And the winner is...

So who had to make more bathroom stops on our road trip from Raleigh to Melbourne? Well, it wasn't much of a contest. Dad, with his trusty McDonalds' cup, continues to defy high expectations. At one point during the trip however Richelle was actually in contention by requesting back to back stops, but Dad clinched the competition by remaining behind us and sneaking off to rest areas. We caught him because at the end of the trip he was at least 10 minutes in FRONT of us, but when he arrived in Melbourne 15 minutes BEHIND us we knew something fishy was going on.

Once we arrived in Melbourne the fun really began. After unpacking one of the Camrys we realized that most of the stuff in the other Camry could be put into storage. Also, the baby furniture arrived at the local JCPenney and needed to be picked up by Saturday. The only problem was that not all the furniture could fit within the Camry. That meant we had to tie the crib to the roof of the Camry, drive it to the apartment, and unpack everything into storage. All this had to be done before the 3 o'clock afternoon rainstorm. Luckily we had the expert help of Andy, JCPenney's very own MacGyver. You can see from the pictures that his help was indispensable.

All in all Melbourne seems to be an interesting place.

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Dr. John Richard Samuels Jr.

After 5 years of graduate school at NC State, Johnny successfully defended his thesis and officially earned his PhD in Applied and Computational Mathematics! After his defense, John, Johnny, myself, a variety of professors and friends celebrated at a local dive. The event included a giant cookie from the Original Cookie Company, drinks, appetizers, lots of laughs along with some sad goodbyes. All in all, excitement and big hopes for the future filled the air!
I'll post pictures soon...

Welcome home...

Well Richelle and I are officially Floridians again. Last Wednesday and Thursday Richelle, Dad and I tried to shove everything that didn't make it into the POD into 2 Camrys. A couple of us were optimistic that the Camrys would do the trick, but as predicted we ended sending 8 boxes through UPS. Thank God for UPS, or else Boots would have had to ride roofside. Anyway, we woke up early Friday morning, loaded Ellie and Boots in the car and off we went. We had a good time driving down - heck, we even had a little contest going on. We wondered who would have more bathroom breaks - Dad, with his refillable coffee cups in hand or pregnant Richelle, who seems to hit up every bathroom in her path. Just for a little suspense I will post the results tomorrow...

So, we have a few stories to share about our adventures in Melbourne, but since I can't upload pictures yet they'll have to wait.

The Announcement Redux

So, some thought the video we posted May 31st did not work - they didn't have the volume turned up at the start of the video.  Here's our second attempt (make sure the volume is up!):

Four Years! 24 Weeks!

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Four years ago today, Johnny and I were married down in the fabulous Florida Keys surrounded by family and friends! 

We celebrated with an awesome dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Yummy! Johnny worked down on campus for most of the day in order to finish up the loose ends with his disertation. He gives his Doctoral Defense on Tuesday!  

This morning I went to the dentist. Turns out, I have pregnancy gingivitis. It made for a rough cleaning but basically my gums are red and irritated. The dentist said it should go away as soon as our little girl makes her appearance.

Speaking of our little girl (nameless so far), she is 24 weeks today! She is getting big. She lets me know she's up each morning with the pitter patter of her little hand or foot knocking on my tummy. Here is a picture of what she may look like at this point. Enjoy!

Pictures

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Baby furniture has arrived!!!

We are excited about putting it together once we find a place in Melbourne, FL.  When will we have a place in Melbourne?  Good question - that's one more reason to keep tabs on the blog!!  Enough marketing, here's a shot of the crib (from JCPenney).  There's also an accompanying changing table and 5 drawer dresser that we chose (no picture available in the coffee color).  Thanks to Gama for the generous gift!! 

19 week pictures

Here are a few pictures of our little bean sprout at 19 weeks. The first shot of our little girl shows her looking directly at the camera. Johnny thinks it's a sign of her brilliance that she turned to look at us the moment the technician snapped a shot!



Here is a profile shot that proved, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the fetus is a girl. They could have told us that I had sextuplets and I wouldn't have aruged - who can tell what's going on in there with just an ultrasound picture?




Another profile shot of her head and one of her arms.







Here she is again looking at the camera.







We could have probably figured this one out on our own - those are her feet! The same ones that I feel kicking me all day long!






Another profile shot of her head and arm.