Sneak Peek

Mat and I spent this past weekend in Kingwood. Our goal for the weekend was to get plans started for the nursery bedding (which Mat's mom is making). We had picked out this bedding set that we liked, and luckily we were able to order the coordinating fabrics to add in other parts of the nursery.

Before we ever started the nursery, I told Mat that he had to be a part of the planning. He has very specific ideas about what he does and does not like. Even after being together for so long, some of the things he picks out still surprise me. I don't think he was excited about spending the day looking for fabric and decorations for the nursery, but he survived!

Saturday morning we went to the fabric store and picked out more fabric to go into the quilt, window treatment, and other elements of the nursery, and that afternoon we went to an enormous baby store in Houston to get some more ideas for the room. It was a neat store that had tons of nurseries set up. We picked out a glider, found some decorative things for the nursery that we loved, and found a quilt pattern.

We are so excited to have bedding made with love especially for Baby Kelso, and we can't wait to see what it all looks like in his room!

The 4th

This year to celebrate the 4th we had a house full of visitors- my parents, my grandparents, and my sister and her husband.  It wasn't a very relaxing weekend for our visitors because we put them to work while they were here!  

We picked up the nursery furniture and put it together.  

Pop, Dad, and Mat figuring out the instructions

Supervising

Putting on the finishing touches

Finished product (minus a mattress and bedding!)

We installed 3 new ceiling fans and dimmer switches.  

Mat and Kyle working 

Mat and Pop

Me, Blair and Gigi

I know Mat enjoyed having Pop and Dad around for their expertise and knowledge of electrical work!  They even helped diagnose a problem with our air conditioner Sunday morning before church! I realized that I have no pictures of my mom from this weekend.  She kept herself busy (as usual) by cooking and keeping the house cleaned up so that I didn't have to!  Thanks Mom! 

We had a few games of Scrabble (very important for any Herman family gathering), played with the Wii, and enjoyed catching up.  Blair even managed to study for her test on Monday! Saturday night we enjoyed an old-fashioned American meal- hamburgers and hotdogs, peach cobbler, and homemade vanilla ice cream.  After dinner, we went out into the backyard and watched the Pflugerville Pfireworks from the comfort of our own home!  I loved not having to deal with the crowds and traffic after the show.  George even enjoyed watching the fireworks! We loved having everyone here for the weekend! 

Hot! Hot! Hot!

George is not a fan of the record-breaking heat we've had around here the last few days!  The other day I was putting him outside to eat, and he went and crawled into his kennel.  I guess he was trying to tell me, "I'd rather be locked up in here than be sitting in that heat!"  Sunday, Mat and I decided to get a small baby pool to help George cool off and give him some entertainment outside.  

At first he wasn't exactly sure what to do and just thought we'd gotten him a huge new chew toy!  

We threw the ball in the water, and he enjoyed splashing around.  

Finally, after the sun went down, (and we were ready to bring him in for the night) he figured out that he would cool off just sitting in the water!

San Francisco

Mat's family celebrates 30th birthdays with special trips.  A few years ago the girls went to New York to celebrate Mindy's birthday, and this year we got to go to San Francisco to celebrate Marilee's 30th!  

We left early (4:30 am) Thursday morning so we could maximize our time in San Francisco! We drove to Sausalito to check out our condo for the weekend.  It was amazing... I wish I had taken some pictures.  We had a great view of downtown across the bay.  That afternoon we took a harbor cruise under the Golden Gate bridge and around Alcatraz. The water was rough, but there were quite a few sail boats and kite boarders out on the bay.  I can't imagine swimming in that cold water!  After the cruise, we had some delicious clam chowder in a bread bowl at Fisherman's Wharf and took in some more beautiful views of the bridge at an overlook.  

Friday was spent driving into the wine country and exploring 2 different wineries.  We enjoyed the drive and taking in the views.  At the first winery we had beautiful views of the wine country, got to go into their wine caves, and learned a lot about the process of making their wine.  I didn't participate in any tastings, but I heard that the wine was good!  After lunch we visited a second winery and got to ride a tram up the hill to the winery. We took a self-guided tour (and didn't learn near as much!) but enjoyed the views here also.  

