I just might have to take a trip up to Holly Springs today:

The only thing is, is that's the HS Walmart is pretty nice, actually. I'll be hard-pressed to find most of these @ the Walmart here. I will keep an eye out for the rat-tail hairdo, though.

We got quite a cold front today... including flurries. I just HAD to go outside and take some pictures. The trouble with minor flurries is that you can't QUITE capture them - at least I can't on MY camera. I shot a pretty cool video, though. You can hear the wind tunneling between our house & Alicia's. So, go grab a cup of hot chocolate and sip it while watching this very short video...



Keep in mind that 5 minutes later, the skies were perfectly blue. As I drove to the grocery store, I saw the big column of snow-cloud, and it was just about the only thing in the sky.

I love cold weather!

New Belly Pics! (and Room Update #2)

As evidenced in the 3rd picture above, I think I'm carrying all "out front." Well, I should've worn a not-so-tight t-shirt, but still. I think you can see what I mean. :-)

Here are a couple of shots from the finished wall art and around the baby's room:




The narrow wall to the right of the closet is where I'll put the pink/brown swirls on the yellow. It's one of the first things you'll see when walking into her room. Cool, huh?

What a good big brother!

LOL!

I absolutely LOVE Bill Cosby. Cosby Show. Picture Pages. Puddin' Pops. The works. I think about this clip from the show on a fairly regular basis, and I always laugh in my head. This morning, when I saw this on a blog I read, I actually laughed out loud. As in LOL! I dare you NOT to!

Making Art...

So we like this particular bedding set for a few reasons:
1. It's not too "cutesy-girlie" and obnoxiously pink.
2. It's a pretty timeless graphic - not too dated.
3. The bedding is neutral - if any more Baby Coons come our way, we won't have to reinvent the bedding wheel.
4. The bedding is shown in a room that's just as yellow as our daughters! SCORE!

Now, to break up all that yellow, we decided to make some art. My plan is to include pink and brown on this white canvas,

then do the same pink/brown swirls on a very small stretch of yellow wall, near the closet - about 1.5 ft in width, floor to ceiling. I got started this evening, and I must say... it looks great!


Now that we're spending a little more time getting the room baby-ready, I have to say I'm not fond of the lighting in there! It's very dull at night, and I know it's the incandescent bulb in the ceiling fan fixture. We have no intention of getting rid of the light/fan, so I'll be looking at lamp light and how that can improve the evening ambiance of the room. FUN STUFF!

Baby's Room - phase 1

I know I have many more pics to post, but it has been requested that I post a pic of our baby's room. It's in no way, shape, or form "done" but it'll get there. We have a crib, changing table, and glider/ottoman. Gerald purchased a side-cabinet, and we've got loads of great baby gear given to us from wonderful friends. The brown piece you see to the left side of the pictures is actually our old "Chester Drawers" (I had to) that we're slowly busting up and throwing away. If the drawers weren't wonky to begin with, we would have painted and reused the piece, but it's really not worth it.

FLASH ON

FLASH OFF

We've also picked out the cutest bedding set @ Babies-R-Us. It's Brown and White with swirls and dots and cute graphic prints. There is a hint of pink in the sheets, and that's really what we're going for - a hint of pink. Check out the collection at Babies-R-Us.

Picture Dump...

We had quite a busy weekend. Halloween. Bowling w/ Work. Cary Band Day. I'm super-exhausted and headed for a relaxing bath, but not before dumping a whole bunch of photos on you. Enjoy!

I was a speed bump.


Gerald was, um, a redneck biker?


Don, the Confused (?) Aviator


I thought it was a furry brownie - it's apparently a Japanese cartoon character, Domo. One of the best costumes all night.

It's 9:37 pm - old 10:30, and I haven't quite adjusted to the new time.
I'll have to post the bowling and Cary Band Day pics a little later. ZZZzzzzz!
*hugs!*

Tag, I'm It!

