Spring Is…

Technically Spring has been here since March 20th. Technically. But with scattered snow flurries and 30 degree days it was hard to believe that Spring was even here. Then today came, a gorgeous 70 degree day with bright blue skies and a gentle breeze that floated in through the open windows, making the task of scrubbing toilets and floors at the new house slightly more luxurious. Similar to the prolonged entrance of Spring has been the progress on our house. We have had several months of set backs and long, hard days of work but today is the first day that I actually believed that we are going to be moving in soon. We will no longer technically be home owners we will be actual homeowners that  live in the home they own! Feeling spring in the air and a refreshed sense of optimism I thought I would share some things that "Spring Is" for the Welch family.

Spring Is…a time for progress. We are slowly but surely been making progress on the new house. Brandon is working on putting in the finishing touches like outlet covers and closet doors now that all the electrical work and flooring have been completed. The last major project to be completed is the kitchen, and after only two days it has flooring and 1/3 of the cabinets in place. I would definitely call that progress.

Kitchen cabinets and new windows/blinds were put in this week

Spring Is…a time for new beginnings. In my last post I wrote that I am planning on spending some of my new found energy crafting and decorating. That is still my plan but I have added a little more ambitious twist to it. Brandon has always told me that I should sell some of my crafting creations. Now that we have acquired several dozen "old" windows from our house plus a few that I have collected over the years, it may be the perfect opportunity to sell some of my window creations. Who knows maybe this may be the new beginning of a small crafting and decor business!? Anyone want a window sign or memo board made from an old window? I'm the gal to ask! Another new beginning that I am hoping to implement into my life is healthy diet and exercise. Before becoming pregnant I was on a weight loss journey of clean eating and disciplined exercise where I lost 40 pounds! I am hoping by posting this on here that it may serve as motivation for me to start back up where I left off. Wish me luck!

I dream of windows!

Spring Is…a time for growing. Which Micah has been doing a lot of : ) He has retired all of his newborn and most of his 0-3 month clothing, and at 9 weeks (today) he is wearing 3 month clothes. He is a very vocal baby, much like his Mama. Talking, cooing, singing, and smiling are all things he is doing more of these days. He is able to fix his eyes on objects for the purpose of observing and being interested in them and not just because his head accidentally flops in that direction..ha! He enjoys laying on his activity mat and batting at his animals and kicking his legs at what seems like an unnaturally high rate of speed. Maybe he will be a runner, which would not be like his Mama. He loves spending time with Brandon and smiles adoringly at him while Brandon puts on his daily show of silly faces and animal noises for Micah. Watching Brandon be a father (and a great one at that) to our son is one of the great joys in my life. Micah has become a creature of habit and is now in a very consistent routine of eat, play, sleep. We had our first night this week where he slept all the way through..hooray! Micah is our daily reminder that everything from God is perfect and that even though parenthood is not always easy (and that we have yet to endure the hardest parts) if we trust in Him he will guide our path.

Micah David

Happy Spring (officially not just technically)! 

Andrea

The New Normal

It is crazy to think that as of this past Friday I am the mother to a beautiful, healthy 6 week old baby boy! We have spent the last few weeks adjusting to our new normal of life with an infant. Our new normal consists of diaper changes, round the clock feedings, and spending every one of Micah's waking minutes cuddling and playing. These days "playing" is very regimented for a baby, who knew? According to all the latest research Micah should get at least 5 minutes of tummy time every morning and evening, introduced to something new each day (textures, sights, sounds, etc.), and read to at least once a day. Now of course as a teacher I would be a hypocrite if I didn't say that I full-heartdedly agree that all of these brain stimulating learning activities are very important to the development of a child. And you better believe that I want my child to be the smartest kid on the planet so I am doing all those things and then some. However, I often wonder if he must think we all look ridiculous putting on this dog and pony show of brain activities for him each day, because he often seems way more focused on the person delivering the activity than the activity itself : ) 

