Random Thoughts by Merritt

• Pregnancy is sexy up until about week 24ish.
• The last time I peed my pants was in the fifth grade. I rushed home from the bus stop and couldn't find the key in time and peed on the back porch, melting the snow. That is no longer the last time I peed myself (see first bullet point).
• I love maternity clothes. I've never worn so many stripes and tight shirts. I'm going to miss them.
• My dogs are awesome. I love them.
• My husband has been "taking one for the team" since about mid-October. And by that I mean he's been sleeping on the couch most nights because I apparently snore like a freight train (see first bullet point). The last night he made it all the way through in the same bed as me was Christmas Eve. Poor guy has slept less than five nights on our new master bed. Once the baby comes we're looking forward to napping on that bed together in between feedings and diaper changes.
• My husband loves to cook brinner.
• After an emotional day last week (some irrational emotions, some legit) he brought home my favorite flowers and I loved it.
• Men at work don't really make nice comments about my growing belly. Are you having twins? Weren't you due last week? (and that one was asked at week 33... and his wife was pregnant at the time, too) You look big! Um... it's perfectly acceptable to not talk about my appearance. You can talk about the weather if you want.
• I am very excited to not go to work for a while. I know this will be a different kind of work, but one where I'm the CEO.
• I'm excited for Dave to change his first diaper.
• Our local wine/liquor store (you cannot buy in the grocery stores in TN) just stocked my favorite gluten free beer on my request. It's Green's Endeavor. I already bought two and have them in the fridge ready to go.
• I'm working from home from now until I go into labor. Which I am enjoying. I'm getting all caught up on HGTV.
• I love our house.
• I love my family.
• I love my friends.
• I love foot massages. I am going to get a pedicure on Saturday (Christmas gift from Dave) and a reflexology foot massage on Sunday.
• I have a fear of the unknown... I don't know what day this baby is coming, I don't know if I'll go into labor on my own or need to be induced, I don't know how I'll deliver...
• I'm pretty sure that if the girls on Sixteen and Pregnant can raise a child, Dave and I can, too.

The Nursery

Dave and I have been working on the nursery for months now, slowly but surely. If you remember, we had the room painted by the builder so we wouldn't have to do it ourselves. Well, the green color we compromised on (I wanted darker, Dave wanted lighter) has taking some getting used to, but it's finally grown on us.

I decided I didn't want animals or cartoons in the room, but more shapes and things. We registered for bedding with dots on it, so we used that as the inspiration for the rest of the room. I looked online to get ideas for inexpensive art for the walls and came across the idea of covering canvas with fabric. It looked simple enough so that's what we did. I went to a local fabric store and selected fabric I thought would help tone down the wall color. Then I went to Michael's to get canvas. It turns out large blank canvas's can get quite pricey, but one website suggested canvas stretching frames as an alternative. The frames are a much better deal... so that's what I used for the three big pieces above the crib. We bought a magnet board that is covered is fabric, too, from a seller on Etsy. I glued on buttons to the magnets (so crafty!).

I believe the nursery is ready to go! All it needs is a little boy. :)

 Fao (yep, my stuffed frog from high school) is our stand in child right now. We placed him here to make sure we could see the baby on the monitor, and we've left him here. It keeps Parker and Riggins interested but gives us a teaching opportunity for them to leave whatever is in the crib alone.

 On the magnet board we have a tracking sheet for Lawson's sleeping and bathroom activity. We hope to keep up the detail so if the pediatrician ever has questions we have answers.

 I made this bookcase in the 8th grade. It's not super sturdy, but it works.

The wall of family photos! The empty frame is for a picture of Dave's mom. And I need a picture of Everett with his parents, but for now I'll take just his parents. 

Look at that face!!!

My stomach measured big at my 32 week appointment, so the doctor suggested an ultrasound before my 34 week appointment just to make sure everything was okay. She was pretty sure everything would be okay and told me anything between 10th and 90th percentile was considered normal. I wasn't too worried; more so I was excited this little guy might get here early! It turns out lil fab was 5lb 9oz at 34 weeks, which is the 70th percentile. So everything is just fine... he's just on the bigger side. How Dave and I created a big baby I will never understand. Maybe lil fab will tap into some of the height (everything is relative!) on my side of the family.

Dave and I went to the ultrasound on December 28 to get lil fab measured. After taking his measurements in regular ultrasound view, the technician switched to 4D so we could actually "see" lil fab! We thought that was very cool. Plus, they offer 4D for hundreds of dollars and insurance doesn't cover it so Dave and I weren't going to get it done. But the technician did it for free. Once we saw lil fab's face we immediately noticed his nose... it doesn't look like mine or Dave's. Dave is now convinced this could be the Fed Ex guy's child. Rest assured, it is not. And the ultrasound technician said many noses look wide in the 4D images because 1) there isn't a lot of room in there, and 2) the nose still has some adjusting to do at that stage. I do think the lips are right on. And it's funny that he looks a little frustrated... all of those jabs to my sides make sense now!

And we've decided on a name for lil fab: Lawson Gray Gilbert. We love it! Dave actually found the name Lawson in a baby name book. He was looking at Dawson and laughing that the name got very popular when Dawson's Creek was on air. But when looking at suggested sibling names he saw Lawson. So he flipped to Lawson in the book, liked the meaning, noticed it wasn't very popular, and we added it to our list. Gray actually comes from our other lead name of Grayson. We were at a Vanderbilt baseball game last spring and one of Vandy's players is named Grayson. We liked it so we added it to our list both as a first name and shortened to Gray as a middle name. We didn't choose Grayson as a first name for a few reasons: 1) We googled "Grayson Gilbert" and it turns out he is a character (albeit, a dead one) on Vampire Diaries - a teen show on the CW, 2) Grayson has surged in popularity, rising from the mid-200s to #48 on the 2011 list of boys names, and 3) many girls are named Grayson, too (in fact at our December 28 appointment Dave noticed the baby announcement wall and two of the announcements were for babies names Grayson - one girl and one boy).

