Ahem

I really can't believe I've been so remiss in taking pictures and blogging that many of you have never seen Dax's Best Friend.  If you attend FCUMC and we've passed you in the halls in the past month, you'll recognize it.  Presenting ...

MonkeyAndShoe

In case you're having a bit of trouble figuring out what it is ... well, it's a monkey tied with a bit of yellow grosgrain ribbon to a shoe. And it goes everywhere with us: Lowes, McAlister's, church ... everywhere. "Where my monkey and my shoe?" is asked before leaving the house, car, going to bed ... you get the idea. To get it right, though, you have to say "my monkey and my shoe" all crammed together so it sounds like one word.

He sometimes carries the ribbon all wadded up in his hand.

Sometimes he carries the shoe or the monkey and leaves the other to drag behind.

And sometimes he needs both hands for his exploring so he slings the ribbon around his neck with monkey and shoe to the back so they don't get in his way.

In the stores, he likes to sit in the cart and hold the shoe while he tosses monkey over the side and then reels him back in.


And he gets really angry if you step on either one.

Does Anyone Know Noah's Wife's Name?

I picked up a Fisher Price Little People Noah's Ark from a consignment sale recently and Julia loves playing with it. The set comes with figurines of Noah and his wife. We've been calling her "Tiffany" because it appealed to our sense of humor. But if anyone knows her name, I suppose we should try to be accurate. Unless it's too hard to say. Then we'll stick with Tiffany.

I like lists

It seems like forever since the last post, but it might just be that we've had a bit going on.

1. We've been hard at work on the nursery. It's still a work in progress so I'm holding off on pictures. We've got most of the wall "art" hung up and hopefully will have all our junk cleared out of the closet this weekend. It will be the only room in the house with matching furniture and decorations. Echo and I hang out in there on lazy afternoons.

2. My friends, Diana and Shara Tonn, came by two weekends ago for a visit. They were out of town the weekend of my shower and wanted to say hello and see the baby bump! We had a great time talking with them.

3. A friend of Dave's from high school, Claire, stopped by this Saturday to crash for the night. She is moving back to Texas from New York. It's always fun to see Claire even if she still calls my husband "Davey" :)

4. Nannie and Pa are coming to Knoxville for Thanksgiving! We're very excited to have them. We weren't sure when my doctor was going to decide to keep me from traveling, but had just assumed we'd be on our own for the whole holiday season this year (except after The Peanut arrives, of course!). Now, we'll be able to show off our house and the work we've done on the nursery as well as spend some time with family!

5. Dave and I went to the breastfeeding class at the hospital last night. It was a disappointment. I'm not sure what I expected, but spending the first third of class having the teacher tell us the benefits of breastfeeding was not it. It just seemed a waste of time preaching to the choir. And maybe we're just fortunate, but we haven't had anyone question our decision to breastfeed. In addition, the teacher didn't seem to have any opinions about anything ... except how awesome breastfeeding is. Every answer she gave was preceded by "Well, there's as many ways to do that as there are mothers and babies ... " Not exactly helpful advice.

6. I have another doctor's visit scheduled for Wednesday (tomorrow). I'm hoping it's with my regular doctor this time. I haven't heard otherwise, so I'm optimistic!

7. Echo seems to be adjusting well to all the baby paraphernalia that's popping up in her house. We set up the Pack 'N Play in the living room, and she now just ignores it. She also ignores the various mobiles set up. At first she would bark, growl and try to bite the mobiles whenever we turned them on. Then she decided to just tuck her tail and run from them. Now she just looks at us like she's thinking "That's old news, you guys!" We've been spending a little time each day with her in the nursery and trying to teach her that roughhousing is not allowed in that room. We are experiencing minimal success with that. She's given all The Peanut's toys, clothes and linens her sniff test of approval. The only problem came when I accidentally bought a toy that has a squeaker. We'll have to be careful with Henry the Hippo since he sounds exactly like Echo's favorite toy, the Heffalump Elephant. Oops! She's still not a big fan of the strollers, but we're working on it. I think we've got all the big stuff set up in the house so she can get used to it. We'll see how she reacts to the car seat that is soon to appear in her car!

8. It snowed here yesterday. Nothing that would stick. Basically, it was drizzling, then turned to teeny tiny sleet and then to snow flakes. It was pretty to watch while it lasted. The forecast calls for temperatures back up in the sixties for the weekend, though.

How to make the perfect dog toy.

One Nylabone and one TireBiter


makes


the toy our puppy can't resist.


Dave found out that Echo hates for any of her toys to be inside another toy. So, he enjoys thinking of combinations to annoy her. This one kept her busy for half an hour. That's a record. Previously, the only thing she'd done for half an hour at a time is sleep!