Thursday, November 27, 2008

Tiger II's Two Year Anniversary

It was 2 years ago this day...had family in town staying with us for turkey day. Roy came in from outside and exclaimed that there was a cat with her kitties in our bushes.
Frank: "Shh! Holly might hear y..."
Holly: "What? What kittens?"
Frank: "Ah man...thanks a lot Roy."

It now became Holly's missions to save the kittens from their miserable lives. The wide open space, plenty of field mice, tons of fences and trees to climb, plenty of cars for them to leave their paw prints on. Cornering the kittens and chasing the little buggers didn't help...those dudes are shifty and lightning fast. Holly got tricksie and cracked open the garage door and left food. Next thing we know we have 2 kittens trapped in our garage. After a couple dozen friendly scars and some Bactine® we had 2 kittens in our home.

Originally Holly liked the white kitty, but ended up switching and keeping Tiger II. Never been a cat dude and still don't consider myself a cat dude, but Tiger II is cool. He thought he was a dog for a while, so thats how he got on my good side. Never played fetch with a cat before, but Tiger II knew if he was going to last here, he'd have to connect with me somehow.

Two years later, Tiger II is still on my good side. Go figure.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

T-Bone's Week 13 Picks

T-Bone, T-Bone, T-Bone has done it again! Second week in a row hes gone 6-10...not good at all. I sat him down this week and we had a long talk while watching Sports Center. He watched 6 hours of NFL Live, Inside the NFL and NFL Total Access. His overall record is dropping dangerously close to .500 -- this is the week he plans to turn things around.


It's Good!!

The kick is up...

its got the distance...

and...

IT'S GOOD!!

Finally got the field goal post painted in the kids room. I think we are officially done with painting. Time to get the cribs set up.


Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Week 29

Howdy folks! We spent the last night of week 28 and the first day of week 29 over at the hospital. Everything is cool, but Holly was having a lot of contractions, she had 8 in an hour and that was all it took for them to tell us to go in. The cool thing is that our hospital just opened a new wing for women and everything is brand spanking new. We were the first peeps to be admitted and stay in room 4. Woohoo! We left home around 10:30pm and headed to the hospital. Was going to stop for gas, but figured I should probably wait until we head back home.

At the hospital, they took us to the old wing and there was a little chaos there. The new wing had literally just opened and they were still moving stuff between the new and old wings. They finally sent us over to the new wing and it is SNAZZY! Everyone was super cool, it was like they just started their shift and they were all on the top of their game and very nice. It was funny to watch them all trying to find stuff since they were all in the new rooms for the first time and things are all in different places. They hooked up 3 monitors to Holly's jelly-belly. One for each dude and one to monitor the contractions. Holly wasn't making it up...she was having a lot of contractions. Everything checked out fine though and they said a lot of women with small bellies who all of a sudden bust out cause of twins just experience a lot of contractions. We just gotta make sure there is no back pain with it or any other pain.

This post is getting long so I will wrap it up. Kids and mom checked out fine. I found out the new furniture isn't really nice for lying down and long-term rest. We got our picture taken on the way out because we were the first peeps to be discharged from the new wing. I forgot to fill up the truck on the way home at 2:30 in the AM. Note to self: keep the truck filled up and ready to go. Last night was a good dry run.

Week 29:
Babies are growing rapidly now. This week he weighs about 2 1/2 pounds (like a butternut squash) and is a tad over 15 inches long from head to heel. His muscles and lungs are continuing to mature, and his head is getting bigger to accommodate his growing brain — which is busy developing billions of neurons. Every day, about 200 milligrams of calcium is deposited in the baby's skeleton, which is now hardening. With this rapid growth, it's no surprise that the kids' nutritional needs reach their peak during this trimester.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

28 Weeks Later

It has been 28 weeks since the Rage virus first spread throughout Britan. NATO forces have been repopulating...oh, sorry. Wrong 28 Weeks Later. 28 weeks later and we have had 2 baby showers (both Raider themed, cool eh?), the kiddos weigh over 2 lbs, have eye lashes and are blinking and...they have names!! No more Baby A and Baby B for these dudes.

