Mack & Nesting

This is a big week for team Brooks. We have three birthdays in the course of 5 days. That’s a whole lot of partying happening around these parts.

Let’s start with the first man of the hour:

Mack/Maximus/Mack Daddy

(I also may or may not call him “Maxi Pad” on occasion. I can’t help it.)

4 years ago, Taylor and I made a horribly rash decision that has altered our lives for the hairier. We adopted this little guy:

I’ve always been a huge animal lover, so when my birthday rolled around in the summer of 2007, I thought getting a dog would be the best present – and best addition to our new college house. (My dog + my two roommate’s dogs = a perfect college house)

We were in Kansas when this decision somehow came to fruition, so Taylor, my mom, and I went to Wayside Waifs to find a sweet lab puppy to adopt.

Let me first say that before going to Wayside Waifs, my dad and I visited an animal shelter in Missouri where there were several lab puppies with severe cases of the mange. They were so tiny and so scabby and bald that I knew I needed one. What a perfect project going into my junior year at ACU – nursing a manged puppy back to health! Dad talked me out of it; ergo, Wayside Waifs trip. (Dad: your talking me out of a terribly diseased puppy only slightly makes up for the time you killed my favorite fish, Harry. Just so we’re clear.)

I’m off topic. So. We go to this animal shelter, but they have no puppies at all, only adult dogs. As we’re walking back out the doors, Mom looks over at this 1 year old black lab named “Marvelous” (yes, you’re reading that correctly) and says, “Aw, he’s cute! What about him?” Taylor and I both just look at her and shake our heads. We wanted a puppy, not a full-grown, 65lb dog…yet.

He was kinda cute though…so we stop and read his bio, especially since he was standing patiently looking at us while his cohorts were barking and jumping around like rabid freaks. His information sheet said that he was shy around people at first, loved other dogs, was housebroken, and knew standard commands.

Long story short, the dude already knew how to sit, lay down, and poop outside. The horribly rash decision to get a dog ended up being the best decision we’ve made in our relationship (aside from getting married, having a baby…blah, blah, blah).

Mack is THE best dog in the world. He’s a surprisingly graceful beast who’s very gentle, incredibly smart, and forever loving. Fun fact: we can literally set a hamburger on the ground, say “no, Mack”, walk out of the room, and it will still be sitting there when we come back.

Sure, he has his quirks, like foaming at the mouth at the dog park, missing his target by a tremendous amount when peeing on things (I’m talking a foot or more), or drinking milk and laying on the backs of furniture like a cat. Yea, he might even be a little scared of water, plastic bags, vacuum cleaners, exercise balls, elevators, lizards, and brooms, just to name a few. Those things aside, we love him dearly and would like to wish him a very happy 5th birthday.

He didn’t want to make a big deal of it today, so we went the subtle route:

Closing thought: photographing a black dog is very difficult. That’s all. Carry on.

Nesting

I was quite the critic when it came to the concept of “nesting” while pregnant. I mean, do you honestly believe I’ll be one of those I-washed-every-floorboard-by-hand-three-times-a-day kind of people? Absolutely not.

I recant my original sentiments.

I have not only taken off vent covers to vacuum inside the walls of our house, I have also recently undertaken every baking and decorating project possible. I gained 3 pounds last week due to the brownies, cinnamon bread, and pineapple cake I just couldn’t resist making. And eating.

I’ve spent entirely too much time on Pinterest this week deciding what DIY projects I could complete with the random stuff sitting around our house.

First, I needed a new table setting for our tiny table:

I can’t even tell you how excited I am to add to my wine cork collection once Beckett boy gets here. I keep the corks of bottles that have significance. Examples: the Chocolate Box wine mom gave me after running the half last summer and Arrington Vineyard corks from our fabulous trip to Nashville with Taylor’s sisters and brother-in-law.

Next, I needed some wall decor for our hall. (Yep – we only have one hall in our house.)

I wish you could see all the nail holes surrounding this shelf. I’m not a measure-5-times-cut-once kind of a person. I’m more of a “eh…that looks about right”person. It works about 75% of the time.

I also went ahead and put out some stuff for fall because I figured I’d be too busy in September to do it then. Plus, I’m pregnant so I do weird things.

Thanks to my fabulous parents, Taylor and I got a Keurig coffee maker for our birthdays. (!!!) Naturally, I was forced to take apart an old spice rack to create a K-Cup holder.

It also made for the perfect place to hide Buford*. Look closely:

I also painted and “distressed” an end table and tried to re-size and paint an empty picture frame (think hand saw). Those will not be featured because they didn’t turn out as well as one would hope.

I don’t know how much more I can find to occupy my time, but believe you me – I will find more. Ideas welcome.

*Buford: I’ll explain. Buford is an ugly little wind-up toy/Elvis impersonator that I bought for Taylor as a joke. Needless to say, he stole our hearts…or something like that. He turned into a mascot that we take turns hiding for each other just as a fun “I love you” reminder. If he had a highlight reel, it would certainly include being hand-delivered by a flight attendant and a Yellowstone National Park employee, as well as having a specially-made Texas Rangers jersey while the Rangers were in the World Series. He is forever a part of our family, mostly because he’s the most photogenic one in the bunch.

I’m compiling a list of things I will miss about being pregnant to post soon, (I can’t believe I said that sentence, let alone have legitimate items on my list) but I’ll give you a teaser in the form of a picture: