The Menno Knight Putting the Fist Back in Pacifist

3Sep/101

New Phones

This should be interesting. I'm writing this post from my brand new phone! It's exciting I know, but try to remain calm.

Chelsea and I picked up a couple of Sprint HTC EVO's. And so we have entered the smartphone world. So far, I'm loving it.

We've also been sending Evelyn to daycare. That's been going well. Let's her interact with other babies and let's Chelsea work on her dissertation. So, it's been good all around.

That's all I got for now. I'm out!

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21Jun/102

First Father’s Day

So, yesterday was Father's Day. And it was my first one as a father. It was good. I got to sleep in until 9, which isn't as late as I sometimes sleep on the weekends, but it was good. I got up and sat around a while with Chelsea and Evelyn.

Things were good. And then they got better. Chelsea let me see what she had gotten me for father's day. First off was a glass to be filled at a later date with Original Sin Hard Cider. She had had some the night before and knew my love of hard cider.

Inserted into this glass was a piece of paper. On said paper were two images. One of a hammock and one of a grill. That was the last gift. PAPER WITH PICTURES! WOOHOO!

Just kidding... She actually had ordered me a hammock. One that would fit me since most hammocks have a weight limit that is significantly less than needed. She also was wanting to get me a grill. But she hadn't been successful in figuring out exactly what I wanted from a grill. So, in the end she let me pick out my own. And it is glorious. I was able to find an awesome grill from Lowe's. It's a Char-Griller Duo. And it's awesome because it has a normal charcoal grill alongside a gas grill. So it can fit any need I have. If I just want to quickly grill something, I can just fire up the gas grill and get with it. If I'm alright with the longer charcoal process, I can do that as well! NO COMPROMISE! WOOHOO! Very exciting.

After picking up the new grill, I spent the rest of the afternoon assembling it. My wife apologized for that... She's silly though. I love putting things together. So although it was a hot and sweaty job, I enjoyed putting together the grill. And I'm happy with the results. Me thinks I'll be trying to cook some steaks this weekend. We shall see how it goes!

I hope every other father out there had as good a day as me.

Thanks for a great Father's Day, Chelsea and Evelyn.

13May/101

The Happenings

So, I've been absent from the blag for a while. It's been a busy few weeks. Successfully closed on house. Painted. Cared for a baby. Slept. Ate. Worked. Some other things.

But we've recently had a recuperation. And we're getting ready to wear ourselves out again. I thought I'd post some pictures of the awesome that we've accomplished lately.

We worked tirelessly for most of last week to complete the painting of our living room. I'm here to say it was mostly a success. We've still got some touching up to do, but overall it's done. And I think it looks pretty sweet.

Painted Living Room

Painted Living Room

So, that's by our front door. That wall and the long wall with the fireplace are now 'Plantation Brown.' I won't lie, that name makes me feel a little racist. But man, it's an awesome color. The other walls are covered by 'Taramind.'

Then, once the painting was done, on Saturday we had our appliances delivered. I love shiny new appliances. First, our magnificent and large fridge.

Mgnificent Fridge

Magnificent Fridge

See, it's awesome. And it fits perfectly. It has cold water, ice maker, and ice chopper (for making crunched ice, Chelsea loves it). So, it's pretty sweet. We moved the old fridge out to the garage so that we'd have some more cold storage space for extra drinks and Chelsea's priceless breast milk. It's like liquid gold.

The other new appliances we got were a washer and dryer. So, first I want to show you the space we painted for the washer and dryer.

Pre-Appliance Laundry Room

Pre-Appliance Laundry Room

We removed a shelf, painted, and added some baskets. The room above was just waiting for the washer and dryer. And so we have:

Post-Appliance Laundry

Post-Appliance Laundry

Those are our new red washer and dryer set. They're pretty sweet. They play a happy tune for you when they're done with their load. It makes me laugh. We added curtains so that they can be covered up when not in use. We had planned on using curtains anyway, but it pretty much became required because they actually stick a little ways out into the door frame. But, they still mostly fit and it all works, so we're happy. We only have a couple white trays to add to the very top shelf and I think Chelsea might call it done. Though I do know she wants to add some orange accents into the jars... Oh well...

