Bumper Repair

Accidents Happen...

This sort of minor damage to a car is common and happens eventually if you own a car for long enough.  The annoying part about it to me is that your options for dealing with it are limited and often times less than ideal:

1. Take the car to a dealership or repair shop to get it fixed properly.  This is the easiest method and will bring the car back into perfect working order but it seems that no matter what the problem is it will always cost ~ $500 or whatever your insurance deductible is.
2. Shop around to find the appropriate bumper part yourself and attempt to remove and replace the piece on your own.  By buying the parts yourself you can save about half the repair cost but you're then on your own to figure out how to fix it.  The repair could take half a day or more to complete and that's if you do it correctly and don't damage other parts while trying to remove and replace the one broken part.  
3. Live with the dent/scrape/damage.  This is undesirable for many reasons, but it's undeniably the cheapest and easiest solution of the three.

Before going down one of these paths I figured I would try a different solution.  I would use some of my home improvement troubleshooting skills and see if I could apply them to our car.  After assessing the actual damage it seemed to be limited to a few plastic rivets that had come out and a broken attachment point on the end of the bumper (pictured).

Broken Bumper Attachment Point

So I found and ordered a bag of the appropriate retainer clips and ordered some JB Weld epoxy putty on Amazon.  For $10 I had the supplies I needed to try the quick repair.  If it didn't work I was only out a few dollars and I could still go down one of the 3 usual car repair paths.

Repair Supplies

I popped the plastic clips in place along the edge of the bumper where they had come loose and used the putty to help create a new attachment point for the end to keep it in place.  Afterwards I used some adhesive remover to help wipe off the paint that had transferred to the bumper and finished it with a fresh coat of wax.

Put Back Together

The finished repair is almost as good as putting on a new piece.  You would have to be looking for it to notice any difference.  Definitely good enough for a 7 year old car; 2009 Toyota Camry.  Still looks and runs great.  

Plastic Rivet Clip

JB Weld!

Before

After

Repairing Wooden Shutters

Now that we're blogging again, I figured I would start posting about some of my home improvement and repair projects.  I've still been working on the house, but less often with the kids around.  It seems that Pamela and I would rather hang out with the kids than take on a new repair or remodeling project.  Also, we're running out of things to repair or update with this house.

Repairing Shutters
A few weeks ago I noticed that a part of the wooden shutters in our bedroom had broken off.  It didn't really affect the operation of the shutters, you could still close them up or open them but that one slat would sort of hang crooked.  Last week it finally was bothering me enough to do something about it.  This was a fairly easy and quick repair once I had a plan in mind for how to fix it.  I didn't want to have to take the entire shutter assembly apart or find/make a whole new slat.  To save time and money, I decided I would use a sort of wooden plug and stick it in place to repair that section.  I fashioned a small piece of wood roughly the size and shape of the piece that had broken off.  Then I used some JB weld epoxy putty I had leftover from another project to stick it in place.  The epoxy putty is some pretty strong stuff once it sets up.  I figure it'll hold the shutter well enough.  It doesn't have to support much weight or stress, it just needs to hold that slat onto the pin so it can rotate.  I let it dry for a day and then I painted over the repair using some old white paint I had leftover from Ryan's room.  Total money spent on the repair: $0 and it operates and looks almost as good as new.

Broken Shutter Before

Broken Shutter Up Close

Wooden Plug

Fits Just Right

JB Weld

Wood and Expoxy Putty in Place

Painted Up to Match

Shutters After

Audrey's Birth Story

Now that we're coming up on Audrey's first birthday, seems like a good time to finally get her birth story written down so I don't forget it.  I wrote about Ryan's birth story here a few years ago, but round 2 was a completely different experience for us all.  We were very happy with our midwife we used for Ryan's delivery (Tiffany), so we followed her to her new group practice called MomDocs.  Fortunately, we really loved all of the midwives that we met, so we felt confident that no matter who was on call the day of delivery, we would be in good hands.

The pregnancy itself was fairly uneventful, except for a bad bout of "morning" (all day) sickness in the first trimester.  The thing that stinks the most about that is that you haven't told co-workers or acquaintances about the pregnancy yet, so people just think you just look tired and sick for no good reason.  This time was even worse than with Ryan, because it included some nasty vertigo as well.  Which meant that for about a month, I couldn't even drive my car for fear of getting dizzy when I turned my head to check my blind spot.  Thankfully, that faded after the first 12 weeks and it was smooth(ish) sailing after that.

