Quick Update

Well, our little man is officially 10 days old and we have been home with him for a week. In some ways it feels like it's gone by so slow and in other ways it's gone by too fast. I'm not looking forward to FJ going back to work! But at the same time, I think we're getting a routine down and we've been out and about with him so as soon as my driving privileges are reinstated I should be able to take him places with me. Not sure exactly where I will go, but right now if I want anything I have to ask someone to get it for me. Not that we don't have a great deal of help and support, but there are just some things you don't want to ask people to bring you! ha ha!

Of course we are reading articles left and right...one makes us feel terrible so we keep reading until we find out that we are NOT at risk for SIDs or he IS supposed to sleep this much or he might not have an outie just because that is how it's looking right now! (Love ya Curt, but nobody wants an outie...). I have nothing but time when I'm feeding him in the middle of the night so I am on my iPhone reading ridiculous articles which is probably the worst thing I can do. The good news is that you can always find an article that agrees with what you want it to say. The REALLY bad news is that Amazon.com has an app that lets you buy things online ridiculously easy. SCARY!

Everyone tried to tell me about the love you feel for your child. I realized it would be intense and even the mothers that told me about this said I wouldn't understand till it happened (which after 9 months, became really annoying since they were admittedly trying to explain the unexplainable...but then again, everything was pretty annoying after 9 months). I love Rhett so much! Everything he does makes me smile and laugh. He's so funny and his little personality is coming out more and more each day. I am so glad I get to spend so much time with him over the next couple of months and I already know I am going to miss him when it's time to go back to work - but at the same time, I'm excited for all that he'll learn and develop in daycare (except the colds, ear infections, etc). He is absolutely adorable. When he cries, my heart breaks for him even though I know he is just cold because I am changing him or he needs to burp and I put him on his side to try to eat. I'm getting used to it, but WOW what a change.

Our friends and family have been TERRIFIC!!! I am 100% biased, but I do believe he is one of the cuter babies I've ever seen and our friends and fam are being kind enough to go along with this theory. Not only are they supportive, but we've had tons of food dropped off including breakfasts, lunches, dinners and treats! People have offered to help run errands, too. It's been awesome. My sis was able to come for a few days. Rhett was able to meet some of my family, too as they were in town for Christmas at my uncles. It's so neat that he was able to meet his great grandmother (my grandmother, Nonny). He'll meet his other great grandmother, Mimi in Chicago in February when he gets baptized (eeeek -- we still have to take a class at the church for that).

I have also had a handful of friends who have recently had babies who have been tremendous help and support. I ask them very blunt, stupid questions. My brain was a bit scrambled in the hospital when they gave me some of my instructions to take care of myself and my c section incision so I've been able to just ask. I have also asked about feeding, sleeping - anything and everything under the sun. These girls are so quick to respond and without any judgment!!! What an awesome network.

As for our friends who are baby-free - they are just as awesome!! Everyone is so genuinely excited for us and Rhett and just smitten with our little man!! Even Aunt Jill who swore she wasn't going to hold Rhett till he could hold his own head up can't get enough of him!!!

There is so much to say about how he is doing. He can move his head. When he's hungry he thrashes his head all around and it's not very nice of me, but I burst into laughter because it's so funny. This is actually a baby reflex (rooting) so it's not unusual but I find it to be hysterical. He makes certain noises and faces when he sleeps, dirties his diaper, etc and of course I laugh uncontrollably when he does this...anyone who knows me knows I think that bodily functions are quite comical. He is tolerating clothes a lot better. At first he hated us maneuvering his body to put on his clothes - he is working with us rather than against us. He randomly stretches his arms and legs out. My fave is what I call "touchdown baby". He just throws both of his arms straight above his head, it's pretty awesome! He also fist pumps on occasion, OF COURSE!!! He has his dad's finger toes and I have mixed emotions about this since I'm not overly fond of FJ's finger toes -but they are shared which makes them adorable (on baby, not on dad - for the record, I am not changing the rules about FJ keeping his finger toes off of me!!!). We keep his hands in little mittens to keep him from scratching his face for the most part but he can grab a hold of my hand through the mittens. His legs and arms are long like a monkey! It's awesome!!! I think he might end up being pretty tall which runs in my family. His eyes are blue and gorgeous. I'm not sure if they'll change or not, but he can see about a foot in front of him and he stares at me sometimes and I know he can see me and it's really awesome! So essentially, as expected, I am absolutely in love with him!!!

Rhett is HERE!!!

What an adventure!!! Rhett arrived safely at 8:51 on December 17 weighing in at 8 pounds, 9 ounces and measuring 21 inches long. He has a full head of light colored hair and pretty blue eyes. We aren't sure what color his eyes or hair will be, but he's gorgeous!! He has the prettiest skin and the sweetest demeanor. He has been so good and is so lovable. He's met several of his fans already and loves being held. Even in 2.5 days, he's already growing and changing.

I had a c section and require as much if not more care and attention than Rhett. FJ has been AMAZING. With me and with Rhett. And I've probably cried a little more than Rhett!! FJ has changed almost every diaper (the nurses have changed a couple), is a swaddling expert and has figured out certain ways to do things that Rhett really loves. Rhett lights up when his dad picks him up and I love watching FJ grab Rhett with confidence and take care of him. Watching my husband and seeing him be such an awesome father fills my heart. I thought the day that I married FJ was the most perfect I had seen him - in a church promising to love, honor and cherish me for the rest of our lives with tears in his eyes. But seeing him these past few days I realize that I am luckier than I ever could have thought possible!!

We've been taking a lot of pictures and most of them are terrible. I just grab the camera and say "oh that is so cute!" and snap away. I'm trying to collect some of the "best of". I'm pretty sure I will have tons to report on in the coming weeks. For now, we are all doing great. FJ is working hard to take care of both me and Rhett. We are all healthy according to the doctors. We should be going home in the next day or two (Monday or Tuesday) and the adventure will really start. I can't wait to discover all of these new things with our son. Wow. Our son!!! That still has such a strange ring to it!!

Happy Birthday, Rhett!!!

If all goes according to plan, we should meet Rhett in about 3.5 hours!!! I can't believe it! Of course, I'm not counting on everything going as scheduled - that would be setting myself up for disappointment! ha!

So here's what happened to lead up to this point. First off let me say that we are both healthy and doing great, so no need for any worry. We have a c section scheduled for 8:30 this morning at Northside Hospital (Atlanta/Dunwoody/Perimeter location). FJ will have my phone as well as his and will call folks if we need anything at all. We appreciate all of the thoughts and prayers being sent our way this morning. The support we've received from our friends and family over the past 9 months has been unreal. Rhett is a very lucky little boy!

