It is grandma's pleasure to introduce you to the newest member of our extended family. Elsie Bott is about 23 hours old here and she is a beauty. She has petite features and is very patient and mellow so far. I guess we should have taken the hat off so you could see her dark hair. It isn't very long but is quite dark and thick. That is quite a novelty in the Harrison family because all of our children had red or blond hair.
Here are the proud parents on "the day after".
They are now all dressed and ready to go home. Kara made the cute outfit Elsie is wearing home. There - now you can see her hair. Now the real adjustment begins but I am sure they will do great.
These pictures are from a couple of weeks ago. We will try to go over and take some more pictures today because it has changed a lot already. It is supposed to be done by the end of May. This is the "Super Room" which is a small scale gym with a protective wall covering on the lower 4 feet to protect the walls from balls and ride-on toys. It will allow the children to exercise their large muscles when the weather isn't conducive for outdoor play.
This is one corner of the commercial kitchen. I will take more pictures of the appliances which are in now.
Here is a sample of the baby diaper stackers. We will purchase changing tables to go under them. They all require a hand washing sink right next to them.
This is part of our "potty-training" toddler bathroom. A couple of the sinks are low enough that we won't need step stools. The toilets are also in now. There are three mini toilets and a couple of regular size ones. 
There have been lots of subcontractors doing plumbing, electricity, mechanical (heating and air conditioning) and drywall all at the same time. 
Because it is very difficult to attach anything to walls with steel studs, I had to tell them everywhere I wanted to hang things so they could reinforce it with wood before the sheetrock went in. That took a lot of time and planning and I am sure I missed a lot of things. I told them that I have been in my present building for over 13 years and I am still making changes and adding shelves, etc. to the walls. I wish the studs were wood instead of metal. Hopefully we can figure out a way to make the steel studs hold. 
The duct work for the mechanical is almost completed. They are now wrapping all of the ducts with another type of insulation. There is a lot more to building a steel building than I could have imagined. 
The dry wall is up in all of the rooms except the bathrooms and the kitchen. They had to have the plumbing and electrical work inspected before they could continue. They have also been sanding down the seams of the concrete floor to get it ready for floor coverings after the painting and drywall. They also finally installed locks on all of the doors so the building is more secure now. That big black hose is a portable heater that they are heating the building with while they are working. The temperature was in the single digits last week.
Here is the completed look of the brick. I think it adds a lot to the boring look of a steel building.
This picture is dark and hard to see but it shows that the mechanical crew has been in working on the duct work for the heating and air conditioning of the building. It is still a big, open, and dark building here. The plumbers and electricians have also begun their work.
In about a weeks time, they got up nearly all of the steel studs. I wish they were wood studs because you cannot attach anything to the walls with steel studs unless they reinforce them with wood. Therefore, I have had to try to decide where I will be attaching anything to the walls, such as bulletin boards, cleaning shelves, bookshelves, etc. I have about 10 or 12 catalogs of early childhood supplies memorized and I am getting tired of looking at them. The next big task will be ordering nearly $100,000 worth of furnishings and supplies. It is a bit overwhelming. 
Here is Melissa and Celeste checking out the progress with me. It will be their new "home away from home" as Melissa will be the director of the new childcare. We meet with the licenser tomorrow to start the licensing progress.
Some of you are checking our blog to get an update on Kara since she doesn't have a blogspot. She is now 11 days overdue and the Doctor admitted her to the hospital tonight (Tuesday) to prepare her to be induced tomorrow. Please remember her in your prayers. We all hope she has an easy delivery that it will be a wonderful experience for her and Drew. 
