Weekend Review

It was a wonderfully long and beautiful Thanksgiving weekend filled with family and funnies!

I tried to be better at snapping pictures along the way, but it's going to take some getting used to!

On Friday we took a fun little road trip to pick up hay for some very loved horses in Bastrop.  I've never lounged around on top of hay before and now I can cross it off my bucket list. It was the ultimate hay ride!

It was a gorgeous day and we took full advantage of taking in the Texas views!  You can't really see Erin in the picture below, but she loved sitting on top of the hay bail as much as I did!

 Our new house is a two-story house, except the only thing upstairs is our master suite. (I say that to make it sound fancy.) There's a very small balcony, like literally to just stand on, and we had quite the visitor on Saturday afternoon.

The dogs weren't too happy about our new friend, but I thought it was hysterical!  I'm not sure if you can see in the picture on the right, but that's Tucker trying to tell the squirrel that he's not welcome here.

Favorite Weekend Moments:
* Dancing on Saturday night
* Laughing hysterically as we made up songs in the car about the woman that helped us load the hay. She was wearing 4 different types of camo WITH camo high-heeled wedges!
* Getting the garage cleaned and organized, but then listening to Tim tell me how he plans on polishing the tires to The Bumble Bee (stroller, see previous post) before he puts in the attic until we're ready for it.
* The Longhorns beating A&M, even though sadly I slept through most of the game! I was glad that the rivalry (as we know it) ended on an up note for Texas, especially since they've had a pretty crappy season.  It came down to a field goal, and I have a soft spot for all the football kickers out there. I heart Justin Tucker!
*  Thanksgiving ads and listening to my sisters plan out where they were going on their midnight shopping expedition.
* Making it to church with Tim on Sunday night! It always makes me feel good when I get to have some QT with God in his house!
* Giving some of our leftovers to a homeless man and saying as we drove past, "Enjoy the cranberry sauce!"    I hate wasting food and so when I can, I'll package it up and drop it off to one of the homeless people that stand on the corners here in Austin. I always get a little nervous, wondering if they even want what I have to give, but then I look at the cup half full and tell myself he had some good options for dinner that night!

Thankful

I am thankful for...(in no particular order)
A loving husband, especially one that always knows when I want to dance.
An incredibly supportive family, that loves unconditionally and gets excited out each others lives.
Younger Sisters that make me smile and help me stay young & hip when I begin to feel old!
Little B and this ever-growing baby bump.
Friendships and Communities.  People that I care about and who in turn care about me.
A warm and cozy home filled with memories.
Learning new things daily; the ability to forever grow and challenge myself.
My faith and spirituality; on a bigger scale, my relationship with God.
Surprises
Blessings
Gifts:  of laughter. of hope.  of joy.  of love.  of life.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We sure did!

Muffin Top Stage

For those of you that have not heard of the term Muffin Top, let me introduce you.

A muffin top is defined (in the present day sense) as not only the top of a muffin, but also when a chubby roll has exceeded someone's pants, and therefore looks as a muffin top would in the little paper wrappers. It is somewhat hard to describe in words, but in pictures -- wow does it get bad! I don't want this post to be rude to others, so I'm not going to display a bunch of people with bad muffin tops, or my own for that matter, but I'll just say that I'm in the muffin top stage of my pregnancy. Which is sort of ironic, since I don't even like muffins!

I'm in between and I feel as though if you look at me right now you're not seeing a baby bump, but instead you're seeing a pooch.  It's definitely about time to go try on some maternity clothes, I know I'm just delaying the inevitable, but that's another step that's going to make this life inside of me one step closer to real.  Right about now in my pitty party, Tim would say, "the whole not drinking for the last 4 months hasn't been real enough?"

It's ok...I know that Little B is worth it!  

I'll take the muffin top if that's what I have to do but you better believe that this is the only reason I'm exploring this whole muffin-top-extravaganza! Next stop boys and girls is the full on pregger-belly!

I'll have to check my slang terms and see if there's something funny to describe that one; you know something much wittier than bun-in-the-oven.  Who knows, tomorrow after eating some delicious Thanksgiving spread, it might be more of a cake top and less of a muffin top!