Yesterday morning at 9:10 I was supposed to have a doctor's appointment. The roads iced over Wednesday night in Atlanta. Folks who live in ATL know that this means the entire city shut down and the roads were taken over by absolute idiots. FJ and I showed up for my appointment (FJ wanted to go to this one for whatever reason) and the Kaiser office was closed. Someone told us they were on a 2 hour delay. On our way back home, I called the Kaiser office to see if I was supposed to just come on in at 11:10 or what.

This is why they should give pregnant women their own phone number. When I called, they offered to reschedule my 39 week check up for next week. I calmly, or not so calmly pointed out that I already had an appointment for next week...a 40 week check up. So a 39 week check up at 40 weeks was hardly helpful. The woman on the phone tried to calm me down by explaining that they were simply looking out for the safety of their patients and staff by delaying the opening of the offices until 10 and canceling all appointments before 10. I, in turn, explained to her that my safety was hardly considered when I wasn't alerted of this and drove to the office and back home anyway. I settled for a 3:50pm appointment with the Physician's Assistant that we had seen for most of our appointments before 36 weeks.

We went for our appointment and at the beginning, Susan (our PA) mentioned that she could get us into the ultra sound room to take a look at Rhett. She did the usual exam and I'll spare the details but she did some other 39 week tricks to see if they could tip the scales and get him moving. Let's just say it was not comfortable. Or fun. We almost left without the ultra sound, but FJ asked and she got us in there. Immediately she noticed that his head was where his butt should be. This is bad. They had thought for the past several weeks that his head was down. Again, I'll spare the details, but for 3 weeks in a row, they had been able to "confirm" that he was head down. Apparently there is a part of the butt/spine that feels like the head... ewww. So many jokes coming to mind -this kid's rehearsal dinner for his wedding is already loaded with stories and jokes. Poor thing.

She went over some options as she was taking some measurements, including bringing me back Monday to see if he had turned on his own and making that appointment at the hospital so that they could try to turn him if he hadn't. Apparently this often stresses the baby and will cause the hospital to induce labor and results in an emergency c section. That sounded like no fun. After getting some calculations (of course he was not cooperating, why would he?), she determined that Rhett was around 8.5 pounds...which is huge. There is no turning this huge baby!!!

Susan went to find out doctor, Dr. Smith to find out who was on call for Friday and if they could get us in to get him out. Dr. Smith was the doc on call for Friday (today) and called Northside to schedule our c section. She came in and talked through our options with us. We obviously did NOT need to be sold on skipping out on the scary, procedures with the risks of harm to the baby. Sign us up for the express route!

So, here we are. I'm so excited and absolutely terrified. I don't know too many folks who love to have blood work done, have IVs and are overly fond of needles, but I do have a bit of a physical reaction to these things which includes tears, light headedness and the occasional passing out. So this should be an adventure.

Today is major surgery, but we are fully prepared. So much so that I haven't had anything to eat or drink since midnight and about to die of thirst - mostly because I can't have anything! Our bags are packed, we are walking out the door to go meet our little guy. We have a few hours of paperwork, blood work and prep. Assuming nobody in "real" labor or with an emergency comes in, we'll go in for surgery at 8:30 and Rhett will join us around 8:45 or so! It's pretty quick and easy, the recovery is the hard part!!

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers!! We'll be at the hospital all weekend. We'll probably be a bit preoccupied so don't get offended if we aren't answering our phones or returning emails or texts. :)

We'll follow up soon!!!

A few of my favorite (pregnant) things...

With Christmas 12 days away and our due date 10 days away, I thought now would be a perfect time to share a few of my favorite things...for being pregnant (otherwise, at this point, this post would be all about wine...). I have had a lot of friends who have gotten pregnant in the past couple of months and of course I can't resist giving the type of unsolicited advice I hate getting. Though there are a handful of people who are always welcome to advise me - I'd say they can give me unsolicited advice but I don't think I've left them alone long enough to (Allison!).

I have sent a handful of emails where I intended only to share a link to a body pillow and of course they ended up 3 pages long. Shocker. So I figured I would try to put the majority of it here so I can just send THIS link when I'm being nosy and rude to my friends during their exciting times. I really don't mean to kill the magic and mystery so if you have no interest in this or don't want spoilers, stop reading!!!

The single most important thing that I possess that has gotten me through the past nine months is my body pillow - affectionately referred to as "Body Pillow".
http://www.amazon.com/Leachco-Snoogle-Total-Body-Pillow/dp/B0000635WI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1292340222&sr=8-1
Amazon does free shipping on orders over $25 - a curse and a blessing.

I would strongly recommend getting the ridiculously expensive covers, too. They aren't hard to put on and the pillow gets a little gross after sleeping on it every night, so the pillow case is a definite necessity to help cut down on the acne that if you are like me is going to come no matter what you do to prevent or treat it!

Another life saver has been maternity leggings (Gap has my faves - extra comfort worth the extra $$) and Old Navy has some great maternity jeans, even skinny jeans! Target has good maternity tees and tanks that are longer and cover the belly as it grows. I invested in some PJ shorts from Motherhood Maternity that I have probably worn about 6 nights a week...I've done laundry around the timing so that I can have them dry before I go to bed... I've been able to get through a lot of the colder weather with sweaters that are really short sleeve sweater dresses - I just wear long sleeve tees under them. Super comfy and I've gotten a lot of compliments. Clothes are a pretty personal thing, I guess. I just had no idea where to shop and a lot of places are mostly online. Plus it's hard to try things on because you honestly have no clue how big you are going to get or what the weather will be like when you do!

Along those lines - Bella Bands! They were great for the first part and I plan on using them again after Rhett gets here. I think I got them on Amazon, but you can just Google them. I got one in white, one in nude and one in black. They look like tank tops coming out of the bottom of shirts or sweaters and can buy you a few extra weeks in your normal clothes!!

I wish I had a cure for the nausea - that almost did me in. Aside from trying to keep my blood sugar from dipping, I got nada on that! A lot of snacks throughout the day, fruit especially. The headaches - those were terrible. Sadly the only thing that made them better was to move around and get some exercise. But of course it hurt to move around. Catch 22! I do believe that exercising as much as I did (and please know I could have done MUCH more) was super helpful. It also made me feel a lot better about getting bigger. It's a mind trip for sure!

I have no idea about the next chapter - nursing accessories, post pregnancy clothing, etc...but I'll try to keep yall posted on that, too. I don't have a whole lot of advice or key items at this point, just the handful I've mentioned above!!

Good luck to all of our friends who are on their way down this crazy path and thank you to the ones who have gone before us who gave me the tips that I used!!

Last day of work...(this year)

So today is the day. I got in my car this morning for the last time and made the dreaded commute. I stopped at Dunkin Donuts which I've only actually done once before. I've meant to, but I haven't. I'll spare all 3 of the blog readers my order, but I did satisfy the craving I've had for hot chocolate for weeks now. Which also means I got to avoid the shot of caffeine that normally comes with a Dunkin Donuts run. Please note I said I never stop on the way to work - not that I don't go there.



