Waiting for Christmas

I can't believe it's three days until Christmas! I know it's really four, but we Moores have always celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve. I think we just get too excited to wait any longer. This probably explains my lack of patience with all things pregnancy. I was dying to find out the sex of the baby, dying to see what she looked like, and now I'm just dying to meet her, though I'm taking the advice of my friends who are parents and enjoying these times when I can sleep all through the night, go out to dinner, etc. I know that Fox and I won't have all this alone time ever again, so we're trying to enjoy it through all the anticipation and excitement.

My fantastic friends at work threw a surprise shower for me. One of my bosses told me that we had a meeting with a big client the next day. I updated our docket for the client, wore something nice, and headed to the conference room with my boss. Next thing I know, a room full of coworkers and streamers was greeting me. They totally got me -- I had no idea. We had the cutest cake and petits fours, and everyone was so generous with their gifts. And they invited Fox! It's always such a treat to get to see him during the workday.

We like to joke that I should have hyphenated my last name and opened a law firm called Fox & Moore-Fox

My crafty friend Dawn crocheted this lovely afghan for Baby Fox, and my thoughtful friend Natasha had a onesie made for Baby Fox to support her dad's rockin' band.

The nursery is almost finished. Fox put the last coat of paint on the dresser last night, and hopefully tonight we'll move it in and put the finishing touches on the nursery. I hope to share some photos with you next week. Fox put the birth mix together into a playlist, and I've started packing the hospital bag. We are getting so close -- 25 days until the due date!

We're superbusy getting ready for Christmas here. Since I can't travel, everyone is coming to me, which is a little overwhelming. I did cave in and get our first cleaning person ever to come clean the house. She spent several hours here today, and it was really nice to come home to a clean house. Of course, I spent several hours last night getting everything ready for her to come, and several hours today worrying that the cats were not happy with a stranger in the house. She was really nice though and did a great job. She may be coming back once Baby Fox makes her grand entrance.

Speaking of Baby Fox's grand entrance, lately it feels like she is about to burst into the world Alien-style. She is moving around a lot and feels really strong. We go to the doctor tomorrow (we go every week now) and they are going to try to estimate her weight. Check in with us next week to get the details. Baby Fox will be as long as a stalk of Swiss chard. Yum!

I almost forgot... I promised photos of the silver dress from 1997.

The prodigal blogger returns!

Well, well, well.... look who's the delinquent blogger, again! Perhaps if I pick up where I left off, you could forgive me my tardiness? Now, where were we? Right, I had just turned 31 (and apparently am now too old and forgetful to keep up with my blog). The following Wednesday, Fox's band, Bellwether Station (http://www.bellwetherstationatl.com/), played the "Best of" night at Smith's Olde Bar, having been invited to do so based on previous successful performances at said bar. It was a great show with a great crowd, and their last for a while, as they continue to record their album in our basement. Here are some action shots:

The next weekend, we went to an amazing party at our friends', the Feases, house. There was delicious food, lots of beverages, and great friends... and, it turned out to not just be a regular party. It was a shower for Baby Fox!! The hostesses even had it specially vegetarian catered and decorated with baby photos of Fox and me. It overwhelms me sometimes when I think about the incredible people we've been blessed with in our lives.

We ate well, watched UT beat Vanderbilt (which is always bittersweet for us, being alumni of both schools), opened presents, and decorated onesies. Jenny knitted us the tiniest baby mittens. Baby Fox got lots of very thoughtful and exciting presents. And yes, that is a photo of my husband as a naked Indian on the banner below. Why? Why not.

And did I mention we ate well? Yes? Okay, good. I do not want that left out of the story.

After all the excitement of the party/shower, we had a short, but rigorous, work week and headed to Tennessee for Thanksgiving Tuesday night after work. We were excited about the trip, because it was the last one I was allowed to take until the arrival of Baby Fox. I am now allowed to go no farther than about 100 miles away from Atlanta, which doesn't really take you anywhere worth going. So we packed up Banjo and hit the road to the state of our births. Owen and Kerouac stayed behind to keep an eye on the homefront.

