The Weekend

We had a great weekend. On Saturday afternoon, after I was finished at the clinic, Nancy picked me up and we went to Brooke and Tyler's birthday party in Magnolia or Montgomery, or wherever Brandl and Danielle live. All I know is it is a long way away considering we live in the same "city". It was, of course, well worth the drive because a) we haven't seen Brandl, Danielle, and the kiddos since December, and b) because Nancy always drives, so I got a little nap :)

We didn't make it until the party was almost over, so we got to hang out with them for a while after the party. Nancy's dad Paul even made it down, even though we weren't expecting him to be there...so that was a cool surprise. He makes me feel not quite so dirty drinking beer at a four year old birthday party.

Brooke and Tyler got, of course, every gift you can imagine, plus some. Looking at Brooke and Tyler, as well as Logan, Brynna, and Makinley, and the number of gifts they get for each occasion, I have now determined that once JKW is here, we will need to add on 2000 square feet to our house just for the toys. I mean, it is insane the number of toys all those kids have.

Brooke and Tyler each got a bike from their mom and dad. Brooke got a yellow princess dress that she loved and decided to wear immediately. Tyler got a radio controlled car that he loved. So we hung out and drank some beer, ate some pizza, and played with the munchkins for a while. And they took the news of Jorge's name change pretty well.

Shortly before we left Brandl and Danielle's, I got a call from my weekend kennel tech that one of my patients, a cat named Kade, had pulled out his urinary catheter. Kade had the catheter in because he is not able to currently urinate on his own due to bladder inflammation (this is common in male cats). Obviously, Kade could not go a long time without being able to pee, so I had to go put another catheter back in. It is just not something a technician can do. However, I was an hour away, and I didn't want the tech to have to stay and wait for me, so I told her to just leave him. All the girls from work were having a party last night, so I didn't want to call anyone to come help me.

So Nancy and I stopped by the clinic and she got to be my tech. She had served as my technician once before, when we drew blood on Shelby at home for her breed DNA test. That had not gone so well. However, this time she was like a pro, holding the cat so I could place the urinary catheter. Well, she got peed on and almost vomited, but otherwise she did great. I'm wondering if once school is out she will work for free. Anyway, Kade got his catheter in with minimal difficulty and is doing well, complete with empty bladder, today.

Today, we set forth on an expedition to find chair rail for our nursery. It took a couple of attempts, but we finally found what we were looking for. We came home and slapped another coat of paint on the walls, and finished touching up the mistakes (Yes, Nancy wore her Darth Vader respirator (see picture below) to keep her from inhaling paint fumes). We even started putting up the chair rail. A very productive day.

After wrapping up the Great Nursery Renovation of 2010 for the day, we went to get a snow cone. Nancy has been trying to get one of these Bahama Mama Snow cones for at least two weeks now, but for one reason or another, she hadn't gotten one yet. She went on and on about how good they are, but I have never been much of a fan of snow cones. That could be because pretty much the only snow cone I have ever had were the crappy ones from our Little League concession stand...basically some nasty syrup on some crushed ice in a paper cone.

Because of my lack of excitement for snow cones, I did not get one of my own. Nancy ordered hers...a medium wedding cake with cream. Wait, what? Lorena Little League had grape, cherry and coconut. And I have never heard of cream on a snow cone. When she got hers, I took a little taste. It was not bad, but it was so rich I could only take one bite. It was like chugging a can of Eagle Brand Milk. She loved it though, and I can finally stop hearing about taking her to get a snow cone every weekend. Unless she decides she wants another one.

Here are a few pictures. Sadly, there are no pictures of Nancy getting peed on.




Brooke and her princess dress





Me helping her ride her new bike




They were excited to get their bikes!




