Baby's Room Update

It has been quite some time since there have been any updates on the status of the baby’s room. That’s because there hasn’t been any updates… :) This will soon be changing as the color selection will be made in the very near future. Note the color cards on the floor around the room. Also note the drop cloths from the spare/computer that I am pretty sure should be dry after a month or more not being used and should be able to be reused ;)! We’ve been having some fun to break things up, but now it is time to come back to reality and bite the bullet of life for a little while.

Most of our furniture is in and ready for pick up. The hutch has not quite made it to the store yet. While ordering the glider rocker and ottoman a couple weeks ago, we did inquiry, but it wasn’t in. I am pleased that we ordered the furniture so early so that backorders, etc. wouldn’t interfere with the ultimate plan. We are hoping to pick up most, if not all, of the furniture in a week and a half. Actually, I called to inquiry again since starting this post and found that the hutch is on backorder... :(!

Stay tuned for the announcement of the color(s) for the baby’s room. Drum roll please… LOL!!

Citizens Bank 400 Race At MIS

Race day was finally here! The much anticipated excitement of seeing cars flying by at 200 mph right before our eyes has become reality once again.

The morning started off early with a quick scenic trip around Brooklyn to go into a different parking lot than usual. This eliminated the need for a tram ride and the need still for a long walk. This proved very beneficial for the pregnant one… Wonder who that is? :-P!

I forgot to mention, with the pleading, okay so just asking, Amy was able to request to walk through gates, etc. instead of walking over the pedestrian bridges in a number of places around the track. This came in handy for her husband/coach as well. Only one grumpy lady made the coach make the trek over the bridge while mom took the easy route. No complaints from the coach though!

Before the race had begun, we wandered around the garage area checking out the various car haulers, garages, pre-race inspection, pit road, etc. We also walked up onto the track and were able to get our picture taken in victory lane. We were able to get the now infamous NASCAR onesie signed by the President of NASCAR, a few more owners and drivers. The pictures show most of them (too many pictures to load all of them, there are already too many to bore you…). So, the onesie made its mark and will now be framed to make its mark in either the babys room or our sports room in the basement.

The race was again a warm day, but the shade began to protect us from the heat and sun… When was that again Amy? Oh yeah, lap 113, but who was paying attention :-P! The race itself was pretty boring, but was still worth the trip!

Many times after a race at MIS, it is literally hours before you can get out of the parking lot. This race, we were able to walk back to the truck, load up and basically drive right home. We were back to our friends about 20 minutes after the race ended taking the long way around. It wasn’t long and we were all out in the water cooling our tootsies and relaxing away from the heat!

Nextel Cup Practice/Craftsman Truck Qualifying

Saturday was a trip back to the track for some car practice and truck qualifying. We started out with a little practice watching and then headed across the road from the track for some shopping and food. For the most part, it was a stroll of leisure and there was not as much going on as Friday. So, with it being a very hot day and momma getting heated up, we decided to call it a day in the early to mid afternoon.

With the shortened day at the track, it gave us some time to stop by Doug's cousin's home away from home for a little while. We have been in the area a number of times, but unfortunately weren't able to make time before. It was great to see them.

Qualifying - MIS June

It was a quick hook up to the camper and away we went to MIS. First stop, Harold’s Place on US-12 for a heavy breakfast with my cousin’s and one of his friend’s. Okay, so two of his friends, one of which married my cousin. Monroe is funny that way… LOL!! After a quick bite to eat it was off to our friend’s house to drop off our camper and away we went to the track.

Upon arriving at the track, we needed to get our credentials so that we could enter the garage area and pits this year. Amy and I thought it would be a good idea to get a NASCAR onesie for people to sign, so off the merchandise trailers we went. On our way there we saw Kyle Petty flying by on a golf cart. After the purchase of the onesie, we headed for the garage area. There was a large group of people along a fence because Denny Hamlin was signing autographs. So Amy quickly sprung into action (yes, she still has a little bounce left) and got his autograph. After getting into the garage area, we caught the tail end of a press conference with Jeff Gordon at his trailer and received his signature as well. Jeff smiled a bit when he realized was he was autographing. His wife is due anytime now. Amy quickly pushed her friend Hidie up closer to Jeff because her feet suddenly became made of concrete with glue on them… Hidie is a HUGE Gordon fan and just adores him. She has met him before, but for some reason still gets cold feet ;)!