I realize that our blog is mistitled, and we should be The Foxes Six. However, since Kerouac, Owen, and Banjo do not have internet access, hopefully they will never be the wiser that they are left out of the title, though they make frequent guest appearances. I got on this tangent because I was thinking how interesting it is that we were all born in Tennessee, including Owen and Kerouac. Banjo is our only native Georgian, but he will soon be accompanied by Baby Fox in this distinguished group.

We visited with my parents and brother all day Wednesday, then on Thursday, my grandmother, aunt, and uncle came down for mom's smorgasbord of Thanksgiving deliciousness. It was so nice to see everyone. And of course, we ate really well.

My grandmother had not gotten to see me pregnant yet, so it was fun to visit with her. My brother hadn't seen me since I was a mere eight weeks pregnant. I'm not sure why I'm giving him my "bemused" face. Mom and dad were really good about documenting everything with pictures. I'm hoping if I chock this post full of photos, I can distract you, dear reader, from the infrequency of my blogging. It's my very own "shock and awe" technique.

Mom's good friend Susan knit Baby Fox this beautiful sweater with little bear buttons. And yes, that is a photo of my husband naked on red velour in the background.

After our huge Thanksgiving lunch feast, we packed up the Prius and headed to West Tennessee to visit with Fox's family. We got our traditional Sun-Drop for the road, and I was pleased to learn that mom had secured caffeine-free Sun-Drop for me. If you are unfamiliar with Sun-Drop, you really need to visit a gas station in Middle Tennessee and treat yourself to our glorious regional beverage.

We had a great Thanksgiving dinner with Fox's family, then settled into a food coma. We usually go to the movies after Thanksgiving dinner, but it was cold and rainy, and we had gotten a late start on dinner. So instead, we started watching Boardwalk Empire from the first episode. It is quite a show and makes me wish we had HBO. Fox's mom and sister always hit the stores for Black Friday, so they turned in for the night while we stayed up to see what would happen next with Nucky. We watched lots of episodes, but we'll have to wait until the DVD comes out to finish. On Saturday, we headed back to ATL.

On the Baby Fox front, we are so close that it's scary. Luckily, our breastfeeding class was last Saturday, and our childbirth class was yesterday. I felt like as long as she stayed put until I could attend those classes and learn some things, we'd be okay. I did learn a lot, and so did Fox. I was also pleasantly surprised to find out that I had learned lots of things already through my research of all things baby (I am a nerdy lawyer, you know I'm going to do tons of research on my own). Especially after yesterday's childbirth class, I really feel like I can do this. Which is good, for obvious reasons.

Baby Fox weighs a little over five pounds, as much as a honeydew melon. Now that it's cold in Atlanta (it is snowing as I type), my wardrobe has had to evolve a bit. In an ironic twist, the only coat I have that fits over Baby Fox is the furry leopard coat I got for my 16th birthday, lovingly referred to in high school by some as the "pimp coat." Strangely, a lot of my old things from high school fit over the baby because it was the 90's, and I was all about "grunge." Friday we went to the Midtown Atlanta Rotary Christmas Party (Fox is in Rotary now. Yes, that's how we roll.), which was black tie. Fox looked dashing in his tux, but I was concerned about what I could possibly wear. Luckily, I have a stretchy dress in my arsenal from junior presentation circa 1997 (Presentation, you ask? In Columbia, we had two high school sororities. Yes, we did. I was a Sub-Deb. The other sorority was Kappa Phi Delta a/k/a Crappa Phi. There were three events every year -- Barn Bash, Christmas Dinner Dance, and Presentation. I promise to dig up some pictures and prove this (and hopefully embarrass some old friends)). Anyway, I got Fox to take a picture of me with our tree. If I had been thinking, which I feel like I'm doing less of these days, I would have taken the camera to the party to get some photos of the two of us.

I made this photo larger so you can try to find fun ornaments. Do you see the Mystery Machine, Grimace, the Vanderbilt Commodore, and a homemade Big Bird? Also, Kerouac is surveying the scene from the top of the stairs, threatening to pounce on the tree at any moment. Feel free to click on photo for more ornament fun. I really love Christmas ornaments.

I'm going to ask you to join me next week, and try to be here for you to join. If you do, Baby Fox should weigh six pounds, be the size of a crenshaw melon (fake fruit alert!!), and only have a month left on the inside!