A Boy Thing

Eric and I have had this piano for close to two years now, we had talked about what we wanted to do with it when we move next spring...giving it away, trying to sell it with the house..etc. Well after talking to a local piano expert we found out this particular type of piano (ancient upright player piano converted to regular- built in the early 1900's) was worth absolutely nothing, (good thing we got it for free right?!) plus we had found out when we got it tuned that it needed completely rebuilt inside...costing somewhere between 8 and $10,000 dollars. I had considered teaching lessons, but because it was so worn out the sound wasn't quite right, not a good thing for a beginning piano student to not hear the proper sound!
The tuner told me that unless I was emotionally attached to it (inherited from family..etc.)he highly suggested that we not hold on to it. So after some discussion Eric said, well you know I really would like to take it apart and haul it away piece by piece (what boy doesn't want to take something cool apart!)..so that's what we decided to do! We really didn't want to deal with the liability of giving it away and having some stranger get hurt trying to get it out of our house! It is an extremely large beast and we were lucky enough to have friends that were willing to help move it into this house.
It's been a very fascinating experiment, and very dirty!


We have really enjoyed this piano, I was actually able to practice regularly and felt like I got a lot back that I had lost over the last few years without having regular access!


I have to admit, I thought it looked pretty cool with the keys exposed.


A little tinkle of the ivories (and this piano is old enough I'm sure these keys really are!)

Piece by piece...

Keys anyone?


Amazing how huge this particular piece is!


This piano really did come apart easier then expected...



...until we got to the harp! Removing all the strings, then pulling out 226 bolts turned out to be the hardest part.


If someone were to just see this part I don't even think they would recognize it as a piano...especially not as the most important (and heaviest!) part of the piano!

Lilli was always willing to take a turn...or maybe she just wanted to play with the cool tools!



Just a few strings left to remove! But we called it a night since it was about 1 in the morning at this point. Serves us right for starting the project at 10 pm!

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Lilli..Carmen..and other fun stuff

Lilli has recently learned to climb out of her crib, much to my dismay. At first I just thought she was stacking her pillow, blanket. etc. and using that as help. So I took everything out, I even took the bumper out. That worked for about 2 days, and she figured out another way. Oh well.

Watermelon anyone?


Lilli got this baby for Christmas from Grandma and Papa Turnidge, she has always liked it but recently has really gotten very attached. If you ask her where the baby is she will run and find it! I showed her how to swaddle, which of course she tried without a lot of success. But she did burp it and cuddle it. Soo cute, I hope she will be this loving with her baby sister.

Carmen:
Yesterday I went in for an ultra sound to get an idea of how big Carmen is right now to decide if we should induce early..the "educated guess" was 8 lbs 10 oz. I was mentally preparing myself for my appt. today since I wasn't really wanting to bring her out early. I really do think (plus being told the same thing by my friend Tamar- who has been an OB nurse and is a mother of 3)
that it's just better for the baby to not be early! Unless of course she decides to come early! So I was pleasantly surprised when the Dr. said that he thinks she will come this weekend..and if she hasn't come by my next appointment next Wed. then we will talk about what to do then because the last thing we want is for her to be overdue. Of course he had to throw in a kicker.. he said "what if she does end up being 10 lbs?" He offered to schedule a c-section...I told him that unless it was really necessary that I didn't really want one. I pushed Lilli out..big shoulders...10 lbs and all..and I could do it again! I guess we will see what happens, right? Even though I am most definitely not comfortable I am trying really hard to consider the baby and what she needs...if I can do this whole pregnancy thing for 9 months an extra week is definitely doable!


I haven't talked a lot about Eric and school so I thought it was about time for you all to know what he has been up to! He has officially made it through Jr. year, numerous teeth extractions... root canals...fillings...etc., etc....red tape from the school (the way they do things is extremely inefficient..it's lucky that any of the students get patients through!)
He has to get 12 days of outreach for Sr. year, this is where he goes into a clinic outside of the school and works under that dentist. This past Thursday and Friday he went and did that. And had a really good experience. At the school they only see two patients a day, he saw 5 each day at the clinic, which was pretty exhausting considering his usual patients load, but he said he felt really good. As challenging as all his requirements are he is definitely loving dentistry! I am very proud of him for all his hard work. He has said lots of times that he just loves working with the patients, he has met some pretty awesome people and had many interesting experiences. It will be nice when he can be monetarily rewarded for his efforts.