It's a...

GIRL!

After much anticipation, measurements, calculations, old wives’ tales, and good old fashioned guessing, we were excited to share with our families on Christmas Eve that we will welcome our baby GIRL, Addison Nelue, in May. Clay and I have always liked the name Addison and knew that our little princess would have that name. We also wanted her to have a family name and decided to remember Clay’s mother, Karen Nelue.

We had a wonderful Christmas full of blessings. As we left Lampasas packed up with little Addison’s crib and dresser, we know that the nursery painting and planning is now in full swing! We keep saying that May will be here before we know it!

We have enjoyed this time of anticipation and now are looking forward to a future of ruffles and bows.

Amen and Pass the Butter!

Marcy

The Mystery of the Note Fairy

Growing up, we all knew of the traditional mystical characters:

• Santa Claus, the spirt of Christmas
• The Easter Bunny, who brings baskets filled with colored eggs and candy to the homes of children on the night before Easter
• The Tooth Fairy, who comes in after a tooth is lost and leaves money (4 quarters in the Melton house) in exchange for your pearly whites

Until this week, I never knew of the mystical Note Fairy. The Note Fairy is known to bring sweet notes of hope and encouragement during pregnancy.

Wednesday was my 20 week sonogram which brought additional anticipation and excitement because we are able to find out boy or girl. In preparation for the appointment on Wednesday, the Note Fairy made her first delivery on Monday leaving her note on my car:

Tuesday, the Note Fairy (via the unsuspecting UPS delivery lady in my building) made her second delivery to my office:

I must have really gotten into the mystery of the Note Fairy because Tuesday night I dreamed that the Note Fairy planned a trip to Horseshoe Bay for a Miami in Marble Falls weekend.

Wednesday as I sat in the doctor’s office with Clay waiting for my blood pressure to be taken, the nurses at Dr. Lampkin’s office brought in my chart and an envelope ‘dropped’ onto the floor. They handed it to me to hold and the Note Fairy had struck again!

Due to the excitement of the Note Fairy striking in the doctor's office, my blood pressure shot through the roof!

You all may be wondering what the Note Fairy looks like. Initially, I imagined Cinderella with wings. Now, I know she looks like my friend Ashley!

I am reminded by the Note Fairy that the smallest things can mean the most. How lucky I am to have a Note Fairy and more importantly dear friend!

Amen and Pass the Butter,
Marcy

Blue or Pink - Let the Games Begin!

We have been having fun ‘testing’ pregnancy myths, wives tales, and superstitions to determine the sex of our little E. Although we won’t find out until Christmas, here’s what our very scientific studies have shown:

Chinese Birth Calendar: According to an ancient Chinese birth calendar which uses the age the mother will be when she gives birth and the month the child was conceived, we are having a boy.

Ring on a String: Sarah, the witch doctor, helped us on this myth. Holding my wedding ring on a string over my belly made the ring swing back and forth. Looks like we’re having a boy.

Acne: No pregnant girl acne. Could be a boy.

Pick up a key: I picked up a key by the bottom, rounder part rather than by the thinner end. Maybe a boy is on the way.

Mayan Tale: The Mayan tale adds the mothers age at conception and the year of conception (2038). The result is an even number. According to the Mayans, we’re having a girl.

Clumsy v. Graceful: If the pregnant woman is graceful throughout her pregnancy, she’s having a girl. If she becomes clumsy, she’s having a boy. I just dumped a glassful of water on Clay at dinner the other night…boy.

We will be putting the wives tales to rest soon. We can’t wait to find out what Ethan’s cousin; Melody, Jeff, Jen, and Zack’s nephew/niece; our parent’s grandbaby; and the newest addition to our family will be! Stay tuned!

Amen and Pass the Butter,
Marcy

Give Thanks!

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. Somehow, my mother always had a magical way of creating Thanksgiving dinner with what seemed like no more effort than any other meal she made for us. Now that I am starting to fill that role, I realize that even though my mom could pull off a Thanksgiving meal without breaking a sweat, it’s not an easy task. Jen and I have taken over preparing the Thanksgiving feast for our Erwin family. With a little planning we had a great spread and a lot of left overs!

With Thanksgiving comes tradition. Every year when we sit down together, we go around the table and share what we are thankful for. It is always a reminder of how truly blessed we are.
This year, Zack and I started a new tradition - the Great Pie Challenge! A few weeks ago, we decided that we would each make a chocolate meringue pie and winner take all (although all was merely bragging rights). Thursday, I slaved in the kitchen making my mom’s no-fail homemade crust with chocolate filling and meringue from scratch. Despite some minor set backs and lessons learned - (1) meringue should not be refrigerated; (2) it is difficult to travel 300+ miles with a meringue pie (and a dog) - I came out with the victory! To my benefit, Zack doesn’t exactly follow recipes and Paula Dean makes a mean pie!

