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!

Chelsea also visited the midwives at Women's Birth and Wellness Center on Wednesday. She found out at this appointment that she's having mini-contractions currently. Probably Braxton-Hicks contractions, but contractions none-the-less. So, that makes it more real than it has been before. I'm not ready for the baby to come today or tomorrow... We still need to do things to prepare! Like clean all of the clothes and linens the new baby will be using... Get bottles... Clean the house... Sweet Jesus! There's so much to do and so little time!

So, it's getting a little hectic around here. Preparing for a new baby, a new house, and a new life. I'm sure we'll handle everything fine, but at times it can be a little frightening. Also, I'm still not convinced I'm an adult, even with all of this other nonsense going on.

As we drove home we were discussing this fact with the realtor and she decided to get the seller's agent on the phone to get the scoop. She found out that there was another offer in the works that evening! So she recommended that we should put together our own offer. So off we went to put that together. A few hours later and we sent the offer off. And then we sat and waited. After a few hours and some back and forth with our realtor, the offer was accepted. I repeat, the offer was accepted. That means we have a house...

Are we adults now?

Anyways, here are a few photos for you to enjoy. ENJOY THEM!

Front of House

Living Room

After getting home and opening gifts, Chelsea decided to wash Olive's bedding. Olive is our dog, so her bedding can get rather stinky. Part of her bedding is a fairly large pillow. Chelsea put this in the wash as usual. Except this time the washing machine decided it wasn't 'as usual'. Jerk. So, I'm in the bathroom when all of a sudden I hear, 'Jonathan! Water is dripping from the ceiling in the living room!' Oh joy... The pillow had gotten stuck against the top of the washer and started forcing water out of the washer. So, after pulling both the washer and dryer out from the closet and drying/mopping up the water, I'm sitting here 45 minutes later writing this blog.

But, I think things are back to normal. We'll have to check the ceiling tomorrow after it dries to see if it needs any immediate repair. I hope not, because that would be a pain. Anyways...

Happy Birthday to you, Chelsea! And it can't get any worse than this evening's episode.

We then headed over to a house on Emmit. This house fared better than Wickersham. It's still a small house, but feels bigger. Chelsea is a bigger fan of it than I am. She loves the open living room and the garden tub and skylight in the bathroom. We both dislike the kitchen. So, while it fared better, it didn't come out unscathed.

So, we're down one option and not 100% sold on another. We just finished looking through a few more suggestions and searched for a few more. We'll hopefully go look at another round of 11 houses this Saturday. We may ask the family that's available to tag along if they want. We shall see.

So, while it was a slightly disappointing night, Chelsea and I appreciate all of the input. This is our first house, so I think we're sometimes shell shocked the first time we see a house. We're like, 'We can afford to buy this!?' and we may overlook some flaws initially. The second round and new eyes helps out a bunch.

We'll keep you informed as the search continues.

So, things are going pretty well here in our little world. We've got multiple things on our plate right now:

1. Baby B

Chelsea is currently pregnant. Has been for about 33 weeks. She's doing well, I think. She still gets sick occasionally, has terrible heartburn, and can be quite pathetic at times. But, I love her and I'm proud of her for doing so well.

2. House Hunting

We are currently in the process of procuring a house. We've looked at 12 so far. 1 or 2 have gone under contract since we looked at them. 2-3 were completely not what we were looking for. And 3-4 are currently vying for love. We'll be going tomorrow night to re-visit a few of these. Adrian, Abby, Amy, and Josh will be accompanying us to give us their insight as to what is wrong with all of the houses.

3. Work, Work, Work

I've been working for Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. for the last year and half (about). It's been good. They're a civil engineering firm and I work in their Firmwide IS department. Luckily for me, unlike most IS, I tend to do little technical support. A majority of my work is coding websites to facilitate the workflows/processes for the rest of the firm. I just recently completed an online version of our Career Development Review, our annual job review. It's pretty awesome, if I do say so myself. I'm enjoying the work I do and they treat me well. Can't ask for much more.

4. School

Chelsea is still in school. Surprise, surprise. I swear she's never going to leave. She claims she will in 2012, but we'll have to wait and see. She's learning School Psych stuff and helping in the clinic. These keep her pretty busy. I don't know how she does everything.

There's the rundown of current affairs for us. We're still here, alive and breathing. Most of you will know this from Chelsea's blog, but now I'll be adding a slightly different perspective on things. I'll also probably discuss other things, like video games. So, occasionally you may find something that bores you, but greatly interests me.

Enjoy my new blog!