Weekend Review

I'm sort of a blog-nerd. It's not something that I flaunt and I certainly don't discuss it all the time, but there's a lot of good stories and such that people share. Anyway, one of my favorite blogs is a Mom in Florida and she does a photo dump every Friday of the week's photos that she took on her phone. I like it so much that I think I'll try to start doing the same thing. So in my first attempt, I've realized that my phone does not capture the best photos, so be patient as I try out some different apps for better pictures!

New Adult-Sized Furniture! We've taken the tags off, it's official! (picture on the right has some funky checkerboard effect going on, don't worry it's not your eyes and it doesn't look like that in real life.)
                     

Yummy food -- it's about all that's on the brain right now! We grilled steaks for the first time since before we were in the apartment and wow were they good! Then Tim made me pancakes for our anniversary breakfast, he does a much better job flipping than I do. He asked me if I would have a love for waffles like I do pancakes, and I wasn't really sure. Might have to try one the next time we go to breakfast!



Tucker sunbathing by the pool while Tim was skimming the leaves on a pretty fall afternoon.



Obviously I need to practice taking more pictures. It was our anniversary weekend, and yet there are no pictures of us! I'll work on that.

Meanwhile, my top 7 moments of the weekend:

1.  Both of us tripping over the same bump in the sidewalk, simultaneously, as we walked to dinner last night. It's nice to be reminded that I'm not the only clumsy one. Plus, it was hysterically funny too!
2.  Silly dancing in the kitchen Saturday morning.
3.  Picking out a paint color for Little B's room.
4.  Opening our first Little B present: Goodnight Moon from Aunt Erin (Thanks Aunt Erin, it's perfect!)
5.  Finding the perfect spot on the couch, but reminding myself to move around so that one cushion doesn't look "used" while the others look over-puffy.
6.  Making the best fruit salad and then laughing when Tim eats a peach and says, "this is so good and I don't eat peaches". Which one of us is pregnant again?
7.  Discussing plans for New Year's Eve and Tim telling me that he's not taking his "pregnant wife to Dallas Night Club" and me pouting because I so want to! I love New Year's Eve, it's by far one of my favorites, and I'm certainly not going to sit at home on my couch, even if it is really comfortable! 

The Bumble B

We have met most of our immediate neighbors and as I've mentioned before we've even met a few of the kids. However this weekend there were about four garage sales taking place on our street and thanks to Tim, we were able to meet a few more!

Tim was leaving Saturday morning and I told him to look and see if he saw anything good at the garage sales. Literally seconds after I had closed the door my phone rings:

"Nicole, grab some money and go up to the 2nd garage sale on the left! There's a black and yellow jogging stroller that looks awesome!"

I felt silly, especially since I'm hardly showing, walking up there to purchase a stroller, but I had to see for myself. Meet The Bumble B:

I'll tell ya, I felt ridiculous walking home with an empty stroller, but Tim was right...it was a good purchase and I couldn't say no, he was far too excited about his great find for Little B! Plus, this was much better, and more useful, than the child-size leather recliner that he almost purchased (for just as much money) at Costco!

The Red Door

I love our new neighborhood. Everyone is super friendly and when I get home from work I love hearing kids laughing up the street playing.  I remember loving summer games like kick-the-can, and creating adventures with friends in the neighborhood when I was younger and it makes me smile knowing we've found a community like that! 

The dogs and I have been taking lots of long walks, enjoying the fall weather and exploring our new surroundings. I'm afraid I've become the lady with the dalmatian because at least once during every walk we've been stopped and asked about Leeya.  One neighbor even wanted her son to take a picture with Leeya! She is very photogenic. 

During one recent walk there was a group of kids playing cops & robbers on their bikes and they paused the game so that the dogs and I could walk by. It totally reminded me of the "game off" and "game on" references from Wayne's World. Anyway, the oldest in the group was a very friendly young girl and the youngest was the cutest little boy that was very curious which house I lived in. When I tried to explain which house it was, they both said, "Oh! You live in the house with the red door!"...I love this! It makes me very happy to know that we have something that stands out so that the kids and other families in the neighborhood know our home!  (Don't think I didn't take a mental note of their ages either -- babysitters come in all shapes & sizes!)

