Hey, friends! Long time, no talk (and it’s all my fault, y’all!)! I love What’s Up, Wednesdays, and thought this would be the perfect way to get y’all all caught up on what’s going on around here!

 

WHAT WE’RE EATING THIS WEEK…

We’ve been trying to be really good the last few weeks about eating at home. Now that I’m in the second trimester and cooking doesn’t repulse me, it’s been a lot easier and better for us to eat at home! This week we’ve had grilled sausage with red beans and rice, and we’re planning to have beef enchiladas tonight. And we’ve been eating our fair share of Red Baron pizzas because they are just delicious. Or maybe just to me they are 😉

 

WHAT I’M REMINISCING ABOUT…

I’m not sure if it’s really reminiscing per se, but I’ve got fall fever something fierce. I am so, so, so ready for cooler temperatures, and just that fall feeling in the air, which we’re getting a little taste of this week. I’ve got my pumpkin box pulled out of storage and ready for Labor Day (because I have the day off with time to decorate, and because it’s my house, so I can do what I want). I’m ready for fall football, and to wear riding boots, and pull out my puffer vest collection. Okay, puffer vests are more winter, but you get the idea!

 

WHAT I’M LOVING…

Oh, lots of things! First off, there have been a few food things so far that I have been loving/ craving over the last few weeks. For example, I have become the donut monster at work. As in, I have an intense need for donuts that makes me need one just most immediately. So I end up with a dozen or so to share. Thank goodness there is a good donut place nearby!! And the other would be fruit flavored ice cream treats (I’m not sure the exact name for these? They aren’t full-on ice cream, but creamy like ice cream, not icy like Popsicles…). I’m talking like old school fruit flavored push pops (unfortunately I couldn’t find Flintstones ones!). They also make pink Starburst flavored ones that are AMAZING!

I think I’ve mentioned before that I gave up caffeine whenever we started trying to get pregnant (which is not a requirement by any means, but I read a lot about basically treating yourself like you’re pregnant while you are trying to help with the process, so cutting caffeine, starting prenatal vitamins, etc.). Technically, you are allowed to have a small amount of caffeine while pregnant, but I didn’t want to have to monitor my intake very strictly to make sure I was under the limit, so I cut it out altogether just to be safe. Which means I haven’t had iced tea since last October. 😐 This hasn’t really been a huge deal, but within the last week or so, I started craving sweet tea. Maybe because I really wanted it, or maybe because I’m so tired of the drinks that I am allowed to have (I know water is so great for you and all, but it gets so boring). Well, the good news is they make decaffeinated tea bags and I found them at the grocery store! I still won’t do tea when we are out, but we’ve been having decaf sweet tea at home, and it’s been delicious!

 

WHAT WE’VE BEEN UP TO… 

We’ve been up to finishing up this summer and getting ready to get dove season started! Steven has been working with Ruger and Gump to get them all ready to go, including working with them in the rain for most of last week. Which, it was in the 70s temperature wise, and the rain wasn’t cold, so it was actually kinda nice being out in it when it wasn’t raining hard. We also bought a Bowflex several weeks ago, and finally got it put together Sunday afternoon and Monday night (it came with an assembly book… not a sheet. A 28 step book 😐 ).

WHAT I’M DREADING…

Not really anything, other than the eventual return of the heat (can we just hope it doesn’t come back??? Wishful thinking!).

 

WHAT I’M WORKING ON…

I feel like for a month or two now I have been working on adjusting to working again, and how to divide my time the best. For our first year, my job was super flexible, so I could pretty much go to the grocery store whenever I wanted/ needed, and get little tasks or errands done throughout the day as I needed. And then I left that job and had about 8-10 weeks free all day, every day to get all the house stuff done, and run errands, etc. Now, I’m working a “part-time” job that is actually probably more hours than what my full time job was before, and I have been treading water on housework, errands, to-do lists, and work for the last 6-8 weeks. Part of this is because they have me traveling to work in Dallas for two days a week temporarily, which takes out time at home to get things done. And part of this is because I felt kinda crummy for the first 6-10 weeks of pregnancy (counting from when I actually knew I am pregnant), and didn’t really want to do a thing at home other than sleep. And part (probably the biggest part) of this is that I’ve always had the luxury of doing all this stuff at my leisure without a schedule and that’s just not where we’re at anymore. We need structure– a cleaning list, and a schedule, and meal planning, and time to get large chunks of work done because without this, things have kind of been a mess. So, I’ve been working on getting this structure. Because otherwise, I end up ironing one pair of pants and one dress shirt at a time each night. Every night for weeks on end. And that’s just chaos. 🙂

 

WHAT I’M EXCITED ABOUT…

In 3.5 weeks, Steven and I will find out the gender of Baby Smith!! We are so impatient about this. We are both fairly certain we know what it is, but only that sonogram will confirm! We don’t want to go in to one of the sneak peek places because we don’t want it to be too soon, and because we don’t want to have to pay for that since we’ll pay for it at the hospital anyway. I’m slightly nervous that Baby won’t cooperate… On our last sonogram, she had a hard time taking good pictures because it was moving around so much, and at my last check-up, my OB had to chase it with the Doppler to get a good heartbeat because it was moving so much. Needless to say, it is an active little jellybean in there!

