Parts and Labor

Last weekend we attended a couples baby shower for our friends Marc and Sarah down in New Braunfels, TX. The shower was right on the Guadalupe river- a great spot to go tubing on a hot Texas day. Sarah is due about a month before us and is having a girl. I think Marc is already worried about our son dating their daughter... and justifiably so. We had a great time and I don't think I've ever been around so many pregnant women all at once. There were actually 4 pregnant ladies all about a month apart and one 5 month old baby. I spent the day getting a quick intro into handling a newborn as my friend Jeff was busy feeding, changing, burping, and repeating with his son. I also spent most of the afternoon with my phone set to ESPN.com and on auto-refresh to check the score of the Cavs game. Lebron = domination.

People on the river may be happy to give but they need to be more happy to run spellcheck.

On Sunday we picked up our crib and our changing table/dresser was delivered last weekend also. So I spent Sunday putting together the new furniture and getting the baby's room set up. We took a nice 2 hour break and met up with Jeff and Amy (different Jeff) for some Homeslice pizza and a cupcake for dessert. It's funny how the few small changes we made to that room really made this whole experience seem a lot more real suddenly. Not that the growing belly and constant kicking wasn't enough realism, but knowing that a little person that we made is going to be sleeping in something I put together with my bare hands is a little crazy... and kind of scary since there were at least 7 leftover pieces that I have no clue what they are for. Of course, we tested out the crib with Tater so I think it should be fine.

Bella really wanted to help me build the crib but she lacked both the dexterity and opposable thumbs to be effective. Thanks for the effort though Bella!

Mom and Tater tried on some of the new clothes while I put together the furniture. Tater loves his new hat.

I think that rail is supposed to go there. I hope. Eh- it's a short fall.

Tater's test run. I think he was bummed that he didn't get to be the first one to wet the bed.

Fully assembled and decorated. Booyah!

I hope he isn't terrified of animals!

Bella was pumped that she "helped".

This week was a long one but it ended pretty well. We checked out the movie I Love You, Man on Saturday with Megan, Jeff, and Amy. I think I have solidified my man crush on Paul Rudd, which I'm sure Kelly is happy about since she has a real crush on him. The movie was hilarious and it made me really happy that I don't have issues making friends... or throwing up on people. We also grilled up some food on Sunday with Evan and Clara, who were in town from San Antonio. They brought along their new addition, Smokey. She is a 10 week old Dachsund puppy and I can only hope our son is as cute as she is- maybe a little less hairy though.

Smokey likes to snuggle.

Evan and Clara with Smokey on the shoulder.

Mom and her two boys were tired after the weekend.

Baby Shower Redux

This weekend was the Austin baby shower and I was in attendance for this one. As with the last one I have to give a huge thanks to the host, Courtney, and to Amy and Megan for all their work in setting everything up and feeding and entertaining the masses. And to anyone else who was working behind the scenes, thank you as well. The food was amazing and I am still snacking on the blue cupcakes... delicious!! Thank you all for the wonderful gifts. We really do appreciate everything and so will Chewie when he arrives!

Just in case there are any guys reading this I'm going to post some pictures that will prove I can bring in the ladies... as long as they are invited somewhere to celebrate the upcoming birth of my son. Anyway, I planned to show up for about an hour just to say hello and thanks to everyone, but Kelly convinced me to stick around to open gifts and I obliged. I was expecting lots of talk about Jimmy Choo shoes and what's happening on Gossip Girl, and while there was plenty of that going on, it wasn't nearly as bad as the movies make it out to be. This may be a testament to the coolness of Kelly's friends or my ability to tune out girl talk... I'm not sure which but I am glad that I stuck around.

Kelly and I took one nice picture before returning to our normal jackass selves.

Megan made an amazing "diaper cake". I was initially imagining some sort of edible cake in the shape of a diaper or a bunch of diapers covered in frosting, neither of which sounded appealing. This was much better.

The ladies didn't realize that I was also the "entertainment" for the afternoon. The hotness of these dance moves is unparalleled!

I'm not sure what Kelly was opening here but I was all about it. I probably have no clue how to use it and I definitely won't be reading the instructions.

The Austin crew.

After the shower we hung out on Saturday night and watched some college hoops. Kelly ran into one of the guys that was on the bachelorette and several of us debated who you would rather fight- a moose or a bear? How is that even a debate? I mean, moose have big antlers, yes, but a bear has giant claws and is an omnivore. So, to those of you who chose to fight the bear, I will be happy to go camping with you knowing that I'll get a head start running when you stay to get eaten by Smokey the Bear :)

Hail, and Other Showers

Kelly had the first of her baby showers last week. She traveled to Chicago where she was showered with love, gifts, and lots of good food. First, let me send a special thank you to Momma McBreen, Mrs. Zellner, Aunt Barb Baker and Uncle Jim Knebs for all the work they did for the shower. I know I wasn't able to make it but we both really appreciate you rearranging your lives to accommodate the masses. Kelly came back very excited after such a good weekend of seeing friends and family, and although I was disappointed that I couldn't make it I am glad she had such a good time.

The McBreen clan back together

Kelly loves Portillo's hot dogs

I also want to thank Kelly for giving me the green light on a new TV purchase. The old one mysteriously died while she was out of town (so strange) so we upgraded. So I spent most of the weekend glued to the couch in high-def heaven. I actually videotaped the TV shutting itself on and off at its own discretion, just in case there were any questions as to the validity of my claim.

Before Kelly left we had a pretty bad hail storm here in Austin. She got back home from work just in time to see it start to fall and called me to tell me and my coworkers to move our cars inside the parking garage. Fortunately we both escaped with no damage but some of our neighbors weren't so lucky.

We took some time when Kelly returned to try out some of the clothing we received as gifts. And since we didn't have a test baby to dress up we used Tater, of course. Here he is in his new favorite outfit... ready to work the railway or till a field.

He was actually trying to walk but he couldn't. We are terrible people I know...

This is exactly how I plan to carry Chewie when he's born

Other than that it was a pretty tame week. Thank you all for the gifts and cards. We truly appreciate all your generosity. This upcoming weekend is baby shower #2 here in Austin so hopefully we'll have more photos to post. Until then...