Chillin out maxin relaxin out cool

The things we do to our dogs! Sometimes I think Tilly is so dead set that she is a little person, that if you ever told her different, she’d be crushed! Here's a shot of Tilly hangin' with Ryan watching UNC whoop it up on Oklahoma. This win put Ryan just two games away from taking home the prize (600 big ones)!

Notice the remote in her lap!

Sleep 'til you're hungry, eat 'til you're sleepy.

With March Madness in full effect and an office full of ultimate sports fans, we got a half day off to watch the games. (or in my case, clean the house, enjoy the warm weather and have the games on in the background!) I was SO excited to come home and have Ryan tell me the baby’s bedding and rug had arrived! The bedding is beautiful and I am very pleased with my selection (see pics below). But when I opened the rug, I was a little surprised to find a (very cute) but very girly, pink and brown rug. Obviously it was the wrong one, and it got sent back today; and it reaffirmed why I am such an obsessive planner and needed to buy everything this early!

The weather was perfect for spring and perfect for allergies. I spent the majority of the weekend sneezing and babying my sore nose. Ryan also spent the weekend feeling under the weather, but we think his is not allergy related. He was probably the most pitiful I have seen him in our 5 years together! Saturday night we did suck it up and met our friends, the Precises, for dinner at Sol Y Luna. It was great food and great company and was even better to get out of the house. Sunday, I was experiencing cabin fever and much to my husband’s dismay, spent the day cleaning the house, mowing the yard and planting flowers. I have a serious problem with “lazing around” on the weekends.

Reversible blanket (that he'll never use). The polka dots match the dust ruffle.


"Zoo" themed bedding - the pictures do its cuteness no justice!

A child, like your stomach, doesn't need all you can afford to give it.

I had, what I thought would be my first overwhelming baby experience this week when I tackled the task of registering. But as I entered through the doors of the black hole known as Babies R Us, I had the best offense possible: two mothers of baby boys in my corner offering advice: basically telling me where to point the scan gun! And it wasn’t so bad! We started off a little slow as we debated for about 15 minutes on the width between the bristles of the baby comb, but we quickly got into a groove and move right through it. After some additional input from a mother of (two) boys; who happens to be my sister, I put the final touches on it and marked it off my list of to-dos! Thanks Stacey, Wendi & Becky for your invaluable input (and time!)

With the half-way mark upon in this past week, we feel pretty good about our progress so far:

1. Obviously – registering is done!


2. The names have been narrowed down to 3 (unless Ryan changes his mind … again!)
   
3. Baby bedding has been purchased as well as a jogging stroller!


4. Birthing classes and hospital tour have been schedule for first thing this summer when Ryan is on break.


5. The crib has been picked out, but we are a little hesitant to purchase for lack of storage space!
   
6. My maternity clothes shopping is done, mostly thanks to Becky & Stacey for their hand-me-downs!


7. We started a small baby wardrobe for the little guy – again thanks mostly to hand-me-downs from Hayden/Brody and all the nice outfits we have received.


8. I am well read on all things pregnancy-related and picked up my “first year” books from the library this week.
   

Never iron a four-leaf clover, because you don't want to press your luck.

Ok, so my post today has nothing to do with pressing my luck, but since I am not wearing green in the spirit of St. Patty’s day, I figured I’d make an attempt at festivity-ness (yes, I made that word up! And yes, Stacey, I can be festive!)

This weekend we packed up and drove 7 hours to Becky and Kylan’s house to meet the new (not so) little one and revisit Hayden! The time flew in the car as Ryan and I batted around baby names and all our hopes and dreams for our new boy. And for those wondering, no, we did not come to a conclusion on the name front – it’s narrowed to 3, but still a work in progress! We were able to pick out our baby bedding, which was our first big purchase for the little one!

Our trip to the Stuck’s was quick, but we had a great time relaxing, eating and talking babies. The Babl Boy scored a bag of newborn clothes (that Brody had outgrown at 2.5 weeks) and an infant carrier. Becky was kind enough to shoot my 20 week belly pics; which was so much fun. As you can see from a few of the pictures, our camera-loving, diva of a dog Bones, had to sneak into almost every picture!

I’ll just say it; my nephews are adorable. Brody is such a big boy for 3 weeks and seems very alert, bright eyed and ready to start holding his head up. Although, he did sleep a lot, so he wasn’t nearly as much fun as Hayden. Hayden is just all boy. He constantly wanted Uncle KeKe (Ryan) to play baseball, basketball, or just push him fast in his car. I, apparently, am not quite as cool as Ryan, but as we were leaving, I said “I love you Hay” and he said “I love you, Aunt J” and it melted my heart! You have no idea how bad I wanted to stay!