And then finally, the weekend came to a close on Sunday. Sunday was Chelsea's first Mother's Day. I did my best to make a great day for her. We started the morning by going to Guglhupf... oh wait... no we didn't, because they were crazy busy. Like CRAZY!. So, instead we ended up heading over to Alivia's. It was a delicious breakfast.

At breakfast I gave Chelsea the gift I had gotten her. It was a necklace from RedEnvelope.com. The necklace had our three birthstones in it. I think she liked it, but you'd have to ask her. Next, we wandered around for a bit before going to go see the new Babies documentary. We took Evelyn with us and had a good time.

I also did as much as I could for Chelsea. I'd take care of Evelyn when she wanted me to. I'd tickle her back when she wanted. Get her drinks. And generally be her slave for the day. But, Mother's Day is only once a year and I think she enjoyed having a restful day. I know with a baby and me she doesn't get much rest normally. =)

Finally, on Monday, Evelyn had her 2 month appointment with the pediatrician. She's 2 months old now... Let that sink in. Has it really been 2 months? Anyways. She's doing good. 10 lbs. 11 oz. and healthy as can be. She got 2-3 shots and drink. Vaccinations. She was fine with the drink (a vaccination), but the shots she was not happy with. Luckily Chelsea was able to calm her with food. And so we left without any other problems. She was a little more fussy that day, but nothing strange happened.

So, that's what we've been up to recently. Now we're gearing up for actually moving into our new house. Joy. I hate moving, but I want to be moved. Such a dilemma. See you on the sleepy side.

21Apr/100

The time is now!

Tomorrow Chelsea and I begin another exciting chapter in our lives. Chapter? Perhaps just another layer... Yes. I like layer better.

Tomorrow we close on our first home. It's exciting. We've been waiting a while for this. We started looking in early January. We may have started early... so we weren't gunning for buying a house right away. Later in January and early February we started looking more seriously. We found a few houses we liked. Some we lost and others fell by the wayside to new found loves. We finally decided on a cute 3 bedroom house in Durham. We signed into contract our souls (okay... not really... but sometimes it feels like it... WHO HAS THAT MUCH MONEY LYING AROUND!?) and then we waited.

We had set our closing date farther out so that we'd be paying less rent + mortgage at the same time. Our lease doesn't come up until August... whee! So, luckily the sellers agreed (thanks for that, Evelyn!). And now, tomorrow approaches. The 22nd of April and our chosen closing date.

Things are looking good. And we may actually end up getting money back tomorrow. Now lets just hope things go smoothly tomorrow. Not really worried, but when you're dealing with large amounts of money just being thrown around it can make you nervous.

Anyways, wish us luck and we'll let you see pictures when we've got a furnished house!

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7Apr/100

Smiles

So, we have a baby. This forces many things upon you. Well... I won't lie, it forces many things upon my wife. Chelsea has a lot of responsibility and I try to help when I can. I won't say I always succeed at being awesome, but I try. Especially rough are the late night feedings. Luckily, I'm not the one that has to stay awake while the baby feeds (I don't think Chelsea and Evelyn have quite figured out sideline feeding or whatever, though I may be wrong). But I am the one Chelsea wakes up when she's done feeding.

I'm supposed to get up happily, change Evelyn and get her to go back to sleep. That doesn't sound too bad. And the first couple of nights it wasn't. Just something new to do. But now my love of sleep is kicking back in. I try to be good about it, but sometimes I'm a pain to wake up. I know it's frustrating for Chelsea so I'm trying to be better. But that's not what this story is about. Last night I got up a little bit better. I woke up about 5-10 minutes after being asked to wake up. The awesome part was that when I went to pick up Evelyn she gave me a huge smile.

It was great. I love her little toothless smile. I can't wait for me of them. Maybe that will be motivation to wake up in a more timely manner next time. We shall see.

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