It REALLY is..

a Baby who will be wearing this home from the hospital!

With these shoes, that Daddy picked out!

Buddy's already a little worried, I'm taking pictures of a dress and not his cute, little, furry, body!

And because I've waited so long, I also bought this one.

Won't a little blonde,

blue eyed baby girl look adorable in this!

And lastly this! Cuz it's polka dots...

and summery... and GIRLY!

We are 90% sure it's a girl! I went out and celebrated by buying a non gender neutral outfit, or two, or three! (hey, we were at Walmart and these little numbers are priced to sell!!) This little baby girl sure likes to keep her secrets though! I called the doctor's office and begged to come in for a sonogram, and they said I could - TODAY so I rushed at the chance!


We got there and yet again her legs were crossed and she was sitting with her bottom hidden too low to see. Then, the nurse had me sit on my side for 15 minutes and poke my belly to bug my baby a bit. Well, we tried again, she had moved about a fraction of an inch! So, we got a shot that we think might be conclusive!

Now, I am embracing the pink, polka dots, dresses, hoping she has hair, butterflies, princesses, castles, hearts and stars ....and she has a name.


Etta Michelle, (First name after my great grandmother, and my same middle name!)


We love our baby girl! And cannot wait to see how wonderful she is....

Kick Some Cass!

Forgive me for the title but I think it is funny! And it's true.

For the last four weeks or so I have been feeling little butterfly flutters from my wee babe. Well, the last few days I've actually felt a distinct jab or two, (almost like getting flicked from the inside.)

Last night, our little Bubs was having a hey day. I had just eaten some Chocolate Fudge Brownie Ice cream and I think Shim was showing their enthusiasm for it! Chocoholics are started young in this family! Anyway, Justin got to feel the baby kick for the very first time- Twice. Then we just sat and watched the show. We saw 3 more big kicks, my belly actually moved in a spot about a 1/4 of an inch out! It was the best entertainment ever!

Justin has been wanting to feel the baby for so long, it was really fun! He would say "Whoa, was that one", and I would know that he felt the big kick I just did!

I am just so excited!

**P.S. We will have to wait another 2 weeks to find out what we are having. The lady who was doing the sonogram, wrote down that we were having a girl (Even though she told us she didn't know- and I am perfectly happy with a girl).

When I called in to visit them this week, and asked "you said I could come in..." She was like "It says your having a girl- so you can just wait." (from me -big aggressive sigh!) I am going to be having some words with my doctors. I cannot stand being told "I'll do it" and then having that person just totally blow me off- totally unprofessional! But, two weeks is not all that bad, but I am definitely going to explain my frustrations, hopefully nicely.

Couch Potatoes

Moving to Fort Worth doubled the size of our house, (which I love and am so thankful for!) But the frustrating part is our lack of furnishings. We simply do not have enough to fill this house. This has been especially annoying in the "seating" department.

We have this HUGE family room, and no furniture to speak of. It has however, become home to an awesome entertainment center, (thanks to the graciousness of my friend Maria!)

But we still didn't have anywhere to sit. We looked around the local thrift stores- not much luck. The local Salvation army had old haggard sofas, for 150.00 YIKES! You can get a new cheap one for 250.00. (I am really going to have to find some better second hand stores!- at least in the furniture department)

And, I am just not willing to spend money right now. We learned all too clearly the importance of having adequate savings when Justin lost his job last summer. We also, now have a NO DEBT policy. Which means- basically every free dollar we have is being saved and no new purchases are being made.

What did we do? What we do best- we got a little creative-on-the-cheap. We had old 2 x 4"s, some random miss-mixed paint, fabric (purchased to recover a chair 5 years ago) and an extra mattress that goes in the trundle bed under our old twin set, Justin grew up with!

Here are the results:

So at least now we have something to sit on. But, if you have any furniture you are getting rid of -Feel free to give us a call, we'll even pick it up, and we'll love you forever!

What's for breakfast?

Mornings are a funny time at our house. We have these little furry creatures that follow us around hoping to somehow lead us to their breakfast bowls.

I am usually brought to consciousness, an hour before I want to be, (at least) with a furry 17 lbs pound Buddy walking across my head-literally. This he does to get to my hands which are out from the cover. He then rubs his own face on my hands in an attempt to be petted, crying in his loud high pitched (girly) cry to pet him, cuz he's here already and he can see my hands after all.

After a little love, I turn over and hide my hands under the covers. After which he makes his way to my feet and sleeps on them for the duration of the morning.

About an hour later, Kitty will come along. She tests for my body with one paw till she finds my hip, then jumps up and balance beams it to my shoulder and plops down, on my now pinned arm. There she waits to be petted and loved. I have to move carefully as not to upset the princess so that I can show her some attention.

Then, as I get up and ready, they follow me from the bathroom to the closet yelling at me all the while and hissing at each other until I make it into the kitchen . Buddy then runs full throttle to the washer to get to his special source of dry food goodness.

That is the norm. Well, the other day I woke up naturally happily and strangely cat free. I got up and showered and walked into the kitchen and they still didn't come running. I ate breakfast and they came down, but didn't bother me for anything. I thought "Humph, maybe Justin already fed them." The they disappeared again, "Proof" I thought.

About an hour later after my finishing the dishes, daily blog stalking and email check, I walked upstairs into my family room. And there where my little furry babies. Trying to catch THE BIRD, perched on the entertainment center. Yes the live bird that I do not own, flying around in my living room.

***Flash back to last night*** The day was a sweltering 86 degrees (winter in Texas). We opened the front windows a sliver about 1 1/2 inches, (the screens have been missing since we bought the house). And we left them open through the night. Oops!

So I rush to the windows throw them open and the bird flutters through the living room. "Please don't go downstairs and for heaven's sake don't poop on the couch!!!, and don't let a furry being catch you" is what is running through my head. Luckily about 3 minutes later the bird flew out. I closed the window, quickly and completely! (Not surprisingly, the furries were ready for breakfast when their little birdy "happy meal" took flight!)

Buddy's new bed!

Kitty, watching out for buddy.
Buddy helping me check my email!

(or just fully blocking the screen)