The Nameless Child

Many of you know that Andrew and I are struggling to come up with the name for our son - due to arrive in just over 4 weeks now. As a planner, I have been pretty horrified that we didn't immediately just know the name, but as a mother-to-be, I feel such overwhelming responsibility to make sure he has the "perfect" name. I mean, he'll be called this for the REST of his LIFE! Of course, we aren't clueless for the lack of the many, many suggestions we've received from family and friends. Everyone else seems to have plenty of ideas of what our son's name should be (especially his Nana who has sat through a number of what we call "naming sessions" with us). Still, we are undecided. So, I came across this web site - what would Sarah Palin call our son? Her children's names are certainly unique (one of the criteria we've set for the name of our son)... but aren't they also borderline AWFUL. I mean, Track, Trig, Bristol, Willow, and Piper? Another criteria that Andrew has for our son's name is one that won't get him beat up. Track? Trig? Certainly beat downs are coming for those two, right? Anyway - check out the site - have some fun. In the meantime, Andrew and I will keep calling our unborn son the nameless child.

Yet another wonderful baby shower!

Thanks to,Andrea, Emily, Alex, and Kiki, I had another fabulous shower this past Saturday at Mary Mac's Tea Room. The decor was amazing, the food was delicious (mom and baby thought so!), and the company was perfect. I was so glad to get a chance to spend time with all the close women in my life. I am blessed to know that each and every one of you will be close to my son, too - he will surely be a better man for it. For more pics of the shower, click here.

Ahhh - the life of Lola

From mom's head (where she sleeps all night)...

to her own bed (where she sleeps all day).
Ain't life grand!

Beach Bums

Yes, the Connell girls are true beach bums. Here, they are philosophizing on the current state of the economy, alternative energy sources, and which candidate should win the Presidential election, all while taking in a few rays. Enjoy the weather in Florida, ladies!

The Best Baby Shower EVER

We had a great Labor Day weekend, which included our first baby shower at the pool, tons of family and friends that visited from near and far, and great memories that will last forever! Thank you to everyone that came to Twin Lakes on Saturday and celebrated with us - and we missed all of you who couldn't make it. Thank you especially to Heather, Marisa, and Mom who threw us the most amazing shower! Below is our incredible stash - everyone was so generous and we can't say enough how appreciative we are to have each of you in our lives. Our son will be truly blessed to come into this world with a family and friends network like the one we have! For more pictures of the weekend, click here.

Pregnant woman's grocery store run = $50

Ahhh - yes, a pregnant woman knows how to grocery shop! Not necessarily for a family - or even for a hungry husband... just for her own personal satisfaction. Let's see, we covered the basic food catetgories, right? Can we say CARBS?!!! How much bread does one need? - 2 loaves, bagels, pita bread, hamburger buns, galore! Then, there's the SALT category - in regular and cheese flavors. DAIRY gets checked off with milk and snickers ice cream bars. And SUGAR (that's a food category in my book) - with powdered donuts and hershey's syrup... no, that is not a pregnant woman's craving - they aren't meant to go together, but they did get eaten in the same night! CapriSuns added some flavored WATER - much needed for the baby, of course. And finally, you might ask - how the heck did I spend $50? Well, I wouldn't be a very responsible pregnant woman if I didn't take my prenatal vitamins... so that was half the total bill. I mean, the doctor does say I'm getting all the baby needs in my daily vitamin dosage - so the rest of my diet is free game, right? My husband says, "Making a pregnant woman [fat and] happy = priceless!"

"There's no such thing as an animal ambulance."

Well, maybe there should be... Frogs to Dogs thinks so. Check out this horrible story that aired on Good Morning America of a young couple in Texas that was speeding to the emergency vet clinic because their tea-cup poodle was choking. They were pulled over by a law enforcement officer, rightfully so, but were given absolutely no leeway once the officer found out why they were speeding. I can only imagine how I would have handled this cop!

While Frogs to Dogs has been fighting for opportunity to run an emergency pet transportation business in the state of Georgia (long story that includes political warfare and the notion that animals lives just aren't as 'important' as human lives), we'll continue moving forward with our plans of providing the service soon, even if on a scaled down version of the orginal plans. Hopefully, no one has to suffer like the Texas couple, but if enough stories out there like that are shared on national TV, the need for emergency pet transportation will become more real!

It was a hoax... SHOCKER!

For those of you who don't know, Drew got WAY into the whole Big Foot find over the course of the last week. In fact, we went to several parties over the weekend and that was his preferred topic of conversation. He was a true believer. One of the folks subjected to his rantings sent this article to me today. Too bad - big foot was hallow! Maybe if baby Zbeeb decides to wait it a week to join us, Daddy Zbeeb will know what he'll be wearing this Halloween to welcome him in the world. How scary would that be!!!

Cake Time!

With shower season approaching - for my bundle of joy and several others that are currently waddling around like me - I thought it only appropriate to discuss a shower favorite for everyone - the cake. Through another friend's blog, I stumbled upon some wrecked cakes! All I can say is WOW - please don't let something so right (delicious cake) go so wrong (stupid decor)! Click here for more cake wrecks.

Thanks Max!

We received our first baby gift off our registry yesterday. That's not to say this baby hasn't received other gifts - "Nana" Claudia has been insanely generous, and "Ya-Ya" Mary, "Big Nana" Flo, and Aunt Barbara have all shown that this boy will not go wanting! However, yesterday was very special - I came home and there was a box at the door that said 'BabiesRUs' and I knew it was a gift from our registry. I took the box inside and showed Andrew - both of us got that giddy feeling from our wedding when we'd come home to mystery boxes at the door. It's so exciting! We opened the box and our dear friend, Maxine Robinson, had given us one of Andrew's favorite items - the REMOTE CONTROLLED mobile! Drew particularly likes the aquarium theme (shocker), but we both love the idea of turning the mobile on and off without entering the room and disturbing the baby. This gift was highly recommended by new mom, Heather. Thanks Max for the mobile (and quite possibly, the gift of sleep!).