I've been working since May to make sure that when today came, I would be able to wrap everything up and leave (for a couple of months) with my head held high and knowing I didn't leave anyone in a bind. Of course issues come up and there are ongoing projects that haven't been completed, but I think a lot of my work has paid off. I'm not as stressed as I thought I would be. But I've also been pretty okay about putting things into perspective, though, so that's been helpful.



I'm definitely going to miss my work friends and office gossip. I'll miss our emoticons on our corporate IM (these things are ridiculously awesome). I'll even miss the challenge or the feeling of accomplishment when months of work come to fruition and a deal is signed! I'm actually very close to being 100% for the year on my main measurement and I'm over 100% for the last trimester (we don't use quarters), so those are both great pieces of news.



So, all of that is very boring... the exciting part is that we are that much closer to Rhett being here!! As of this past Wednesday, AKA my last doc appointment, we aren't expecting him this week (weeks begin and end on Wed/Thur in my doc appt world), so I'll hopefully get to enjoy some of my vacation. Of course I have a long list of errands I need to run, but I'm a lot less worried about getting them done now that I'll have some more time!!



I can't wait to see what he looks like and see FJ holding him! This is going to be so awesome. I'm fully aware that it's a lot of work and we are up to the challenge, but we are both really excited and it's been awesome to know that so many of our friends and family are, too!!!

Just an update

So with all of the updates on what we've been up to, I've forgotten the thing people want to know the most... the doctor's visits, arrival schedule, etc.

Our actual due date is December 23. At this point I am going to the doctor every week. This past appointment, Thursday of last week, they said that they didn't think it would be in the next week. This isn't really an exact science so she immediately followed up by saying "but it could be tomorrow."

They can't really tell us if they still think the 23rd or not. We are just waiting and seeing. They estimated that he is about 7-7.5 lbs right now...he's a big boy!! EEEEK!!!! So if I go to December 23, he'll be a little over 8 lbs. Again, just another estimation. Good news is that big babies are typically healthy and sleep well? Bad news is they are big.

I am 1 cm dilated. I am not effaced. Sorry if that was TMI. I won't go into what either of those mean. And honestly there is not much significance to those measurements since labor is different with every woman and every pregnancy. Some women dilate from 0 cm to full on labor quickly, some stay at 3 cm for weeks. Some women drop (baby sits lower) weeks before labor. Some drop in the hospital. So there really just aren't any boxes to be checked saying I'm on the way. I'm literally just waiting and seeing. And we all know how I feel about that! Ha ha!

I'm being a pretty good sport, I think... We have 2+ weeks left till our due date so I'm hardly impatient. I've said it 100 times in the past 3 or 4 days, but while I am ready to not be pregnant, I'm not quite ready to have the baby here. I know how to take care of him right now - eat well, get rest, etc... I know where he is 24/7 and he is protected. When he's out, I have NO clue how to take care of him. And I have a feeling he'll be a bit more vocal :) I'm honestly not looking forward to being newly un-pregnant either. A lot of folks have a misconception that your body just snaps back to pre-pregnancy mode. I'm not looking forward to the hormone flood - I didn't handle the one going into pregnancy very well. And I'm not looking forward to yet another new body to get used to and come to terms with. And obviously, the physical pain of the recovery is not too exciting. A lot of people, including me formerly, do not realize the trauma that having a baby puts on a woman's body. When you stop to think of it, it's really common sense. However, I think the magic of a new little baby kind of distracts from the common sense of it all.

As strange as it sounds, I'm also nervous about seeing him. I know I'll love him - he's our son!!! I get that, so I'm not in need of a speech about how my life will change or I will feel a love I didn't know existed. I'm reallly excited for all of that. But babies look funny on those first few days and they arent' necessarily all pretty and soft and cute. So I'm nervous to see him and meet him...again - I know none of that will matter and I will love him and he will be beautiful. I didn't say this was rational, I'm just sharing that I'm really nervous about it all!!

It will be so funny to look back at this in a few months or years and remember how strange all of this was to me and how silly my feelings seem then. But for now, they are VERY real and VERY strange! ha ha!

So that's the update. We (Rhett and I) are both healthy as horses (or ponies). All of our vitals are strong and I can't speak for him, but I feel fine aside from the obvious discomforts. The first few months were terrible with the pregnacy symptoms (I'll spare everyone including my future self from the details), but after about 15 or 16 weeks, it's been pretty smooth sailing!! FJ might disagree as a passenger on this crazy train, but God willing - I could be convinced to do this again with some wine and nice jewelry!!!

Feliz Navidad!!!

Feliz Navidad!!! We had our annual family Christmas with Mark's family and we got to host this year. We actually planned for that (or maybe schemed is a more appropriate word) without any inkling that we would be pregnant at Christmas. Much less 9 months pregnant!! Part of the benefit of hosting is that you are not responsible for a main food item and you get to pick a theme. I chose Mexican. Shocker. We provided homemade salsa, homemade guac and cheese dip from the Mexican restaurant across the street. I also wanted to provide dessert - another shocker. You would think that I actually make these crazy concoctions considering how excited I get about them, but these miniature cake tacos were the creation and brain child of Kate at http://www.andeverythingsweet.blogspot.com/. I put the candy buffet together and it just gets easier every time. I actually randomly had all of the candy since I had red and green from various prior events. These buffets make me happy!!!

Of course we also supplied beverages. We all know that I don't begrudge others because I can't partake!! So knowing our family, I provided various varieties of good beer as well as good white wine! ha ha! Well, I assume it was good - I didn't taste test it and I'm not positive I would know good wine from bad at this point. I also made some organic margs, but I don't think they were touched! But you can't have a fiesta without them!

I also put a picture of our table up...this is the first time we have ever set our table and eaten at it. I was VERY excited. We've had the Christmas plates (the reindeer plates from Pottery Barn - too cute) since last year so I was really excited. We had to borrow a table cloth - ha ha, we don't own one!! Well, we might now - Joani let us "keep it" at our house for next time we need it!

I also know that the fam is full of good sports so I got some festive head gear and took a few fun pictures! We had a great time and played the famous gift swap game. Yet another shock - FJ and I came home with the gifts we brought after several rounds of stealing from anyone who got in our way. What fun is the gift exchange game with family if you don't cheat?

We had a terrific Christmas and got lots of advice, stories, well wishes. We'll see everyone probably pretty close to Christmas day at the hospital!! I can't believe that next year we'll have Rhett with us!!

A night out!

We have been working hard for several weeks on getting the house together and moved around. We've been up to our ears in "baby stuff" (I know, get used to it...). So we rewarded ourselves with a night out. Or maybe FJ just decided to take advantage of his designated driver one more time? I would have...

