It's A Boy!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, bring on the blue stuff... It's official, we are having a boy!

53% of people who voted said, girl... (I was in that group) however, my beautiful and intuitive wife, Laura, said boy alllllll along! Not to mention almost everyone in our family! I guess I was just saying girl so if it happened to be I would have already prepared myself for it.

Not that having a girl is a bad thing, but having a boy first really would be a nice thing to have off our shoulders... for one, we don't have to worry about having our name stolen!

With that being said...

Mauldin James Skates will be a very welcomed addition to the Skates household.

See the pictures...

It's almost official...

It’s almost official…

We have names picked out, but now we just need to know which one we will need to use!

Hopefully, tomorrow we will have an answer…

Boy: Mauldin James

Girl: Tessa Darling

Penis or Vagina... just tell us already!

In less than three days my wife, Laura, and I will be heading to the doctor's office to have an ultra sound that may give us the answer we have been waiting for, for soooo long!

We are fastly approaching the 20 week mark.

Is the child floating around in my wife's tummy a boy or a girl?

If you haven't voted on our poll, be sure to hurry and make your guess.

Of course, there may be a possibility we may be let down if our dear Baby Skates is being a little modest... if that is so then we will have to wait another two weeks!

On Saturday, November 22nd, we are having our 4D ultrasound where we can see our baby look like a clay figure and see it give us a peace sign or, shutter to think, the "finger," not on purpose, of course! LOL! I've heard stories... lol

So, Thursday, November 6th, be thinkin' about us as we are on pins and needles just waiting to find out if Baby Skates is a boy or a girl.

Gutting pumpkins...

Yesterday, my wife, Laura, called me to let me know we had been invited over to her sister’s house to carve pumpkins. Now, I, myself, used to carve a pumpkin every year, that is, until I moved from home. Then I soon discovered why my mom and dad always wanted me to carve my pumpkin… outside. It is really messy!

Anyway, fast forward, Laura and I have been together four years, this past October 29^th, and have never, ever carved a pumpkin together! How sad… I know…

Anyway, we went over to Jenn and Paul’s last night to carve pumpkins with our adorable niece, Annagrace. That being said, here are some pictures of last night’s pumpkin carving festivities.

So, we now have started a tradition... we will not miss another year of carving a pumpkin! Espsically with Baby Skates!

Enjoy and have a fun and safe Halloween!

Email and nicknames...

With our 20 week ultrasound right on the horizon, of two weeks from now, my mind has been toying with many different things.... (My undiagnosed Adult ADD has severely kicked itself into high gear!) One thing I have been contemplating is… when the baby is born, should we register him or her for their own email address? How fun would it be to say our kid actually had their email since birth!? I know, a little crazy, but just think about it! I’m sure there are geekier people out there than I am who have done this. Or am I just eccentric that way?

Another thing, nick names? If we are having a boy we have decided to call him Mauldin. Mauldin James Skates. So, this is the issue, my nick name for my wife is Mauldin, due to this being her maiden name. There are times when I only can get her to answer to this name, especially when we are out in public.

“Laura? Laura? LAURA?” I say in a determined voice. Still there is no response,

“Mauldin!”

“Yes?” says Laura, as if this is the first time she has heard me trying to get her attention, in Target.

This is my query, my quandary, my dilemma, my question…

If our child ends up being a boy, despite the poll to the right of you located on my blog, what if we called him “M.J?” I know, how Spider-man of us, but it wouldn’t be for “Mary Jane Watson,” but instead for “Mauldin James!” Kinda cool! If you ask me. My wife, Laura, and I had thought about this waaaaay back when we were first dicussing names, but it kind of got lost in the shuffle! So, I thought we’d re-open the floor to see if it would be a determent to our child’s well-being…

With that being said, all this will be null and void if in two weeks we find out we are having a girl. If this is so, this will be open for discussion at a later time, for the next child.

Still, in the meantime, let us know your thoughts and opinions! Thanks!

The Skates Family Baby Registries

Babies-R-Us

Registry #: 88281317

Amazon.com

USA Baby

Gift Registry ID#: 1591000219

What's that smell?