After wandering around in the garage area we spent a large amount of time on pit road meeting drivers, etc. I won’t bore you with all of them, but let me just say that we had an awesome time!! However, I will say that Jack Rousch didn’t want to let go of Amy for a while... We stayed on pit road until Nextel Cup qualifying was over and then watched a little of the ARCA race. It was pretty hot and was a long day as we also needed to wear jeans, no open toed shoes and shirts with at least short sleeves, so we decided to call it a day.

Stay tuned for pictures of the day! I need to cut them down so they don’t get too boring.

Amy Meets Kasey Kahne!!

How cool is that? Amy and baby Gaynier meets her/maybe their favorite NASCAR Nextel Cup Series driver. How you ask? Details attached...

Doug's lease is up on his vehicle soon and was making a deal this past Monday at a Dodge dealer. On Tuesday he stopped by to check on some things since the new vehicle was located at another dealership and needed to get back to work the day before. While waiting for the salesperson to return from lunch, Doug noticed this sign... Autographs available. Kasey Kahne will be here Thursday from 5-8. Well, Doug immediately called Amy at work to let her know. It didn't take long, after Amy settled down a bit, to determine that she wasn't taking lunches the rest of the week and leaving early to be there at 5. In case you didn't know, Kasey Kahne is Amy's A#1 driver!!!

Timing can be of the essence. One of Doug's long time friends, Jill, who lives in North Carolina was shopping one day recently and found some Kasey Kahne (9) onesies and sent them up for the baby. We were very grateful to receive them and Amy was ecstatic and bouncing off the walls. It was quite the site to see, a pregnant woman jumping like she wasn't... Thanks for the onesies and the giggles Jill!

So, we made it to the dealership in plenty of time. Kasey started signing autographs around 6:00 and we were only allowed one item to be signed. Of course, Amy had more... However, Amy was able to get 4 things signed. One of which was the onesie. Unfortunately, Amy didn't open it up and Kasey unknowingly signed the back. Not a good thing if you are thinking about framing it for the baby's room and the name is on the back. It was also noticed that the hat that Amy wanted him to sign, didn't because it was on Doug's head. So, another trip through the line was made.

It came time to leave, but Amy just couldn't get herself to do it as she was peeking through some vehicles at a distance. Now was the time to pull out the big guns and note that we still needed to get some groceries, etc. and get home so that we could leave in the morning to head out the MIS for the big race weekend.

Yes, Amy made some fun of herself in telling Kasey that she and our baby were huge fans. To which Kasey giggled and grinned as you can see in the picture. Doug wished him well for the race this weekend and he looked up and graciously said thank you. Doug felt pretty good because there wasn't anyone that was wishing him well or even really saying anything to him. Amy thought it was a good idea and wished him well this weekend as well.

24 Week Dr. Appointment

Another Dr. appointment and the locomotive of life is still steaming right along... Mom freaked out a bit when the receptionist handed her an envelope and told her that it was a preregistration form for the hospital. Mom's adrenalin peaked at an all time high with "What the heck do I need this for? I'm not going to the hospital today, am I?" The reception started laughing and said that it was just for when the baby comes. Mom was still a little frazzled and noted "ALREADY?? Isn't this kinda early?" Dad was immediately handed the paperwork and mom went off to "relieve" herself as she is required to do every appointment.

We have now met the fourth doctor (we think there is 5) of the practice and the first male. Mom was apprehensive about having a male doctor, but he quickly became on of her favorites. Jumping up on the window sill and propping his feet up on the garbage can and asking how things were going, quickly made us feel at ease. It helped that his wife is a huge NASCAR fan and he admitted that the Michigan race in June will be the first he has missed in many years.