In a Benton World, a red door is sort of a must. We had a red door in Dripping Springs too! This one is a bit more fancy though, see for yourself:

We get our family room furniture delivered today so there will be more house pictures soon! Things are really coming along and it feels good to see this house is really becoming a home! Hooray! Tim's even got projects started in the backyard already. We're not wasting any time I tell ya! 

It's a Gas!

Disclaimer: I fully intend to try and be brutally honest about all of my funny stories as they happen, as long as you all don't hold any of them against me. Warning: the following is embarrassing!

As most of you know, if you've been keeping up with this blog there have been two big changes In a Benton World. One being that we recently moved into our new house, which means projects, shopping, hanging pictures, Bed Bath & Beyond, Lowe's...you name it really. The other being that we're expecting which means, pregnancy brain, eating, queasy feelings and apparently gas (toot, purr, burp, hiccup, fart, belch, etc).

One day last week we were wondering through Lowe's checking things off of our list that we needed to look at and/or purchase. We were in the garden center looking at a small shed for the side yard and yup, I accidentally let one slip. 

C'mon people! You know what I mean. pleasedon'tmakemespellitout!

Anyway, after it happened I instantly looked at Tim, grabbed his arm and said, "We probably want to move to the next thing on our list...I don't think you're going to want to stand here anymore."

He couldn't believe his ears, or his nose for that matter. He's usually the crude one making me walk through his butt-dust (haha--just came up with that), but this time it was me!  Oh the shame! Tim was shocked, surprised and I think a little embarrassed by me and my gas. Later that night, he of course told everyone at the table which in turn made me bright red.  However, as I've been told, this happens.

By the way...let's just go ahead and put it out there: Tim is above average in this scenario! :)

Am I The Most Sober Person on 6th Street?

Saturday night we ventured out to watch the unofficial National Championship, or really just the football game between (#2) Alabama and (#1) LSU. It was game day in Austin and UT played early, so I'm pretty sure everyone downtown had been drinking since before 11am. We got to our spot, watched what was probably the most dull "game of the century" ever.  Afterwards we rallied with our friends who were celebrating their anniversary and made some rounds on 6th street.  This was my first true experience with "intoxicated" people since getting pregnant (or as Tim would call it "coming out").  It's been a while since I was the only sober person around drunks, and I mean that in the nicest way! It wasn't all that bad, could have been much worse really, and I don't want to stop doing fun things that we've always done just because my drinking status has changed.

So we danced, we laughed, I drank lots of water and did some of the best people watching I've ever done. I mean ever.  Oh, and just so you know...just cause I'm preggers (still weird to say) definitely doesn't mean that I can't dance. This Mama-to-B's got moves!

Did I mention that I wore my favorite pair of skinny jeans too?  Sadly, I think that may have been my last night in that pair of skinny jeans. We'll see, perhaps all the water that I drank made them extra skinny or made me extra bloated? A girl can hope right?

Luckily, I know I won't be looking anything like this guy...that's in a VERY different Benton world!

borrowed from http://www.surfersam.com/funny-pictures/overalls.jpg

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

Or if you give Nicole a pancake...

Sunday morning Tim and I visited Trudy's (a local Mexican restaurant) for breakfast. I knew before we even left the house that I wanted a pancake. I'm not sure what it was about a pancake that morning, but I knew it's what I wanted.

When we finally got to the restaurant, Tim asked what I was going to get and I had picked out a small "American Breakfast" so I could get some eggs/bacon with just one pancake. It sounded like the perfect breakfast, but Tim balked and said, "I can't believe you're getting an American Breakfast at a Mexican Restaurant!" So instead, I sheepishly ordered a breakfast burrito and one pancake. Wanna know what I ate?

Yup...I ate the whole delicious pancake. It melted in my mouth it was so good! It's what I wanted and it's what I ate. I hardly touched the breakfast burrito, and it now sits in a to-go box in the fridge that will be thrown away today because no one in our family eats left over eggs, no matter how good they might have looked when they were fresh. I'm not sure why I even asked for the to-go box, maybe because I felt bad leaving that much untouched food on the table for the waitress to sneer at.

As I oohed and awed about how great the pancake tasted, it may have slipped that "I think the pancake is going to be the official staple of my pregnancy".  I know it sounds silly, but the darn pancake was just that good!

