Seen on Woodruff Road

I'm driving down Woodruff road on my way to my chiropractor appointment. I see an old van up ahead that's moving slowly in my lane so I pull into the left lane to pass. As I get closer I notice the van is painted to look like a Van Gogh painting. In particular - Starry Night. It is covered completely in this painting and they actually did a pretty good job. On the back doors of the van is a caricature of Van Gogh with a text bubble coming out of his mouth. The words in the bubble - "Look at this Van gogh".

I'd have to say this is one of the more inventive and amusing things I've ever seen painted on an old van.

The money shot

We went for our 20th week ultrasound today. Here's baby's profile:




And the one that everyone wants to see
The 3 lines are hard to see here but were VERY clear at the appointment. Our baby is very modest and had her legs completely together almost the entire time. The ultrasound tech waited quite patiently to see if she would "open up".

A few items of note:
At this time I have partial placenta previa. Neither the tech nor the doctor seemed that concerned - just something to keep an eye on. Chances are it will move up and all will be normal.

Baby's kidneys were slightly dilated. The U/S tech said this is abnormal but not necessarily cause for concern at this point. It will probably correct itself as the baby grows. As a precaution I will have a Level 2 U/S with the High Risk OB in 1 month.

I finally gained a pound! The doctor mentioned the lack of weight gain but didn't seem like it was a huge deal - just said to eat regular meals (which I have been doing). He said the baby was growing normally (10 oz today) so my lack of weight gain isn't a big deal right now.

I'm also measuring a bit ahead of schedule so my date is 9/8 which jives with what I think the date should be.

House Plan

Here's a link to our House Plan. The babies room will be Bedroom #3. For reference we have the option upgrade owners bath and the 2 car garage. Bedroom #2 is our office. The living room & kitchen have valuted ceilings. We also have a deck on the back the previous owner added on that isn't shown.

It's a Boy!

For those of you who know Beth W (Formerly E.) from New Life she gave birth last night to a 9 lb 6oz baby boy. His name is Stephen Terry. I'm assuming there was some type of complication as she had to have an unplanned C-Section but all went well and she and baby are doing fine. The family has asked for prayers for a quick recovery so please keep them in your thoughts.


And you thought I was announcing the gender of our baby! :-)

For Mandi

Annabelle's favorite place to sit

Piper's favorite place to sit. She loves to have her belly rubbed and generally falls asleep like this. She also snores! :-)

Cheap is good, free is better!

I've been searching for inexpensive nursery furniture since day 1. I've heard of people going all out and buying gorgeous heirloom furniture and I would love to be able to do that but finances don't really permit us to do that and do anything else we might want to do. I figure the baby could care less how expensive the crib is so I figured I would settle for something nice. Even so, cribs are expensive! I really wanted a natural wood crib stained in a light honey color (but not yellowish). About a month ago Graham's Uncle called to offer us their old crib. His children are both in elementary school so they won't be needing it anymore. The only downside - it's white. I battled internally for a little while as I really didn't want white but how can you say no to free? We went to look at the crib and it's very nice, has modern safety features, and is actually a very expensive brand (bellini). All we'll have to do is purchase the mattress. As a bonus it has the one thing I really wanted - a drawer in the bottom for storing linens. It also converts to a toddler bed (but not beyond that).

Bellini "Katie" Crib (This picture was one on sale on eBay for 350 - Used!)

After our score in the crib department I was also hoping for something similar in regards to a changing table. Unfortunately I couldn't find free and I could find cheap but the quality was so poor I couldn't bring myself to even consider those. Graham was kind enough to offer to finish a piece from Wood You so that we could get a nice piece of furniture inexpensively. We've had really good luck with them in the past and I had actually considered doing this for a changing table but hadn't brought it up as I'm usually the finisher of furniture and I know it's not his favorite task. We haven't purchased it yet but plan to sometime early this summer. We decided to go with a dresser vs. changing unit as we'll get more long term use out of the piece.

Changing Table/Dresser - We'll probably choose a finish close to this color. ($279 plus staining supplies)

The only other piece I'm hoping to add is a Chair and Ottoman. I don't want a nursery glider - more like a club chair and ottoman. I plan to pick out something neutral so that I can move it to my bedroom as a reading chair once baby is no longer nursing. Hopefully since the other furniture was such a good price we can get a nice chair. I looked at the ones at Babies R Us but they had awful reviews. Many people said the chairs started out nice but after 6 to 9 months the springs started popping out. These sets retail for 400+. I'd rather pay a little more and get something that is good quality. Jack and Julie have a really nice large club chair and ottoman set from La-Z-Boy so I may look there.

Friday Laziness

I don't intend to be lazy all day today but we started out that way. We enjoyed sleeping in and then Graham wanted to go get donuts and coffee for breakfast. Now before you think I am very unhealthly we've never done this before and I figure a splurge every now and then isn't bad. We were going to eat at the donut shop but evidentally it was the happening place to be so we decided to head home and enjoy our breakfast in peace. One of my favorite ways to spend any morning (if I have time) is to sit out on our deck and read while I sip my beverage. Although this morning was a bit nippy the sun was out and was quite pleasant. I started out alone on the deck but was soon joined by the dogs as they just couldn't stand to be without me. Now when I say dogs, I mean 4 dogs. No, we haven't gotten any more pets but we are dog sitting this week for a friend from college. Her pups are quite well behaved although Piper, a puppy, is very mischevious. She has some crazy antics which can sometimes be cute and occasionally annoying but then what good puppy isn't? She and Annabelle (her sister) also enjoy playing with each other, quite roughly in fact - this is something my dogs are too chicken to get in on. Dolly generally just lays there and watches. Annie is the "police" if they get to loud and rough. She'll bark at them to say "that's enough!" and Piper and Annabelle generally stop...for about 5 minutes. We'll be doing double dog duty until Wednesday.

Annabelle - enjoying the sun. She has one of the prettiest most expressive faces I have ever seen on a dog. Her eyes are very bright and alert

Piper (or Pipes as I have taken to calling her.) She's so tiny I was worried she could fit through the railing so she had to be on a leash. She was NOT happy about that.
Annie in her regal beagle glory.









(Dolly is part Amish and hates to have her picture taken so this is her picture.)