I already miss my boys and can’t wait to see them again. At least I get to see Brody this summer and the whole Stuck fam will come down to meet our little boy. Enjoy the pics from our visit.

Uncle KeKe and Brody having boy time.

Hanging out with Brody.

Sweet boy!

Hayden testing out the hard hat and goggles from Unlce Keeks! Safety first!

My belly and the "Diva".

20 weeks!


Bones (literally) butting in ... again!

76% of you were incorrect .....

It's a BOY!

It took the ultrasound tech a whopping 2 seconds to give us the “Well folks, it’s a boy!” as she pointed to his “boy parts”. Ryan and I looked at each other and it felt so right! We are thrilled to add to the Medlock/Stuck Brood of all boys. (say that five times fast!)

The doctor told us we had the most photogenic baby of the week (must be my side of the family!) and everything looked great. He weighed 9oz which is right on target for his age. He was flailing around everywhere putting on quite a show. He kicked his leg several times and even waved. He is apparently quite the showman!

At one point the doctor commented on his “long legs” which gave Ryan and I a good laugh, especially when we were able to tell Grandpa Babl about it later!! Must get that from the Medlock side as well!

The three (five counting the pups) of us are piling in the car tomorrow at 4am to head north to Indy to visit our newest nephew, Brody. We are excited about spending 7 hours in the car trying to find a name for our new son. I’ll be sure to take lots of pics and hopefully we’ll have an exciting post for Monday about our trip.

Enjoy the snapshots of our photogenic new boy!

Full body shot of the "long" legs!

Little baby foot.

Spine shot.

Alien baby - face shot.









I'm a boy!

UPDATE!

After much confusion and to my dismay, our appointment is back on at 9:20am. No biggy, but now everyone may have to wait another couple hours for results!

Love and pregnancy and riding on a camel cannot be hid. ~Arabic Proverb

We had such a great weekend and start to Ryan's spring break, but yard work, cookouts and spending QT with my hubby just didn’t seem documentation-worthy (did i mention temps in the 80's! - we slept with the windows open!). So, since I didn’t take any pictures this weekend and because I have been asked repeatedly by my distance friends and family for a belly shot, I thought I would share my 17 week photo. There still isn’t a whole, whole lot to look at, but as you can see, the 7 pounds I have gained must be going somewhere!

In other exciting news, we are now just a little over 3 days away from finding out the gender of our little one! Of course, this assumes cooperation and modesty is out the window. Our first appointment is at 7:45am on Thursday morning and we promise we’ll start the phone tree as soon as we get out. We do have another appointment at 12:45, but I am hoping I will make it to the computer for a short gender post before lunch!

Where does the white go when the snow melts?

Well, this past weekend was packed (no pun intended) with snow, baby shopping and pizza! Ryan and I ventured out into the world of baby shopping for the first time! It was a little overwhelming at first, but we went in with a plan (of course, we’re Babl’s!) and decided to focus our efforts on cribs and travel systems - two items that will be crucial in the first few months of Baby Babl’s life. After nearly 2 hours (it’s like you enter a time conundrum when you step through the doors of baby land) we settled on a travel system (to register for) and narrowed our crib down to color and style. That’s progress!

As you can see from the picture and video, the weather man actually got it right this weekend. It snowed. And it snowed a lot for Alabama. We probably got a good 2-3 inches, maybe more, but certainly enough to transform our neighborhood into a winter wonderland of snowmen and driving hazards. Unfortunately or fortunately, the sun came out around noon and by 5 all that was left was a few sad, melted snow creatures. Of course, Bones thinks snow is the greatest gift ever (he’ll transition well to the Midwest should we make that move someday!) and had a blast licking, eating and running in the snow. Tilly (aka Miss Priss) was a little more hesitant, but eventually let go of her inhibitions and had a blast. You can see how hard it was still snowing in the video. You can probably also hear how loud I was laughing at those two nutcases!

In other news, the countdown continues until our BIG ultrasound. Just over a week! Ryan is finishing up a rough couple of weeks, but as of Friday, is officially on Spring Break!

Daddy trying out a variety of travel systems - and being caught off guard by my photo op!

Baby's first purchase (by Ryan) who is ready for his future athlete to sport 1 of 5 Nike onesies.

Snow! Apparently is does happen; even in Alabama!

Snow is like catnip for dogs! @ Yahoo! Video