Thankful Part 4

20. Hometown Animal Care: We have the best vet. They are fixing up our little Lexi right now.
21. Amazon.com/Overstock.com: Cheap, easy online shopping. The new, pregnant homeowner's saving grace.
22. Kevin: He's pretty swell. And I get to see him next month!
23. In-laws: It's really nice to have my in-laws in town. They are always ready to help with whatever we need, new house included.
24. Tenants: That's right, we have tenants at the old house. We give them the keys today. Hurray!
25. Ross surprise: I don't know what it is yet, but it has been requested that I take an afternoon off at the end of December to enjoy 1 of my Christmas presents. Yes sir!
26. The end of Movember: my husband just became so much more kiss-able.
27. Utilities: I didn't realize how much I love internet, cable, electricity and the like until I was without them. They are all on now (fingers crossed they stay that way) and it is awesome.
28. Austin friends: From the usual dozen suspects to the ones we see a little less often, we're really lucky to have a large, fun group of friends here. Making baby shower invite lists remind me just how lucky!
29. Melissa: My BFF from the beginning of time. Can you believe we've been friends for 19 years??
30. Holiday season: It really is the most wonderful time of year. Full of happy moments, food, friends, family, festivities and so many other fantastic things. I heart the holidays.

New House Noises

Whenever you relocate, there are all kinds of new noises to become accustomed to. If you are lucky, they are run of the mill and nothing that gives you buyer's remorse (so far so good).

Here's what we hear.

Train
It's a couple miles away so you can't hear it on the tracks but you can faintly hear the whistle/horn/thing. Given that we've both actually lived on railways and know what it could sound like, we're not worried. Once we actually are doing normal things like watching TV and raising a family, I doubt we even notice it. Right now its just because everything else is SO quiet.

Dogs
There is a healthy, robust and vocal puppy community here. Fortunately they all seem to have about a 9p bedtime. Lexi is going to have so many new friends...including the neighbor dog who she invited herself to visit yesterday while Ross and their owner chatted out front. A few minutes after chatting with the neighbor Ross realized Lexi was not underfoot as she usually is and when he went into the front yard (from the back) to see if she wandered out there, our neighbor was escorting her out of his house. She'd just wandered on in for a play date, that's all.

Goats
Not our house but our cul-de-sac borders a fairly well-sized residential lot where the neighbors keep a few animals. Among them, as I discovered this afternoon, are goats.

Owl
I have never lived someplace where you legitimately hear an owl. I don't know if I've ever even visited an owl-inhabited place. Last night in bed I heard the "whooo whooo" you learn to mimic in pre-school and looked at Ross and said "an owl???" Yup, definitely an owl. 

Let there be light! No really, please let there be light

At about 1:30p today Ross called me at work "someone just came and turned off the power. I need Reliant's number."

Thus began several hours on the phone and eventually social media in an attempt to restore power to our house. During all this Ross immediately recognized the eminent need as we just had a cold front come through and he has a pregnant wife who should not be in a cold house all night. It wasn't until an hour into it all that we talked and he made this point to me. Apparently I had forgotten my fragile condition.

I won't go into all the details but what it boils down to is an innocent (we assume) mistake (by whom is a debate) in which service was transferred to a house with the same street number but different street name. Turns out we'd been paying someone else's electricity for the past week. (I think they owe me a fruit basket or something.)

In retrospect we had some pretty funny moments on our calls with support. One of the best being the customer support person who recommended Ross go online and complete a service form. Ross quickly reminded him that without electricity, neither internet nor computers work.

On the more positive side we both greatly appreciated the people who said "She's pregnant? You're right; we need to get you power" and "I had a baby not too long ago. Being pregnant is uncomfortable enough. You don't need to be cold and pregnant in the dark." (Amen sister.)

And in the end we really appreciate the combination of the customer service supervisor and social media team who both went the extra mile to get our service turned back on tonight and follow up multiple times while we were waiting on it.

Because of them I'm in a snuggly warm house, using my internet next to a reading light, after taking a hot shower and my hubby is vegging out to the TV.

God I love electricity.

And we're here!

Well folks, the wait is over. We're moved in!

Moved in, as in, sleeping here and navigating boxes. Today we re-entered 2012 with the set-up of cable and internet and the delivery of our fridge. Ah the information age! The glory of groceries and home-cooked meals.

