We Interrupt This Blogcast...

…to update you on just what has been going on here at Casa Horvath. Rather than pig piling blog entries I thought we could cover all the bases in one fell swoop and then try to get back on schedule.

Thursday I put a second coat of paint in the baby’s room. It’s called Garden Hedge, to go with the Secret Garden bedding motif.


You’ll have to wait ‘til the next post to see the new bedding though.

Nola appears to have no lingering effects from the snake bite. The swelling is all gone, her energy level is back up to 11 ½ and the scariest thing she has to deal with any given day is the bicycling five year olds! She’s just about finished with her medications which is a good thing because the steroids make her SO THIRSTY that we have to monitor her intake constantly lest she make large puddles thru the night. Here’s a picture of her trying diligently to ignore me with the camera right up in her face:


We spent this past weekend at the annual McCarty Family Fall Mini-Reunion. We met in Champaign, Illinois which is halfway to everybody (except the Tim McCarty clan, whoever spawned the idea must’ve thought Champaign was halfway between Chicago and Pittsburgh!) for eats, drinks, merriment and, of course, outlet mall shopping in Tuscola. A good time was had by all:


From left: Charlene, Jerry, Megan (kneeling), Mary, Juanita (seated), Kevin, Helen, Lucas, Michael, Carolyn, Matthew, Pam, Steve, Teresa, Brian, Tim, Janice (with Chief), and Max.

And finally, upon returning Sunday Momma removed the tape and we started filling the baby’s room. As before, we start with a pic of the lonely rocking horse.

Room For Improvement - Volume 2, Chapter 2

Welcome back to the second coming of Room For Improvement. We have new bedding (which we will show off next week) and have selected a color for the room. All that was left was to paint.

Momma taped the room and painted the edges:


Grandma Katie and Grandma Carolyn did the walls:



VIOLA!! First coat done.


Next week we'll see that paint job get finished up and we'll get a look at the bedding and maybe even some more furniture.

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

Sorry for the slug of posts lately, but I couldn't pass this one up.

Momma's picture graced the pages of the Millstadt Enterprise this week.


The story isn't about her but her picture was just too darned cute not to put in the paper so I thought I'd share it with you all.

Sooooooooooo Big! (Part II)

Welcome back to our monthly dose of education. We will have made it to week 20 on Friday, past the halfway point, and by now you probably all know that we are going to have a girl.

Size-wise we really haven’t grown much since the last time we spoke. She may have grown an inch longer (6 inches now) and maybe gained an ounce or two (7 to 10 oz. now) in the last month. The remarkable thing here is that in the second half of the pregnancy her weight will increase as much as 2000%, her length more than 200%.

By this time in TNH’s development she has been moving for a few weeks, but now her movements are more coordinated because her nervous system is more sophisticated. Add to that the fact that her bones are harder and muscles and limbs are stronger, Momma is feeling those movements regularly and has no doubt what they are.

Almost all of the follicles from which her hair will grow are in place now and some of her hair might already be growing. One look at her parents’ baby pictures will tell you that that hair may not amount to much for a loooooooong time. Her fingernails and toenails are now formed and starting their journey to the tips of her fingers (and then to the manicurist!)

The number of nerve cells in the brain is increasingly rapidly, particularly in the thinking centers. Her senses continue to awaken. She can likely feel Momma massaging her abdomen. In addition to being able to hear Momma’s heartbeat and blood flow, she may also be able to discern Momma’s voice and loud noises or music may elicit movement as a fear response, but most external noise remains unheard for another month or so.

She now sleeps and wakes at regular intervals. The sucking reflex, which is necessary for nursing, is much much stronger now and she may suck her thumb if her hand floats up near her mouth.

Dog Daze(d)

It seems that Nola ran afoul of a copperhead snake on Sunday.

As we sat down to dinner we noticed that she had a bit of a fat lip. About thirty minutes later we thought that maybe her lip was perhaps a little fatter, but it was hard to tell for sure. Thirty minutes after that there was no doubt. The swelling was making its way up her muzzle and around her eyes.



We called her vet (a wonderful, wonderful man who was not upset in the least when we bothered him at home on a Sunday night) and he told us to give her some benadryl immediately and then again in a couple of hours. If that didn't do the trick we should go to a Doggy Emergency Room. Within an hour we were looking at:



She never showed any signs of pain or discomfort. She was the same ridiculously happy Nola she always is. She just looked pitiful. So we went to the Collinsville Emergency Center. They gave her a battery of shots and held us until the swelling started to go down. Once her eyes were open we were cleared to leave. By morning we looked much better:



She gladly did her morning duty, bringing her dad the paper.



