Brian's Birthday Post

Sometime this month is Brian's 6th birthday! Can you believe that? He is six years old.  Now, yes I'm a bad dog owner for not knowing exactly when his birthday is.  I have it in a filing cabinet in the basement somewhere. 

Ok, ok, now you're making me feel bad. I'll go look it up. 

Anyway, Brian is SIX! He's 42 in dog years.  Mid-life crisis time! No wonder he's been acting out.  

So yes, this post is for Brian.  Let's relive some fond memories...

1.) As a puppy, when we first got him we took him over to Andrew's friends' place dubbed "The Hall".  He immediately peed the floor.  Welcome home, Brian! Also at the hall, Brian discovered that he liked beer.  We let him drink it and then he repaid us by squatting to release some loose stools in the middle of a game of bags that Andrew and his friends were playing. 

Aww, he's so little!

2.) The first year of his life, we lived in an apartment in Lafayette.  We didn't tell the landlords that we got a dog but Brian let them know with his incessant barking during the day.  Thanks for the extra Pet Deposit Charge, Brian!

 Yes, he is laughing at us. 

3.) In that apartment, Brian was very destructive.  He pulled up linoleum from a corner of the kitchen.  He chewed through the drywall to make a nice little hole.  He also chewed through the carpet to the floor because he smelled pizza that I had dropped. Luckily, we are handy little geniuses and somehow got our entire deposit back! Nice.

4.) Brian would go on runs with Andrew and one day he cut his paw on something while running around the complex.  He bled all over the apartment.  $100 Vet visit and a band-aid later, he was all better.  :)

The only picture I have from this incident, I printed on paper and had to scan it. Poor pup.

5.) When we moved into our first house, Brian was pretty destructive there too.  We would keep him in the pantry/laundry room during the day.  He scratched the crap out of the door in that room. Also, whenever we would have parties, Brian would find deserted beer bottles, knock them over and drink what came out.  He really likes beer. 

Brian will take what is his.

6.) Brian also liked to escape from our house.  During both our bachelorette and bachelor parties, Brian got out and our friends were forced to run after him.  It took a VERY long time at my bachelorette party.  Probably because we were dressed in 80s sequined dresses with bright blue eye shadow up to our eyebrows.  The woman that found him that night asked my friend Meeghan if she was going to prom.  HAHA!

Why yes, in fact, we were going to prom! 

 

7.) At Andrew's bachelor party, Brian's dried up yard poop was used as a weapon.  I don't think I want to go into any more detail on that.

I thought this picture of Brian's poop partially cleaned up was appropriate. You can see more turds in the back ground.

8.) After we sold that house, we transitioned between two more apartments before I was finally placed in my job in SB and we purchased our current home.  In our new home with the TV mounted on the wall, we discovered Brian has a new trick. During Cubs games, there is always an Aflac trivia question.  Before the question, the Aflac duck walks across the screen while saying AFLAC! We've always known Brian to find and bark at all animal on the tv screen.  Well now, Brian thinks that any time the word Aflac is said in the right tone of voice, that that damn duck will go walking across the TV screen, EVEN WHEN THE TV IS OFF! Anyone can say it and as long as it somewhat sounds like the duck, he go running to the TV and barking his head off.  It's pretty amazing.  I wish I had it on tape. 

Brian after a long hard day of work.

9.)  Brian has enjoyed the new house very much.  Lots of room to run.  Lots of neighbor dogs.  Lots of squirrels to bark at during the day.  He doesn't destroy as much anymore.  Still marks his territory occasionally. But he still likes to escape.  We live next to a multi-million dollar compound of people related to a former Senator for Indiana.  He likes to go over there.  I've been caught by the wife a couple different times carrying Brian back to our house after he ran like a Wyld Stallyn all over their 80 acre property.  She gives very dirty looks.  Thanks Brian. 

Yes, he cut his paw and we had to go to the Vet more than once.

10.) Brian is definitely getting older and much calmer.  He still sheds like the dickens but he really has become quite a good dog, despite what all the above shows.  I can't imagine our life without him and I'm sad that our son won't get to know the old Brian... the Wyld Stallyn Brian... the puppy days that taught us more about patience and raising a child than any birthing class could. 

Sweet, lovable dog.

Here's to you Brian.  We appreciate that day back in November of 2004 when some wily pug got out of his cage and snuck into a beagle's cage and created you.  (That's the story we always told you anyway.)
Happy Birthday and we wish you many more.

 

Classic bath video...


Finally, his video debut... Brian swims...

38 Weeks: A Fortnight Left

Yes, Brian needs glasses.

It was pretty difficult to get a picture this time.  He kept trying to make a run for it. 

