In Need of Suggestions

I plan on registering for baby items when my parents come out this week, and I would welcome some advice. Specifically, I am wondering what items you found to be most important when you were a new mom, or when your child/children were newborns and infants? In other words, what things were necessities? I find that I am completely clueless when it comes to baby items and could use all the advice I can get. Thanks!

Christmas has Come

Christmas has arrived at our condo. Our tree is up, complete with presents underneath it. Our Christmas train is on our "mantle." And we even have an historically inaccurate nativity scene. When my parents arrive this Wednesday, Christmas will be "official."

A Clean Utility Room

In order to prepare for the arrival of Baby Gonzalez, we realized one of the first jobs we need to tackle is cleaning out our closets. We recently started the process by cleaning out the disaster zone we call our utility room. I don't have any before pictures to show you because we'd rather not embarrass ourselves like that on the internet. We do, however, have several after pictures of our work that we are proud to show off.




Tomorrow, I plan to begin the process of cleaning out my own closet. The hard work starts, however, when we tackle the closet in what will become the baby's room. While we have done a pretty good job of maintaining some space for our guests to hang clothes there, we also have lots of junk in there that needs to go. Besides, babies require a lot of stuff, and we need to clear up all the space we can.

Small Changes to our Small Bathroom

We tried a special effect on the largest wall in the downstairs bathroom. Basically, you paint your base color, let it dry, and then cover it in small sections with a darker, coordinating glaze. Then, you take the base of a straw broom and drag it across the glaze so that the base color shows through. It did not come out as nice as I would have liked it. You can tell where one section ends and the other begins, which offends my perfectionist side. But we decided to keep it because it has a bamboo kind of feel, which works perfectly with our Asian theme. We'll see how it all looks when it's completed.





We also picked out a new light fixture to go with the Asian theme we envision for this small space. We think it looks pretty good.

Baby Gonzalez Sends Holiday Greetings

Here's one of today's ultrasound pictures. The baby is doing well and even waved hi. We also got to hear the baby's heartbeat - very strong, steady, and fast.

Baby Gonzalez at 6 weeks

This ultrasound is from our first visit to the doctor, which was 2 weeks ago. I know it's hard to see, but the baby is the little bean inside the circle. If you click on the image, you will get an enlarged view of the ultrasound.

We had a second ultrasound today and will post some of those images, too.

And yes, we are very excited, as are our families. We haven't gotten an official due date yet, but we calculated it ourselves, and it looks like we're due around July 12th.

BU vs. A&M

On Saturday, we enjoyed Baylor's win over A&M with our friends, Bryan and Amy. Good seats and good company made for a great evening, in spite of the cold and wind. Check out some pictures from the game, below.

New Carpet

This afternoon, a team of 3 men came into our home, and, before we knew it, installed some lovely new carpet on our stairs. We love it - so much so that we don't want to walk on it.







Once we save up enough pennies, we plan on installing wood flooring in both of the bedrooms. But first we need to paint the bedrooms. We're thinking a light gray - better to keep the colors in a bedroom cool and calming, we think.

Birthday Camping Trip

Last weekend, we headed out to Lake Whitney State Park for our very first camping trip together - and to celebrate Ted's birthday, of course! The lake is very pretty, and, oddly enough, there's a landing strip in the middle of the park. We got a later start than we had planned and thought we were "late" to set up our campsite. Apparently, we were wrong. The campsites around us filled up after dark, and the next morning, there were people everywhere. Next time we go camping, we will definitely head out earlier and bring more cushion to sleep on and more blankets to keep us warm. The ground gets pretty hard and cold during the course of an evening - go figure.

Here are some pictures from the trip. You can see our campsite, the lake, our campfire, and the inside of our tent.

Thanks!

Ted says thanks for all the great birthday cards you sent him. He feels loved. :-)

One Pumpkin, Many Sides

There was no real plan for this pumpkin. We just let our creativity run wild. We've got one more that needs to be carved, and we think we'll just go with a traditional jack o' lantern face.

By the way, if you are looking for an easy way to make nice clean circles on your pumpkin, break out your drill. Different size drill bits will give you lots of interesting patterns.

One Year

Friday, October 17th marked our first full year in our cozy condo. The place has changed a lot in that time - and we still have a lot more to do.

Here are some pictures of the condo when we began working on it.











And here is a slideshow of what the place looks like now. I've also included pictures of the upstairs, where we haven't done much work yet. We are getting new carpet up the stairs and in the hallway tomorrow, though, and the upstairs work will begin!