The past week my wife, Laura, and I have been putting up with our dog’s pungent stench. The disgusting odor is because we have not taken our Westie, Andy, to get groomed in the past few months due to two things, scheduling and budget cuts on the home front. Logan, our regal beagle, stinks just as much as Andy does, however, Andy, being white, causes his dirtyness to stick out like a smelly thumb. I have tried to mask their odor with febreeze pet spray, but to no avail, and under much protest to my wife for spraying the pups, I was stuck with finding another way to get this disgusting odor from our home. Not only does Andy stink, but he looks terrible too. We have weeds down the hill of our backyard and Andy insists on going through them and coming back into the house covered in sticky thorns that are close to impossible to get out of his fur, hair, what do dogs have? I don’t care he is nasty! Picture a cute white puppy with black thorns all stuck in his fur, face, butt, tail, legs, etc… So, last night, at about 6:30pm, Laura and I just started watching our recent Net-flix rental “X-men,” and were talkin' to Baby Skates my nose turned and I knew what it was...

(Please note: Picture was taken after said Bath)

"I'm mean really?" I said, "Could they stink anymore?"

I made the executive decision, we have to give them BOTH a bath.

“Well, you know I can’t,” said Laura with a you-know-what-that-means look.

Laura, being pregnant has caused her to not only be extremely tired, but her immunity is lowered and has contracted a virus. No, not like a horrible stomach bug, just a virus that makes her very congested and stick to her stomach. So, it was up to me and me alone to clean our dogs and free us from the pungent stench that has been plaguing our home for the past couple o’weeks.

“Andy! Lets go buddy, you know what is about to happen don’t you?” I said while leaning over the couch to find him snuggled up comfortably on the bed next to Logan. His face speckled with little briars that had fallen onto the hardwood floor to look like little dead black bugs… gross… I know.

“I will wash their bedding while you give them baths,” said Laura lovingly.

Oh how I would love to trade with her, but when I think about it, washing dogs and washing their bedding, makes me sneeze equal amounts.

“Okay,” I said while I trudged up with stairs with Andy in my arms stretched out so to make sure no stickers ended up on me.

After I had him washed, de-stickered and dried it was Logan’s turn. Logan wasn’t nearly as bad, but she is just a little big larger than Andy, so while bending over the tub and washing her with the personal shower my back started to feel a wrenching pain. A pain that would not end, “how am I gonna finish this,” I thought. “Man, I need to work out more, this is sad.”

The one thing about bathing dogs that I despise is when they decide to shake with water and soap all over them. You smell the wet dog smell and then it is sprayed all over your guest bathroom walls. Logan has officially made herself the queen of, wash me. She will stand and look at your like, “you missed a spot.”

Finally, after all the washing I covered her with a dry towel and held her next just to ensure she wouldn’t shake and spray her “so-called” clean body all over me and the newly cleaned bathroom. I got out Laura’s hair dryer and after about 10 minutes of puppy pampering we had two clean puppies with flea treatment included. Although, after they were cleaned, I had to go and take a shower myself, I think they transferred their stink to me! But, as you know, both Andy and Logan immediately returned outside where the stink originated. They love to roll around in the, sometimes, wet grass and weeds on our hill. (I have since called to have them cut by our yard guy, Jim.) Ugh… Well, atleast they don’t smell as bad as they did before!!! Makes you wonder what all the people on Survivor smell like?

Side note: Is it bad that we bathe the dogs in the same tub where the baby will take a bath????

Hmmmmmmm….

Quick update!

Our gender determination ultrasound is scheduled for November 6th!

'Bout 3 weeks to go to find out if Baby Skates is a boy or girl.

If November 6th doesn't yield results... we have another chance at 22 weeks on November 22nd when we go for our 4D Ultrasound!

Stay tuned...

Chicken & Dumplins

This past weekend was, of course, eventful…

We actually had to bow out of a couple events due to how event-FULL we were! (Notice the play on words…)

October has taken off and honestly not yielded us anytime to just stay home and sleep. Everyone seems to give us the whole “sleep now, while you can!” Warning. Like they are some cheesy, scary pseudo-villian from one of those Verizon commercials. “It’s a dead zone…” hahaha

However, we have not taken their advice because, oh we haven’t had time.

Moving on, this Sunday my wife, Laura, and I had some company over for dinner.

The Peacocks and the Mauldins.

Note: Laura’s sister and cousins all live in the same subdivision as we do, so we get together quite often!

Jenn & Paul, Laura’s older sister and brother-in-law came with their spunky daughter, Annagrace in tow. As well as, Tori & Jeremy, Laura’s cousins, who had their I’m- gonna-run-into-this-and-see-what-happens son, Grant, along as well. They all came over at 6 o’clock sharp for some of Laura’s oh-so-good Chicken & Dumplins. Annagrace is on the peak of age two and Grant just turned one. They both go to the same daycare and are so fun to watch.

