Brag on Hubby Day

Today is Brag on Hubby Day. He's been hard at work in the shop building some beautiful pieces! The first one is the new entertainment center...our living room looks much bigger than it did with the old one in there! The last two are Itty Bitty's dresser/changing table. The pictures don't really do it justice. The top has been varnished so many times, it shines! And the color is actually a creamy white, not as white as the pictures show. He did an awesome job on both pieces!!! Next, he's working on a bookshelf for the office, new speaker stands (his fun, very cool and creative project), followed by a dresser for our room. Good thing he works fast and loves this hobby!

In the corner is the rocker my parents gave us for Christmas complete with IB's first stuffed animal, a very cute lamb from Aunt Jennifer and Uncle Brian, and two blankies, one from each grandma. More pics of the nursery to come as it comes along.

And last, some of you say you still want to see preggo pics. So though I think my growing belly must be getting boring...here's a 24 week shot. And yes, I am wearing the black dress again. Oops.

Quote of the Day

This morning a co-worker walked into my office a few minutes before 10 to see me with a plate of steaming rice and stir-fry vegetables - my hearty mid-morning snack. He's a man who chooses his words carefully and is meticulous in his grammar. After asking a question, he waited patiently while I looked up the answer (I record everything; baby brain is more like bird brain these days).

Then he asks, "Do you find it difficult to get enough to eat?" What could I do but laugh? It's absolutely true...especially in the mornings. I hope I responded appropriately to his question.

Later in the afternoon we were on a conference call with someone I know quite well. Toward the end of the conversation she asked how I was feeling. He paused long enough to let me reply before responding with, "She eats all the time!" What can I say? I have a growing boy!!

Pair his comments with the number of people who recently have told me they can literally see my belly grow (I can literally see my belly grow!) and you have a winning combination for feeling, well, prego...only 112 days left to grow.

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In case you wanted to see the inspirational brown and pink paisley tote my creative sis-in-law made, take a trip over to her site. She has an awesome blog to follow...daily. Seriously, she's really good.

Mallows + Chocolate

I was hanging out over at Joy's blog and was impressed by her coupon clipping (yay for coupons!) and her Christmas food. Granola is a great idea for neighbor gift!

My neighbor gift was bread. I took a Saturday and baked about 10 loaves of quick bread - pumpkin zucchini, pear walnut (actually a coffee cake that works well as bread), and apple banana (thank you, Nanci!) . Most of those went to our Sunday school class for our treat day. A few of those were given as gifts.

I also had some fun making mallow pops. Super easy and fun to dip. Cut wooden bbq skewers in half and stick the pointy end in a large marshmallow. Dip the mallow most of the way in melted choco chips and sprinkle with crushed candy canes. Add a packet of cocoa and mallow pop to a cello bag, tie with ribbon, and you have a fun treat to share.

Anyone else have fun home made gifts to share?

Inspiration

My sis-in-law inspired me. She made a great brown and pink paisley tote bag last weekend, and I realized it had been for.ev.er since I dusted off my sewing machine. Then I browsed etsy.com. I had heard about it before from a good friend, but I had no idea how much is on that site. Very cool. So, inspired by these blocks, I went to Hobby Lobby and found some great fabric and sewed away. I have one set done and another yet to go. Then another sewing project for the nursery (which actually now has a crib, a rocker, a bookshelf, and an almost complete dresser/changing table). I'll have to pull the machine out more often. I missed it.

Babymooning in Austin

Okay, this is a long one...

The first weekend in December Randy and I took a much needed long weekend and made a road trip to Austin. Some place warmer than Kansas that we had been wanting to explore. And our babymoon. It was worth every second, and we'd both highly recommend Austin as a great location for a weekend getaway!

We're Food Network junkies, so before we got on the road, we checked out the restaurants that the foodies recommended in Austin and basically planned our trip that way. Yum.

