Finally Making Good on My Promise to Update...

Well, as I stated in some reallllly old post, our house flooded the downstairs floor back on June 7th, as I was getting on a plane to go visit my lovely daughter and her hubby in Phoenix for her baby shower... (More on that in another posting).

When John got back from the airport, he was welcomed at the front door with water that was coming from underneath it... The water filter on the back of our refrigerator had split open and water was gushing out of it. He got the water shut off, and realized that the water was already seeping into every room in the downstairs portion of our home... Lucky for us, our bedroom is 3 steps higher, so that was the only room downstairs that was spared...

He grabbed the water vac and sucked up something like 30 gallons of water. We have no clue how much was still in the carpeting of the living room and piano room, as he could only get so much of that out... (The padding was sucking it up faster than a sponge...)

He called his son Joseph to see if he could come over to help get the furniture off the wet carpeting before it soaked into it... He came over with his girlfriend Emma, and for the next 5 hours they moved furniture, filled boxes (and didn't label them, which meant it is like Christmas every time I open a box... as I have no clue what is in them...) I was very lucky Emma had come along as I have curio cabinets full of goodies, (lots of Boyds Bears, Fire Department mementos from both John's and my careers... and more things that u would even want to try to guess at) as she took every item out of the cabinets, lovingly wrapping each item in tissue paper, placing them in boxes, and actually labeled each box as to which cabinet it went in, and even which shelf... for that, I can never thank her enough...

I opened 8 of those boxes tonight, and not one thing, (knock on wood) so far has been broken... I even found things I had forgotten I had... Such as a metal slotted box holding the tuning forks that I used back in the day, to tone out my first structure fires and medical aids... (NOOOO, I'm not THAT old, but Barstow was slow in getting a new fire station and actual electronic equipment which meant pushing a button instead of grabbing a tuning fork for each piece of equipment that was needed, banging it on the desk then clicking the mic open to hear the tone to open the radios so that I could put out the call.. (Hmmm, sure makes me sound old doesn't it?) A couple months later, we moved into a brand new fire station, with push buttons, and the tuning forks retired... They were given to me several years ago... Wow sounds like a WHOLE new blog story, huh??? Anyway, back to the flood...

For 5 days, John worked on ripping out carpeting, pulling off baseboards, and moving all furniture into the garage, upstairs, or outside under the porches, or under tarps... Little did we know that for 23 weeks, the only flooring we would know would be concrete, as they had to tear out all carpeting, and a company came in to tear up all the tile, as water had gotten underneath, and in areas where starting to buckle...

In a way, I'm glad I was in Arizona, and away from having to see my house being torn up. Holes were drilled in walls to help the drywall dry out, (even though some of it had to be cut away) around the base of all the wooden cabinets on the kitchen floor, so as not to ruin the cabinets... Big dryers, fans and dehumidifiers were brought in, to dry everything out... When after almost a week had gone by, and drywall was still wet, they just took hammers and banged bigger holes in-between each stud to help the process along...

John sent pictures to my email which I pulled up on my laptop that night. Believe me when I say, I didn't know which was worse, not being able to try to save what "I" felt needed to be saved, or being there watching my house being under siege by men with hammers and large LOUD equipment, that made our house almost impossible to carry on a conversation in.. Then again, maybe it WAS better that I was away...

Here are a few of the pictures that John sent me that first nite...



Moving out furniture...



Pulling up the carpeting...



Notice the concrete?? Yeah, that was our flooring for 23 weeks...



Stairs are a great place to put things to keep them dry, especially when all the furniture is gone...



This was the picture that made me cry.... (Note where they had to drill nice big holes to put the hoses in to dry under all the cabinets???