Well, mom was disappointed/frustrated with the doctor's replies to her achey back, swollen feet, numb and tingling fingers... His comments were that this is normal in pregnancy. Mom commented how she would be okay with the answer if she were a few months more into her pregnancy. She wouldn't welcome it at that point, of course, but would at least be a little more accepting of it. Mom asked if it was okay to spend the weekend (Father's Day Weekend) at MIS in the garage area and pit road, etc. He immediately replied, "Enjoy yourself!!".

A quick listen to the baby's heartbeat (156 beats/minute) and a few more questions and everything checked out fine!!

The next appointment won't be near as easy for mom as we were given a prescription for the Rhogam shot and the glucose tolerance test will be repeated.

For now, we are movin' right along with the pregnancy. Progress is also being made in making room for baby stuff. We are currently haning out in our garage bargaining for the best deal... Anything not sold will be a healthy donation to somehwere yet to be determined. (Hopefully, somewhere that picks up...)

Daddy-to-be Duties

Mom is keeping the daddy do list filled with lots of things to do. Just when you think you can take a breather, it is already time to move onto the next item. One major room redocration has been completed with the exception of a valance that yet needs to be purchased (okay, so one that works with the window). The baby's room is far from complete, but the room has been cleaned out and the ceiling painted (same time as the spare room). Now we are working to determine the paint color(s) for the room and hopefully get that started in the next week or so. The month of June has no room for redecorating, but time will need to be made even if it is after a late night hockey game... Well, I guess I shouldn't get too carried away. ;)! Our current project is getting ready for a garage sale this weekend to make room for all of the baby stuff. St. Vincent de Paul may be very happy in a few weeks :)!

Another newly added project is to resurface/sand the deck. Mom got a huge sliver deep in the bottom of her foot a week ago. After digging at it for a while, a new set of eyes and hands were brought in. Good news/bad news: Good news is that the sliver was able to be removed and Amy didn't have to go to the doctore. Bad news is that there was a lot of pain to be had and Amy now has a hole in her foot to be healed. Needless to say, the deck needs to be worked on so that mom, dad and especially the baby do not have to go through this again or for a first time.

Now the drive is on/will be shortly to start/complete the painting of the baby's room. With color swatches and material lying on the floor, color schemes have been slightly narrowed. There has been quite a few similarilities between Amy and my cousin Jody's tastes in decorating. Dream Teddy was used for her theme(s) and our furniture is very similar. We are trying hard to at least be able to pick our own paint color... ;)! It is funny to hear the similarities of what Amy and Jody have chosen without seeing each other's rooms. Of course, Jody was first in choosing, so we are just trying to keep up with her LOL!!!

Be sure to check out the Memorial Weekend pictures where you can see the progression of momma's belly ;)!

Registered At Last!!

I SURVIVED!!! How many guys are willing to admit that they not only went to register with their wife, but with his mother and mother-in-law?? The day went off without a hitch. The crew (4 of us) arrived at Babies R Us (yes, this is where we registered) shortly after 11 am. Good thinking by Amy to beat the rush even if it was on a Sunday proved to be a smart choice. Shortly after we were at the desk checking in, the line grew and grew! After a brief orientation (since we already pre-registered) and we were off!

Amy was ready to point and shoot the registering gun. She had been practicing for weeks with her crouching stance complete with pew, pew, pew sound effects (sorry, if you aren't getting the picture, but let's just say she was very excited and fun to watch practice). After about an hour and a half (working on the small stuff), it was time to get a bit to eat. We went and had lunch where Amy and I had our first date, On the Border. No margaritas this time... Then, it was back for round two!!

Unfortunately, the day we chose to register just happened to be one of the busiest days for registering as we found out from some workers. They were surprised at the number. What does this mean? You don't want to give up your gun and go get lunch. We ended up waiting an hour to get back to it. We used this time to look ahead and make some decisions so that we could just shoot around once we got the gun once again. This proved to be helpful, but the wait definitely slowed us down. After six hours, including lunch, the day was a success!