It's not as fabulous as Trudy's mimosa's or Mexican Martini's, but since I can't have those, I'll take a pancake!

Secret Timing (or lack there of)

It's a bit strange to feel the realism of everything now that the cat's out of the bag! It's been a little fun to have this little secret shared between Tim and I.  The looks, the secret whispers at night talking about what will be.  This is just the beginning and the surprises will continue, there will be no public discussion of names or of gender. We believe in the gift of surprise in this family, and there aren't enough good surprises in life, so we're taking full advantage of this one!

So even though this little secret was ours, and ours alone, there was one other person that found out (on accident) before everyone else did and it's a funny story that I can share now. Hooray!

Tim and I spend most of our free time at the lake, especially during the summer, but we love going there year-round. Near the lake house there's this cute little mom & pop restaurant that we visit regularly.  The food is good, drinks are strong, plus it's a charming and very convenient spot... mostly though, the company is very entertaining!  The locals and "weekenders" alike come here to let loose, visit with lake-friends and get a good laugh from "the establishment".  We love Amanda, our favorite bartender, but she is truly one of a kind!  I don't even know where to begin when I describe her. She has a heart of gold, but sass and attitude that would put most Texas gals to shame. Amanda has been bugging us about babies for as long as we have known her.  (Side-note to friends & family: don't worry she always got the same response everyone did when she asked us about babies.)  

Needless to say, there is an endless amount of character in this one spot!

So back to the story:

Not long after we found out we were expecting, we went up to have dinner on a Friday night and, as is custom, Amanda grabbed two beers and had them on the counter waiting for us.  Before she opened the beer, I quickly stopped her and told her that I had gone out the night before and drank too much and wasn't feeling up for the drinks that evening. She couldn't believe her ears. Seriously...this girl knows us. :) She didn't push though and put the beers back in her cooler. We had dinner, caught up on life and took our to-go box home. Almost 3 hours later, Amanda and Kevin (the owner) called us on Tim's phone. Amanda told (didn't ask) Tim to give me the phone. I said hello and the conversation progressed like this:

A:  Why didn't you drink tonight?

N:  I told you I had too much to drink last night.

A:  For real Nicole, why didn't you drink tonight?

N:  I told you...why? Are you bothered that I didn't stay up there and drink with you?

A:  You're such a liar!  You *it*h! (I told you she's sassy!) You're pregnant!

N:  Why would you say that?

A:  Well it didn't help that you dropped your appointment reminder card for your OBGYN! 

At this point, I started laughing and then it was over. She freaked out and started half screaming/half crying. She kept saying over and over that Tim and I were going to have such pretty babies and I just had to keep reminding her how early it was and how she couldn't open her big mouth to anyone. (We really do have a loving friendship!)  I couldn't believe that when I pulled my wallet out of my purse to pay for dinner, the card had dropped on the floor. Hysterical timing I tell ya!

Only In a Benton World does your bartender know before anyone else that you're pregnant! 

Where Do We Grow From Here

My Grandfather has raised our family on a very important motto:  "Where Do We Grow From Here". (He wants it inscribed on his epitaph.)  The first time I heard this phrase I was probably 6 or 7 years old and it quickly became his mantra.  As I've gotten older though, I've learned his anecdote really holds a lot of truth in the lives that we choose to live.  The phrase takes on a third dimension that makes you look at your whole self, your family as a complete unit or the big picture of your next project.  Our family has learned to not only look at growth as a growth chart, but really it's about always bettering and challenging yourself to what other possibilities are out there.

This phrase takes on so many things: spirituality & faith, goals & success, strength & perseverance. I know I used to giggle at his silly, go-to phrase, but now I use it probably as much (if not more) as he does.  It has become my go-to phrase that I pose to myself at every turn in life....especially now that our own family is growing. Friday you could have asked me, where do you grow from here and I would have considered how we were moving into a new house, in a new neighborhood where we can meet new people and make new friends. An even more present growth though, is the fact that my belly is growing and it's not from too much Halloween candy!

Meet "Little B"!

So where do we grow from here you ask? 

The opportunities, challenges and adventures are endless In a Benton World!

I know one things for sure though, Little B will grow from here filled with LOVE.