PAYBACK

Yes, yes, yes, I'm terrible at this blogging thing... and I've been keeping a jounal of the flood fiasco that happened June 7th, and is still going on (Mold test passed today... hurray, they can take down this plastic booth that takes up 2/3rds of the hallway). But this is NOT what this post is about... it's about PAYBACK... Christine sayssssssss, she's my best friend, but if u saw the pic of me she posted, u would wonder how true that really is... SO I'm going to post a couple pics of us, her, blah blah blah.... and I'm giving her the chance to put a nicer pic of me up, or I will start pulling out the blackmail shots... So here's ur chance girly... Love ya Christine... Now be nice. Now see this pic?? She could've used one like this for: "What were we thinking"? And though we may look silly, I don't look like an "AN OLD HAG!!! Now, I'm still being nice with posting this one... just remember Christine, I have BLACKMAIL shots... so find something a little kinder... hehe

I have SOOOOO much updating to do!!

I have SOOOOO much updating to do!! So much has happened, (Our house flooded June 7th, a project not even half done yet... and lots more to bring u up to speed.) but I wanted to give the most fabulous news first... then hopefully I will find time to do this blogging like a good girl, ha-ha... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As most of u know, I have 8 lovely grandchildren... and I love them all... but on July 1st, grandbaby #9 was born at 02:47 AM... and the first one that has my blood running thru his veins... which, well... is pretty special... His name is Ryan Taft, and was 7 lbs. 6 oz, and 19 1/2 inches long...His mommy, my daughter, Cori... called me at 4am on June 30th, saying her water had broken at 1:40am... and that I probably wouldn't be able to catch a flight to Phoenix in time for his birth, especially since they were starting her on Patosin at 05:30 am.

I was on Travelocity.com at 05:30am looking for a same day flight, and praying it wouldn't cost a fortune, since I had no leeway time.I found a flight out of Burbank, Ca that was departing at 3:30 pm, landing at 5:00 pm on that same day, for only $138...

John had been on a wild land fire for 9 days, and was coming home that morning for a 24 hr mandatory rest day, and as soon as he got home, he helped me pack my suitcase. I knew the baby could be born while I was in-flight, or even before I got to the airport, but I had to try...

Little Ryan, just like his mommy, decided to come 2 weeks early, and no one had packed for their trips yet. Not even Cori, his mommy, for the hospital... To make a long story short, by the time I got my luggage and was driven to the hospital, it was after 6PM...

It had taken 45 minutes before they even put our baggage on the conveyor belt. It took a half hour for the car to get to the hospital a half hour away… I’m telling you, hire a car; they are cheaper than taxis…

Cori had been given an epidural, so was feeling no pain, and slept from time to time. Her hubby Bryan tried to grab quick naps when she did, since they had been up all day, had only about 2 hrs of sleep the night before. I have to say, I have never in my life, seen a better birthing coach. He watched her labor on a computer screen, warned her BEFORE the contractions came. He talked her through each contraction, and is the only person I know who can calm her down with just the look from his eyes. He would tell her what a great job she was doing, what a trouper she was, etc. etc... And he did this for almost 25 hrs.... He was great!!! (I hope he doesn't read this... ha-ha)

She pushed for 3 hrs, and decided about a half hour before the baby was born that she couldn't do it, and told the doctor so... The doctor told her that she had delivered (I forget how many) lots of babies, and that labor always had the end result, a birth… She was so exhausted by this point; it made me want to cry...but she persevered…

I cannot tell u how many times I heard that doctor say, "Just ONE more push"...!!!! I would stand, wait for awhile, and after a few pushes, would sit back down on the sofa bed, provided in the birthing room... It was already after 2 AM on July 1st. (Which both Bryan and I were happy about since he had had a bracelet made with all three of their birthstones, and I had just bought birthstone charms for each of my grandchildren to put on a chain, planning on a baby being born the middle of July).

I think at this point, we were all ready for this baby to make his way into the world. “One more push.” I heard the Doctor say, (Yeah, right I thought) but got up once again, just in time to see his feet finish being born… I could NOT believe it. Booger Bryan says I didn’t actually see him being born, since I did'nt see his head appear… Yeah right, like I WILL ever believe that!!!!

Welcome to the world little Ryan… Your Grammy and Papa (along with everyone else in your family) will always love and cherish you. And thank you God, for giving us another Complete family to love.