Crossfit Peachtree was having their Christmas social and I haven't missed one yet, so I was really excited to attend this year! I haven't seen Ray and Bridget (the owners and the folks who helped get me into Hawaii shape for the wedding/honeymoon and even encouraged me to get my cert, entrusting me enough to put me on their coaching staff) since I stopped coaching at CFPT. I wasn't even showing yet, so you can imagine what a shock it might have been to see me at 9+ months pregnant!! ha ha ha! In a bar no less. It was great to see them and hear about some of their recent travels and the newest addition to their fam - a German Shepperd named Luna. It was also great to see some of the other coaches and members. A lot of familiar, supportive faces! Everyone was really excited about Rhett. I was also very proud and excited to tell them that I had been crossfitting at Crossfit North Fulton by our house until a couple of weeks ago (stopped because of the cold and the errands that were consuming our lives). I have no idea if they were just being nice, but everyone was being very complimentary, too. That's always fun!!!

It was awesome to see old friends and we had another party to go to, as well! It was another birthday and we know how I feel about birthdays. Let me pause to mention that I also attended a birthday dinner on Thursday last week for a good friend, Lindsey! I somehow got away without taking any pictures - but they are on Facebook so I'll see if I can steal some and post them. I am beyond being selective - it's not like it's possible for me to look skinny in any of them! ha ha ha!

We went from Midtown to Buckhead for Wes's bday! As luck would have it, we also got to see Lindsey on Day 3 of her bday celebration!!! Reagan, Julia, Mike D, Andy and some other great familiar faces were there! We had a blast and I'm really glad we were able to make it. Wes is responsible for one of my favorite Bacon t-shirts and FJ's "A Poodle is my Homeboy" tee...just a fun Wes fact for you! ha ha!

We were home before midnight, but it was nice to get out for a night and see some folks!!!

Falling behind - shocker!

So, total shocker, but I fell behind on the blog again! So here goes a handful of posts and updates...

Thanksgiving - what a great week! I worked from home Wednesday and Friday and we were able to get a lot done. My sister came in for the shower and came back for Thanksgiving, too. My oldest nephew, Trevor (almost 13) also came so it was fun to hang out with him, too.

We went to my dad's wife's brother's house (I just like to complicate things) and spent the holiday with Carolyn's family which is a lot of fun! Tons of food, games, football, etc.

On Friday night we went to FJ's high school's football game (Chattahoochee). They are having a terrific season and are undefeated. This was a play off game, too. So FJ, Billy, Packie and I ventured to their old stomping grounds to relive some glory days. It was ridiculously cold!! Being from Metter where football was HUGE, it was really weird to go to my first ATL suburb school football game. I'm pretty sure my single A high school football stadium was about the same size as Chattahoochee's! They were up 14-0 at half time so we ducked out -- it was cold and FJ had to work the next day.

So on Wednesday we had movers take our guest room and living room furniture to FJ's parents' storage unit (it was borrowed) and also had them move our master bedroom suite to the guest room and move the den furniture to the living room in preparation for our new furniture to be delivered on Friday! So Wednesday and Thursday we had an air matress in our master bedroom where April and Trev slept and the boys camped out in the den if they wanted to watch TV.

Friday the furniture was delivered and of course there were some glitches. Why wouldn't there be? I'll spare the details, it all got worked out.

Saturday, the baby furniture was delivered...the assembly kit for the crib was NOT! And here we went again!!

The past couple of weeks have been a lot of up and down with getting ready for Christmas and finishing up some changes to the house. We are getting to a point where we are winding down, though and couldn't be more excited!!

Happy late Thanksgiving!!

One more shower!

My awesome sister and step mom planned, put together, executed AND cleaned up an amazing shower for me and FJ. I keep saying these showers are for "us" but this one really was - it was co-ed. We were able to include FJ's friends as well as some of my guy friends in the celebration. The theme was Vegas and of course costumes were encouraged and somewhat expected...I mean have you met us?! A few things are certain for Rhett's future...he will have a love of fun, no lack of entertainment and will be thoroughly and frequently embarrassed by his parents.

**Check out these pics of some of the games and costumes!!

April and Carolyn put together decorations, food, beverages, games and of course made sure that the most important thing of all was present - our friends!!! I'm very proud of myself - that's three showers/parties in a row where I didn't do anything but provide a list of names and addresses and show up! And this one was another perfect shower! I couldn't have picked anything out better myself.

We got tons of great stuff for Rhett and were able to celebrate again with a lot of our friends. We even had a few come from out of town (Ollie and Anne came from Hilton Head, John and Lindsay came from Athens, Rob and Amy came from Columbus, Jill's mother Lynn drove up from Metter and Carolyn also came from Metter --- I'm sure I missed some folks here). And thanks to David for letting us take over the club house in his condo building, too!

Some of the highlights include watching the boys race trying to chug beer from baby bottles - through the nipple and of course watching people sniff the baby food in teh diapers which looked tragically like pooh. I immediately made a mental note to not smell baby food again. Ever.

Thank you both for the awesome shower. I can't wait to put together these pages for Rhett's baby book -- I've got to give him some sort of warning as to what he is getting into, right?! FJ and I are VERY lucky to have family that is so excited and is going to so much trouble to welcome our new addition. We can't wait for him to meet you both!!! Love yall!

Beckie's 30th Birthday!!

Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday dear BEECCCKKKKIIEEEEEE!!!!! Happy birthday to you!

One of my very close friends, Beckie, is turning 30 this week. I insisted upon throwing her a birthday dinner to celebrate. 30 is just a number, but we all know that for a lot of girls 30 can be a milestone. And I knew that for Beckie, it was, so I wanted to make sure it was celebrated and celebrated right!

As soon as I convinced Beckie to let me throw her a party (back in September... as I was winding down from Joani and Mark's anniversary party - are we noticing a trend?), I reached out to Kate... http://www.andeverythingsweet.blogspot.com/ since I pretty much have her on retainer. I described Beckie to Kate and told her what I was going for. Then I waited for 2 months for the week to arrive to see what Kate had conjured up!!

http://andeverythingsweet.blogspot.com/2010/11/miniature-party-girl-cakes.html

Check these cakes out! For those who don't know, Beckie loves all things outrageous. She loves designer anything, especially bags. She loves shoes, Victoria's Secret and showing off her curves and...assets! :) Beckie is the reason that our group of girlfriends use the term Skank as a term of endearment. She is full of personality and owns it! And I love her for it!

Beyond all of that, Beckie is one of those people who loves to be involved in the exciting times in her friends' lives. She was in 5 or 6 weddings the year that FJ and I got married and she was at every shower, party, bachelorette, luncheon etc for every wedding.

We had a great turn out, 14 people total and 14 individualized "skank cakes". We went to Eclipse Di Luna and had a pre-set menu. I provided some decorations that matched the invitations that went out (pink and animal print, of course!).

It was so much fun. Good food, good cake, good cocktails (so I heard) and good company!!!