Our set-up has started in the master suite since that's where most the things we need to live on a daily basis reside. My inner HGTV-designer-wanna-be is very pleased to share with you our bright, bold accent wall in the bedroom. It was a little risky to put such a bright color on the wall but I'm happy to say we both really like it.

Tomorrow Ross tackles the backyard, hopefully getting a large portion of it sodded. Then Thursday and Friday I upgrade from evenings of unpacking to full days of unpacking. And somewhere in all that, we hope to have the electrician come out and set up our sweet "all electronic boxes hidden in a closet" set up. Frankly this set up is way beyond both of us and we're really glad we have an expert to lend us a hand.

Finally, the moment you've all been waiting for, the home build time lapse slideshow! ENJOY!

Nursery Milestone

After MONTHS of nursery decor debate, Ross and I have agreed on a specific!

We decided pretty early on that it would be jungle/animal themed. But then we discovered we had very different visions. Mine was a lot of solid colors and silhouettes; his was realistic ready-to-eat-you animals and most certainly NO silly baby faces on the animals.

We're still narrowing down exactly how we want the walls painted (we're pretty sure with trees) but this morning we picked out baby Cade's bedding. I call that step one. (Well maybe step three since the jungle theme was probably step one and actually having a nursery a la the new house was step two.)

Corn

Appropriately when I reached 24 weeks on Thanksgiving Thursday, BabyCenter.com told me little Cade is about as long as an ear of corn.

Forever Home

We are officially the proud owners of our forever home!

Finished product from the front

Italian soda toast in our new kitchen

Dining room

Top of the stairs

He's in heaven

First belly pic in new digs

Shapes & Colors

A former coworker of mine is lined up to paint an awesome jungle mural in the nursery for us. Ross and I though don't see totally eye to eye on it yet. I just showed him a sample picture and this is the conversation

Me: What do you think of this?
Ross: No. That doesn't look like what we agreed on.
Me: I know but I like the shape of the tree. What do you think?
Ross: It's blue.
Me: I know it's blue but what about the shape?
Ross: It's blue on blue.

Someone obviously did very well in colors but not so awesome in shapes.

Baby in the Belly - What's it Like

Pre-pregnancy I could not wrap my head around what it would feel like to have a baby in your belly and moving around. 23 and a half weeks in, I still don't think you can really totally imagine it until you've been there, done that. However I'd like to try describing it. And since I was incredibly curious before I was pregnant, I figure there's at least one other person out there wondering the same thing.

First - The first time I "felt the baby" was during yoga class doing an on-my-belly pose. I was still in the clear for stomach laying and whatnot so I wasn't too worried about it. But this one time I laid down on the ground and it felt like I was laying on a small nerf football. Right below my belly button. It was kinda a "princess and the pea" type moment. Like I knew there was something there but couldn't quite figure it out. (About a week later I confirmed with my nurse, yup, that's a baby. I then stopped doing said on-my-belly pose). I think I was about 18 weeks along at this point.

Second - When I started feeling Baby move, it didn't feel like flutters at all. It felt more like the less-appealing analogy people make, gas. It sorta felt like when you are really hungry and your stomach twists in knots, except without the hunger pains. Just like a part of me was doing something in there (something pretty darn important). I think this was also around 18 or 19 weeks.

Third - The next phase of baby movement felt like someone playing pool or ping pong in my belly. There was nothing graceful or detailed about it. It was a like a whole mass moving all at once. Somersaults. Stronger than the hunger pain-esque feeling, but again, not precise.

Fourth - This is where I am now. I can feel punches/kicks but I can't tell which anything is. It is definitely more distinct, detailed movements as opposed to feeling like the whole kid is moving at once. It's kinda like if someone taps you on the shoulder, just from inside your belly, which yes sounds really strange but it feels remarkably similar from inside your body as it does from outside. Sometimes it can be felt from outside my belly too but that isn't very consistent  yet. Also, now he MOVES, and pretty consistently. Every morning and every evening, right after I wake up and right before I go to bed. I'm still not sure if he's actually moving tons more during these times or if I'm just less busy and more aware of it.

I was kinda worried having a baby move inside me would feel really foreign or alien. Fortunately, it does not. I think part of that is because it comes on so gradually. It's not like one day everything is still and the next day you are getting boxed and drop kicked.

So when you have a baby in your belly, know it will probably feel pretty normal and natural which is exactly what it is.

