Showered....more like Immersed

As Nick mentioned in his post, we have been blessed beyond measure these past few weeks with several baby showers.  I wasn't sure I would ever feel as loved and supported as I did when we got married, but this is certainly a close second.  I know that it is the norm these days to have showers and parties when you get married and when you have a baby...trust me I love hosting showers myself, but it takes on a whole new meaning when you are the one being honored.

Words cannot begin to express how grateful we are for all of our friends and family who have joined us in celebrating the upcoming arrival of our son.  Nick and I already love him more than we ever thought possible, but it is overwhelming when those around you express their love for him by showering us with extremelty generous gifts. 

A few weeks ago, we traveled to my hometown for our first shower. Some of my mom's very best friends hosted a beautiful shower at my home church. It was a special weekend in many ways, and we were truly smothered in love and kindness.

This deserves an explanation.  This is one of our dearest friends, Mrs. Shirley West.  She lived across the street from us growing up, and to this day our families are still very close.  The weekend before the shower Dr. and Mrs. West were in Auburn visiting my parents.  Nick and I were also in town for the football game.  The fabrics for the nursery had just come in, so I brought them with me to show my mom and Ellen.  Well of course I had to show Mrs. West too!  For those of you who don't know Mrs. West...she is the science queen.  She taught science for many years and more recently has founded Turtle Point Environmental Science Center.  She loves all things related to the ocean, so I knew she would love my sea turtle, fish, octopus themed nursery.

While shopping for a baby gift, she spotted this guy for Graham's nursery!  You should have seen my face when I saw his eyes peering out the top of the gift bag!  What a perfect gift, and I LOVE that it came from her.  We have named him Herman West.  Herman was Nick's pet turtle when he was a little boy, and West is in honor of Mrs.West.  Can't wait to snap that first picture of Graham with his turtle. 

A few weeks later, several of my co-workers, co-workers' wives, and one of my best friends, Bethany, hosted a shower here in Birmingham.  Once again I was overwhelmed with everyone's generosity.  It was a sweet afernoon with family and friends!

And just this week, the girls in my Sunday School Class hosted a diapers and wipes shower.  We do this for each other when someone in the class has a baby, and it is such a sweet time of fellowship.  At each shower we take time to pray for the baby and the parents.  It was a special evening for me, and I am so thanful for our amazing Sunday School community.  I somehow managed to come away with  no pictures, but here is the loot they sent me home with!  I think we are set for a while!

What a special season in life!  We are beside ourselves with excitment about Graham's upcoming arrival and are reminded how loved and supported we are by our family and friends.  Thank you for immersing us with your generosity!  We are forever grateful.

Like, Love and Don't Like

This week, I like my iPhone. I’m a long-time AT&T customer and recently upgraded to an iPhone 4. The elitist attitude held by most users of Apple products has always rubbed me the wrong way. But I wanted a new phone and the whole family of Droid phones is confusing to me. Julie has used an iPhone for quite some time now and I knew she was satisfied with the service. I upgraded online and received my new phone in 2 days (super easy, by the way). I’m still learning the ins and outs but I really like it. Calling it a “phone” seems silly since I’ve made less than 5 calls in the 2 weeks I’ve had it but, if anything, I like my new phone for my social media outlets.

This week, I love baby showers. As Graham’s arrival gets closer and closer, the gifts have been piling up. He’s received a lot of toys but the majority of the gifts have been items that we’ll need to clothe and raise him. Julie and I are extremely thankful for your generosity and I can’t wait for him to get here! I have been made aware of some side bets pertaining to my reaction to all of the attention Graham is receiving. My mom once told me that once you have a baby, it’s not about ‘you’ anymore. I think I’m starting to realize exactly what she meant. It already makes me feel good to see so many people doing nice things for our son.

This week, I don’t like the direction of the new Three Stooges film. As you know, I am a huge fan of the Stooges. Lots of rumors regarding a Stooges movie have been making the rounds for the past few years. At one point, Sean Penn was pegged to play Larry along with Jim Carrey (Curley) and Benicio Del Toro (Moe). Casting these three stars was thought to add significant muscle to a Stooges bio-film, something that’s never gained any traction in Hollywood. But, as stars will do, all three actors lost interest in this Farrelly Brothers project and production was put on hold. It now appears that a lot of work has been done since that point. A photo of a revised cast was recently released and I have to tell you, it ain’t pretty.