It is our pleasure to introduce Jeremy Alan (Baby A) and Jordan Andres (Baby B). They have some awesome clothes, toys, shoes, fancy stink fighting diaper disposal can things, TONS of Raider paraphernalia and more! We were blessed with TWO baby showers and our friends and family went out of their way to make our "Raider" showers amazing. Just this weekend we got our cribs, mattresses and car seats...2 of each. With the awesome gift cards from Westside Church of Christ (EPT) and more gift cards from friends, we barely spent a couple hundred for those big ticket items.

Here are pics from the showers. This first set are my pics from my mom, sister and nieces who stayed with us during the first shower weekend. [PHOTO ALBUM 1]
This one is from the same weekend, pics my sista took. [PHOTO ALBUM 2]
This one is from the second baby shower, pics that Michelle and Ray took. [PHOTO ALBUM 3]

Holly seems to get bigger every day. Jeremy and Jordan are kickin' and punchin' and it is great to see it and feel it. Sometimes they'll kick and it will make Holly's leg kick. Pretty hilarious to see. Now I just gotta get Holly to put down the Mario Kart so we can start organizing the babies' room.


Wednesday, November 19, 2008

T-Bone's NFL Picks for Week 12

Wow, T-Bone is coming off a horrible week 11. He only got 6 out of 14 games right. He needs to start looking over Holly's shoulder. She is ranked 3rd in our pick'em league right now! I don't think T learned his lesson though. He picked the Chiefs, Rams and Lions again. Stink.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

T-Bone's Week 11 NFL Picks

T-Bone had an average week last week and just broke even at 7-7. He is still over .500 for the season though. This week could change that though. Either that or he is a genius. He picked quite a few upsets this and feels good about the Chiefs, Rams, Seahawks, Ravens, Chargers AND the LIONS! I tried to talk him out of it...but he wouldn't listen to reason. At least he didn't pick the Raiders again.



Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Puppies!!

Sitting at my desk eating my Healthy Choice® Salisbury Steak (bleh) and watching the puppies. What puppies? The Sheba Inu puppies! Meant to share the link a while ago and just never got around to it. The six Shiba Inu pups (3 boys and 3 girls) turned 5 weeks old on November 11th. This is the first litter from their mom, Kika.

Girls:
- Autumn (Purple collar) - 3 lbs 5.8 oz (as of Nov 11th)
- Ayumi (Yellow collar) - 3 lbs 3.4 oz (as of Nov 11th)
- Amaya (Red collar) - 3 lbs 6.6 oz (as of Nov 11th) 

Boys:
- Aki (Green collar) - 4 lbs 0.4 oz (as of Nov 11th)
- Akoni (Black collar) - 3 lbs 12.6 oz (as of Nov 11th)
- Ando (Blue collar) - 3 lbs 1.2 oz (as of Nov 11th)

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Week 27

Wow, where did the time go? Last few weeks have been a blur. Aside from Holly's belly growing to the size of a red kickball, we've done a lot of cleaning, reorganizing, painting...all while we both were sick. Holly is back to normal. I'm hanging on to my precious virus as long as I can. They grow up so fast. We finished our birthing class. All I got out of it was that now I know there is a Frullati in our hospital that makes some great tasting shakes.

Got some pictures for y'all. The sonogram pics are from yesterday afternoon. We only got 3 pics out of it. All 3 are of Baby B. In one pic I think he is flashing the "Hook'em Horns" sign. Baby A's head was way low and turned away. So no pics of the lil' guy.

Great news though. The kiddos were like Ying and Yang, one head down (Baby A) and the other head up (Baby B). That was okay for now, but at delivery time they both need to be head down. Well, Baby B has done it. He has flipped and now both kiddos are head down! Both guys are between 2.25-2.50 lbs.