And just in time, too, I guess. It's been a stinkin' month since I last posted.
Meh, I'm busy building a baby. I blog guilt free. :-)

So, Becca tagged me - thanks for making me get off my lazy bum and post.
I have to post the Sixth Picture from my Sixth Folder. It's the Durham Bulls game, and I think I actually posted it before -



There's a beautiful Faux River that runs through the Historic Tobacco District. It was all lit up, and chloriney smelling. Nice! Gerald and I had a discussion on the finer points of setting up a shot, zooming, flash on/off, and such. I'm not sure who "won" that discussion, but I shoot how I like, he can use the "easy" button on the camera as often as HE likes. :-)




Belly's getting bigger. Tiny Dancer (that's what I've been calling her) is moving around like crazy. I think she's taking tap lessons now. Sheesh.

I had a wonderful, wonderful time with my brother and his new baby son a couple of weeks ago. Grady Paul is the most edible baby I've seen in a long while. I barely put him down the whole weekend. And I changed a poopy diaper. Well, sort-of. Mama kinda had to help rescue me and show me how to really get him cleaned up. I didn't gag once! WOO HOO! (I've got a lot of learnin' to do, don't I?)





So, I'd tag Angella and Laura and Raleigh, but only because they probably haven't written anything in over a year. How about it ladies? So, Daisy? How about you? Wanna join in?

Belly Pics - 23 Weeks 2 days

So, I had a bunch of apples - what to do on this fine, fall morning?
Apples + Granola Cereal + A bit of Honey + Cinnamon/Nutmeg + a little butter + 45 minutes @ 350 = A HAPPY FALL TUMMY!!



My Tiny Dancer is loving it, too! She's just flipping around in my belly!

Bag O'Memories

So... Mom brought by the early 90's equivalent of Pandora's Box.

The case of Mix Cassette Tapes I'd made in High School.



Yeah. I'm still wrapping my brain around exactly how I'd organized Mixes #1 - #8, as they are labeled in white-out on each cassette. Of course, I also have the store-bought DC Talk, Michael W. Smith, Boyz II Men (gotta have the Roman Numeral II in there, ya know!), Mariah Carey, and YES NKOTB. I think somebody's STYX single wound up in my bag, too.

As I listened to one very badly recorded song, the lyrics were quite ironic,

Ain't it funny how a melody can bring back a memory
Take you to another place in time
Completely change your state of mind

It can make a right from a wrong, it can make you fall in love
It can get you singin' along
~Clint Black

Yeah, there were a couple of Garth Brooks tapes and PLENTY of KRRV radio mixes on those stinkin' tapes, mixed in with the 93QID ones. :-D

One strong memory that's coming back is the fact of how obnoxiously I was in love with Gerald in high school. Obnoxious as in I made a sickening and pretty much screwdriver-in-the-eyeball-painful mix of songs for him to listen to on his flight to Europe 6 months after we started dating. I remember asking him, upon his return, if he'd enjoyed the tape I'd made. He said he'd listened to the first couple of songs, then turned it off because it DEPRESSED HIM! Not that he missed me so much, just that IT WAS DEPRESSING!!! I know this now because I'm listening to the tape as I type.

My stomach hurts from all the sappy sugar. Ugh!

Oh Holy Heck!! It's Jon Secada's SPANISH version of "Angel." Gerald took French in High School - why would I EVER put this crap on his tape?

>>>>fast forward>>>>

Naturally I'd put the ENGLISH version right after it.

See, folks. This is PROOF that love makes you crazy.

>>>>fast forward>>>>

PM Dawn - much better. I have this song on my iPod now. I guess it's pretty timeless. Carry on.

So anyway, I'm looking for a specific tape w/ cadences from high school. Y'see, we're having a staff meeting tomorrow @ work, and we want to get the teachers all Fired Up about working with the kids, and how do you get people fired up without a PEP RALLY!?!?! I didn't find the tape, and I appear to have lost my dignity in the process.

