...And We Add One More!

We like to add on to our family of us and 2 dogs so much that we're now going to add....a baby!!!

We're so excited to announce that we will be welcoming Baby Dickens (A.K.A "Pot Roast") on August 18th, 2011 (or whenever he/she decides to come!)

We found out the week before Christmas that I was pregnant and decided to tell my parents in person when we went home for Christmas by wearing these t-shirts. (Sorry...just took a shower and decided to take pics, so just ignore me!)

There are LOTS of babies at my school, so I thought this was appropriate!

We told Jeff's family and my sisters by phone, and the entire Blackwell side of the family at my aunt's house a few days before Christmas. August 18th is the same b-day as my aunt AND her granddaughter (as well as a family member from long ago), so it's a cool anticipated b-day, but since both of my sisters AND I are all born in August, I would love our baby to have a date all to their own!

We've had 2 ultrasounds so far. At both of our latest dr. visits the heartbeat couldn't be heard with the microphone, so we got pics instead! (Nerve-wracking since we couldn't hear, but glad we have pics)

Here is baby at 9 Weeks 6 Days (January 19th, 2011):

Here is baby at 13 Weeks 4 Days (February 14th, 2011): He/she was REALLY moving around and it was absolutely amazing to see the head, arms, and legs just a movin' and gettin' their groove on!

Here is me at 12 weeks---first time to wear maternity pants. These things are GREAT! (Cell phone pic--ignore the blurriness!)

Here is me at 13 weeks and Amber at 17 (with baby girl Dunagan!). It's so fun to be going through this time with a friend!

Here's the proud mom and dad (week 14 for me) on our trip to New Orleans for Jeff's birthday last weekend. (Yes, totally aware this pic was on the blog before, but now you're supposed to focus on the belly instead of New Orleans!)

Our blog has always been to update friends and family on what's going on in our life and apparently we will now have quite a few things to update! We're already excited to see how our little Pot Roast grows (we didn't like the phrase "bun in the oven" and this name came about because I wanted roast one week!)

Jeff's Bday Trip

We've been trying to plan a trip to New Orleans since, oh.....the year we met! Sad to say, it's taken us this long to actually do anything about it! I'm not the biggest fan of New Orleans because I remember Bourbon Street from a New Year's trip years ago and I don't like drunken crowds shoving me around everywhere. However, we had a great time this year and I'm so glad we did it--especially with everything coming up this year with our family! Jeff's dad and step-mom met us down there, so we had their guidance to help us "skip" a few tourist traps!

We started off our foggy Saturday with delicious beignets from Cafe du Monde. Jeff's been bragging about this place since I met him and I now see why! I never knew it was so famous, and I'm so glad we made this our first stop!

Mmmmmmm.......delish!!!

This is how we "eat"--we could use a few bibs! I wasn't happy that Jeff "sprinkled" powdered sugar all over my dark jeans, so I got him back by flicking his beignet (which resulted in the powdered sugar mess that is now his left arm--he held on to the beignet!)

We walked through the French Quarter, taking in the French Market (where we both bought stuff!), checking out the art/street performers, and even randomly running in to a Nash cousin at the Katrina Museum! Sorry Jeremy--didn't mean to ambush you!

We also happened to run into a funeral celebration, which was really interesting to see! Happy Jazz music, dancing, ashes thrown into the mighty Mississippi (1st pic--lady in white is the wife)--it was all there!

We took a trolley down to the Garden District, where we had lunch, and then headed back for a quick nap before heading out to dinner with Jeff's old Coast Guard roomie Tony and his wife Connie. We ate at Smitty's near their house and boy...was it tasty!

To make sure you understand that this trip was all about the food, you must know that we ended our trip to ONE more trip to Cafe du Monde on Sunday for another order of beignets and coffee!

Happy 37th b-day Jeff! I hope you had a great time with your family and friends--I know I did!

Life Lessons Learned While Packing a House

We're signing on our new house in less than 2 weeks and I've now begun the packing process--tons 'o fun! However...I've learned a few lessons in the past 2 days while packing up the house.

1. There's a lot to be said about matching lamp shades--they stack/pack VERY easily. Needless to say...I only have 2 that match!

2. Dogs do NOT like the packing process: there are lots of boxes and things in their normal paths around the house, and I walk around too much for them to get comfy in one area. That said...after about an hour of me packing, they finally pick a place out of the way and stay there!

