a Friday night to remember

What do you get when you add:

+
+
+
_______ = ________

YUMMY, SPICY, FUN FOOD SHARED WITH FRIENDS
(and a long night of heartburn, if you're pregnant...)

Friday night, Chase, Rebecca, (Natalie), David, and Thomas all came over to our house and we had our own Crawfish Boil. Hayden, Lauren, and Hayley were supposed to join us, but unfortunately the girls were sick and they had to miss out.

We bought 30 pounds of live crawfish, 15 ears of corn, and 5 pounds of red potatoes. Jesse and I had attempted to boil crawfish once when we were still living in College Station, and it did not turn out so well. Turns out, once we made some adjustments to the boiler and invested in a higher powered propane hose, things worked great! The food was awesome, and we all had a fun time sitting out on the patio, listening to music, chatting it up, getting messy while eating the crawfish, and attempting to cool our lips (which were all on FIRE)! We finally figured out that the brownies and milk helped cool the lips long enough to endure more firey food...lol. Needless to say, we all kept eating and all probably left with full tummies!

Good friends + good food = great Friday night!

The nursery (phase 2)

Not much has changed since my last post about the nursery. We were kind of holding off on buying anything too significant until we confirmed she was a girl. Now things should start falling into place.

We finally put the crib together!

This view is from walking in the door.

Another picture of the crib. I can't wait to get the bedding and make this really start to look like a nursery!

The new dresser/changing table. Would you believe we bought this at Salvation Army? It was a brand new piece from Star Furniture, but it had some dings and scratches in it so they donated it to Salvation Army. I won't tell you how cheap we got this brand new piece of furniture for...it might make you sick!

Yes, I'm a dork. I already put newborn diapers in the top drawer. They are so cute and so little!

That's all for now. I'm sure I will post more pictures as I get it looking more and more like a liveable, cute, nursery.

Confirmation

Yesterday we had another doctor's appointment and ultrasound. Sure enough, Baby Shulse is definitely a girl!

Though we did not get the 3D/4D ultrasound (and I'm still wishing I had), she looked so much more baby-like this time. We were able to clearly see her "3 lines," her facial features, her movements...all of it! And frankly, she looks pretty cute, if I may say so myself! :)

She is starting to fill out more and no longer looks like an alien. Hooray! Her face seemed so clear, with her little nose (can't tell whose nose she has yet), defined chin (looks like Jesse's chin to me), and her sweet eyes opening and closing. It was as if she was looking right at us and her eyes were blinking as if we were having a normal conversation. The ultrasound technician even saw fuzzy hair on her head...which might explain the heartburn, if the old wive's tale is true! All this to say, we were both beaming, very excited, and in love already.

Baby Shulse weighs approximately 3 lbs 15 oz; right under 4 lbs. My measurements, weight, blood pressure, etc are all "perfect," and my due date is almost exact. I know we are getting closer, but it still seems so far away. Let's hope time flies by...I'm ready to get this little girl out of there! May 25, here we come!

Mom's 50th Birthday

My mom turned 50 in February, and we threw her a surprise party to celebrate. Her real birthday was on a Wednesday night, and to throw her off, many people went out of their way. My aunt and uncle came down from Dallas the weekend before to "celebrate." My grandparents came in during the week to be there for her actual birthday. My sisters shipped their presents to be there on her actual birthday, so she would have no clue they were flying in town the following weekend.

Mom's whole family came in from Dallas, and while everyone was getting to the house and setting up for the party, Grandma took Mom "shopping." We were able to set up all the food, decorations, etc. before they got home.

Sure enough...Mom was pretty surprised. She walked into the house, unsuscpecting that her entire family and a lot of her friends had all come over to celebrate the big 5-0. The party was laid back, but fun. :)

Here are a few pictures from the day. (I cant seem to make them any larger, sorry!)

Mom's surprised face

Sarah and I playing with the bazookas

Mom and all her girls

Savannah and Kalia stole the show as usual

It is so cute watching them interact with each other...still cannot believe they are only a day apart!

A fun time was had by all!