A New Do!

So my first motherly challenge - Ellie - got a hair cut yesterday! It has been a long while since the poor girl has gotten a good shaving. Last time they left her with fuzzy, long haired paws and a feather duster tail . . . She looked like a little black and tan skunk!!! So this time I took her in and talked to the groomer personally (last time I just talked over the phone, and Gus dropped her off). It went very well. I can see her little paws now!!! She can wag her tail freely without all of the feather tail resistance!!! And I know she's a lot cooler in the heat without all that extra hair!!! She's back to her old self . . . even doing nascar around the coffee table when I come home from a short outing!

Here she is . . . Princess Ellie . . . on the red carpet of course . . . I LOVE IT!!!

The Baby Factory!!!

Ok - so the last time I blogged was about wonderful little Tori and Winston. Well, Winston is getting bigger everyday. Tori is still small. And Momma . . . what to say about Momma . . . I see a lot of action going in and out of that nest! I thought she flew away the other day when I went outside, but it was actually a "friend" sneaking away before they got caught. Momma's one busy lady!!! One day we think we're going to be able to re-pot our pretty plant (in the pretty pot we already purchased for it), and the next thing I know, THERE'S ANOTHER EGG IN THE NEST!!!

I get over it quickly, it's just one more egg - right?! NO!!! I go out to water the plant today, and Momma doesn't move. She sits right there and lets me poor the water at the base of the plant without moving an inch. All of a sudden, she changes her mind, flaps her wings rather loudly, and proceeds to fly away. Needless to say, she scared me half to death, I flung water everywhere, and had to catch my breath. I'm sure it would have been hilarious to an on-looker, but it really made me jump. As my heart slowed to a normal pace, I realized, THERE'S ANOTHER EGG!!!

Momma has turned into a baby factory! We might not get to re-pot our plant anytime this year at the rate she's going! And to top it all off, on my walk yesterday, I saw 2 doves that didn't make it. Both looked like victims of drive-bys. It made me think of our little doves in the nest. I hope they hatch, grow, and stick around the yard where it's safe from drive-bys . . . just as long as they reproduce in someone else's plant next year!!!

Our New Doves

Well, I guess it was Thursday . . . I was letting the dogs out in the morning, and I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. One of our little bird eggs had a cracked open. At first, it scared me. I thought that maybe the baby was dead, but then I saw him moving! Breathing! God has made some amazing creatures! And still amazing, we got to see this one from the 1st stages!

Gus jokingly called him an egg head - as you can see in the picture, he wasn't all the way out yet. But then he finished emerging and layed by his unhatched sister to rest and wait for her arrival.
Winston - we decided. Our first little dove is Winston!

And this morning, two days later, his sister joined us. She was already all the way out of her egg by the time we saw her - snuggled up close to her brother! It was such a cool morning to get to see them that way.

Our 2 little doves! Tori & Winston! Welcome to the Staats House and Family!

The Combo Move

Wow - I learn so much more about my body everyday now that I'm pregnant. I get tired much more easily than normal, and I'm much more aware of everything going on in my abdominal area too! All of these feelings are still very much exciting to me. The best is getting to feel my little guy move around. He is definitely a mover! There are times that he is just a huge wiggle worm - won't stop moving - IT'S AMAZING! My favorite part is letting Daddy Gus feel my belly. He gets SO excited to feel his son move, and then names his movements according to how strong the feeling of the movement is.
I woke up the other morning, and Little Gus was moving A LOT. I immediately woke up his daddy and made him feel my tummy. That morning our son "did a combo move." According to Daddy, he gave me a HEAD BUTT, an ELBOW, and an ATOMIC KNEE to the abdomen!!!
And . . . It absolutely made my day!

2 Mommas at 1 House

Our friends bought us a beautiful plant. It likes the sun. It looks great as a hanging plant. So, we hung it on the hook on the back patio, and it was doing wonderfully. One day I found a nest being built though - I was really worried the bird would stay there and kill the plant. I decided to remove the half made nest and try to let the plant live. I was doing really good with this plant and didn't want it to die! Well, a week goes by, and I hadn't seen any bird activity. I thought we were doing ok. Next thing I know, Gus comes in and tells me the nest is back . . . with two baby eggs!!! I felt awful! I had almost ruined the new babies' home. I didn't realize it was another momma hanging around!!!

Needless to say, we left the nest alone at that point. We took the plant off the hanger, put it in a large bowl, and have been watering it from the bottom instead of the top. I think the plant is doing even better than before now! And Momma is doing really well too - we decided to just keep it simple and call her exactly what she is - Momma. She is a very smart, gorgeous dove. She will fly away when she hears the door opening, stay close by to keep an eye out, and she is right back to those babies as soon as the door closes.

I am very hopeful and excited to get to see the new babies when they are born!

Georgia on My Mind

Our trip to Georgia was wonderful. We spent a week there with family and friends. Not a lot on the agenda - which was great - relaxing even. We had 3 "big adventures."
#1: Gus tackles going through numerous boxes of old toys, memorabilia, etc. Wow - was there a lot! It was fun to get to see all of the toys he played with, all of the activities he was involved in, and all of the accomplishments he had made during his youth. We brought back one suitcase full and have two boxes to be shipped - and that's with A LOT of narrowing down!
#2: Dad and Kathy took us to Babies R Us!!! I never realized what a dilema I would be in when it came to baby bedding. I knew what I wanted in my mind - plaid with cream and tan and red and green and brown:

and it wasn't what I had registered for . . . and they wanted to buy our bedding for us . . . who would have thought that we'd find the perfect bedding set walking through the store that day! Gus and I both fell in love with it instantly, and all of the colors from my mind seemed to have spilled right into the decor on the quilt (in fact, the picture above is the backing of the quilt). We were more than spoiled on our Babies R Us excursion - and it made me feel like a princess then made me think about the saying "mommy's little prince." Gus thinks it's a wierd saying since he's used to hearing "daddy's little princess" so much more often, but there is no arguing - little Quadzilla is definitely going to be Our Little Prince - sleeping in his Tree Top decorated crib!

#3: We took a little trip to the Atlanta Zoo. It really wore me out more than I thought it would, but it was fun! The weather was overcast for the few hours we were there - perfect - and then sun beat down as we were leaving. It worked out wonderfully!!!
My favorites were the gorillas and the orangutans.


Then there were of course the Meer Cats (I think that's spelled correctly). Two in particular were odd looking - pictured below - but they did stand and stare just as expected!!!

And let's not forget the ELEPHANTS!!! They smelled pretty bad, but they are still amazing creatures!


Of course, we also got to see Amy (Gus' sister) since she just moved back to Atlanta, and all of Gus' closest buddies. It went by very quickly . . . but it's always nice to get to come back home too! Nothing beats the comfort of your own bed after a week away!!! So here we are - Georgia on our minds, but Texas in our hearts!

The Finished Product!

Yeah! We finished the floors. We made sure to be done before our trip to GA, and thank goodness we did. It is such a great feeling to have all the sawdust out of the house, flat floors to walk on, and it really opens up the living room even more!!! It definitely had it's challenging moments, but it was SO worth it.