Thankful Part 3

19. I'm thankful for all the love in our little family.

Thankful Part 2

Patient, forgiving AND good-looking

13. My patient and forgiving husband - (Very similar to Thankful item 1) This past week I was - how do I put this delicately - difficult. Every day. My hubby was not only patient in the moment but forgiving after the fact(s). Bless him.

14. Black Friday sales - Because we bought a pretty bad ass refrigerator on sale today. I'm very pleased that Lowe's started their Black Friday sale a full week in advance.

15. FaceTime - Yes, the iPhone/iPad app. Because every third day when my hubby is on shift, I still get to see his pretty face before I go to bed.

16. Texas - It may sound cheesey but I really love my home state. I can wear short sleeves in November (and 9-11 other months a year), the cost of living is low, the economy is strong and diverse, the accents drawl, there's a national magazine, we don't (usually) take ourselves too seriously (how could any place with such big hats/hair and so much glitter be too serious?) and it just feels like home y'all.

17.  Grandma Betsy's food legacy - Also known as pumpkin bread. It completes the season, can brighten anyone's day, is my one family recipe and the only thing I can consistently bake.

18. The Houston Texans - It may not have been pretty today, but we got the job done! 9-1!

Mango Baby!

Support stockings, roomy shoes, sweating. All things BabyCenter.com used in their week 23 pregnancy description. Way to get a girl excited y'all.

Knock on wood, but so far I've had none of those. I'm sure it is wishful thinking that it will continue so smoothly but I can dream.

Also on the Baby Mama front, I can really feel him wiggling now. It's not all day, but usually in the morning as I drag my butt outta bed and in the evening as I start getting really lazy. It's kinda a nice reminder that something much more important that chores, work, bank accounts, etc is going on in our lives. In terms of weight gain, still pretty modest. But I'm eating and he's moving and every doctor's appointment seems to go very well so I am just going to chalk it up as a bit of genetic awesomeness.

From my intern days working on the mango farmers' group.
I'm choosing to imagine this is what Cade looks like, feathers and all.

More related to Baby Cade, he's now cross the 1 pound in weight mark! You go baby! He's about the size of a mango and his hearing is getting much better. In fact, he'll probably start to become accustomed to loud noises, like Lexi barks, and then be totally unfazed by them when he arrives. Excellent. Because sometimes, like when people dare to go on walks in front of our house, Lexi barks a lot.

Politics & Pregnancy

I'm not sure if it is being pregnant, the election or in some cases a combination of the two, but I have been more opinionated than usual lately (and its not like I'm passive most the time).

The example of a gift from Obama that I mentioned in my post earlier this evening, sparked the want to write another post.

Since becoming pregnant, there have been a couple social issues I've started to feel more strongly about (I'm sure raising children will spark a few more).

First, the Texas law requiring an ultrasound at least 24 hours before having an abortion. I'll start by saying I'm pro-choice so the general right to an abortion is one I support. However having had ultrasounds very early in my pregnancy which are incredibly invasive, my outrage is multiplied. First, are women so stupid that we don't understand what an abortion is doing? Second, is the state under the impression that the decision to have an abortion is akin to deciding what to have for breakfast? Goodness! Give us a little credit. And to the multiplying of my outrage, this is, I repeat, an incredibly invasive procedure and for very early in a pregnancy, really the only option. That the government believes it is OK to require something of that level of intimacy is mind-boggling.

Second, affordable contraceptives. I'm very excited for my little one to arrive. We're married, we own a home (ha, 2 soon!), we are gainfully employed, we finished college. In short, we're ready. Even given all that readiness, there are some elements of having a baby that scare the hell outta me. If two ready and excited people are still scared sometimes, imagine the poor couple who is not ready. Having a baby should and can be very exciting. Let's help as many people as possible have that experience and not a terrifying one. Also, a wanted, loved and prepared for child is ultimately better for society and, crass as it sounds, our financial state. When families can plan their children, they can better prepare to care (emotionally and financially) for those babies. If you want to save dollars on the government budget, affordable contraceptives are a much less expensive option than caring for a child.

Third, again affordable contraceptives. This time the idea that it is a "women's issue." We are not having sex by ourselves thank you very much.

