Happy 2 weeks!

Just a quick update on our favorite nephew! Ryker is 2 weeks old today, which is hard to believe. All is well - he's slowly starting to figure out his days and nights..although his mom might disagree :) His little cheeks are starting to fill out and he looks more like his dad every day. It's been a lot of fun being able to be a part of his first 2 weeks and we look forward to continuing to watch him grow.

Overall he's perfect!

Happy Birthday Ryker!

We are VERY happy to announce the arrival of our new nephew - Ryker Lawrence Spihlmann. Ryker came into the world on Monday, October 13th, at 11:42 p.m. He weighed 8 lbs 7 oz and was 21.5 inches long.

Robyn unfortunately had a pretty rough delivery, but was VERY strong through all 18 hours of it! Her strength was admirable.

Ryker is P-E-R-F-E-C-T! He is eating well, starting to figure out his days and nights and get's undeniably cuter by the second.

Brandon and I are very lucky to be such a blessed aunt and uncle.

Let the spoiling begin!...

Introducing.......Baby Williams

Brandon and I are very happy to announce that we are expecting our first baby next Spring! This picture is unfortunately a little dark - but you may be able to detect 2 arms and 2 legs - which I've heard are pretty important in this whole "making a human" thing! We had our 1st ultrasound earlier this week and we were able to hear the heartbeat and see the baby waving his/her arms and legs. Needless to say, it was pretty amazing.



So far, things have been good. I'm starting to get through the nausea/vomiting glory that is the 1st trimester and everyday I feel a little better . Brandon has been extra caring and has picked up some extra slack around the house which is always nice. The fatigue is also starting to subside which is nice because for about 3 1/2 weeks I was really afraid that one of my employees would catch me in my office taking my afternoon nap around 2:30!



We anxiously await week 20 when we will find out the sex....I keep having dreams that it's a girl (sorry B).





BUT more importantly we VERY much await the arrival of our new nephew - who should be making his debut in 7 short days!! SO EXCITING!!



Thanks to everyone for all of the well wishes and prayers - it certainly wasn't easy to keep this giant secret for 13 whole weeks...and it's fun to be able to share it now with the ones we love.

Stay tuned....

Happy Anniversary/Go HAWKS!!

So.....I don't really know what came over me but I decided to give Brandon an EXTRA Special 1 year Anniversary Gift....Hawkeye Season Football Tickets. Perhaps I was feeling a little guilty (shopping problem) or maybe I was feeling a little bit generous, but either way I surprised him with the tickets a couple of weeks ago.



The reaction was just as I expected. COMPLETE SILENCE. He was Stunned. Baffled. Speechless. It was AWESOME. Now, I must admit that this was a semi-selfish gift as I got a taste of the Hawkeye Poison last year when our neighbors removed my Hawkeye Virgin Belt and took us to a game for Brandon's Birthday. It was over. They got me. Hook. Line. Sinker.









Now, don't get me wrong...it has been mandatory to "bleed black and gold" since we got married - have I ever mentioned that for my birthday the year we got engaged I got lotion from Von Maur and 2 Iowa Hawkeye T-shirts? He's such a giver.


So, anyhow - this whole die-hard Hawkeye thing has been burned into my brain from day 1 but it's different now. As Brandon said - "we're REAL fans now". It's true, I'll admit it. During last Saturday's opener against Maine, I actually found myself thinking "#6 - Jake Christensen just threw a pass to #23 Shonn Greene" AND THEN I even went on to think "o.k...Shonn caught it and he's running, that's a first down." A FIRST DOWN. I knew what a First Down was and I didn't even have to ask!! Holy S, there is a god. It was remarkable, it was as if the football gods opened up the heavens and dumped holy hawkeye football knowledge all over me.


So, with all of this new holy hawkeye football knowledge pouring out of me....I turned to Brandon and preceded to ask "So, I forget in this game are their 2 quarters or 4 halves?". Damn.


Maybe next game.....

Congrats!!

A long over-due Congratulations to Laura and Jimmy on their engagement. They are an absolutely wonderful couple and we are very, very excited for them! We are even more excited for their dog Stella who is no longer a bastard child.

The count down begins for the big day - Labor Day Weekend 2009!! Let the fun begin......

