Man shower and Miller's room

OK, this might turn out to be a pretty long post, but I think it's going to be mostly pictures, so not too bad. :-) This past weekend, we had our very first shower. It was a "Man Shower" that Amy C. and I hosted for our husbands. We called it a diaper shower because we asked all the guys coming to bring us diapers and/or wipes. It was a great way for the guys to get together with all of their friends, and an even better way for Amy and I to stock up on diapers and wipes before our little guys make their appearances.


Here's the invite that Amy B. designed for us. She's super creative when it comes to these things, and I'm sure most of you will see her work more often in invites, announcements, and cards that are mailed out from our household. Here's the link to her site, http://design139.blogspot.com/.


This is a group picture of most of the guys that were there for the shower. They came and went throughout the night, so these were just the ones that were there when Jessie snapped the picture.

Boys will be boys. Will decided to take a spin on the big wheel. Don't worry the guy in the car was actually one of the party guests that was leaving, Will was in no imminent danger. He just looks so serious, like he's pedalling for his life!

What's a shower without games? Amy and I bought some bottles, and filled them with beer. The two dads then had to pick three team members each to form a relay team. The first team done, won. Here's John and Jessie posing beforehand with their bottles. Please ignore my husbands' wet pants. He swears it's from where someone spilled a beer on the domino table. I'm going to hope he's telling the truth on that one.

Team Vrana: Drew, Ernie, Eddie, and John. Don't worry guys, you were the real winners in my book.

Find the pregnant woman in this picture.

Amy C. (31.5 weeks) and me (28 weeks, 6 days).

The pile of loot we got. Not bad guys! I think we'll be set for a while.Friday afternoon John was able to swing by and pick up the glider and ottoman, so Miller's room in fully painted and furnished. We still have some wall hangings and such to get up, but this is pretty close to the finished product. Here's a shot of the crib and glider (the best thing ever). That's his bedding hanging over the crib.

This is a lamp John and I have had forever. We changed out the pictures to four different sports images. The rocking chair was a gift from the Casas family. Amy rarely used it for pictures, and she knew how well it would fit in with Miller's decor, so she passed it on to us.
This is his dresser, where we'll put his changing pad. The A&M bag with Miller's name embroidered on it was a gift from the Casas family. The diaper bag on the right is a gift from my parents, a Vera Bradley diaper bag. I love the turquoise and brown pattern!

Finally, this is the dresser that John and his dad re-finished a few years ago. I painted the letters, and we plan on hanging them above his crib.

Well, crapmonkey...

You know those days where things just kind of seem to tick you off, all day long...yeah today is one of those days.

First things first though, we were able to find the puppy a loving home with my mom's cousin Shelia. As soon as my Mimi mentioned her name, I sent her an e-mail. She had written me back and called within thirty minutes. She said that the puppy was just what she was looking for. After picking up some essentials, Shelia picked up the puppy, Layla, Wednesday night. I think it'll be the perfect fit.

So, yesterday, I got the cheerful news that I didn't pass the Glucose test. I have to go back for the three hour test, a phenomenal waste of time considering I was only two points away. Two points! If I would have known that I would have tapped my foot a little more in the lobby, or waited another 15 minutes for the chick to get around to calling me back instead of going back exactly an hour later. Two freaking points. So, this Thursday, I will be spending my morning sitting in the waiting room of my doctor's office for them to check my blood sugar at one, two, and three hours. Stupid gestational diabetes. Ticks me off.

Then, this morning, I called our daycare, just to check in, make sure we're on the list and that everything is going smoothly. Turns out I'm the third name on the list. You'd think that would be fine right, WRONG. They have two babies leaving the baby room in September, the 15th and the 30th. Well, I'm looking at putting him in daycare around October 1st. Yeah, as it stands now, the next available spot won't even open until March. Say what? That's almost a freaking year from now! Apparently, they only move up to the toddlers' room at 14 months. So, Baby 1 turns a year old July 15th, Baby 2 turns a year old July 30th, and Baby 3 doesn't turn a year old until January. Great, just bloody great. Now, I'm on a mad tear to find a daycare less than six months out. Yeah, this looks promising. We're on the waiting list for another day care, but they told me it would take a year or so to get in there. Ugh! John just might get his wish to be a stay-at-home dad after all.

