Changes are coming!

As most of my avid readers know, I am having a baby this summer and Billy and I are over the moon about it. Baby Carter is just the first of the big changes that are headed our way, though. We are moving into a new house within the next several weeks and putting our first home on the market and behind us. I am really excited about the new house, but it definitely needs some touches so that I can make this house my own home. Lucky for me, I think Billy is afraid that I am on the verge of a nervous breakdown (and he may be right) so when we went to Home Depot yesterday, he didn't even blink when I insisted on changing every single cabinet handle in the house. We bought 62 cabinet handles and headed straight for lighting, where I convinced Billy that we simply had to replace the ceiling fan in the living room. I will post before and after pics as we go, but for now, feast your eyes on our first change. I loathed these cabinet handles. They were just not my style. Now we have simple ones that are much more my taste.

GOODBYE

HELLO

More Progress

Well, we got the dresser for Carter's nursery. I was disheartened immediately when I saw the box that it came in. It was MUCH smaller than the dresser itself, which could only mean one thing: that it was completely disassembled. Billy and I opened the box on Friday and my suspicions were immediately confirmed. The dresser was in no less than one million pieces. I mean, if you are going to purchase a dresser for hundreds of dollars, is it really too much to ask that the dresser come assembled? I understand the need for the crib to come with assembly required, because you would not be able to fit it through doorways and whatnot, but there is no excuse for the dresser coming disassembled. It was a nightmare.

Needless to say, the dresser was not as pleasant an experience for us. We did not, I am afraid, get through its assembly without a fight. Nevertheless, we conquered the dresser. It is completely assembled and the baby now has a place for all of his teeny clothes and I can finally start to relax because I can now start to organize all of his things.

On an unrelated note, the husband's baseball team has advanced to the Region Finals. They need to win on Friday in order to advance to the State Tournament, but it is really exciting. I have come a long way since Billy and I first married. I HATED baseball. I thought it was about as interesting as watching grass grow. I did not attend a baseball game until our second year of marriage and even then, I probably only went to one or two games. Now, I find myself at nearly every game when the weather is nice. (I am still not supportive enough to brave the elements for a ball game. I think I will only go to freezing cold or sweltering hot games when I have a child out on the field). High school sports are so much more fun to watch than professional sports, particularly baseball. I have come to realize that part of the reason I hated baseball before, was that my husband, a former pitcher, likes to watch games with amazing pitching...which equals few hits. That is boring to me still. Plus, in high school and college, kids care about the sport. They are playing for the pride of winning, not for money or contracts. Whatever the reason, I have become a fan of Billy's little baseball team. They are cute as pie. I have even learned most of the starters' names. I am one step away from a BHS shirt and some jean shorts (the seemingly required baseball parent uniform). Okay, that may be a stretch, but I really am excited for these boys. I will keep everyone posted!

Here it is...

Carter's manly stuffed animal :)

The finished product (it could use some ironing)

It's Carter's crib :)

I meant for this picture to be first but I am a blogging idiot so I don't know how to fix it. This is what the crib looked like sans bedding.

For those of you who want to see Carter's new crib and bedding but are not on facebook, here is a little preview of his nursery.

Yay!

Our crib came in yesterday so Billy and I headed up to Babies R Us to pick it up. It weighed about a thousand pounds so lucky Billy had to flex his muscles and get it in the house all by himself. Let me just say a little something about Babies R Us that about sent me over the edge. My wonderful in-laws bought Carter's crib for him and it was expensive. When we got to Babies R Us, the sales associate asked us if we wanted to PURCHASE a warranty for the bed. WHAT??? This bed cost a fortune and you have to pay MORE for a warranty? What a rip off! I was totally peeved about that. If something happens to this bed, Babies R Us will receive a strongly worded letter from this momma, because I was not about to pay EXTRA for a dang warranty! This product should have a warranty just because of the sheer cost alone! Not to mention the business we are bringing to Babies R Us. I registered there and all of my expensive furniture is from there, too. I guess they can do whatever they want because aside from Target, there are few places you can really get what you want and need for a baby.

Anyway, all griping aside, the crib looks adorable! I don't have the bedding on it yet but I will post pictures soon of the finished product. The crib assembly went surprisingly smoothly and Billy and I were able to get it done in about 40 minutes and we didn't even get into an argument. I think this is a good sign, because I don't know how many of you have tried to assemble things or do home projects like this with your spouse, but they often go awry and couples end up at each other's throats. For example, when Billy and I were hanging our large wedding portraits, I wanted one on either side of this door in our house, and I of course wanted them to be perfectly level. Billy got our laser level out and instructed me to hold one of the pictures (that weighs a ton) while he tried to figure out the level. My hand slipped and it was like the beginning of World War III. I think it is funny (now) that we got into such an enormous fight hanging our beautiful wedding pictures.

