We've been in the new house about three weeks now and it's been a blast! It's also been plenty busy. Here's a run down of our accomplishments thus far (and some new pictures along the way)...



Week One:

• Installed a ceiling fan in the den. Considering the weight of the fan, I decided to take an extra measure of securing the ceiling junction box to yet a second beam in the attic. I used some of that flexible, flat metal "tape" with the nail holes in it.


• Installed new two sconces in the hall. The prior ones were nice but were actually outdoor sconces. Some people. ;-)


• Installed new door locks. Lowes was able to re-key the locks for just $5 a lock. This way we won't have to carry around so many keys.


• Replaced existing toilet seats!


• Cleaned up garage. I recall throwing away so much junk before the move and yet we still managed to keep some of it. At least Josie can park her car in there now.


• Dug up side-yard rubbish and flattened some of the dirt in it.

Week Two:

• Set up nursery furniture. Our broker had surprised us with a very useful housewarming gift basket consisting of many cool things including some of those extremely useful, plastic furniture slider discs. I highly recommend them for any kind of furniture moving you need to do around the house.


• Planted an orange tree, a lemon tree and a Bougainvillea in the back yard (with Michelle's assistance). While doing so I managed to chop through one of the underground soakers. Fortunately, I was able to patch it up with some tape, PVC pipe, and plumber's cement.


• Cleaned up our huge side retaining wall. We'll eventually plant a bunch of cool trees and plants there.

Week Three (light week, I'm tired):

• Put together Michelle's new "sand boat" from Grampa Robert.


• Planted Hibiscus plant given to us by Aunt Fina. Our first plant to go in our retaining wall!


• Vacuumed A/C furnace vent area and replaced filter.


• Attempted to replace nanotron.net with a new AMD S-ATA based PC. Not much luck due to Linux's poor S-ATA support. That does it! Tomorrow, I'm going to the Apple Store in Rancho Cucamonga to pick up another Mac mini. Goodbye Linux!

So, we met with Dr. Morrison last week and everything checked out just fine. This time we had a chance to hear baby's heartbeat. It was powerful and strong! Here's another update on what baby probably looks like right about now along with some more facts from pregnancy.org.

• Thyroid gland has matured and your baby begins producing hormones which will be used throughout his or her life.


• In boys, the prostate gland develops.


• In girls, the ovaries move from the abdomen to the pelvis.


• Your little one may have learned to suck his thumb by this point!


• Your child's bones are getting harder and stronger by the day!


• Your baby's skin is very transparent still.


• Lanugo (very fine hair) covers the baby's body and will continue to grow until 26 weeks gestational age - Generally this will be shed prior to birth. Its purpose is to help protect baby's skin while in all that water!


• Your baby is 3.4 inches (8.7cm) long and weighs about 1.5 ounces (43 grams) - approximately the weight of a letter!

Well, our move is complete. I am exhausted but very pleased with the way everything turned out. The house is awesome and we are enjoying it more and more each day. Michelle just loves her new backyard. As for me, I think I like the neighborhood the most. Quiet, peaceful and serene. Everything is better here. Heck, even my DSL connection is faster!

Day one of the move began with my renting of a 24-foot U-Haul truck. I have to admit that I was a bit overwhelmed by its size at first but I eventually got the hang of it. The move was grueling but thanks to the able hands of my friend Tim and his cousin, Mike, we were able to get most of the "heavier" portions moved during day one.

I went solo on day two, handling the left-over non-essentials like keepsakes, storage items, yard furniture, Michelle's toys and so on. It went smoothly and I was able to get the truck back to U-Haul right in time for check-in that evening.

On day three, today, I brought Cornilius, my pet puffer, and Shadow, Michelle's pet Pleco, home. Josie's mom and aunt Fina stopped by today to help us unpack and get settled. They even fed us which is always the best part.

All in all, it took a while to find this house but it was all well worth it. I'm gonna go hibernate now! "ZZZZZzzzzzzzzz"

Today our loan for the house funded. Tomorrow it will be recorded and Thursday we'll be getting our keys!

Almost there! :-)

Michelle performs karaoke at her Cousin Maria's birthday party.