Nursery Time

We're getting there...little by little, we are finishing all the prep work so that Harrison has his own little space...take that back, so that he can completely overrun our house with baby stuff. We are almost completely finished with his nursery, bathroom and travel needs (strollers, bouncers, pack-n-play, etc).

Nursery Updates: The room was painted yellow to begin with...Mark would not let me repaint it. I had to work with what I was given. I figured, I made all the other decisions about what we were going to do as far as the decorations were concerned so I guess he could have his wish on the wall color. I mean after all, the monster theme kind-of just happened for me and there was no turning back after the idea took place! Our color theme is pretty much NOT pastels. We have aqua blue, bright orange, royal blue, fire engine red, many shades of bright green and pops of yellow. It's all boy and it's a fun mismatch of the colors that will hopefully stand out enough to keep our little guy occupied and interested. Wait til he sees his bathroom!!! We'll send some update pictures on that soon; Mark is almost finished in there and it's definitely all kid-inspired.

Harrison's bedding and curtains were made by a great friend of the family, Lee, who sewed every inch of the items together (what an awesome skill that I so do not have!) and they look amazing! She made the crib sheets, baby blanket, dust ruff, curtains and is currently working on the bumper pads--what a woman!

We had some great help from my Dad hanging all the shelves not only on the walls but also in the closet. So Harrison has a horde of monsters in his room and has a closet full of baby clothes that he can hopefully all wear.

We even tested out most of his stuff already (thank you all for the lovely shower gifts!) when our friends Traci and Kevin brought over their little sweetie Reagan. The monitor rocks, she loved all his toys and those glowing/musical creatures for nap time work like a charm! It's great to know that we picked out some winners for our little guy and if he's finicky, we can always give Reagan some new great gear!

As far as the rest of the baby gear goes: We installed the car seats in each car and it's truly amazing how much room they actually take up! We must both sit way back in our cars because we had to move those passenger seats up and it's now a sad situation for whoever is stuck riding along. We also put the stroller and snap-and-go together so we each have one ready. The pack-n-play is up as well as the bouncer and swing. Like I said, it's all coming along. Now we just have to wait for the baby.

Speaking of Harrison, we had our 36 week appointment today and he's doing just great. Everything looked good and we'll have another appointment next week. It's amazing to think we have somewhere around 3 weeks left before he's here! Right now he's moving all over the place and he's got me famished and parched as always...so off I go to fill up the meter.

We'll send more updates soon!

Showered with Monsters

My amazing friends at work threw an incredible party for little Harrison--it was a true monster bash! We had a giant monster cake from my fav--Delicious Cakes! And there were even craft stations so that everyone there could make their own monster...which is currently in the process of being sewn together into an awesome quilt for Harrison (thanks to Heather and Stacy's diligent work)! Thank you to my hostesses-with-the mostesses: Heather, Leah, Amanda, Delia, Ashley, Stacy and Michele!

Update on everything...

First... Harrison Rhys

Things are progressing nicely for our little boy. He still has about a month left to go before he's ready. We had a doctor's check-up yesterday and Harrison is currently at about 5 and a half pounds. That puts his due date around the 17th of August, but at this point there are so many variables that the likelyhood of that is slim. The original due date was closer to September, so we're sticking with that for now. Of course things change quickly and unexpectedly this close to the birth, especially the first time around.

Second... Steph

She seems to be doing okay. She's very uncomfortable all the time and she has aches and pains throughout her back and stomach on occasion. She's not moving very fast which isn't that bad as we should all slow down. She has the entire king sized bed to herself as I'm still camped out on the couch. Instead of feeling like I've been kicked to the curb, I instead feel like I'm simply doing my duty.

One of her favorite video games came out last week and this time we can play together. We both have Nintendo DS's and have played them countless times since we got married. However we've never before played a game together. Dragon Quest IX recently came out with the ability to play the game together via the wi-fi capability of the little console system. We also decided to both upgrade our very out dated DS's to the newer DSXL's. Its a much larger system with two much bigger systems.

I feel I've had a good influence on my wife when it comes to gaming. Before she never really cared for them. Now she's getting into RPG's and puzzle games more and more.