Baby room is almost done! (complete photo album) We painted the sidelines and the hash marks. Holly picked up some yellow paint today so we can paint a field goal post around the window. Grandma Nena was here this weekend, along with my sis Mari and my nieces Isabella and Genesis. Before they left Mom wanted to stop by Hancock Fabrics. As much as I didn't want to go in that snooze building, it ended up great. Mom took home some Raider fleec fabric (for baby blankets) at rock bottom prices...veterans day sale. Mom called yesterday...she was back home and at Hancock Fabrics again. She picked up more Raider fabric for crib sheets, bumpers and curtains! I guess we will end up with a Raider room afterall.

That is it for now...almost. Here is what is going on inside the belly week 27:
This week, your baby weighs almost 2 pounds (like a head of cauliflower) and is about 14 1/2 inches long with his legs extended. He's sleeping and waking at regular intervals, opening and closing his eyes, and perhaps even sucking his fingers. With more brain tissue developing, your baby's brain is very active now. While his lungs are still immature, they would be capable of functioning — with a lot of medical help — if he were to be born now. Chalk up any tiny rhythmic movements you may be feeling to a case of baby hiccups, which may be common from now on. Each episode usually lasts only a few moments, and they don't bother him, so just relax and enjoy the tickle.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

T-Bone's NFL Picks: Week 10, 2008

Well...T-Bone did pretty good again last week, 8 right, 6 wrong. He got the Bengals right last week...this week he picked the Lions to get their first win!



Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Our New Baby Has Arrived!!

Woohoo! Single Stream Recycling is here! Finally got to say buh-bye to our little blue bin and we got our big recycling bin last week. Now I won't have Sports Illustrated stacking up in the garage with cardboard boxes. Anyone else loving it?

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Ruppel's Halloween Prom Night

You may remember that last year Craig and Corrie's halloween party was an 80's Theme Party. Put some effort into our costumes...I made a Pac-Man costume and Holly made herself an Inky (the blue ghost) costume. This year the "band" I've been jammin' got our first gig to play at the Ruppel's party.

This time the theme was prom...and this time I spent more time trying to practice the songs than work on a costume. I put on a tuxedo shirt and Holly put her hair up and played the part of the principal and we were done. So no shot of me repeating for best costume this year. We had a blast though and it was fun playing music in front of peeps. We played Just Like Heaven, Last Kiss, Your Love, Let's Get It On, Better Man, Jessie's Girl, My Own Worst Enemy, Drive, Fight For Your Right and Good Riddance (Time of Your Life).

Craig should have some video and I will share that as soon as he makes it available. For now...here are all the pics we grabbed from the night! [ PHOTO ALBUM ]

Will hopefully have more photos and video from Craig soon. Below is another photo album from Bobbi and a video Chuck's sister took...but kinda bad quality on his camera.



Photos that Bobbi (she's the prom queen on Holly's right) posted: Slide Show or Photo Album

Better Man Video: Anita on the Drums, Chuck (in tux and mullet wig) on vocals/lead guitar and I'm rockin' the silver hat and tux t-shirt on rhythm...

Sunday, November 2, 2008

El Paso Visit in October

So last month we hit the road and headed back home to El Paso. This was the last trip for a while, Holly is no longer allowed to travel. We visited with Holly's Mom and Pops, my Grandma and my Pops and the kids. Everyones doing great...we miss them all. :(  Didn't get a chance to see the rest of my family. You guys all need to move to Austin soon! Until then, you always have a place to stay here.

One of the highlights of the trip was getting to watch my lil sis (Randy) playing volleyball. They lost, in fact, I think they said that was their worse game of the season, but it was still great watching them play. Got some great pics with the pics, Holly and my Grandma and Holly and her mom, pops and Mike. Here is the PHOTO ALBUM for our El Paso trip.

We've been busy and sick, so thats why its taken me a while to post. We gotta get back to working on the baby room. We've got 2 baby showers lined up the next 2 Saturdays in a row! Both came up with great invitations...

And tomorrow night is part 2 of our wacky birthing class. Please, oh please, no more birthing videos! Ewww...