The winning pie (before refrigeration and transport)

This weekend will be full of Melton Thanksgiving traditions! Mom, Melody, and I will be in Dallas for Black Friday shopping! Clay and Jeff have decided that they do not want to be in the same county when the Melton girls hit the street so they will be in Austin for the big game. Let’s home the Aggies come out on top and Clay comes back with bragging rights for the rest of the year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Amen and Pass the Butter,
Marcy

Clay, Me, and One to Be!

That’s right, we’re having a BABY! We have been crossing our fingers for a few months and got our official “pregnant” during the first part of August. I thought that right before I left for work was a great time to take a test, probably because I knew it would be negative, but boy was I wrong! Clay and I couldn’t be more excited! On or about (there’s the lawyer in me) May 5th, we will welcome our little bundle of joy into the world.

So how am I doing? Great! I am officially 13 weeks and the baby is the size of your fist. It is crazy to believe that I am over a quarter of the way there and in my second trimester! I have so enjoyed my pregnancy and luckily have had few symptoms. I am addicted to pregnancy websites and (thanks to Ashley) projectnursery.com.

We had our first ultrasound at 10 weeks which was ultra amazing! Clay and I weren’t sure what to expect which was probably evident by our reaction. We made such a commotion that the nurses outside of the room thought we were having twins (but we have confirmed that there’s only one baby in there) and the ultrasound technician told us that we were in the top 3 new parent reactions! I was thinking our baby would look like a little nugget or peanut on the screen. Little did we know, our little one has developed legs, arms, and everything in between! The baby was jumping around and dancing for us throughout the entire (2 hour although we could have stared at the baby all day) ultrasound. Not only did we see the heartbeat, we HEARD the heartbeat. Our baby measured 2” from head to rump with a heartbeat of 155 beats per minute. I never knew that we could feel so much love for the little one we won’t meet until May.

We have already started to get ready for our baby to be! This weekend my mom came up and helped me with a garage sale to make room for baby. Clay is so excited to paint the room and I can’t wait to have my mom and Aunt P in for decorating fun.

We are prayerful for a safe pregnancy and healthy baby. We are so excited to share with you our thoughts, apprehensions, and plans as we await the arrival of our baby. Stay tuned, May will be here before we know it!

Amen and Pass the Butter,

Marcy

What a Weekend!

Do not let my tardiness in blogging about our Fair/Race weekend be any indication on what a fun time it was!  Our dear friend Ashley is the executive director of the Lubbock Komen office.  We are always amazed on how each year, the annual Race for the Cure is bigger, more well attended, and raises more money for breast cancer awareness and research.  We are so proud of her and her accomplishments!  Jen has been traveling to Lubbock for the race for the past several years and this year Ethan made the road trip with her. 

The race weekend coincided with the South Plains Fair.  Jen, Ethan, Clay, and I took in the fair festivities - fried food, carnival, stock show, petting zoo, and all!  As we walked through the lamb barn, we laughed when we realized that we were 'those people'!


What I imagine the conversation to sound like: 
Clay:  What do you think about that lamb Ethan?
Ethan:  I bet I could show it better than you Uncle Clay!

The 4-H petting zoo was a hit!  Clay took the opportunity to recite the pledge, including hand signals.  Ethan loved all of the animals...so much so that he gave the big goat, which so kindly posed for my picture, a big kiss!



Saturday morning was the race.  We, along with over 8,000 people, joined to make this the biggest Race for the Cure so far!  We can't imagine what big things are in store for next year!


Saturday night was spent with Ty and Ashley and their family (which we consider ourselves an extension of)!  The weekend was full of big events, big laughs, and big memories!  Looking forward to October 1, 2011!

Amen and Pass the Butter,

Marcy

We Love a Wedding! (Part 2)

Our parking lot buddies, Paul and Meredith, were married in McKinney several weeks ago.  The weekend gave us an opportunity to catch up with friends and spend time with family.  We traveled to the Dallas area with our great friends Clay and Eliah Lenhen and their little one, Miss Ella.  Good company sure made the 6+ hour trip more tolerable - Clay and Clay were able to have boy talk in the front (hunting, guns, and trucks) while Eliah and I took care of problems of the world in the back (or whatever was covered in US weekly in between our naps).

The bigger the bow, the better the Momma...words to live by!

Being able to visit Melody and Jeff was an added bonus of our trip to the Dallas area!  Melody and I warmed up for Black Friday at the Allen outlet malls while Clay and Jeff spent the afternoon relaxing in front of the x-box. 

Saturday night, we celebrated!  The wedding and reception were spectacular!  We were reminded again why we love a wedding!

Amen and pass the butter,
Marcy