Getting Settled

After much anticipation from those that have been asking....here are a few pictures of the house so far :-) We are feeling a bit more settled now and I PROMISE there will be pictures to come of the inside. It is taken a bit getting the inside done but for now here are some of the outside. My parents came up this passed holdiday weekend and helped us get the house landscaped and I LOVE it! There is still a lot of work to do in the back yard but for now the side of the house and the front are done!

COMING SOON......

No not what you are thinking, no baby here :-) Just thought I would give a quick update on our house. Some have been patiently waiting and asking for an update and pictures. It has all finally come together. The house is pretty much move in ready. It is slowly getting filled with box after box. We have movers coming on Monday to get all of our "big" stuff. I regetfully have not taken any pictures prior to all the boxes arriving so you will all have to wait for the picture reveal when I feel I have some sort of organization :-) So be patient the reveal will be coming soon.........

P.S. To all that might be thinking of renovating a house that includes gutting a kitchen, a bathroom, and painting a VERY old home from top to bottom and then moving in a 4 week window; take my advice.....DO NOT DO IT! We hope to not move for a VERY VERY VERY long time :-)

And we have progress...

This is our HUGE dumpster, believe it or not it is almost all the way full!

Owen's Room


Our Bedroom

The bathroom has a tub! YAY!

Living Room


Other view of the living room (excuse the spots on my camera lense)

We have been making a lot of progress on the house in the past week. It is amazing to me how much work you can get done in such little time. So far we have accomplished:

All the walls in the WHOLE house have been bleached washed including most of the floors

Old appliances pulled out of the house

All rooms repainted except the kitchen, bathroom, and basement

Bathroom & Kitchen gutted

Tub/Shower has been installed

Rec Room carpeting in basement has been ripped out

Yard is clear of house debris and placed in the HUGE dumpster (picture below)

Garage COMPLETELY emptied and cleaned

Yard has been cultivated and awaiting landscaping

Trenches have begun to be dug for the drain tile (this is to keep water away from the house, we had a small water issue in the basement)

and the list will continue :-) We are getting our new cupboards delivered tomorrow, and being hung on Friday, and drywall in the bathroom is being started on Friday morning. It is beginning to finally look like a home, a home I would live in :-) It is so exciting to watch how everything changes and it would not be if it was not for our AMAZING family. They have been such a BIG blessing, no way would we be able to have done all of this without them!

Working......

The front of the house.....COMPLETLY cleared and waiting for new plants, also the outside of the house waiting to be painted.....

The side of the house also COMPLETLY cleared and waiting!

Kitchen cupboards coming down

Bathroom has been gutted to the studs

As many of you know that read this blog already know that Jon and I, and Owen have an upcoming move. Not necessarily the EXACT move that we would choose, but it has to happen and it is going to turn out to be GREAT! We have owned a home in the old Ottawa Hills neighborhood, right outside of East Grand Rapids for almost 6 years. We lived in it when we were first married and building our condo downtown. We have kept it as a rental for the last 4 years. Well, since the market has not been the greatest for selling a condo, we have a 15 month old that is growing fast, and we want to have more kiddos......we NEED more space! So the condo is rented and the tenants are out. The house is old, but has a TON of character, it is in a cute neighborhood, right down the road from the new Grand Rapids Christian Elementary school, and LOTS of great neighbors who can't wait for us to move back! We are planning on our move for the end of June but before our BIG move the house needed some work. New paint throughout, new kitchen, new bathrooms, landscaping galore, and the list continues. Below I posted some pictures of our progress just from 1 day!.....stay tuned for more updated pictures as we finish!

Florida 2010

Owen's first flight.....he did not seem to mind at all (thanks to the tubes :)

Owen loved the pool and the waterfall in it!


Ready to go to the pool! Was not to sure about all the clothing. We actually quit putting the rash guards on him because he broke out in a rash all over from it....weird??? Rash guard + sun & heat = RASH????

Owen and his buddy James playing.

Yes, we were roasting marshmallows and making smores. We're from Michigan, had to do it!

Family group picture after dinner.



Crazy boy after he ate....he has been cheesing for the camera whenever he was in a high chair, so cute!

Lunch, pool side :-)

Taking a ride in the chair.....oh the simple pleasures!

Hanging out in the morning with James

We just successfully got back from our week long vacation to Florida. It was a GREAT time and were able to enjoy it with our friends, Brian and Tara Krosschell and their little man, James. Owen flew for the first time and all and all did great. We were able to take advantage of cheap accomodations compliments of Jon's Aunt and Uncle. They own a nice home in Estero, Florida. The weather was VERY warm and we took advantage of the WONDERFUL pool. I have so many pictures, so picking the ones to post were hard. It was a great week and now that we are home we now have to look forward to packing the condo up and moving into a home FINALLY! We got our condo rented and are moving back into the house Jon and I lived in when we were first married. It is a great, old house with tons of character but since it has been a rental for the past 4 years, you can only imagine that it needs A LOT of work. We plan our move for the end of June after gutting bathrooms, painting the house from top to bottom, and some much needed landscaping. So stay tuned for pictures to come!

Tubes

Well after much anticipation....Owen has FINALLY got his tubes! Which hopefully means NO MORE ear infections, or well atleast less of them! Owen has had about a total of 8 ear infections in his little, short life. That is A LOT for somebody that has been only on this earth for 14 months. We have been struggling with sickness for the past month here at the Potvin household. Not only has Owen struggled with the ears but he also got Roseola recently. Sounds like a disease from the like the 1900's, I know. Well as a result from the Roseola he suffered a febrile seizure. It sounds pretty scary and as a first time parent, it was indeed scary, so scary we called 911 because our little man was not responding. But actually febrile seizures are not that abnormal for kids to have. They are fever induced, but non life threatening and they never stop breathing, just pretty darn scary if you have never seen your child look the way Owen did. We are thinking it happened as a result from having Roseola. It is a sickness that is highly contagious and you can catch it from pretty much anywhere (grocery cart, swing set, etc.) It starts with a high fever that lasts for 72 hours and then breaks and turns into a nasty looking rash all over their little bodies. Owen's fever got to high too fast and this in turn caused the seizure, and once they have one, the likelyhood of them having more goes up. But now that we know what it is, we now know what to do when he has one.

All of this earned our way to see the ENT (ear, nose and throat doctor). His surgery went great and was fast. He is a little trooper! Hopefully we can be sickness free. We leave for Florida on Thursday and fly with Owen for the first time, keeping our fingers crossed that he will be a good little flyer! A well needed vacation! We can't wait!

Their Journey.....

As so many of you know, my sister, Jill and her husband Jason, and 3 girls are adopting from Ethiopia. To off set some of the costs of this journey we had an adoption fundraiser which included a fabulous lasagna dinner, silent auction, and a fun kid's carnival and the day was spent at the garage sale. The day and night was indeed a success despite the cold, rainy weather! They raised almost $10,000, almost 1/2 of what it costs to adopt internationally! Our two families have been so blessed and we have been constantly amazed at the goodness of our heavenly Father! We give the glory all to him! We hope my sister's family can bring their "little man" home soon because we cannot wait to meet him! Thank you to all who came out, helped, donated and supported them! Be sure to check out their blog to follow their journey to bringing the "little man" home! http://www.boersfive.blogspot.com/