Sadie's Little Sister

We told Sadie that she is having a little sister - she seems pleased, doesn't she?!

Toby's latest masterpiece

Toby spent most weekends these last few months transforming a tiny, dark, scary, spider-infested closet at the back of our garage into a brilliant, wide-open, light-filled room. (Toby's playroom/Man Cave to be exact.)

I have been so impressed seeing everything he's been doing - including demolition (except for the part where he almost gave himself a concussion), water mitigation, electrical work (except for the part where he blew the fuses in the house), framing, laying the floor, hanging drywall, hanging doors, etc. etc. He did the whole thing, soup to nuts!

We don't have a good "before" photo, so just imagine a tiny, dark, scary, spider-infested closet.

The closet was behind this wall - you can see the old door on the right to access the closet. Toby knocked down this wall, along with the ceiling on the other side.

I missed taking photos of a couple of weekends of demo and wiring, but here is Toby part way through the drywall phase (which, coincidentally, was also the beard phase).

Here it is after the drywall was mostly up, the door to the garage was hung and most of the flooring was down.

The drywall was incredibly heavy, and I was not helpful, so Toby did all the muscle work himself!

Ta-da! The finished product looks fabulous!

Even the gross old window looks great after Toby framed it out and cleaned it up!

Well done, Toby! I am so impressed, and now you have your own no-girls-allowed hideout.

Congratulations Michelle and Richard!

Michelle and Richard are the proud new parents of Richard Rawls Barnett III. I think he's going to be called Richard Rawls, thought it might just be Rawls. Stay tuned. By all appearances, the whole family is doing great!

I knew it!!!

Mini Cooper is a GIRL! She looked healthy and cute as can be during the ultrasound. She is a champion thumb-sucker. We are just thrilled and will upload pictures soon.

Place your bets - boy or girl?

The waiting game is almost over - on Tuesday Toby and I finally get to find out whether we're having a girl or a boy! I know I've already whined to most of you, but having to wait until 22 weeks to find out has seemed like an eternity!

So here's your chance to place your bets and guess the sex! Winners get to take the baby to Disney World.

If you think you can tell from the way I'm "carrying" - here are pictures from last night. (Excuse the tired expression - I was super tired after a day of working in the yard.) You will see, especially in the second photo, that my belly has grown tremendously in the last week or two.

Other tests:

1. If a mother's intuition means anything, I think it is a girl. But I'm always wrong, so my intuition may not necessarily be trusted.

2. We hung Toby's wedding ring from a string over my belly this morning, and it went back and forth in a straight line.

3. The "Chinese baby prediction calendar" says that it is a boy.

4. The baby's heart rate has been estimated at about 150 beats per minute each time we've been to see the doctor- one old wives tale says that faster heartbeats (like 150) mean it is a girl.

5. The numerology section of our British book says that it is a boy.

Use the buttons on the left to vote! We'll post the results on Wednesday!

Milk and Chocolate

Right - so this is Coops crashing in on Krista's blog - seems like all the hard work Krista has been putting in with her firm and, of course, growing Mini-Coops, has taken it's toll, so I'm stepping in to give you guys a taster of things to come following our trip to Houston.

Our trip was for two very important reasons - 1) to um and arr over the Thornton Triplets as they celebrated Halloween and 2) to celebrate their third Birthday. Birthday pics will follow (and most likely a more thorough and well written entry) when Krista is back behind the wheel, but for now here is a taster of those Terrific Triplets enjoying milk and chocolate!

If only lions had opposable thumbs...

Chocolate works well as a bribe for a smile...

Not quite got the hang of the sports bottle yet...

Introducing Baby Tosh!

Beth and James are expecting a little one in January, and we are proud to introduce you to Mini Cooper's cousin!


We are really excited that our babies will be so close in age - it will be so cute to see them grow up together! Beth and James are planning to wait for the baby's arrival to find out whether the baby is a boy or a girl. Right now Beth thinks it is a boy, and James thinks it is a girl. I haven't heard any other predictions from the family, and Toby won't guess without a picture of Beth and her bump, but I'm guessing that it is a boy. I love how he's waving to the camera in this photo!