We've made some good progress since the last posting. It seems slow going from my perspective, but given that we're doing most of it ourselves, I think we're moving as fast as possible. W doesn't sit for a moment- every evening and weekend are solely dedicated to working on something around the house. Last Sunday he was outside in the cold without much in the way of light, until about 8pm, stripping door hardware.
It is such an improvement sleeping and showering upstairs. I can't explain the difference in having a naturally lit room, with a spacious shower. Plus we don't have the noise of the heater kicking in in the middle of the night (although I haven't forgotten to appreciate a warm house). Even going into the basement now, I can't believe that we lived in that crummy atmosphere for as long as we did. Goes to show you that you can do anything you need to do, until you upgrade. Now I'll never go back!
Also last weekend, I traded in my old faithful car for a slightly used 2007 Outback, something that will be able to cart around a kid and hopefully a dog, plus all the other stuff that comes along with that lifestyle. My old subaru had an expensive mechanical problem, so with some sadness, I traded her in. Here's my new girl, in front of the neighbor's house:
Two weekends ago, we closed up the gash in our yard at last! And now we have some daffodils popping up. It gives me great hope to imagine real gardens around our house, but that will have to wait until next year. 
This weekend, W started the refinishing process on the kitchen floors. There's one coat of polyurethane on the floor now and he's sanding now for the 2nd of 4 coats. It's looking really good. We have a couple plumbing issues to work out before we can install the appliances and unpack. I'm hoping for a sparse kitchen in the next 2 weeks.
I've been trying to make myself useful by painting trim or anything else that I can do while sitting. I'm getting increasingly uncomfortable on my feet for too long, but I still want to be involved in the process. It's no fun to sit upstairs while W rushes around downstairs. However even without being 8 months pregnant, W and I have admittedly different work styles. Although I'm a hard worker and will get things done quickly, I cannot claim to be meticulous (as confirmed by my Myers Briggs test this week!) and W is more of a perfectionist than anyone I know. This tends to highlight some differences between us as we get things done around the house.
The upstairs is pretty close to being finished. We need to work on the trim and doors, but otherwise, it's pretty close. Here are some shots of our bathroom. Note the new shower door, replacing the curtain.
W created the mirror frame and hung those lights, which were a major production, involving cutting into the drywall to hang a cross stud, a new electrical box, and on and on. It looks a lot easier on the box instructions!
