First Bath

My mom came back into town last week and helped us catch up - on sleep, on cleaning, on how to take care of our daughter. Thank you Mommy! We needed it.

She gave Evelyn her first bath at home. We are supposed to keep her umbilical cord stump dry until it falls off on its own, so its was just a sponge bath for now.

 She loves the warm water and was alert and totally mesmerized the whole time. 

 Getting warm and dry in her bunny towel. 

Sharing

I'm realizing there is alot of "new normals" that we are transitioning into as parents. One of them, that I had not thought about is sharing.

I'm with Evelyn all day everyday, and I'm soooooo thankful for her. I'm in awe! I could just stare at her and cuddle all day. I think she is amazing. My world literally revolves around her now (side note: I think this is okay for these first weeks of adjustment, but do not plan to make my life all about my child in the future). And when I'm around other people I just assume they want to know about her, so I start to share.

She is what I talk about now. I hope this isn't annoying to those around me, but I forget that they might not really care that she went for a walk with me in her stroller, is starting to latch without help, or soothed herself to sleep last night after only 7 minutes of crying (felt like eternity to Momma!). But this is one of my new normals. I think she is incredible. I want to celebrate and cherish all her many achievements, mundane & extraordinary.

...you'll just have to excuse me if I don't think any of it is mundane ;)

First Easter

We took Evelyn up to see our family for Easter this past weekend. She did great! She slept the whole drive up and back, all the little trips in between, and through the church service. The drive back late Sunday night was difficult - lots of traffic and she was reaching the end of her time between feedings, but we got back safely and nursed as soon as we were home. :)

 Her Easter outfit. 

 With Granny and Grandpa after church. 

 All the cousins

 Evelyn liked being held by her Uncle Brian

 These two are going to be best friends! They are only 10 weeks apart. Kathleen and I are both going to be stay at home moms next year and only live 3 hours apart! Can you say play-date?

 Meeting Drew's dad, "Papa", for the first time.

Three generations of Kellys :) 

40 Weeks!!!

I made it to our due date!

We had a doctors appointment this morning. I had started to dilate (only 1 cm), but enough that she could sweep the membrane and hopefully get things moving a little more quickly.

She sent me and Drew home and advised that I go on a long walk this afternoon. With any luck labor would start in the next 72 hours...

well, it started, with a vengeance last night around 10pm. I've been up most of the night trying different positions to stay comfortable. I think we are going to get to meet this girl today!

Changing Area

Since we will probably move in May or June we decided early on to stay in our one bedroom apartment for these last few months. We figured a newborn doesn't need a whole lot of space.

I got rid of my desk and Drew built the dresser. Here is our changing area. I'm resisting the urge to decorate anymore because I dont want to have to pack up anymore than we absolutely have to. :)

I like how neat and tidy everything is now, at least compared to what we had before. I was able to fit almost all of Evelyn's baby items in the dresser. Everything is washed and ready to go!

Awesome Stroller

I think this is the piece of baby gear I have been most excited to use. We ordered it online for 40% off and Drew had Amazon Prime for a while so we got free shipping on it. I hope it holds up to all my expectations of how awesome it will be - I did alot of research on this thing.

Here is Drew putting it together. It is by far the easiest thing we (meaning Drew) have set up. It only took about 10mins. and was very straight forward. He is actually putting on an extra attachment so that the baby carrier portion of the car seat can sit on the stroller.

This stroller is light (16lbs), supposed to be durable enough to go over rough terrain, and should hold up for at least two kiddos. Besides being light my favorite feature is definitely how easy it is to fold up. It really does only take one hand...which I know will become a very useful feature in the near future when I am trying to hold Evelyn and get the stroller in the car at the same time.

It starts like this and then you pull the handle down in the seat.

And it collapses to this!:

Pretty nifty right?

Setting up for Evelyn

Drew has done some excellent work setting things up for Evelyn the last two weeks. He is already such a dedicated father. 

Here he is putting the dresser together. I love that he is so handy. 

The finished product - I think it looks awesome! This is where we plan to store all of Evelyn's things and have a changing area on top. Drew's dad generously purchased the dresser for us. I will take more pics soon with all the items stored inside it as well as the changing area set up. Any suggestions on how best to organize the drawers? 

My parents got us the glider & ottoman we wanted. Drew set it up and I have enjoyed it everyday since then. :) I know I will be spending hours here rocking our girl to sleep, reading books, and of course, feeding her.

I think our living room looks really nice now. There is more space for people to sit and everything is neatly stored away. Having everything organized and cleaned has cut down tremendously on my anxiety level! I sleep so much better these days. 

Drew also cleaned up most of the house this weekend. Sad to say, but I don't think it has looked this clean in every room since we moved in. I usually just cant get to it all myself in one weekend. All the laundry is even done! :) Thank you Lord for my loving servant of a husband!