Introducing Max Christian Gappmayer!

Little Max Gappmayer (we finally decided on a name) was born on Wednesday, May 7 2008 at 10:11 pm. He was 19 inches long and weighed in at a brawny 6 lbs 11 ozs and was immediately drafted to play linebacker for the Chicago Bears. Erin did great, even though her epidural line fell out at some point and she could feel more than she wanted. I will let her fill in the gory details later but I thought some pictures were definitely called for so here they are.



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Little Buddies

Chris always calls the dogs his "little buddies." I never really noticed until this weekend when Avery (click on this link), our three (?) year old niece, was outside with the dogs and saying, "C'mon little buddies" just like Chris would say it. It was especially cute since to her, the 40 pound dogs aren't so "little."
In other news, Thatch ran in front of Chris' horse last weekend while it was moving and got a little trampled. I took him to the vet yesterday and he's partially torn one of the ligaments in his knee (the vet says it is like a human tearing their ACL). No surgery is required yet - we just have to watch him for six months or so and make sure it doesn't tear all the way. Hopefully scar tissue will build up around it and he'll be okay.

A Flyball Baby Shower

My flyball team threw me a surprise baby shower. It was so awesome of them! They played the "How Big is Mommy's Tummy" game. Everyone was over except one person.
Chris' strip went all the way around both of us. He got in trouble for that one.They are a really great group of people and I got some great stuff. Some friends from school got together too and we celebrated their birthdays and they got me a present too. It's been so fun to wash all the little clothes and blankets and set up the nursery. I know six weeks doesn't seem like a lot of time left but since time doesn't seem passing at all - it's a LONG time!

Dog Post

Murphy got put on a diet by Touch N Go - the flyball team in Vegas doing the training seminar. She (Murphy) isn't very happy about it. This is what she looked like after eating her dinner the other night. Thatch has no concept of the term "personal space" and is always laying right beside or on top of Murphy.
People ask me if I worry about the dogs and the new baby. Murphy is so incredibly patient with Thatch (he chews on her ears, sits on her, steals her toys out of her mouth, everything) that I don't worry about her at all. I am a little worried Thatch will think Buster is his new buddy though and sit on him too.

What We Do All Day

I rarely post about our day-to-day lives because they aren't that exciting. However, if you live far away from us I realize that you probably don't know what is going on. I have class every day at 4pm. On Mondays and Wednesdays I only have one class and finish at 5:20pm. Tuesdays and Thursdays I have night classes that go until 8:30pm. I'm also tutoring for finance and working on miscellaneous projects from a professor for my graduate assistantship. This pays my tuition and gives a small stipend at the beginning of the semester. I'm very, very excited to be done my master's this semester and still can't believe I went back to school. I enjoy working a lot more but this has been good with the pregnancy. I graduate May 3 but I'm not walking because I'm due the next week and I didn't want to pay the fee and then maybe not be able to walk. My mom comes May 12th to help with the baby (yeah!!!!) and stays until about the end of May when we will hopefully bless him up north at my in-laws.
Chris is working as an assistant planner down in St. George but goes to the Cedar City hospital once every other week for a meeting. It's a 45 minute commute to St. George but he says it's not too bad; at least it is not due to heavy traffic. He has to worry more about getting pulled over. His fellowship ends in June and we don't know anything about jobs yet. He could stay with this company or move anywhere in the US. We don't expect to hear anything until the time gets closer and he's not applying for other jobs right now because there is so much time left for his fellowship still.
That's about it. The dogs keep us busy both during the week and on the weekends. We can't wait for spring around here and wish we had a dog park in Cedar. We really like playing flyball and the team members are great people. Murphy will hopefully compete in her first tournament in June. Chris ran a dog for the first time last weekend and got start times of .002, .003, and .005 - which are amazing! It's an interesting sport and if you're ever interested in learning what all this means, let us know and you can come to a tournament with us :)

Thanks to Craigslist

I have been going to a special flyball dog training class that goes for eight weeks. It's in Vegas so we've been going down there A LOT. I've been doing some Craigslist shopping while we're down there.

This is the Fisher-Price Ocean Wonders Aquarium Swing that came highly recommended by a number of family members. Retail $100, Craigslist $40

This Pack-N-Play has some problems with the music, but the vibrator in the bassinet works great. I figure I can just turn on the radio. Retail: $150 Craigslist: $55

The same lady with the bassinet had these things she just wanted to get rid of. She gave them to me for free (!) which was very nice of her. I'm not sure I'll use all of them but we'll see. Did any of you use a Brest Friend's Pillow instead of a boppy for nursing? Have any of you tried both and prefer one or the other? I'm considering buying a boppy too...

The last purchase from Craigslist Vegas is a Medela Pump In Style Breastpump. It was given to the couple as a gift three years ago and they never used it. The motor works great and most things are still in their packaging. They've just had it in their garage and were finally clearing things out. I love it when people clean out their garages :) Retail is somewhere between $200-300; Craigslist: $25 Even if something goes wrong with it, I won't feel I've lost much. Most of the Medela's selling on Craiglist are selling for anywhere from $75 - $150.

This last buy, a Rainforest Swing, came from St. George's Craiglist. Chris went to go look at it for me (he's working in St. George full-time now by the way). The lady was asking $25 but I told him to offer her $20 for it. I had school that night so I called him when I could and he said he got it - for $25. He wouldn't bargain with her over $5. She was also recently divorced so I probably wouldn't have either. The funny thing was, one of the toys was broken! Chris was able to fix it but he's not one you want to send to the bargaining table. When we buy a car, I am never sending him alone. Retail - $50 Chris' price - $25

Thanks Anna!

This is from a friend's blog and it was so funny when I tried it I had to share it with more people:

Just try this. It is from an orthopedic surgeon............This will boggle your mind and you will keep trying over and over again to see if you can outsmart your foot, but you can't.It's preprogrammed in your brain!

1. WITHOUT anyone watching you (they will think you are GOOFY...) and while sitting where you are at your desk in front of your computer, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise Circles.
2. Now, while doing this, draw the number "6" in the air with your right hand.Your foot will change direction. I told you so!!! And there's nothing you can do about it! You and I both know how stupid it is, but before the day is done, you are going to try it again, if you've not ready done so.