Time for Brisket - by Jeremiah

Decided it was time to try smoking my first brisket.  And surprisingly, it turned out well.  So either you just can't mess up a brisket - or else I had some beginner's luck.  Or both.  Here are a few pics:

Phase 1: Dry rub

Phase 2: Marinate overnight.

Phase 3: Smoke and cook on low heat all day.  No pics of this.

Phase 4: Slice and eat.  The brisket turned out to be pretty moist with some tasty bark.  Lucky, like I said.  Plus it goes really well with Meredith's potato salad!

Visiting the Archers in Austin

This weekend we traveled to Austin to see Joanna and Aaron.  Joanna is pregnant and 3 weeks ahead of me, so we enjoyed trading pregnancy stories :)  They took us out on the Colorado river in a couple of kayaks and a canoe for some sunning and fishing.

 My tailbone has been giving me some trouble in recent weeks so I came prepared with a blow up donut.  Pregnancy is so glamorous.

 Jeremiah in the kayak

 Joanna and Aaron in the canoe

 Before church on Sunday morning.  Me -20 weeks, Joanna 23 weeks

The whole crew.  Compare the above picture to this one....

 Taken in the same spot exactly two years before!

We love you guys and had a great visit.  Baby B can't wait to meet Baby A.

Change is good

Meredith asked me to drop off Miles for a haircut.  So I did...and signed him up for a manly mohawk!  Looking good, buddy.

Mom and Dad B Visit!

This past weekend Jeremiah's parents drove down to visit us and visit the World's Famous First Monday Trades Days, of course!  After trekking through Canton all day on Friday, they drove to Fort Worth Friday night.  We went to the Stockyards for dinner on Saturday and ate at H3 Ranch.  We went for a walk, watched movies, snacked, shopped, and just caught up. 

 Grandma bought baby boy's first "lovie," a fuzzy horse we found at a cute shop in the Stockyards :)

On Sunday after church we ate lunch at Esperanza's, our favorite Mexican brunch place.  We had a great weekend and enjoyed their visit!

Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails....

That's what little boys are made of!  Last week we finally found out the gender of our baby.  We were blessed to have a friend who is a nurse at Arlington Pregnancy Center.  Our doctor wouldn't do a sonogram before 20 weeks, and we were willing to wait.  But, Mer (our nurse friend) offered to do the sonogram at 17 weeks!  We excitedly accepted her offer.  That morning I woke up so excited that I made "B" and "G" pancakes.

 

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Here you can see a sweet little arm and leg.










...And a tiny foot!











This was our first glimpse at BOY!  The bubble looking things to the left are part of the cord.  On the left you see bottom and legs.

Another view of bottom, legs, and boy parts :)











Looking down....










Same view.








When Mer said she thought it was a boy, Jeremiah was so excited!  He threw his arms up in the air and everything.  I have to admit I was a bit surprised.  I thought all along that I was carrying a girl!  So much for "mother's intuition!"  We got to watch him move around for 45 minutes.  It was so exciting and seemed to finally feel very real.  I feel him kick every night now.  He is definitely Jeremiah's child because he is wide awake every late afternoon and into the evening. 

Later that evening we went to eat at Panda Express (our fav fast food Chinese).  We always enjoy opening the fortune cookies to see what they say.  Our "fortunes" that night were very true :)  The first was mine and the second was his:

 Since I thought he was going to be a girl, I really had to accept a lot of things I hadn't thought of.  My horizons will be broadened!

And finally, Jeremiah's dreams of glamor and luxury from having a boy pro-athlete will come true :)