In our mid-way ultrasound appointment, we found out that we were having a girl.  Although we would have been happy with either gender, we were maybe a smidge happier that we would now have a boy and a girl.  Best of both worlds and all that.  The due date that we had been given was August 20th, but friends, family and co-workers kept reminding us that second babies tend to come earlier and come faster than the firsts.  I was hoping that she would come on the 15th so she could share a birthday with my sister Liz, but no such luck.  The 20th came and went and still no baby, but I didn't feel too anxious waiting a little longer.  I could still remember how much work and how little sleep you get when you have a new baby, so I savored the extra few days of rest and relaxation.

On the 21st, my sister Kim came into town from Las Vegas for a long weekend to stay with us.  Our hope was that the baby would be born while she was here so she could meet her and also help out with Ryan while we were at the hospital.  It wasn't looking promising, though, and Kim had to go back to work on Tuesday the 25th.  On Monday the 24th, Matt went to work per usual and I was planning to go in as well.  But around breakfast time, I started having some light contractions.  I messaged Matt to let him know, but told him not to rush home and that I would keep him posted on progress or lack thereof.  We had also hired a doula this round - a wonderful woman named Michelle who we both really clicked with.  Her role would be to help us with pain management, relaxation and moral and physical support during the labor.  I texted her that today might be the day, but to hang tight until I knew.  I casually woke Kim up to watch Ryan while I got some laundry done and tried to ignore the contractions (deny, deny, deny! in the early stages of labor, so I was told)

But the contractions started to pick up in frequency and intensity really quickly.  I messaged Matt and told him to think about coming home.  Then I messaged him again soon after and told him to GET home.  By the time he got here, I was in full-on focus mode.  Matt drew a bath for me and ran around trying to get loose ends at the house tied up.  But that proved hard to do, since every few minutes, I would yell for him to come help me work through another contraction.  He called Michelle and asked her to get over as quickly as she could.  When Michelle arrived, it was a big relief to both of us.  She was able to help me with my pain management while Matt gave final instructions to Kim on Ryan care.  I didn't know it at the time, but I guess when Michelle got to the house, she quickly excused herself to text her home birth midwife to say she didn't know if I would make it to our (sort of far) hospital and to stand by.

Thankfully, we didn't end up needing the home birth midwife.  We packed our stuff into our car and Michelle drove separately in her own car to meet us there.  The car ride was unpleasant to say the least.  Contractions are hard enough at home when you can move around to find comfortable positions and have a support person massaging your back and hips.  When you are strapped in a car seat and your support person has to focus on, you know, getting you there alive, it makes for a pretty miserable 20 minutes.  I remember that as we were getting close to the freeway exit for the hospital, Matt said, "Don't worry, we're almost there!  Probably only 1 more contraction in the car!"  4 or 5 contractions later, we finally parked in the LAST remaining spot in the emergency room parking lot, which also happened to be the furthest from the entrance.  Which meant that we had to walk across the entire lot, stopping to break for contractions, in literally 115 degree weather (which feels even hotter when you're on asphalt, if you can believe that.)

Finally made it into the hospital and started the check-in process.  Had to first stop in triage, where they hook you up to monitors and check you to make sure you are really in labor.  Good news - I was dilated to 7cm already and the contractions were rocking and rolling!  This was a super big relief to me, since with Ryan I came in at a 3 and then made no progress and got really tired and discouraged.  It was nice to know that we timed it better this round.  They quickly transferred me to a labor and delivery room that had a huge laboring tub in it.  They strapped a fetal monitor to my belly and helped me into the water, which was BOILING hot, but felt great.  Then, for the next 30 minutes or so, I just labored that baby down.  With each contraction, Michelle would pour hot water over my back or belly, fan me with a hand fan, remind me to loosen my jaw and keep my moaning low.  Matt would give me sips of juice in between contractions, let me squeeze his hand during them, and offered great verbal support.

The midwife on call was Ramona, and we were so happy to have her calm presence with us.  The nurse, Frances, was actually one of the same nurses at Ryan's delivery, so it was fun to have a familiar face.  They kept reminding me that I could labor in the tub, but once I needed to start pushing, I would need to get out of the water (water births are not allowed in the hospital.)  Which was fine with me, only I didn't know how to tell when the pushing needed to start.  Everyone kept insisting that I would know, but I was skeptical.  Finally, Ramona suggested that for my next contraction, I should flip over to my knees instead of sit/laying in the tub and I remember saying "I do NOT like this!" during that contraction.  They said that it was time to get out of the tub, then, and everyone helped me  to climb out and walk over to the side of the hospital bed.

