Nursery is Ready! Almost!

The true grunt work is (hopefully) all out of the way. This weekend Chuck and his father took up the old carpet in the nursery and laid down fresh molding where the walls meet the floor. On Monday, in a show of true dedication to his soon to be born daughter, Chuck passed up an opportunity to play golf at the posh Plandome Country Club with his father and uncles and instead spent his day off painting the molding (two coats) and inhaling moderately toxic fumes from the paint remover trying to clean the hot pink paint left under the carpet the last time the room was painted. It was all worth it!

We are expecting the crib to be delivered on July 5th and hopefully we will have the new carpet around that time as well, at which point we will post some pictures of the finished product.

More Shower Photos

As promised, please check here for more photos from the Long Island baby shower. Thanks to Big Poppa for providing the link!

Picture Perfect

We went for our 30 week sonogram over the weekend and my how Mary Pat has grown! She tipped the scales at exactly 4 pounds. Our technician mentioned that a good rule of thumb is that babies tend to double whatever their weight is at the 32 week mark, which means we could be looking at a robust birthweight in the neighborhood of nine pounds! Mommy will take that epidural with a twist, and don't be afraid to be a little heavy-handed Mr. Anesthesiologist!

Everything seems to be progressing along nicely and normally. The sonogram prints are easier to decipher this time around and there are even some 3-D shots that are both amazing and surreal. Our little ham was playing to the camera and stuck her tongue out at us to say hi in some action that took place off camera. We are getting more excited by the day and hope you enjoy these pictures as much as we do.

Showers in the Forecast

The past few weeks have been a flurry of activity getting prepared for the arrival of our newest family member and what better way to celebrate than by two wonderful baby showers thrown by our families! The first was in Spartanburg, SC at Nana's house. As you can see by the overflowing gift table in these pictures the "gift card only" rule was only lightly enforced. We are very grateful to all who came and thank you for your kindness!

The next shower was thrown on the day of the Belmont Stakes, a sweltering day when Big Brown disappointed fans everywhere but our families and friends came through. The shower was held at the Albanese family owned 1019 Cafe in Northport, NY where the food was outstanding and a great time was had by guests of all ages, ranging from the 8 month old Keira to the 88 year old Aunt Madeline. Once again we would like to thank all of you for your generosity which is most greatly appreciated.

Two special guests who made the trip from South Carolina to Long Island were Nana and Mary Pat's big cousin Victoria. We would like to say a special thanks to both for all of the help they provided during their stay as almost all of the gifts are now assembled (as you can see here) and ready for use and the level of pink on the walls in the nursery has been downgraded from "blinding" to "juuuuuust right". Victoria was also kind enough to introduce us to Dora the Explorer, opening our eyes to a future that will be 100% devoid of any Dora viewings or paraphenalia if Daddy can help it.