The Million Dollar Question...

Are we going to be in the new house before the baby is born?

Here's a long answer...We visited the doctor today for my 35 week check-up. It's a busy time for the doctor (apparently everybody wants to have their babies before Dec. 31 for some strange reason), so we actually saw his nurse practicioner. All is well with me and the baby--blood pressure=good, heartbeat=good, everything else=good, and baby's head is down. As the NP was leaving the room, she told us with a smile we could plan on having the baby anywhere from one to six weeks from now. (Meaning that at 36 weeks they wouldn't stop labor and they wouldn't let me go more than 41 weeks.) Well, that certainly gives us a lot to go with and helps with our planning, doesn't it?

So the big problem is that the only person who knows the answer to the million dollar question is tucked away safely inside my tummy. Bummer. If she comes in a week (unlikely), we definitely won't be in. If she pushes it a week overdue, it's a possibility. The race is on! Which will come first? The baby or the house? Your guess is as good as mine.

The sheetrockers (I guess that's what you call them) just finished today and now we can get started on trim and then the painting fun begins. *If anybody likes to paint and is totally bored and looking for a service project, please give us a call.* HAHA! ;) The place is looking great and is really taking shape now the sheetrock is done. I might actually remember my camera one of these days and get some pictures to share.

Thanks to some awesome babysitters, Greg and I were able to visit a billion stores today and finish picking everything out after the doctor. Here's a pic of the color scheme. (Obviously it's hard to get a good pic of everything, but it will do.)

One more thing...the baby is still nameless at this point. We had zero trouble choosing a name for Garrett, but this one isn't going so well. Any suggestions???

Feliz Navidad!

Well here it is...the delightful and much-anticipated Christmas post!


We spent Christmas Eve with my family at the 55th annual Maughan/Wright Christmas party. (Okay, I'm not really sure it's the 55th, but this party has been going on since my mom was a kid, so it's close.) I was too busy chasing Garrett and visiting to take many pictures, but we did have a great night and was one of our best parties in years.

One tradition is to have all the kids dress up and act out the Nativity. This was Garrett's first year participating. He was a shepherd (and a darn cute one), but he spent most of his time running around the stage hitting things with his shepherd's crook. We're really glad he was so touched by the spirit and message of the pageant. :)

We came home to my parents' house where Aunt Chelsea helped Little G open his Christmas jammies. Unfortunately, he wouldn't hold still long enough to get a pic in them that night, but you can notice them on the pictures from Christmas Day. (They were awfully cute!)

Santa delivered this awesome tool bench for Garrett and was just loading up his sleigh at about 1:30 AM when Garrett woke up. (He must have heard the reindeer on the roof.) He was up until about 5:00 AM (apparently he was really excited for Christmas). We woke up a few short hours later at about 8:30, so our family was a little tired this Christmas.

When he woke up, Garrett just wanted to sit on his daddy's lap and didn't even notice his tool bench for awhile. He finally discovered it and you can see how intrigued he was by each of the pieces. He really analyzed the thing and then thankfully decided it was okay and loved playing with it.

The classic present opening picture! Garrett really got the hang of it this year and was so fun to watch. (Despite the fact he was a bit grumpy from his lack of sleep.)

Brooklyn and Gracie gave him a new "doggie" movie (he's currently obsessed with dogs) and Garrett opened it right up and ran right to the recliner and settled in to watch it.

We had a delightful breakfast of baked french toast, eggs, ham, bacon, and potatoes (Thanks, Dad and Mom!) and then headed to SLC to celebrate with Greg's fam. As previously mentioned in other posts, Garrett LOVES to vacuum. Grandma Jan found this vacuum that really works (YEAH!) and is just his size. He is absolutely thrilled with it and has spent a good share of the day vacuuming.

Grandpa Willy bought Garrett this M&M's dispenser while they were in Vegas for the Maaco Bowl. Garrett has been able to take a break from his vacuuming occasionally to put a coin in and get some treats. (Willy wanted me to be sure and let my family know this is BYU blue and not Aggie blue.) :)

We've had a fun Christmas day just hanging out. Garrett is loving his little cousin Annabelle and keeps saying her name over and over. It's the cutest thing and cracks me up every time.

