Remodel update and Kaya's surgery

Where to begin...

Oh yeah, the remodel...it always begins with the remodel. We have come a long, long way.


After mudding sheetrock for the first time (which I highly recommend not ever doing again for anyone interested in keeping their sanity) we called a sheetrock guy over to give us an idea of what kind of texture to do on our walls (orange peel vs. smooth and holey "old world").

After seeing the work we had done, he recommended that we do the old world texturing (keword: we). We wanted him to do whatever seemed best--that is, until we found out what our walls would look like thousands of dollars later. It's funny how thousands of dollars instantly makes me think: "well, maybe we can do this ourselves".

So, against our better judgement, we decided to not only texture the walls, but rip off the chair railing, floor boards, sand the ceiling and walls,
rent a paint sprayer, prime the entire house (including both bedrooms) from floor to ceiling, and paint...ALL IN THE SAME WEEK OF KAYA'S G-TUBE SURGERY!!!!!

We are officially insane (not that you didn't know that already). Kaya's the greatest! Amid all the turmoil at home, she was a trooper. Wednesday Tasha and Kaya operated on Emily (Kaya's doll). They surgically drilled a hole (Kaya didn't see how the hole was drilled for fear of trauma...even though the Makita cordless did a great job, I hope that's not what they use in Primary Children's) and implanted Emily's G-tube, ie "button".Wednesday night was Kaya's last supper, Thursday afternoon was her last drink, and by Thursday at 3pm she went in the OR, with Dr. Downey at the helm. One hour later, we found out the surgery went great. Kaya had a hard time at the hospital and didn't want anyone to touch her tummy. But many toys later, she warmed up to the hospital environment, where all the nurses mysteriously schedule their check ups in the middle of naps. We walked around the hospital with a wagon, colored with crayons, and met some of the other patients, including Emma Sorensen who was recovering from surgery on her elbow. We were finally released Saturday evening. That night Mom and Kaya came home to a painted house. They really liked it.