First baby purchases

We spent today (after church) driving to the IKEA in Frisco (north of Dallas) to get -- you guessed it! -- baby furniture! We decided we liked the Leksvik line from IKEA, which was great because it's not only sturdy but affordable. We brought it home and wanted to share a photo of it in the baby's room! Here it is:

Beautiful, ain't it? And we were even able to get a matching set!  ;)

Okay, so we have some work ahead of us to put it together. But that's fine. Gives me a new project to work on. Besides, we're still in the process of clearing out the furniture that's in there. [Side note -- if you're looking for a youth rolltop desk or an old TV that sort of works, let me know.]

We also got to enjoy a brief side trip, as it turns out that the IKEA in Frisco is right next to Dr Pepper Ballpark, the home stadium for the Frisco Roughriders, the Texas Rangers' AA team. It's really one of the more interesting ballparks I've ever seen; Bethany thinks it looks like something straight out of Disney World. Here's a photo of the outside (home plate entrance):

Back to the furniture... As we type, Orbit is giving it the "sniff test" to make sure it is cat-approved. For now, here's what we got: crib, changing table, and tall dresser. We'll post some pictures later once we get the room all set up. 

My Clearly-Deserving-of-Many-Awards Baylor Magazine Articles for Fall 2008

The latest issue of Baylor Magazine is in the mail right now; if you're not getting it, take a look at this PDF-style E-dition to see what the print version of the magazine looks like. Not as easy to read as a straight HTML version like those linked below, but certainly much prettier, and it gives you an idea of what most readers see.

Now on to my latest articles:

• Faces of Baylor -- A series of profiles of current students from a wide variety of backgrounds, each talking about their experiences at Baylor
• Men's basketball looks to postseason and Lady Bears return veteran squad -- season previews for Baylor's basketball teams (which are now both in the top 25!)
• Fall sports well-represented in national polls -- Six programs were at least receiving votes this fall, not including basketball 

Now on deck: Junior Brown!

Big news in the Brown household: We'll soon be welcoming a new Baylor Bear cub! Yep - Bethany is pregnant!



Junior Brown (as we are calling him/her for now) is about eight weeks along, and due June 23. The doctor says everything looks great, and other than a bit of nausea, Mother is doing great too.

Orbit asked us to note that "Meow is very excited."

We're excited too, and just wanted to share the news!

Yes, we dressed up for Halloween

Happy belated Halloween! For the last six months or so, Bethany worked to create costumes for both of us from scratch, and she finished just in time for us to be dressed up while we sat on our porch and handed out candy. I think Bethany did an awesome job making our costumes -- thank you, dear wife!!

Here we are -- Han Solo:



and Princess Leia:



(You can click on the photos for better versions, if you want.)

We had probably about 30 kids come by last night, about the same number as last year. The most popular costume for boys seemed to be skeletons, while tops for the girls were princesses. Our favorite costume was a little boy who looked to be about three years old and was dressed as Zorro, complete with hat, eye mask, cape and sword.

So now that Halloween is over, it's time for Homecoming! Sic 'em, Bears!