“Hey” said Annagrace.

“Hey Annagrace, how are you?” I said while bending down to give her a hug.

“Dad-deeeeee!” she screamed while grasping onto Paul’s leg with quite a death grip.

“Do you wanna go see Logan and Andy?” I quickly interjected.

Annagrace loves our dogs and anything she was thinking about before will totally disappear out of her mind because her one and only goal is to see a puppy.

“Annnndeee” yells Annagrace.

“Okay, well we have to go out back to see them, they are outside.” I said.

“Outside” she says while running for the door.

Right then the doorbell rings and I know it has to be Jeremy, Tori and Grant.

“’xcuse me,” I said. “Paul, can you take her to see the dogs?”

“Sure.” said Paul while reaching down for Annagrace’s hand to lead her out the back door.

I ran over to open the door where I see Tori, Jeremy and little Grant, who seemed almost afraid to come inside.

“Ahhhh” yelled Grant, with an almost inaudible sound, while turning around to face Jeremy, with his arms stretched upwards.

“It’s okay son,” said Jeremy “walk on in.”

“Yah, Grant” I said “It will look more familiar when you get inside.”

Grant has come over to visit probably a total of four times, yet, he does have frequent visits to Jenn and Paul’s house, which, fate would have it, we have the almost exact floor plan as Laura’s older sister’s house, which is down the street.

“Hey! It’s so good to see you.” Said Tori while walking in and holding a basket of biscuits.

“Here I will take those.” I said quickly. “come in!”

“I hope those are okay” said Tori in a sort of a wisper, “they aren’t homemade!”

“That’s really okay,” I said with a smile of approval. “We appreciate you bringing them with you, even if you didn’t slave hours making them.”

Tori laughed and proceeded to walk into the kitchen where Jenn and Laura were working on finishing up dinner. I glanced to see Laura give Annagrace a quick kiss on the cheek. Jenn was holding her while pointing to a big watermelon they were planning on cutting for dinner. I stepped into the den where Jeremy and Paul were sitting mapping out the Halloween scare-fest that is to come in the next few weeks.

“I think we need atleast twenty tombstones” said Paul.

“Do you really think we need that many?” said Jeremy with a rasied eyebrow?

“Yes! We need to have a whole grave yard for the young’ins to walk through.”

“Well, you will be here, Eric will be here and I will be in the garage with a black light” Said Jeremy.

“Do you still have my fog machine?” I interjected.

“We have three fog machines” said Jeremy.

“What about my scary CD I made?” I said.

“Yep! Still got it.” confirmed Jeremy with a pen in hand.

Jeremy, Paul and I are forever bonded due to our love of all things Halloween. Halloween is a month we basically look forward to the entire year. Ever since the first year I dated Laura, in 2005, I have been going to Jeremy’s house on October 31^st for our Haunted Trick-or-Treat night. Jeremy dresses up as Michael Myers, I dress up as a Werewolf and Paul is a zombie Vampire. Each and every year it is a little different and it seems the kids always remember us… it has become a tradition! However, with kids coming into the mix I am not sure how much longer we will be able to continue our trio of fright!

“I think we have plenty of spiders,” continued Jeremy, “but I think I want to get them put on the house somehow!”

As I was sitting in the floor I saw Grant come barreling into the den where we all sat. Little Grant is all boy and seems he isn’t afraid of anything. We have a little bit of a raise in the floor in-between the kitchen and the den and his little foot did not quite make it over, he stumbled and almost fell, but like the little trooper he is, he barreled straight ahead toward his goal, the dogs.

“Aahhhiickkk! Goggg” scream Grant.

“Yah, this is Andy and Logan, Grant.” I said with a huge smile on my face trying not to bust out in laughter due to how cute he was.

“Grant, that’s a dog, say dog.” Said Jeremy.

“Gogg..”

“Good!” I yelled in approval!

“Close enough…” said Jeremy and then he went back to talking to Paul, who was focused on all the costumes in a magazine they had found that said “Halloween Express 2008!”

“Food is ready,” said Jenn.

I was so hungry so I got up and headed to the kitchen where I left the other guys behind. I felt like I had abandoned by brotherhood, but I was starving. Laura and I had been up since 9am and cleaning almost all day. I think all I had to eat that day was a marble loaf from Starbucks. I was getting me some Chicken & Dumplins. Not to mention, Laura had made her sweet potato casserole.