The terrible two

We've been thrown off this week with the new addition to the household. John and I knew there was no way we would be able to keep the puppy. We've got Doobie outside, who is all over the puppy as soon as she gets outside, and Lexi, the most jealous dog in the world, who doesn't actually know that she's a dog. Lord only help us when Miller gets here. She'll probably try to smother him in his sleep. We put up signs all over the area, and we haven't gotten any calls yet. Knowing that we were on a time crunch because we would be out of town this weekend, we spread the word that we were looking for someone to adopt her, in case we couldn't find her owners. This morning I got wonderful news. My mom's cousin Shelia will be happy to adopt the puppy. Within minutes of e-mailing her, she had returned my e-mail and called. She had to have her dog put to sleep not too long ago, and she's been waiting for the right dog to come along. When she saw my e-mail, she thought that the puppy would be a perfect fit. That was a huge relief off my mind. We warned Lexi that she would be losing her playmate tomorrow, so they've been making good on their time together. Here's a couple of pictures of them at play.

Other than that, for those of you on Facebook, you'll notice my status. For the past few nights I've been waking up around two a.m., and I just haven't been able to fall back asleep. It's not that I'm uncomfortable, except that I usually have a Siberian Husky sleeping on my feet. Something will wake me up, and my mind starts wandering, and that's it. It doesn't help that Miller comes alive at night. I swear, two o'clock in the morning is his party time - just one more thing he gets from his Daddy.

Also, my Paw-paw has been doing pretty bad here lately. He's gotten a bad cough, and with his poor kidneys and congestive heart failure, everything just adds up to knock him off his feet. He usually gets an illness like this about once a year. Then, he's good for the rest of the year. He's pretty weak right now, so any prayers would be appreciated.

Finally, John and I have officially found the perfect show. It combines the science aspect for me, and raw testosterone-based fighting for John. It's called "Deadliest Warrior." It takes warriors from different countries and different time periods and uses science to determine who would win if they were to meet on the battlefield. The first episode we watched was the Apache versus the Roman Gladiator. In case you're wondering the Apache would win 667 out of 1000 battles, due in most part to his long bow. John has stashed all the details of the entire episode in his head, so feel free to quiz him on it the next time you see him. When I just mentioned that I was blogging about the show, he started rattling off all sorts of details. Tonight, we're watching the Samurai versus the Viking. Not sure who's going to win this one... It's on Spike at 9:00 on Tuesdays, in case anyone wants to tune in. :-)

Free dog

Today we went down to Michelle's parents house for lunch. As Michelle's post said we had really bad weather today, a whole lot of rain. Torrents even. So, as we were driving back to our house from Michelle's parents we saw what we thought was a cat cross the road. However, when we got closer we saw that it was a little black and white puppy. We stopped and debated what to do. Finally I got out and picked up the puppy and took it back to our house. The poor little thing didn't move at all as I picked it up, and it was completely soaked through, and shivering cold. At our house, we dried it off and tried to decide where it came from. Its not a stray as it seems to0 well cared for to be a stray. Its coat is clean, it smells like its been bathed recently, and its not afraid of humans. The only thing we can think of is either someone just dumped it off today, or it got out of someone's yard in Lakewood subdivision, and came through the bayou to Wemple road. However, there's a flaw with each of these. First, if someone dumped it, why would they have taken such good care of it just to dump it off, and dumping it off during a thunderstorm is just cruel. And, if it came from Lakewood, how did it swim/cross the bayou as a puppy? The bayou is pretty thick and with all the rain, the water in the bayou would be pretty high and wide across, probably about 20 feet across...a good distance for a puppy to swim in a thunderstorm. But, if it did swim across the bayou, it could be why the puppy was sopping wet when we found it. Anyway, tomorrow we are going to post found posters on Wemple and in Lakewood and hope someone claims her. If not, we're not sure what were gonna do. We can't take a third dog, since we already have two other dogs. But, we don't want to have to take her to the pound and know that it may be euthanized if she's not adopted. So, I guess if no one claims her, and you know someone who is looking for a dog, let us know. Here is a picture of the dog right after we dried her off.

