I can't feel my toes!

It would be the coldest Baylor football game in history, with dangerous driving conditions for traveling to Waco, but you couldn't convince these boys to miss the game to save their lives. Oh no.

This was the very last game to ever be played in the Floyd Casey Stadium, and it's history was to be celebrated under conditions we'll not soon forget. 

If you've never had the pleasure of experiencing how cold Texas can actually be, you're missing out. 

If it weren't for our ridiculously thick apparel and white breath, you might not think it was very cold outside by the landscape's appearance, but I assure you even though it was 24F, the wind chill of 11F, cloudy skies, freezing fog, wind, and humidity of almost 100% were the real kickers.......without any snow to romp in and make it all feel fabulous and worth the suffering. 

The family gathered early for a tailgate party, complete with a T.V. to watch more college football, a Keurig machine to make hot chocolate, two little space heaters (because all the really awesome propane heating lamps in North Texas were completely sold out due to the winter storm and lost electricity), and a generator to power it all. 

This game was sold out forever ago, so Baylor made accommodations to squeeze in more people by opening up the cement bleachers and even removed part of the stadium to add more seating. 

And the weather didn't seem to scare many people away......at first.

I had on my insulated winter running tights, blue jeans, ski socks, Uggs, a tank top, a long john under shirt, a sweater, the inner layer of my ski jacket, a trench coat, running gloves AND ski gloves, a scarf, my fleece neck guard that I used to cover most of my face (and hide the fact that my nose was constantly dripping cold-induced-snot), and a fleece lined knit hat; so bundled, in fact, that my trench was overstuffed, comically limiting my range of motion........and I was struggling. 

We assumed after we were out of the open wind and nestled within a crowd, the cold wouldn't feel as harsh, but boy or boy were we wrong; even sitting close and using a blanket on our legs was no match.

"My toes are so cold!" 

"I can't feel my phalanges! They're numb!"

Everyone had the same complaints, but the strongest of the strong toughed it out, together, for the big finale. 

Sure, some of the crowd bailed early, but the important part is they came out and tried. 

The heavy fog even tried settling down on us, in efforts to scare us away, but if these players were sticking through it to play their hearts out, so were we to scream our hearts out. 

Even more importantly Baylor pulled it off with a solid win to conquer the Big 12.

Smiles were abundant as we watched the fans rush the field for the last time.

Public displays of affection were pretty common too.

And even Patrick well tell you, emotions were high as he hugged his dad and reminisced about all the great times they spent in this very stadium. 

We waited for the shutting down of the lights ceremony to commence, celebrated the win over a Mexican dinner, and then Patrick and I tried not to die as we drove home over too many frozen, melted, and refrozen overpasses to count. 

Did I mention I wasn't sure if my toes were still attached by the end of the game and I was afraid to walk because I literally couldn't feel anything past the balls of me feet?!!

Keeping my Sanity on Ice Day

Whoa Nelly......and we thought Thursday night was bad! 

On Friday morning, we woke up to the not so subtle sound of sleet making it's presence known against our windows. I immediately jumped up to look outside to see the damage, but my vision was completely obstructed by all the sheet of ice covering the window screen. 

Downstairs, the picture was clear. EVERYTHING was covered in a thick sheet of solid ice, almost in disguise as snow, but proved it's true colors when it remained unscathed after being walked on.

We were lucky enough to still have power, but with the weight of the sleet and frozen rain weighing down the power lines, breaking tree limbs in two like they were made of fragile old glass, and even powerful enough to collaspe awnings down on top of cars, I tried not to take our initial accommodations for granted and made sure I had plenty of projects to work on and enough food to eat that didn't require cooking in case we eventually lost power like the quarter of a million others in the area already had. 

Even with enough to do, though, there's nothing to make me feel extremely trapped like knowing I'm stuck in the house for an unknown amount of time.......but I've never seen my asparagus fern look so pretty (don't worry, all my other plants were happily incubating indoors)! 

This all really put a dent in my plans of getting my half marathon bib, making Christmas candy, and having dinner at a friend's house, but I was determined to somehow be productive. 

The chilly temps called for insulated puppies, which then led to a very adorable photo shoot. 

A little bribery goes a long way. 

Nana got these little doggy long john's last year on the clearance rack and we've been waiting all year for just the right time to show them off!

"Waiting for Santa."

Cold weather and window watching makes these two cutie pie's frisky!

And speaking of puppy dogs, my mom sent me this picture of my dad at the deer lease looking like a dog eared eskimo! 

If I wasn't already entertained, this was enough to keep me laughing for a solid hour. 

Robbed!!! (Kinda, but not literally.....)

