Thanksgiving 2008
Matt’s family came over Thursday morning to celebrate Turkey Day with us. Even though Matt spent a good chunk of the week worrying about the possibility of rain that day, things couldn’t have been more beautiful. So turkey frying was a go, and we fried 3 turkeys! One of them went home with Mike and his family, one went with Nick and Mikie, and the other was gobbled up. In this house, Thanksgiving day usually revolves around the Cowboys game, which was at 3. By the time everyone sat down for Pumpkin Pie and Better Than Anything Cake the game was under way. The Cowboys won! 34-9

First Baby Shower

The next day we drove to Baton Rouge for our first baby shower. Emily and Claire out did themselves (as usual). Everything was sooo cute!! Even though the cake wasn’t exactly what Em asked for, I would never have know because it was adorable. Em and Claire used blue and green jelly beans to decorate, and made adorable chocolate party favors. Emily even sewed cute fabric tablecloths to match the theme of blue and green. We had a good crowd, and I even got to see two of my oldest friends who I hadn’t seen in years, Hilary and Larissa. We got lots of good stuff, including a handmade quilt from Matt’s mom, Mikie. It’s beautiful! And we got the stroller we registered for. All in all we were feeling very blessed. The photo above was possible thanks to my niece, Stella. She thought I should wear her tiara - at least for one photo.

Here’s the cake.

And some of the decorations.

Nursery

A few weeks ago - while he was visiting with Mom - Dad helped Matt assemble the crib we ordered. Then last Wednesday Matt single-handedly painted the nursery. That, along with all the stuff we got at the shower has been filling up the once empty room. Nothing is in place yet, nothing organized, but here’s a picture of how things are coming along.

Here’s Matt, hamming it up and painting at the same time. Imagine that…

Here’s the finished room.

Bump
Speaking of things coming along - the baby is really growing (as am I). Check out the baby bump at 28 weeks.

A quick update on the status of baby McGarity. Apparently he’s very healthy, and growing fast. I started to feel him kick about 2 weeks ago, and Matt has felt him a couple of times too. Last night baby kicked so hard that we both witnessed my belly move. Totally weird and wonderful at the same time.

Graco Lauren Crib

The first was his new crib, the Graco Lauren that was highly thought of by Consumer Reports.  Our style is generally modern, with little of the ornamental flourishes that you find in some north Texas homes — the crisp, clean lines of this crib will suit us well.

Saving money on the crib allowed us the luxury of splurging on the all-important glider, where both Jenn and I will be spending many sleepless nights rocking The Boy to sleep.  Ladies and Gentleman, meet the Best Chair Braxton.

Best Chair Braxton

The above picture shows you the style of the chair, but we will have different upholstery (more of a green microsuede, highly resistant to newborn puke and drool — or so we are told).

On the way back to Jim’s house, we stopped in Chatham, Virginia.  At Chatham Hall, an all-girls prepratory school, we visited with Jim’s friend (and former student) Blair.  We assumed that the three of us would grab a drink or a quick bite of dinner.  Little did we know that Blair would sweep us into a dinner party being thrown by the school’s rector.  A night of home-cooked vegetarian food, fudge-covered ice cream, handmade guacamole, and wonderful conversation would follow.

Across the street was the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.  We were lucky enough to be in town during the local stop for the Dead Sea Scrolls tour.  We checked those out, then wasted a bunch of time digging out some of the more-fantastic animal exhibits.

This first day, we spent time at High Point, visiting the university and breaking into just about every possible building.  The campus itself is wonderful — clean, new, and full of student amenities such as a new student center, wonderful art facilities, and an ice cream truck.

Thanks to everyone for their prayers and warm wishes over the past couple years — we couldn’t have reached  this point without your support and love.