H-O-T

I haven't blogged in a few days, trying to avoid complaining...Texas is having record breaking temperatures this summer. I think we've had 15 days of straight 100 degree weather with no relief in sight. Summer is usually my favorite time of year, I prefer being hot any day over being cold. This summer is a little different. Duke is suffering too. I think we have figured out how to stay out of the heat as best we can...

1) Duke and I take our daily walks at 7am
2) The AC is set to 72 and we have accepted paying a high bill this month
3) Limit any errands to before 10am and after 6pm
4) Take advantage of the pool!
5) Get rid of extra blankets on the bed

Hope you're all finding ways to stay cool and enjoy the summer!

More Triathlon Pictures!

Here are some more pictures from the Cap Tex Triathlon Weekend:

Waiting on Congress bridge for our Triathletes

Forrest on his bike

Crossing the Finish Line!
Lake afterparty! Me and my sister-in-law, Sara.
Cheers Ann Marie!

36 Weeks!

I am officially at 36 weeks. Baby Thompson's arrival is merely weeks away, or maybe even less. I have a feeling he is going to be on-time or late, but not early. After all, I was fashionably 3 weeks late. Sorry Mom! My weekly doctor appointments are going well, but are getting old. Weight, blood pressure, weight, hospital registration, counting baby movements, weight, repeat, repeat, etc, etc. I did get in a bit of trouble at yesterday's doctor visit. Apparenlty I'm way behind on packing my hospital bag and getting the car seat installed. I told her I'd been working on curtains, bedding, and reading the Twilight series (all done by the way), which are not high priority tasks with the doctor. Here are some updated pictures of the nursery. It's still missing a few finishing touches like a chair, a changing table, and some things for the wall. I would love to hear any suggestions on nursery art and rocking chairs!

They might be wrinkled, but they are up!

This is the wall I want to hang something cute, maybe his name, still TBD

The crib, full of stuffed animals and blankets

The Baby's New Crib!

Our baby crib was delivered on Monday!!! After waiting weeks and weeks for the delivery, I was super anxious! For anyone waiting to the last minute to order a baby crib, beware, they usually take 8 weeks to ship! Who knew? I did my best to try and get it out of the box by myself, but ended up having to wait for Forrest to get home later that night. He was excited too, because as soon as he was home, he started to put it together. It didn't take too long and surprisingly was a fun project without the usual problems. I spoke too soon!

Proud Forrest and a great looking crib!

Realizing it won't fit through the door!

Forrest had to TAKE IT APART and PUT IT BACK TOGETHER AGAIN!!!!! I had tears in my eyes I was laughing so hard. It was hilarious. And yes, Forrest did ask before we started if we should build it in the baby's room. I said no, there's much more space in the living room. Oops!

Nursery Update

Baby Thompson's nursery is the first room I've ever put much effort into. Don't get me wrong, I love to decorate, but I prefer to skip the hassle of painting and hanging curtains. So far, this nursery has stripes on the wall and curtains (sort of...I'll explain in a bit). Of course I didn't do these two activities on my own, I have my parents and Forrest to thank for the help.

I think nurseries require a little more effort because there is so much planning involved for the unknown. I've thought through each drawer and basket carefully. I've already washed all his tiny little clothes, blankets, and burp cloths.

You have already seen the stripes, they turned out great! The curtains are another story...we have drapes and a valence. I've never done the double rod thing before so when it came to picking out the curtain rods, I made numerous trips to different stores trying to find the best and least expensive double curtain rod. Finally, after picking these out my parents and Forrest attempted to hang them. Before even getting the boxes open, I realized I bought the wrong size! Another trip back to Bed Bath & Beyond! Then after measuring where the rod should go and drilling a hole, the flimsy plastic wall anchors bent when Forrest tried to put them in the wall. Another trip back to Home Depot! And of course, there is one more trip that I need to make, back to Pottery Barn! I measured wrong and bought curtains that were too short. This is exactly why I don't hassle with decorating a room to perfection!

How many people does it take to hang curtains?

Even the dogs were there for the excitement!

Duke & Barley

Hopefully pictures of a finished project will be coming soon!

Babymoon!

When I found out I was pregnant, two thoughts came to mind...new bag (diaper bag) and babymoon! I remembered seeing a story on the Today Show about the new trend, couples taking a vacation before the arrival of the baby. If you Google it, I'm sure you will come across hotel packages specifically for couples expecting. We looked into taking trips to Destin or maybe San Francisco, but when it came down to it, we were out of free weekends! It was going to be June before we could get away. By June, I knew I wouldn't be able to get on a plane or sit in a car for too long. Our solution was to stay in town, but still get away by driving 20 minutes to the Hill Country Hyatt. We turned off our phones and left our computers behind. It was a perfect, relaxing weekend!! Most of our time was spent poolside reading our books or floating in the lazy river. A good two hours were spent relaxing at the spa! My calves and lower back were in need of a good massage!