I think it's a good sign that the crib assembly was relatively easy and I can't wait to get the rest of the furniture. Tonight, my sister and the girls came over and helped me put together my "travel system." I like to refer to this stroller/carseat as the baby SUV. I am getting so excited now that Carter's nursery is coming along and he has started to get some of his bigger necessities! I am so thankful that my sister is handy because I am not sure I would've been able to figure out putting this thing together. Also, one of the first things I saw in the instruction booklet said "avoid finger entrapment." I have an intense fear and hatred of squishing my fingers so that warning alone sent me over the edge. I imagine that many people complained of severed digits and broken fingers and nails before that warning made the instruction manual! The SUV looks really cute. I will post pics of it soon, too.

Also, today, I took both Berry and Buster to the vet (brave) for Buster to get a pedicure and for Berry to get her 12 week shots and we ran into our friend, Mabel and her parents, Jared and Kelly! We were so excited because we had never seen Mabel in person. She is so cute! I am pretty sure my vet hated me because I just stood in the hallway with Kelly while he took care of Berry. Oh well, he isn't very friendly anyway. Berry and Buster prefer Dr. Kahn. She is cool. Mabel and Berry played for a while in the parking lot and Berry finally got a taste of her own medicine because Mabel took her out several times with a right hook. If I had to guess, I would say Mabel pinned Berry on her back 50 times. Berry was no match for her large breed friend. I think Buster took great pleasure in this whipping that Berry took since she constantly pounces on his face and bites him relentlessly.

All in all, we have had a successful and fun past few days (work aside, of course). Everyone have a good weekend!

Berry vs. Holly

Berry 2 - Holly 0

So...my sweet little puppy has decided to take this week to test my patience. She has been quite the pistol. Yesterday, I literally screamed at her like a complete lunatic. I felt somewhat crazy and apologized to her later, to which she responded by snapping at my hand when I tried to pet her. A-hole. I am going to blame my hormones and assume that my puppy has not recently become possessed by Satan, but I am not entirely sure.

Yesterday when I was getting ready for work, I put Berry and Buster outside to play and do their business and whatnot. I let them play for at least 45 minutes. I went outside to check on them and Berry was nowhere to be found. I freaked out and thought she had run away, but she came wiggling her bad little self back under the fence. She got out where the flooding waters washed away part of our yard underneath our fence. I was glad she came back and that she didn't run away. She scared me! When I let them in, Berry followed me into the bathroom and proceeded to pee on one of the bathroom rugs. She had literally JUST come in from outside and she peed! She was doing better but this week, her potty training and overall behavior training has taken a turn for the worse. When I took the bathroom mat to the laundry room, Berry took that time to poop in front of the television. At that point, I was certain that she was only doing these things to test my patience and piss me off. I cleaned up her poop and returned to the bathroom to finish getting ready, where she and Buster played a rousing game of "bite Buster's face," and she barked with her atrocious, high pitched, shrill puppy bark until I lost all control and screamed at her like a total and complete psych patient.

Today was not quite as bad as yesterday, but she still tested my patience. I will remain calm. She is a puppy and I am the master. I will win. I will not let her drive me to insanity. (Hopefully my friends and family will visit me in the asylum).

In all seriousness, I love her and know that she is behaving like any puppy behaves. I just thought other people might find my annoyances funny. I am hopeful that if we can hang on until Billy gets done with school and can be home more to work with her, we will lick this potty training and her other behavioral issues in no time. It's hard when she's in her crate all day long so I can't really blame her for acting out when she finally gets out. Well, I haven't heard any barking or crying (from Buster) in a while, so I am going to make sure the dogs are still in the backyard.

Making Progress

We are finally making progress on baby Carter's nursery. Today, Carter's Grumpy and Aunt Haley came over (with his cousins Emerson and Gracie) to help us paint and it looks great! I was nervous to choose a paint color...you never know how it will look when the whole wall is covered and dry (hence the bizarre color of my master bathroom which was much cuter on the swatch than all over the wall). The nursery looks pretty good, though, and I can't wait to get his crib and other furniture in so that it will actually look like a nursery instead of an empty room.

It's starting to sink in that we are really about to expand our family by one little person (and a TON of stuff). I have about 9 1/2 weeks left and little C will be here!

I will post pics of his nursery once it's done for anyone who is interested. I always like to look at other people's nurseries.