Moving in and Office update

One of the patient rooms to be used as a gait room (they try walking on their new prosthesis)

Reception room artwork- I love this piece, it totally catches the eye when you come in!

The lab room now has VCT flooring and Daniel-as I type-is constructing the lab!

For the privacy required by Jim's governing institutions, there can be no see-through doors. So I ordered these window clings. Much better than some black covering.

The kitchen! Yes, I have more than 5 cupboards and I have SPACE so all of my pots and pans aren't in a leaning tower of Piza mode all the time. I also was able to get out my souvenirs from Ecuador, Europe, Africa, and Lithuania and display them above the cupboards.

Nicole's bedroom has the cutest closet- it's kid size and she loves it!

Michael's bedroom doubles as the playroom and need I say more?

The other side of Michael's room. He's never been happier about bedtime...and neither have we :-)

The backyard is nice and big- the lot is a quarter acre. The left side of the picture is a playhouse that is carpeted and has a big chalkboard on one wall. The kids love going in and out a thousand times (something fun about opening doors?). The right side of the pic shows the "man shed" as it has been officially termed. It has a/c and wired for internet. But we use it for storage since we have no garage.

The other side of the yard. The kids love foraging for sticks! Nicole brought me a worm a few minutes ago. I asked her why she picked it up and she said "It's slimy!" as if that were a good thing. Who raised this child?

Nicole's bed. Her room is so cute! We aren't done arranging stuff in the house, but this should give you an idea of what it looks like.

Jacob will be in Nicole's room. I'm waiting until he is more regular with his wake up time, so he's in a pack n play downstairs by our bedroom for now.

View from the front door. The stairs are just to the right.

Looking toward the front door. We were so glad to fit the fish tank! Only one ghost shrimp didn't make it, we were so glad not to lose any other fish!

Obviously we're not finished with the living room. But it will have to be done by Saturday because we're hosting a farewell party on Saturday for a family in our ward. We LOVE our new house and the kids are in heaven and play in the backyard so much it is wonderful!

Smiling Jacob, Stitches out, Fever in, Business Progress, Stream Washoff, Spaghetti/Cookie Face

Jacob is smiling and cooing now but it is hard to catch on camera and the flash makes him look really pale :-) I love him so much, he goes right to sleep each night without crying and sleeps from 10pm to 7am. He started really sleeping through the night the week Jim started his business. Talk about tender mercies!! Michael got his stitches out yesterday and, you guessed it, he didn't cry at all. But the poor guy has a fever over 101 this morning and has been so subdued and just let me hold him while he snuggled against me. We're keeping close tabs on his fever, but it is so hard to see my little fireball of energy a little down.

Progress has continued with the business. The artwork will all be put up this week so I'll get pics of that. Nicole discovered a stash of crackers and snacks I got for Jim and Daniel and now every time we visit she finds a box of something- in this case, Wheat Thins.

The carpet and super heavy divider were removed and then Jim tried using the floor adhesive scraper/buffer whatever machine and discovered it was a bit dangerous for them to use (we won't go into details) so they are going to have a contractor Daniel found last minute who can put in some tile or something that will work great. We had to get it done fast since the plumber and electrician come Tuesday-I'm so glad Daniel is here! He went to meet the contractor at a fast food place Saturday because the guy couldn't find our place. A large African American man with a gold grill on his teeth came up to his car window and introduced himself as the contractor, it was funny to hear Daniel tell the story of his surprise. But this guy will do the job soon and at a good price-other contractors were booked two weeks out and that simply wouldn't work.

We took a walk yesterday afternoon and Nicole slipped and fell in some mud, poor thing! Jim washed her off in the stream.