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

I swear Kinnick has multiple personalities.

Mr. Hyde -
This is where I caught him earlier today...delicately devouring a pair of my shorts as if they were the Lobster Special. And of course he has mastered this art of hosting his own buffett on our personal articles - UNDER our bed in the farthest corner. Where not even Shaq could reach him.


It is at these moments that I too can feel my other personality rising up from the depths of my soul....the personality that wants to grab the little booger and ring his neck. It's at these very trying times that *POOF* I turn around and he's switched on me to...

Dr. Jekyll -









Enough Said.

We aren't in Kansas anymore...

So....last night was an adventure here in the Life with B&M. We survived our first major event as homeowners....

The day started out as any other Sunday would. Kinnick awoke around 7:30 and thoughts of dog related torture flew through my brain. I kept thinking "If I lay here and don't move, he won't notice me". Not so much. We were moving and shaking 5 minutes later. The day progressed as normal...watched a movie, ran some errands, debated on whether to cook dinner or utilize the oh-so-tempting Papa Murphy's coupon (http://www.papamurphys.com/) that was sitting on the counter....

It was at that exact moment that Brandon happened to notice the sky getting darker....and then we heard the Tornado Sirens and we knew something was coming. As we flipped on Ch. 8 - we were quickly informed that this storm would be in our neighborhood in about 8 minutes. So, we did what every Iowan does...we went outside. Everyone knows that when you hear the tornado sirens, it's just a clue that you need to get on your "Storm Watching Goggles" and go sit on your front porch. Call us crazy....but as we embarked outside we stopped to chat with our neighbor Matt - who said "screw the goggles" and just went on about his business of seeding his lawn.

It only took about two minutes before the goggles came off and we got our butts inside and downstairs. Well...we took a small detour upstairs and then decided when a Hubbell Homes sign went flying by our home that this wasn't the average Summer Storm and we headed downstairs.

Now...this is when the fun began because not just 4 minutes earlier had our power went off. Well, it took all 4 of those minutes for the water to just start pouring into our basement. I thought we were going to have to build an ark for Kinnick and call it a day. Needless to say...we panicked a little but after a bit of collaborative communication...I call it collaborative communication, some might call it yelling/screaming. Anyhow, after our little pow-wow we got everything moved quickly and started controlling the small river we had forming in the basement.

It wasn't but 15 minutes later that we thought we better arise out of the trenches and see what else happened to the outside of our home. As we walked outside....it was craziness. Our neighbors who live directly behind us (Andy and Billie) had a 2x6 fly through their roof, causing a sizable hole which was now full of the rain left behind from the storm. The water was pooling in their spare bedroom and making its way through the ceiling, into their kitchen. The lady next to them had a 2x6 fly through her living room, and unfortunately the size of the hole was too big to repair before the next round of storms hit. Another house two properties down, had 1/2 of it's roof torn off (hence the 2x6's flying through the air).

It was absolutely amazing the way that everyone in our neighborhood came together to help everyone who had massive damage. It was like people were crawling out of the woodwork. Matt and his dad Denny quickly helped Andy repair the hole in his roof.

**SIDE NOTE: Now, I must add that Matt acts in mysterious ways - I'm beginning to believe he has kits in his garage that are labeled for such emergencies (Storms, Tornadoes, Iowa Hawkeye defeat...etc.) as I've never witnessed someone who had exactly everything that was needed for this type of predicament and was able to retrieve it so gracefully. If I didn't know better - I would've sworn he kept extra roof shingles in his boxers for occassions just like these.....

With the help of everyone - the neighbors greatly affected by the 1st storm were able to repair enough of the damage needed to withold the next round of storms which came about 35 minutes after the first. Luckily - these weren't nearly as bad.

It was heart-breaking to see our friends/neighbors be forced with the damage that occured to their homes but most importantly no one was hurt. If anything, it was amazing to see the support, help and care administered by our neighborhood in this time of need. Situations like these help to refresh the sense of pride I have in being an Iowan.

When the day was done and I looked around - there is still a lot of work to be done around here. But we'll get there.

And, during the middle of all of this drama - I must say that I glanced around for some ruby-red slippers or some dumb witch under the debris -because we surely weren't in Kansas...anymore.