Frank's Baby Shower

Today was Frank's baby shower and it was a blast! Since it was Halloween, we encouraged costumes. I was a pregnant skeleton, Mindy was a cow girl and mom was a witch.

We played a few games, including guessing how big my belly was. My sister-in-law Danielle was the winner but my brother stole her prize.

We also played a game where you guess which candy bar is in the diaper.

After all the games, we started to open all Frank's gifts.

"I'm the Boss" onesie from Jessie

Doggy themed outfits from Macy and Michelle

Handmade quilt from Bessie and Buddy

"Diaper Cake" from Aunt Betty & Beth Ann

Handknit Sweater from Mom

Handknit "blue jeans" from Mom

In addition to all these pictured, we received a video monitor, blankets, clothes, diapers, wipes, and all sorts of other necessities. Then we enjoyed a wonderful almond cake!

We all had such a great time! Thank you so much to everyone who made it out and also to those who sent gifts. We are so much more prepared for Frank's arrival!

Mamaw and Papaw Visit

A few weeks ago Ryan's parents came down with Ryan's sister Casey's kids, Emma and Matthew. They were down in East Tennessee for Emma and Matthew's fall break. While they were down they stopped by for a visit. When they got here we all played a few rounds of cornhole on our new set.

Here's Mamaw Bessie taking a good toss, but Emma had a pretty hot hand at the game too, holing in her first three shots.

Once we were done playing games, we all went inside to visit. Rosie was pretty excited to see her favorite person in the whole world, Papaw Buddy.

The other reason they all came to visit was to bring Ryan a table and chair set that was built by his Grandpa Claude when he was a little kid.

Here's Mamaw Bessie and Matthew putting the legs back on it.

And here's Rosie testing out one of the chairs.

I'm sure Frank will love this table and chair set just as much as Ryan did when he was a boy.

Let the Betting Begin

So Ryan and I are always making friendly bets with each other about pretty mundane stuff. So when we found out about Frank we starting making bets about when he would accomplish certain baby milestones. I thought we could share with you when we thought he would do all his growing and changing. I will use an "A" for Angie's bet, and an "R" for Ryan's bet. Maybe you guys can decide what we should win if we're right!

Due Date:     A: Between Jan 8th and 12th 
                     R: Every other day

Rolling Over:   A: After 3.5 months
                         R: Before 3.5 months

Sitting Up:   A: After 5 months
                     R: Before 5 months

Crawling:     A: After 6 months
                     R: Before 6 months

Pulling Up to Stand:   A: After 6.5 months
                                    R: Before 6.5 months

Walking:   A: After 10 months
                  R: Before 10 months

Talking:  A: Before 14.5 months and his first word will be "Mama"
               R: After 14.5 months and his first word will be "Hi"

Cornhole in 10 Easy Steps

1. Cut Wood.

2. Assemble Frame.

3. Watch dog eat your wood scraps.

4. Finish attaching legs to frame.

5. Find a friend to cut the holes in the deck.

6. Make pregnant wife earn her keep.

7. Stain the deck.

8. Paint stripes.

9. Braid rope to make handles.

10. Admire cornhole set with homemade popcorn sacks. 

From Pooh to Perfect

So when we moved into our new house last year, we were pretty excited to find that there was a nicely decorated, gender neutral nursery right next to the master bedroom. With the intention of having children already in mind, we were both pretty stoked to not have to re-decorate it ourselves.

Then, guess what? Nesting! About the sixth month of Angie's pregnancy, she decided the yellow Winnie the Pooh had to go.

Together, we took apart the nursery one little piece at a time and got the room ready to repaint.

The whole family was there to help!

Rosie learning how to tape properly

Caesar eating something (surprise, surprise...)

Motorboat contemplating his own existence

Inspired by the Bunny Meadow line of nursery decor at Babies R Us...

 ...we went with a green, cream, and chocolate brown color palette.


And even more of the family got involved. Angie's mom Tracy, and Tracy's boyfriend Kirk, helped Ryan paint the nursery since Angie couldn't be in the room with the paint fumes.

While we let the paint dry and the room air out for a few days, we carefully cut stencils to go along with the bunny meadow theme and stenciled them in the border.

Once we put the molding and shelves back up, the room was looking just about finished.

All there is left to do is put up the curtains and fill it with furniture!