We are now registered and have items listed. You can reach the registry directly by clicking on the link from our blog on the left, or by going www.babiesrus.com and ckicking on the registry. You can also reach the registry through Toys R Us. If you so desire, purchases can be made online or at a Babies R Us and/or Toys R Us store. We were told that there would be less of our choices available at Toys R Us. We were a little confused on some items that showed up on our registry as available online only. Just thought we would let you know you know that we registered at the store in Northville and everything we registered for was availabled in the store except for three items for the Dream Teddy collection. We are looking at potentially getting these items ourselves because there is a 5-7 week lead time and could cause some confusion.

Hope you have as much fun shopping as we did registering!!

Half Way There !!

I have officially hit the half way mark in my pregnancy. Yeah!! Even more exciting....I'm feeling our sweet baby boy moving around !!! It's crazy and I love it. I think I felt him once a couple of weeks ago but it might have just been gas! :-) The doctor asked me if I had felt him yet and I told her no with a concerned tone of voice. She told me not to worry that I should start feeling him anyday now, and it's common for first timers not to really recognize the baby moving and mistake it for other things that could be going on in my pregnant body. There is no mistaking it now...he's on the move. I can't wait until Doug can put his hand on my belly and feel his son kick, but for now it's just him and me sharing this little secret and I have to say it is such a joy !!!

Twist & Shout !!

The big appointment was finally here!! I have been so excited for this appt. I mean this was the full anatomy ultrasound!! We have been eagerly waiting to find out what we are gonna have and check out everything. Well, our baby boy is proving to be a little stubborn already (Doug says he gets that from me!). The ultrasound tech was not having much luck getting him to cooperate and show us everything we needed to check out. The baby was really moving around but wasn't in a good position and the ultrasound tech was losing hope. She was really jabbing me the wand trying to make the baby flip, but no success. There was so much jabbing I almost peed on myself!!! I was of course getting concerned and being a pregnant woman with hormones going crazy. started getting emotional, okay I was getting grumpy about it! I asked if there was anything I could do to make the baby move and jokingly shook my booty on the table to see if that might get the baby to roll over. She giggled but told me there really wasn't anything I could do to help the situation. So the ultrasound tech told me to go to the bathroom and relieve myself to see if that would help. The added room might give the baby more room and maybe would flip for us. I left, used the restroom and came back.....still no luck!!! The baby boy was just not wanting to work with his mommy and daddy and show the tech what she needed to see. I again asked if I could do a cartwheel or maybe a dance to help, but she replied the same as before. The tech told us to go back to the waiting room and let the ladies up front know that after we are done with the doctor to check and see if she was with a patient and if not she would allow us to come back to the ultrasound room and try again...the only other option was to make another appt to come back in a few days for the ultrasound. Doug and I did not want to have to do that!!!

I was pretty upset and just kept whining to Doug that I couldn't believe we had been waiting for this day and it just wasn't going like I wanted. Everything was irritating me and I'm pretty sure I was in turn irritating Doug! The doctor came in and checked things out, my blood pressure was a little higher than usual for me, but I think that could be expected with my anxiety getting the best of me from our ultrasound experience. This was the first time we met with this doctor and I was happy that she let me ask a ton of questions and never seemed uninterested. Even though most of what I was concerned is totally normal and expected, she took the time to explain to Doug and I why I was feeling the things I was feeling so I would feel okay about stuff and understand what the heck is going on with my body. I'm telling ya, I feel like I'm a science experiment and everyday it's something new!!!! The doctor checked out the heartbeat (my favorite part) and everything sounded great. So we left the doctor with flying colors and went out to the waiting room to find out if we could have a third chance at getting a good ultrasound of our baby boy.

