I've Been Busy!

Not that anyone really missed it, but I haven't updated my blog in months. Inspired by a few friends' recent updates, I am back. For those of you that don't know, we welcomed our sweet baby boy, Carter Barton, into the family on July 12, 2010 at 9:10 p.m. He is perfect and wonderful and the absolute love of our lives.

It is so cliche, but it is true what everyone says--you cannot imagine how much you can love someone until you have a child. He is such a blessing.

I have had lots of practice over the last few years with Carter's older cousins, Gracie and Emerson. Thank goodness Haley (my sister) went first with the kids so I could learn how to do important things like change diapers and feed and burp small babies. Even with the wonderful practice and excellent tutors, there are many times when I still feel like I have no idea what I'm doing. I guess you just have to learn as you go. There are other times, though, that I feel like I know exactly what to do to calm him down or make him feel better and no one else can. I guess that is the maternal instinct that I was certain I did not have. Thank goodness it has showed itself. I was worried for poor Carter that I was going to be completely clueless.

We're In!

This past weekend, Billy and I officially moved into our new house. There is still a lot of work to do, but we have a place to lay our heads, and, more importantly, a place to lay our sweet baby when he gets here. I cannot begin to tell you the amount of stress I've been feeling lately with all this moving craziness. To make matters a bit worse, it could not have been any hotter this past weekend. Moving in the summer whilst 9 months pregnant was definitely not my best laid plan. Oh well. I am so glad to have a little bit of stability. Between the clutter of moving and the clutter of trying to shut down my law practice for my maternity leave, my life was in utter chaos. Anyone who knows me knows that I am not the "fly by the seat of your pants" kind of girl. I need order and organization and I felt like I had no refuge from the chaos around me. I was stressed at work and at home. I am so relieved to have the calm I've been craving at home at least.

We definitely have our work cut out for us. My sweet dad replaced every single cabinet handle in the house (see below) and painted our massive pain in the a$$ bathroom from bright green to brown. We got new light fixtures for the kitchen and master bathroom and they're now in place. For now, however, Elvis still lives on in the house. I don't know what kind of gold fetish the house designer had, but our shower and several other items in the house are so shiny gold that the King of Rock and Roll himself would be proud to call our place home! I know I have to be realistic and change these things little by little, but it's so hard not to just come in, guns blazing, changing every light fixture and faucet in the house! I am still holding out hope that I will win the $5,000 gift card to Home Depot that I registered for after we purchased our new kitchen chandelier.

I also still need to have dining room furniture (including a glass case that was my grandmother's that I adore) into the new house, but we're still trying to get rid of the furniture that is currently in there. Billy's mother's dining room furniture needs a new home (fast!) if anyone is interested! Once the new furniture is in the dining room, I will be able to display all of my wedding china, crystal and barware. I am pretty excited about having a dining room and having a place to put all of my pretty things that I never use on display.

What Were We Thinking?

A few months ago, everyone in the world had something to say about us getting a puppy right before we had a baby. This blog post is not the "you were right" that you people might be hoping for. While Berry is our little devil child, we still love her and think that it was the right decision and time for us to add to our ever-growing family.

No, this post is to discuss what Billy and I were thinking when we decided to move into a new house before the baby came. Today is June 7, which means that I am due exactly ONE month from today. We are currently waiting on my in-laws to move their stuff out so that we can move our stuff in, but they have been married for 40+ years, so they have LOTS of stuff. The closer we get to D-day, the more anxious I get that we may not be fully IN our current house or our new house when baby Carter comes. Billy, of course, does not understand the overwhelming urge to ready the baby's room and clean the house and have everything in order.

I am trying to remain calm, but it is not in my nature to be calm. I am an anxious and controlling person by nature. I do not thrive in chaos, and I feel my life is filled with chaos right now. I woke up at 4 a.m. today and was not able to go back to sleep because my mind was racing.

Yesterday, my two oldest and best friends threw me a baby shower and the move was the topic of conversation, it seemed. Every single person asked me when we were moving and I felt such anxiety at not being able to give a definite answer (to them or to myself) that I literally worked myself into a panic. I slept from 12 until 4. I am pretty sure I am supposed to be getting my sleep now, while I can, but I am finding it more and more difficult to do that!

Wish us luck!

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!