“Annagrace, go tell daddy, it’s time to eat!” I said. “I am sure it will come out something totally different.” I went on under my breathe to Laura, Tori and Jenn.

As she trotted into the den we listened closely to hear the jarble of words that was to come out of her mouth.

“Time for food, daddy.” said Annagrace.

We were stunned! She did it! And in such a cute tone that made even the most hard-core Halloween enthusiast retire from planning to have dinner.

All in all it was a fun night and we also got yet another chance to see what it will be like when a little one is running around the house. One thing I do remember Jeremy saying to me as he walked in the house.

“Well, one thing is for sure, your house certainly won’t look this good with one of these running around!”

Life Moves Pretty Fast...

“Life moves pretty fast, if you don’t stop and look around once and a while, you could miss it!” –Ferris Buller

It has been a couple of weeks since we moved all of the furniture out of one of our spare bedrooms, which is now our nursery. The nursery has been empty, for about three weeks, all except for some baby clothes in the closet, a vintage, antique dresser that was my great aunt Lillian’s and about 40 pieces of white computer paper taped together to show where the baby furniture is to be placed. However, this week we have gotten the baby furniture delivered, thanks to the coolest father-in-law a guy could have. Bill, Laura’s dad, picked up our baby furniture and drove it all the way to Canton. We are now proud owners of one convertible baby bed and dressing station. Not to mention, all the new baby accessories we have acquired throughout the last few months. All of Laura’s new wardrobe… and my wonderful mother, who has bought us our high chair! It seems we have all this new stuff and we haven’t even had one shower, yet!

It is amazing, we don’t even have photos from our wedding yet, but we have all this baby stuff!

Our next goal is to gain some storage in our home… one thing is for sure… if we don’t I may go a little crazy!

The other day Laura and I were riding in the car discussing what we were gonna do on our upcoming trip to Disney World.

“We need to make sure we put the deposit down on the ‘citi-mini’ at USA Baby.” I said

The citi-mini is a travel stroller we saw in a store and would love to have it for our upcoming trip to Disney.

“We will, but we have some time…” replied Laura.

“Hey- what would you have said if someone had pulled us aside and told us the next time we would be at Disney we would be parents?” I said in a hushed tone as if it were a secret.

“I would of not been surprised” replied Laura in such a matter-of-fact tone. “It was our plan, wasn’t it?”

“Yes” I said, “but our last trip was this past December! I mean we weren’t even married yet!!! Sometimes I just look around and think, wow, I’m gonna be a dad! It just makes you realize how fast life changes…” I said.

“Yep, but I think it’s for the better, don’t you?” said Laura and she reached over and kissed my cheek. “You are gonna be a wonderful father.”

If you are lost… let me tell you a little bit about what I am talking about! Laura’s family and my family are all going to Disney World this September. You can read more about this at: You know when you’re a fan…

Laura and I have been wanting a ‘citi-mini’ stroller ever since we saw it in the store.

“I love how it just compacts like that,” said Laura very enthusiastically. “It’s perfect, it won’t be that heavy for you, I mean us to carry on the buses.”

Notice how she said, you first? Freudian-slip if I ever heard one.

“Yes, it is nice…” I said in agreement. “I like the red… easier to pick out in a crowd.”

“Definitely!” said Laura.

It is perfect for traveling and it would be almost impossible to take our “travel system” with us on the trip, no-less, the plane! Although, I am sure parents do it every day. However, Laura and I want as little as stress as possible… considering we will be traveling with an infant. And, in my old age… I have begun to hate flying. (Not so much flying, as lift-off!)

Funny how your priorities change, isn’t it? About a year ago we were discussing wedding plans… and I was working on paying for our honeymoon and now the baby. It seems like no matter who you are you are always in a constant flux of change. Okay, sorry, didn’t mean to get so Confucius on you all.

I guess the days of being jet setters are behind us… although, one day, when we are retired… oh, no, nevermind! HAHAHA!

Stress... stress go away...

A Melancholy Pup...