3. Packing up a house of 2 people is harder than packing up an apartment of 1---where did we get all this stuff and why do we have it? Also...it makes me dread it when kids come along, which makes me think I'll push to stay put awhile when that happens!

4. My method of "get everything out and put it on the dining room table, breakfast table, chairs, and anything else that will hold things is a good one. Step 1: get it all out. Step 2: tape up every box you can find. Step 3: start loading!

5. Tablecloths, placemats, towels, sheets, etc. make good packing material---hopefully I'll still agree with this once we're moved and everything is hopefully still in it's pre-packed condition!

6. Packing a kitchen SUCKS! (Which is why it's getting packed last!)

7. It's amazing how much we've managed to store in our "house that has no storage". What will the next house look like?

8. Do NOT pack your hole punch just to get it off the desk to show your house. This is especially important if you're starting a new job and need to print off stuff for it. This is also equally important if you're trying to keep all your mortgage/insurance/etc. paperwork in a binder so you know where it all is!

Day 10--Market, Base, & Winery Day

Today was a fun-filled "Italian Life" day! To start off the blog, here's what "life" looks like from Court and Evan's roof terrace! We had a beautiful day today! (Side note: Jeff would've been in this pic if he wasn't napping. He's very good at the Italian "reposo"--naptime!)

Here's true "life"--Court carrying her twin boys! By now as I'm typing this, they are nick-named Mario & Luigi! In this picture, she was about 4-5 months along (I can't remember!)

We started our day by doing what the Italians do--by going to the market. These markets are held every day in smaller towns, and the trick is that you have to know what town has it on what day. Lucky for us Tuesday is Aviano's market day. Lucky because that is the same day we were going to see the Air Force Base that Evan works on, which is located in Aviano! We didn't buy too much--just some much-needed woven tablecloths, tourist trinkets, and Jeff bought some local food to try it out (I didn't have the guts for it!)

We met Evan at his office and then headed to lunch on base followed by a shopping trip at the Exchange. We've been to bases a few times since Jeff's in the Coast Guard and we can go to the BX/Exchange, and this wasn't much different, but it's still fun to go see what each one has to offer! Of course, my favorite thing at the BX was the absolutely delicious bread that Court bought there a few times while we were there! Yum, yum!

The big plane is what they flew in all the inspection team on.

We got to see a jet take off too. It was just doing a take-off/land procedure, but it was still cool! The teeny spec in the blue is the jet. There was a huge base inspection going on the week we were there, so Evan was pretty busy and there was a lot of action at the base!

Wine Time! Court took us to 2 wineries that were close to Aviano/Sacile. She tried another, but it was closed that day (once again...you have to know the schedule of things in Italy--everyone does their own thing on their own desired day!). We LOVED the 2 she took us to. We are not huge wine drinkers, and tend to lean towards sweeter wine (wine freaks don't judge!), and these had GREAT selections! We loved our tasting and even bought a cobalt blue jug to put our corks in. The jugs are actually to buy and then bring back to the winery to fill up with their "house wine", which is usually pretty good--according to the Epsteins!

How beautiful is this view from the winery? It would be slightly more beautiful with grapes growing, but we were there during the wrong season. Hmmm....reason for yet ANOTHER trip??? I think so!

The owners of this wine actually have a seller in Dallas for their wine! How exciting! Now if only I can find the slip of paper I wrote it down on! Hmmm...

We had a great day filled with Italian life! We love our home in Texas, but man oh man, this isn't too shabby either!

Day 9--Pottery!!!

Today is the day that Courtney drove me to Nove, which is a small town known for its pottery factories. We had many, many stores to choose from, but Courtney did some scouting of her own (AKA--a shopping trip for herself earlier in the year!) and knew the best places to take me!

Our first stop was actually a pewter place where the husband makes all of it by hand. Knowing we were traveling in 3 backpacks, the only items I bought were 3 teeny appetizer forks (you know...for all the cocktail parties I host!) They're so cute though--and since they were so tiny, they easily fit in the HUGE box I shipped home with the pottery/olive oil/wine/etc!

Then...it was on to the pottery! There were so many things I'd love to have and so little room to put it, so....one day I'll go back and get some more! Sounds like a good reason for a trip, right?? I ended up buying from a place called VBC and here is the re-enactment of my 1st reaction once I walked upstairs to the store.

This is what the pottery looks like before it's fired. We gave ourselves a little "factory tour" since we had to walk through the work area to get to the bathroom before we shopped.