Enjoying dinner at Antler's Lodge

Danskin 2009

Another day, another triathlon. Is the season over yet? Sunday my mom, sister, cousin, aunt and many many others completed the Danskin 2009 triathlon. What a fun race!!!! They all did amazing. Ann Marie and my mom beat their times from last year by a good 10 minutes and first-timer Renee rocked with a time of 1:38.

Bright and early, before the race
After crossing the finish line!

How did you like the swim? What about that awful hill at the end?

Danskin 2009 Finishers!!!!!! Way to go!!!!

I was able to get close enough for some really good videos of them each starting the race! This will give you a little taste of what the swim is like...a bit crowded at first!

Robin...

Mom...counting down...



Renee...



Ann Marie...

Tory Burch and BOBs!

Last weekend Baby T was spoiled with love and gifts. My Austin friends and their moms, along with my aunts and cousins hosted a super fun and adorable baby shower. The food was delicious, a nice choice of every kind of salad imaginable....fruit salad, spinach salad, pasta salad...all my favorites! They decorated the room with balloons, precious stuffed animals, and tons of flowers. Kelly, Renee, and Claire made a surprise slide show of pictures from when Forrest and I were babies. Everyone brought a children's book so we are now set with lots of reading ahead of us! The cake even matched the invitation! It was such a fun day and I feel so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends. Thank you!!!

Discovering New Talents

Owning a house unveils one's many hidden talents! Talents like...planting flowers, fixing roof tiles, checking for termites, painting, attempting to decorate, replacing fence posts, and much much more. Ok, so maybe these aren't talents, more like items on a must-do-to-d0-list. One of our latest projects was finding the perfect piece of furniture for our kitchen. Our kitchen is tiny! We have about 5 useful cabinets and 3 drawers. One of these drawers and cabinets might possibly disappear one day when we decide to install a dishwasher. Did I mention we don't have a dishwasher? Our dishwasher's name is Forrest and he does an excellent job! After months and months of searching for a kitchen buffet, my parents found one at an estate sale for $75!!! What a deal and I couldn't believe it actually fit! We had restricting measurements due to the kitchen door, the pantry door, and the oven! They delivered our new piece of furniture and we loved it, except for the rusted hardware and honey-brown color.

I spent a good two months figuring out what exactly we should do, liking what I saw in a Pottery Barn catalog:



Our tile in the kitchen is black and white so we decided to paint the piece black. I looked into hiring someone to do it for us and we were quoted anywhere from $400-600!!! So I approached my dishwasher to see if he would be up for the project, and he was! I bought all the materials (or what I thought we needed after researching on google) and Forrest started taking off the old hardware, sanding, priming, and painting. It took a total of 4 days due to the humidity and rain. I still haven't found new hardware, but here are some pictures of Forrest's new unveiled talent, we love how it turned out!

Sanding

Time to Prime!

Almost finished product! Still need to find the hardware, which is why the drawers and cabinets look open -- we don't want them to get stuck!

If you're interested in doing a project like this, call me! We did run into some problems...the old screws were stripped so we had to drill into them to get the hardware off. At first we also didn't realize how important the priming stage is, another trip to the store. Also, I think either because of the coats of paint or the humidity, we had difficulty fitting the drawers and cabinets back into place. All in all, a fun learning experience. Forrest might have a different opinion!

Those Things Don't Come True...

My best friend Kelly got married back in January 2008. Her mom's side of the family is from Louisiana and in the deep south (especially in the state of Louisiana) they love the tradition of incorporating cake charms into the wedding celebration. So at Kelly's bridal luncheon they served a beautiful and very delicious cake overflowing with cake charms (or cake pulls).

It's a neat tradition and was really fun seeing what charm everyone pulled from the cake. Some got charms indicating exciting travel in their future, like the Eiffel Tower charm or an airplane charm. Others found an engagement ring or a heart charm at the end of their ribbon, indicating love and possibly marriage! And what charm did my hand of fate pull for me? A baby pacifier! I'm not a superstitious person, and I know this because I ended up throwing the charm away. I can't believe my cake charm actually predicted the correct future for me! I wonder if the other girls are taking amazing vacations and falling in love after picking their charms?

Happy Graduation!

Congratulations Bergy on your big graduation from UT Law School!!!!!!

Celebrating was so much fun.