The last few weekends, my wife, Laura and I have been super busy… and our weekends do not seem to be letting up anytime soon. Every weekend we seem to have plans. It looks as if we may have to schedule time to stay home! It would be nice to be able to spend one entire weekend at home resting, but, obviously, we are kind of a big deal! If we aren’t out-of-town we are helping with a garage sale, or at a birthday party, or a high school reunion or a wedding, etc… Will it never end??? Will Laura and I ever get to spend some time at home??? Our dogs seem to be noticing we are not at home as much. Our usually ever-so excited beagle, Logan, has been moping around the house in a “ho-hum” kind of way, as if she knows what is coming. I can just hear what she is thinking… “You are gonna bring something home, I can just tell! Last time you acted this way you brought home Andy…” But, of course, our feisty Westie, doesn’t seem to notice anything. He struts around like nothing is wrong… We are not sure if Logan is sick or just sad!

It all began this past weekend...it was the annual fall garage sale for our subdivision and, certainly, you do not think my sister and mom would miss that opportunity, do you? They are garage sale experts! They have garage-saling down to a fine art. Well, as Laura and I were heading out of town, to go to our nephew Drew’s 4^th birthday in South Carolina, we drove past some houses that had a lot of colorful articles outside in their driveway.

“Wow, look at all that stuff!” I said to Laura while stopped at a stop sign on Woodbridge Lane. “Look at all that baby stuff!”

“It looks brand new…What are you doing?” said Laura while she watched me pull out my phone to make a call. “Who are you..”

“Hey, mom!” I said “where are y’all?” Mandy and mom were driving down from Dalton that morning.

I went on to talk to mom about all the baby stuff at a house just down the street from ours on Woodbridge Lane, right past the home with the Prudential sign in the yard. I wanted to make sure they stopped by to look at it because if it was in good condition it would be wonderful for us to have for Baby Skates.

“What is it?” said my sister, Mandy, who I could hear in the back ground. “What does it look like?”

“I don’t know,” I said “It’s one of those baby things where the kid sits in the middle, and it’s round, and has all kinds of things to keep it occupied.”

“Oh okay,” said mom “We will look at it and let you know…”

“Alright! Thanks!” I said quickly, “I better go, gotta pay attention to the road, thanks mom!”

Fast forward, nine hours, Laura and I arrive home from Drew’s karate themed birthday party in South Carolina. (I will tell that story at another time.)

We walk inside and my mom and sister went a little overboard... the first thing we see is an adorable little wooden zebra with wheels that Baby Skates will love to ride one day... and a little Mickey & Minnie throw blanket. And, there it was... the colorful, round toy that I saw on the side of the road on Woodbridge Lane. But, there was something different about it... it was all taken a part! Apparently, it is a multi-use toy and can be used in many different stages.

After changing, checking email, and eating dinner Laura decides it is time to disinfect and put this thing together! I just smile and say "okay!" Knowing all good and well she would be doing this and I would be supervising from a distance.

As Laura pulls out the Clorox wipes from beneath the kitchen cabinet the dogs get all excited when the different colors parts of plastic are being brought down stairs. They have no idea what these things are and why are they in our house? I think they thought they were toys for them, but were not sure how to proceed.

This is when Logan begins her mop. She proceeds to walk over to Laura and look at her with a fond look of sadness. As she was saying

"Is this what is has come to? Are you going to give us up? I have been speaking to other dogs around the neighborhood and they say all the signs your body is going through is the sign of a baby... and well... I've seen Lady and the Tramp!"

Laura pats her leg and Logan plops herself right in her lap. Andy, very taken a-back from this, because he is "momma's little lap dog." I call him over to me and he sits in my lap while Laura cleans the blue, orange and green plastic pieces.

The bottom piece is round and bright green... Andy decides to investigate this and also feels this would be a nice place to sit!

Finally, Laura finishes cleaning and now it is time to piece everything together... after a forced snap here and there it's done!

We go ahead and start touching the buttons and making them do all their "sounds" because we need to go ahead and get the dogs used to these alien tones! The dogs sit on the kitchen floor looking perplexed and confused. I go ahead and pick up Logan's front paws to show her it's okay to touch, smell or even lick... although Laura has already disinfected everything! Andy follows in suit and they do a thorough investigation even CSI would be proud of.
We went ahead and put the toy, one day I will find out the technical term for this piece of baby equipment, in the den where it could sit so the pups could get used to this foregin object in our humble surroundings. Now all we need is a CD with a baby crying... I can't wait to see the look on their faces when that happens!

Blogger's Block

I’m sorry that it has taken me so long to write another blog, but honestly there is not much to report!

Although, when my loyal blog fans, all two of you out there, asked me to write another entry who am I to deny you???

It is true though, not much has been happening lately, so I guess I kinda fell into, what I call, blogger’s block… I don’t know if that is a real term or not, but maybe I just made it up?

