April Showers...

This weekend I had another shower to attend, but this time it wasn't mine! Our family celebrated my sister-in-law's upcoming wedding by throwing her a bridal shower at Brooks House of BBQ.  The weather was fantastic and the location was so accommodating.  I tell you, they do such a nice job over there.  Not only do I love their food, but now I've attended four events they've hosted and the service is consistently stellar. 

That officially concludes my obligations for the month of April!  Boy, it was such a busy month but now our little man can come at any time and I'd be completely ready.  I've made no further weekend plans or commitments from here on out.  Seventeen days and counting!

Furry Friday: Collages

For the month of April I have been one heck of a busy pregnant lady so my apologies ahead of time for the lack of posts.  My mother-in-law surprised me with a baby shower on April 5th, my sister-in-law's bachelorette weekend was the weekend of the 13th, my surprise family baby shower was on April 20th, a baby reception was held for me at work on April 24th, and this weekend is my sister-in-law's bridal shower!  Not to mention I've been trying to wrap things up at work in preparation for my impending time off.  Unfortunately there are only so many hours in a day and only so much of my energy to go around.  For those of you missing out on Furry Friday posts, Riley is still very much his self and our little love bug.  He gives everything the sniff check in the baby's room and the downstairs playroom.  Here's hoping he's a great big brother!  So let's kick off this Furry Friday post with a new photo of our Rye-guy followed by photos from each of the events that have been keeping me so busy (click to enlarge):

Fourth Place?

I have read many an article over at the MMSL blog and I have to say that I have come to appreciate the viewpoint that Athol, the author, brings to the topics at hand.  Many times something he says will hit home.  His article from Monday is no exception: "She Comes Fourth In Your Life vs. Children Come First."  To give you the short and sweet, essentially he's addressing the order of importance in which you place your spouse/partner.  It appears the norm has become (1) self -or- children, (2) blood relatives/immediate family, (3) career -or- mission, and lastly, (4) the spouse/partner. This has led to many an unstable/unhealthy relationship because ultimately the spouse/partner ends up feeling pushed away and devalued.  This particular topic has been one I have grappled with on many occasion.

Furry Friday: Grandpa's Bud

It's no secret that Riley and his Grandpa are buddies.  Grandpa comes over every work day to walk him at lunchtime and even just the mention of Grandpa's name makes Riley do an excited little tap-dance.  In case your wondering what a dachshund tap-dancing is like, just imagine Riley jumping around on his little 3 inch legs clickety-clacking his little toe nails all the while.  It's cute, really.  He also does this when he can't decide if he should sit/stay or run for the back door when we're getting ready for a car-ride.  So as you can see, Grandpa ranks right up there with car-rides.

Morphed

This morning my mother-in-law brought me a baby photo of Justin from when he was first born.  Combine that with a photo I had from when I was a baby (not sure exactly how old) and I've begun to wonder just what our impending bundle of joy will look like.  For starters, Justin was a 6lb cone head and his parents thought he looked like E.T.  I was an 8lb chunk-a-munk with dark hair and leg rolls comparable to the Michelin Man.  I know what you are thinking... this poor kid has no chance.  Well fortunately there are a few play-pretend sites out there that help you imagine what such a combination would result in.  I decided to try out The Baby Morpher over at The Bump.  What resulted is probably far from accurate but it was fun to try.  

 

What other sites have you used and did you find that they were anywhere close to what your child actually ended up looking like?

Thirty Four

In only three weeks time I'll be considered full-term.  Insane to think that our little man could arrive as soon as that.  In many ways, I'm more than ready for him to be here.  Although three weeks seems a little soon.  As I've said before, I have so much I want to get done before he's here!  For starters, whenever my mother scheduled my shower for has got to be coming up and I'll have to get all those goodies put away and organized.  I also have to pack my hospital duffle, get the car seats set up, and of course there are two weekends designated to parties for my sister-in-law's wedding!  Check off the list that we've completed the "play room," the family wall, our birthing classes, and we've sent e-cards to important family members alerting them of the location of the hospital.  Justin also downloaded the Daddy511 app for his phone which has my doctor's number, the hospital number/address, and our baby's statistics all in one convenient place.  The count down is quickly dwindling but we still have one looming item that will need to be decided pretty quickly once he gets here (although preferably before)... HIS NAME.  Initially I thought it would be so easy to pick a boys name, but in all honesty the girls names were much easier for us to compile into a list.  We have three finalists, although middle names are making the decision even harder.  We like Jayson (or Jaysen), Caleb, and Kyle.  Kyle we've pretty much settled that the middle name would be Alexander or Xavier.  I guess we could use either of those with the other two names but I'm not sure I'm really feeling it.  This is a life altering decision folks.  The poor kid will be stuck with this name the rest of his life.  So, suggestions are welcome.  Feel free to comment below.

Anyways, enough worrying about that.  Let's add a little humor to the post.  Here's the top ten things they don't tell you about pregnancy at 34 weeks: