Kids

Wednesday, my in-laws came down to our house, so that my father-in-law could assist with our bathroom remodeling project. From Thursday to Saturday, our only tub was ripped out of the wall and smashed to pieces, then replaced with a new one. The sink and cabinet were also ripped apart and are just now being replaced. New flooring is down as well. My father-in-law will be down Thursday with a friend of his to continue the project, putting up wainscoting over the old tile and to cover up the wall damage from both the earlier cabinet installation and the sledgehammer extraction of the bathtub. Also getting replaced are the shower and tub fixtures. Then we paint! Then we get an electrician to put in a new circuit so we can install the new lamp and fan.

Friday night was just about the worst night of babysleep since Em was born. The first night was marked by the overexhausted spasms of the only functioning part of my brain, which I think was the monkey part. Last night was also awful, because the only way the baby would sleep was a 2 hour drive up and down Route 1. We passed the Golden Banana three times in search of a 24-hour Dunkin' with a drive thru, then drove up to the Topsfield Fairgrounds, then through Arkham to Ipswich, and back down 1A to Salem.

For her naptime, we tried the car ride again. On the way, I picked up a present for my father-in-law's birthday (a bottle of The Balvenie's Doublewood 12-year, aged in sherry casks for part of its early life, and the following beers for the house:

• Dogfish Head Chateau Jiahu (Chinese proto-beer with hawthorne fruit, Muscat grapes, honey, chrysanthemum flowers, and flaked rice)


• Dogfish Head Sahtea (Finnish proto-beer with rye, juniper berries, tea, and spices)


• Dogfish Head Pangaea (with ingredients from every continent!)


• Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Urbock


• Pretty Things Baby Tree Plum Quadrupel


• High and Mighty Home for the Holidays Brown Ale


• Thiriez Bière de Noël Christmas Amber Ale


• Nøgne Ø Tyttebær Wild Ale with lingonberries


• Southern Tier Cuvée 2


• Stone Russian Imperial Stout (x3)


• Goose Island Bourbon County Stout aged in Bourbon Barrels

My yearly bonus came in :) I will be purchasing an Akai EWI4000s!