And the Crib

Too bad I already used the clever "my crib or yours?" title a few posts back. Turns out the crib wasn't so complicated to put together. I love it to death and I can't wait to but the little guy in it for the first time. Maybe if I keep telling myself over and over again that he's going to be one of those great babies that sleeps in his crib rather than our room from Day 1, just maybe I can will the forces of nature to make that happen.

Halfway There and Nursery Progress

We're halfway there today - 20 weeks - crazy how fast the time has gone. This last weekend was great. My mom came for a visit, we found out we are having a healthy boy, the nursery furniture arrived, we had brand new carpet installed in the guest room and nursery, and we had the first BBQ/pool party of the summer with my mom and Jon's family. Here are some pics of the furniture and a few projects from the weekend:


The crib. Looks a tad complicated so we decided to wait a couple of days to put it together. This is a good shot of the fabulous new carpet too.

I picked out this red microfiber fabric to cover the window seat cushion. Also, with mom's help, we added some ribbon to a plain chocolate brown valance to tie it in with the bedding colors (the blanket sitting there on the window seat).

Close-up of the DIY valance. It barely made it across the width of the window so I need to pick up another one (and add the ribbon to it) to make it look fuller.

Dresser/changing table with hutch. The set came with both brown and polished pewter drawer pulls which I have yet to change out. I did get to two of them on the top dresser drawer and I can't wait to do them all. I love the contrast with the metal knobs. The little plush lobster on the left has become my inspiration to eventually add some sea life inspired art work and decor.

The tall dresser. Still needs its metal knobs too.

Finally, a cute picture of how I greeted my mom at the airport on Thursday. She called me during her layover in Denver and I told her she had to wait until she got here to find out what we were having. I greeted her at the airport in Austin with a big bunch of blue balloons. She figured it out. She's pretty sharp.

It's a...

BOY!

We had our big anatomy ultrasound today at 19w4d, and we are having a healthy baby boy. All of this organs and limbs look great and all fingers and toes are accounted for. Here are some pictures:

Profile of his face and you can see a little arm in the back.

Here is his profile from the other side. He just didn't want to move those arms for us. Check out that belly!

And the goods. I think we can safely say he's all boy.

Nursery Design Ideas

I put together a couple of potential nursery design ideas this past weekend. I like the "red" design for either a boy or a girl, and the "pink" design for a girl (obviously). It's tough to see in the pink sheets, but there are some little spots of turquoise sprinkled throughout the designs. To give credit where credit is due, the sheets are from Caden Lane, the wall letters and closet pulls are from Giggle Brush Designs, the crib skirts are from American Baby Company, and the storage bins are from either Bed Bath & Beyond or Trend Lab.

Click on the images to make them larger and easier to read.

Why today is fabulous

Seriously, I've had a great day so far today. Good enough to put it all in a blog post. I suppose to a lot of people it's little things, but when a bunch of nice little things happen in one day it's cool.

So far today:

*I got my hair cut and colored. This wouldn't be a big deal except that I hadn't been in there for about 3 months. Three months worth of hair growth on super-strength prenatal vitamins makes for some pretty severe roots. I feel so much better about myself when my hair looks good.

*While I was getting my hair cut, I got a call from my OB's office with the results of our Quad Screen test. I just had the blood drawn on Wednesday and was told I wouldn't hear the results for at least a week. Everything checked out fine so we are thrilled. This tests screens for Down Syndrome, Trisomy 18, and Spina Bifida, and it has a relatively high rate of false positives. To hear back already that our little peanut is healthy is awesome.

*I dropped off a bag of clothing that no longer fit me along with a gift card for a girl I know of through the Nest today. Her house was struck by lightning last weekend and is a total loss. Luckily she, her husband, their baby, and their pets were able to get out. They lost all of their possessions and it felt really good to give her some nice clothes that haven't fit me for about a year now and were just gathering dust. I wish I could have given them more.

*Our good friend Chris saved the day and took a huge weight off our shoulders. The kitchen sink at our condo in Denver was leaking and our tenants were understandably sick and tired of dumping out pitchers of water each day. A plumber was going to charge us $120/hr just to show up. That doesn't include parts or anything else. One $40 faucet and an hour and a half later, Chris was calling me to tell me it was fixed.

*I checked out two consignment shops I hadn't been to before (Between Friends and Pumpkin Patch) and got three new outfits for under $50. Almost all of the maternity clothing I have purchased are used/consignment. Why should I pay $50 for one shirt I can wear for 6 more months when I can get it for $8 hardly worn? Somehow I feel like it's less wasteful too.

*Across the street from Between Friends is this place called Wally's Burger. By now it was 2:00 and I'd barely had anything substantial to eat so I was about ready to eat my own hand. Seriously, this was one of the best fast food burgers and fries I've had in a long time. For those of you familiar with Mighty Fine, it was just about as good and almost as messy.

*Which leads me to my last item - my new t-shirt. It made a lot of people smile today and who doesn't like to make people smile?

T-shirt by 2chix.com

The day's not over yet, and I'm looking forward to a fun night with Jon. He's had a long week of training at his new job and I think he's more than ready for the weekend to start. The plan is to see a movie, so I'm off to Fandago to see what's playing.

17 Weeks

Here's a belly picture for you:




Not sure how this happened (too many Shiner Bocks maybe?), but apparently Jon has already surpassed me:




If you haven't noticed it already, we added a little quiz to the blog (look to your right). Take your best guess on whether we are having a boy or a girl. The winners get...nothing but the satisfaction of being right. But c'mon, you had a 50-50 chance now didn't you?

