Nesting

Well, several changes are going on here in my last 7 weeks or so. As Chris explained below my nesting has started in full force. I have this overwhelming, uncontrollable urge to clean and organize the house from the past 3 years of build-up. Seriously, when I am not home I cannot wait to get there to continue my organizing spree. It is getting harder as fatigue is setting back in, but I will find a way!!

We found out last week that the furniture has been delayed a couple weeks. A little bit stressful but that is ok. However, we did get our glider in and I love it!!! I already enjoy sitting in it talking on the phone, very comfy.

Sleeping at night has been getting a little more difficult, right now it is 3am and I cannot get back to sleep from the bathroom break because my legs are tingling. Supposedly you can get a restless leg like syndrome; this must be what it feels like. So, I thought while trying to stretch my legs I would update the blog. Things have been going much better here at the end of my pregnancy. At the last doctors visit we found out she was breech. The doctor said she has a couple more weeks of good room to move then it will be a little tight. Hopefully she turns or it will be a C-section. We are praying she turns. As any soon to be new mom does, I blamed myself for this problem (I almost cried when the doctor told me). I thought it must be all those times I curl up on the couch. I really convinced myself that I had failed our baby. After really thinking and praying, I have come to realize that this happens and it is ok if I end up in a C-section. Other than the ever so pleasant constant kicking on my bladder (I wish it were the ribs) things are great.

This picture was a couple weeks ago when I was 30 weeks.

We are planning on getting some maternity pics taken in the next couple weeks. I have always wanted to do this so I am excited. I am trying to be better at taking pics of my belly more often, time just flies!! Well, I better try and get some sleep we have a childbirth class today!!

....12th Man Mania?

As many of you know, I graduated from Texas A&M and I am a HUGE Fightin' Texas Aggie fan (of course). I've attended countless games at Kyle Field (and other venues) and somehow gathered quite a collection of 12th Man towels (thirteen in my possession to be exact...although I know I probably have given a few away throughout the years). While cleaning out the hall closet, my lovely wife noticed the beautiful white towels (pictured above on "Mr. 12th Man") on almost every shelf. I knew I had a lot of towels (which is why I didn't purchase any this year).....but I was shocked when I had a baker's dozen in my possession! I'll continue to use each one of them....and none were "retired" in the trash can. For more information on the 12th Man, click here.



BTW, my first Aggie football game was September 4, 1993 when the Texas Aggies beat the Bayou Bengals of LSU, 24-0. For record keeping purposes....the towel from that game is on my right shoulder.

One last note......the 12th Man towel will NOT be used to clean up any spit-up from Madeleine Paige's mouth! That is what one of these is for.

Before and After

As many know, our household has been struck with illness that has been passed back and forth between Chris and I. So when the doctors ordered rest, I suddenly have all this time on my hands and it is driving me crazy (so I decided to update the blog). I have also advanced to figuring out this slide show thing and I love it!!

Before we were sick, Chris and I were able to enjoy a trip up to my parent's country getaway. We were able to relax, fish, go 4-wheeling and make marshmallows with my niece.



We spent New Year's Eve at home. I made dinner & dessert and then we crashed (not making it to midnight of course). We have a huge firework show right in our backyard, so we were awakened to the loud boom of the show and were able to ring in the New Year after a brief nap!! I know we are boring, but midnight is hard to make it to!!!

Soon afterwards Chris got sick, then I did. Luckily, we are not too far behind on baby stuff. These past 2 weeks have really kept us down. I am happy to report Chris is better and as of today I am starting to feel better. There is so much that I should be doing around here, but per my doctor rest is the only thing I better be doing. Our cats are loving us being at home sleeping all the time, so below is a view of what the entire household has been up to!!
We hope 2008 turns out better than it has started. 6 days off work, 3 rounds of antibiotics, 2 liters of IV fluids, 1 round of steroids and 1 hospital visit between Chris and I should do it. Kinda like our own version of the 12 days of Christmas!! Overall, we hope to rejoin our normal lives soon, we miss all our friends!!! Especially our super cool Sunday School class!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! Chris and I enjoyed our holiday together visiting house to house.

We started the festivities on the 22nd visiting my Aunts house for my mom's side of Christmas. Of course since my mom's family cooks very well we had way too much good food to eat. Then we let my niece open presents after we teased her about the rule of watching Gone With the Wind. Another thing about my moms brothers is they love to tease us especially when we were children. Every year when the excitement of opening presents was unbearable they would tell us we cannot open them until we watch Gone With The Wind and the news in entirety. Of course as kids we went crazy every year, although we had no idea that this was a 3.5 hr movie!! This year we laughed at how all 3 children on this side of the family have never seen this "classic."