As we have settled into our new normal I have found myself with a little bit more energy and time than I had a few weeks ago. Perhaps it is because Micah is now waking up only once during the night so I am able to sleep for longer stretches, or that I have finally become more efficient with our routine so instead of running around getting things prepared for the next time he wakes up I am able to catch up on things around the house. Now at first this new found energy and time was welcomed and I spent most of it napping, getting things organized, and browsing the net. My sister Emily jokes that over the last few weeks I have read the entire internet, because every time she shares an article, comments on a mutual friends status update, or shows me a funny video odds are I have already seen it!  However, after almost two weeks of this I feel mostly caught up on rest, I have organized EVERYTHING I could possibly organize, and I truly have seen all that I need to see online. There are only so many cat videos a person can watch. I am extremely fortunate that my maternity leave worked out perfectly so I do not have to return to work until the start of next school year. But I must admit that I am beginning to wonder what I am going to do with myself for the next few months ?! Now I know most of you must be thinking (sarcastically in your head) "Poor Andrea, getting to take naps and actually having the time to get things accomplished, must be rough!" However, considering my old normal consisted of engaging and corralling 19 energetic ten-year-olds, lesson planning, and often putting in 10+ hour work days; being at home with a mostly calm baby that enjoys his sleep is a definite change of pace. So since "idle hands are the devil's workshop" or so the saying goes I have decided to make an action plan for myself. My plan is simple-CRAFTING & DECORATING. Those of you who know me could have guessed this was going to be my action plan without having read this post and are wondering why you just spent the last five minutes of your life reading all the build up to my action plan. I'll tell you why you stuck around, because you knew that there would be adorable Micah pictures to go along with my babbling and you would be right : ) But until then bear with me as I share a few projects and ideas I have for the new house.

The growing pile of house decorations that I have been collecting over the last several months

The windows are left over from our wedding and will be used to create a window mirror to go above an entryway table I found at an antique store down in the Kansas City west bottoms (shown below), with another window we are going to make a family photo collage to go in the upstairs hallway. The black trunk was used as Emily and I's toy chest growing up, and when I stumbled upon it in my Mom's garage she was happy for me to take it off of her hands. We are going to clean it up and use it as a TV stand in our living room. 

I have been on the hunt for good deals lately and found a metal and laminate wood baker's rack along with a matching corner shelf . All it needed was a new coat of paint (the turquoise color shown above) and knobs (from Hobby lobby shown below). There is a large shelf on the bottom that I am going to hunt down some rustic crates to use as storage that I think will complete the update to this piece. I can't wait to assemble it and see how it looks all put together : )

Micah and I enjoying the beautiful spring day while Daddy painted our new treasure.

My Pinterest boards have exploded with these new crafting and project ideas that I am hoping to implement in the house over the next few months.  Those of you who follow me on Pinterest either must be annoyed at the sudden intrusion to your Pinterest feed or impressed with the amount of projects I am attempting to tackle. We will see how many projects actually get accomplished once warmer weather calls my name poolside but until then I am on a mission. 

As I am finishing up writing Micah is beginning to stir from his nap and it is time for our "new normal" routine of eat, play, and sleep. It is amazing to see how much personality he has developed over the last few weeks. He enjoys cooing, kicking his legs, batting and talking to the animals on his activity mat, and most recently smiling. He is especially "smiley" in the mornings which softens the blow for the hardest part of Mommy's day- getting up at the crack of dawn! As promised I will leave you with some adorable Micah pictures : )

-Andrea-

What's that Smell?

I have found myself asking that question quite often in the last month. It's three o'clock in the morning and I am rocking the baby back to sleep, I start to nod off myself, when I am suddenly jerked back into consciousness by an odor that I can't quite identify in my sleepy state. It causes me to ask the question "What's that smell?" I quickly go down the checklist. "Ok, is it me?" I mumble as I struggle to recall the last time I was able to shower. Next, I put my hand to my shoulder to check for any moisture that could have come spewing out of my sweet angels mouth. "Nope not that!" So as not to wake the baby (whom I just spent the last hour soothing back to sleep) I slowly start to lift him up to take a sniff of his bottom. I get a whiff of the offending smell before I even have to get any closer. I look down and Micah has the most angelic little smile on his face. Even though they say that when babies smile in their sleep it is just a reflex, I am convinced that this smile was one of a person amused with himself and the reaction he was able to extract from his Momma.