Tyler and one of his many trucks





Brooke and what looks to be a potentially very messy gift. Good luck, Danielle




Nancy and her Darth Vader mask





Nancy and JKW




Rollin' rollin' rollin'

The Nursery

We have started the time-honored tradition of painting the nursery. We are going with a two-color plus chair rail approach, complete with a sports-themed semi-mural. This past weekend, we got our required supplies and got to work. Nancy insisted on a double layer plastic drop cloth, because evidently, she thinks I am messy. I have no idea where she gets these things in her head. We also bought her a fancy respirator because, although I will be doing the bulk of the painting, she just cannot completely turn me loose without supervision. I think she has control issues. So she needs to be able to go into the toxic gas chamber of paint fumes to critique my work and offer "suggestions". Here are some before and after photos of our progress so far:

We also had our latest ultrasound on Thursday. Everything is looking great with JKW so far. He is a little big for his age at the 76th percentile, but healthy nonetheless. The pictures we got are not quite as good this time, since we had an incompetent ultrasound tech. But here they are:

While this may look (to mere amateurs) like he is sucking his thumb, our bitchy ultrasound tech insists he is not. He obviously was, but whatever.

A kind of creepy picture of JKW's face. It kind of looks like that "face" on Mars.

Tomorrow is Brooke and Tyler's birthday party AND Brynna's birthday party. Since we can't be two places at once, we gave Brynna her 47 birthday presents two weeks ago when we went up for Carrie and Nick's wedding. I think it has been since around Christmas since we have seen Brooke and Tyler, so we hope they remember us :) We are going to have to break the news to them that Jorge's name has changed. I hope they take it well.

That's about it for now. Nancy is 24 weeks today, which makes Jacob the size of a kumquat, or eggplant, or something...for those of you keeping score.

Fine!

I wasn't going to reveal his name until tomorrow, but I've got people yelling at me.

Jacob Kyle Wiltshire

Runner-up was Sparticus James.

Jorge' has a New Name

You will be glad to know that Jorge' is no longer Jorge'. After much deliberation, we have finally decided on his name. Now we can get to decorating our sports-themed nursery.

Congratulations Carrie and Nick

Tomorrow my baby sister Carrie is getting married. I am so happy for her that she found someone in Nick that treats her like she deserves to be treated. Logan and Brynna are lucky to have someone in their life who can be a positive male influence...finally. Nick is a great guy, seems to be a great dad, and I finally know that Carrie will be taken care of and be happy.

Congrats Carrie and Nick!

Bye Bye Old Couch

We finally got rid of our couch. I put it on craigslist once before, if you remember. If not: CLICK HERE

So this time, I made no mention of Nancy being with child. Once we finally got someone to actually show up to pick up the free couch, they didn't even ask to rub her feet or anything.

Side note: The couch was in our upstairs spare room. It had to be carried upright through two doorways and down an L-shaped narrow staircase. The guy who came to pick it up was like 80 years old. No problem. He brought along a teenager, who I could only assume was his great, great, great grandson.

So me and Old Man River start trying to weave this heavy, bulky, awkward monstrosity out of our bedroom doorway, down the winding stairs, and around 3 tight corners...while the strong, able-bodied kid watches. Well, that's not true, he did more than watch. He did give some verbal direction. He literally stood by while me and pops (mostly me, as Geriatric Jerry wasn't a whole lot of help) lugged this couch all the way outside. When we got to the back of their minivan, there was something in the back that was in the way. The kid had to move it so we could put the couch in (I couldn't tell what it was because it was dark)... but as he lifted it out, he complained about how heavy it was. Seriously. Me and Wilford Brimley are out there huffing and puffing, still holding the heavy-ass couch we just trekked down all those stairs, and he is complaining? So I dropped the couch, form tackled the little punk, and beat the snot out of him just for grins.

Ok, that last part only happened in my mind.

The Things I Learn

Conversation in one of my exam rooms a few minutes ago:

A lady brings her dog in for an ear infection. She brings her (I would guess) 4 year old daughter along for the ride.

ME: Your dog has a yeast infection.

DAUGHTER: Mommy, you had one of those, remember?


You know how hard it is to keep a straight face in that situation?

I'm not taking Jorge' in public until he is 12.

Whoah!

We went to Babies R Us this weekend to check out cribs. Nancy mentioned that we should grab a couple of packages of diapers while we were there in order to get a free $15 gift card. Then I saw the price tag: $41 for a package of diapers. Glorified trash bags with tape. Poop receptacles. Wow. And I hear formula is even more expensive. I had no idea.