One Week

It's amazing what a difference one week, one day, or even one second can make. Adam and I have definitely found that to be true this past week. Exactly a week ago, we were checking into the hospital after being in labor since 3:30 that morning. Though we were pregnant and knew our little guy was on our way here, we were still essentially a family of two. Our lives, schedules, and sleep patterns were our own. But, at 7:10 PM, all of that changed when this little guy emerged.

Everett Mann Buhler is named after two of his great-grandfathers and already we can sense what an amazing spirit is inside this little body. Adam and I both felt such an overwhelming feeling of love, joy, awe, and desire to protect our son from the moment we heard, saw, and held him. Adam, who had never held a baby before and was self-admittedly scared to death of infants, instantly became a father as he held his son in his arms. Over the past week he has been my constant support as we have all transitioned home from the hospital and into our new life together. I fall in love with both of them each time I come into the room and see Everett sleeping on Adam's chest or hear Adam soothing Everett in the middle of the night. I am so grateful to know that my little family will be together for all eternity....I can't picture my life any other way!

Labor and delivery was such a special and unique experience. For the first six hours of it, I wasn't sure if it was actually happening, so I kept telling myself it wasn't, so I wouldn't get my hopes up. We went about our day as normal, including a morning ultrasound and doctor's visit. I think they were a little surprised when I told them I was having contractions every 5-7 minutes. Knowing that we wanted to labor as naturally as possible, our doctor had us go home for a few more hours. We finally went to the hospital when contractions were about 2 1/2 minutes apart, though I was feeling much better than I had expected. Adam and I stayed in our own little world and groove throughout labor and when it got really intense, I just zoned everyone else out. It really was more of a mental struggle for me than a physical and I definitely learned a lot about myself through that experience! After three hours of transition, I finally got to push (I kept telling the nurse I REALLY wanted to push!) and after an hour, our little man was born! Despite the eight nurses and doctors running around the room, Adam and I were in our own little world with our new family and we enjoyed the next hour or so we had together before our immediate family came to see our new addition.

Coming home, our lives have definitely changed. Our priorities have already changed, as well as how we use our time. So much of our day (and night) is spent in caring for this little person that so many other ways to use our time seem pointless now. We are SO grateful for our family and friends who have already done so much for us. Both of our parents have brought by dinners and leftovers and Adam's mom has done countless loads of laundry for us. It's been great to see friends and family and appreciate the meals that have already been brought by. It truly is a lifesaver!

So, for now, we are enjoying being home all day as a family (minus the three hours Adam is at class) and waking up together at night. This is perfection.

Summer!

We're so glad it's finally here! Even though Adam started his summer class this week, we still were able to pack plenty of fun and hope to continue doing so for the next couple months before we have to go back to school and now a grown-up job.

Highlights of our summer so far:

Adam and I were able to travel up to Omaha to witness our friends, Rachel and Dustin, get married! It was well worth the drive and we enjoyed the company at a lunch afterwards. We immediately headed back to Kansas and made it back with 10 minutes to spare for my sister Rachel's graduation. We are so excited that she'll be at KU in the fall...it'll give us even more time to hang out with her! I'm also super excited that she got into Sellards Scholarship Hall, where I lived as an undergrad. We can't wait for her to move here!

(Adam was here as well, but he took this picture for my mom...and the picture that has him in it is on his computer...so just pretend that my cute husband is standing next to me.)

Adam and I have been enjoying the beautiful weather and going on lots of walks in our neighborhood. There are so many cute, old homes and it's fun to brainstorm and plan our future home. We've tried to spend as much time outdoors as we can, but it's getting slightly more difficult since my physical activity is becoming limited. So we walk. On Memorial Day, we tried to recreate our amazing time in Europe last summer by picking up fresh fruit and bread and just sitting at a park. I had brought a book to read and Adam brought his camera, but unfortunately, he forgot a memory card so he couldn't take pictures and we hadn't factored in the blood-thirsty mosquitoes, so our picnic was short-lived. Sad.

(Enjoying our favorite place in Paris last summer - the Luxembourg Gardens...everyone just came and laid on the grass, reading, eating, and taking naps...we fit right in! And the food there wasn't too shabby either!)

Realizing that we hadn't really taken pictures of anything since our trip to Haiti, we decided we had better get a few photos to document my very pregnant state. Neither of us are big fans of the typical maternity pictures, so we decided that Adam would just take typical portraits of me that just happened to show that I was pregnant. We headed to the alleys of downtown Lawrence and had a lot of fun! We kept joking that if anyone asked us, we would tell them I was getting my senior pictures taken. It kind of felt like that! It definitely comes in handy having a talented photographer as a husband...this little kiddo will be well documented!

Adam enjoyed his first "real" concert a few weeks ago. We had seen Flight of the Conchords last winter, but we don't think it really counted. We went with our friends Ellyn and Justin to go see Kansas, Styx, and Foreigner play at the Starlight Theater and had quite the adventure! It's always smart to have cash when you go to a concert so you can actually pay for parking...something we discovered after being stuck in event traffic and realizing that no one had cash. We eventually were able to park, found a nice spot on the grass and enjoyed an evening of good music, people watching, and trying to get comfortable (not always easy for a super tall guy and a very pregnant girl).

Last Saturday, we had a lot of fun helping a couple of our friends move. At the first house, I was packing up the kitchen while Adam mowed the huge backyard. We had had a week of major rain a while back and Adam definitely felt the brunt of that...it took almost 3 hours to mow what should've taken 30 minutes! Still, it was fun to help, so we were excited when we heard some other friends needed help moving as well. Unfortunately, Adam's phone and wallet were stolen out of our car as he was helping, but we were able to cancel everything really quickly before any damage was done (and we obviously weren't carrying cash with us either!). We've been able to work everything out and Adam has a loaner phone until he can upgrade at the end of the summer.

All of this happened about 10 minutes before I needed to head off for my baby shower, so it was an eventful afternoon! The shower was at a park in downtown Lawrence and it was so fun to see so many friends and family there. Everyone brought their favorite children's book for Baby Boy Buhler and it's been fun to read them and the notes that were written to our little guy. Plus, we were able to just enjoy each other's company and good food, without any baby shower games...I was happy! Thank you Ashley, Ali, and Katie for all your hard work! It was perfect!

For now, we are back to the daily grind. Adam has class everyday in the afternoon and homework and reading in the morning/evening. I've been working full-time and will continue until the baby comes...it gives me something to focus on besides waiting and the paycheck won't hurt either! As busy as we've been so far, I have a feeling we will have a lot more adventures with the rest of the summer!