It would only make sense, knowing us, that after taking over 2 hours to travel a mere 30 miles, we'd drive up to the parking attendant of How the Edge Stole Christmas in a mad hurry, and realize between the two of us, were were short $4 for parking!! Thankfully, the sweet lady kept Patrick's drivers license and let us park anyway, trusting she had enough collateral on him to expect a return after he hit up an ATM.

The streak continued when I found our seats while Patrick went back to tie his loose ends. We wouldn't see each other for another 30 minutes, due to me being in the right seat and the right row of the wrong section, and Patrick not having his phone to find me!

(I swear this is a fantastic picture on my computer, and Blogger has been doing this really weird thing where it chooses random images to lift the saturation and contrast out of!!)

Saying I was disappointed to miss Panic at the Disco sing "Miss Jackson" and see Capitol cities do a little jig while singing one of their catchy tunes would be underly adequate, but a glimmer of excitement hung tight, knowing we'd arrived together (finally) in the actual correct seats, just in time to see Blue October. 

30 Second to Mars was an extremely pleasant surprise. As it turns out, Jared Leto's not just all stunning blue eyes with a chiseled jaw line and good hair; he has the chops to sing anything acoustic (the ultimate talent test), including a Rihanna cover, and has a sense of humor to match.

With a charming knack for getting the crowd hyped and engaged, the energy was infectious, especially when he had the crowd raise their lit phones up high, brightening the entire venue like a glow worm while he sang "City of Angels". My favorite part was an intimate moment when the entire crowd sang "The Kill" with just Jared and his guitar. Beautiful.

Nostalgia set in when Stone Temple Pilots hit the stage. Playing all my old favorite rock songs I remember listening to with my parents growing up, I felt sorry for all the really young kids who bailed early, going home without being able to appreciate a part of Alternative Rock's history. 

I was intrigued to witness how well Chester Bennington meshed with the band as the new lead singer. At times he sounded exactly like Scott Weiland, making it easy to pretend it was the complete original band, and then other times he sounded like the lead singer of another band singing another band's song (duh.....completely expected since he IS the lead singer for Linkin Park, after all). 

If I held them to a snobby state of criticism, I'd say they harmonized well and overall sounded fantastic, but was the most believable when performing their new songs......and I really, REALLY wanted to hear Chester belt it out with his signature scream, like I know he can, regardless of whether or not it fit in with a STP song. 

And then there was the ice storm that took the forever underprepared DFW roads hostage.........

I hate being robbed of time and money, but such is this funny, funny life. 

How'd I Get So Lucky?: Weeks 12-13

It's a good thing I never throw away my fat pants. Between those, and my new Bellaband, it's the only way I can get away with not buying maternity clothes yet (seeing as how I'm still in that awkward stage), while also avoiding looking like I only own pajamas or scrubs. I'm scared most people will just think I'm not afraid to hide my beer gut, so I'm still hiding behind baggy shirts and layers, but thought I'd show it off for the picture for documentation purposes (along with my 3 day old hair....then I immediately changed right back into my pj's).

My tailbone has been aching a lot, which I've read is normal......even though no one has EVER mentioned it to me before. 

Really, though, my butt pain is absolutely no match for this sinus infection I've been battling (probably pay back for not canceling Thanksgiving to help my parents move). My teeth, neck and head felt like a ticking time bomb for so long, I finally gave it to Patrick (who has it even worse than me now and is keeping me awake at night with his awful snoring......poor thing), followed him to his doctor where I got advice to call my OB, who phoned in a prescription for me, which wasn't ready until the next day because CVS is the slowest pharmacy in the world and I have no idea why we still go to them besides the fact that we're lazy and it's just down the road.
Can you tell my coping mechanisms are running thin?

Fortunately I've had two really sweet puppies to cuddle with me while I sleep all day and pretend to watch movies......and a husband who despite being sick, himself, still tries his hardest to take care of me. 

How'd I ever get so lucky?
P.S. Before I got sick and turned into a complete helpless baby about it, I went to a Yoga class and LOVED it. It did feel kinda weird, though, having a bit of a stomach I couldn't suck in to bend into certain poses. I'm now researching prenatal yoga classes; I think it could really help keep me motivated in the gym. 

The Best Way to Celebrate

On Thanksgiving night, cousin Allison and I made a complete spontaneous trip to the theater to see Catching Fire (I think my first trip to the movies since the first Hunger Games movie debuted.). We were both like "Oooooo" and "Aaaaahhhhh" and "Ommigosh! I forgot that happened until now!" Better than the first movie, definitely. Then we headed back to Nana's for some quiet time and cookies. 

I'm pretty sure this is universal, but I believe the best way to celebrate any occasion is with good food! It's probably why we battle obesity here in the south. 

