The Austinator!

Boo hoo! Ben and I are so sad that his brothers and Korey and Austin have left town. We had such a great time with them all here.....now the house feels so empty and boring. I'm sure all that will change in June, though! As I was scrolling through pictures from this weekend to post on the blog I realized that Ben and I only took pictures of Austin. Sorry Jerry, Korey and Scott! Our nephew is just too irresistible.
T-R-O-U-B-L-E! Just look at that little smirk!

Heehee.....look at Daddy's hair.

Playing with the new airplane Alan and Karen Heinz gave me when they babysat.

I can't believe I ate all those wings!

Future boss of Stanco Metal Products. I'm just trying out Uncle Ben's chair.

Ben and I have been pretty busy these past few days getting the nursery 100% ready for use because our nephew (16 month old Austin) is coming to visit for a few days--TOMORROW! We are so excited to see him again--and his parents (Jerry and Korey). We are also thrilled that Ben's younger brother, Scott, is actually in North America for a few months and will be joining us as well. Austin is going to test drive the nursery and my new high chair. I am almost 20 weeks now and next Wednesday is the big "find out the gender" ultra sound--except that we are not going to find out! Well, I am certainly not going to find out but Ben is really wanting to know. I told Ben that if he is absolutely positive that he does not want to wait for the big reveal in the delivery room, we'll have the doctor write down the sex and place it in an envelope for Ben to look at later. And he'd better burn it and then never tell a soul! So, none of y'all better be pressuring him next week to let the cat out of the bag. I want to thank all four grandparents and Nanny for the extremely generous baby gifts--getting the nursery together has been so easy thanks to your incredibly nice presents. Our baby is so lucky to have you! And so are we.

Oh, in the captions below I allude to the baby's name (depending on the gender, obviously). We are definite on Emery Catherine but I am not certain if Bodie James is absolutely the boy name. I like it a lot and I think it suits a Slagel boy, but I think Ben is maybe a little on the fence. We've tossed around Bodie Matthew, Justin Matthew, Logan James, etc. But we keep coming back to Bodie.

Me at almost 20 weeks. Dayum! Only going to get bigger!
New high chair I bought today so that our nephew has a place to eat.

Curtains that Daddy just finished hanging. I took a close up so that the polka dots are visible.

Toddler quilt that matches the crib bumper--I know, I know....can't have that in there once the baby comes! The cute frog snuggy blanket is from Aunt Paige.

The pram is hanging out in the nursery until Emery Catherine/Bodie James decides to join the family. The plan is to hang the baby's name in those big white wooden letters once he or she arrives (on either pink or blue ribbon). The baskets underneath the crib are full of teethers and rattles--people are so nice!

The mobile and some bunny friends. The white bunny snuggy is from Grandma Slagel and the brown stuffed bunny is from Grandma Heinz. Alison and Brian have already decided that little Hayes will call our mom "Oma," which is grandma is German. I have a feeling our child will adopt that as well. Dad will be "Opa." Alison, did I spell those correctly?

The changing table--stocked and ready to go, although I am not terribly excited about using it.

Another view of the curtains and some toy baskets

The rocker I used to have in our family room and just had it reupholstered for the nursery. The footstool is OLD--it was in my grandparents' house in San Antonio when I was little. Grandmom emroidered a floral design on the cushion. I had it reupholstered in the same fabric as the chair and although the wood is dark, I just really like the idea of having some heirlooms in the baby's room. Alison bought the bunny print at a craft show at The Lovett School several months ago and surprised me with it. It's perfect! I love it. The baby already has stacks and stacks of books--gotta start grooming for Notre Dame ASAP. Right, Ben?

Lunch with Friends

Some very special friends visited Ben, Maddux and me for lunch this afternoon. Barrett Sallee and his wife Nancy (and their dog, Wylie) were passing through town on their way back to Atlanta from Charlotte and we made plans for them to stop by for lunch and a doggie playdate. Although Maddux and Wylie seemed to get along okay, Wylie was way more interested in Maddux's chewies than in Maddux himself. They sure were cute together, though! And both were such hams.....Nancy was able to take this picture on the first try--with both dogs looking right at the camera! Such professionals. Thanks, Sallees, for visiting! Please come back.