After seeing his face, we're even more excited to meet Lawson in person!

Christmas!

Christmas was different this year. It was my first time in 33 years not spending it with my family! Dave did a great job of getting into the Christmas spirit this year... we put up a tree the first weekend in December, we put decorations up outside and inside, and we followed many traditions. We woke up -slept in!!!! - then we opened stockings and ate breakfast. Instead of orange rolls and mini sausages, which are a tradition from my family, we made grits along with scrambled eggs, bacon and OJ. After breakfast we took Parker and Riggins on a walk so they would be a little tired while we opened presents later. And that plan worked... mostly. We opened presents and gave Parker and Riggins their toys to keep them occupied. We had a good time opening gifts. And we got a lot of gifts for lil fab! For the rest of the day we walked the dogs again, watched two movies at home, and ate dinner. For dinner we had ham, mashed potatoes (leftover from Christmas Eve dinner at our friends house), mashed sweet potatoes, and sweet potato biscuits. We also had some cheesecake for dessert, another leftover from Christmas Eve dinner. All in all, it was a great day. I was so happy to at least talk to my family and hear their voices. And it was very nice spending the entire day with my boys.

Our Christmas Tree - love it!

Beef's ornament.

Riggins taking ownership of the wubba and treat toy.

Parker taking ownership of the tennis ball toy.

Parker and Riggins "fighting" over their new toys.

Dave opening his gifts.

Riggins with his ornament from Dave's mom. Parker got one, too.

YAY!

Almost perfect.

Looking good! 

Finished product with yummy maple syrup. Thanks again Kevin!

Thanksgiving

Dave and I were excited to spend Thanksgiving at home this year! We usually drive to Indianapolis to have Thanksgiving with my dad and step family, but last year we moved on Thanksgiving Day and now Indianapolis is too far of a drive. So here we are. We started to make a list of all the things we wanted at our own Thanksgiving... turkey (one grilled, one baked), sweet potato casserole, mashed sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, rolls, cornbread, dessert, etc. We decided our list was too long for just us (but we'd eat it all by ourselves if we had to!), so we invited one of Dave's coworkers over and his family. They just had their second child and all of their family had just been here and weren't coming back until Christmas. They happily joined us, as did Dave's mom. Dave and I made the majority of the food as planned, but our guests brought gravy (gluten free), mashed potatoes (gluten free), stuffing, and Cheesecake (gluten free crust!). We made the rest. It was awesome! Dave grilled the turkey and did a great job; I grilled the turkey and did well, too, in spite of my leaving the gizzards in (oops). Oveerall, everything tasted very good! Dave and I ate leftovers for every meal except breakfast through Sunday night. And the desserts lasted even longer. :) We look forward to doing it all again next year.

Parker and Riggins relaxing on Thanksgiving morning.

Parker relaxing in front of the fire. And yes, Mom, the TV was stuck on football again!

The spread on our kitchen island. Yummy!

 Dave's turkey.

My turkey.

Gravy (and our first time using our gravy boat!)

Carrot and Parsnip dish. It was amazing and it's definitely a "make again".

Cornbread - a David and Merritt staple.

Mashed potatoes and Caramelize Brussel Sprouts. Dave made the brussel sprouts and they were surprisingly good (it must have been the maple syrup for me!).

Stuffing

Sweet potato casserole - one of my favorites and I make it every Thanksgiving.

Cheesecake

Fudge

Homemade Corn Tortillas

We finally used the tortilla press I received for Christmas in 2009! I was a little intimidated to use it, so it stayed in the cabinet. Dave noticed we had Masa Harina in the pantry and suggested we try to make our own corn tortillas for dinner, rather than purchase them from the store. And we are so glad we made them from scratch! They were easy and delicious! Dave doesn't think we should ever by store bought corn tortillas ever again. And I'm pretty much in agreement. The homemade versions didn't break nearly at all and they were a little thicker. We use the corn tortillas to make grilled fish tacos for dinner. Below are pictures that document our process:

Mini corn tortilla balls.

The corn tortilla press!

A corn tortilla ball becomes a corn tortilla after it's been pressed (between wax paper).

Cooking the corn tortilla. Hint: You only need a very little bit of olive oil... don't go even close to overboard. In fact, we probably will just spray some PAM next time.

Finished corn tortillas.

Our toppings for the tacos.

Dave grilled tilapia on the grill and topped it with salsa.

Our finished (empty!) plates. I meant to take a picture of our tacos, but they looked so good we ate them before I remember to take a picture. Trust me, they were delicious.

Me and Lil Fab at 22 Weeks!

This is me and my little boy! I was 22 weeks along yesterday, but my outfit was cuter today so we took a picture this morning before I left for work. :)  You'll see more pictures this weekend (via Facebook) because we are headed to Alabama for the homecoming football game. Alabama plays Vandy, so we'll be a house divided. But Dave's realistic and roots for Alabama every other weekend. I have a maternity houndstooth dress to wear that my friend in Austin let me borrow. I cannot wait to wear it, walk around campus, visit friends, and enjoy the game with Dave!