Babycenter.com: 
Your baby has really plumped up. He weighs about 6.8 pounds and he's over 19 1/2 inches long (like a leek). He has a firm grasp, which you'll soon be able to test when you hold his hand for the first time! His organs have matured and are ready for life outside the womb. Wondering what color your baby's eyes will be? You may not be able to tell right away. If he's born with brown eyes, they'll likely stay brown. If he's born with steel gray or dark blue eyes, they may stay gray or blue or turn green, hazel, or brown by the time he's 9 months old. That's because a child's irises (the colored part of the eye) may gain more pigment in the months after he's born, but they usually won't get "lighter" or more blue. (Green, hazel, and brown eyes have more pigment than gray or blue eyes.)

Alphamom.com: 
Your baby is officially a little chunkin, at well over six pounds and 19 1/2 inches long. He is also officially considered “full term.” In other words, he or she is STRAIGHT UP FREELOADING from here on out.  He is practicing making fists and fetal breathing in anticipation of life outside the womb.
You have probably had enough of this magical special time, thank you very much.  Backaches, joint aches, heartburn, indigestion, constipation, Braxton-Hicks contractions, painful kicks, bladder pressure, stretch marks, itchy skin, swollen ankles, fatigue, dry mouth, mood swings, did I miss anything else in this cavalcade of late-pregnancy hilarity?  You are alternating between crazy excitement about finally meeting your baby and crazy panic about oh my God, you’re finally going to meet your baby and they’re going to expect that you take it home and like, keep it alive and stuff.


What's New This Week? 
Exams! No matter how many I have in my lifetime they will never NOT be awkward.  :)  But I'm 1 cm dilated and 60% effaced.  Things are progressing.  Very happy with this news.  My body seems to know what to do which is good. So it could be any time from here on out.  Exciting and terrifying at the same time. 

The Nursery
Finally right? Here are the pictures I've been promising to put up.  It's not totally complete but this is the best we're going to do at this time.  So take it or leave it!

 The crib with our brown and blue turtles.  (But every time I hear the word Turtles, I think of this kid.)

 The changing table with the softest blue bear keeping it company.

Baby Thornburg's first sports uniforms on display.

Changing table, hamper, dresser

Closet! Look at all those clothes!

Baby T's first piggy bank

Sweet shades, man!

I love how fun these stuffed animals are.

Look at the cute little footied PJs!!!  Bulldogs and polar bears and monkeys, OH MY!

Just a portion of our vast book collection for him.

His awesome Purdue gear!

It's all coming together! We're buying all the last minute items.  I'm finishing up things at work.  It's really happening.  Now... we wait....

Keiper Thanksgiving and Wyatt's Birthday

Last weekend my family celebrated Thanksgiving.  It worked out perfectly because we were invited to Wyatt's 1st birthday party.

At Thanksgiving I didn't take that many pictures. I at least wanted a picture of all the kids (Baby T's Cousins, isn't that weird? Sounds weird.).

It was a very bad idea to wait until right before they were going to leave.  It almost caused a breakdown.  But look at how well it turned out! Aw! Not too shabby for a quick pic!

Then my mom said "How about a picture of my kids?"  So my bros and I tried to pose for a picture.  There was almost a breakdown here too.  (I'm kidding. Or am I? I am known to be emotional right now. :-D)

This was about as good as the serious ones got.  Not too bad. Definitely goofy, maybe a little sweaty and tired but not too bad.
But then, since we had like seven thousand guitars in the house we decided to pose with guitars which provided us with THE best picture of the three of us TO DATE.

INSTANT CLASSIC.


Then on Sunday we attended Wyatt's birthday party.
Travis was putting the final touches on Cookie Monster when we got there.

How cool is that cake??

Awww, look at the cute little man with his big boy haircut! He's so cute!

He doing the Downward Dog yoga position here.  So funny!

Wyatt wants to discover just how hot fire really is. :)

Where's my cake, fools??


Now watch him eat his cake and experience the full spectrum of cake-eating emotions.  :)  So funny.  Sorry for the jiggly camera work but I couldn't help laughing.

After cake, he opened more presents.  Check out his kickin' new Converse One Stars! How cute are those????

Wyatt opened his gift from us.  I think the Transformers bag and talking Transformers card scared him a little.  But hopefully he liked his gift.  It was a kiddie T-ball set.  Hopefully the ball doesn't detach.  We don't want anything to get broken when he's hitting home runs!

I can't believe it's been a year already.  Time is flying by!  Don't worry, Wyatt! Your heterosexual life mate is almost here!

Surprise! It's a THIRD Shower!

Last week I hosted the managers' meeting in my office.  My boss told me to plan it and even though I'm the northern-most county, I didn't think anything of the fact that we were having the meeting in my office.  My boss said he'd like to keep me close to home instead of traveling an hour or more away since I'm so far along.  Made perfect sense to me.  All the while my employees were busy making other plans. 

All the managers met in the morning and then went to lunch.  When we got back from lunch, I walked into my office to find this.

A shower! I was completely taken aback! What a great surprise! I have no idea how they kept it from me. Little devils!

 The cake was so cute and wonderfully delicious.  It says, "Waiting on Baby 'T'".  Aww.

This picture is funny because it's of me opening the infamous Pack N Play.  I had been talking to my employees for weeks about this dang Pack N Play.  We saw that it had been purchased off the registry but we never got it.  So we assumed it was a mistake (we even checked with the store but they couldn't tell us who bought it) and we just bought one for ourselves.  Well my employees couldn't say anything because this whole shower was a surprise.  So they listened to me go on and on about this mysterious Pack N Play.  Boy, did I feel like an idiot when I opened that gift.  I guess it just never occurred to me that my employees bought it for me.  Whoops.

Since it was my shower, all the pictures are pretty much of me so I won't post that many.  Just the funny ones.  

This one looks like I'm saying, "Is there still cake left?" I think I actually was saying that.

This one is more like "Whoa, whoa, whoa, that last piece is MINE."

I had to post this one because this blanket was home-made by someone who retired from the agency last year.  She somehow put together all these super cute fabrics and it matches the nursery spot-on.  It's kind of amazing how that happened because I'm pretty sure she only knew the nursery was blue and brown.  It's just perfect! 

One of the only other pictures was of the other managers at the meeting (because the women were busy actually throwing the shower).

So yeah, my district of managers is ME and all these dudes.  I fit in well, huh?

The shower was marvelous.  I couldn't have been more surprised.  I can't believe I didn't catch on! Sometimes I forget how much of a family my workplace really is.

37 Weeks: FULL TERM, BABY!

 37 weeks = FULL TERM!  That also means "HAHAHA you still have 3+ more weeks, FOOL! Love getting your hopes up!"  But truly what that means is I can go into labor at any time and if I do, they will say FULL STEAM AHEAD!

HOORAY!!! Preggo's got mad ups! Funny thing is I knew I only had one take because I was sure I could only jump once and I was right. :) But I got it!

Brian was pretty sad to not be featured on the blog in awhile so I made sure he made it this week.  Dance, doggy, dance!
Dog has to earn his keep.

So let's see what Mr. T is up to this week...
Babycenter.com: 
Your baby is now considered "full term," even though your due date is three weeks away. If you go into labor now, his lungs will likely be mature enough to fully adjust to life outside the womb. (Some babies need a bit more time, though. So if you're planning to have a repeat c-section, for example, your practitioner will schedule it for no earlier than 39 weeks unless there's a medical reason to intervene earlier.)
Your baby weighs 6 1/3 pounds and measures a bit over 19 inches, head to heel (like a stalk of Swiss chard). Many babies have a full head of hair at birth, with locks from 1/2 inch to 1 1/2 inches long. But don't be surprised if your baby's hair isn't the same color as yours. Dark-haired couples are sometimes thrown for a loop when their children come out as blonds or redheads, and fair-haired couples have been surprised by Elvis look-alikes. And then, of course, some babies sport only peach fuzz.

Alphamom.com: 

Your baby weighs about six and a half pounds, and is 21 inches long — quite possibly the same length he or she will be at birth. He is packing on close to a half-pound of pure, unadulterated baby chub every week. You are probably dismayed to realize you are STILL outgrowing your maternity clothes. Your shirts ride up to reveal a couple inches of belly (or elastic waistbands), your pants might bulge and pucker weirdly as your uterus drops lower, and some tops might feel especially tight as your ribcage expands to handle all your pushed-up organs. You might be having serious trouble getting a good night’s sleep thanks to your size (my limbs keep falling asleep under my body’s crushing weight), your baby’s jolt-you-awake-caliber kicks, bladder calls, Braxton-Hicks contractions, and your brain’s constant buzz of excitement and anxiety and massive to-do lists.

Me: 
Things are still going well.  Feeling okay.  I believe I've had some Braxton-Hicks contractions but nothing too exciting.  Mostly just trying to get over these nervous/anxious feelings and the fear of the unknown.  Very excited though. WHEN IS HE GOING TO GET HERE????? It's like I'm waiting for Santa to come.  But I'm trying to be patient.

We got our carseat, stroller and pack 'n play today.  I had to go pick it up.  I walk in and tell the nice man that I'm there for pickup.  He is foreign and has a thick accent.  He asks for my last name and I tell him.  He says, "You marry to Andy Thornburg?"  I said, "Why yes, I am." He said he went to high school with him.  I say, "Oh yeah? You went to Wawasee?"  He said, "No..... no...... I didn't go... THAT high school. I went to Riley."  I thought that was an extremely weird coincidence.  Then he gets the two huge boxes and said, "I help you because you look like you have someone coming out."  HAHA!!!!
I nominate that as the funniest comment I've gotten so far.  I don't think I'll hear a comment like that again.
"You look like you have someone coming out."  Sounds uncomfortable! :)

Family:
Waaaay back during the summer, my bro Adam said that he was going to send me daily pregnancy nicknames.  Well, he started out sending a few and then he forgot until just the other day.  But I'll fill you in on his creative genius.  Or dorktasticness.  Whichever you prefer.