We had quite a large lunch spread for such a small group of people, but when it comes to Thanksgiving, all the regular casseroles are a must. 

Patrick deep fried a turkey to perfection.

My favorite quote of the day with from Patrick's dad, "Thanksgiving is probably the only meal that I don't go back for seconds."

 (Let's not dwell on the fact that his plate was completely covered from edge to edge and four inches high with layers of extra servings! Classic.) All of which was followed by watching football and a snapping a quick family photo.

The down side: My parents had officially started moving into their newly built house and although we were headed to help the next morning and bringing a fresh home-cooked breakfast with us, I've never felt so guilty for celebrating a holiday. Not that anyone would let me do anything, because apparently being pregnant means you can't pick up boxes or reach your arms above your head (wives tails I'm still trying to prove untrue to firm believers......but until then, I guess I'll take it as my easy way out token). 

Milestone of Relief: 11.4 Weeks

The hustle bustle of Thanksgiving week pushed up my 12 week ultrasound by a couple of days, but who was I to complain? 

Up until this point, I'd still been feeling pretty sickly, blessed with enough miserable symptoms to help mute my fears. Excitement was actually starting to supersede my ultrasound anxiety; after all, this was the big scary milestone point for us. The whole family was waiting on pins and needles for good news to follow the NT scan, which measures a particular space on the back of the baby's neck to rule out a few different forms of Trisomy. Patrick made a groaning sound when he saw our ultrasound tech was the exact same lady, leading us head first into deja vu, into the exact same room for the exact same test. But oddly enough, I turned and gave him a reassuring smile this time, feeling like everything would be okay. 

It's a fun reality check of how big your baby is getting when they can finally do an ultrasound without requiring you to drop your pants first!

At first glance, we got to hear a doppler of little Cotton's heart beating at a steady 154 BPM and see his/her little movements while nesting in a cozy corner, but the baby's position was inhibiting the tech from getting all her measurements, so she had me cough and change positions. After several attempts at projecting my lungs across the room, we were successful, and Cotton put on a show by doing some acrobatic tricks, moving faster than the camera could focus. It's crazy to see the baby move so much and not be able to feel it; at 3 inches long from head to toe and measuring 2 days ahead of schedule, it just still isn't strong enough yet to make it's presence known in that way.

"Best looking Carruth baby I've seen all day," Dr. B said as he walked into the room.

"Is it the only Carruth baby you've seen all day?" I asked. 

"Well I wasn't going to mention that part. But really, he/she looks perfect. You're glowing, by the way."

"Eh. You said that last time. I think it's just the light in here."

"No, really. Pregnancy looks really good on you. I don't say that to everyone."

So with a good bill of health, we were sent on our way, not to return this time for 4 more weeks. And Dr. B, the man who is so big on nutrition he mentions it every time I see him, gave me permission to eat whatever I wanted over the holidays.
A few days later, I received a phone call from the office saying all my blood work for the screening was completely normal. *Sigh of relief.*

Now we're on the subject of whether or not to find out Cotton's gender before delivery, currently leaning towards waiting for a big finale surprise.........but I'm letting this one ultimately be Patrick's decision.

Wanna Know How to Annoy Me?

A really generous higher up that Patrick works with gave us lower level tickets to see the Mav's play the night before Thanksgiving, which turned out to be the perfect excuse to take the train downtown and stay out late enough for all the holiday traffic to die down before we made our quest to Waco.

At only a few rows from the floor (and we didn't even have to lie, steal, or cheat to get there), our seats were amazing compared to anything we're used to (you bet I'll be baking that guy some fresh cookies soon, in hopes for more donations); it's so nice to actually be able to gage how tall the players really are.

We scarfed our Philly Cheesecake's down as neatly as possible (because it would only figure that at the very moment our faces got nonchalantly covered in gooey melted cheese, the fan cam would unmistakably thrive on our embarrassment, like the older couple who got caught making-out later in the night), then devoted our complete focus to the game. 

Of course, this would be the night that a complete a-hole with a nasally voice that projected like he was yelling into a megaphone sat directly behind us and didn't stop talking long enough to even take a breath for the entire 2.5 hours. He had no idea what was happening around him (a very suspenseful game), especially the part where the girl in the aztec sweater sitting in front of him was literally seconds away from turning around and ripping his face off (because there was no way duct tape was going to do the trick for this guy). Even the woman sitting next to me (whom I bonded with after we both almost got clobbered in the head by a thrown t-shirt ball) had a shocked look of disbelief when she realized the same guy was still going strong after her and her man came back from the half time break. I'll give him this much: the man had endurance.

Have you ever had an extremely annoying person by you at an event? Did you tolerate it or resort to intervention?