Dissertation Topic

Awhile back, Mrs. Jones asked me what my dissertation is going to be on. I thought I would respond with a post, since there are probably a few other people who are wondering the same thing. I am writing a literary biography about the family of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. This British Romantic poet had three children, Hartley, Derwent, and Sara. All three were accomplished 19th century figures, but few scholars recognize that fact. In fact, they are studied primarily because of who their father was. To me, this seems to be the wrong approach. STC was not a major figure in their childhood, and his children spent very little time with him. So . . . I will "reverse the trend" by examining their lives, emphasizing the fact that their father was not around. I will look at the other influences in their life and examine what their were able to do with these influences and contribute to their age.

As a result of this dissertation, I've had biographies on the brain, both generally and theoretically. Hence the addition to the sidebar of the "Biography of the Day." For those of you who have taken the time to check those out, thanks for indulging my interest. One of my next projects - a biography of my family (so send me your stories!).

Call Me ABD

That's right, ladies and gentlemen. I am officially ABD. I had a fruitful discussion with my committee members this morning and am eager to dive into the dissertation - just as soon as I give some much needed attention to job applications and articles that should be sent off for publication. :-)

Who Says there is Nothing in West Texas?

For those of you who think West Texas is a lot of flat nothing, we beg to differ.

You can find many fields of cotton there. And we can all agree that cotton is essential. Besides, who wants to get stuck wearing polyester all the time?



The other thing you can find lots of there: wind farms. We predict that before long, the great state of Texas will have more wind farms than anywhere else in the world, all safely producing lots of clean energy. And if you don't like clean energy, you're just plain strange.



Our West Texas education comes compliments of Ted's recent trip to the area. For more photos from his drive to Lubbock, check out the slide show below.

Prospectus Defense Scheduled

For those of you interested in school news, I have my prospectus defense scheduled for Tuesday at 8 a.m. I will be defending the proposal for my dissertation and, assuming I pass (which I should), I will be officially "ABD" (All But Dissertation). While it sounds impressive that my dissertation is the last thing I have to complete to be an official Ph.D., it is still a large mountain to climb. I am excited, though, because I can then start looking at and applying for real jobs. And I can't wait to dig into research that I have chosen to do and get all the more closer to that big day - graduation.

(Former) #1 Team Comes to Town

Last weekend, we enjoyed a BU football game. OU, the number 1 team in the nation, made its way out to Floyd Casey, and we wanted to see them play.

We got there early and got to watch Robert Griffin, our freshman quarterback who's got all the analysts talking, warm up.



Later, the specimen of a strength and conditioning coach had the guys out on the field preparing for the game.



And who should show up but two former track champions & Olympians, Jeremy Wariner and Reggie Witherspoon.



Here's Jeremy Wariner signing autographs.



And here the two of them are leading the Bears onto the field.



For more photos from the game, check out the slideshow below.



By the way, we would like to point out that OU is no longer the #1 team now that UT has beaten them in Dallas at the Red River Shootout. Hook 'em Horns!

Target Practice

We went out to the shooting range on Saturday. This was my first shooting experience - and it was a lot of fun! I think we may have found a new hobby.

Post Hurricane Celebration

Hrricane Ike didn't make too much of an impression on us out here. A cold front moved in just in the knick of time and pushed all the bad weather to our east. We did get some wind and rain, but nothing too damaging. Our friends in the east, however, are still without power and waiting for things to get back to normal. Ick.

In any event, while the Getzes were around our parts last weekend, they decided to host an early birthday party for little miss Clara. Here are some photos from the event.

Waiting on Hurricane Ike

The Getzes drove up from Houston yesterday to escape from Hurricane Ike, which is currently making its way into Texas. We got to enjoy their company this evening as we waited for the storm to make its way out here. We also had a chance to give little miss Clara an early birthday present, as you can see in the slideshow below.

Coffee on the wall

We originally had painted two walls in the living room a leather brown color. As soon as it was up, we decided we didn't like it.

So, we painted one of the walls a cream color, and we finally decided on Coffee for the other wall. We think it looks pretty chic.



We'll post some pictures after we paint the crown moulding and put the living room back in order.

Green may not be John McCain's color . . .

. . . but we think it looks pretty good in our bathroom.



These pictures show you phase I of the bathroom face lift. We hope to finish painting it this weekend.



Our stairwell is starting to look good, too. Ted broke out the extension and covered all the hard to reach places this afternoon.

Alumni Festival

Three years after our first date during the Baylor Rugby Association's '05 Alumni Festival (see the link to their page on our sidebar), we finally made it out for another alumni event. Ted was convinced to play in the match (though we don't have any pictures to prove it). We did get some shots at Cricket's later that evening during a couple of intense matches of foosball.

