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.

Amy

We miss you and we think about you every day since you left us last Wednesday. I wish I could talk to you one more time and tell you in the year and a half that I knew you, my soul felt like it had known you longer. I wish I had another chance to make that yoga class we missed when we were late and they locked the doors on us. I wish I had replaced Shay's little travel dog food bowl that Kona chewed up like I said I would, even though you told me not to. I wish I had taken photos that day you grabbed the chainsaw from Jon in our backyard and tore up the juniper bushes. Remember when we were shopping for costumes and we laughed our way through Wal-Mart? Why were we even in there? Something to do with pantyhose and cheep shoes I think.


At the White-Out Party.


Mac's birthday party.


Nate took this picture. But it's my favorite,
so I hope he doesn't mind if I include it.

Armadillo Racing

I didn't really see any need to fancy up the title of this post. Here's how it happened: I crashed one of Jon's work events a few weeks ago, and what more Texan of an activity would be available to impress a bunch of out-of-towners? It turns out that armadillos are very smart. They scurry around their pen and try to find new and different ways to squeeze out. According to the gentleman who provides the armadillos, Ralph Fisher, they have even been known to stack on top of one another and jump over the side of their pen. I think the best way to give a proper play-by-play is with some photos:


First, you get in the pen with a bunch of armadillos running around. Note: if you are wearing leather shoes, be prepared. I was surprised a couple of times with cold noses on my ankles and little nibbles on the backs of my heels.


Then Ralph asks you which armadillo you want to race. I chose one named Phyllis Dillo.


You hold the armadillo's tail close up near it's butt (with gloves on of course) so that you don't hurt their tails.


Release the armadillos! Once you let them go, you have to shoo them along to one end of the pen where they are supposed to turn around and run back.



Here I am shooing my armadillo back to the start. She finished a disappointing 3rd - out of 3. Jon's armadillo won! He was rewarded with a lovely little statue of an armadillo sitting on a pair of cowboy boots painted like Texas flags. This wonderful trinket is now on permanent display in our living room if you would like to stop by and see it. I got a Texas-shaped cookie cutter as my parting gift. The kicker is - I already had one.


They really are cute critters. Here we are with my armadillo - Phyllis Dillo.


Last, but not least, this is our new friend Ryan, a self-described South African Rugby Fanatic. He took all these great photos for us.

Halloween 2007

This is admittedly going to be a very short post for two reasons. First, I only have three photos of our Halloween costumes on this computer to show everyone. And second, Halloween is so over. I'm dying for it to be Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. Maybe it's because it's still so hot in Austin. Maybe it's because I feel like Halloween is kind of a gaudy, messy holiday with the mismatched decor and piles of leftover candy. Give me eight neat place settings and a fully coordinating Christmas tree and I'm happy.


For the third year in a row we attended Heath's famous Mojave Bend Halloween party. It never disappoints and every year we meet new people. Maybe if I get motivated this weekend, I'll put up some pictures of Noah's biker babe costume. Too funny.



This is the only full length shot I have of my costume. That's Derek on the left. He was a drunken, unruly airline passenger. His wife was a stewardess. I was Tippi Hedren's character, Melanie Daniels, from The Birds. It was a hit I think.



Hey, you would be scared too if you were being attacked by three fake crows and your face was covered in fake blood that wouldn't wash off for two days.



Jon revived his costume as a droog from the movie A Clockwork Orange. In case you didn't know, this is the costume Jon was wearing when he picked me up for our first date (a costume party of course). Can you see why I fell for him?

Austin City Limits...

...was a really long time ago.

But we really needed a new post and this one has been sitting in my to-do list forever. Last month we were fortunate enough to be invited by our friends, Linden and Collin, to the last day of the 2007 Austin City Limits Festival. Collin was showing her amazing artwork at the ACL art show, and we got to go a long as "helpers." We pretty much drank beer, listened to music, and then watched Linden pack up the booth at the end of the night. But we really felt helpful.

We got these cool "STAFF" wristbands. Other than the getting-in-for-free thing, the best part about these wristbands was that they got you into the behind-the-stage clean porta potties.

This is Collin at her booth. You should go to her website and them buy some art. Really.


We got pretty close to Ziggy Marley when he played the kids' stage.

Jon and Linden.

Heather and Scott were there too.

We couldn't get very close to Regina Spektor, but I really liked her music so I am including a picture of her head on a giant screen.

That's me (not bad, huh?). Jon felt it necessary to take several snapshots of his view as we fought our way through the crowds.

Mobs of people and the lovely Austin skyline in the background.

I had to put this one in even though it sucks. According to Linden, this is the actual moon tower where the beer bust scenes were filmed for Dazed and Confused.

Linden packing up the art booth at the end of the night.