Fourth, abortion. (Warning: this one gets heavy.) When we were doing our genetic screening, there were two conditions that were checked for that were fatal. Whether or not I could carry the baby to full-term would remain to be seen but the bottom line was the baby would not live outside the womb. At the time, I frankly just stuck my head in the sand and refused to consider the possibility that my baby could have one of those conditions. (And very thankfully I have a healthy, active, growing baby in my belly.) As I grow  and pass milestones like the halfway point, I can't fathom knowing with such certainty that the baby I was growing would never grow up at all. What a terrible thing to know. How do you even begin to survive 6, 7, 8 or 9 months knowing that? How do you answer the questions about your baby and pregnancy? How do you do anything but mourn to the deepest depths of your soul?? It is for that reason that my commitment to pro-choice laws is infinitely stronger than it was before becoming pregnant. Because if God forbid, my baby boy were not healthy, I would want the choice.

The expression "all politics is personal" is so incredibly accurate.

Lifting the Veil

With the election behind us, I'm lifting the very thin veil on my presidential preference.

Tonight, ABC News did a story on why Mitt Romney thinks he lost the election. In summary, Romney says Obama gave "gifts" to various minority groups and then aggressively got out the vote.

To me this translates into Obama passed policies he believed in and then asked his supporters to vote for him (or the less cynical version, asked Americans to vote for/against him based on those policies...isn't that what you are supposed to judge a presidential candidate on, their policies?).

The "gifts" Obama gave are outrageous things like healthcare or access to a future through skill development. Outrageous I tell you!

And the minority groups who benefited are fringe groups like young adults, women, African-Americans and Hispanics. God forbid they be encouraged to exercise their right to vote.

If affordable access to contraceptives (that enable better family planning, reduce unwanted pregnancy and frankly cost a whole lot less than you and/or the government raising a child), is the President's gift/bribe to me and other women, I will happily take that gift and vote with it.

Can we call low tax rates and loopholes the Republicans' gift to rich people and then accuse them of aggressively soliciting votes? If so, you're on.

Thankful Part 1

Our November is so wonderful and busy, I thought committing myself to blogging about something every day would be an overly ambitious challenge. I do, though, really like the idea of taking time to remember all the things we should be thankful for. This year instead of a post per day like I did last year, I'm going to do a few summary posts of the things I'm thankful for. And so far, 2012 has given me LOTS of fodder.

Numbers 1 & 5, combined

1. My magnificent husband - He's sporting a charity mustache, man-handling many elements of our move and saving lives on a regular basis. All while taking me on date nights and making me feel pretty, even when my pants (tops, dresses, skirts, coats) don't fit.
2. My growing belly - Healthy babies require growing bellies! And healthy is exactly the way I prefer my babies. Grow belly grow!
3. My sweet Lexi - Even with her recent ailments, she's still the cutest pup I know. And she snuggles like a champ.
4. My baby's godparents - Val already has a trip to meet Cade booked and Ryan is talking about prepping him for college. My baby has very good godparents.
5. My dream house - We visited the new house again today and I can honestly say, it is a dream come true. Every time I see a new feature installed or unveiled, I'm just in love with it. I cannot wait to move in!
6. My parents - In addition to taking my calls at all hours (especially Mom, I should really start being more considerate in my call times), they are helping us get the house set up in a couple weeks, planning a visit for the birth of one Baby Cade and what I am most thankful for, raised me to be a confident, head-strong, independent adult.
7. My Grandma - At 87 years young, she's doing great and I know will be one of the first in line to meet the newest addition in the spring. I'm so glad Baby Cade will have a (super, exponentially fantastic) great grandmother!
8. Deltas - The day my doc confirmed we had a healthy pregnancy, I set aside the whole evening for calling Deltas. Do you know how much fun it is to tell all your best girlfriends that you are having a baby!? It is excellent. And seeing them every year is simply spectacular.
9. Our EuroTrip - We saved and planned and planned and saved and every minute was so worth it. Hands down the best trip I've ever been on (and I'm fortunate to have set a high bar with New Zealand several years ago). It was the perfect babymoon and I'm so glad we did it before embarking on our next chapter.
10. Ice Cream - What? I'm pregnant. Also this love is amplified by a recent conversation with my doc. Me: "I'm not gaining much weight. Is everything OK? Are we cool?" Doc: "A lot of women find they eat healthier when they are pregnant..." Me: "I'm not one of them." Seriously, I have 3 varieties of ice cream in my freezer right now, cookies n' cream, Great Divide and chocolate fudge brownie. (And yes we're cool; baby is growing and has a healthy heart, both of which are more important than my weight.)
11. Southwest Airlines - As you can see, many of the serious items are behind us. I love Southwest because they don't charge me for luggage, consistently arrive on time, still serve snacks and run a pretty damn good corporate blog. Also, I got my flight to Kev's wedding for $80 + miles with them. SCORE.
12. Yoga - I'm not into "at one with the world" "love, peace and happiness" yoga (or the 1990s prenatal yoga DVD I bought, which has 3 pregnant women in brightly colored unitards making them look like teletubbies) but I have come to really dig athletic, balance-enhancing, flexibility improving yoga. My body hasn't been this well stretched since I was 15. And though I'm having to start modifying it now, it is the work-out I can do with the least modifications which makes me feel like my normal, active self.

