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
Then, once the painting was done, on Saturday we had our appliances delivered. I love shiny new appliances. First, our magnificent and large 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
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
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.
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!
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.
As time goes by.
Things are going well in the Bartel household. Well, at least our Bartel household. I won't dare make assumptions about the others throughout the country.
We're getting used to incorporating a new life into ours. And so far, it's been great. Tiring... but great. Last week, after going to the doctor almost everyday, Evelyn finally started to turn the corner. Her bilirubin dropped and she was gaining weight. YAY! Go team!
She's still a little bit of a light weight. We still have to wake her for feedings most of the time. She still falls asleep occasionally while feeding. And she still sleeps all the time. It's weird to complain about the sleep since I know in a few weeks we'll wonder where that went.
She does occasionally surprise us with being alert and asking to be fed. Like last night, where she was hungry for a little bit of food (an ounce or so) every hour. Luckily, it was every hour from 8PM to 11PM and not every hour from 2AM to 6 AM.
So, like I said, things are going well. It's a new adventure for us and it's fun so far. We also get to start another new adventure in a month when we close on our new home. So, that should add a new twist to our lives.
Anyways, that's all I got for now. Check out my sister-in-law's blog or my wife's for some more Evelyn pictures.
I’d like you to meet Miss Squeaks
Chelsea and I, mostly Chelsea, are recovering from an eventful night.
**SPOILERS**
We had a baby girl. Her name is Evelyn Mae. And she's adorable.
Evelyn Mae
The night started off a little rough. Chelsea hadn't been feeling very well all day. We went to the Women's Birth and Wellness Center because of fears of preeclampsia. She had a urine test that was going to tell us whether or not we were going to be induced that day.
3 hours later, we find out the test results and start on our way to UNC Women's Hospital. Chelsea was admitted and setup in a birthing room. We started off with Sarah, one of the midwives from WBWC, but after some more discussion we were transferred to the Family Practice at UNC because of the preeclampsia stuff.
Top-Left: Baby's Heartrate. Bottom-Left: Chelsea's Heartrate.
So, Chelsea was started on magnesium sulfate to help prevent seizures that can be caused from eclampsia. It made her a little queasy and icky feeling. Once they got the magnesium going, they started her on Pitocin. This all happened around 8PM last night.
Chelsea Plugged In
She was starting to feel her contractions more and more and needed support to get through them. I did the best I could. I tickled her back, rubbed her back, and coached her as well as I could. The doctors came in around 5:30 AM (no worries, they had actually been checking on her every couple of hours throughout the night) and she was at 4 cm, 80%, and 0. Those in the know will understand those numbers I think.
After another couple of hours, Sarah came back to check on us and to tell us goodbye. She was getting off her shift at 8. But when she came in, she saw chelsea struggling through contractions. She got Chelsea to switch positions and checked her. She was now ready to go and on the verge of pushing. So, Sarah stuck around as the new doctors, who were also switching shifts, got the call in.
Then 4 pushes later we had a little baby. Seriously, it was quick. The doctors were even surprised how quickly Chelsea went from her not really contractions to baby through induction since she was only 37 weeks.
Chelsea did really well and I'm very proud of her. Now we have a brand new baby girl. Like I said before. She's adorable. I can't want to introduce her to everyone.
Chelsea and Evelyn
I Said What?
- @Lucky_ksu Same here. We'll have to give co-op a try sometime. 2012-02-02
- Gideon Oliver has been born. Photos to come. 2012-02-01
- @grogg but then how will we ever inhabit another planet and ruin its ecology!? 2011-07-09
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