But she still had a little swelling. Dr Lashley wanted her to come in and spend the day with him so he could monitor her condition. He figures she was bitten by a venomous snake (of the four in Illinois only the copperhead is likely to be the culprit) although he could find no evidence to prove it. He is positive it wasn't a bee or wasp (the swelling wouldn't have lasted so long) or a spider (no necrosis or infection) so that leaves a snake. Knowing Nola as we do, we have no doubt that if she saw a snake in the backyard she would think it was the coolest toy ever, a stick that throws itself!!

All appears to be well now. She has her energy back after being pumped full of antihistamine shots and benadryl "cookies" and she is her normal self once again. She's not normal, mind you, she's Nola normal!

Happy Birthday Little Boeker, Happy Birthday To You!

OK OK, so I’m a little bit early (and a lot off key.) Tuesday is the scheduled birth of Tim and Laura’s little one. We here at TNH the website would like to wish them the best of luck and we ask you, Constant Reader, to say a little something something for them when you hit your knees tonight. We eagerly await TNB’s arrival and its blogmaster’s speedy recovery!

Godspeed Tim and Laura. Godspeed.

Par-Tay!!

I promised myself that I would stick to a strict one post every three days schedule. That was yesterday.

Today I post!

Yesterday was Momma's birthday (we won't discuss the numbers) and we had a little ice cream cake party at Grandma Carolyn's house. Ever diligent, I took two pictures (that's big for me) and thought I'd share them with you.

The first one is Momma and her friend Stacie 'modeling' their babies new clothes.

It wasn't Stacie's birthday but she got a gift. It wasn't my birthday either, but I didn't get anything. HMM. See how Lucas managed to get his grinning mug into the frame? HA!! Next up (and finally) we have a pic of Momma, her cake, and, guess who. Lucas!

That's all for today. See you next time.

Do Over!!

We hope you have enjoyed the Room for Improvement series. We've had a lot of fun letting you all in on the picks and the progress in baby's room.

Well, as the great philosopher Flavor Flav once said:

Don't believe the hype.

A funny thing happened on the way back from the ultrasound. Now that we know TNH will be a girl, we (and by we I mean Momma) have decided that her room needs to be completely redone. Constant Reader knows that I'm usually just funnin' Momma when I say "and by we I mean Momma," but this time I really mean it! We returned the bedding and accessories and instead of repainting the room we decided to pull the old switcheroo. So on Monday I had the day off due to rain and decided to get it done. Here's how it went:

So, baby's new room is empty for the time being. We picked up some paint last night and hope to get that project under way in short order. Of course we'll keep you updated.

A Womb With a View

We've got the rest of the ultrasound video posted online now. The links below will get you to them all.

On Wednesday we will return to our regularly scheduled programming.

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part IV

The Verdict Is In

As you all probably know by now we will be having a girl. Webmaster is diligently working on getting the video of the midterm ultrasound cleaned up and viewable for all. As of right now we have the first five minutes posted here and a few pictures below. Hold tight and we will get the remainder up as soon as is humanly possible.

IT'S A BOY!!!

For Stacie and Andy Giovanetti!

And they've got their midterm ultrasound pictures to prove it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just wanted to give a quick shout out to all of TNH’s family up north and wish them all a very Happy Thanksgiving tomorow.

“But Webmaster,” you say “Thanksgiving is still six plus weeks away!”

“Sorry,” says me “I should have been more specific. Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!”

“Canadian Thanksgiving! I thought turkey day was an American holiday”

“Silly American. That’s our Thanksgiving. Canada has one too you know”

“I did not know that!” you say. “Webmaster, I realize that the innernetz are for leisure purposes only, but perhaps you would share some of your immense knowledge and differentiate the two for us.”

“Certainly” says I. “But first a little history of the history of Thanksgiving. The first known North American ‘thanksgiving event’ occurred in Newfoundland in 1578. In the 1600s, Samuel de Champlain and the French Settlers who came with him established an ‘Order of Good Cheer.’ This group would hold huge celebrations marking the harvests and other events, sharing their bounty with their Native American neighbors.”

“So there was a French Thanksgiving too?

“No. Notice that I said ‘thanksgiving event,’ not Thanksgiving. There’s a big difference. One has a capital T, the other is in those little quotes. And, this happened here in North America. There is no known record of the celebration happening before they got here. This anecdote is only here to try to pinpoint the origin of the celebration. And there is significant evidence to support the belief that this was the last time the French gave any American anything other than attitude.”

“How about French Fries? And French Toast?”

“No thanks, I’m really not that hungry and I would like to wrap this post up sometime this week.”

“No, no, I meant ….”