Greg and Mal are currently watching Saturday Night Live videos online and really wanted me to post a picture of them, so here they are!

Now for your viewing pleasure...

Here's Garrett playing with his present from Santa.

Sorry for the sideways video, but here's Garrett using his new vacuum for the first time. You're even favored enough to catch a quick glimpse of my round tummy when I walk in front of the camera.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!!! My 3 hours of sleep last night are catching up with me and I'm T-I-R-E-D! (I guess it's good practice for the new baby. Only a month to go!)

At Least It Wasn't My Car...

If I haven't previously mentioned this, we live in a very small town. Like more cows than people and it's rare to pass another car on the street while driving. (The town joke is that the only time you will ever get two cars at an intersection at the same time is the last day of the month when people are getting their home/visiting teaching done.) With this in mind, I am proud to announce we are joining the elite group of people who can say they have gotten in a wreck on a road that probably 10 cars drive on per day.

Yep, flash back to Tuesday night. Greg and I had just dropped Garrett off and were on our way to meet some friends for a birthday celebration. As we were leaving, my mom asked us if we would drive her car and fill it with gas while we were in town. Always willing to help others (and use their gas instead of ours), we agreed and were on our way! It had been a snowy and cold day and the roads were solid ice. For some strange reason, I was driving, which is weird because Greg is usually our designated driver. To make a long story short, I stopped at an intersection and the car behind us slid on the ice and rear-ended us.

Nobody was hurt and the cars got dinged up a bit, but that's about it. Greg and I were in the car laughing about how funny it was to have gotten in a wreck in my mom's car in such an unpopulated place. It was even funnier because the people who hit us had just left our next-door neighbor's house and are cousins with our friend whose birthday party we were going to. In fact, they were on their way to babysit her brother's baby because her brother and his wife were also coming to the birthday party.

We didn't quite make it to the party and I called the OB/Gyn on call just to report what had happened and see if I needed to watch for anything specific. I could feel the baby moving and wasn't the slightest bit worried, but he said I needed to go to Labor and Delivery and have the baby monitored. I guess I should have figured he would have had to say something like that to cover his tail, but I was surprised. So, Greg and I spent some thrilling time at the hospital hooked up to a baby monitor. The baby was just fine and Greg enjoyed getting acquainted with the Labor/Delivery floor, since he pretty much missed that entire ordeal when Garrett was born. He was impressed with the snack room and was even able to snag a DC out of the experience, so we'd call it a success.

Here's a lovely picture of the car. You can't really tell much, but the bumper is cracked underneath the license plate. I hope you like the Christmas stickers I added to protect my sweet mother's identity.


Earlier in the evening, before all the fun and excitement, we visited Santa Claus at the town library. Garrett was very interested in Santa and gave him a pretty good stare-down. (His hat covers his face in the picture, but you can kind of see how serious he was about the whole experience.) He got his candy cane from Santa and was out of there. It was pretty funny!

It's 1:30 in the AM...

And Garrett is watching Baby Einstein, Greg is eating an egg sandwich (double eggs, lots of cheese, extra mayo--just how he likes them), and I'm blogging.

'Tis the season for fevers, coughs, runny noses, and sick kids who don't want to sleep. Joy to our world!

Baby Update

We visited the doctor today for the ritual check-up. They had noticed a cyst on the baby's brain during an earlier ultrasound and the doctor wanted to check it again today. A few highlights from the experience.

1. The cyst is gone. Good news!

2. I asked the Ultrasound Tech to make sure she was still a girl. She said she would and proceeded to tell us they've caught a few gender "changes" during 3rd trimester ultrasounds. Greg got excited for a few minutes thinking there was a chance "she" could be a "he," but no such luck. Still a girl--looks like our family is going to equally split for now. (Greg's family had four boys before having a girl and then had another boy, so he was really hoping to repeat the pattern of male dominance.) :)

3. Towards the end of the ultrasound, the Tech said, "Oh cute, you can see she already has some hair." Greg jokingly asks, "Can you tell what color it is?" She jokingly replies, "Red." Greg and I both start laughing and tell her she's probably right.

The general consensus is that the baby looks great and all is well. I'm already into my 31st week--YIKES! It's going so fast!!!