Stop.....shower time

Allison's Baby Shower was on Saturday. She had a great time and got plenty of wonderful gifts. We'll be going through them for weeks...if we were normal people that is. However, since one of us is not normal, all the gifts will be put away before this weekend hits.

I would like to publicly thank people now. I hope none of you embarrass easily, tens of people read this blog weekly...so...well, I'm not sure how to finish that sentence...so on to the thank yous.
Aunt Kristin: You had already earned Aunt status with your bruschetta, queso and guac, but after the shower you just cemented it ;) Seriously, thanks for throwing Allison a great shower. She had a great time and at least 1 guest said it was the best baby shower she'd ever been to. If throwing the shower, making the diaper cake and the clothesline game wasn't enough, you gave us a gift too! You are going to spoil us. Thanks for everything.

Grandmas Ellen & Betty Lou: Kristin's little helpers. Thanks for helping Kristin, it was a big job and couldn't be done alone.

Great Grandma Millie, Kristin's mom Jane, Papa Tony: Thanks for helping set everything up.

Uncle Mark: Thanks for the beer and picking up chairs and balloons and all the other things Kristin asked you to do. I'm sure she drove you a little bit crazy, but Allison (and I) really appreciated it.

Dona & David: Thanks for Baby C's Mets gear and item for the time capsule. Fingers crossed David Price rookie card. We'll find out in 18 years.

Thank you to everyone else who brought juice, soda, cups, plates and anything else that was brought. Allison will send out proper thank you notes soon, but thanks to everyone who came or sent a gift to Allison or Baby C.

I wasn't allowed to stay at the shower, so I don't know what went on, but I have an idea from Victoria's excellent pictures. Here are a few of my favorites.

Good eats: Looks like salads, quiche, breads, fruit, shrimp cocktail...
Dessert table: 4 types of cake and a cookie tray...NICE
Allison says "HEY!!! I"m out of cake over here!!!" Just kidding. It's time for gifts.
This is a really cute bear outfit with ears on top. Also I think Allison looks beautiful in this picture.
Dona & David's New York Mets gear. Hopefully they will stop sucking soon so I'm not embarrassed to put Baby C in them.
Baby C's bedding. Pretty cute monkey right? There is a matching lamp in there too.
A quick break for an artistic shot. Another great photo from Victoria.
Kristin's clothesline gift. It went around the whole room, that's awesome...but I've been meaning to speak to her about the mini-m&ms. She KNOWS that I cannot have chocolate! Why do you tease me so?
This bear came from Edible Arrangements. Apparently there is quite the custody battle going on over him. Everyone thinks he's very cute.
Lastly, the party favors. They are notepads that say Allison's Baby Shower w/date and a cute baby in a tub. Hope you enjoyed this post, the shower and thanks again to all of you who helped, attended, sent a gift, send well wishes and anyone who reads my blog.

St. Augustine Weekend Getaway

We went to St. Augustine last weekend. Allison and I own a timeshare and they called us to come for a free weekend to "review" our property. Basically they offered us a free weekend, then tried to get us to buy more points at the tune of 15K. We politely declined, but it was still a good weekend. The resort is in World Golf Village. Home of the World Golf Hall of Fame. If you've seen my play, you know this is the closest I'll get to the inside of that place.
We upgraded to a 2 bedroom suite and invited Mark & Kristin to come with us. We drove up Friday after work. You'd think the pregnant lady would be the hungriest, therefore the crankiest, but no, surprisingly that went to either me or Mark. A major meltdown was averted, we got Chinese food in our system just in the nick of time.

Saturday morning, Mark and I went to St. Johns Country Club. It was HOT. Tee time was 8:58. By that time it was already 86 degrees, with a heat index of 95. By the time we finished in the afternoon, my bag was 15 balls lighter and the temp was 97 with a 105 heat index. Did I mention it was hot? I lost 15 balls, but believe it or not, I'm getting better. I am reading a book my father-in-law recommended and it may be helping.

The girls were at the pool. We met them with Publix subs then pooled it up for a little bit. Dinner was nice. We went to the Conch House. I had some trouble pronouncing the name, but it's my blog and I choose not to get into that! We had a cool hut table and saw tons of fish. We even saw 2 dolphins in the bay. It was cool.
Baby C made a friend on this trip. We are teaching him not to talk to strangers, but this friendly little fellow was not any trouble. Check them out laughing it up together.
There is so much going on in the next few months, he'll be here before we know it. My parents and uncle are coming into town, our birthing class starts in 2 weeks, we have a tour of Winnie Palmer Hospital planned, a meeting with a pediatrician, Allison's shower, another weekend getaway planned (probably the last one before Baby C is upon us) I'm sure there is more I am forgetting. It's all on my Google Calendar. Thank God for that thing.

Baby C's nursery - Going Green

No, this is not a post about Earth Day, but congrats Earth on lasting another year. Good job buddy. This post is about Baby C's nursery. We had our house painted May 2008, so we chose bright green and pale powder blue for the rooms that would one day belong to our kids. Kid #1 is going green.


We browsed around the stores up and down 436 and of course Babies R Us. At the end of the day(s) we decided Babies R Us was the way to go. We found 15% off coupons (I bought them on Ebay) and opened a credit card to get an extra 10% off. We ended up saving a lot of money.

I met up with my neighbor Mark V at Babies R Us who was nice enough to volunteer his truck to get the furniture back home. We loaded it up, carried it upstairs and after a few "that's what she said jokes" Uncle Mark and I were done with Phase 1. Allison and Kristin made a great dinner then it was time to put the stuff together.

First up, the glider. Piece of cake. This went together in about 15 minutes. The only problem, the cushions were so light and fluffy, they kept floating away (like in the new 3 Musketeers commercials) Luckily Allison volunteered to help solve that problem.

Next up, the crib. A few more parts, a little more complicated, but still no problem. Went together in 25-30 minutes. No problems with the crib floating away, but I decided to throw some stuffed animals in there anyway.
The chest of drawers was next. This was the easiest piece to put together. It was already together, I just had to add the drawer handles. I could do that all day. Again, it wouldn't be complete without a stuffed animal on top.
This is going great! Why do people complain about putting baby furniture together? I don't get it, this is a breeze. Then the changing table. Damn you changing table! This thing had parts that looked almost exactly the same, but with slight differences. They weren't labeled, there were no measurements, it was just a mish-mash of parts. Check out the directions...a special shout-out to the good fellows in Indonesia for these bad boys. Step 1, take all the pieces out and put them all together. Really? Step 1, put the whole thing together? Really? Why bother with directions at all? Just enclose a picture or even better, just a little man giving the bird with LOL below it.
Well I'm glad I got that out of my system. Here is the final product. I still have to touch it up, but I needed a break.
Is that all? No theres more- you see when the left tire mark goes up on the curb and the right tire mark stays flat and even, well the 64 Skylark had a solild rear axle, so when the left tire would go up on the curb, the right would tilt out and ride along its edge. But that didnt happen here, the tire marks stayed flat and even- this car had an independednt rear suspension. Now, in the 60s- there were only 2 other cars made in America that had positraction and enough power to make these marks. One- was the Corvette, which could never be confused with the Buick Skylark. The other had the same body length, height, width, weight, real base and real track as the Buick Skylark, and that was the 1963 Pontiac Temptus.
Sorry, I sometimes get off topic. I'm back now. The last thing we've done to the nursery is add a ceiling fan. I think it's one of the coolest fans ever. Check out the jungle blades.

Ok, that's all for tonight.