Dennis inspects Alex's gifts.

He says they are okay.

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.

Alabama shower

Today was my shower in Alabama. My wonderful friends/co-workers threw this one.

Here is the yummy cake. It was chocolate....too good.

Here is everyone hanging out and watching me open presents.

Here I'm complete with a silly tiara they made me wear that says Mom to be and a flashing button.

Look Dan, we finally got some underwear for Alex.

Here I am with the girls. They all helped throw the shower. The only ones missing are Dee and Elizabeth. This was a different kind of shower. Since I'm not pregnant, we skipped the games and had hard liquor, wine and beer instead. Needless to say, this was a long shower, lasting over 4 hours. Of course, Alex got lots of nice things, too many to picture here.

So we are down to less than 2 weeks until we leave for China. I still have tons to do. Monday, I'm having the carpets steam cleaned. I still need to wash clothes for Alex and decide what to take. I have tons of shopping for the trip left as well. I may not post much before the trip, but rest assured I will keep you up to date.

Mississippi Shower

Well, I finally up loaded some pictures from the shower. I know it took almost a week, but I've been lazy. Tomorrow is my Alabama shower so I figured I needed to get this post done.

This is the adorable home made cake at the shower. Margie and Tammy baked and decorated this cake.

This is my mother in law, mother, sister, aunt, cousin and childhood bff.

This is, of course, Ms. Lilli, Margie's daughter. Isn't she adorable.

Alex's first Mississippi State University shirt. I can't wait for September so she can wear it.

One of my favorite outfits. Alex got a ton of clothes, toys and books. I have great friends and family. I promise I will have new pictures from tomorrow's shower in less than a week.

We're home from Mississippi

We got home this afternoon from Mississippi. This Saturday was our first baby shower. I can't tell you how much fun it was to be on this side of the shower. I've thrown more bridal and baby showers than I can count in the past, but with the exception of my bridal shower 15+ years ago, I've never had another. Thanks so much Margie, Tammy, and Rhonda for everything. I will post pictures when I catch my breath. In the meantime, head over to Margie's blog for a few pictures.

Have a nice weekend.

We headed to Mississippi this weekend. My wonderful friend Margie is hosting a baby shower for us with the help of my mother and sisters. There will be alot of people there that I haven't seen in YEARS (Jill). I can't wait to see everyone...oh and get presents for Alex...ha..ha. I'll be back on Sunday with lots of pictures and stories.

We're Going to China..........

We got our consulate appointment today. It is on July the 22nd. We will leave for China on July 10th and arrive on the 11th. We will tour Beijing on the 12th, fly out to Chengdu on the 13th and get Alex on the 14th!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dan will head to Korea on the 24th of this month and meet us in Beijing on the 11th. We will head for home on July 24th. I can't believe this is finally happening. I am so happy I can't stand it. We don't have all our in country arrangements yet, but that should be soon. I'll keep you posted.

did someone stop time????

This is Dan of the dynamic duo known as DnD....
Did someone stop time????
Still no passports returned with visas????
Still no consulate appointment?????
Still no finalization on some other things.......
And I gotta leave in a week.....

I'm lightin the fuse on the turtle.......

The Crib is ready!!

Today we decided to pick up the crib mattress. While we were shopping at the place with "the smiley face" Dan saw this crib set and we HAD to get it. How cute is this?



We are still registered at another place for a different crib set, because it never hurts to have an extra set. Now all we need is Alex..where is that Consulate appointment already!!!!!!

Ask and you shall receive...

We got our TA today...just what we needed. No word just yet on our Consulate appointment. As soon as we get confirmation of our appointment date, we can start scheduling our flights. Things are moving fast now. I hope by this time next month we will be in China and maybe even have Alex in our arms. Stay tuned for the latest updates.

Compassion Fatigue

Some of you may not have heard this term. This is when your Give a Sh*t up and leaves. In my line of work this is a serious problem. I usually have bouts with this once a year or so. Today it hit me hard for a number of reasons...
1. My dog died on Friday.
2. I work hard and I genuinely care for my patients, the owners on the other hand, I can usually do without. Some owners are wonderful and appreciate what I do. Some, on the other hand never acknowledge when all of us go above and beyond to help them and their animal. They constantly forget that we have other patients to care for and that there are times we can not drop everything just to talk to them. I don't know about you, but I feel lucky if I get to talk to any of my doctors for more than 10 minutes in any given appointment. When I have literally poured my self into saving an animal's life, only to have the owner throw it back in my face because it either cost to much, or I didn't talk to them personally every single time they stopped in or called, I feel my GAS tank running on empty.
Sorry about the venting post, but I had to get the bile out. Hopefully I can refuel my tank soon. A TA would go a long way towards filling me up, but just a cute puppy wagging it's tail will usually keep me off empty.

The incident

This weekend there was an incident in the house. To our shock and horror, Snoopy was found floating face down in the toilet. At first, we thought maybe he jumped...


But then, as is always the case, the real criminal returned to the scene of the crime.


With the camera rolling, this brazen sociopath, pushed the body back in...


Thankfully he was caught and put behind bars. Now other small stuffed animals can rest easy knowing this heinous criminal is off the streets.



Unfortunately, it was too late for Snoopy.

Today we had to say goodbye to our Bogie.
He gave us 15 years of his life and devotion and we are better people for him having let us be his.
He has gone to be with his Sammy girl who left us 2 years ago.
They are once again mates for life.
Gonna miss ya boy

Got the crib set up and another new outfit.

While I was at work today, my wonderful husband set the crib up. For now, it is in our bedroom. Once Alex gets settled in, we plan on moving it to her room upstairs. We haven't bought a mattress yet, any suggestions?


When I went to the Buck Creek Festival last month, I saw this adorable outfit on display at one of the tents. They clothes are custom made by http://ladydoos.com/

Yes, those are ladybugs on the top.


The pants are little black carpi pants.
We also have all the paperwork together for our Visa applications and plan on mailing them out tomorrow.

More Shopping

Today Dan and I went to "look" at the crib we want for Alex. We decided to buy a convertible crib since we are not sure what she is sleeping in right now. Looking turned to buying. This crib can convert to a toddler bed, then a day bed and finally a double bed. Tomorrow Dan plans to put the crib up in our room.

While we were there, we just had to check out the clothes and we found this cute little tank top and short set.



And finally, Dan had to get this t-shirt for her. He laughs out loud every time he sees it.


No word as of today from China, but we are working on our Visa applications this week and plan to send them out by Wednesday or Thursday at the latest.