That’ right…Will Sasso as “Curley”, Sean Hayes as “Larry” and some Greek guy as “Moe”. This movie just went from the top shelf to the basement. Check out the film’s website and you’ll see that the cast of Jersey Shore will make a cameo in the movie. So, these will be modern-day Stooges. Ugh, we get Snooki but no Shemp.

You may not think the Stooges are funny but they are indeed comedy legends. Maybe I am an old soul or maybe they are just an acquired taste. Either way, there’s no denying that their careers were built on a platform (short films) that had a brief life. They were never considered relevant enough to catch on in TV or movies. The Stooges deserve a great movie made by great stars but it appears we’ll just have to keep waiting.

Just try to watch this without laughing:

Making of a Nursery - Part 3

Several new updates on the nursery front.  Again my goal is to have it completely done by Thanksgiving...so only a few more weeks to go!

Since the last post we have accomplished a good bit.  For starters our crib now has a mattress.  Several of my co-workers went in together and surprised us with the mattress which was so sweet! 

I also made some fitted sheets from a blue and white swiss dot fabric.

Our changing table arrived and we have put that together.  Still working on storage options for the bottom portion, but hopefully I will post about that next time.

My mom gave us this sweet little rocking chair, and Nick painted it a fun orange!

Speaking of orange....for a slit second I was considering painting the bathroom orange (no thanks to Kiley), but since it took me over a month to decide on a blue/gray for the nursery I quickly realized that I didn't have near enough time to mull over that decision.  Not to mention I am such a coward when it comes to decorating...I always take to safe route....even though I know the bold approach would probably look better.

All that to say...we decided to paint the bathroom the same color as the bedroom (Benjamin Moore Gray Owl), but managed to spice it up with a fun orange and white horizontal stripe shower curtain.  I am so pleased with the result and cant wait to get a new bath mat and towels to tie everything together.

You may be wondering where all of this orange is coming from...well I did manage to pick some accent fabrics which will be incorporated in the room.  None of the work is done so I don't have any pictures to show, but here is a peak at the fabrics. 

Stay tuned to see where these will be used!

Like, Love and Don't Like

This week, I like my pencil. Several years ago, shortly after the beginning of my career, I decided to use a mechanical pencil as my daily writing utensil of choice. I purchased a two-pack (not to be confused with 2Pac) of Pentel’s P207 model. I can misplace a cheap pen without even trying but somehow, I’ve managed to keep both of these pencils. I use one at home to balance the checkbook and one at the office. The office pencil has a significantly greater amount of wear and bite marks. Both pencils are due for an eraser reload but let’s face it – I rarely make mistakes. I’ve noticed that being identified as a pencil user in the professional world brings untold credibility and commands respect from coworkers. Maybe you will enjoy the same benefits. GET ONE TODAY!

This week, I love Twitter during college football season. It could be easily argued that Twitter users get the most value out of this social media outlet during college football season, especially in the south. Fans can tweet their opinion during games, follow their favorite players, receive updates from in-the-know sports writers and much more. It is almost as if Twitter was invented for college football fans. Unfortunately, Tweeting while at a football game can be made difficult if cell phone networks are over capacity. This is often the case at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn. But this twitteruption (see what I did there?) is fleeting and normal service resumes once the crowd of 87,000+ disperses into the night. Listen, if you only use Facebook, you’re really missing out. GET TWITTER TODAY!

This week, I don’t like all of these occupying hipsters. So you don’t like the tax system? I don’t either, bro. You don’t like the ever-increasing gap between the middle class and the upper class? Same here! Let’s band together and elect officials that will meet our demands! No? Oh…you and your dirty friends are going to camp out on Wall Street? You think that chanting and playing your bongos will lead to more jobs and a better economy? Do you have a job? Do you even want a job?