Saturday we drove up to Muir Woods.  It is a small grove of redwoods just a few miles from downtown San Francisco. This was one of Mat's favorite parts of our trip a few years ago.  We took a short hike through the park and enjoyed the amazing trees.  The picture to the right is of all 4 of us inside a tree!  Saturday night we headed to AT&T Park to watch the a baseball game.  It is a neat ballpark with great views of the bay!  Once the sun went down it was a chilly night, but we enjoyed the game.

We spent Sunday finishing up our list of "must-dos" before heading home.  We drove down Lombard street (the crookedest street), shopped and enjoyed some crepes at Pier 39, and took in some more views of the city on a trolly ride.  It was a wonderful girl trip!  Happy Birthday Marilee!

Memorial Day Weekend

We were able to spend our long Memorial Day weekend with a group of our friends from college.  We have friends that live all over the country (Tennessee, Ohio, Wyoming, Texas, Oklahoma...), so Arkansas seems to be a central place for us to meet.  This year we met up in Hot Springs.  Our friend Traci found us a great house to stay at! 

We got in late Friday night and stayed up later than I have in a long time catching up.  It is always good to hear what everyone has been up to and what's going on in their lives. Saturday morning the guys went to play golf, and the girls set out for a morning of shopping.  Someone had told us to find Hot Springs Village for some good shopping, so we spent a good portion of the morning driving around trying to find it.  When we did, we actually found a retirement village!  The cute old man at the entrance told us we probably didn't want to stick around because the "dudes in here are 60 and older!"  

We decided to head back to downtown Hot Springs to find a place for lunch.  We found this cute hamburger place and decided to try it out.  It took us almost 2 hours to eat lunch!  Chrissy didn't get her meal until last, and she ordered a salad and sweet potato fries!  After lunch we decided it was best to head back to the house.  We spent the evening hanging out and playing the dictionary game- always a lot of fun with this group!  

Sunday was a cool rainy day, but we decided to check out the national park and show the guys around downtown.  We spent some time going through the museum about the bath houses and drove up into the national park.  We ended up enjoying our picnic lunch in a parking garage because of the rain and then headed back to relax at the house.  We had a devotional and communion at our house.  Mat and I feel so blessed to have friends to share these times together.  It was a special time of worship for us!

It was a great weekend that ended way to quickly!  We are already looking forward to next year when we can take Baby Kelso to meet everyone.  

It's a...

Here is a picture of his profile.
BOY!

It was so fun today to get to see our little boy and watch him move around. Everything looks good and is measuring right on schedule, and his heartbeat was strong.

There was no denying that we were looking at a little boy. I told Mat it was a good thing that we wanted to know the gender. :) Mat's exact words when we walked out of the office were, "You couldn't kick the smile off my face right now!"

We are so excited to start working on the nursery and planning for his arrival in October!

Here is a (very blurry) picture of our little boy waving to us!

Boy or Girl?

There are all sorts of old wives' tales about figuring out the sex of your baby: which way does your pillow face (north or south- but what if it faces east or west?), how long it takes your pupils to dilate when you look at yourself in the mirror, and whether you present your hands palms up or down when showing them to others. Since we aren't far from finding out the sex of Baby Kelso, I thought I'd try and figure it out myself! :)

- My age at conception and the year of conception equals an even number, so I'm having a boy. (or girl, depending on which website you look at!)
- Since I didn't really have much morning sickness, I'm having a boy.
- My hands and feet are very dry, so I'm having a boy.
- My baby's heart rate is at least 140 beats per minute, so I'm having a girl.
- According to the Chinese gender chart, I'm having a girl.
- I sleep on my left side, so I'm having a boy.
- Since I refuse to eat the heel of the bread, it's a girl.
- Since I am craving Orange Juice (which I never really liked before), I'm having a girl.

Now it is all as clear as mud! :) I guess we'll have to wait until Thursday to find out if we're having a boy or a girl!