So I chose sleep over nursery progress this weekend but that doesn’t mean we didn’t get any progress done. Ryan had a ton of work to do so he wasn’t able to work on the house but he could hang with little Alex while he worked.
hyacinths in full bloom out front
Friday night I managed to get everything in the nursery primed (trim) except for the windows which i’ll wait until it’s a bit warmer out to do so they can stay out for a bit. That’s also not dependent on leaving the room empty since the windows can be removed to another room.
So the trim is primed and ready to be lightly sanded for the first coat of paint (today?).
Chillin on friday
Saturday Alex and I went over to Celebrations with my friends to shop! When we got home Aunt Erica (Tia) came for a visit! We went out to lunch (after miss alex ate first of course), then just chilled at home.
Now it’s sunday and I am hoping to get some painting done once this headache eases up a bit.
I slept for 5 hours straight last night thanks to this chair!!!!
Alexandra is officially 2 weeks old now and what great 2 weeks it has been. Unfortunately with the end of 2 weeks comes the end of Ryan’s time off which felt much too short since part of it was in the hospital and part of it was spent working on the nursery. We did enjoy the last 4 days together as a family mostly relaxing or running errands. Everything else could wait.
officially 2 weeks old
Now we’re in uncharted territory, I’m home alone all day with Alex and Fitz, trying to establish some semblance of a routine (mainly just making sure we walk the dog regularly and get a nap in) 🙂 I’m also working on Alex’s birth announcements and a photo book for her first 2 weeks.
All dressed up for going out to lunch on daddy’s last day home
Yesterday we got all dressed up and went out to early dinner for Ryan’s last day home. Then we ate lots of desserts while snuggling Alex.
This sums up most nights
Unfortunately Alex decided to have a ‘up every hour’ type of night when Ryan was trying to get enough sleep to get up early for work. While he didn’t have to actually get up it’s hard to sleep through the crying 🙁 Hopefully tonight is a little better!
Trying out a pacifier during diaper changes
On Monday Alex had her 2 week doctor appointment – 5lbs 11oz! And 19 inches long. She’s growing fast and doing great. No well visit appointments until 2 months now when the shots all start up – yikes!
Some tummy time for pictures
Man I just love her eyes!
Some daddy time
That’s it for us. Hopefully I’ll make some nursery progress soon, just need to get some other things done first.
I had intended to work on the nursery this afternoon while Alex snuggled with her daddy but instead I fell asleep and it was great because it turned out to be a 4 hour nap! After dinner (thank you robin for the ziti and rolls!), I did get in the nursery a bit.
I got the trim caulked and the closet door frame sanded then started priming the rosettes and door frame until I ran out of primer, then it was time to clean up so I could feed Alex. Maybe tomorrow I can not only finish priming but also get a coat of paint on the trim? Slowly we make the final bits of progress 🙂
The second week is wrapping up (man does time fly fast) and little Alex is now 5lbs 11 oz and 19 inches long. Her 2 week appointment went great and she doesn’t have to go back for 6 weeks (2 month appt). She’s eating great (9-11 times a day) and obviously growing fast. She doesn’t fill out her newborn clothes but she fits in them length wise pretty well (if she stretches out her legs which is rare, little miss frog leg).
Today at the doctor she sucked her thumb again!
Alex sucking her thumb at the doctor office
I have a bunch of new photos I will post tomorrow probably when I get them off the camera (her actual 2 week birthday).
In nursery news, no progress has been made yet but I’m going to go work on the trim now while Ryan snuggles with the little one (he only has today and tomorrow left of his time off). So I’m going to go sand and prime and caulk the trim where it needs it and later hopefully get a coat of paint on it if Alex lets me. Ryan did work on the tvroom a bit (installed the baseboard around the room minus the cap molding so far) and got the trim up around the exterior door. We have a few more rosettes to strip before that can be finished but I’m hoping next weekend we can get that room done enough that we can order our new couch at least.
I just wish we had some nice weather for these last few days with ryan, we could use a nice walk to the park but no, we’re stuck inside out of the rain and even Fitz is bored enough to sleep all day without complaint.
A huge THANK YOU to my dad and brother this week, without whom we never would be so close to not only finishing the nursery but also the tvroom now!
The house is so quiet now that the week has ended and everyone has headed home (PJ left Thursday night and Dad left this evening).
First up, the nursery … all of the trim except for the crown molding has been installed (and most of it was pre-primed). Nails holes are filled and it’s all lightly sanded and ready to be painted (or primed in the case of the rosettes and sills).
