As You Probably All Know By Now, Evan Is Here!

And the child is creeping up on 2 months old already! What kind of a blogger am I, anyway? (you know you're thinking it, so I'll just go ahead and say it)

Luckily, his first two months have been well-documented with photos, so here is a selection of our favorites, plus an update or two.

Start from the beginning, you say? Well, on Monday the 20th (41 weeks pregnant exactly), we were scheduled for an ultrasound and some other testing to make sure he was still happy in there. Turns out he was ready to come out, because I went into labor just before 2:00 that morning. I woke Daddy up at about 4:00 and we left for the hospital just before 5:00. We arrived at the hospital at about 7:15 (after Dad's little stop for breakfast - in his defense, he didn't know when he'd be able to eat again!), got checked and I was 5 cm dilated. Baby day! By 8:45 I was dilated to 9cm and a little over an hour later, little Evan arrived! With a little help from midwife Mary-Louise and her vacuum, and some big pushes from Mama. Turns out the little monkey had his hand up next to his head and his cord pinched between the two, so he was in a bit of distress, and it was time for him to come out! But he pinked up beautifully within minutes, and was squalling his surprise at this big world out here.

Stats:

Evan Finn Stogner

6 pounds, 11 ounces

19 inches long

Born at 9:54 AM, October 20, 2008

Enough with the story, how about some pictures??

Birth day:

Going home from the hospital the next day (was he ever that small?):

Meeting Auntie Annica and Uncle Cody (and Cousin Rider!) later that day:

Snuggling with Daddy:

Snuggling with Mama:

Meeting Auntie Kaycee and Uncle Aaron at 4 days old:

A few shots from his first portrait session (thank you, Kaycee!):

Auntie Kelley visits:

First bath:

Grandma Jan arrives to spend a few weeks with us!

Meeting other Rico moms and babies for a walk:

Lots of sleeping on Mama:

And a little peeing on Daddy!

And a Halloween costume from Oma Deborah:

That about wraps up the rest of October - quite the big 11 days, eh?

November brings more visitors, much gaining of weight (mostly Evan), a Thanksgiving celebration, some work on the house (believe it or not! All Daddy), and lots and lots of sleeping in very small increments (mostly Evan again, but sometimes us, too!).

Due Date: Here, Baby: Not So Much

But you should see the work "we" are able to get done on the house while waiting for him! ("we" really meaning Sean most of the time, of course. Though Sarah is becoming remarkably competent in the kitchen.)

A SUMMARY:

INSULATION: COMPLETE.

Somehow the living room looks so much smaller when it's full of insulation and drywall.



Sean in his protective zoot suit.





DRYWALL: COMPLETE.

(or at least really, really close. Taped and mudded, too!)









BATHROOM FLOOR AND VANITY TILE: COMPLETE.

(we're hopefully working on the shower tile this afternoon)



UPSTAIRS ASPEN CEILING: COMPLETE.



Better view of the finished vanity in this one, too:



WINTER: COMING.

(this is actually from September 12th - ack! But it has since melted.)



BELLY: GROWING.

39 weeks:



40 weeks:



That last one is from this morning - figured I'd better get a due date shot! We'll continue to wait patiently for the little one to decide when his birthday is supposed to be. But Mama gives him a good coaching session each day!

In Which We Get Some Help (Actually A LOT Of Help)

The rest of July brought much progress, and many visitors - helpful visitors! Mom (Jan), Marty and Kay (henceforth known as the Kuderling girls) came, as did John and his roommate Dan and Dan's girlfriend Kim (henceforth known as the Phoenix Crew), as did Kelley from Denver (there's only one of her, so I'll just call her Kelley), mostly to help with projects on the house, and partly to join us for the Baby Stogner Celebration! And also to squeeze in a little bit of tourist-ing around in the mountains, not to mention a few rounds of dominoes and Up and Down the River. Which turned into Don't Get Flushed Down the Toilet by the end of the week.

So, to the house. Before everyone got here, we decided it was finally time to replace the ladder leading to the second floor with temporary stairs - oh, the luxury of NOT having to climb that ladder one more time.

The first order of business was for Sarah and the Kuderling girls to fill in fire stops in the first floor ceiling. Fun with nail guns and saws!

And Marty and Kay took on the messy, but quick, job of staining the fascia boards - thank you!

Next order of business was a perfect job for us girls - walk around the second floor to determine whether or not the layout was going to make a bathroom of adequate size. After much discussion and some laying out of 2x4s to approximate tubs and vanities, we decided that it would be fine. So, time to build some interior walls.

We managed to get two up the first day, giving us a great idea of what the spaces were eventually going to look like - VERY exciting!

After that, it was time for the second tier of house wrap, where having all those hands came in REALLY handy. We stationed people in every window on the second floor to support the entire length of house wrap while Sean ran around and stapled like a madman, supported (literally) by Dan and John and Sarah. Worked like a charm!

We managed to squeeze in a (very!) few minutes for the Kuderling girls to do some biking and sightseeing:

And a trip to the Farmer's Market for lunch:

But soon it was back to our slave-driving ways - time for a bathroom wall...

... and to build some windows:

Then we were blessed and thrilled to be joined by our friends and family at the Baby Stogner Celebration - thank you SO much, Anna and Kaycee and everyone who came to play! What a great day, and a great way to celebrate this new little guy...

What's a Baby Stogner Celebration without a few bottles of Baby Maker's?

And a peanut gallery to "awwwww" VERY sincerely as each gift was opened:

The girls even remembered the pinata!

And then everybody went home, to Wisconsin, and L.A., and Phoenix, and Seattle, and it was back to the - much lonelier - jobsite for us. But what a great week!

Next up on the agenda - an actual roof. Made of metal! But first, Sean had to finish putting up the lookouts and the newly-stained fascia board. At least the climbing equipment got SOME use this summer!

And for the slippery, hot, heavy job of getting roof panels on, we called Spicky! Lucky guy...

And Aaron came along, too (after a day of fishing), so the boys decided (after a couple of lunchtime beers) it was time to install the VERY HEAVY front door:

Then it was time for Spicky to get back to his own jobsite (thank you thank you!), but Aaron stuck around to help us put up the half-bath walls (and to "test" the room after it was up):

Before:

After:

Works pretty well!

And then Sean and Aaron decided (after a couple more afternoon beers) that it was time to cut Aaron's hair - ha! Turns out it's really handy to cut hair on a jobsite, what with the air compressor and all.

One last task before we are all caught up (sort of) was to get the windows in.

So now, with the house fully wrapped, the roof on, and ALL windows and doors in, we are DRIED IN.

Kind of a dark picture from this morning, but I'll get a better one with the evening sun on it. Really starting to get there now!

Of course, as I post, we (read: Sean) have already done SO much more. He was able to wire the entire house for lights and outlets and phones (still need to get coax in there somewhere), and we had our rough-in electrical inspection yesterday - and passed! That means it's time for plumbing and then insulation and drywall, oh my. The PEX tubing for the plumbing is scheduled to arrive tomorrow, so this weekend will be all about water!

9 weeks and counting until Baby Stogner is due, so it sure would be nice to have some livable space for us and for Grandmamas and Aunties, too! Last week's appointment assured us that he was growing well (or at least that I'M growing well!). He continues to entertain us with his in-belly antics, and at least one foot (knee?) has found Mama's ribs on occasion. Here's what we look like at 31 weeks pregnant:

Yes, those are baby shower gifts in the background, that we have not quite gotten around to shoehorning into the shed yet. They can just stay there until he gets here, right? Ha! Man, now I'm going to have to get to that this evening...