Going into the kiln Coming out of the kiln--almost ready to be sold! These are the beautiful Vietri plates by the way (for anyone who cares!) I will be buying myself a set before the Epsteins leave!

Bathroom at the pottery store--not funny! Let's just say that I don't have those "skills" mastered yet!

I have no clue where the picture is of the purchases once they arrived to TX! I wish I had bought more, but no room! I will definitely be placing an order before the Epsteins leave Italy for some more pottery!!! Thanks Court for a great day! (For those of you wondering where Jeff was...he actually had to stay at their house and study--he was missing a few days of class for our trip and he had to keep up, so he let us have a girl's day!)

Day 8--Slovenia Castle/Cave Trip--Part 1

Sunday morning we woke up and Evan fixed us a mean breakfast of something tasty (it's been 2 months since our trip and I'm just now blogging about it--I just don't remember!) We knew we were going to go to Slovenia, but we had 2 choices: go to a castle in/near the capital of Slovenia (that could possibly be closed on Sunday), or do a cave/castle tour in Postonja. I was all about the castles...it was the cave part that freaked me out! For those of you who don't know...I'm slightly claustrophobic (think elevators, crowds, airplanes--I get over it, but it's just the anxiety before that kills me!) Anyway...I bucked up because the other 3 really wanted to do the cave/castle and I didn't want the chickening out to be on my shoulders! I'm so glad I did because we had a great time!

First, we went to the castle in Postojna. This castle was amazing! It was literally built into a cave for protection from enemies. It had 5 flights of stairs, was really cold and wet (didn't help that we went on a rainy day), and was so beautiful! See the hole in the cave??? Look for it later in the blog for a reference point!

Sign for landmarks--"gama" is the cave and "grad" is the cave
Here we are at the beginning of our tour.

Steep stairs--all rock/concrete, slippery, and VERY steep---legs hurt the next day!

This is the jousting arena. It's sideways...oh well!

This is where the prisoners were hung. There was a balcony above this that was partly blocked by rock where people watched the prisoners from--freaky!

View from high up in the cave--you could see for miles! This was the "zoomed in"version of the hole in the cave. The picture under it shows how high up we were on the many flights of stairs and where the hole is located.

Part 2--the cave...next blog!

Chip---and Queso!

Introducing the newest member of our family.....Queso! Let's explain his name first. Chip got his name because he has a white "C" shape on his chest--easy. Queso got his because, well, let's face it: we're Jeff and Steph and we just do things a little differently! We'd always talked about Chip and Salsa or Chip and Dip if we had 2 dogs, but once we got a boy dog Salsa seemed girly and Dip--well, it just isn't right! So...we went with the next obvious.....Queso!

We've talked for almost a year about getting Chip a playmate, but we couldn't ever decide if we wanted to switch breeds, get a boy/girl, get a smaller dog b/c of our yard size, etc. Lots kept us putting it off. Well, yesterday we were out running around and saw this guy selling labradoodles, which we know nothing about. We figured for fun we'd check back with him if he was there when we were on his way home, which he was. We looked at the puppy (AKA--Queso now), who was the only one left and got the man's phone # b/c we wanted to go home and decide since this was a whim. Got home, did a little research on labradoodles, and decided it was a go!

Picked Queso up, got his papers, got to PetCo at closing time for puppy food and a tiny cage, and we were off! We weren't planning on splurging for a smaller cage, but when he had an accident on the way to PetCo b/c he was scared, we figured it would be a smart choice for all of us!

He's slowly learning the Dickens way. The guy told us he gets up regularly at 5:30ish to potty. Well, we're proud to say he made it until 6:15 this morning! Sidenote: we also got Chip out of this "early morning on the weekend" habit by making him wait a few more minutes each day, and we're so glad we did! It made for easier sleeping for mom and dad! Queso also got Chip's old bark collar. Nothing like hand-me-downs, right?? :) Let's just say he's a quick learner. He'd forgotten by this morning, but when he barked once, that's all it took too. Some may think this is a bad choice, but we learned with Chip that when you have neighbors, you have to take them into consideration too, and we broke him of his "bark when mom and dad are away" habit early on and hope to do the same with Queso.

Chip is okay with Queso so far. He LOVES playing with smaller dogs, so we'll see what happens as Queso grows. Right now they both sniff each other a lot and paw at each other to get the other one to play. Since we brought Queso home at about 9:30pm last night, we're getting our first day done today. We'll keep you posted!