Happy Easter!

There's a lot going on here lately, so bear with me through a long post.

I had a doctor's appointment on Thursday. This was a big one because I had to do the Glucose test, as well as have my last ultrasound. It was exciting though because we got to do the 4D ultrasound. John is trying to save as much of his time as possible for when the baby comes, so he decided to skip this appointment. My mom came with me instead, and she really enjoyed the experience. Of course he was being shy, he kept trying to hide behind his hand, but the doctor was able to get a couple of good shots of him.

Here's a shot of all his measurements. He's 2 pounds 6 ounces right now. According to the measurements, he's pretty much right now track. The averages do have him being a 4th of July baby, but those things change each time. Oh, and he was in the breech position last time, but he's since flipped over, so he's in the right position now.

This is what he looked like in most of the pictures, turning his head and hiding his face behind his hand. He liked playing with his umbilical cord, and I'm pretty sure he's been using it as a jump rope.

This is just the most pitiful picture ever. The doctor was trying to move him around to get a better picture of him, and he just did not like it.

This is my favorite picture, but it is a little freaky because it seems like he's looking right at us. John says he can already tell that he has my nose.

From here on out I got to the doctor every two weeks. Yuck. I can't believe we're moving that fast. Today makes 28 weeks exactly. That just seems crazy!

Ever since I was a kid Easter has been one of my favorite holidays. We used to spend every Easter with the Hargraves, but we haven't been able to the past few years. This year we were so happy that they were able to join us again. I had Friday off of work, and due to crazy weather, John's office was closed for the day too. So, Mom and I were off to pick up the crawfish, and John, Austin, and Mimi went to pick up compost for Paw-paw's garden. Then, John and Austin spent a chunk of the day moving Paw-paw's garden. Paw-paw would have liked to help with all of that, but he's been really sick the past few days. That's why the two of them look like they match the color of Miller's room in future pictures. We had a crawfish boil Friday night where everybody played washers and had a nice relaxing time. Then, Saturday morning, I had big plans for the extra man power that was in town. We picked up the baby furniture that was at Baby World. His crib and dresser were there, but the glider and ottoman weren't in yet. That's understandable since it's special ordered. He did say it had shipped though, and should be in at the beginning of the week.

Here's Austin and John putting the crib together. (See what I mean about looking the same color as the wall.)

Here's Austin, John, and Toby, putting the mattress in crib.

The dresser had the knobs on it backwards for shipment, so Austin, Ann, and Toby had a competition to see who could get the most knobs turned around the fastest.

After the furniture was put together, we had our infamous Easter Egg Hunt at my parents' house. Usually, I am extremely competitive when it comes to these things, but I wasn't allowed to run this year. So, I had to walk around looking for my eggs. Did I mention these eggs are filled with cash? There's big bucks to be had! John, Austin, and Toby literally tackled each other a few times, and it was hilarious. Unfortunately, all those pictures are on Mrs. Peggy's and my mom's cameras. I'm sure they'll make it to the 2010 calendar though. Here's the totals from the hunt:

Ann Austin John Me Toby

Eggs 13 18 18 11 14

Cash 36 35 14 35 6

Isn't that just hilarious? Ann and I had the least number of eggs, but still managed to collect the most money. I was falling over I was laughing so hard when Toby was opening his eggs to find his $6. It might be a little odd to see a bunch of adults, running around with plastic bags hunting easter eggs, but I swear we all laugh so hard, and I think our parents get just as big a kick out of us acting like a bunch of idiots.

After the Hunt was over, there was more washer playing, some egg dying, and dinner. Paw-paw was able to come down to watch a few games of washers, which he really enjoys. After dinner, we were all back outside for more washers...seeing a theme here? John had loaded up all the trash from Miller's furniture so we could burn it at Mom and Dad's house.

Here's how John and Toby decided to build the fire. You might notice a basic design flaw here.

