Dog For Sale

One naughty shiba inu for sale- free or best offer. Likes to run away. Loves to look at you like you're crazy when you scream and yell for her to come back. Will make you look like an idiot in front of your neighbors. There is nothing like feeling like a complete moron who is incapable of controlling an inferior creature.

Sure, Teeny has run away before. Usually she runs to the neighbor's yard or down the street and then she comes back.... not because I call her and she listens, but because she is done exploring. First it was for five minutes, then maybe fifteen, and at the worst it was an hour. I was a wreck during that hour, but old faithful came back home eventually. I used to run after her and then eventually resorted to hopping in the car and trying to follow her as she likes to "go for a ride" and will usually jump in. But last night, at 9:30 pm, this 9-month pregnant mommy wasn't having it. I was done. Besides, she bolted so quickly that I couldn't even see where she went (which was a first... usually she sticks to the same path). So a half hour went by and I was fine. I was sure she'd be back soon. Then another hour passed with no sign of her and I really wanted to go to bed. I went to the back yard, whistled a few times, and did not see or hear her anywhere. Fine, have it your way, I thought. Let's see how well you handle sleeping outside.

So into bed I climbed. All was well until Josh said something totally unrelated to the dog and all of my pregnancy hormones took over in full effect. "The... dog... ran... away" I managed between sniffles. "I... hate... her... so much." I sobbed. Josh offered to go look for her, but I told him not to because I wouldn't even know where to begin to look. She could've been miles from home by then.

Somehow I managed to fall asleep, but between not sleeping well anyway due to the bowling ball I swalled and knowing that my dog was out wandering the streets, it wasn't very restful.

Then... I heard it. Barking. Lots of barking. And then Minnie heard it and ran downstairs. She was back! I glanced at the clock and saw that it was two in the morning! That dumb animal had been running amok for four and a half hours!!! Of course I let her back inside, but then what? Do I kill her? Reward her for coming back even though she worried her mama sick for hours on end? Tie her up and make her sleep outside? Since I was half asleep and had zero energy, I just opened the door, let her in, and went back to bed. Way to be the alpha. It's no wonder she doesn't listen to me.

I wish I didn't love that stupid animal so much. I really do mean it when I say that I hate her because every time she bolts on me, I really do. There is a voice in my head that tells me that it would serve her right if something happened to her. Then, as we found out last night, there's the outpour of tears that tell me that despite her naughty behavior, I love that dumb animal. I can't even imagine how much stronger that love is going to be when it's my own child... it's terrifying and exciting at the same time. And there is no way I'm running after that animal with an infant at home.

So maybe I'm not entirely serious about giving away the dog, but what I can say is this: my mom is coming this week and if she runs away again, there will be a dog in her suitcase on the way home. She's the only person in this world who loves that naughty animal just as much as I do!

**And just as an update (as of 3:15 pm on Tuesday, March 9th), she has escaped once again and is currently roaming the neighborhood. I'm officially back to hating that stupid dog again.***

Showers of Happiness

Somehow in the hustle and bustle of getting ready for baby, I never got around to posting pictures from our wonderful shower! We had originally planned on having it at the youth building at church, but after the great blood clot debacle of 2010 we did not know if and when I would be back on my feet. So... we moved it to our house just in case I was still on bed rest! The good news is that I was up and moving at 100% by then, but we just decided to keep it here as to not change the location again. Let me just say that having a house full of 50+ women was more fun and special than I could ever imagine! It was a day full of smiles, laughter, games, great food, and more love than Josh or I even knew what to do with. Our Crossroads family has become the biggest blessing and has exceeded our wildest expectations. For as much as we (and by 'we' I mostly mean 'Josh') put into this ministry in terms of time, relationship building, and love, we are rewarded ten-fold. Small Town, Illinois truly is home and this baby has more women vying for his attention then he's going to know what to do with! Thank you to all of our Morrison Crossroads family for an incredible day and for all of the gifts! After the shower we are officially stocked and as ready as we're going to be! Now all we need is baby!

The "spread"... yummy!

Thanks to Deb for my amazing monkey cakes!