I'd also like to report that she's showing glimpses of interest in baseball and the Rangers! That's been a hard fought battle on my part, but through vast amounts of watching games on TV and dragging her to the ballpark, she's slowly started to get into my favorite of all sports! Its about time!

Lastly... the house

Things are nearing completion in the remodelling arena. Both bathrooms have been completely stripped of all wallpaper. They were covered with a liberal application of primer. And with the extremely generous help of our friends Kevin and Traci, they were textured to match the rest of the house. After giving them a few days to dry completely I will prime them both twice more before applying paint.

For Harrison's bathroom, we've chosen a light orange color. I'm guessing it will be overly colorful in there but who cares. Its a kids bathroom with monster crap everywhere. He will have a new light fixture, new shelves, a new mirror, and new general fixtures everywhere.

For the half bath down stairs we're going with whatever color we have left over from all of our original paint projects when we moved in 3 and a half years ago. It will probably be a light yellow. It too will get the same upgrades as Harrison's bathroom.

Over all things feel like they're coming together. The Pack-and-Play is out and ready for use. Harrison's room is essentially ready for occupation (pictures to follow), and the other odds and ends are getting stacked into place nicely. I have quite a bit more to do, but it will get done in time. Thank God the pregnancy lasts 9-10 months or none of this crap ever would have gotten done!

Maternity photo shoot

Steph and I were contacted by a teacher friend of mine who has started her own photography company while perfecting her Stay At Home Mom skills. She offered her expertise and we gladly obliged.

Dana met us at Bass Pro Shop in Grapevine, TX so we could carpool over to the Gaylord Texan for this shoot. I had proposed to Steph there nearly 6 years ago so it seemed fitting, plus the resort is simply an amazing place to visit and take pictures.

We started at about 9:15 Saturday morning and shot until noon. I was very hungry by the end of it, but we got some great photos in the process. I think Dana took something like 700+ photos in that time!

I'm attached a couple of those shots from her blog onto here (hopefully). We plan on ordering a fair few of these and you of course are welcome to do the same. Once Harrison gets here we'll be doing the same with him. I'm sure those will be even more popular than our maternity shoot!

If anyone is interested in using Dana's excellent skills at photography, just let me know and I can get you in contact with her. She doesn't stick only to baby and maternity pictures. Check out her website at http://www.onedimplephotography.com/

Back to her old ways...

After a small hiatus from her normal pregnancy sleeping habits, I'm sad to report that Stephanie is once again snoring. This time she's returned to snoring with a vengeance! If it were an Olympic sport, she would absolutely get the gold.

Of course this means that I've got to find another place to close my eyes or risk zero sleep. Instead of sleeping on the floor in the office and the now ultra clean brand new carpet, I've opted for the much easier couch. There is less set up and take down so its the smarter choice. Alas, it all seems to be part of this wacky game of pregnancy so far, and I don't mind the exodus.

Our dogs don't seem to mind the new situation either as they've taken up residence on my pillows at night. I blame them of course, for the whole sordid affair!

On a different note...

Harrison is kicking Steph seemingly all the time now. I suppose he's starting to run out of room in there. And we still have a couple of months left. I simply can't begin to imagine how Steph is handling this pregnancy thing. Let me just say for the record that I'm glad I was born a man. With all my idiosyncrasies I'd never get any sleep. My wife, on the other hand, soldiers on like a real trooper!

On yet another note...

The house is coming along. However we've seem to hit a snag, and I blame my decision to teach summer school. Its only about 5 hours a day, but this summer school thing is the pits. My kids are great and hard working, but I get home and I'm exhausted. I simply don't want to do anything and with my chronic laziness in full affect, that is a formula for disaster! We have so much laundry piled up and the dishes are just getting out of control. The garage needs to be organized stat and don't even get me started on the "garden area" in our back yard. There is a weed that literally stands taller than I do. At this point its a pride thing and I want to see just how tall this sucker will get. Steph seems embarrassed by the overwhelming growth, but I'm fascinated! Grow little weed, grow!!!

We're rocking at 32 weeks... I think. Harrison will be here before long and then it gets easier, right?