I should mention

that Benjamin seems to be back to his normal self now. Granted, he's still almost 2 lbs lighter than he was before this chain of illnesses, so we're trying to fatten him up, but he's acting like a normal 2 year old now instead of a little sickie. Of course, this means that his favorite word is "no" - said "No, no no no no no no." We're working on "Yes." And he has occasional meltdowns for no apparent reason (and hasn't yet caught on that that gets him sent to bed). Fortunately for him, he's still cute enough most of the time that we haven't thrown him out yet.

For the cultural interest part, I should also mention that the 5 visits to the nurse for her to give him his injections cost us 12.24 € ($17.87). That sum will be entirely reimbursed by our insurance. We didn't pay the national healthcare part at all (presumably about 28.56 €, or $41.70), as the healthcare card allows that to be settled directly between the nurse and national healthcare. One more reason we can't fathom moving "home" at the moment; we love the healthcare system here and most especially its affordability.

The new bathroom vanity is installed now! And the correct pipe for the water softener! The water softener change is monumental. For the past year, the hose from it where the water empties when it purges has had to go into the bathroom sink. On more than one occasion we have forgotten to leave the hose in the sink, which causes massive flooding (80 L of water) on the bathroom & guest room floor around 4 am. So having the tube go into its own little pipe permanently will avoid the flooding problem, and also seems to have helped with the "eww stinky septic tank" smell we've had in the bathroom.

Next on the list:
1. Mudding bathroom walls and deciding what to do next (paint or wallpaper?)
2. Redoing my office (same paint & flooring as guest room)
3. Find dresser/wardrobe/something for new baby's room
4. Remove living room wall

The list is actually much longer than this, but I'll spare you the rest. These are the things we'd like to get done within the next few months. Keep in mind that we hope to live in this house for the next 29 years, give or take, so it will take a while to do everything we want to to it.