Happy birthday Beckie!! I hope 30 is your best year yet and I can't wait to celebrate 31 with you, too!!!

It's raining showers!

The week between the 6th and 13th was a bit blurry. I was in Metter for two days with Jill and her family to mourn the loss of Mrs. Mavis (Mimi). I got home Tuesday, stayed in the car and FJ came out to run errands with me. Wednesday went very similarly - I went to work, came home, walked the dog and we went back out to run errands. Wednesday evening Kevin Gessert got into town. You might remember him from the deck!! FJ and I had so many projects to complete that we decided to ask Kevin if he might want to come spend a few days with us to help us check off some of our list. He was more than happy to help and we insisted on hiring him for the few days. The quality of Kevin's work is definitely professional grade as we learned from the deck so we really got a steal!! The short list of the projects included: remodeling our guest bathroom (tiling, installing a new vanity, etc), tiling the laundry room, installing a custom closet in Rhett's room and installing some overhead storoage in the garage. Simple, right?!?!

Of course in the midst of all of this, I got a cold. I knew it was bound to happen. I usually get sick right around Thanksgiving and it's not like I've been eating incredibly well or exercising (I was doing really well till about the beginning of November when things just piled up) to ward off sickness. The dust from the projects didn't help either! So by Saturday I was in a world of misery.

But I did have something really exciting to look forward to and a reason to get out of our dusty house. Joani had organized a baby shower for us with several of her friends!! We did a brunch/tea at St Ives (where FJ and I got married) and it was so much fun. I was expecting to be overwhelmed with advice but we ended up laughing, telling jokes or stories and having a great time for hours!! FJ and I also got some of our bigger items which was really exciting for us. It's so amazing to see so many people come together to support our family. Many of these ladies were at our wedding or parties related to that. I had also spent time with several of them (or at least exchanged emails) when we threw Mark and Joani their anniversary party. It was so good to be able to spend some time with these amazing women!!

Joani really outdid herself. We played a fun game, chatted, ate, had a cocktail or two (well I had no cocktails) and opened gifts. All in the company of the largest stork balloon I have ever seen in my life!

Fish & Furniture

I'm WAY behind on updating the blog...or we've just been doing a lot so there is much more to say than before!!

Let me back up a couple of weekends. The weekend of the 7th, FJ's dad and step mom (Frank & Gina) came to visit from Greensboro, NC. We had a great weekend with the two of them. We ate TONS of good food (Veni Vidi Vicci, Stoney River, breakfast at our favorite diner, Mexican food, pizza, you name it - we ate it!), went shopping for the baby and for furniture and visited the aquarium. It was a packed weekend, but a BLAST!

We are having our new furniture delivered the day after Thanksgiving so if I can get caught up, I'll have more pictures soon. We got a new bedroom set (a KING!!!) and will be moving our bedroom set to the guest room. For the past year, Joani and Mark (FJ's mom and step dad) have been kind enough to let us borrow some of their very nice furniture throughout our house. They are finishing out above their garage and will need some of it back so the timing worked out almost perfectly. Frank and Gina also got us some new furniture for our den so we'll be moving our den furniture to the living room which was also furnished by Joani and Mark on loan!! What Joani and Mark don't realize is that I'm somehow going to hide some of that furniture in storage or help them forget about it so that when we get a bigger house, we can "borrow" it back...

We also got our pack n play, our swing for Rhett and the bumbo seat. Gina and Frank are super excited to meet Rhett and we were glad to have them to visit. We have never been able to host them at our home before because we lived in the condo and when we got the house we didn't have a spare room for awhile. I'm glad they were able to see the house before it was completely taken over by the baby stuff!

Definitely an exciting weekend! Thank you to Frank and Gina for the exciting gifts - it's a huge help and we are really excited for all of Rhett's new things as well as the big people furniture...now we just have to coordinate the moving parts which we all know is one of my favorite things to do!

First (planned) Baby Shower for Rhett!!!!

I'm a week or so behind on my updates and I've been fighting a cold without my arsenal of CVS over the counter drugs - I never realized how great they were until I couldn't have them!

On the 7th, one of my closest friends, Allison (some might remember her from the wedding - she was one of my gorgeous bridesmaids!) threw me an awesome baby shower brunch! The set up was gorgeous, the food was great (even the cheese grits, Fred!) and the company couldn't be beat. Of course it didn't hurt that we got tons of great stuff for Rhett and his room!!!

Allison had the shower set up on lock down! There were beverages, food, a sweets table and she even had everyone make a scrap book page and I took a picture with each guest so she could put together a book for Rhett to look through and see who all came to celebrate for him. I can't wait to see the book, though I did sneak a peak at some of the pages people made and they were awesome.

If you've heard me talk about preparing for the baby or any of these random facts that I seem to know, you'll hear "Allison said __________" or "I asked Allison about _________". Allison has 2 boys, Cooper who is almost 3 and Landon who was born in March of this past year. She has been so excited for our family since the day I casually mentioned that I was pregnant... I think I worked it in there as a response to "what's up?" or "how was your day"...it was so much fun to slide it in there. I was like "oh, I had donuts for breakfast which is a huge treat, sent some contracts out to customers, got an ultra sound because I'm pregnant, shopped online...the usual..." But that was the end of my playing it cool. Now on any given day, Allison can expect an email, text, phone call or corporate IM (we've worked together for 7 years!) with a ridiculous question from me ranging from pregancy questions, questions about babies or kids or some of the more embarrassing questions surrounding the unknowns of pregnancy.

Allison's mom Kim has been exceptionally supportive and helfpul, too and of course was at Allison's house bright and early helping to put together the shower. Kim has treated me like a second daughter (she has 3 sons and a daughter - she's just the type of person who welcomes people into her heart, home and family) since the very first time I assisted her with a prank call. I knew at that point that she and I would get along just fine! Their families have come to mean the world to me and FJ and I can't wait for Rhett to get to know them, too!!

I went home from this baby shower loaded down with loot and we all know I took some of the candy and donuts home, too...I'll say it again - this sweet tooth better go back to where it came from after Rhett gets here - there is no need for it!

What an awesome way to spend a Sunday...in the company of good friends celebrating one of the most exciting and special things to happen in my life!! Not to sound cliche, but every time I feel Rhett move around (even when he's not being very nice), I feel very blessed. To sit in Allison's home, surrounded by friends and family who all wanted to celebrate Rhett and to celebrate for me and FJ made me feel even more blessed.

More to come on the rest of our exciting weekend last weekend as well as the busy week last week... I usually put something about what is coming down the pipeline in the coming weeks, but I am so far behind that I feel like that would be unfair to all of the things I have yet to cover that have already happened!!

But I will say that my beautiful, amazing sister is coming into town on Friday and I can't WAIT to see her!!!