So, I want to hear that I'm not the ONLY nutjob on the planet who has found their Cassette Organizer and all those long-repressed memories from high school. Let's hear it, people. What's on your life's Mix Tape? I'm dying to know!

ps... Baby Update for all those who are just Salivating! I'm feeling my sweet princess moving around quite a bit lately. She actually got more active as I was going to bed last night, and Gerald said, "She's wanting to play, Mommy!" I still haven't really taken any new pics lately. Believe me. I'll try to remember in the next few days, okay? :-)

Here's a Hint...

I'd add our ultrasound picture - but there's nothing like showing my daughter's "money shot" to the interwebs - I just can't do it! It's a little difficult to see, anyway! :-) The u/s tech was very quick in diagnosing "daughter" for us. I half-expected her to say, "Hmm... let's see what we have (or don't have) here..." But no - it was all "tra la la, here's the femur, here's the eye sockets, and it looks like it's a girl." Wha? Don't you have to examine a little longer? I guess they have to examine more if they think it's a boy. Anyway...

We're so happy to have a beautiful baby girl on the way. She's going to be the most loved baby girl I've ever known!! (Especially by her Daddy! Gerald learned how to treat a daughter by his own Daddy's example. It's a beautiful thing!) Oh, and you don't have to click over to the link - she's a hard-working Lawyer down in Monticello now and is trying to sell a house. Don't go bug her to update - I just did it for her. You're welcome, Angel! :-) I love you!

January 19th, here we come!

Alright, alright...

Arm Twisted.

19 weeks, 3 days

Honestly, I didn't really "see" my bump until yesterday.
And now you can see my new glasses! 8-)

It was RAINING this morning - remnants of Fay. This is Brindle's take on it. He actually turned around and tried to go back into the house, before he even had his morning pee. He hates the rain.

I have ESP - or at least TBS...

So, last night I had a dream that Zach (Morris) and Kelly (Kapowski) got married! Go figure...

What do I see when I turn on my tv this morning? Saved By The Bell: Wedding in Las Vegas!!!

Am I cool or what?

Seriously?

Am I?

Or just a dork like I thought all along?

I never saw that coming...

This is my 100th post.
Many bloggers do really cool things to commemorate their own 100th.
But they can't all do THIS:

Grady Paul Wallace
9lbs, 21 in.
Mama says he has curly blond hair, and Joey thinks he's the most perfect thing in the world. Which, for now, he is. :-)

HE'S HERE!!!

Welcome to the World, Grady Paul Wallace!



I am thrilled to the point of tears today! Pistache has a cousin!

As for Pistache, we're still growing. We'll find out if we have a Pistachio or Pistachiette on September 2. WOO HOO! I haven't felt movements quite yet. Perhaps some flutters and flickers, but I can't be 100% sure that it's the baby. My lower belly is catching up to my upper belly - my equator is disappearing! (Any "fluffy chicks" out there know about the equator and belly hemispheres.) :-) To be perfectly honest, it doesn't really look like I'm pregnant yet. I haven't taken any belly pictures, but I will when I start "really" showing.

Work is crazybusy! One of our full-time DEs (the job I used to do) took a teaching position, so I'm filling in and taking her students until they can hire someone to step in. I'm sure it won't be but another couple of weeks before they find someone. I'm happy to be able to help, and the extra hours certainly are a blessing - but BOY am I tired! I'm back to full-time hours, with hourly pay. WOOO! Stockpiling for January!

Anyway, that's my little update. My family is getting bigger and bigger by the MINUTE! It's so exciting! (Can you imagine Christmas morning next year with a 16-month old and an 11-month old at Mama's house?!? Cuh-Ray-Zee Fun!!)

Love Yall!

I know these aren't original posts, but the one a couple of days ago just took all the words out of me! Gerald found this comic, and I love the writing style. It's like Nerds In Love. This post pretty much sums up how we're feeling lately. :-)

You've got to click over to the link because I'm not sure that I can post the picture directly on my website.