The floor has the second coat on it, a tinted poly and we’ll wait to do the last coat until the trim is finished, basically do it last since we hope to finish the room before Ryan goes back to work Wednesday.
A view of the door trimTrim installed!The doorway trim (and baseboards) installedeven the closet has baseboards and trim on the inside (it's small so it's hard to take an inside pic)A view of the windows
The last piece of trim to go on will be the shoe molding which is already primed, has a coat of paint and is coped, ready to install. So what is left exactly?
Sand the closet ceiling and prime/paint it
Prime/Paint the trim
Install crown molding in closet and paint it
Install the closet system
Install crown molding in nursery and paint it
Last coat on floor
Shoe molding installed, then painted last coat
Last coat on the walls
Fan/light and outlets all installed
That’s it!
We also have a bunch of doors we plan to take down to Worcester to get dipped (strip off the lead paint). We’re up to 7 doors and it would just take too much time to do ourselves and with the baby in the house we feel safer just having them dipped and done with.
The TV Room also made progress, Dad finished all the sanding, got the first coat of sanding sealer on there, then a coat of clear poly. Again he left the final coat for us so we can finish the trim first. This room has a bit more to get done only because painting includes the built-ins which will take a while. We do hope to finish this up ASAP however, even if the built-ins are the only thing not quite finished.
This is actually after only a single coat but it's a good view of the tvroom floor.
Alex and I also had a good day, we went out to a new mom’s group at the hospital to meet some other moms and babies. While surprisingly at 10 days old she wasn’t the youngest there, she was definitely the smallest. I weighed her there and she was up to 5lbs 9.6 oz! With pj’s on but still – that’s great! Growing steadily. Now she and I are resting while Ryan is out at a group meeting, hopefully a very short meeting. Tomorrow we’ll spend some family time together in the morning and Mom may be coming out for a quick visit in the afternoon!
Our little Alex just couldn’t wait to join us and at 37 weeks pregnant my water broke while I was at work (at 2pm). Since I’m only in the office 2 days a week this was unexpected and such a surreal experience. With no contractions the doctor said I could drive to the hospital, so I did, with a coworker/friend following behind me (of course we had to stop and pick up Fitz from daycare on the way as well!).
Once at the hospital and all the family on the way we settled in and I was having mild contractions by then (similar to the braxton hicks i was having for 2 months). Family arrived, we visited a bit and then the contractions got stronger.
Well Alex really was in a hurry. I have no idea when things happened but it all went pretty quick in the end. My water broke at 2pm, I was at the hospital around 3:30. Contractions probably got worse around 6pm. By 9pm I think they were pretty excruciating. By 11:30 when I was supposed to be getting my epidural, I was feeing the urge to push…. so no epidural…. that was NOT the plan. Luckily Alex is little and it took only 15 minutes or so of pushing (and me screaming) to get her out.
Alexandra was born at 11:46pm on April 10th, 5lbs 7oz and 18 3/4″ long.
Alex getting checked out in the nursery right after being born, holding daddy
Once Alex was cleaned up a bit, the family all got to meet her. The next hour passed in kind of a blur for me (I may have passed out I was SO tired) and Alex had to go to the nursery to get checked out. By 1:30am however we were all in our new room for our first night together!
Our first family portrait
Our hospital stay was pretty normal, Alex had some issues with nursing at first and did get jaundiced so we opted to stay an extra day (since she was born before midnight we would have left Thursday but stayed through Friday lunch time instead). We came home in time to have a wonderful weekend together, visit with more family and just figure things out in general.
Alex with her DaddyGrandma Groudas with Alex
Mimi with Alex
Aunt Becca with AlexGrandma Williams with AlexSince Aunt Aimee took most of the pictures I don't have one of her holding Alex but here she is visiting with little jason.Uncle Jason with AlexAll dressed and ready to go home!Alex meeting Fitz for the first time.
Of course what weekend home would be complete without a little nursery progress – on Sunday Ryan worked on the nursery, taking out the radiator pipe and patching the section of floor there.
Nursery progress has been in high gear since then. PJ came out Monday night to help and Dad came out Tuesday night (happy birthday to me!). The progress has been very fast and I can hardy keep up with what’s being done since Alex and I are hanging out separately.
I’ll let the photos do the talking for the progress.