She Blogs

For work today I tasked myself with researching some women-centric media outlets for our PR team. As a girl power geek, it was a task I LOVED and turned into adding a few new blogs to my personal RSS reader, including Motherlode from the NY Times. I figure in a few short months, its content will be wildly relevant. Might as well start studying up now. (Also it is sharp, thoughtful and thought-provoking with very little "sex clothes and makeup!" like I saw on so many others...I like those 3 things as much as the next girl, but dear God, I am sure there are more important things I should be reading in my roughly 30 minutes of personal/professional development time each week.)

Anyways, I wanted to share a small excerpt from one of the posts I read today, as I think it hits the nail on the head for what is coming down the working mom road for me. Here ya go

Now it’s time for a neat wrap-up, tying together one frustrated law firm associate and now at-home parent with the need for both policies and social compacts that make quitting a choice, rather than a perceived necessity, and that make her eventual re-entry into the workforce a generally accepted part of the arc of a career. It’s all part of the same thing: the evolution of the working parent as both sexes reach for a more balanced life. And given another half-hour at my desk, I’d wind that into a closing paragraph that made it all flow, and made it clear that the goal should always be to enable all parents to make the choices that work best for their families — because children raised in happy, secure environments are important to our future.

But I don’t have another half-hour, because I’m a working parent, and I have children to pick up at school, and an afternoon’s coordinated activities to set in motion, with the help of my husband and any number of other parents, all of whom are about to embark on a usual weekday of Lego League practice (four working-parent coaches, including me), playdates (with a parent who has an afternoon off), birthday parties (starting after work!) and taking children to watch the college hockey team in action (another afterwork activity).

I don't share this in a "woe is me, the soon-to-be working mom" way. More in a - "ha! ain't it the truth!" way.

Have a fav blog I should add to my reading list?

House & Pup

This morning Lexi and I ventured up to the new house. It is so close to being ready that you can't even go inside anymore. Hurray!

Like she owns the place

Additions since I was there 4 days ago: real front door, blinds inside, fence, address numbers, outdoor lighting, shutters and stain on front posts.

Falling Apart

Our poor little Lexi girl seems to be falling apart. A few weeks ago, as you may know, she was on puppy bedrest for a hurt leg. Then of course there's the usual "Mom & Dad changed my food and now I'm having an allergic reaction" situation. (Apparently she can't just be on IAMS All-Natural, it has to be IAMS All-Natural Chicken variety; nothing else will do.)

Now it's her cute little puppy dog eye. Earlier this week Ross noticed her right eye had a weird pink swell/growth/something. You can only see it when she looks really far to one side or is worn out, panting and has her eyes open really wide. Her annual appointment was due pretty soon so he decided we should go ahead and do that.

Good thing too. He took her yesterday and the vet thought it was probably an infected tear gland but wanted to consult a puppy ophthalmologist. She sent a couple photos of it off and within a couple hours was calling us back. Turns out it is either an inflamed something-or-another or a tumor which would require surgery.

Lexi is now on oral meds and eye drops in hopes that it will clear up and thus have just been the inflamed thing-that-I-can't-remember-the-name-of. If it doesn't start to heal, we'll probably need to take her to a specialist and have them do a biopsy.

The good news in all this is two-fold. 1) It doesn't seem to be bothering her in any way and 2) Ross caught it early.

We're of course hoping her eye clears up, she's fine and that this is the last bit of falling apart our sweet girl does for a very long time.

Spaghetti Squash

22 weeks in and Baby Cade is about 11 inches long, roughly the length of a spaghetti squash (which I don't think I've ever seen let alone eaten). Slowly but surely he is closing in on that 1 pound mark.

Now that I'm into the second half of my pregnancy, things seem to be going faster. I'm sure this also has to do with our move, the holidays, etc. I've said it once and I'll say it again, it is a good thing this kiddo won't be here until March because there is NO WAY I'll be ready before then.

