Just my luck

Our fall weather has been slow in coming, in the ghetto apartment this is having a HUGE effect on the thermostat. For months the temperature in our apartment hasn't gone below 85. And until this weekend it was still registering in the high 70's - low 80's (seriously, it's almost NOVEMBER!). So last night we got home and it actually felt comfortable. Wil noticed that the temp had finally dropped to 70 and we were both starting to cool off. It was a nice change, until.... the landlady turned on the HEAT. If it works as well as the AC did, then we'll be okay. If it actually warms the place up, then I might be tempted to stay in Utah until I hit 37 weeks.

The end of the tunnel

Last week it rained, and rained and rained. It was seriously the best thing that could have happened, because when it rains you can't install ponds. Why is this important? Because instead of working on ponds last week, my brothers and the guys that work for KneeDeep installed hard wood flooring! The to do list for the occupancy permit is still a mile long, but for some reason, seeing a real floor up there made the whole thing seem real. I'm starting to be hopeful that we'll be in there for Christmas. Keep your fingers crossed!

Decision '07

Since our opinion poll is over, I bet you are expecting an annoucement of epic proportions today. Unfortunately, I'm just as unsure now as I was a week ago when the poll seemed like a fun idea. And don't get me wrong, it has been fun. It just hasn't been helpful in coming to a decision. Wil seems to be sure, but nothing feels right to me. Everyone has great arguments as to why their favorite name is best. Baby boy might be one of those kids that doesn't have a name until he's born.

Recount!

I think Lindsey Sue is cheating in favor of James...

More than meets the eye

Apparently, I have become a Decepticon and my name is now Bone Crusher. I have no idea how this happened, but I have joined the forces of evil. If you aren't sure what this means... ask Susie or check this out.

Baby Names

We were talking to Little Man tonight about his brother. Trying to see if he had an opinion on the names we have on the poll. What was his choice? ELMO.

The Poll

Susie reminded me that some people may see the blog and baby name poll without seeing the email with the guidelines. So here's the email I sent out:

"We found out last week that we are having a baby boy! But the name we had picked out just doesn't fit. We do have a few guidelines that are important to us. The first is that it has to be a family name and we have already picked out a middle name, Stanford. It's a 5th generation name from my dad's side of the family, so that is set in stone. We have narrowed it down to 3 first names. If you would like to vote, click on the link below. You have 7 days to voice your opinion. And feel free to pass this along to anyone who might want to join in on the fun.

Have fun,
Lauren

***disclaimer. we reserve all right to override the final decision of the poll"

It's the Great Pumpkin

Last night after Wil got home from work we decided to take Little Man to the pumpkin "patch". We called it a "patch" but it was really more like a produce stand. One of the local churches harvested a ton of pumpkins and put them in a member's front yard. For us it was a perfect solution. Little Man got to run around and play in the pumpkins and we didn't have to navigate through the fields. This was the result...

It does a body good!

Part of the conversation I had with my OB today went something like this:

Lauren: Let me make sure I understand, you would rather me have dairy and take medicine for the congestion?
Dr. A: Yes.

If I hadn't been eating dairy all weekend and feeling guilty for being "bad", I would have gone straight to Wendy's for a frosty. The list of foods I am now hungry for has quadrupled in the last 2 hours. Now I just have to be careful with over doing it. The no dairy thing has had a direct effect on the amount of weight that I've gained with this baby. I don't want to go to next month's appointment and find out I've doubled the amount of weight of gained. That would not be good.

Right now though I'm dreaming of a grilled cheese sandwich. This may call for a special trip to the grocery store.

Venting in Progress

If I EVER think it's a good idea to move into a fixer-upper, take on any type of house construction/remodeling or choose to deal with contractors on a daily basis for an extended period of time, PLEASE remind me that I have sworn NEVER in my life to do this for the following reasons: Contractors do not know how to return a call or stick to a schedule. The time estimate they give you is half of the time the job will actually take to complete. They show up unannounced in the middle of naptime to make as much noise as possible. If they send a crew, the laborers rarely speak english, so finding out what the HEE HAW is going on is almost impossible.

I'm losing my mind.

Pink or Blue?

We had our 19 week sonogram this afternoon. We went in convinced that Peanut was a girl, but we were wrong. Little Man is going to have a little BROTHER.

Daisies a doozy

If you haven't watched last night's episode, then I don't want to spoil it for you too much. I'll just sum it up in my three favorite things:
1. Olive bursting into song...one from the Grease soundtrack. I love this show even more.
2. Kissing
3. A character dressed up as a huge dandelion.

Three years and counting

Sunday will be our 3rd anniversary! We have a bunch of hotel points saved up and Grandma offered to watch Little Man, so Friday we are going all the way to STERLING to celebrate our anniversary. It doesn't seem so exotic, but I'm excited to have a night off. Now I'm trying to pick out a restaurant for our anniversary dinner and I'm kinda stumped. My first choice was Sweetwater, but we're meeting Dave & Heidi there in a couple weeks. I wanted to pick something else that would be a treat. This is where you come in... do you have any suggestions of other fun restaurants? They can be anywhere between Reston and Ashburn.

Daisies are Dandy

I wanted to add my 2 cents to Lin's TV blogs. Wednesday night we were waiting for Bionic Woman to start and ended up watching the premier of Pushing Daisies on ABC. Now, I have to say that I rarely watch anything on ABC after 8pm because I find it way too trashy for me... I'm more of a solve a mystery/ save the world kinda gal. Daisies fell into that category in a very unique way. The main character is Ned, the Pie Maker. He owns a restaurant called the Pie Hole and when he touches something dead, it comes back to life. If he touches it a second time then it dies for good. His childhood sweetheart is murdered, he touches her to find out who did it, but can't touch her a second time. Now she's alive and the stories begin... Sounds odd and it is, but not in a creepy way. All the sets are really colorful and quirky. The narrator plays a huge role and it's the guy that does the Harry Potter books on cd, so it's a FABULOUS voice. Wil said it had a Lemony Snicket sort of feel to it... I would add that there seem to be more happy endings than in a Lemony Snicket book. If you're flipping on a Wednesday, check it out and let me know what you think.

And the Bionic Woman... I miss the cheesy sound effects from the early 80's. The first episode was a bit dark for me, the second was definitely better. It didn't pull me in like Heroes or make me smile like Daisies, but I'm not ready to give up on it yet. Once we have the Tivo back, that may change.

AHP

I wish I had the words to write you one of those fun rhymes to tell you how fabulous I think you are. I hope you have a great day! We are thinking of you and can't wait to see you.

More Pictures

I put some more pictures up on our family website. Click on the Becker's button to the right.

Vacation: So sad it's over