Michael is a walking/stumbling/running hazard on a walk. If you take your eyes off of him for a second-literally-he is in the bushes or about to fall off a bridge.
Spaghetti and a cookie for desert. What a happy little boy he is!
Nicole wants to show you how she can hold the cookie in her mouth with only two fingers. This is a big feat, especially since they are soft cookies :-)

We had a power outage for a few hours this morning, the longest ever-in the past it's been at most a few minutes. A huge crash of thunder and lightening preceded the outage and it surprised all of us. Nicole however started laughing hysterically. I think that must be how she dealt with the inner terror she felt. Or maybe the quick flash into sudden darkness was really that funny! We are fortunate the Walgreens down the street had power so Jim could get medicine for Michael's fever (yes, the non-recalled kind). What a crazy week and morning! This next week Jim will get some of his first patients (a side note blessing: the doctor who stitched up Michael runs a practice as well and has patients to send Jim-including an amputee which is a BIG deal). We also move on Saturday and will have.... a BACKYARD!!!!!!!!!!

The Before Pictures

After a week of ordering everything from waiting room chairs to lab tools, harassing city officials for permits, getting insurance, setting up payroll, preparing insurance provider paperwork, buying and setting up server/computer/phone/credit card systems, creating a website, and who knows what else...we are well on the way to getting Del Bianco Prosthetics and Orthotics going. I thought I'd take some pics of how crazy it all is at the beginning.There will be a sign above the door area eventually but apparently it is a two week process (paperwork, estimates, approval by the committee, and then taking forever to do the work). This is just one example of how things take forever!! So for now we just have this little paper. The website http://www.delbiancopo.com/ went live last week and appears bug free although it has needs editing and more additions by Jim (we'll get to that soon, but at least it's searchable). We actually had a sales rep for prosthetics/orthotics come by the office last week when she found us online!My brother Daniel came out last Saturday and will be working with Jim for the next 8 weeks. As hard as I try, there was really only so much I can do to help with three kids. Daniel put together all 10 chairs for the waiting and patient rooms (could you imagine me trying to put them together with "little helpers" running amok?) and has been working like a whirlwind to get things in shape.The magazine rack was also put together by Daniel. The real question is which of those magazines would you pick up? I'm considering finding a nice silk tree on craigslist to go in that empty corner next to the reception window.We have some pretty cool artwork coming and I can't wait to take some pics and show you. For now it looks pretty barren, but is workable.Jim got some little frame from joining the Apex Chamber of Commerce so he put it there but it will probably be moved later. Apex has a business expo tomorrow so Jim signed up and will get his name out there a little. Jim has been moving at 100 miles an hour to get all of this done.Our computers will be set up by the IT guy tonight but Daniel got everything unpacked so we're not paying ridiculous rates for someone to unwrap a keyboard.The office area (actually the whole office) is the perfect size and setup for Jim as the business grows. The workstations are set up really well and after dusting everything out it's looking better and better. One of the best things about this office is it has a break room- something that makes a big difference for employees (not fun to eat at your desk) and that most offices we looked at didn't have. I didn't take a picture of the different patient rooms- they are good-sized and have a few of those black chairs in them. We have artwork coming and need to order doctor office tables. Another hallway view (that is the kitchen on the right, mop closet straight ahead, and two bathrooms on the left).

The server cave! Servers are expensive, complicated, and generally troublesome.

The major construction job that is going on is transforming this long, carpeted room with a divider (which is secured to the ceiling way too well and will require the implementation of dangerous tools to remove) into a lab for Jim. Daniel will have to remove the carpet, get rid of all that nasty yellow carpet glue, smooth and clean the surface, and put gloop on it to make it look nice. THEN we can get the huge oven and many other lab tools as well as make the work tables and stuff. This is the longest and craziest process and I don't know what we would do without Daniel. He barely took any lunch today and went right back to work. The first day of work he had plumbers and electricians giving estimates and was whipping everything into shape. We are really enjoying him being here-Nicole ran to HIM instead of Jim yesterday when they got home from work, it was hilarious. Poor Daniel has to sleep on the couch for the next two weeks until we move. We're also very glad Daniel will be here to help us pack. So overall, it's just a crazy wonderful time and we are so grateful we have the opportunity to pursue this dream!