Naco-nowhere and the End of Summer

Summer is quickly coming to an end. The first TA meeting of the semester is this Friday, and classes begin the following Monday, so it seems that a reflection on the summer is in order.

Summer '08 began with the arrival of our first visitors, my parents. Shortly thereafter, I began teaching at the local community college while Ted continued his business travels. In the midst of teaching, I headed out to Daytona Beach to grade AP exams. Ted joined me there, leaving at 2 a.m. in order to maximize his time there. I was able to join him in Charlotte, NC immediately following AP, and we enjoyed all that the Southpark area has to offer.

At the end of the Summer I session, Ted's parents and nephew, our second group of visitors, arrived to help us celebrate Independence Day. We said goodbye to our visitors the weekend after the 4th, and, having completed my teaching duties, I was free to travel with Ted. We have been all over - Jacksonville, AL; Carrollton, GA; Atlanta, GA; Charlotte, NC; and most recently and often, Nacogdoches, TX. This blog comes to you from Naco-nowhere, as Ted calls it. The drive from home to here is beautiful, but the scenery has been "washed out" this week. It has rained,
and rained,
and rained,
and rained all week long. We're not talking about the start and stop kind of rain. No sir, it has rained consistently all week long. Yuck.

We also were able to get away and relax in California. Beautiful scenery, cool weather, and no pressing deadlines - doesn't get any better than that.

All in all, it has been an eventful summer. I've really enjoyed traveling to new places with Ted and am sorry that I have to stay put for the fall semester. But such is life as the summer comes to an end and we look forward to what the fall has to offer us. As always, we'll keep you posted!

California Vacation Pics

We got back from our California vacation a few days ago. It was the first time either of us had been out there in about two years, so it was nice to go back. Check out the pictures below and enjoy the sites we saw in Balboa Park, San Simeon, and Morro Bay.

For your consideration

My students will be writing on this issue in the next two weeks. The case is interesting, and I haven't made up my mind about it. Hopefully it will lend itself to good student responses.

Committee forming

I am hard at work on my prospectus - the plan for my dissertation - which I have to get approved before I can dig into the dissertation itself. One small difficulty - putting a committee together that will get me through this process. I had a stroke of good luck today when one professor agreed to "join the crew." My choice for committee member #2 declined, and my other options in this category aren't that great, so I'm in a bit of a bind here. I think some groveling is in order, and if that doesn't work, some creative thinking will have to get me through.

Moving on

Our friends and neighbors, the Getzes, will be moving on to Houston very soon. We are sorry to see them go and will miss moments like this:

but we congratulate them on the new job and wish them luck on this next phase of their journey.

We made a quick trip to Atlanta :-)

but forgot to take pictures. :-(

Here are a few highlights: we ate dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse and had a view of Olympic Centennial Park. On the way there, we passed the World of Coca-Cola and CNN (did you know that CNN's headquarters are in Atlanta? We didn't).

In addition, we had a couple of hiccups: I forgot to tip the valet when we left the restaurant (oops). We also got a bit turned around in the downtown area and ended up on the same street two or three different times when we were trying to leave. Blame it on really poor signage and our navigation system - it's not used to being in the big city, and Atlanta is, most definitely, a big city.

Ted and Yolanda's Visit to Ted and Yolanda Part V

On the final day of Ted and Yolanda's visit to Ted and Yolanda, it was time to celebrate. Matthew's had just turned 4, and Uncle Ted and Aunt Yolanda wanted to throw him a mini party. We bought a chocolatey cake and a candle - viola! Party!




Later that evening, we drove out to the law school where we could get a good view of the fireworks and celebrate America's birthday. It was a very exciting day.

In the end, we were sad to see Ted and Yolanda go. We had lots of fun while they were here, though, and look forward to their next visit.

Ted & Yolanda's Visit to Ted & Yolanda Part IV

(Bet you thought this saga was over, didn't you?)

The day after the zoo, Ted and Yolanda took Ted and Yolanda and Matthew to Homestead Heritage. They all walked around the grounds, enjoying the scenery and the people who live and work there.

Ted and Yolanda's Visit to Ted and Yolanda Part III

After our many adventures at the zoo, including battling the sun and a jealous turkey, we returned to Ted and Yolanda's condo, where Matthew was able to spend some time with neighbor Clara.

Matthew shared his zoo souvenir with Clara, an Indian spear.

Then he showed off his new train set.
After playing with the train set, Clara opened the gift Matthew picked out for her - a brand new baby doll.
Ted was playing guitar hero while all this was going on, a favorite with Clara.
Apparently Matthew is a fan of this game, too, and he showed his Uncle Ted how a pro plays.