1 Week Old

Introducing Luke Alexander

Luke Alexander was born on Tuesday, September 14 at 10:00 am. He was 7 lbs, 4 oz and 20.5 inches long.

I woke up around 4:00 that morning with 1 contraction and just didn't feel well, but didn't think this was "it". Around 5:30 or 6 I started having contractions 10 minutes apart, but they were very mild. I told Rick not to leave for work yet just in case. A little after 7:00 my water broke and the contractions immediately became intense and were coming 1-2 minutes apart. Rick called my dad so he could watch Evan and we headed for the hospital. When I arrived at the hospital I was 3 cm dilated, and within an hour I was already at 8 cm. The nurses had a hard time getting my IV started, which is necessary to have before the epidural. Finally, they had the good drugs flowing through my system. I literally laid back down, pushed through the next contraction, and our beautiful dark haired boy entered the world at 10:00 am. It was a little scary how fast he came, but looking back I can't complain!

Evan met Luke that night at the hospital, and he was very interested to meet his baby. He's been very sweet with him since the moment they met. It doesn't hurt, either, that Luke gave his big brother a talking Buzz Lightyear toy!

Nesting Overdrive

Back in July, Rick and I decided to get a good jump start on getting the baby's room together. August is always very stressful for me trying to get my classroom ready for the school year, along with all the other prep work that needs to be done, so I really wanted things in order at our house. We had everything ready and thought it would be a simple project of painting, getting the carpets cleaned, and putting together all the little details. Boy, were we wrong!

As Rick began pulling off the baseboard, he noticed some black stuff at the bottom of the wall. We realized behind that area is our chimney, and we were worried that it might be soot, so he started to tear away that wall. Behind there we found rotten beams, crumbling boards, and insulation that was mostly disintegrated. Looking further we saw that the roofing around the chimney and part of the siding was also rotting. We weren't sure if it was water damage, smoke damage or a combination of the two. The chimney people came for an inspection. Luckily it was not a fire hazard and all the damage was from water leaking, but the chimney needed to be tuckpointed for the bargain price of $1000. GASP!

First look at the damage

Daylight spilling in where the siding was rotting

The giant hole while everything was being repaired - you can see our neighbor's house

After that was repaired, Rick and his dad worked hard to replace all the damaged areas. Thank goodness they were able to do it themselves, because I can't imagine how much it would have cost to pay someone to fix all of that! Rick was then able to paint the room, and we finally finished all the details last weekend. The joys of home ownership!

The area behind the changing table is where the large hole had been

School Days

I can't believe Evan is old enough to attend preschool. He's going to the Park District program 2 afternoons a week. Today was his first day. It was only an hour and parents attended too. I was very nervous about him starting since he has a tendency to be very shy and clingy in new situations. But, he really did great! He's been talking about going to school all week, so we could tell he was excited about it. He loved all of the toys, shared with his new friends, and actually talked to his teachers and some of the other kids. He didn't want to leave. Next Tuesday is the first day he is on his own, so hopefully he separates OK from me. I'm being optimistic though since he keeps telling me it's his school and I can't go with him next time. Fingers crossed!!

Hot, hot, hot!

I had the best intentions of blogging frequently this summer, but obviously that did not happen! Between the pregnancy, keeping up with Evan, and taking a pretty intense college course, time definitely got away from me.

So here is our summer in review...There is one word to describe this summer - HOT! Being in the 3rd trimester of pregnancy and having most days in the 90s does not go well together. Most days were spent inside enjoying the AC, but we did manage to have fun!

We started the summer off with a trip to Brookfield Zoo.

On the carousel with Yiayia

In late June we took a road trip out to North Carolina for a family vacation. We spent a week at a beach house in Kure Beach with my sister and her hubby and Rick's parents and brother. Everyone had a great time and we all hope to keep this a tradition. I took tons of pictures throughout the week, but here's just a few.

Our house for the week

The view from our house

On the boardwalk

Evan wearing his special hat and glasses to make him run faster =)

The Repking men playing in the sand

Our anniversary dinner

The North Carolina Aquarium

SO tired!!

We visited my college friends in Indy and FINALLY had a chance to visit Indy's Children's Museum. I hope we can go back soon because Evan had a great time.

Playing in the gift shop

Chris and Bryn in the tree house

Evan, Shay and Bryn riding the carousel

And here's some random pictures of Evan being his usual silly self!