Boy or Girl?

Hard to tell from this shot what the gender is. All you can tell is that this is one attractive baby! Ha! Baby Schettler actually made everyone work very hard not only to detect gender but also get any measurements. Thank goodness for a persistent doctor! It was in the very last minutes of the 30 + minute ultrasound that we saw signs of our baby's gender.......

Clear enough for you? For those who have not had much experience with these pics - imagine the baby is sitting on a piece of glass and you are seeing it from the rear view. For those who don't want to work that hard.....IT'S A BOY!!!

It was very cool finding out the sex of the baby at this point. After you find out your pregnant, there really isn't much else to do besides wait so it was fun to look forward to this moment. We were able to "marinate" in it all day - what a unique experience to have someone assign a gender to you to raise! No matter what they say it takes your breath away momentarily! Now we can have a playmate for Harrison and Jake!

Portland..Plant Paradise & Adventures of Aaron

Ahh, what an awesome trip! Me and the boys- magnolia mccracken and grandpa john, recently returned from a fast and furious nursery and garden trip to the northwest. Using Portland as our home base we ventured far and wide to collect plants and grafting wood to propagate back in NC.

Mccracken and me taking in the horticultural hotties at the nursery

French Canadian misty mountains, magnolias, and maples

Flowers on fresh snow

Witchazel's frenzied flowers

A gathering of Portland's professional plantsmen after many margaritas

Chinatown and an authentic china garden. Fabulous foo dogs for you know who-a favorite of Stacey's.. I'm always on the lookout for shiny asian ornaments for my darling daisy.

Artistic asian elephants and amazingly detailed designs. We found this amazing full size bronze sculpture of mamma and mini elephant in one of Portland's chinatown parks.

After browsing books in Powell's-largest independent bookstore in the world!! We found ourselves feasting on dim sum for dinner- a revolving asian buffet on wheels.. wantons, dumplings, black pepper calamari and much much more. If ever you get a chance, try a sesame seed ball for dessert. These are like semi sweet filled doughnut holes that have been rolled in sesame seeds.. Yum!!

Mccracken and grandpa john packing our bags..

Oops! Is that one of Stacey's bags bulged out with our northwestern budwood? To my credit, I lined her luggage with plastic and made sure to shake all.. or at least most of the seeds from the front pocket. Better keep those bags handy as mr. magnolia and I are plotting another Portland trip in the fast approaching future. This time to scout out nurseries, accomodations, and gardens for the Magnolia Society meeting in May of 2009. Any takers??

I've Been Tagged!!

My friend, Erin, tagged me. I'll take a moment to explain this some readers (since my mom is still perplexed that she is not getting emailed about the blog posts instead of just checking it when she has time or is interested - or is bored at work like everyone else). Occasionally another blogger can "tag" you and you have to tell everyone five things about yourself that no one knows. It usually doesn't result in anything earth shattering, just funny stuff. So here goes!

1.) I once was a man. Just kidding. Erin, we have this one in common - I HATE to be hot. I'd like to hibernate in the summer. I ALWAYS sleep with a fan no matter what (many of you know this). My boss jokes that he would prefer not working with me June-September because I just gripe about how hot the car gets when we are on a sales call and take time-consuming efforts to keep this from happening like using the folding car shade, unrolling windows just so, etc. Yes, I will be hugely pregnant in July. Stop laughing. I planned it so I can stay inside the rest of July, Aug, September.

2.)I clean the living room every night before going to bed because it is the first room I see when I come downstairs and it ruins my chi to see it look like we've been robbed.

3.) Aside from my husband I think Sam Elliott is the sexiest man alive. I know he's, like, 60 or so but its true. Part of it is his voice: "Beef. Its what's for dinner". Ahhhhh.

4.) My favorite movie since I was old enough to watch them is "Urban Cowboy". This movie certainly won't win any awards for anything but bad, bad costume design but my parents can attest to me doing impersonations of Sissy when I was 5. Mortifying. (Things are starting to come clear between #3 and #4. I have definitely been influenced by my dad's penchant for westerns).

5.) I hate shopping malls and department stores. I actually only shop when I physically can't go another day without that particular article I need. The only time I enjoy it is when I am in a very cool city with things I have never seen before - one of a kind shops, truly unique home decor shops, etc. I also get annoyed when I have to spend money on shoes and jeans. You have to have both and they are expensive to get good ones. Just not rewarding to me. Good thing I don't see the same people at work everyday so I can repeat outfits a lot.