PJ stripped the closet door and also finished up the cedar that will go under the trim on the inside of the doorRyan took out the radiator pipe and patched the flooring.Ryan patched the corner that is behind the door where there used to be a hallway meet up so there was a diagonal seam.Dad sanded down the nursery floorPJ painted the first coat on the ceiling Tuesday night and Dad put the second coat on Wednesday morning.The first coat (sanding sealer since it dries fast) is on the floor and Ryan and Dad painted the first coat of light green on the walls!The baseboards are getting installed.
Not just nursery progress, the tvroom floor is also getting done this week! Ryan and PJ moved the couches out and Dad started sanding down the tvroom floor, need something to do while the nursery floor is drying.
First pass sanding the tvroom floor
Ryan and PJ also got the trim for the nursery made tonight so that can be installed tomorrow. 2 more full days with help (1 more day with PJ and 2 with dad). I think we’re shopping for rugs this weekend to protect our new floors!!!
The closet is almost done – it just needs some trim (door, baseboard and crown) and the ceiling to get finished. The cedar is finished and the door is installed (although it needs to be trimmed down some to fit nicely). The door is actually the other entrance door we removed from the room. We wanted to change the direction of the swing so we could have a switch for the light (a switch couldn’t be installed on the left). This door was a bit bigger, so the frame is fit a bit tight in the rough opening making the door not close nicely without a little trim.
This coming weekend we have our birthing class all day Saturday but between Saturday night and Sunday we should be able to get a good start on trim in the nursery. Future weekends we’ve left wide open since we have no idea when the baby will arrive so we’ll be able to get the trim finished up this month for sure and then it’s on to painting!
Closet door installed!Cedar installed on the left wall.Cedar installed above the door of the closet.
I tried taking a picture of the subpanel in the attic but my phone is really acting up and I had to take pictures 3 times to get these. I’ll get one soon though because it’s installed nicely with a knee-wall and will be permanent.
Ryan was trying to surprise my dad with the nursery progress we made over the last 2 weeks so while I continued to blog I had to keep the posts ‘private’. I have just made them public so feel free to scroll down to find the 4 recent nursery progress posts to see how the progress went.
Easter weekend was a blast – all the family was up, the house was clean, the dogs were good, my nephew was A-dor-a-ble! PLUS Dad and Ryan installed the sub panel in the attic and Sunday Dad worked on electrical while Ryan continued work on the nursery. I’ll post details and pictures later today.
I’m pretty tired, even after relaxing all last night. So all my attention is on work this morning, once I’ve figured out where I ended up Friday and made some progress maybe my brain will be ready to do dual duty and allow me to do things like laundry (and there’s plenty) on breaks. For now – focusing on work!
This weekend I had my second baby shower (my local friends threw one for me). They went with a theme for gifts and all got me/Itty baby books! I am in awe with the little library Itty has already now!
Books from my friends!
And of course some of them couldn’t resist a few other gifts – including a home made blanket from Harrin, Moby wrap (and owl toy) from Sarah, adorable winter hat from Erin, Red Sox gear from Denise (she and Harrin are big fans), and a necklace from Michele (not pictures because I was wearing it all weekend and it’s up on my dresser) 🙂
Non-book gifts - baby blanket is my favorite colors! Purple and green 🙂 of course!
And on Sunday while Ryan worked on the nursery (he had a lot of work work to do this weekend but did have some time to work on the nursery of course), I took a break and did a little work on my wallhanging I’m making for the baby. I started cutting out the applique pieces for the owl and tree blocks. I’d like to get this far enough along that I can have some hand work going in the evening when I’m too tired to do anything but sit on the couch. I think 2 blocks are ready for hand sewing almost (just have to cut the background fabric down a bit and center the pieces).
The owls will have a lot more details (eyes/beak and feet) but I just wanted to get started with the bodies and wings. The green fabric will be sashing, the pink/daisy fabric will be corner blocks and the purple/daisy will be the outside border me thinks.
I’ll have a separate post on nursery progress when I get some pictures of that – my phone is acting strange with pictures, sometimes I take them and they don’t show up as pictures later – a complete loss of the progress part since I don’t realize it at the time 🙁
Monday night I finished vacuuming the walls/ceiling of the nursery and got it all primed! It was tiring but totally worth it. I also started cleaning up the work area (livingroom/diningroom) in preparation for company this weekend. I got rid of all the wood we don’t need, organized what we’re keeping and it’s already in better shape. A very productive night after a very productive day at work – love those! Tomorrow night I fully anticipate crashing on the couch after work (I’m always exhausted after going into the office)!
Nursery walls and ceiling all primed!Next up comes trim installation (after Easter)
