Updated Bump Picture

Today's June 14th - one month to go till July 14th due date. Here's a picture from 34 Weeks (June 4th) - We're getting close.

Home Improvement Projects

What better time to renovate a bathroom than when I'm 8 months pregnant. We moved straight from the baby room to the bathroom. Brad bought tile weeks ago to retile the bathroom floor and around the tub. It took forever to get bids so while we waited on tile bids, we decided, what the heck, let's get a bid to replace that giant wood window that's in the shower.

So we got the new window ordered. The window guy assured us that the tile guy could tile around the existing window and then replace the window later when it's ready. Of course it never fails... I had a bad feeling about this one. The tile guy ripped everything out of the bathroom and then said, "lady, I have to have that new window to tile around it correctly." Of course you do. That's what I thought to begin with. And how long does it take to manufacture a custom window - 4 weeks. So now our week long retile project is indefinitely stalled until the new window gets here. And how many weeks do we have till due date. 4 weeks - we're cutting this one a little close.

Brad trying to assure me it would all be okay (can you tell this was his idea!) offered this calming notion - hey babe, at least the demo is done. Worse comes to worse, Campbell will probably just sleep through the tiling. Here's hoping!

Fun trick - if you look down the side of the tub you can see straight through the subfloor to the ground. During the hottest time of the year we have a huge opening in our house for all our A/C to flow through. Why did we think this was going to be quick and easy?

Beach vs. Baby Room

Brad's last vacation week of 3rd year was Memorial Day week - May 31 - June 4. He had "bookended" weekends to0, which meant he was off for a really long time! So the big debate was should we go to the beach (last vacation before baby) or work on the house (aka start and finish nursery). With the massive oil catastrophe happening in the gulf we thought maybe beach was not a good idea. Plus we already went to the Cayman Islands in January - skiing was not an option this year. With the due date fast approaching we decided to work on the house.

The study had to move to the entryway - a significantly smaller space than the study. So thus the big clean out of the study. With all our crazy moves across the country, usually done without much planning, we had tons of stuff to go through. Receipts from the co-op from college, bank statements from accounts we don't have any more, not to mention all the athletic and sports gear that was stored in the closet. I'm pretty sure shotguns and shells should not be in the baby's room. We finally cleaned it all out, which forced us to put a lot of stuff in the attic. Which meant we had to clean out the attic - I should say Brad had to clean out the attic - he was very sweet in insisting that his 8-month pregnant wife should not be going in the attic. I have no idea what's up there or how it looks, but I am grateful that it's done.

So finally the fun part. The nursery. We have never started with a blank slate and decorated a room from top to bottom. Our usual process was to try to unpack as many boxes as possible in the few days that we had off from work and worry about what it looked like later. So here are the pictures of our nursery. We plan to spend a lot of time in this room, and we wanted it to be nice. I think it's my favorite room in the house. Waylon likes it too - he especially loves rolling around on the brand new rug and licking all the stuffed animals!

One of my favorite pictures! We followed the instructions carefully - Brad held the heavy parts while I fastened everything together. We finally finished putting the crib together and realized Brad was stuck inside!

After hours of priming and taping, I critiqued Brad on his taping skills. I was the next thing to be taped!

So close to being finished! We're waiting on a cushion for the rocking chair and another table to be ready.

Prenatal Class and Chic-Fil-A

We finally have a real Chic-Fil-A in New Orleans. Ok, so technically it's in Metairie and technically there has been a Chic-Fil-A in the mall food court. But one would seriously need to have a major nugget and waffle fry craving to go to the mall, find a place to park (there's never good parking!), and walk to the food court just to get Chic-Fil-A. I always forget it's even there, so it doesn't count.

So, like I said, we finally have a Chic-Fil-A. It happens to be located blocks from the hospital. My doctor's office is in the same complex as the hospital and our prenatal classes have been there too. Brad would argue that the best part of prenatal class is the chocolate milkshake from Chic-Fil-A that we get after class. I have to admit that I totally agree with him! The hospital offers a series of three free prenatal classes. Good basic info and I usually learned a lot, but Brad usually already knew most of what they covered. Thanks babe for sitting through each two-hour course looking interested! We have signed up for another birthing class that will hopefully give more info on labor and what to expect.

PS - You may have noticed from our last blog entry that Brad's blogging style is a little different from mine. It probably goes without saying that I'm more verbose. Regarding the Tahoe, we sold his 2007 and bought a 2004 - eliminating our car payment! Big accomplishment that was a little scary. I kept wondering if we were making the right decisions. When Brad got the new car, he showed me the temporary plate. It expires 7/14/10 - my due date! What are the odds of that. I took it as a sign that we made the right decision!

Making Way for Baby Campbell!

We're definitely in the proverbial "nesting" phase. The study has now been permanently relocated to our entryway, the yukon is sold, and the house is looking as good as it has looked since it was under 6 feet of water. Oh yeah, and the bump is growing daily!

Jazz Fest 2010!

Yesterday we made our first trip to Jazz Fest. The rain held off, and the sun actually came out as My Morning Jacket began their set with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. It was awesome! We also made some new friends from Maryland that come down every year for the 2 week-long festival. They let Katherine sit in one of their chairs and gave her water.

Jim James of MMJ rockin' out!

The Gentilly Stage

We came prepared with mud boots. It poured the day before and we were in a mud pit!

Brad went for provisions - crawfish bread, duck po-boy, crab cakes and beer (water for me!)

Baby Names!

My dear friend Kelly paints the most precious name signs. The alphabet was created by her mom nearly 30 years ago and now Kelly creates the beautiful signs. About 2 months before the baby shower, Kelly asked if I wanted a sign. Absolutely!!! She offered to paint one as my shower gift if we had a name ready. Did we have a name?

While we were sitting in the doctor's office after the sonogram I blurted out a name to Brad. We had just found that we were having a boy and the name just popped into my head. We waffled for weeks and weeks, but never actually came up with any other options that we liked. Kelly called about the name sign 2 weeks before the shower. No pressure, but have you decided on the name? It was time to commit!

Campbell Tyler Johnson