Now those of you who know Brandon know what a clean freak he is! A few evenings ago Brandon experienced his own "what's that smell?" moment. I was drifting off to sleep (which is usually how I spend every spare minute these days) when I heard a familiar little spewing sound coming from Micah. Followed by a deep sigh from his Daddy as he patiently began cleaning up and changing the outfit he had just put on him not a minute before. After Micah was all cleaned up and settled back down in his bassinet I heard Brandon rustling around the room gathering his things to take a shower, since Micah's dinner partially ended up on the side of his head and had soaked through his shirt. Then I heard him stop and mutter to himself "Who am I kidding? I don't care that much!" and he crawled into bed instead. A month ago you would have seen Brandon running for the shower if another person's bodily function had ended up anywhere close to him, but these days sleep wins out : )

 Micah is now a 1 month old and despite the "smelly" situation he brings us much joy and we continue to be amazed at how God could trust us with something so precious. 

"I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made, marvelous are your works, and that my soul knows very well."-Psalm 139:14

We had newborn pictures taken of Micah in his nursery and he looked so cute I couldn't help put snap a few myself.

Speaking of smells, the house is starting to smell less of old carpet and years worth of dirt and grime and more like fresh paint and new wood. Despite our move in date being pushed back several times we really are in the final stretch and could be moved in as soon as two weeks from now. The whole house has been painted and just a few touch ups here and there are needed. The vanities, light fixtures, and tile are all done in the bathrooms just waiting to install the toilets. The kitchen is completely demoed, and cabinets and countertops have been ordered. At this point we are planning on moving into the house without the kitchen being completed because we are still 4 weeks out from the cabinets being in and then a few weeks after that for the countertops. The floors and appliances will be ready to go this week so we will just make due until the rest of the kitchen comes in. The flooring, new doors, and most of the trim have been installed throughout the house.  The basement is in need of carpet but it will be probably be added to the list of projects that we will wait to complete until after we move in.  This past week we started moving furniture out of our storage unit into the house. Yesterday the weather was beautiful here in Kansas City, so we invited our families over to the house for a Sunday evening BBQ. It was wonderful to have both sides of the family over for a time of fellowship and to view the house. We could honestly not have been able to do this without the help of our families over the last couple months. They have done everything from giving us a place to live while we wait for the house to be done, to watching our dog Maya, to sacrificing countless hours of their own time to helping us with projects around the house. God only gives you what you can handle and when you feel like you can't handle anymore He created families to help carry you the rest of the way. Seriously, if you want to find out the limit to your patience, nerves, and time remodel a house at the same time that you have your first child. On his days off Brandon will go over to the house and work all day and when he comes home late in the evening he will realize he hasn't eaten all day. Or I will be holding the baby, doing laundry, and brushing my teeth all at the same time (and yes the real life image of this is just as amusing as the visual you have in your head) because I know that if I don't do multiple things at once it won't get done . Although we are looking forward to the day, hopefully very soon, when our lives will slow down a bit we are grateful for the journey. 

Let me leave you with some photo updates of the house. Thanks for your continued prayers.

Andrea

This a view of the stairs going up from the basement. The wood will eventually be stained the same color as the rest of the flooring in the house.

It is nice to finally have seating for people when they come to see the progress on the house.

Another view of the living room. Excuse all the clutter.

Upstairs hallway leading to all the bedrooms.