Ramona coached that when I felt my next contraction coming, I should lay my torso on the bed for support while squatting down and bearing down as hard as I could.  So I did just that, and my water broke (all over Ramona, apparently, though I didn't realize that at the time.)  Next contraction, I did the same thing, and out popped the baby's head.  They said to give one final half push and the rest of that little girl came right out into Ramona's waiting hands.  That was it. - 2 and a half pushes (vs. an hour and a half of pushing with Ryan.)  They handed that sweet girl to me and helped me into the bed so I could get a look at her.  She was the most beautiful little thing ever - SO much dark hair and big blue eyes.  She was so tiny and squishy and looked a lot like her brother, but also a lot like me as a newborn.  We were absolutely and immediately in love with her.  The birth stats:

Audrey Brooke Hesselbacher
Born 8/24/15 at 3:09pm
8lb, 12oz
20.5in long

The total labor was only 6 hours when all was said and done, which is actually a totally manageable amount of time!  (And I'm not just saying that with a year under my belt - I think I said at some point that day, "that wasn't so bad!" - haha!)  I was happy to have had a drug-free labor this round since my body really does not like pain killers and reacts poorly to them.  My recovery with her was SO much easier than it was with Ryan.  She slept really well to start with - everyone from the nurses to the pediatrician told us that we had to wake her up every 2-3 hours at night to eat, but she did NOT appreciate being woken and would refuse to eat in protest.  Once she was ready, she would always wake up on her own and happily eat, so we rode that sweet ride the entire 6 weeks it lasted :)  Being a seasoned parent actually made most things easier - we already had a pediatrician we knew and trusted, we knew what products we loved, and we had a general idea of how to care for our new babe.  So even though she gets our often-divided attention and I don't post her monthly baby blogs like I did for Ryan, she gets happier, more relaxed parents who know what the hell they're doing most of the time.

So a bit belated, but welcome to the world, baby girl.  We love you more than you can possibly know, and we feel so eternally blessed to be your parents.

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Life with two

Ryan's Big Kid Room

I loved decorating the nurseries for both of my kids.  It's a fun chance to flex my decorating skills with softer and cuter detail than I can use in the rest of the house (since I share the rest of the house with an adult man...)  But now that Ryan is 3, he has his own tastes, likes, and dislikes that he can clearly articulate.  So I was super excited to re-do his bedroom decor to make it his own.  You can see the original Nursery Design here.

First move was changing his crib into a full size bed with the conversion kit we had purchased with the crib.  Basically, you keep the long sides of the crib and use them as the head and foot boards and replace the short crib sides with rails.  We were lucky that he didn't start climbing out of his crib until he was much older, so the transition to a big kid bed and the freedom it allows was easier.  No issues with him leaving his room or hopping out of bed or typical toddler shenanigans.  He didn't even have issues falling out of the bed, thankfully :)  Some new sheets from Pottery Barn Kids courtesy of his Nana - one set of cars, one of assorted vehicles and one of alligators.

Next step was to take down all of the cute elephant and giraffe details I had put around the room.  Sad to see them go, but they were very babyish and not well suited for my big guy.  After that, I took his yarn-wrapped letters that spell his name and yanked all of the yarn off of them.  We painted them red - his favorite color - and stuck them right back up in their place, but they give it a totally different feel.

Audrey loves Ryan's new bed, too

Then we took down the alphabet art and replaced it with some fun vintage pictures of cars I found on Pinterest.  Got the frames at Hobby Lobby and just printed the car pictures at home.  For matting, I used construction paper that I already had at home, so a very affordable project.

Lastly, we took down the paintings that Kim and I had made and replaced it with a fun vehicle ABC array that I bought on Etsy.  There is a different car/truck/etc. for every letter of the alphabet, which is really helping him as he learns his letters and sounds better.  I got some mini clothespins on Amazon and Matt painted them the same red as the name letters.  Then he drilled some anchors into the wall and strung up thin rope to hang the letters on.  It ended up taking up much more of the wall than we anticipated, but it looks amazing.

Ryan loves his new room and I love that it is a place that reflects his tastes and the things that he loves.  It will be interesting to see how his style evolves over the years, but for now, we are all digging his red vehicle room!

Shout out to Aunt Jody for providing (literally) hundreds of big kid books for the new room!