Is That What I Think It Is?

Song of the Day: Headlights by Morning Parade

We have another pet!

Oh look at the darling swing set...wait, is that a lizard on our window??

Yes, indeed it is a lizard, but of the cute bright green variety. They are most welcome since I suspect they eat a lot of bugs. Climb on, friend, climb on.

We also have another pet...a little less friendly...

Ahhhh, it's a spider!!

Yes, it's a spider, but I'm sure to your never ending relief, it's fake. It's plastic. But there's a great story behind this little fellow:

Many years ago, Fitz and I went out to dinner around Halloween time, and I ordered some special spooky cocktail which featured this not-so-little black spider swimming around in my glass. Well, he was just too cute to leave in the bottom of my martini glass, so he came home with us, and thus began the great Spider Prank Wars. Basically, I hid the spider in Fitz's cereal, and when he found it and freaked out, he then would hide the spider where I would find it, like in the shower or in a cooking pot. We traded pranks back and forth for at least a couple of years...until one day, he was hidden so well, neither of us found the spider and we eventually forgot about him.

But then one day, some unsuspecting young man who was packing up all our belongings to move from Winston-Salem to Charlotte came across our little spider friend, and he almost had a heart attack.

Whoops.

So glad he made the move, though.

Well, I'm off to harvest pine cones! Don't be surprised to receive cinnamon pine cones for Christmas!

And Happy Birthday to Fitz's dad, Ted! We hope you have the best day ever!


Ted's birthday back in 2009 with Neils and Pickens!

A Wabbit and A World Wide Web

Song of the Day: Jimmy Mack by Martha Reeves and The Vandellas (yep, finally made it out of the library; we've got Internet at home now and I can play YouTube videos as loud as I want.)

As promised, here's our bunny!

Makes me think of the Velveteen Rabbit...

...and Peter Rabbit, although would that make Fitz Mr. McGregor?

The pictures are a little blurry since they were taken from inside on the second floor through the window glass, but clearly, we have a bunny in our yard. I am very excited about our bunny because he might be the closest thing to a pet I'll ever have, until I have a few more kids and we all out-vote Dad on getting a puppy. But in the meantime, a cute brown bunny with a white tail works for me.

Yesterday morning I went to my first doctor's visit here in Charlotte to check up on Baby B. Everything looks great! He's getting big, and it seems, at least while at the doctor's, that he is already in the head-down position, which is normal and typical for 32 weeks.

When we go to the grocery store, it's weird to look at expiration dates and say, "By the time this bag of tortillas expire, we'll have a week old baby." And tortillas are perishable, it's not like they can hang out forever like soy sauce. So, potentially, I will still have an edible tortilla in the refrigerator from the bag I bought on Monday when Baby B arrives in November. Weird.

Pictures of Peter Cottontail Coming Soon!

Song of the Day: Still at the library...shhhh...

Being a homeowner is exhausting. And rewarding. And overwhelming. And quiet. But the quiet thing probably won't last a whole lot longer, thanks to Baby B's imminent arrival. We love our new house, and it's starting to take shape as the boxes slowly disappear, or as I should say, as our friend Lindsay takes the boxes away for her upcoming move. Thanks Linds!

On Sunday after church, we were upstairs admiring our backyard from the office windows when we spied a brown bunny with a white cottontail! He munched and munched on our "grass" (our "grass" isn't really grass, it's more weedy and survival plants than anything, something we'll get to later). Pictures coming Thursday! I also know that we have chipmunks running around and Fitz has encountered a small green lizard out back a few times. Ah, nature. Something we missed out on living on the 14th floor in Winston-Salem.

There are the cute things of nature and of course the not-so-cute things of nature. Fitz must love me a lot. He kills any and every bug I point out without any hesitation or "Why don't you do it?"

Now, I don't want to give the impression that our home is buggy. It's not. Just one or two critters a week thinking they can find a dry home. Well, they thought wrong. My eagle eyes and my dutiful husband make an excellent bug-killing team.

I also don't want to give the impression that we're killing cute bugs (yes, there is such a thing). Crickets, certainly, would get a free pass as do ladybugs. Butterflies would almost be welcome in the house. But these critters are more content outside for now, I suppose. I would love to have a butterfly as a house guest in the winter. Can you imagine the photo-ops possible with Baby B around? "Katherine, this picture of a butterfly on Baby B's nose is amazing! Did you photo-shop this?" "Why, no, we just had a butterfly lodge with us over February." Move over, Anne Geddes.

Fitz had his first day of work yesterday, and it went great! The commute was not nearly as bad as we were thinking it might be, and he really enjoyed seeing old friends and colleagues. Right now, it's a lot of orientation, but I think he's really pleased with starting at this firm. We'll see how it goes!

Welcome Home!

Song of the Day: None today because we're at the library and we're supposed to stay quiet!

We did it! We officially moved to Charlotte, and while it's been tiring, it's been really exciting to get settled into our new home! Fitz has been painting, scrubbing, unpacking; I've been trying to keep things organized and clean. I started to unpack my clothes a few days ago until I realized I can't fit any of these things and won't be able to for a while, so in the plastic bin my cute clothes will stay.

We love our house. It's cute, quaint, just enough room, and quirky. Here are some quirks we've discovered:
1. There is no sneaking in this house. It is impossible to sneak around, especially if you're upstairs. Your every move is heard from below.
2. The hot water is the hottest water on the planet. I dare anyone to challenge this claim.
3. You must shut the refrigerator door softly. Otherwise, when you try to reopen it, the suction will keep it closed semi-permanently.
4. Pine straw kills grass. Therefore, Fitz is relieved of his mowing duties until we can sort out this abundance of pine straw.

We're supposed to get our Internet set up for us next Thursday, so updates on life in Charlotte will be more frequent than right now. Until then, we've got a baby shower on Saturday and Fitz's first day of work on Monday!

Moving On

Song of the Day: This Road by Jars of Clay

Well, we've left Winston-Salem temporarily, but we've canceled our Internet indefinitely. So, the next weeks, our posts will most likely be sporadic.

But never fear! We will return with updates once we're settled in Charlotte!

'Til then, well, good night and good luck!