Welcome, Robert!

As many of you know by now, we welcomed Robert Michael Klapmust into the world on December 17 at 7:30 pm.  He took his time coming eventually via c-section, but we were elated to finally meet our healthy baby boy!  He weighed 8 pounds, 10 ounces and was 20 inches long.

We got home from the hospital on December 20 and have enjoyed spending lots of quality time with our baby boy ever since.  He mostly enjoys eating and being held, so that fills up our days as well as meeting lots of friends and family!

Here we are just arriving home from the hospital.  Robert was not too fond of this trip in the car seat, but has warmed up a bit more to car trips since then!

He is 13 days old today, and as of this morning's doctors appointment, he has surpassed his birth weight and now comes in at 8 pounds, 11 ounces!  Our good little eater gained 12 ounces  in the last 7 days.  He is also measuring in the 80th percentile for length....we're not quite sure where he gets that from, but he does seem like he has long legs!

Here are a few pics from the last week and a half....and a view into what Robert's days are like...

Stretching!

And just hanging out....

 Chip hanging out with Robert.  Chip has adjusted really well and has been pretty interested in whatever Robert is doing and even comes over to check out what's going on when Robert cries. 

Christmas Day

Trying out the bouncy chair for the first time today!  He stayed there quietly for about 20 minutes, so I'd consider it a success.

 With Dad outside of the house.

And a rare moment of quiet sleeping, which is not really one of Robert's favorite past times.  We're working on it though!

And finally, here are all his initials hanging in the nursery!

My hope is to be able to continue updating here with milestones and pictures, so you can keep checking back for more.

Nursery is ready....now where's the baby?!

Baby watch 2011 still continues...my due date has come and gone and we're still hoping to meet this little guy any day now!   In the meantime, I thought I'd share what the nursery looks like and how we got there.

It always takes me forever to pick paint colors, but picking a few samples has always worked for me!  Here's the three I compared with the final choice on the far right.  This also gives you some idea of what the room looked like pre-nursery.  It was an office/miscellaneous furniture/Jim's closet.

Let the painting commence!  Thanks to Jim's mom for helping me out with this task, while Jim and his dad worked away in the basement.

And the final product!  We were very happy with the way the bright aqua turned out :)

The next step in project nursery was curtains - after lots of perusing, I decided that making the curtains would be best.  I picked the grey fabric to match the rug and to tone down the bright walls a bit.  I also added a navy blue ribbon to tie it together later (which you can see below)  In this pic, Chip is hanging out on the yet to be assembled crib.  He "helped" a lot throughout the process.

Next up was furniture.  The crib was put together by my dad and uncle, who both came to help out Jim with projects - thanks again for your help!  We bought the dresser off Craigslist and I refinished the top of it and replaced the drawer hardware - and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out!  I also made the crib skirt seen below and a couple of sheets for the crib - all in navy blue polka dot fabric.  

 

We know that Chip can tell something is going on with all the changes in this room.  He is either feeling displaced or he thinks that we've created a bunch of new places for him to sleep....

And lastly, we got a new recliner/glider chair....

 

that Jim was happy to test out :)  It's super comfy!

With some additional decor and organization, here's what the nursery looks like today.  We have a very few final touches to add, but its about 98% done and ready for a baby to come home to!

We'll hang all the initials over the crib once he comes....right now you get the preview version.

Last, but not least, here's me and the bump decorating the Christmas tree.  We are looking forward to baby pics in front of the tree, hopefully SOON!

Basement Upgrades

As promised - here's some of what we've been up to the past few months.  Or really, more accurately, what Jim has been up to as my contributions to this project have been pretty slim.

I don't know how many pictures of our basement we've ever actually shown on the blog.  To be honest, there wasn't much to see when we moved in and then the demo happened in stages.  I don't have true before pictures, but here's what the basement looked like not long after we bought it.  The demo began pretty early since it was directly beneath the upstairs bathroom (our very first project!).  On the left is the shower stall and the right was the "powder room."  The shower stall was separate and opened up into the middle of the basement, in fact you would have easily been able to keep an eye on your laundry while taking a shower with this set up.  Clearly that had to change....

 

Here's what it looked like after all the walls were taken down.  You can see that there's a lot more room than was previously utilized by the bathroom.  It's still a tight space,  but there's plenty to work with!

Concurrently with the bathroom progress, Jim has been working on the room at the end of the hallway in the basement - prepping it to be a guest room.  So coming to you in the near future....an open invite to come visit us (and have your own dedicated bedroom and bathroom!) anytime!  Here's the bedroom getting some studs (of the metal variety ;) and insulation.

The bathroom gets framed out too.

And next is drywall.  Thanks to so many people who have helped us through this process.  Typically, I'd be right there with you all, but unfortunately my assistance has been limited these days.

Bedroom with drywall and ready for paint!

Here's the main hallway in the basement - which is still a work in progress, but good to see for perspective.  The bathroom is on the left and bedroom is straight in front of you.

Tile going in to the bathroom.  We flipped the shower stall so it opens into the bathroom and extended the room a bit, so the stall is larger than it was.  It's definitely starting to take form!

And more tile!  In fact, as I type this Jim is still working on tile (grouting the shower floor).  It's really looking great and I promise to share the final after pictures once they are done. 

Here's what the other half of the bathroom currently looks like.  There's still a ways to go there, but once the floor is in, the rest will fall into place fairly quickly!

And here's the current state of the bedroom.  Just some finishing type stuff left as well as flooring and furniture, etc. and it will be done! 

More to come....