We then did a White elephant gift exchange among the adults. I was the lucky number one that gets to steal anything not frozen, this year I had the strong desire to steal my grandmothers gift. Now last year she ended up with a GC that everyone wanted but did not want to steal from sweet grandmother!! Well, I broke that ice this year and ended up stealing the nice paper towel holder that looks lovely in my kitchen!!!

Christmas eve we had my parents over to our house. This was our first year hosting and it went well. My niece got to play her Hannah Montana dance videos in the computer room, the men watched a movie, and the women chatted in the formal living area. First time we have used the formals!!

Chris and I decided to open our presents late Christmas Eve. We agreed to buy only a couple presents this year since we are buying baby stuff at the same time. Chris picked out a beautiful purse for me and I got him some A&M gear.

Christmas day we went to my dads mom for a few hours. She made all 10 grandchildren a queen size quilt; she has been working on them for a long time!! I love mine, and of course she made it marroon and white!!

Then we ventured off to Chris' mom's house for the remainder of the day. Getting to visit with his grandparents (Praise God for another healthy Christmas!!) and my sister in law who had her baby 2 days later!!

Fri evening we went to the hospital to visit our new nephew!! He is a cutie!!

Overall we had a wonderful Christmas and Madeleine even got a couple presents! She got a pink stained glass angel to hang in her window and her first Cabbage Patch doll. We can hardly wait for Madeleine to join us next year!!

Nursery Fabric

Here are the fabrics for Madeleine's nursery. Bedding has been ordered. This is where the colors and paint scheme came from.

Bedding to look like this except replacing the pink/brown stripe fabric with the striped fabric above and a solid green or pink sheet.

Nursery...In Progress

We have been busy working on the nursery amidst the holiday hustle and bustle. I am feeling like I am running out of time before the baby gets here (since the third trimester is near). But I am thrilled to report the nursery is almost done(a very big special thanks to Mike S. for helping!!!!). We are putting the finishing touches on this weekend. I absolutely love it. Once we got the colors straight (poor Chris, he tried) we were off and running. I sent Chris to get the paint on his own with the fabric swatch ,which is apparently a rookie husband mistake. Of course I know men do not see color shades like we women do. Men see primary colors and thats about it!! Well he had a woman help him pick the colors out at the store, so I thought that should be fine. After consulting with my superstar nursery designer (thanks Kelly!!) we decided to use 4 colors. When Chris brought home the colors 3/4 looked right to me, but the "bright pink" was labeled "parade red." So I knew right off the bat this was not right, I mean come on red is in the name of the color, it cannot be pink whatsoever!! Long story short once it blended with the white wall, it was perfect!

We did learn the green was too olive and had to go get another shade, this time I went with poor Chris. You can tell in the pics the darker green and the green I changed it too. Thanks Honey for putting up with my perfectionism in making this nursery. Madeleine will love what her Daddy created for her!

We also had the added obstacle of keeping our two curious four legged furry children from entering the nursery with wet paint. Apparently sometime when Chris was painting chair rails and crown molding this little stinker (BTW, his name is Chaz....and he is "big boned") came to check out his handy work! Per Chris he was playing limbo!!

We plan on doing the finishing touches this weekend. We will be adding polka dots to the top pink portion once the furniture and wall hangings are in place. I am not sure where to randomly place them right now.

We will post the finished project (for now) after this weekend. Off to painting!!

Belated Thanksgiving

Well I better get my Thanksgiving pics up before Christmas rolls around!! I know I have been
behind in posting. Things are going pretty good right now. Keeping busy with the holiday season.
We celebrated Thanksgiving splitting half the day with my family and half with Chris' family.
Lots of good food. We have so much to be thankful for this year. Still loving my job and so
grateful to have the opportunity to be closer to home. Of course we are so thankful to be
expecting the arrival of our baby girl in March/April. We have picked a name for her it
is Madeleine Paige. It was originally reversed but as my intelligent, think about the crazy details husband pointed out her intials would be P.M.S. I did not think much of it but after polling many of my girlfriends apparently it could be a big deal!! But I have fallen in love with the way it is now. Chris and I are trying to take the time and enjoy these last few months alone, sleeping in, and going places
whenever we please. I hear this will not be the case soon!!! My sister-in-law is pregnant also and due Dec so we have had fun being pregnant together! As you can see below see is about ready to have
her baby boy!! Nursery pics to come soon!!