Back in Knoxville

We are finally starting to settle into Knoxville after our move on Friday March 16th. Our friends and family were great in helping us load up the 26' Penske truck and unload it the following morning. There are still a few miscellaneous items left to be unpacked, but I'd say 90% percent of our belongings are in their place. Lil Moon's room is starting to come along nicely as well. He now has over 700 outfits, 14 pairs of shoes, 17 stuffed rabbits and 3 Diaper genies. I'm going to starting wholesaling those things if we get any more. And Erica still has one shower left in Nashville so my rough estimate is we'll end up owning somewhere in the neighborhood of 7 Diaper Genies. (Side note: His name is not going to be Lil' Moon. I know some of you who read this probably wonder if that is going to be his birth name, but it's nothing more than a family nickname. He's going to be a normal, middle class kid, not a rapper.) Erica now starts going to the doctor every two weeks and has an appointment today. She's currently 33 weeks and doing and feeling great. Last Saturday she shot up in bed writhing in pain. I, of course, freaked out only to find out she had a Charlie horse. So I'm getting to that pins and needles stage where every aching muscle inevitably means she's going to give birth in the car on the way to the hospital. Only 7 more weeks to go!

BTW- I'm organizing a baby pool starting April 1st. $25 dollar buy in and make all checks out to 'Cash'.

-Brennan

Showering Lil Moon and Oakley

This past Saturday was my first baby shower. Most of you know this already, but one of my VERY best friends, Jenny (Ferguson) Johnson is pregnant as well and due on May 7…as in 4 days before I am due. It is pretty nuts but so amazing to be going through all this with her, sharing stories/cravings, etc.. Not to mention, Lil Moon is going to have a built in bestie when he is born. Jenny and her sweet hubby Ryand are having a boy as well and naming him Oakley after Jenny’s great grandfather.

SO…our FANTASTIC friends Auburn, Stacey and Amanda all went together and threw Jenny and I a joint baby shower on March 10. It was so adorable and fun…they are all three super creative. Also, Lil Moon and Oakley RACKED UP!

The food was all so delicious and Stacey made the most adorable diaper cakes for Jenny and I! Look at the ridiculous stack of presents…that was just one of our piles. These boys are already SO loved!

Stacey made these adorable cookies for the favors, not only are they precious, but they taste AMAZING!

Our beautiful hostesses

Jenny and I with our gorgeous moms!

Our awesome friend Candice flew in from Florida for the shower. SO great to see her!

And I had to post this picture…I have no idea what they are laughing at but I love this pic so much!

The shower was perfect and we had a blast! Thanks ladies!

In other news…I had my first doctor’s appointment with my new Knoxville doctor on Monday, the 12th. We had an ultrasound and got to see Lil Moon again. It was so great to see him again and he is GROWING! His head is huge and in the 90th percentile which makes me a bit nervous and he weighs 4.1 pounds already. Big boy! I really like my new doctor and she seems perfect to take us into the home stretch. We are moving all of our stuff tomorrow so please pray for us. I’ll be 32 weeks tomorrow. It’s getting really real!

Moving On

For those of you who may not know already we are moving back to Knoxville in two weeks. After shrewd negotiations on Erica's part and some monetary concessions, we reached a deal to sell our place to Nashville and are closing March 22nd. We'll be moving the weekend before and have already begun the arduous task of packing boxes and coordinating a moving van, hired help, etc. Erica has secured a new doctor in Knoxville via referral and we signed a lease on a 3 bed, 2 bath house in West Knoxville. This house has a nice fenced in backyard which will allow Sam to run, Lil Moon a place to play and me a yard to mow in the nude (kidding). With this, in conjunction with the baby coming and some intense sales training I have scheduled at the end of the month, it's easy to be overwhelmed. However, I like the pressure and business of it all. I hate waiting around and waiting for things to happen, especially when it concerns life altering changes with my family. Erica's laid, back go with the flow mentality is a nice balance to my "go,go,go" demeanor. She's done a nice job of rubbing off on me as I now only need two drinks and one Xanax to go to sleep at night (down from the previous 6/2 combo). However, before leaving Music City for the town Peyton Manning built we had to dodge one more bullet.

The weather here in Tennessee has been unseasonably warm this Winter. It's not as if we get 12" of snow, but freezing temps and an ice storm are not out of the question during the Winter months. This week it's been in the high 70's, even as high as 83 yesterday. Growing up in the Midwest I know exactly what this means: Tornado weather. While people are running around here in shorts and cutoff sleeve airbrush t-shirts, I'm stockpiling pillows, blankets and scouting a safe spot for the family to hide during the unlikely event of a devastating tornado. Yesterday was supposed to be Armageddon here. I talked to people all day on sales calls that were writing their wills out of napkins and grabbing every last bottled water and flashlight they could find. Around 4pm the storm hit West Nashville with 70MPH wind and golf ball sized hail. But when the storm literally reached our doorstep, it took a sharp turn Northeast and missed us completely. The damage at our place mounted to our two garbage cans being knocked over. If I hadn't known any better, I'd have told you we just had an overly aggressive raccoon in our midst. This is second time in 6-plus years we've dodge a weather bullet. In Spring 2010 a devastating floor crippled Nashville. It was especially harsh to West Nashville and specifically Bellevue, where we live. Everything around us was destroyed, except for our neighborhood, which aside from a few waterlogged patios went unscathed. I'm not a big "faith" person, but it's tough to call our situation blind, dumb luck. We have been very lucky, very fortunate and very happy living in Nashville. But it's time to move on and Erica and I are very excited for the next chapter(s) in our lives.

By the way, here's a 30 week picture of Erica. Enjoy!

- Brennan