Thanks again to Allison for being a terrific friend and pretend aunt to Rhett and thank you also to Kim for raising such a terrific friend and letting me into your family! And of course to all of our friends who have been so generous with time, gifts and just checking in on us - it means the world!!!

You're in our hearts Mrs. Mavis!

I met Mrs. Mavis Banks when I was 17 years old, the summer before my Senior year of high school. She welcomed me into her home with an open door, a big hug and of course a meal. Over the next 12 years I would come to realize that those were staples to Mrs. Mavis and all 3 were always available. I spent countless nights at the Banks house. I couldn't begin to tell you how many pot roasts, servings of chicken salad or cookies I have consumed in that home...and most of those just happened to be there when we got there. Jill and I were always coming and going and there was always food on the table and Mrs. Mavis would always be waiting to hear about our latest shennanigans. We would eat, hug and run some days. Others we would stay and watch a movie or gossip or maybe go shopping.

As high school turned to college, this pattern continued. We would drop in to say hi (after a quick trip to the county line package store) - aka look pitiful in hopes that Mavis would throw us some leftovers or $20! As I pledged ZTA with Jill, Mrs. Mavis welcomed my into her sisterhood, as I had already been welcomed into her family. Over the next several years, Jill and I only became closer and Mavis only became more a valued part of my life and a staple in my support structure. When Jill moved to Atlanta after college, the two of us became inseparable. I looked forward to the visits from Mavis, Lynn and Robin - especially when they would come decorate our house for Christmas, fill our fridge or take us to dinner (and always cocktails!). I loved hearing the news from Metter and even more than that, I loved laughing with Jill and her family at any and everything. Whether they were laughing at us, we were laughing at them, we were all laughing at Jill (chipmonks are real?) or we were laughing about life - a few things were constant... Mavis, Lynn and Robin were working and sweating, Jill and I were trying to get away with the least amount of work possible and we were all laughing hysterically most of the time!

I think Jill knew before I did that I was going to marry FJ and it became more and more important to Mavis to meet this man and of course she asked "honey, does he take a drink?" I remember taking FJ to the Banks house to meet Mavis. It was a quick drop by, we weren't going to have much time. I warned FJ that there would be food...not just food, but tons of it. Of course Mavis happened to have a roast that she had cooked (my favorite) and in order to make it less formal, she was offering sandwiches...as always, the choices were 2 or 3...not 1...just 2 or 3. We filled our bellies and Mrs. Mavis got to ask FJ some questions. FJ also got a taste of some of the earlier days of Jenny & Jill or as some called us "Trouble." As we left with tight hugs, I told FJ two things. 1, Mrs. Mavis had skipped church to prepare that meal and be there for us when we stopped by coming through Metter (which those who know Mrs. Mavis know this was a big deal) and 2. I knew for a fact she was on the phone with Lynn, Jill's mom, right then letting her know that she got to meet FJ first!! That was the day FJ was inducted into the Banks family.

I can go on and on with memories of Mrs. Mavis or moments that shaped my life in which she was involved. I could list off the amazing things she's done for me and my growing family. When I tell people "this is the family, the woman who threw my bridal shower" it seems to resonate with a lot of people how much I considered the Banks family to be an extension of my own. I was known to refer to Mrs. Mavis quite frequently (both directly and indirectly) as Mimi. I sought her approval and felt terrible when I disappointed her. I valued her opinion and looked to her for guidance, support and strength. She was an excellent role model. She was full of wisdom, stories, good faith, humor and love.

As we come closer and closer to welcoming Rhett, my heart hurts that he will never know Mrs. Mavis or get to call her Mimi. I am convinced that she will know him, though. She will watch over him and continue to be a part of our family. The lessons that Jill and I have both learned from her will impact his life and he will hear story after story about Mrs. Mavis over the course of the years. And I am very lucky to be so certain that he will also have the benefit of the love and support of the rest of the Banks family as he grows up and will feel the impact of this amazing woman. And I hope that he can bring a smile to the faces of that family as they face the holiday time without their matriarch. It's often said that to every ending there is a beginning. Perhaps Rhett's beginning can help soften this difficult time, especially for Mrs. Lynn Culpepper and Jill!!

I love you, Mrs. Mavis. Thank you for looking out for me over the past 12 years on earth and I know I can count on you to keep looking out for me, FJ, Rhett and whatever else our family is blessed with over the next 12, 24, 36 and so on years from Heaven. Thank you for letting me into your family, your life, your heart, your home and your dinner table! :)

I love you, Jill. And Lynn - I am so sorry for your loss. If I could say or do anything to ease your pain, I would.

Happy Halloween!

I'm refraining from posting Halloween pictures, but let's just say that FJ and I both chose the comical route this year and now more than ever, the world should be convinced that Rhett will have an amazing sense of humor.

We had a busy weekend, yet again. Our roommate, Liz moved out on Friday night/Saturday morning, FJ had to work Saturday morning (I ran some errands) and then we went to Joani and Mark's to watch the UGA/FL game and pick up some Christmas decorations that they had leftover from the old house. We also got ready over there for the Halloween party at a friend's house. I incorporated my large belly into my costume and FJ went the pop culture route and we both received a hearty, laughter filled welcome when we walked into the party. As I saw several of my girflriends in their cute, flirty, pretty costumes, I felt a twinge of jealousy, but I also reminded myself that it's excellent motivation to get back into shape after Rhett joins us!

To give an update on the countdown, we have 7 weeks (and a day) until December 23, obviously, less than 2 months and I have less than 6 weeks left at work -- all of which is assuming he doesn't come early. Of course I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he does come a few days early but these things rarely work on the schedule or time frame that the mother prefers, so I'm hardly getting my hopes up.

That's about it for now! Rhett is growing and moving! We have a doctor's appointment (34 weeks) next week!!

Our new deck

I don't have any before pictures of the deck to post, but here are several of the finished (well, finished but not yet stained) product! I still can't believe that FJ and I have friends who are so talented. They designed and built this deck. FJ helped, of course but will be the first to admit that he was merely labor - the brains behind this operation was led by George and Kevin, two of our very close friends. They each came in from out of town for a very long weekend to work on this and a lot of time was put in with drawings, creating supply lists, etc before they ever got here. Not to mention that after seeing all the stuff they brought down as far as tools, I am pretty sure it took them days to pack and unpack, too!

The really cool part is that I did get to participate in the design by simply saying "I want ____________" and they made it happen. I wanted to take our existing deck, or something the size of our existing deck and build another one about the same size just one step below (the back yard has a very steep grade down to the lake so we were never going to have a backyard without a very expensive retaining wall) and I also wanted it to go out further - beyond the kitchen window, so that we had a good home for our grill and the kitchen window would have a better view than the rain gutter. Lastly, I wanted stairs so that the dog could go down to our limited back yard while we were on the porch. Also, whenever we were out there and something blew off of the porch, we had to climb over or go around, so I wanted some access. I got all of this and then some! I am so excited about it and so grateful to our friends for all of their hard work!