Enjoy!

Funny Video - Check it out!

Okay, this is a super-funny video. I didn't really laugh out loud until the end, so if you've got several minutes to spare, go ahead and watch it.

Then think of just how nerdy I am for linking to it here on my blog.



Yep. I'm a nerd, all right!

Weekend Update

Hey Yall! I'm glad you've stopped by. Be sure to leave me a note and let me know you were here. I love to read your comments!!

I'll go in reverse order of the weekend so far. I'm planning on making Shrimp and Crawfish Etouffee tonight. The spell-check on Blogger are alerting me to "Crawfish" and "Etouffee" as being misspelled. I wonder what happens when I type Tchoupitoulas. Yep. Red Dotted Line. (checking google to make sure I spelled it correctly... and "google" is also dotted. sheesh!) Anyway, I'm cooking up a storm tonight. I guess that means my energy and appetite are back. I found a pack of frozen crawfish tails at HT last week, (for $7 a pound!) and I'm combining them with some shrimp to make a recipe I found online. I'll let yall know how it turns out.

Today we did church, and we didn't skip "Big Church" like we did last week. Okay, yall. Raise your hand if you've ever called the adult or "main" service "Big Church" compared to Children's Church or Sunday School. Gerald and I attend the Middle School service upstairs at 8:45, then generally go downstairs for Big Church at 10:15. I said something like that to someone at work, and she was like, "Big Church?!?" I had to explain. Is that a southern thing? A Louisiana thing?

Anyway, last night Gerald and I went to the Durham Bulls baseball game with his work. So. Much. Fun! We had been to a game before with some of my workmates, but we sat way out in the outfield. Last night we were along the first baseline, a couple dozen yards behind first base. I had a hot dog for dinner, listeria be damned, and it was goooooood! It was Baseball Game Good! I totally could've eaten the cotton candy and sno-cones they were hawking, but I was good. :-) Should've gotten some peanuts, though. The game was pretty good. We left at probably the bottom of the 8th, when the Rochester Redwings tied up the score with a grand-slam, so I had to trawl the World Wide Interwebs to find out the outcome. I got some great pictures, and Gerald and I even had a constructive discussion on photography techniques. :-| The Durham Athletic Park is a beautiful area. It's a revitalized downtown tobacco factory, and there's a beautiful faux river running through the area, which smells more and more like a chlorinated swimming pool the closer you get to the source. Very pretty, though!

Still walking backward through my weekend... Saturday afternoon I spent at our neighborhood pool to help celebrate my neighbor-kid's 11th Birthday. Woo! I totally didn't wear my swimsuit or any sunscreen, so I stayed under the patio the whole time (about an hour and a half) and panted. Apparently pregnancy hormones can cause you to become winded easily. (All you mamas out there can give me a shout-out on that one!) I didn't spend much time there, though, as I had to nap before going to the baseball game. (see above!)

Saturday Morning I worked. Blah blah.

Friday afternoon, my friend Janice invited me over for tea and cookies :-) with her and her four year-old daughter. We had a wonderful afternoon of conversation and laughs. It's great to find a new old friend! I even helped her with some birthday present decisions. Her daughters were invited to 2 parties on Saturday, and she was unsure what gifts to give: Polly Pocket Princess Crap (or something less crude) or a personalized caddy with girlie bath stuff. I told her go with the girlie stuff, and I spent 3 hours (or so) cuteseying-up the inexpensive caddies with paint pens. I. LOVED. IT. I think it's something I could do for a little side job. Stay tuned for more ideas on that. :-)

Now, the moment you've all been waiting for, except for the few of you who love spoilers and scrolled down immediately. Turkeys!

Here's my little baby Pistache! S/he looks like Daddy in this picture, I think. It has a little Five-Head (bigger than a forehead) like we knew it would. Look at us! We'll find out what we're having (other than A BABY) when I go for my next u/s at 5 months. So, no pictures between now and then, but this should suffice, right?

Enjoy!