I really wanted a good shot of the little wiener!!! I know the ultrasound tech said there wasn't anything I could do, but I refused to believe that so I did a twist and shout dance all the way through the hallways and definitely shook my booty making everyone laugh at me but I was gonna do whatever it took to get my baby boy to flip over so we could see his heart...and everything else too!!! Well, I am so pleased to say that my dancing worked !!!! He had totally rolled over and the ultrasound tech was so excited to be able to finally see everything and measure all of his limbs, check out his heart and all other major organs and yes, he showed mommy and daddy his wiener!!! We were SO happy !!! These doctors obviously don't know what kind of a dancer I am and how I can move my butt!!! It worked!!! We were able to get some great pictures to show everyone and even got a great shot that prompted the tech to write Hi Grandma!!! Those made special little additions to Mother's Day cards!!! Doug and I also will get a DVD of the ultrasound that will be ready to be picked up on Tuesday!! I'm very excited to get that and take it every where we go so we can be obnoxious expectant parents and make people watch the DVD. Just kidding!!! I guess I should rap this up, I tend to ramble on with my excitment!! I'm proud to announce that after a nerve wracking beginning, the entire appointment was extremely satisfying and I'm now having a blast shopping for our baby boy!!!!

The Verdict is IN!!

Thank you to those that voted in our poll for the gender of our baby. Surprisingly, it was not a close race with a boy running away with the lead capturing 25 of the 32 votes. Taking a way back second with 6 was a girl and one unfortunate soul didn’t have a clue. Were these results coincidence or did many have a great gut instinct? The official results are in and we are happy to announce that Amy is carrying our baby BOY!!

Advice for the day!

If you have a lot of tension and you get a headache, do what it says on the aspirin bottle: "Take two aspirin" and "Keep away from children."

First Camping Trip of the Year - April 2007

To celebrate and get away from life for a brief moment, we ventured to Davison for a night of camping last weekend. It would be our first camping trip of 2007. Not much effort was put into the trip as we packed a few clothes and enough wood for a little campfire, hooked up the camper and away we went. The jaunt was short and relaxing, but exactly what it was meant to be…

Since this was a relaxing and somewhat spontaneous trip, we did not pack much if any food and the grabbed a pizza at the local pizzeria, Sisters. Although we didn’t see anyone resembling sisters (all males), the pizza was surprisingly VERY tasty and will be on our list of possibilities if and when the need arises in the future.

Sunday came quick and it was time to pack up and head home. However, Amy desperately wanted to be one the water as we were not able to get in the water this trip. So, we strapped on the life vests and took a “little” stroll around on a paddle boat to get some sun and exercise. Feel free to check out a few more pictures from the trip in the links.

Things To Ponder...

1. You spend the first two years of a child's life teaching them to walk and talk. Then you spend the next sixteen telling them to sit down and shut up.

2. Grandchildren are God's reward for not killing your own children.

3. Mothers of teens now know why some animals eat their young.

4. Children seldom misquote you. In fact, they usually repeat word for word what you shouldn't have said.

5. The main purpose of holding children's parties is to remind yourself that there are children more awful than your own.

6. We childproofed our homes, but they are still getting in.

Less Stress !!!

Wooo Hooo !!!! I have officially finished the hardest semester of college I have ever endured!! It's challenging enough to work full time and take two night courses at a community college under normal circumstances....add in being pregnant with your first child and suddenly a good challenge becomes an extremely hard challenge!!! My first trimester was really rough and I was just so sick it was difficult to get to class a lot of days let alone do all the homework assignments and studying for exams. However, I am proud to say that I did it and feel so relieved that it's over. With the help of my wonderful husband I completed both classes and thanks to Doug being the computer genius that he is, I am also proud to announce that he/I/we will be getting an A in my computer class. My other class might be a little iffy since I had to handle that one all on my own but I think I still managed a high B so that would be great. I'll know for sure when I receive my much anticipated grades in the mail. I will be returning to school for a 10 week summer class at the end of May but it should be a fairly simple class needed for my program and most importantly I won't be dealing with early pregnancy symptoms as I am starting to feel much better.... Thank goodness !!! I am looking forward to the month break I've got from school and Doug and I are both looking forward to a fun and exciting summer getting ready for the baby. Hope all is well with all of you!!!!