Hello Andrew. So good to meet you.

James Andrew Parnell, Jr. graced us with his presence May 21, 2010 at 3:14 pm. He is a happy, handsome, wide-eyed little boy who likes to be called Andrew. Both he and mom are doing great!

He was begging to say "hi", so I told him I'd insert this picture. If you'd like to say hi in person, we are at Methodist Germantown Women's Pavilion until at least tomorrow - maybe Monday.

Thanks for all your prayers, love, texts, calls, and encouragement. We are truly blessed with an incredible group of friends and family in Memphis. Andrew will soon get to meet all these wonderful people and that is very exciting to us.

Uncontrolled Hilarity and Cupcakes

I must direct you to a video that Muddy's Bake Shop just posted. You know Elizabeth and I love Muddy's and cupcakes. You also probably know I have a love for uncontrolled hilarity. See below.

And just for the record, I googled "hilarity" to make sure I spelled and used it correctly. And then I googled "uncontrolled". "Uncontrolled hilarity" defined into more English is "great merriment without discipline or governance". I believe that is what is going on here.

And for those of you that love the musical background on our blog, it has been disabled for this post. Its hard to watch a video with sound with Earth, Wind, and Fire bringing the funk in the background.

Earth, Wind, and Fire

We have lived in Memphis now nearly 3 years and have never really had the desire to go to the Beale Street Music Festival, mostly because it always rains, you stand in mud up to your ankles, the pot smokers outnumber the cigarette smokers, and you are forced to press your sweaty body against the decay of Western Society.



Well this year I heard that Earth, Wind, and Fire was coming. I happen to really like them (much to James' confusion - he believes I was born in the wrong musical era). Last year I added them to my short, but growing bucket list. James, being the super husband that he is, found us some 1 day passes for Sunday. James spent hours counseling me about the fact that we may have to stand in a downpour, whatever footwear we wore would have to be disposed of, and that if we had tickets - we would be going. He also threatened to deliver Andrew himself in the mud and rain should I go into labor at the Festival. I had a really great time and I think James had an okay time :).He was a good sport at least to take his 37 week pregnant wife to a concert. And, it didn't rain on Sunday!

Showers for Andrew

Some super sweet and generous friends and family have hosted some awesome baby showers for us over the past few weeks. They have all been really special and James and I feel blessed to have so many friends and family members that are excited to meet Andrew and be a part of his life. I have not been the best at taking pictures at all of them, but I wanted to share a few that I had.

Side by Side shower at Katie's. Love those Muddy's cupcakes and diaper cake by Anna.

Diaper cake by Erin at my Nashville shower.

Sweet friends- Jenny and Caroline.

This was Tiffany's 1st try at fondant...cutest baby shower cake I've ever seen!

Tennessee Tuesday

I recently found another Memphis Gem. No, its not a new flavor at Muddy's Bake Shop (although there is always something new to try). On Tuesdays with a Tennessee Driver's License you get in free after 2 PM at the Memphis Zoo. I've been twice in the last three weeks to enjoy the animals. I would've been batting a thousand, but one day I showed up without my ID. I know, all you have to do is show up with your ID, and I left the house with my ID laying on the kitchen counter.

The Polar Bear peeking through the "sniffing hole" at us.

Old Man. Check out that face.

Young Man with bottle some lowlife threw in. He filled it up with water from the pond and was drinking out of it.

Love that petting zoo.

The Rhino we got to ride.

Tennessee Tuesday proves to be another of Memphis' gems. I often say that Memphis gets a "bad rap" and isn't as terrible as people make it out to be. Let Tennessee Tuesday at the Memphis Zoo represent one of the reasons that this is true.

Recently my accompaniment to the Zoo has been Craig Wright and Brandon Lokey. I plan to go each Tuesday until Andrew comes, and maybe take him although I'm not sure what kind of zoonoses he might catch. Who's coming with me next week?

"That jacket dun' drawn up on ya'..."

I have another memory to record because I almost lost it. A few weeks ago, I went with Craig Wright, Elizabeth's Dad, and Elizabeth's Uncle to St. Louis to watch the BasketVols play in the Elite Eight.

We made the 5 hour drive without tickets, knowing we could scalp some there. We did eventually find tickets and enjoyed the game, but that's not the memory I need to record - as the BasketVols in the Elite Eight will not soon be a fleeting memory.

As we hit the streets in search for tickets, St. Louis was covered with a light drizzle. The scalpers were ignoring the theories of Adam Smith asking for excessive amounts of green stuff for their tickets. Since no one was buying, they decided to make fun of one of their potential customers.

Enter Orange Jacket. I bought you at a thrift store in Knoxville. You were too small for me then. You are too small for me now. But you were only $5. And you look great with jeans. I can dress you up or down. As a classy UT fan, I can wear you over an white Oxford shirt. As a more focused fan, I can wear you over any of my non-orange colored UT shirts. You have ticket stubs in your pockets from games many moons ago. You, Orange Jacket, are my friend.

Orange Jacket In St. Louis watching BasketVols, dressed down with Black Tee.

Orange Jacket with Smokey before UT v. Arkansas game in 2007. Again dressed down with gray UT Tee.

Orange Jacket dressed up with white Oxford shirt before UT v. LSU 2006.

Enter Disgruntled Scalpers. From the scalpers I received the following heckles: "Did Pat Summit let you borrow her jacket?" Followed by, "Hey big guy, your little brother called, he wants his jacket back." Made complete with, "You better get outta the rain, that jacket dun' drawn up on ya'."

I considered retiring the Orange Jacket. But that would be a win for them. And I love that Orange Jacket.

And when I bought a pair of lower level seats for $106 below face value - I decided that I got the last laugh, in my Orange Jacket.