First on the list - Magnolia Cafe from Drive-in, Diners, & Dives (and no I can't say that three times fast). They're known for their pancakes, but we went at lunch and their special of the day enchiladas are yummy too.

Then it was off for an afternoon of exploring the fun, funky shops on South Congress. Everything from wierd consignment to Justin boots and Mexican folk art.

That night we ate at Shady Grove, thank you Rachel Ray. This time we did try the dish they're known for - tortilla fried queso catfish. Yum. We got lost, which proves that even a Garmin isn't always right (thanks, Dad, for letting us test your Christmas gift before you opened it!), but the place was well worth it.

And later...Opera Cake from the best Whole Foods. As much as we like good food and cake, neither of us are big eaters. So we split meals, and on vacation we find the grocery store with the best bakery selection for a treat later in the evening. Whole Foods is the best at this, especially the Austin store. I won't tell you how many times we stopped by that store in three days.

Friday morning we started out with our favorite place of the weekend - 1886 Cafe & Bakery, downtown. This is one of those places you go for breakfast or lunch if you want to save your pennies. We had the best sausage and egg croisant and Ginger Snap Pancakes. So. Good. I have got to try to recreate that recipe. The pancakes were basic fluffy pancakes with blueberries sandwiched between them, crushed ginger snaps and powdered sugar on top and a vanilla maple syrup. I'm not normally a sugar person in the morning, but these were so very good! If anyone has a recipe for vanilla maple syrup, let me know!

After breakfast we took off west of Austin and went exploring around Lake Tyler. We hiked a trail and drove through the hills. Austin has some awesome, HUGE agaves...we wanted to bring some home, but I think the Kansas cold would have killed it this last week.

We had a great afternoon taking the backroads through the hill country. I'm sure it's gorgeous in the spring and summer, but even in December the area is really beautiful!

We ended our adventure at the Salt Lick in Driftwood (that's a great name for a Texas town!), recommended by three different foodies on Food Network, and by far my favorite bbq! When you walk in, you see a huge open pit and huge jars of pickles and jalepenos. Their sauce is vinegar based and so good. We bought a bottle of the sauce. I wish we could have bought the pickles.

The Salt Lick was our favorite, but was rivaled by County Line BBQ back in Austin. We had dinner there Saturday night and got there just in time to enjoy the amazing view of the sunset across the hills. This was the only place we went to that wasn't from Food Network, but I just saw that Road Tasted has been there. So I guess we picked a winner.

And to finish our food tour of Austin we headed back to Whole Foods for a decadent dessert called the Truffle Bomb. Randy needs to figure out how to make this one! It's a chocolate dome filled with a thin layer of cake and velvety chocolate mousse. Oh my.

And no, our trip wasn't all about food. We also checked out plants at a nursery and explored the Zilker Botanical Gardens. We did a little baby shopping where the store owner tried to convince us we need the B.O.B stroller (not unless someone wants to buy it for us!). And we checked out the trails in Zilker park that go right by downtown Austin.

It was a very fun trip. And so good to get away and explore. We'll head back to Austin when it's warmer...and Itty Bitty's a little older. Okay, it might be awhile before we attempt a nine-hour drive, but we'll definitely head back.

It's a BOY!

Our Itty Bitty is a HE!

20 Weeks - Halfway there!

Thanks so much for all of the comments and advice! From both Facebook and the blog, the exersaucers and swings seem to be the most debated. But I learned a lot and it will be useful when we register someday.

This week marked 20 weeks and halfway there! I think IB was celebrating on Wednesday. I'm not kidding when I say this baby didn't take a nap at ALL that day. The circus must have been in town. The last few days have been much more normal.

NEXT week (Thursday to be exact) we get to find out who this baby will be...at least his or her gender. I've already had discussions with IB about modesty - It's completely unnecessary and in fact, not allowed next Thursday. Let's hope we have an obedient child.

Soon to come...Babymooning in Austin.