What Were We Thinking?

When Frank and I bought our house, we knew we were going to have to redo the kitchen. It's the room I hate the Most!!! It has a very bad layout and a tiny apartment sized dishwasher that only holds 1 pot, a couple of plates, and a few glasses at a time. So with the baby coming, the dishwasher just isn't going to cut it b/c I hate washing dishes!

So we decided to go for it. Let's just gut the kitchen and redo it before the baby gets here. WHAT WERE WE THINKING!!! Our kitchen is now demolished and our house is COVERED in dust. And they've only begun! We've still got 2.5 weeks to go!!!! Last night we vacuumed and moped everywhere trying to get the dust out. And I know what you are thinking...why did you do that when it's going to get dusty again today. Well between mine and Frank's asthma, and the chance that there is lead in the dust (since it's an old house), we could barely breathe. So we had to get some of it out.

Our house is a complete disaster. We have no kitchen. The rest of the house is piled high with stuff out of the kitchen. And Frank and I are sneezing and coughing like crazy.

But on a brighter note...our new kitchen is going to look amazing!!! Landra did the design and it is going to be much more functional...and the best part is the dishwasher!!! It will be a FULL-SIZED, stainless steel dishwasher that will even sterilize my bottles for me!!!

We took some before pictures, so as soon as it's done I'll post the before and after looks!

The Name Game

Many of you know that Frank has been driving me up the wall about a name. And he has finally decided on

Tyler MacRoy Branton.

The middle name has a special meaning. It's Frank's grandfather's middle name (Macadoo) and my papa's first name (Roy) put together.

On a funny note: Frank and I went to register at Babies R' Us on Sunday. Frank wanted to register for Tonka trucks and I assured him we were a few years away from this. But it surprised me that he registered for all the saftey stuff: outlet plugs, cabinent locks, etc. And I wouldn't have really pictured him knowing about all of that, so that was a nice surprise. Tonight we are registering at Target, so that should be another adventure. It so much fun picking out baby stuff. I wasn't this excited about registering for our wedding!

2 Years and Counting

Frank and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary yesterday, and this makes 6 years we've been together...and more importantly, we haven't killed each other yet! We've come close a few times, but no funeral yet.

The second year has been much better than the first. Not that the first was horrible, but it was definitely an adjustment to learn to live with each other after we were both used to having our own place. This year has been full of surprises and lots of fun. It has been neat to watch Frank and I transform into the "husband" and "wife" rolls. We are learning more and more each day and I love being married to him. Now if I could just remind myself of that statement when he comes in the house with dirty boots on after I just got finished sweeping the floors. And for anyone who has hardwood floors in their entire house, you know what I'm talking about. So I guess we're not perfect yet, but we sure do have a lot of fun.

The thing I love most about Frank is even when I am livid, he still makes me laugh. Which aggravates me even more sometimes, but that's just us. He can be so mad at me and I'll start picking on him and he can't help but to bust out laughing. We pick on each other non-stop, and I think that's what makes us work. Laughter. That's our key to avoiding a funeral.

And now that we will soon be parents...I can't wait to see how we do as Mom and Dad. I'm sure laughter will be our key to making that work to.

Frank has some "Concerns"

Frank completely cracked me up this week. First, I have been trying to find nursery bedding that I really like. And shopping for a little boy is not easy, and I know it will only get harder. Everything is made for GIRLS! And he is so worried about me making the nursery "girly". So he came up with an idea. Frank has a 'boys room' that has several deer on the wall and wildlife pictures up. He thinks we should turn the 'boys room' into the nursery and leave the deer on the wall and do camo crib bedding!!!! Ahmmm....I don't think so!!! He wants my sweet baby boy to learn to hunt before he even walks!!!

So then after this conversation of "Frank, you're getting your little boy, so just let me have my fun doing the nursery." Frank looks at me with this concerned look and says, "I'm really worried about you." And I ask him why, b/c to my knowledge I haven't had any psycho moments lately. And he says, "I don't know what you are going to do when you don't have anything in common with the baby." And he is DEAD SERIOUS!!!! And I bust out laughing. And he says, "I'm seriuos. What are you going to do when all he wants to do is go fishing with his daddy." My response: I'm going to let him! And momma is going to go shopping and get a pedicure!

So that's my funny story of the day. Frank has even asked me how soon is he going to be able to 'load the baby in the truck' (like he's a bag of deer corn or something) and go off with him. I said he could take him after the first week :-)

Oooohhhh....this is going to be such an adventure. I will now have 2 children to raise! HA!

Christmas

Now that things have finally settled down, I can finally talk about Christmas. It was a whirlwind. Frank and I are still recovering. The Sunday before Christmas we went down and spent the day with Frank's dad and his family and really enjoyed ourselves. On Christmas Eve, we headed to the beach to see my family and had so much fun. It was so neat watching the little ones get so excited. And that got Frank and I excited about have our little boy next Christmas. We can't even wait. Izzie was probablly the funniest to watch...everything was "Oooohhhh, Aaggghhhhh" and she would get so excited about opening presents that she had to open other people's presents too. On Christmas Day, we went to Frank's mom's house and spent time with his family. It was nice having everyone together and spending time catching up.

Before Christmas, we had the best time at our annual "Progressive Dinner" that has stopped being so progressive now that there are so many little ones. Frank and I have the best group of friends and love getting together. Now there are so many kids, that Frank says we just need to rent out a daycare center next year. And we had a very special visitor...SANTA! But it's funny, b/c Frank somehow disappeared while Santa was there :-) Here are some pictures. Some of the kids loved Santa, while others just weren't too sure. And I got to sit on Santa's lap too and even got a kiss....I'm glad Frank didn't see that.