We were able to test out the deck when we had Ollie and Anne's engagement party and it was perfect! Of course a deck isn't a deck without some fun deck toys so we did buy a chimenea (outdoor fireplace) and have already used it 3 times. Boys = firebugs. Luckily we had too much deck furniture for our old deck so it's not quite empty at this point. Of course we've already developed a wish list for more deck stuff and I'm sure knowing FJ that this list will change and morph over the next weeks.

I'm so excited that we will have a deck to use for grilling, entertaining, relaxing, etc. It's also kind of cool because from the kitchen and breakfast area, it really looks somewhat like a dock - you can just see the water rather than the grassy shoreline. The water fowl seems to be pretty pleased with our progress, as well. Next we will have to pick out a stain. That wood reflects the sun like crazy till about 1-2pm!

I secretly want a large planter and maybe a box garden for herbs, but let's get real - I can barely keep a cactus alive so we'll just take that one step at a time.

I just wanted to share some pictures and say thanks again to Kevin and George for dreaming up and doing most of the work for this deck. Thanks to my wonderful husband for helping and having friends with this kind of talent (and for letting me off the hook with helping out). Thanks to Ryan B Goodman (why wouldn't you include a middle initial that made your name that much more awesome every time you say it?) for coming over to help with some of the grunt work and thanks for Fred for helping get the order placed for materials which kept us under budget!

Anyone who would like to see the deck in person is more than welcome to come check it out! We are very proud of it and as luck would have it we are homebodies for the next couple of months anyway!!

Celebrating Ollie & Anne

This past weekend we hosted an engagement party for two of our close friends Ollie and Anne who are getting married in April in NC at the beach. We were so excited that after months of badgering them, they agreed to let us throw this party...I'm pretty sure that it gets really difficult to tell a pregnant woman NO, she can't throw a party featuring a huge table of desserts so I guess I cheated in the guilt game. FJ is actually a groomsman in the wedding and has known Ollie since college (Ollie was in our wedding, too) and I've been friends with Anne and Ollie pretty much since Day 1 of Jenny and FJ so we were really excited to celebrate with them.

We did a tailgate theme for the party as Ollie and Anne are both UGA alum and fans. Of course the football team couldn't cooperate - the party started at 2 and they decided not to play until 7:30! Not to mention it was only televised on some obscure ESPN the Ocho type station...have no fear, though...AT&T online account management, click to chat and my AT&T navigation skills had the obscure package ordered by about 5 minutes after kickoff (and subsequently was canceled less than 48 hours later). I put on a huge crock pot of chili around 7am and Ollie helped me whip up some guac, salsa, dips, etc. I was also VERY smart and purchased several pounds of wings and onions for frying for late night knowing this crowd. I also set up a dessert buffet with candy and some creations from www.andeverythingsweet.blogspot.com (she's on retainer at this point) and of course we had cocktails.

We were sooooo excited to use our new deck (more to come on the new deck later this week - we have some good pics!). It was PERFECT for entertaining and we were able to use our new outdoor fireplace as it got chillier at night, too. It was a perfect day and the bride and groom to be had a blast (or if they didn't, they were kind enough to lie). We all know there is very little that I love more in this world than to entertain friends so I was excited to have a full house for the weekend and can't wait to celebrate with Ollie and Anne in Bald Head, NC in April, too!

Also, a HUGE shout out to my big sister, April. Her birthday was on Saturday - HAPPY BIRTHDAY APRIL!!!!! I love you more than you'll ever know. Your friendship is invaluable to me and you are the best role model a girl could ask for as a sibling, a parent, a friend and an overall stellar person. I hope you know how much you are loved by me, FJ, Rhett and even Tucker (the whole Tribuzio clan - even if FJ swears he didn't adopt Tucker - he's a Tribuzio). I hope Rhett can learn how to be such an awesome sibling from you given the chance - but minus pulling arms out of sockets or tossing people off trampolines. Eh - nevermind - it's part of the package, right? Especially if he has a sibling who puts Icy Hot on the toilet or does the "Wal Mart Test" to his signifant others. I can't wait to celebrate wiht you in a few weeks. You are truly loved, admired, appreciated and cherished over at Crabapple Lake Stables!

I can't believe it's almost November! We have a doc appt this Wednesday, we are on every 2 weeks now. We are at 32 weeks this Thursday so we have: about 8 weeks left, we sailed by the 2 month mark this past weekend and I have 7 weeks left at work (my last day will be Dec 13 unless he comes earlier - I'll be on vacation for the rest of the year otherwise). This is getting very crazy and real! We have Halloween this weekend and will hopefully be going to a friend's house for a party if we get everything else done that we need to.

Time is flying by and we are making some progress. There isn't a whole lot to report - we are doing great - all 3 (4 if you count Tucker) of us. I'm sleeping less and getting larger. We took some time off from the gym this past week...FJ had the excuse of the deck. I only went once - most of the other nights I worked a little later. So we are definitely getting back into the routine this week, hopefully. We lose our Liz this weekend - she's moving out and it's been great having her the past several months. I can't believe how time is flying by!!!

Oh - and Jess - have fun in the mountains this week, hope you finally get to relax after two big deadlines and lots going on! Thinking of you! :)

Less than 10 weeks - countdown is on!

Definitely not my best photos, but I keep putting off or forgetting to take pictures so I grabbed FJ and took some on our deck this morning. On another note - this will hopefully be the last picture taken on our deck as is! Kevin and George are coming in today to work with FJ to build a new (or extend the current) deck! I'm so excited to have a nice outdoor living area. We actually bought a chiminea (outdoor fireplace) last night along with a cover and deck pad. We'll even have stairs down to the "backyard" so Tucker can head down to the grass and we can have access to the backyard without scaling down the drainage path!!

I had a 30 week check up yesterday and all is well. We are measuring right on target and aside from a few minor aches and pains and the first couple months of being ridiculously nauseous and sick, this has been a relatively easy pregnancy. Keep your fingers crossed it keeps going in that direction!! As of right now, we are still on target for our due date, my appointments will continue to be every 2 weeks until 36 weeks - then they'll move to every week. I did ask and we don't get anymore sonograms or ultrasounds unless something is wrong - but our doctor really likes to sneak into the ultrasound room so maybe around 36 if she's not super busy we can get a few more peaks at Rhett before he comes!! I also found out that I can pretty much keep going to the gym until I pop - I think part of me was looking forward to a couple of mandatory weeks off! Ha ha ha!

Another big milestone this week - I have less than 2 months left at work!!! I've got a lot of vacation saved up since we weren't able to go on the Mediterrannean cruise in September, so if I don't take anymore vacation between now and then, my last day will be Monday, December 13 unless Rhett makes an appearance earlier than that. That's less than 2 months, less than 9 weeks and one of the weeks in there is Thanksgiving which is a short week anyway!! I'm very excited but it's also scary with how close it is!

