I got the most recent pictures off my camera and thought I would share some pictures from Aimee and Jason’s visit this past weekend:
Fitz thought Jason was a fun new toy/person to play with and snuggled right up. He was very good with all the grabs and quick movements from little Jason even one really hard ear pull 🙂
Little Jason opening his birthday gifts Friday night from us. He likes anything he can turn into a drum :)Little Jason opening his birthday gifts Friday night from us. He likes anything he can turn into a drum 🙂
On Saturday Uncle Mark, Aunt Mo and Hannah stopped by for some quick baby snuggle time.
Hannah meets Alex!
Uncle Mark snuggling with Jason.
Some photos of the cousins before little jason had to head home on sunday. Unfortunately Alex wasn't really in the mood 🙂Jason however was a complete ham for me while i rocked alex and took pictures of him playing.Alex was much happier being snuggled 🙂My favorite pic of little Jason the monster 🙂 I have no idea how I caught this one but it was a great face!
And now it’s back to the week, counting down the days until the next weekend. Monday Alex and I drove down to Worcester and dropped off 6 doors to be dipped/stripped (goodbye lead paint!). That includes the 2 doors for the nursery! Plus all the tvroom doors (3) and our closet door for our bedroom. Going to have a lot of doors and windows to paint as soon as the weather is warm enough to keep the windows out for a period of time!
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.
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!!!
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 🙁
Ryan was busy Friday night getting more prep work done on the nursery, working around the huge sheets of drywall that were off to one side he drilled some holes for electrical (to run the light circuit) and screwed in almost all the firring strips on the ceiling (the ones he could get to). Then he added some framing to the corner that was missing any nailers.
Mom and Dad showed up Friday night so we could get a nice early start on Saturday. There were 2 items to do first, finish up the electrical and move the drywall so everything could be accessed. Once the electrical was all wired they were able to start on the drywall – ceiling first.
The ceiling up
The ceiling was just about finished (the last piece was up but not screwed in) by lunch time (1pm). That’s some great progress.
Then they did the exterior wall (that got rid of 2 of the 14′ x 54″ pieces of drywall.
Exterior wall getting screwed in.
Unfortunately I don’t have any more progress pictures after this but they were able to finish up the drywall (of the room, not the closet) entirely by dinner time.
Sunday they drywalled what they could of the closet (using scraps) but we need to get another piece of drywall to really finish it. Then started taping and continuing electrical (hooking it up in the attic to the existing circuit it used to be hooked up to for now – later we’ll put in a subpanel in the attic). While tape/spackle dried, electrical was done, then more taping, then more electrical and finally the last upper corners were taped and Mom and Dad headed home.
So the nursery is really coming along – Ryan feels ambitious and hopes to get the spackling all finished in the next 2 weeks, maybe even walls sanded and primed before easter – we’ll see how it goes (mostly based on his work load).
Anyway – some pictures!
Ceiling view (from the closet)The view from the closet sideThe closet - partially drywalled - we're actually going to do cedar walls in here like our master closet i believe.From the doorway - the right hand wall (there used to be a door there - too many doors in this house!)And the other side (view from the doorway) - of the windows.
So that’s 2 coats on the screw holes, and just taped on all the seams.
What’s left?
Running the cable/ethernet drops (2) to the interior walls
Closet drywall and cedar
Spackling
Sanding walls
Priming (then touchups)
Putting the door frames back in
Trim – windows, door, crown molding, baseboards
Priming/Painting trim, Painting ceiling and walls
Refinish floor (includes patching the spot where the radiator was)
Can we be done before baby ? 🙂 We’ll see how long she stays in!
In baby news – all is still well there – the braxton hicks contractions have continued but nothing like last thursday thank goodness. I still get bouts where they are 5 minutes apart but they don’t stay that way for more than an hour. Plus i’ve been assured that even though the contractions are so often and consistent, they don’t actually mean I’ll even go ‘early’ – she could still come late even, all it means is I’ll be even more uncomfortable as I get closer to the due date because I’ll get bigger and more uncomfortable PLUS still be having contractions. Really looking forward to month 9 🙂 *sarcasm*.
But baby has a room that looks like a room now, even if it’s not finished so I’m excited!
Nice and early so Ryan could help unload it before he went in to work even! The drywall for the nursery was boomed through the upstairs window and is now sitting mostly in the nursery. It’s going to be very interesting maneuvering these large sheets around this weekend. Luckily we can do most of what’s left of prep work easily with the drywall off to the side it is. Just the closet is blocked right now – unfortunately, that’s where I put the window sashes to keep them safe (duh moment for me) and so the window will have just a screen for the day/night 🙂 Thank goodness it’s another warm day!
Speaking of warm, the A/C went in our bedroom last night because I was dying (I don’t know how people who are pregnant in summer do it!). Yesterday was a tough day with a lot of braxton hicks contractions (every 5 minutes), I ended up over at the hospital to get tested to make sure they were just false labor (they are) but they’re STILL coming every 5 minutes this morning. The doctor ordered me to take the day off and do nothing – not sure what to do though, not working stresses me out when I have work I could be doing and that can’t be good. So i’m confined to bed for the day with lots of water and hopefully the contractions slow down?? I have no problem sleeping through them at least so I got a good night’s sleep for a change. I guess the contractions are fine since they aren’t bringing on labor – but they are darn annoying!
Well spring is most certainly in the air (let’s hope there aren’t any future frosts waiting to kill the plants that have sprouted early now!).
And success – my tulip (and other) bulbs are popping up! Besides the crocus’ which I planted throughout the yard, I planted the larger bulbs in 3 locations – my rose garden (in front), and 2 spots at the front of the house. They’re popping up in all 3 spots! I’m very excited to see these comes to life in the next few weeks!
Bulbs popping up!
And with spring we get closer and closer to the arrival of our little one! 6 weeks to go (or there abouts):
34 weeks along!
Of course she was scaring me this morning (that she would come sooner than 6 weeks from now), my braxton hicks contractions were not only stronger than usual, I usually don’t get so many in the morning (usually at night) – not sure what was going on but they have finally calmed down thank goodness!