They lit it anyway. Here's John standing close by to make sure they don't catch my parents' fence on fire...along with most of their yard.

It actually burned up pretty well. There's just a huge scorch mark left in the middle of their yard. This morning everybody got up and moving pretty quick since we're supposed to have severe weather hit us again today. Here's a shot of our Easter baskets at mom and dad's house.

My mom just cracks me up because she was concerned that we would be upset if we didn't get full-fledged Easter baskets. I told her that she didn't need to get us anything at all, but she just can't help herself. Next year, poor Miller is going to get so much stuff, he won't know what to do with himself. It is super-nice though. We all got gift cards, which I just love because it's almost like you get a gift now and a gift later when you actually use it. I got an Itunes gift card and a Bed, Bath, and Beyond card. John and Austin already went up to Best Buy to try to use theirs, but it looks like they might be closed for Easter. Silly boys.

OK, I better get back to getting the house ready for the week. Next weekend is another big weekend for us, but I'm sure I'll have pictures to post of that then. :-) Also, I'll post pictures of Miller's completed room once we get the glider and decorations up. That might be a few weeks though because we've got so much going on here lately. I hope everybody had a wonderful Easter!

Michelle and I always go to be together at the same time, but usually she falls asleep fast and I stay up another hour or so watching TV in bed. Actually, late night is a good time to catch cool History channel shows like Battles B.C. or Ancient Weapons. Cool stuff. Anyway, as we were laying in bed, (Michelle asleep and I watching TV) I had my hand on Michelle's belly and felt Miller kick. Now, I've felt him kick before, but this was so different and much cooler. Let me explain. Most of the time Miller is kicking, Michelle grabs my hand for me to feel him kick. It's cool, and he's had some really strong ones, but it still kind of seems like part of Michelle, if you get me. I know it's Miller kicking, but it still seemed tied to Michelle's reaction. But, when he started kicking with Michelle asleep, it's like I realized, this is all Miller. Michelle is asleep but Miller is awake and kicking. It just really made me realize that it is two seperate people, and their bodies aren't as synched as I once thought. It was really awesome.

In other news, Michelle and I received a package from my Mom today. Inside was a onesie and the tiniest pair of denim pants I have ever seen. Here are the pictures:

Those pants almost fit in my hand, and anyone that knows me knows that is a something. Also, when I was a kid, I was a big dinosaur fan, so the onesie is pretty fitting for me and Miller.

Blowing and going

We hit the ground running in April, and I don't think we'll be slowing down any time soon. I was in Baton Rouge last week for the Louisiana Association of Forensic Scientists meeting. It was a great meeting, and I enjoy getting together with former classmates, who are now actual colleagues of mine. While I was down there, I was happy to get to spend some time with my friends from the Sheriffs' Pension Fund. I even got to see Mr. Skip, who seemed genuinely happy to see me. They were all pretty surprised to hear I was six months pregnant. I guess I'm still not showing too much. That being said, John took my picture yesterday, as it was the fifth (Happy Birthday Amy and Kellie!).

Here's my picture from March 5th, where I was 22 weeks, 4 days.

Here's my picture from yesterday, where I am 27 weeks exactly. I definitely feel bigger, but not huge by any means. It's so exciting to actually look pregnant!

I'm almost in denial about the fact that I've officially moved into the third trimester. There's no more trimesters after this one, just a newborn baby boy at the end of it. It's so exciting, but also terrifying. The room is done, and we'll, hopefully, be picking up all the furniture this weekend. We're just waiting for the glider to get in. Pretty soon we will have an honest to goodness nursery. Miller is kicking more and more lately, and John's getting to feel more and more, but he's the only one who has actually gotten to feel anything. One night Miller was kicking up a storm, all over my belly, and John called him his little UFC fighter. Sometimes it definitely feels like it, but I love it. I think I've felt hiccups once or twice, but I'm excited for those to start getting stronger.

I'll try to update the blog as much as possible because we've really got a lot going on this month, Easter, baby furniture, diaper shower, and an ever-growing belly. OK, I'm off to watch the rest of House. Miller is sending kicks to everybody!