My first creation

Here's the mixer's first cake...

It's a chocolate pound cake! I gave Mike a stack of cake recipes and asked him which one he wanted me to make first. He picked this one. I only had to call my mom twice during the process. It tastes pretty good too!

I really want to make a strawberry cake this weekend, so we will see if I can go two for two!

What a weekend...

I don't think we've had such a busy {and productive} weekend in a very long time! We drove to Birmingham Friday night and spent the night with the Carters. We woke up early Saturday morning. The boys headed to the golf course, and we were inside Babies R Us by 9:45 {the doors open at 9:30.} After some scanner drama, the process went relatively smoothly. Thank you for the suggestions; they were extremely helpful! The car seat decision was a tough one, and I didn't register for a stroller. However, forty-five items and almost 3 hours later, we headed to O'Charley's for lunch. After lunch, we went to The Swanky Stork, where I fell in love with a $60 t-shirt. I figured since I haven't spent much money on clothes {or myself} since I've been pregnant, I could splurge on this cute shirt...

Tatum's wedding was Saturday afternoon at the Botanical Gardens. She looked gorgeous, and everything was perfect. One of my favorite parts... they had five cakes at the reception {one bride's cake and four different groom cakes.}

We drove home listening to Eli Gold in a happy state of shock. We were home in time to watch the crappy third quarter but went to bed excited for the Tide.

Today was SUPER productive, thanks to my sweet family! My parents, Tracy, Travis and Paw Paw came to help us prepare Trent's room. His room is our old office, so we Dad and Travis moved two rooms of furniture {two desks, a huge bookshelf, a treadmill, filing cabinets, a SLEEPER SOFA, and the list goes on.} His room is now empty and waiting for his furniture, which will be delivered as soon as the room is painted. THANK YOU family!! I feel 100 times more prepared; although, I wonder if our house will sell now that we worked so hard. :)

Please say a prayer for Mike in the morning. He has surgery at 9:00. It's not a super serious surgery, but it's still surgery.

Advice?

I am going to Babies R Us {and maybe Target too} to register tomorrow. My friend, Heidi, and I are going together. My mom has been bugging reminding me to register since August 18th when we found out we are having a boy. She has sent me tons of emails recommending different toys, strollers, medical equipment, etc. I think I just used all of our printer ink printing registry checklists. I'm trying to turn these feelings of anxiety into excitement.

I remember registering when we got married. We pretty much just went in, had fun with the scanner and ended up with some great stuff. {Mike managed to scan a basketball and a piece of luggage while I wasn't looking, and he was super excited when he received them both!} Registering for baby isn't quite so easy. SO, I'm soliciting a little help...

If you can think of something that you or your child love, please tell me! And if you know of something that you wished you'd registered for but didn't {or received but never used} please share those things too! Thanks in advance for your help:)

** Following up from previous posts... I ordered the bedding from Javis Davis yesterday! I can't wait to receive it! The sale is still going on, so check it out if you need crib bedding.

Mike brought down the mixer last night, and it looks so pretty on the counter. Thank you all for the recipes. Holly, you need to publish a cake cookbook... I can't wait to make the strawberry cake and the margarita cake!

Confession

I have a confession to make. I have had this in my attic for over four years...

Yes, it's a KitchenAid stand mixer. We received it as a wedding gift (May 1, 2004). I'd forgotten about it until Holly listed it as one of her favorite things. After talking to a few friends, I've decided I want to open use it. Unfortunately, I can't get to it from "my side" of the attic. It will require pulling down the stairs in the garage, climbing up and getting it. I asked Mike if we could make this happen tonight, and he wasn't up for the challenge. Hopefully it will grace my kitchen counter tomorrow. What should I make first?

** After posting this, I read it to Mike, and he reminded me of a story regarding the mixer. A couple of years ago, his mom bought our sister-in-law a mixer for Christmas. She told Mike that Jessica wanted a mixer before she bought one, and Mike offered up our mixer!! Needless to say, after I explained that our mixer was worth hundreds of dollars, Mike decided we'd leave it the attic. He says he still can't believe a mixer can cost so much and looks forward to tasting it's creations!

I changed my mind...

Since the Alabama game didn't require my full attention yesterday, {thank goodness!} I spent hours looking at baby bedding. Originally, I liked this bedding. I still love it, but it's crazy expensive and possibly a little too girly for Trent. So, I solicited help from my sister to design my own bedding. Javis Davis is having a 25% off sale on custom bedding, so we Tracy got to work and designed Trent some bedding. What do you think? I plan on ordering it tomorrow.

It looks yellow in the picture, but here's the main pattern:

While I worked on bedding yesterday, Bailey waited for her daddy to come home from work...

Eventually she got tired of waiting...

Two Cuties

Isn't this picture CUTE?! This is our niece, Hannah, with Bailey. They are so cute and funny together! I used this site to get the pencil look. {http://www.dumpr.net/sketch.php} Give it a try! This was the original picture...



I absolutely love watching them together, and it makes me excited about seeing Trent with Bailey in the future. Hopefully they will be best buds!

Have a great weekend! We will spend most of the weekend watching football. With three great SEC games, what else is there to do?!

Beach/ Babymoon

We had a great time at the beach! It rained for a few minutes Wednesday afternoon, but not a single drop Thursday- Sunday. The wind was crazy, but that was the only reason I was able to sit by the pool for hours each day. Speaking of the pool, two of the four (noticeably) pregnant women at the pool had on bikinis... NO, not me; they looked great, but I haven't worn a bikini since I was 8 weeks pregnant. I told Mike that it might be tankinis for life for me!

One big difference between this beach trip and past beach trips: I didn't spend much time or money shopping. All of my favorite outlet stores (J Crew, Banana Republic, Ann Taylor, etc) are out of the question right now. I did manage to find a cute gown for Trent. Mike was not a fan. I tried to explain how easy it would be to change him in the gown, but I don't think he's buying it yet. I give him one middle of the night diaper change to change his mind...

Here are a few pictures from our trip:


He asked if I minded if he wore the bib... I told him I loved the idea, since he'd spilt coffee down his shirt earlier that day and refused to change:)

Yes, we spent most of our time eating various foods in various places.

This is the only picture of the two of us... I guess in a way, I did wear a bikini!