Dear Cade, please stay in my belly until March. I'd like you to be fully developed and whatnot and also, if you come sooner than that, you are probably sleeping in a laundry basket.

Really Really Close

Our new house is really really close to being done. (As it should be; we close in 2 weeks!)

Today I ventured up there with a coworker/friend on lunch to check it out.

The front yard landscaping is done - grass, a tree and some cactusy things that look fairly difficult to kill. (Score!) The back patio has been finished and the backyard is looking more cleared in general. We also have appliances in the kitchen now and a light in the entry-way.

Tonight I scheduled the painter to come over Thanksgiving weekend and paint the kitchen red (once you go red you can never go back) and the master bedroom accent wall a lovely turquoise. The painter is the hubby of a former coworker so I feel really good about supporting their family.

In addition to the painter we're juggling a million other house-related things but so far so good. Move in day is getting really really close and we can't wait!

Very Strong Opinions About Women Voters

I'm watching the electoral college votes roll in and listening to the political pundits chatter away about this demographic voting this way and that demographic voting that way. I can't help but notice, as I have throughout this election, the discussion of women. "Women care about X issue" and "Women are passionate about Y issue" and "He really depends on women voters in X state."

I'd like to point out a potentially little known fact: Women are half the country.

HALF. So perhaps it is a little presumptive to assume that HALF the population cares about one issue more than another. Perhaps implying that a full HALF of the population votes based on the same predictable 1 or 2 issues is a little insulting.

There's a lot of women voters out there and we are from all walks of life. Yuppies. Soccer moms. Old money. New money. Religious leaders. Secular leaders. Low income. Urbanites. College educated. High school drop-outs. Black. White. Asian. Hispanic. Business owners. Environmentalists. Government employees. The list goes on and on and on.

I think the campaigns and the commentators would be much better served to describe women voters through more narrow segmentation than "women." Do you ever hear "Well he really needs to win the male vote for this election"? No! You hear "White working-class men are critical;" a finely-tuned, specific segment.

Next election, please consider that women voters are defined by things other than their anatomy and speak to and about us as the diverse, critically-thinking individuals we are.

Random Thoughts on a Tuesday in November

In addition to "baby brain" making you forget things, I'm also pretty sure it increases ADD tendencies. Here's a sampling of my random thoughts before 9 a.m.

• The inventor of maternity leggings should be President.
• The starter of Bagel Tuesday at my office should be the VP.
• One of the perks to being pregnant is guiltlessly eating a whole chocolate chip bagel slathered in cream cheese for breakfast. 
• And also putting snack size Hershey's and Three Musketeers bars on that same plate.
• I'm confident Mitt Romney does not turn up the volume and belt "The Pina Colada" song while he's driving. We have so little in common.
• I bet if he wins, Obama would have a more raucous victory party (per the previous thought, among others).
• I'm really interested in what a George Strait presidency would look like.

1 step closer

The new house now has a driveway!

We also have part of our back patio. I think the builder made a mistake as they only poured a 10x10 and our plan has a 10x20. I assume they aren't pouring it in 2 phases - that would just be silly. But we alerted them and I'm sure it will be fixed soon.

Word on the street has it we'll close the week of Thanksgiving. Fingers cross that happens and we can be moved in before the month is over. Yay!

Mama's Little Carrot

21 weeks down! Baby Cade is as long as a carrot (but hopefully a little fatter). BabyCenter.com says his flutters may have progressed to ninja kicks and I second that. He's a black belt! He's also got eyebrows and eyelids, both of which I say ultimately contribute to a good-looking person.

Unrelated to the official BabyCenter.com food analogy and development summary, this past week was the first time I had a relative stranger ask about my pregnancy. When I got home from work our new neighbor who I've only waved to once or twice asked if we knew what we were having. I told her it was a boy and she grinned and said she had three boys.

Only time will tell of course but at this juncture three boys scares the bejeezus outta me. A coworker of mine has triplet boys and I'm pretty sure that means his wife is superhuman. Ditto to my Grandma who raised four boys. I will happily take this adventure one baby (boy or otherwise) at a time (which is a good way to feel seeing as I am getting one boy this go-around; seems like my baby-producing preferences and body were on the same page).

From me and my ninja baby - sleep tight!

I gotta a house for you!

It's official, our current house is listed as available to lease. And I'm just sayin' y'all, it looks GOOD. I would totally rent it.

Tell your friends to rent it. Show them the listing. Remember to include "very reasonable landlords" in your description.