The Little Ones

I recently took a quick trip to my homeland, McAllen, TX for the funeral of my cousin Sam. I was so glad to be able to go, and it gave me the opportunity to catch up with some of the relatives I haven't seen in awhile. We got together several times over the couple days that I was there -- usually with food involved. The night before I left, the whole family gathered at Garza's, our usual Ost/Johnson family hotspot.

The kids are growing up soo quickly. This is Elizabeth Rose -- my erstwhile namesake. Her nickname also stems from one of my oldies but goodies, Buns. Of course, her version is much cuter: Bunny.

Her sister, the beautiful Caroline. Shh, don't tell her that she's so gorgeous. I think she knows it already. Caroline just couldn't understand why I was so much older than they were. I mean, shouldn't her friends be closer in age to her and Elizabeth? It reminded me of when Caroline S. used to call Jen and myself (along with some others) her "college" friends. She didn't care that she was only 4 years old and we were in our 20's. . friendship knows no boundaries.

These two girls are very close in age, which can cause a bit of friction, I heard. Lorien, called Lolo by her family (too cute!) is a little livewire. But, she's definitely outdone in that department by Rachel, her cousin. Rachel spent a little bit of time talking to baby Kate. She blew her kisses -- looking at my stomach the whole time. Pretty smart.

Here's Lance, daddy of the 2 blondes and Caroline, with his latest and greatest achievement, little Joseph Timothy. I wish I could have gotten a better pic of the baby. He's so cute. His momma spikes his hair in the front and dresses him in totally sporty outfits. He's currently wearing these adorable socks called Trumpettes that have a tennis shoe printed right on them. Very adorable! Even the the occasion for my visit was sad, it was nice to reconnect. I love my crazy family!

Planning A Getaway

Josh and I are attempting to plan a little last hurrah getaway to Asheville. I'm looking for any tips on hotels, restaurants, activities, etc. I've been browsing online A BUNCH and almost taken too long to plan for this trip. I just want a fabulous deal on something truly fabulous! Thanks for any input! We have also considered Savannah, so if anyone has tips on that, let me know.

Serendipity

Tonight Josh and I went to Longhorn's for a little date before I went out of town. We had a delicious meal, attentive waitress, and an overall pleasant evening. When the waitress brought back Josh's credit card, she revealed that she was 6 months pregnant and was planning on naming her baby boy Joshua. After some pleasantries about that, Josh signed the receipt and noticed the server's name on the it -- Katie. So, he asked her if her full name was Katherine -- IT WAS! So, we traded a Joshua for a Katherine (Kate). How weird was that?! Needless to say, she earned herself a nice little tip -- serendipity plus great service! Can't beat that!

Nursery Solved

Well, thanks for all of your input on the nursery linens everyone! Jen and I tooled over to the Forum today to check out the PbKids and my favorite thing in the world happened -- we found a super great deal! As soon as I get myself put together I'll get some pics of it online. It's definitely girly, but there's room for more than just pink. It's a patchwork quilt with pinks, blues, and greens. Another fun thing about today was that Ben took care of Lydia, so Jen and I had a girl's shopping day just for ourselves. Of course, it wasn't exactly normal because I had to stop every once in awhile just to sit down. It's amazing how your body changes as you go through pregnancy. My low back is a part of my body that NEVER hurt me before, but lo and behold, that and my buns are achey after a day after shopping. The great news is that I had enough energy after a long day to come home and make supper. For those of you who have the red & white plaid cookbook, the recipe for Tostada Pizza is really good. A good mix of Mexican with the concept of pizza. Yummy. And, (note to Amy) totally fake Mexican food.

And So It Begins

Yesterday, Jen called me with an all important question: "Are you ready to register?" Calmly I answered, "No," and we hung up after some chat. REGISTER??? Are you kidding me?? Well, I decided that since I had neither GCA nor Sylvan today I was going to sit down and do some major internet shopping. As I sit here at midnight, I'm clicking back and forth between Pottery Barn, Target, Babies R Us, Benjamin Moore, and Restoration Hardware. And, at a critical point in my decision making process, the PBKids website decides to have a breakdown! Fortunately, I have their catalogue as well, so I begin cutting up pictures and doing a bit of mix & match. B the B, I did discover something HIGHLY exciting in my random search for paint colors. Benjamin Moore carries a Pottery Barn collection. In fact, their regular catalogue is matched by color to specific Benji M. palettes. So, if you've ever lusted over colors in THEIR catalogue -- hope is in store. All that to say -- I love decorating. I just wish that all of these stores weren't so dang far away from each other, so I could do power comparison shopping in person. I was wondering if anyone knew where the closest PBKids Store was? So far, I've toyed with bedding from BRU -- Wendy Bellisimo Honey Bee collection. I am also toying with two really cute sets from PBKids, both way more girly. We're planning on putting beadboard in the nursery and I'm looking for the perfect paint color for the rest of the wall. One idea is to find a great blue shade and go for blue, pink, and green bedding & accessories. If I go with the Honeybee set, I'll paint the room green, I think. Thanks for letting me brood online! Enjoy the links:

Honey Bee Collection from Babies R Us -- Josh's pick
http://www.wendybellissimo.com/nursery/honeybee/index.php

This one is in the Nursery Bedding and Nursery Bedding
I love sheets in this set! Cherry Blossom Sheets/Duvet in the Floral Matelasse Collection
http://www.pbkids.com

This one is in the Kid's Bedding
Possibly my favorite -- but Josh brought up the point that it is a little grown up. . Bella Quilted Bedding
http://www.pbkids.com

Ultra Sound Off

Finally, I took the trouble to walk over to my scanner and scan our 20 week ultra sound picture. Apologies! We also have our visit recorded for those of you who may be at my house over the holidays. This ultra sound experience was much better than the first. The tech didn't gouge my stomach with her wand. Everything looked great as far as her organs and measurements. Her heart was a textbook four chamber. She weighed .8 lb, which is right in the normal range. We still haven't come to any fixed conclusions about names. It seems as though all my favorite names are either already in our family or our close friends. I.E. I love the names Emma, Lydia, Caroline, and Ella. Oh well, I suppose I'm glad that all of your little girls have absolutely precious names, but I'm still in a quandary about our selection. I've even started getting experimental with names like Sage and McKenna -- Josh shoots them down in about 1 sec. I know I won't pick a name like that, probably, I'm a little too traditional. :-) I've been checking out the Social Security Administration's website about popular names for each year, and you would be soo surprised by some of the names that are WAYY down on the list like Zoey and Anjelica and Imam. But, they are still in the top 1000 names for the 1990's.