What's Been Going On

Just some random things we've been up to lately:

• We are having a little girl!!!!  I was so surprised when she announced it and I shouldn't have been...not sure why  I was convinced Baby was a little boy.  Maybe because I know John would be such a wonderful Dad to a little boy but now that I think of it he will be the most amazing Dad to a little girl too.  He is such an example to me and I've learned so much from him that I know he has worlds to teach our little girl and she will have the best Daddy she could ever ask for.  I'm determined to raise her the way my sister and I were raised with an appreciation for the outdoors and an appreciation for the domestic arts as well :).  She can be a girly girl with a mean cast on a fly rod and the ability to kill a turkey with her Dad then come home and decorate a cake to go with the fried turkey on a table set with Martha's style... well rounded right?
• We have decided on a first name but haven't decided on a middle name.  We are calling her Anne.  I think with an "E" but maybe not.  I had a revelation the other day.... my subconscious is stronger than I thought unfortunately for our little Anne.  I apparently named her after one of my favorite characters in a book.  Can anyone guess?!  Anne of Green Gables.  I had no idea I was doing it.... I thought I was naming her after my sister Sarah's middle name but no, it's probably because I used to be obsessed (and may still be) with the Anne of Green Gables books.  Someone help me.  At least I didn't name her Scarlett after Scarlett O'Hara!!  I already did that to our dog Tara... We could have a whole family named Tara, Scarlett and a little boy named Rhett!  How much of a freak would I be?! At least I'm spreading it out over a few favorite books...
• Anne loves sugar.  Whenever I eat something sugary she gets squirmy so I'm eating more sugar than ever because I like Anne to hang out with me!  Hopefully in a couple weeks when we do the glucose test I won't have diabetes and Anne can keep enjoying the sugar.  I have no idea if this is bad... maybe I should look it up or ask the doctor but if it makes her that happy then I don't know if I can keep it from her.  I have a sugar problem.  I said it.  
• I'm helping a Mama bird raise her two baby birds....

Just kidding I'm not helping her I'm just stalking the nest everyday.  They must have hatched on Saturday because Friday they were still little blue speckled eggs!  They are wittle cardinals.  I watch the Daddy Cardinal fight his reflection in our front living room window every morning... he isn't very smart so hopefully the Mama Cardinal is and passed on those smarts to these babies.  I can see at least one egg didn't hatch... sad, but she got two little stinkers out of this brood so that's exciting!!  How ugly cute are they?!  Whenever my camera "clicked" this one bird would lift it's head up and open it's mouth.  I almost dropped little worms in there but thought maybe the Momma bird would hate me and abandon her babies since I think I can take care of them better than she can.  Look at it's eyes and the fuzz on top of it's head!!  I can't wait to see if these are little boy bright red cardinals or the plainer female cardinals.  I have something to watch grow until Anne gets here!  

Baby bird is HUNGRY!

• We went floating on Saturday on the Buffalo River.  John fished and drank beer while I tried to get a tan and steered the boat... not really a fair trade off but little Anne is worth it.  John made friends with a local.  This local was obviously LOcal and had never left the area.  John said a man who fishes for small mouth bass isn't a bad guy.  Well this guy was clearly on meth... that didn't seem to bother John.  It bothered me.  We fished with him for a little bit and finally managed to politely get away but not without having to carve his phone number into the top of our cooler with a knife b/c he insisted on giving us his cell phone number to hang out in the future.  John and I are both way too nice.... I'm so glad I know Geryl's number forever... 

• We've also been working in our yard.  The longer we live in our house the more I love it.  It will be really hard to make that next step next summer and move into a new house.  We will need to have something larger but I do love our little contemporary Fayetteville house!!  These are my favorite flowers and hopefully I will not kill them like I do every other hanging plant I buy.  These like the shade and hopefully my sometimes neglectful hand.

• I talk so much about my black baby Tara that I sometimes feel like I'm neglecting my brown fur baby Bernie.  Here he is showing off his mustache and curls.  He poses for me.  He loves the camera.  He loves attention.  He loves John.  He loves... birds.  I should keep him away from that bird nest...  Can anyone tell that he has John's eyebrows?  Look at those bushy things!  I bet you're jealous of his stache... he grooms it.  I'm not kidding.

Hope everyone had a great spring weekend!  It felt like summer here and seeing how swollen my feet were on Saturday and Sunday with just 87 degree weather I cannot imagine what July and August are going to be like.  I might as well invest in some larger flip flops.  Is it appropriate to wear flip flops everywhere?  I'll look like those women you see at Walmart late at night...torn up flip flops, loose pajama bottoms, a tshirt that is so large you can see their dirty bra strap.... and my feet will be spilling over the sides of my extra wide flip flop.  Poor Anne and poor John.   I guess late night Walmart trips are in my future.  I will at least fix my hair and makeup.  That's what southern women do.  No matter how fat you are you always have your hair fixed and your makeup perfect.