We finished ordering our furniture and all of the pieces will be in for the delivery over Thanksgiving. We ordered a glider and ottoman but it has to be covered so it'll take awhile for it to come in...I'm really hoping it comes in for the Nov 27 delivery, but it's not scheduled until mid December.

It feels like we are making a ton of progress on the nursery, finally. But of course there is a huge list of other half done projects that need to be completed and an equally long list of projects that need to be started and completed. Poor FJ - most of the list is delegated! Ha ha!

We had a visitor for dinner on Wednesday! Jess came to eat some Meatza and went to Scoops with us. We got to gab and catch up and I'm always loving an excuse to go to Scoops!! This is our last full weekend with Liz as our roommate, too. She'll be out of town next weekend for her best friend's wedding back home in MO and she's leaving us the weekend after that :( I'm sure she's ready to get out of the burbs and away from the two of us but we'll definitely miss Liz... I've said it before and I'll say it again - everyone should get "a Liz"!! Ha ha! We'll have to make the most of this Caturday!

Nursery Loot

We finally bought furniture and registered for/bought some pieces of the bedding!! It was definitely exciting - not just because we actually bought things for the nursery and it drove home the point that we WILL have a baby in 2.5 months, but because it was literally an adventure -- offfffff course there is a story...

We went last weekend and shopped for furniture and found some sets that we liked. We talked about it over the week last week and we definitely liked one set more than all of the rest. We had a wedding in South Georgia this past Saturday (more on that later) but decided we should go ahead and buy some of the furniture before we went down. We had some good coupons from some of the stores from signing up for registries or mailing lists so I wanted to at least use those before the expired and get some pieces. I wasn't sure if they could hold them and we weren't ready for them quite yet but decided we could find a place to store everything if needed.

We had a million errands to run and if you know me, you know I had a long list of things to do with the full knowledge that it wouldn't all get done. This definitely made the list. We went in hovered over the furniture for about 30 seconds before a sales associate smelled our credit card and the sense of urgency to buy things that comes with passing into the third trimester. Let me interject here to say that I have the best mother in law!! She came over on Friday evening and measured our nursery and did space planning for furniture. She and FJ looked up the dimensions of the pieces of furniture and decided what all we needed and where it should go - so we had an exact shopping list of the pieces we needed, the confidence that they would all fit, the knowledge of where they would go and the buy in of a licensed interior designer on the choices we had made! We felt pretty good. And broke. We weren't planning on buying as many pieces as we did until we did the space planning. Sooooo glad Joani was able to come over Friday night!

So we laid our cards on the table and told the sales woman that we had some coupons and had full intention of using registry completion coupons to buy other pieces. She let us know that we could buy everything that day, apply additional coupons later, hold the pieces that were available today and schedule delivery for everything at once on whatever date we wanted. It was like putting puzzle pieces together and everything fit!! We really appreciated her help because it took some very creative ordering because some pieces were in, some on order, some on back order, etc.

As we sat down to write up all of the orders and go over everything another couple sat next to us...turns out that they wanted the exact same furniture. We had just bought the last crib in stock and had also purchased the last dresser that was on order. They were so distraught because they had called the day before and there were 2 of each available...apparently someone bought a set the day before and we bought ours at 10:00 or so. Sitting right next to us, they gave the manager some sob story about how they had called in advance and driven an hour and a half to that store because they were the only ones with this furniture available and that she was 8 weeks away from her due date and HAD to have it. I think she thought we were going to give her our furniture? Uhhhhh - no. I mean you would figure if it had been that important, they would have purchased over the phone or gotten there before 11:00am on a Saturday. I can't say much since we are about 11 weeks out and hadn't bought furniture yet...

The manager offered to walk through the stock room for them - the sales woman that was helping us told us later after we walked away from that area that there was absolutely nothing back there - she had already checked that morning and there was the piece we bought which she had already tagged for us.

Now I realize that bad luck can still strike and I could get a call before the delivery that some how it's not there and we aren't going to get it in time, but it was all very dramatic for the purchasing of baby furniture!

We've still got to pick out patterns for the window treatments as well as the glider and ottoman. FJ's mom is all over it! She's also going to help us look for some accent pieces, but we found some we liked at the store, too. All in all it was really fun to pick everything out.

I also put up some pictures of the bedding/theme we chose. It's a jungle theme from Pottery Barn Kids with gingham accents. Definitely a compromise and some of the only bedding choices that we both agreed on. ha ha!

Now that all the fun stuff is almost taken care of we get to start trying to figure out whose insurance we are adding Rhett to (my enrollment begins any day now so we just have to figure out whose insurance makes more sense) so that we can start finding a pediatrician. We got our confirmation from Moms On Call and it included a list of things we need to have or do before delivery and before they come...clearly this woman is after my heart because she provided a check list with instructions on things like finding a pediatrician - complete with time lines. Whew. Apparently once we get the car seat and base, we also get to take a trip to the fire station. Luckily there are about 14 within 5 miles of us. We've narrowed the list down to two daycares and need to pull the trigger and reserve our spot for one of those. There is definitely a long list of things to do and I am positive this list is going to make time seem like it is flying by even faster than it is right now...scary and exciting all at once!!

Happy Anniversary to Mark & Joani (in laws)

And another party successfully on the books! I didn't get a good picture of the couple of the hour, so I put one of us up instead! ha ha!

The dessert table with the candy buffet actually turned out pretty well! Definitely not nearly as cool as what Kate (my cake, cupcake, dessert table, etc guru http://www.andeverythingsweet.blogspot.com/) can do, but not bad for my first attempt. I had various candies, a picture from Mark & Joani's wedding, a picture of them 19 years later at our wedding, candles, bags for people to take some candy home and then I got Kate to provide some cupcakes and cake balls. I'm not sure if the pictures show it well, but the cupcakes had silver liners, white icing and green monograms with M for Moore on top. The cake balls were chocolate or yellow cake with the yummy icing and toppers that said "20" in alternating green, white and silver!

I didn't put a picture of the empty food table but for the first time in my party planninng career, the food was GONE! As fast as I could bring out more, it was consumed. I take it as a compliment to my culinary skills because there was certainly enough food provided for the number of guests! FJ even fried some stuff outside (he's figured out how to fry on a cast iron skillet on the grill) and none of that food made it inside. We actually found more food in the fridge that we could fry (chicken tenders and onion rings) around 11 and made that and I had to pretty much physically fight someone to get 1 or 2 chicken fingers! ha ha! SUCCESS!!!

Most of all, FJ's parents had a blast and were so excited that we put so much effort into celebrating their anniversary. Their friends had a great time and I think it meant a lot to Joani and Mark to have so many people there to celebrate with them!

It was a great weekend and the party was a huge success!! Congratulations to Joani and Mark again on "20 Moore Years!"