“SHHHHH!” I interrupted. “Our Thanksgiving celebration here in the States dates back to the seventeenth century when the male Pilgrims needed an excuse to have pro football games in the middle of the week. The female Pilgrims were made to prepare large halftime and between game feasts for their men folk and their men folk’s friends so that they would not have to miss even one minute of the Cowboys games. After three years of this the women got more than a little tired of the men folk’s utter uselessness the next day due to fatigue from grossly overeating and vigorously cheering on their fantasy football teams. Rather than abolish the men’s feasting ritual they started their own tradition of ‘Shop ‘til Ye Drop.’ That, of course, is why the Christmas shopping season officially begins here on the day after Thanksgiving. It started out as the women folk getting their ‘evens’ and even more black shoes and it later turned into THE retail holiday.”

“Wow,” says you “I didn’t realize that they played fantasy football back then.”

“Oh yes, but that’s another story for another day. Let’s stick to the topic at hand, shall we? I must admit that Canadian Thanksgiving was a bit of a mystery to me until Google was invented. And it seems that even to this day Google is a bit mystified itself. See, I did a little research and found two distinctly different tales detailing the beginnings of the holiday. I thought this was more than a little odd considering that everything on the innernetz is true! But nowadays any semi-literate Wiki-savvy troglodyte can author innernetz web dictionary entries.”

“Semi-literate Wiki-savvy troglodyte?” Isn’t that an oxymoron?

“HA! You are correct! And you ask too many questions. So anyway, I kept digging and here’s what I found. The first Canadian Thanksgiving was celebrated on April 15, 1872 in thanks for the recovery of King Edward VII from a serious illness. The next Thanksgiving did not occur there until 1879 when it was celebrated on a Thursday in November. After getting bounced all over the calendar for the next 68 years it was decreed by Parliament on January 31, 1957 that the second Monday in October would heretofore be “a day of general Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed.” Much like the United States’ Thanksgiving Day, the Canadian celebrations include parades and festive meals, often including turkey and all the ‘fixins.’”

“So, riddle me this Webmaster: The first Canadian Thanksgiving was on April 15. Our tax day is April 15th. Coincidence?”

“Again with the questions. Wow! Well, at least it’s a good question. There is absolutely no evidence available (anecdotal or otherwise) to disprove the claim that Canada is in fact solely responsible for our income tax system.”

“This has really been informative Webmaster, thank you so much for your time. I am truly awed by your infinite wisdom.”

“As you should be. It really is incredible.”

Have a Happy Thanksgiving Canada!!

Room For Improvement (Part IV)

It is time once again for a baby room update. We have a roomful of furniture now but we do not yet have the room full of furniture. Those of you keeping track of local events will know that The Furniture Factory had a big ‘Retirement Sale’ so Momma and her friend Stacie went a-shoppin’. Momma picked out a bookcase and a dresser and I later added a blanket chest and a deacon’s bench. All of the pieces that The Furniture Factory sells are unfinished so we (and by we I mean Momma) chose an American Walnut stain to finish them in. We picked up our furniture and stain the next day which was lucky for us because the sale turned into a ‘Take the Money and Run’ sale and The Furniture Factory is no more. Everybody wish Stacie luck in getting her money back! All we have to show you today is the bookcase. The other pieces are in pieces and various stages of being finished. Besides that’ll give us three more blog entries! We have sorta stocked the shelves but we have a lot of empty space.

The Trickle Down Effect

First off I’d like to apologize for the long delay in getting this post up. We’ve had our hands full with chores, parties, and obligations this past week and this site was made to suffer. The good news is that the chores are almost done (HA HA) and the remaining parties and obligations number just one each. In the coming week we will have a baby room update and (hopefully) the start of a new series! ‘Til then you have to make do with this:

Constant Reader is at a distinct advantage when it comes to the flow of TNH news. We post it here before we tell anyone. So those people without computers and those that don’t check religiously for updates are left to hear it through the grapevine and thus they are the last to know. That group is primarily composed of the heads of every family, TNH’s Great-Grandparents. Doesn’t seem fair does it?

Well we’ve decided to even the score. On October 12th we will learn the baby’s gender. This is really the biggest news that could ever be announced here. I say could because that news will NOT be broken here. It will be delivered by either phone or in person ONLY to the Great-Grandparents. They may use that information as they see fit. If they want to spread the word, more power to ‘em. If they choose to keep a lid on it, they can do that too. We don’t care because we will already know! Granted, after waiting a couple of days for the smoke to clear we will be posting that info here. But that’s a couple of days later. Can you wait that long? If not, you’ll have to call your parents and grandparents to find out. So until then make sure you are all good kids and grandkids!