Baby Poll

Sorry, I forgot to write about this yesterday. A few of my friends have had gender guessing polls on their blogs so I thought it would be fun. I have been meaning to put this up for weeks and it just hasn't happened. I figure a 3 day poll is better than none.

Just so you know, Brad is voting girl and I am voting boy. We have no real reason for this; I asked Brad what he was going to chose and I chose the opposite.

To help you make a guess here's a recap of the first 18 weeks of the pregnancy:

*No real morning sickness...felt bad a few days. The worst day was actually on into the 2nd trimester.

*I had some headaches and lower back pain, but I think that is normal to all pregnancies and won't really help in the boy/girl predicition.

*Cravings...sweet fruity desserts (strawberry pretzel salad, lemon cake, banana pudding), some chocolate (I have never been the biggest chocolate person, but some fudge sounds really good right now or a reeses peanut butter cup - yum!!!). I could eat Cracker Barrel, Mexican food, BBQ, and toasted sandwiches all the time. Finally, my drink of choice is lemonade and maybe some orange juice.

*The heartrate has been in the 150s to 160s at every appointment.

I checked the Chinese gender charts and we are really on the fence; there was no clear consensus. I guess that is about it. Have fun!

All Work and No Play

Here recently all Brad and I have done is work, work, work, and then some more work. I have worked the past 5 Sundays and in my home stretch of working 11 days straight with overtime on some of these weekdays. Let me just say I am going to be glad when Thursday comes!

Between work we have squeezed in football games and we got to have dinner with my stepbrother, Max. He was down in Orange Beach on business and came and met us for dinner at Mellow Mushroom (yum!). We had a great time visiting with him and catching up on all that was happening in his life.

Me and Max at the 'Shroom

Max, me, and Brad posing in front of the Pizza 'Shroom

A Win is a Win

...or so I thought. A co-worker of mine brought up an interesting topic this past week. She wished that Auburn had "really won". I am thinking, “really won”? What??? She went on to say that because of the way Auburn's defense played against West Virginia, getting interceptions, fumbles and things like that we didn't really win or it wasn't a good win; the points were not scored by the offense.

So, I start to think about this. Is she right? Did Auburn really win? Was it a "good" win?

Well, the score reflected an AU win - 41 to 30. In the end, that is what really matters, who has the most points at the end of the game.

I think when they invented football they said, let’s see how you can earn points. The most obvious way is through your offense. But, you can also earn points while you are on defense or while you are on special teams.

The rule writers said you could intercept the ball and run with it until tackled. They said there could be a fumble and whoever ended up with the ball got the ball and played offense. They said after one team scores or they have to punt, the other team has an opportunity to get the ball and run with it (whether that be for 5 yards or for a touchdown).

To me, a team knows these rules and practices and fine tunes their skills around this. It is what makes a good team a great team. You have to be good on all sides of the ball. You need to be able to run, pass, and block on offense. You need to be able to block, make stops and look for opportunities (and capitalize on those opportunities when they present themselves) on defense. I don’t know what you need to do on special teams but that is Jay Boulware’s job.

The whole conversation took me by surprise. I have only heard one other Auburn win contested and the rationale behind that was stupid (the other team won 3 of the 4 quarters – my thoughts: the final score is what matters).

My co-worker believed that Auburn could have done better for the SEC if they had scored all the points on offense. I have to disagree. If anything we showed that we can do it all; we are in it to win it, doesn’t matter which side of the ball we are on. Now, that does not go without saying, we have a lot to improve on (boy, do we have a lot to improve on). But, I didn’t think we would be 3-0 and right so now so I am pretty proud! War Eagle!!

Brad and me after our WIN against WVU

Game Day Recap

What a gorgeous day to kick off football season! We could not have asked for better weather. It was nice and sunny all afternoon and there was a wonderful breeze to keep you cool.

Our afternoon was filled with all sorts of fun. First, we were going to get Guthries chicken fingers for lunch. Ever since Brad mentioned it to me early last week I had been wanting them. Low and behold, when we pull into Auburn, it had been replaced by a hotdog joint. Luckily there is a Zaxby’s in the same parking lot so I was able to get my chicken finger filling.

Next came the Tiger Walk. We haven’t been to a Tiger Walk in a really long time and thought it would be fun to do for the first game. We got there in plenty of time and were on the 2nd row behind some kids – perfect view of the players and coaches. As you know, I am not one for watching the game or really knowing what is going on, I pay attention to what people wear. So, here’s my take on the coaches' attire.

Coach Trooper Taylor – very energetic. He was running down through the Tiger Walk jumping and just going crazy. Just a big ball of energy that excited the crowd and he did not lose his momentum during the game. When Terrell Zachery caught that long pass and ran for the touchdown, Taylor was running right there with him. He wore a black suit with a bright blue shirt, bright blue and black striped tie, with a black baseball cap backwards (would he have it any other way?). Coach Curtis Luper – as Brad would say, very GQ. He was in his light brown suit with is orange shirt and don’t worry, he had his orange sunglasses. He was cool as a cucumber and seemed very well put together. Coach Jeff Grimes – he is huge. When I say huge, I just mean tall, but like taller than Brad. I don’t really know what I expected, but I was not expecting that. Same goes for Coach Gus Malzahn. I imagined a short, scrawny guy. He was taller than Brad and looks like he works out with the team. The rest of the coaches were as I expected. It seems like they had a good color scheme going, alternating the orange and blue between the coaches as they proceeded through the Tiger Walk. Another fashion note – I always noticed that Tommy Tuberville’s pants were faded. I often wondered why his wife did not buy him some new pants. This coaching staff all had navy blue pants for the game but they weren’t faded! They maybe next week after a washing, but I was impressed. In fact, I thought they were jogging pants because they retained their color so well. It was only after rewatching the game on TV that I saw they were wearing belts and noticed the chino material.

On to the game…actually, I must say one of the reasons I love AU football…that is running into old friends when you least expect it. Without fail we see someone different each week. It could be on our way to the stadium, just outside the stadium or inside the game. This week we saw my old roommate, Marie, and her family. Marie was the best roommate ever and I wish we lived closer to each other!! We also saw our friend, Andrew's, boss and family. They were sitting 2 rows in front of us. Too bad they don't have season tickets this year; they were fun to sit by.


Back to the game - we sit on row 61. That means a big long trek up the stairs. This year, I have been practicing, but not really by choice. The bathrooms at work are out on my floor for renovations. They are also out on the 2 floors below me (we are the top floor). That means I have to go to the 5th floor to go to the bathroom. I told myself I needed to take the stairs to be prepared for football season and it has paid off! I made it to the top without too much huffing and puffing. Once we got up there we found out that the couple that sits next to us is pregnant too! It was neat to think that our kids will be at AU at the same time.


The game itself was exciting and kept my attention pretty much the entire time. It was so nice to see the team score. They looked like they were really enjoying themselves out there too. I hope next week is just as exciting and has the same outcome! (sorry Billy and Rebecca!)

War Eagle!

Brad and me before the game. I insisted we take a picture of baby's first game but we didn't want to take the camera with us. So, here we are before we headed to campus.

Coach Chizik getting excited at the Tiger Walk.

15 Week Appointment

Nothing too much to report. We got there to learn that our doctor had 4 in labor and that she was delivering one of those right then. So, we waited our turn and towards the end of the appointment she was called away again to deliver another baby. We had bascially finished everything up so it was not a big deal. I am glad she is willing to leave the patients in the office to go take care of the delivering mommas!

Back to the actual appointment - she said everything looked great and that the heartrate was 154. We go back October 1st and find out if we are having a girl or boy. I can't wait!!!!