This past weekend, Labor Day weekend 2008, was a fun time, Laura and I went to Panama City Beach, FL with my family to have a short, but very well-deserved vacay. Went got some sun, ate some overpriced seafood and enjoyed spending quality time with my sister, Mandy, mom and dad, nephew, Everett, brother-in-law, Kelly, and my mom’s friend and my sister’s nanny, Sherrie!

It was a lot of fun and Laura and I had not been on a road trip together probably since our trip to Gatlinburg with her parents. We saw quite a lot of Mormons on that trip, but alas, no Mormons in PCB, although they could have been there, but just out spreading their gospel.

We took off on Friday, August 29^th, after work, even though hurricane Gustav was lurking and looming in the Gulf of Mexico. But, thankfully the weather was fair and we didn’t get any ill remnants of Gustav. And, could someone please give Soledad O’Brien a call and tell her how to pronounce “Gustav.” We listened to satellite radio on the way home and she mispronounced the hurricane the whole way.

We had to get back because both Laura and I had to be at work on Tuesday. We got up on Monday and by 10am, est. we were on our way back to Canton.

Thanks to Jenn and Paul, mine and Laura's sister and brother-in-law, for watching the kids for us! (Logan and Andy stayed behind, of course, and were ever-so excited to see us when we got back.)

In other news, our 12-week check up for the baby is coming into view next week! Tuesday, September 9^th, we will go and make sure everything is “right as rain” with Baby Skates. I will surely have a more interesting blog entry that day, I promise.

Hope you all are having a great week…

Sooner or later? I choose sooner!

The weekend is upon us and I, for one, am really excited because I am ready for the weekend to be here… I bet if there was a poll of everyone’s favorite day, Friday and Saturday would win by a landslide… Monday’s wouldn’t stand a chance! Kind of like what’s your favorite, oatmeal cookie or chocolate chip?! No brainer…

I am in a really good mood today…Why am I in such a good mood you wonder? One of the biggest reasons is because I got to thinking to myself! I thought “self, how in the world are we going to wait until December to find out what sex the baby will be?” Then I thought some more, as I tend to over-think a lot of things… and I wondered “how did we come up with the date of December anyway?” I am sure whenever Laura reads this she will look at me and say “I don’t know!” Anyway, I read on babycenter.com that you can actually find out the sex of your unborn child as early as 15 weeks! Yep, 15 weeks… but most likely it will be 18-20 weeks when we will find out.

The article on the website said:

"Finally, if you have an ultrasound this week, you may be able to find out whether your baby's a boy or a girl! (Don't be too disappointed if it remains a mystery, though. Nailing down your baby's sex depends on the clarity of the picture and on your baby's position. He or she may be modestly curled up or turned in such a way as to "hide the goods.")"

Yes, there is a possibility it may be hidden, but I would like the chance to see!!! Wouldn't you?! Why in the world are we waiting so long to find out…? I am sure a lot of you are parents out there, and thus have had a child before! Why didn’t you mention to me “you don’t have to wait that long?” Mean people. Mean, mean, mean. Bottom line, October will be one fun and exciting month!

So, to update you on what’s upcoming…

Well, next week, August 13^th @ 2pm, Laura and I have our second doctor’s visit when we will get the first picture of “Baby Skates!” Then not much to do, but wait…we will have to wait until the middle of October when we will finally find out is “Baby Skates” a girl or a boy?

Excitement abounds… stay tuned!

Dr. Scott!

No, I am not talking about Dr. Scott from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," but about the doctor we saw today at the Kennestone Hospital today in Marietta.

Yes, in the last post I had mentioned that our first doctor's appointment is not until August 13th, but when do things ever go as planned? Well, honestly, I didn't lie because we still have our appointment on August 13th, but now we are assured to have an ultrasound!! Cool huh?

Now you ask, "What were you guys doing at the doctor?" Well, that is kind of complicated, but lets just say it all started with Laura having a dream about flying in a spaceship and her tummy hurting... (NOTE: We watched "Revenge of the Sith" before we went to bed...) well, how does that lead to going to the doctor??? Maternal worries... :) No, seriously, she started having cramps, for real, during the early morning and so we felt the only way to procure our sanity was to call and try to make an appointment with the doctor just to make sure the baby was alright!

Yes, we worry, so shoot us!

Anyway, stay tuned for pictures of, as Mandy now so sweetly calls it, "Baby Skates!"