Ann's Bridal Shower

Sorry I haven't been updating much, everyone. How about a non-baby post for once? I promise to those who have been hounding me that I will take a "belly picture" this weekend and post it soon.

Last weekend I travelled to Denver for Ann's bridal shower. The theme was Chocolate, Wine, and Cheese, ironically suggested by yours truly before I got pregnant. By the time the party was over, I think the theme really was, Wine, Wine, and Wine, but you'll have to ask Ann about that. Oh yeah, ask her about the cake fight too. Lucky for her, we have no photographic evidence of that!


Corkscrew favors


Close up of favor tags


Tuxedo strawberries handmade by Stacy


The chocolate fountain


Cucumber water (aka what Shannon could drink) and wine


All the bridesmaids with the bride


Ally and Laura


Ann getting a little teary over the gift from her bridesmaids - a gorgeous collector bottle of Marilyn Monroe wine

The cake says it all

Nursery Progress

Jon has been working on the wainscoting nursery almost every day for the past few weeks. It's a big job, especially when you've never put up wainscoting before in your life. Obviously we have a ways to go still - painting touch-ups, crown molding, carpet - put it's such an amazing transformation from what it looked like before I thought it would be fun to share pictures as the room changes. You'll have to trust me on the amazing transformation by the way since we forgot to take "before" pictures.


The window seat. Jon cut out the wall below the seat so we could take advantage of the wasted space for storage. Anyone got a pair of 12" x 22 1/2" cabinet doors they want to donate to the cause?


View of the closet.


View of the door.


The window seat wall. Probably the wall where the crib will go.


New white switch plate and outlet covers.

Dear Wendy's, Feel My Wrath

Why the crap did you have to mess with the Big Bacon Classic with Cheese? Listen, the last 15+ times I've patronized your establishment I've been good. I've come to love your salads and healthy sides. But once in a while, dammit, I want 29g of fat (+cheese), 1460mg of sodium, and 570 calories between an enriched white bread bun. This time, my unborn baby wanted some fat too, and what my kid wants my kid gets.

Imagine my shock when I pulled up to the drive-thru to discover that the Big Bacon Classic has been replaced with The Baconator. First, the The Baconator is a dumbass name. Second, you actually removed the moderately healthy lettuce, tomato, and onion, and replaced them with more bacon and an extra beef patty! Last but not least, it tastes like butt. I even had you add the veggies back on and I removed the second patty before I ate it.

Luckily my husband was driving or you can bet your red-headed behind that I would have turned the car around and demanded an explanation. Instead you should be made aware that I am the 283rd signer of the online "Save the Big Bacon Classic" petition. Oh yeah, that's right, I'm hitting the streets. Grassroots effort. Be afraid.

Shannon

YES

NO

My crib or yours?

With help from the grandparents (thanks again guys!) we ordered the furniture for the nursery this weekend. It's a little on the early side, but really who can resist the USA Baby "One Day Sale"? It should get here in 8-12 weeks which gives Jon plenty of time to finish the nursery walls and floors. I'll post pictures of his progress there soon. Here are the three pieces we ordered:


Munire Urban Collection

The crib is a "lifetime" crib that has two positions, then turns into a toddler bed, then converts to a full-sized bed. Also, the bottom shelf of the hutch comes out to make room for a changing pad area. I'm guessing this is anything but fascinating for all of our male readers with the exception of Brian. I'm pretty sure he's the type to be analyzing the pros and cons of baby furniture at the moment.

Coming this Fall...Baby S!

It's finally time to let everyone know that Jon and I are expecting a baby on October 5, 2008!

I am 8 weeks and 4 days today (8w4d in doctor-notation). Sorry to hold out on everyone for so long, but with everything that can happen early in the first trimester, we just didn't feel it was appropriate to let the cat out of the bag until now. Why now? Because as of today we have seen the heartbeat and watched the little guy/girl move around on the ultrasound screen. The baby's heart rate is 173 beats per minute which is right where it should be.

Here are some pictures from the ultrasound:

This view is from the top down. That's the head on the left and the feet on the right. The baby is about the size of a cashew (and sort of the same shape).

This is from the side. Again, head on the left, feet on the right. For all of you who are confused, the words are the screen were put there by the technician. The baby can't talk yet.

Last one from the side again.

I will do my very best to keep the blog updated whenever something momentous happens. Jon and I are thrilled and we can't wait to see everyone again and celebrate in person.

Slow on the Draw ~ Happy New Year!

I kept checking our blog to see if there was a new post, but it never changed. Since we are all sick of the Christmas pictures, here's a little update for everyone on what's been happening in the new year:

Jon & Royce fried a turkey for Christmas dinner:





We celebrated New Year's Eve at Gene & Susan's house:






Sadly, this is the best photo of me from New Year's Eve.

I got some new curtains for my birthday:





I took my niece & nephew to the Austin Children's Museum:





That's all we got...for now.

Christmas Decor and Cookie Day 2007

Seeing as it's our first Christmas in this house, I thougt I'd post some pictures of this year's holiday decor for all of our friends and family who won't be able to stop by themselves.

Inside:

Outside:

Cookie Day 2007

Not exactly cookie day related, but I went crazy last night and made some Oreo Cookie Truffles. They were tedious and took seemingly forever, but the end product is to die for. They look so pretty I had to post a picture in case I never make them again.