1. Pregs McGhee and the Pregtones Featuring Brian
2. Miss Pregs Stretchtastic McShowerpuss (I told him that one didn't even make sense.)
3. Preggs McEggs
Then months passed.  This week, he graced me with this one.
4. Arnold Schwartzapregger
I told him he made up for the missing names. :)

Let's move on and learn some lessons on Pregnancy and Childcare. 

 Have I told you about my cravings? No monkey brains, luckily.  But I am embarrassed to say.  I will tell anyway.
So far, I have had cravings for Taco Bell Double Deckers.  I had so many that I can't eat them anymore.  Then I started craving butter.  GROSS!! It wasn't like I wanted to eat it off a stick like a corndog.  I just wanted butter on everything.  Then just recently and this is soooo weird...  I had a random craving for church wine.  HAHA! What? For some reason, the taste of the wine they serve at church sounded just incredibly good all the sudden.  See? It's that alcohol thing again. WEIRD.  At least it's not dirt, right? That would be a little scary.

Well, crap, how's he going to watch the Purdue games???

Weekend Sports Wrap-Up

The Rensselaer Bombers won sectionals and headed to Bremen to play the Lions for regional championship on Friday night. Since it was so close, we decided to go.  Talk about a killer game! Wow.  Stress.

Ok this will be fun.
Morgan's recap of the game Friday night:
So they were tied, like, the entire game.  Bombers would run down and score and then the Lions would run down and score.  Back and forth, back and forth.  Then I had to empty my bladder so I extricated myself from the crowded shrieking bleachers and made my way for what seemed like miles to the school bathroom.  These screaming mimi high school girls were in the bathroom and when I walked in they all got quiet and kinda stared at my belly like, "Whoa, I hope that doesn't happen to me anytime soon."  Then I got some food and went back to the bleachers.  The score went up but they were still tied.  Andrew said the Bombers used a fleaflicker play and scored and then the Lions successfully completed a double fleaflicker shortly after that.  Sounded pretty cool.
Then in the final seconds of the game, the Bomber punter missed which sent them in to overtime.  In high school they take turns starting you on the 10 yard line.  Bombers went first.  It took only two plays (plus a penalty) to score.  My dad's friend's son scored the touchdown (which happened to be the winning touchdown) on his 18th birthday. Talk about a birthday present.
So what happened next after that touchdown?

Fourth down, four yards to go, ball was on the four (and that last 4 was a bonus from the 4th quarter).  Lucky number 4 for the Bombers.  They stopped 'em! The crowd erupted! The kids rushed the field (pausing to be respectful on the track until told they could go out and do the Bomber Jacks with the team).

Very very cool ending, indeed.

I switched to night mode on my camera which was dumb.  My pictures were all blurry.  But you get the idea.  Very exciting for the Rensselaer Bombers.  They travel to Fort Wayne on Saturday to play the Fort Wayne Bishop Luers (Turns out, they're pretty good. That was the first link when you Googled them).  Bombers played them last year in semi-state and were beaten.  This year, the Bombers will be back and ready to fight.  Hopefully they can pull out a win and go to STATE!!! ONE CITY, ONE TEAM, ONE GOAL!

(I bet the Bombers were ticked when they found out the Bears stole their phrase.)

So yeah, that was MY version of what happened in the game.  If you want to read what sportswriters have to say, then check Renssy's paper or the Journal and Courier for their articles.  Waaay less entertaining, I say. 

Let's transition to hockey, shall we?

Andrew had a hockey game on Sunday night.  It was fairly early so I decided to go.  I haven't been to a game in awhile since all the games are at 9:30 or 10 pm.

He gets better and better every game! I didn't see him fall down once! (He might have but I missed it if he did!)

Something else exciting happened in this game....
HE SCORED HIS SECOND GOAL!! YEAH!! I did not capture this one on video though.  Bummer.  I missed it too! I looked down at my stupid phone for a second and looked up and everyone was cheering.  Dang it. He said this goal was just like his last but he didn't fall down.  He just, as the saying goes, slipped one past the goalie.  Way to go Andrew!!!
If you want to watch the clip of the old one to relive old memories, then go HERE. 

Great game, Drewfus! (No, they didn't win, but Andrew scored a third of the points!)

Congrats to the Renssy Bombers and to Andrew on your exciting sports accomplishments this weekend!