In my regular life things are going well. Evelyn's growing up and being awesome. Though sometimes she throws fits and is less than awesome. But, we'll work through it and hopefully come out the other side. Work is good. That's about it. I'm the 'I work to live, not live to work' kind of person.

We'll be visiting Wichita at the end of this month and hopefully catch up with as many people as we can. Hopefully the week and a half we'll be there will be enough to give everyone ample face time. If you don't get what you want in that department... well, take it up with management. We're only human and can only do so much.

See you on the flip side!

Thanks A&A!

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!

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.

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

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

**SPOILERS**

We had a baby girl. Her name is Evelyn Mae. And she's adorable.

Evelyn Mae

**END SPOILERS**

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.

As you can see, there was a reason for the concern. Chelsea's heartrate is way elevated in the picture above. Which was par for the night. Evelyn's heartrate stayed the same throughout the night as well. Chelsea's preeclampsia wasn't bothering Evelyn one bit.

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

Nothing much happened for the next few hours. I'm sure Chelsea would say differently. She started having mild contractions. I'd stayed up with her until about midnight. We both tried to get some rest. I would guess I fared better in that department than she did. I passed out until she woke me up at 5AM.

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

P.S. The title is in reference to the fact that Evelyn at this point doesn't really cry. She just kind of squeaks occasionally. It makes her more adorable.

I'm still not convinced I'm ready. Though, as I've said previously, I don't think anyone is ever fully ready to be responsible for another human being. Let alone one that can't tell you what's wrong, when it's hungry, or that can't even move itself around. So, just thought I'd give you a quick heads up to let you know that soon this blog will be filled with information about the wonderful new thing that will be entering our lives.

Enjoy, and I'll see you on the other side.