Having a baby is expensive . . .

. . . but this might be ridiculous!

And we're not even spending it on Hannah, because she's got clothes and toys to spare. That's a benefit of having two older sisters.

Nope, it's all going into the house.

We've removed paneling from the fireplace room, replaced it with drywall that we painted. We installed spot lights above the bookcase/fireplace area to improve overall lighting. We've painted the bookcases and mantel to match new color scheme. We're adjusting the look of the sofas to class them up a bit and bought new throw pillows. We've bought new picture frames to improve overall design of the room. We replaced the door and door jamb leading out onto the backyard deck.

But it doesn't stop there.

We've also repaired a bit of soffett out back and are getting all of the soffets repainted. Also, we are going to remove the old deck and replace it with a concrete patio. (These jobs are to come--beginning next week.)

But we're STILL not done.

This afternoon we are getting some deadwood removed from trees in the backyard, to avoid stuff falling on the roof and to generally improve things. AND we are getting the big (pretty well dead) tree right in front of the house removed altogether. Hopefully, that'll get started any minute now and will be done before I've got to take Sarah to her soccer game tonight.

And STILL we continue . . .

. . . because the city informs us that we need to repair/replace several slaps of sidewalk concrete in front of the house (and I can't disagree). And in the process, we are removing/replacing the tree on the curb that has contributed to the damage.

So, I guess our personal carbon footprint (Sorry, Sven!) will increase as we remove more CO2 eating trees. Though, what we're removing is almost all dead, after all.

But we are contributing to the economy!