Signs of Spring

Oh, we are so ready for spring. After a few teasers, I'm hopeful that it's actually here to stay. Until summer at least. Give me the yellow layer of dust on everything, the itchy eyes, and swarms of mating carpenter bees all over my porch and patio. I'll gladly exchange it for cold, gloomy days inside and restless girls who long to run outside and play with their friends and neighbors. I'll see you in the backyard for cornhole and cookouts.

Milestones

After dinner with neighbors, one being a boy Anna's age who just moved from his crib to a big boy bed, we decided to make the move with Anna. Like, at 7:30 at night. No preparation, no talking it up. Just, "Anna, do you want to sleep in Holly's room tonight?" Here was the reaction:



They both did great! They talked and played for a while, then Holly's giggles turned to, "Shh! We're supposed to be sleeping!" Anna continued to talk and sing, and I realized Holly had fallen asleep when I heard Anna say, "Holly! Holly? Come here?"

I'm not declaring victory yet, but here's to one successful night in a big girl bed. And two big girls in one room.

It's a Beautiful Life

Add this to the list of things she'll kill me for later...

Little peanut

Yep, we're expecting Rife baby #3 on September 1st! This is a picture of the peanut at 8 weeks. I'm 13 weeks now. So if I were to have an ultrasound today, you'd actually see a baby rather than a kidney bean. But isn't it the cutest little kidney bean ever?

We weren't intentionally keeping it on the down low this long - if I've seen you in person, I've told you already I'm sure! But I honestly keep forgetting that I'm pregnant. No real problems (other than the usual I'm-going-to-hiberbate-for-the-winter fatigue and a few weeks of blah) and 2 active little girls have made it easy to be distracted. But realized I'd better get the word out now before people run into me at the store and think I've totally let myself go.

A few pregnancy facts:

- our peanut is now the size of a medium shrimp (??)

- I should only be consuming 300 more calories per day. Umm....

- If this baby is a 3rd girl, we are going to need serious help, and possibly marriage counseling, to name her.

And, yes, we will be finding out the sex. Of course we will! Since Matt will not discuss baby names until we know if it's a boy or girl (as he says, otherwise we're wasting half our time - way too inefficient for this engineer), we would be in real trouble after the baby is born. Weeks without a name. Which would drive you monogrammers nuts. So we're doing it for you.

And for those that argue that it ruins the surprise...come on. I completely respect that you like the suspense, but we will be just as surprised when we find out. At 20 weeks. And we won't have a collection of 30 onesies covered in yellow ducks. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

I love you all!

(PS - I had this in nice, neat paragraphs, but when posted it comes out like one big run-on essay. I apologize to my literary friends.)

Thank you to the Academy

I'm a little behind, but gotta give props where props are due. Matt's family has an annual NFL pool, and the prize is one year with the revered Rife Cup. This year - for the first time since I've known him - Matt brought home the trophy!

I'm so proud of you, my love! Here's to your next win in 15 years...

WAR EAGLE!!

Auburn Tigers are 2010 National Champions!!

A few fast facts:

• Auburn becomes the first team since Georgia Tech in 1990 to win a national title after starting the season ranked outside the top 20.

• Cam Newton is the 9th Heisman winner to play in the national championship game in the last 11 years.

• Auburn's win, coming on the heels of Alabama's title last year, marks the first time in 70-plus years that two different teams from the same state are crowned national champs in consecutive seasons.

• The SEC improves to 7-0 in BCS title games and has now won the the last five.

(ESPN Stats and Information)

Wish I was here to celebrate...

Preciousness