Main bathroom

Main bathroom

Guest Bedroom

Master Bedroom

Master bathroom

Micah's Nursery

Micah's Nursery

Micah's Nursery

Our Little Egg Has Hatched

Micah David's much anticipated arrival finally came on February 28 at 5:55 in the evening. We could not have been more in love with our, 7 lb 6 oz and 21 1/2 inches long, bundle of joy. And I am pleased to announce that even after two weeks of no sleep, asking the question "what's that smell?" more times than anyone would care to know, an ER visit, being used as dispensary for various bodily functions, developing some questionable hygiene habits, and adjusting to life in general with an infant we are STILL as in love with him as we were two weeks ago and probably even more : )

For those whom this sort of thing fascinates I have been asked to share some details about how the birthing process went for me. I was extremely fortunate in that my labor went as easily as my pregnancy had gone. My delivery from the time we got to the hospital, they induced me, I pushed, and he arrived, lasted a little under 8 hours. The staff at the hospital were wonderful and very attentive. We were fortunate that both my doctor and the pediatrician that we selected were both on call that weekend so we were able to see our own doctors throughout our entire stay. Brandon was the most supportive and patient birthing coach I could have asked for. The nurses commented on how well we worked together and I attribute a large part of having a successful delivery to the way he kept me calm and comfortable. Overall the birthing experience was quite pleasant and I praise God for keeping Micah and I safe throughout the entire process. Now I am not bragging, ok maybe a little, but I feel justified because the days that followed were not quite as easy. Micah was and still is a good little eater, but he was working too hard because by the time we had come home from the hospital he had lost 10% of his body weight. Initially doctors were not concerned until day 4 and 5 when the poor little guy did not have a bowel movement for over 24 hours (sorry if that is TMI but to be fair you were warned). Now in this day of "information" I did what any new mother would do I jumped online and begin diagnosing Micah and myself.  I convinced myself that Micah fit the description of at least 5 different diseases including Hirschsprung disease, which according to the website now matter how funny it is to say is no laughing matter!  I became more and more alarmed with my "research" so I called his doctor which then turned into a recommendation to go straight to Childrens Mercy's ER. Now I would like to consider myself a rationale person, poised if you will, but at the very mention of the "ER" I broke down! After a very anxious hour of waiting the doctor saw Micah and she confirmed what all those around me were saying that he was fine, but perhaps a tad hungry. We were able to speak to a lactation consultant and come up with a feeding plan to include supplementation. Micah is much happier and we are much more rested. When we went back to the doctor he had gained weight so we are headed in the right direction. It is still a slow process, with moments of frustration, but I am confident that if we keep working at it it will eventually work itself out. And if it doesn't we are happy as long as Micah is a healthy, chunky little baby. It is reassuring to know that God's hand was, and still is on that situation and we will continue to trust.

It is obvious that Micah is one of the most loved babies on planet earth! I have written almost 200 thank you notes in the past few months for people who have given us things for Micah. We could not be more grateful for all the generosity we have received. In addition to all the generous gifts we are loving having a revolving door of aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends coming to visit us. At this rate he may never learn to walk because he is constantly being passed around from one adoring set of arms to another ; )

We have been staying with my Mom and Dad until our house is completed (our new move in date is now April 1st) where I have been enjoying having my Mom's help. It has been especially helpful to have Mom around after Brandon went back to work last week. Now that Micah is a little over two weeks old we seem to have found a routine. He is a wonderful night time baby and would probably sleep all night if I let him, but we are still trying to wake him every 3-4 hours to eat so we can keep practicing the feeding thing. During the day he is somewhat of an energizer bunny and chooses to be awake and active more than most newborns, or so I am told! He settles in the evening and starts sleeping for longer stretches. Now, the burning question is always "and Mom how are you feeling?" Well other than the usual adjustments to having a newborn and that fact that every time I pass a mirror I wince, I'm great…ha! All joking aside, I am soaking up every second of being an overly cautious, picture obsessed, baby hog, first time Mommy. As I write this post Micah is happily curled up in my arms taking a snooze and as I watch him sleep I can hardly remember what life was like before him. I am truly blessed : )

Andrea

p.s.- I will leave you with a few of the best pictures from the Micah photo collection, which I am almost ashamed to admit has reached a total of over 1,000 already in his short life.