 

WHAT I’M WATCHING/ READING…

Back at the beginning of the summer, I started this 6 degrees of separation Netflix binge thing (prefacing that these are all shows I’ve already watched in their entirety. I just wanted to watch them again). I started with Gossip Girl, then moved to Gilmore Girls (I guess the connection at the time was “Girl/Girls”?). After this, and A Year in the Life (because, why not?), I started Parenthood (obvious connection– Lauren Graham). That is possibly the worst mistake you can make– watching Parenthood while pregnant. I’ve cried more than any human should watching that stupid (amazing) show. Now, I’ve moved to Friday Night Lights (Jason Katims worked on Parenthood and FNL, plus there are several actors/actresses that have been in both), which is really great timing considering it’s now fall and football season. And there’s no better time than football season in Texas, y’all.

And fun fact– afterward, I was able to connect Gossip Girl back in– GG and Parenthood both featured Billy Baldwin. But there’s no way to connect the four shows linearly. And I’m done nerding. 🙂

 

If you haven’t seen/read the cover article of last month’s Texas Monthly, The Day The Fire Came, it is a must read. It is so poignant, moving and haunting, and truly captures the heartache and resiliency of the Panhandle and its people. Steven and I lived there for a time, and Panhandle residents, especially its ranchers, are such a strong, kind, tough people. We loved our time there (Steven grew up out that direction), and feel like the West Texas area, including the Panhandle, will always feel like home to us because of the landscape, and because of the people. I love that people are getting this glimpse at the people we love, and their way of life. We’ve been really West Texas homesick the last few months, and I think this might have made it a little worse.

I barely snagged an issue this past weekend at Barnes and Noble because this next month’s issue is out, so it is off newsstands in some places, but you can also read it online here. The online version also features video footage from the Franklin Ranch.

 

WHAT I’M LISTENING TO…

Nothing really new at the moment. Hit me up with suggestions if you have some!

 

WHAT I’M WEARING…

All the dresses, still. My normal pants still fit, but they aren’t super comfy for long periods of time. And I’m not big enough for maternity pants, so that just leaves tights and dresses. I may or may not have asked my husband last week if they make camo dresses so I’ll have something comfy to wear when we’re out dove hunting this weekend. He laughed, and then wagered no. And recommended long pants and boots because snakes. 😐

Tights are a little tricky now because my regular tights have a hard time coming up over my small bump, and it’s not comfy to have anything hitting right on the bump, so I’m rolling them down under the bump until the bump is big enough for maternity tights.

 

WHAT WE’RE UP TO THIS WEEKEND…

We are headed to meet up with Steven’s parents, his brother (Avery) and his wife (Shelby), and Shelby’s dad, plus a bunch of their friends from Dallas for Labor Day weekend, which is better known as opening weekend of dove season here in Texas. My mother-in-law and I will be the resident photographers, and this will be the first official big hunting shebang for our bird dogs. We’ll be staying Friday night, then hunting Saturday, and then having a big dinner at the famous Perini Ranch on Saturday night before all driving home. And then Steven has Sunday off, too!! This will be two weekends in a row that he has had off, and we are getting just the briefest glimpse of what life is like for normal people. It will be wonderful, and nice while it lasts as he rolls into night shifts and 28 hour straight night into day shifts for September. 🙂

 

WHAT I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT MONTH…

Like I mentioned before, I can barely wait for our anatomy sonogram!! I’ve been really putting off looking at baby things and figuring out what we need until I know what we’re having because it just seems more fun and efficient to have that information while shopping. Plus, this seems just very overwhelming, and I procrastinate overwhelming things.

 

WHAT ELSE IS NEW…

Boudreaux has just been hanging out being Bouge.

This includes using their water trough as his personal spa…

And taking over the couch with his partner in crime, Gump.

Our sweet labbies got showers (they are too wild for baths in the bathtub, they have to be contained in our shower) on Friday night and then snuggled with us for a movie. We watched Table 19 with Anna Kendrick. It’s different… I didn’t hate it, but it wasn’t one of my favorites, and completely different than what I expected it to be.

They also both now have dog blinds for duck hunting (which I like to call the pup tents… 🙂 ). They like to go inside them and take naps and just hang out. I think they look so cute!

We decided Saturday afternoon to rearrange all the furniture in our living room, and we feel like we like it much better this way! Every so often, it starts to feel kinda claustrophobic, and somehow moving all the furniture makes everything feel more open and less cluttered. If you are interested in what it used to look like, you can click here to check out our home tour from a few weeks ago with Sarah at Meet the Shaneyfelts!

 

And, as you’ve probably seen and read, the Texas coast has been just decimated by Hurricane Harvey. We have remained on the outskirts of the storm, and have mainly just gotten plenty of rain and some high winds, which were just enough to rip my Tech flag on the front of our house, and then break the pole out of the holder. Some houses in our neighborhood have sand bags out, but we are at the top of our little hill, and both our front and back yard slant away from our house, so we aren’t really in danger of taking on water. But, y’all, there is so much devastation on the coast right now. Please continue praying for everyone in the Houston area and along the coast (Corpus Christi, Port Aransas and Rockport have seen extremely heavy destruction). And if you feel lead to help in any way, check out this post from Melanie about different ways you can. 🙂