GIFT TIME! I loved these handmade booties!

I clearly have a few things to learn about mommyhood. I seem to be perplexed by this rubber ducky! We're in trouble.

The gift we've been waiting for! THANK YOU, Connie, for the incredible quilt. It turned out so beautiful and this will be in the family forever! This one got a round of applause when I opened it.

Seriously? Is my belly really THAT BIG???

Yeah okay, maybe it is. Someone needs to lay off the cupcakes!

The cameraman and his apprentice. Josh loved having a houseful of women!

Thanks to my fabulous hostesses! Katie... you're next!

Alright Jake, we're just waiting on you now, buddy!

It's March...

which means we will be meeting the little one soon! Am feeling so blessed.

What's in a name?

Naming Jacob was surprisingly one of the easiest things that Josh and I have ever had to do. We considered only a few other options, but we just kept coming back to Baby Jake. The only reasons we ever considered changing our minds was that 1) Jacob is a heathen in the Bible and his name even means "deceiver" and 2) Jacob has been the most popular boy's name in the United States for the past three years. But then we decided that a name's meaning doesn't automatically make the person turn out to be that way and neither one of us really know that many kids named Jake. No matter what you name your kid, chances are there is another one of them in the world. Unless you name them something weird like Moxie Crimefighter, which totally isn't our style. We love our kid far too much for that.

But back to my point...

About a week ago, Josh signed up for Ancestory.com and started researching our family history. If you've never been on that site, I have to admit that it's incredibly cool. We found all kinds of census records, birth and death certificates, and even a couple of old pictures that had been scanned in- one of his grandfather from his high school yearbook and one of my grandfather in his military uniform. Neat stuff. And through the program, Josh was able to do about a decade of research in a couple of hours and traced his lineage (I know my whole family will read that word the wrong way... I can hardly type it without laughing) to the members of the family that came over from Europe. He's known for years that two brothers came over and migrated to the Carolinas, but what we found out was this: there were actually three brothers and the father came along with them. And the father's name? Jacob. Little did we know we picked the name of the very first Mauney to make his way over to America. How perfect is that?

Now we just have one problem... my husband now has to cope with the fact that he's French. I told him that I'll still love him anyway. Sadly we know nothing about French heritage except for the song that the chef sings in The Little Mermaid. And that perhaps we should start drinking more wine. That stuff counts as culture, right???


*And as a sidenote, the photo is courtesy of the very lovely and talented Jan Scott who took all of our maternity pictures (which we love!). You should check her out at www.janscottphotography.com.

Yaaaaawwwwnnnnnn....

"Mommy, I'm bored and I'm ready to come out and play!"This has got to be one of the neatest sonogram pictures I've ever seen... our weekly sonogram is the only "perk" to being a high-risk pregnancy patient. Only a few more weeks and we'll see that cute little yawn for ourselves!

Happy Birthday to...

My Dad!

Some time ago, I started calling January thru March "cake season" and boy is it exploding this year! It starts with my birthday, then my Nana's, Michael's and Dad's are in February, and both of my sisters are in March. Now throw in our new nephew Adam and our impending arrival in March, "cake season" is really living up to its name (and adding to the waistline... at least I have an excuse this year!). And that's not even counting Josh's family and some extended family of mine. Oh how I love this time of year! Because really, who doesn't love cake???

But back to the man of the hour...

Unfortunately most of my pictures with him are the old-school film kind and are in albums at my mom's house, but these two from my wedding show how much love I have for the man. We sure miss having him around more, so hopefully that will change soon.

Happy birthday, Dad... we hope it will be a good year for you!

Happy Birthday to...

Our brother-in-law, Michael! This is a man who...

Wears spandex more than regular clothes,

Loves his wife enough to dress like this:

Isn't afraid of training hard,

Appreciates the value of a good sandwich,

Makes even the most mundane tasks interesting, Teaches his nephews the important skills in life,

Is the only Ironman in the family (for now... who knows, right?) And is now a daddy!

Happy birthday, Mike. We know you already got the world's best gift, so nothing we say or do is even going to compare. Thanks for being you... we love you and miss you so much!