Strange

It's 103 degrees outside. Where do you think my dog is?

That's right, laying in full sunlight in the middle of the backyard. Strange!

Catch-up

So once again, I have been delinquent in posting to the blog. I'll try and catch you up on the recent events in the Howard household.
First things first, we had a week of vacation at the end of May where we went to Sioux Falls. Tom got in a lot of golfing, I got in a lot of family time, and Henry...well he pretty much spent the whole week doing this-

He was our VERY diligent watch dog. You never know when a robin or squirrel might try and attack the front yard.
Most importantly, we had our Reveal Party for Baby Howard. An amazing number of our friends and family came to Tom's parents house to witness the cake cutting. We had wonderful food, great conversation, and of course, cake.

Two of the three great-grandma's to-be were there to cut the cake.

And, we're having a...

BOY!

Everyone enjoyed the cake, especially the proud papa-to-be.

We had an absolutely wonderful vacation! Thank you everyone for helping us celebrate our growing family!

27 weeks

Baby Howard

It's been a very exciting week at the Howard house. First, (and most importantly) it was Henry's 3rd birthday and second, we had our ultrasound on Monday. Both Tom and I were very excited, but also slightly nervous. What if something was wrong with the baby? We ran through any number of scenarios in our heads and I think we both said more than one prayer. But in the end the ultrasound was better than I could have imagined. As my somewhat nerdy husband said "there's a brain in the head, intestines in the belly, a four chamber heart, a 3 vessel umbilical cord, and two arms and two legs." I couldn't have put it any better myself!

So without any further ado, say hello to Baby Howard:

And now from the outside:

You'll notice that I left out all gender revealing photos. One of the future grandmas has requested a gender reveal party complete with pink or blue cake. So you'll have to wait until May 21 to find out if it's going to be a Charlotte or Will, Julia or Ben, Norah or Graham.

It has been absolutely wonderful seeing photos of our little one. I think the ultrasound has made it so much more real for both Tom and I. The minute we left the doctor's office, Tom ran to Barnes and Noble and bought several parenting books and I started researching the safest car seats. (Which I could use some advice on from current parents) We are both so happy!!!

Mail!

I LOVE getting mail! Especially when the outside of the package looks like this- And the inside looks like this-

Maternity Pants

I caved today. I wore maternity clothing for the first time. And while they were more comfortable that my regular pants, they felt slightly like old lady underwear. Very high-waisted! Anyway, I took this as a sign that maybe I should start taking belly photos. So here you go...

16 weeks

Snowmagedon

So in case you haven't heard, it snowed today. A lot. Not much by northern standards, but for Oklahoma it's a lot. 12 inches of snow combined with 45 mile an hour winds makes for an interesting day. I haven't left the house all day and am very thankful for that. Tom got stuck twice on his way back home. Even after digging his car out, he still shoveled out the whole driveway.

(Notice the very stylish hat? Thanks Mom!)

Despite the cold weather, Henry has managed to keep warm. Every 30 minutes or so, he'll jump up on the hearth and warm his little tushy and then crawl back into his bed.

House Guest

Tom and I have a house guest this weekend.

Say "Hi" to Stanley. Or more accurately, Flat Stanley.

He was sent to us by my cousin Andrew's second grade class. Stanley was squished flat as a pancake when a bulletin board fell on him. Don't worry, he's ok, just very very flat! It didn't take Stanley long to discover that one of the benefits of being flat was that he could travel anywhere via an envelope. And that is exactly how Stanley got to Oklahoma!

So what do we have planned for Flat Stanley during his visit? Well first up is an Oklahoma City Thunder game.

Now the good thing about Flat Stanley is that he can travel to the game in my purse and doesn't require a ticket. He's a very cheap guest! We had a great time at the game. Thunder trailed for almost the entire game, but came within 1 point with 6.5 seconds left to go in the game. But never fear, Kevin Durant came through and hit a 3-pointer with less than one second left on the clock to win the game.

Tomorrow, Flat Stanley and I will stop by the Oklahoma City Memorial for a photo op.

Have a great week!