It's a girl!

I was right...and the poll was right. But mostly I was right. It's a baby GIRL! Isabelle Dru Morvant will join our family early next year. Yeah!

Thank you Aunt Cindy!

When we got home today, Allie had a nice surprise in the mail. Aunt Cindy from Hong Kong sent her these adorable yellow football ponytail holders! So we ran to her room and put on her LSU shirt and did her hair in ponytails. It was adorable. She loves her present.

Thank you Aunt Cindy for thinking of Allie. We miss you so much and can't wait to see you, Tim, Lily and Violette again:)

What will it be?

Stay tuned to find out the answer. Big ultrasounds scheduled for Monday, September 22nd!!!

Hurricane Gustav

So we had to leave our beach vacation early to head home and ride out a hurricane. The only thing on our minds was Hurricane Katrina back in 2005 which devastated New Orleans. We live outside of Baton Rouge, and the city doubled in size overnight. Our streets were crowded, gas and food was hard to come by. It wasn't pleasant, but we didn't lose our homes or anything major.
So when Hurricane Gustav headed right for Louisiana, we were most worried about New Orleans. We needed to be home and be able to get right back to work when it was over. The firm I work for is headquartered in New Orleans, meaning there would be a lot for me to do.
Little did we know that Gustav would do a major number on Baton Rouge.

After we got home very early Sunday morning, we slept until almost noon. We didn't know that it would be the last night of good sleep we would get for almost a week. My dad wanted us all together for the storm, so we packed up and headed to my parents house. We cooked a yummy dinner and went to bed early.

Monday morning Gustav rolled in early. We lost power by 9:00 am and sat there all day watching the news (thanks to a generator) and watching the major winds tear down the fence and blow trees around. My parents lost their entire fence and even a light pole in the front yard.
By late afternoon, the storm was over. Amazing how quick it comes through, then leaves and we have to pick up the pieces. Since we had a generator, I really wanted to go home. We headed back and spent the night at home. Ben only wanted to run the generator a few hours a day to keep the freezers cold. Since the humidity hadn't got in yet, Monday night wasn't too bad.

Tuesday started the first of 4 very long days. We woke up and ran the generator for a little while, watched the news and huddled around the fan. Then we headed to Ben's parents house to visit. Ben and his dad waited in line for about 2 hours for gas.
Wednesday, we did it all over again.
Thursday, we did it all over again.
Thursday morning was when I had my breakdown. It was so hot. I was tired. We were eating junk food. No end in sight. I just cried and cried. I remember at one point Wednesday night I layed there feeling like I was suffocating cause it was so hot. The entire subdivision was completely dark, not a light in sight. It was so spooky.

Luckily one of the malls in BR was open, so Ben sent me and Allie off to get some air. Brooke and Shaun came over that morning and Brooke started crying when she saw poor Allie and how hot she was. Her hair was matted to her face.


Jennie and James were at the mall with their kids too. We enjoyed some cold air for a few hours, then headed back to their house. They had a window unit in their bedroom and all 6 of us locked ourselves in there for a little while. The girls played and we listened to a press conference from Entergy, saying that we should have power back by Friday night. Woohoo!

I went home to find that Ben did some laundry and hung it out to dry in true white trash style...

As luck would have it, Jennie and James, Ben's parents and my parents all got power that evening!!! So we hooked my parents camper up to their house and slept in there. I didn't sleep good for some reason, but I was cool and that was all that mattered!!!

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Friday was a day of waiting to get power back. I helped my dad clean up the yard while Ben cleaned up our yard. Our favorite restaurant in Baton Rouge was open, so we headed out for dinner and gorged ourselves. Allie gobbled up a pulled pork sandwich like she hadn't eaten in days. Meanwhile, Brooke and Shaun were still waiting to get power back like we were. We were calling every 20 minutes to see if our answering machine picked up so we would know it was back on.
On our way home around 8:30, we resigned ourselved to the fact that we were spending another night in the camper. Then Ben called one more time and....POWER WAS BACK ON!!!

We were all so excited!! We packed our bags, did a little dance, and off we went!






It's been almost 2 weeks since the hurricane and we are just now getting back to normal. Stores are now stocked again and no lines at gas stations. My boss was one of the last to get power, just this past Thursday night. I hope we have seen all we will see this hurricane season. One is more than enough for me...

Our (very short) Destin Vacation

Thanks to Hurricane Gustav, our vacation was pretty much ruined this year. We were all so excited about our trip, we've had it planned since February. But mother nature had other plans for us. We decided to go anyway, knowing that a hurricane was likely heading towards us. We were mostly worried about not being able to get back home if New Orleans was hit the way it was back in 2005 during Katrina. We headed out early Thursday anyway and decided to make the best of the time we would have.

Me, Ben, Allie, mom and dad left on Thursday. We stopped in Ponchatoula to get Sheyenne and got to Destin around 5:00. Our condo was gorgeous, and right on the beach. We had 3 bedrooms and 3 full bathrooms...what more could you ask for?

Beautiful views



Very early Friday morning the rest of our crew joined us. We hit the beach right away. Even though it was Labor Day weekend, there weren't many people around. I guess they were smarter than us and decided not to chance it with a hurricane in the gulf.




The pool was huge, we spent a good deal of time there too.





Rocky got to put his little feet in the sand for the first time. Then my parents realized they could get a $500 ticket for having him on the beach, so off he went...



Saturday the girls went shopping for a little bit while the guys headed across the street to watch the LSU game. Due to the hurricane, the game was moved up and we weren't able to catch it in the condo.
Once they got back most of us decided that it would be best to head out that night. They were starting the contraflow early Sunday morning, and we might not be able to get back home. Looked like Hurricane Gustav was headed straight for Louisiana.
We tried to enjoy the rest of the day at the beach. Truth was we were very angry that we had to leave and barely enjoyed our vacation. We were out a lot of money and heading home to face a hurricane.
Looking back I wish we would have just stayed and came home after the hurricane.
Maybe we will try again next year.

The ride home went fine, we made it in just under 6 hours. I love Destin and wish we could have stayed longer.

A ballerina in the making

With three dance classes under her belt, I think Allie might be getting the hang of it. She's potty trained now as well, so she's on her way to full blown big girl status! She comes home singing the songs they teach her like "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "The Hokey Pokey."
I can't wait for her first recitial in April!

This is her friend Hunter Riley. They go to daycare together and were very happy to meet up. Bad news is that Hunter is actually in gymnastics class when Allie is in dance class. They are so cute together.


Some of my shots are kind of fuzzy. I'm taking them through the glass window and trying not to let her see me. Quite a challenge!
She loves the pom poms. Maybe I should put her in cheerleading.....






At the end of the class they roll down the mat. I think this was her favorite part!