Bump Report: 30 Weeks!

Whoa! My belly is HUGE.

I can’t believe that our little one will be here in less than 10 weeks. Hugh and I took our hospital tour last week and it was a little scary. Seeing the delivery rooms and nursery just seemed all too REAL to me. I guess in my mind this has all seemed to be a far off ordeal, but in reality it’s just around the corner.

Hugh and I found a few things for the baby’s room recently. We haven’t really bought much for decoration since we don’t know the gender of the baby. We stumbled upon a cute lamp at Marshall’s that’s white and green with elephants and a white and green piggy bank. I love them both and it was fun putting them in the nursery. We’ve been keeping the door to the nursery open lately and I’ve noticed that Cassie will make rounds through there. I’m hoping that the dogs adjust well to having a little one around.

How I feel: Good! Starting to get a little slower. I’ve noticed that I’m sleepier lately than I have been. My neighbor and I competed in a neighborhood 5K this Saturday. He’s 84 and a WWII veteran. He’s in great shape and we had a good time. I’m sure we made a great pair; the big pregnant lady and the octogenarian. The local American Legion put on the race and the greatest irony ever was having the veteran in her mid-thirties hand my neighbor his commemorative dog tags. He thought it was hysterical.

Food: No craving or aversions, really. I’ve been eating less lately. I’m just not as hungry as I have been. In fact, we had to stop at the doctor’s this past week and I’d actually lost 3 pounds instead of gaining. Don’t worry; I’m sure I’ll gain it back!

Baby: The baby moves constantly. I think he/she recognizes Hugh’s voice. Every night he talks to my belly and the baby always responds. I think it’s very cute and endearing…at least until I get a kick in the ribs!

We have an appointment with the doctor this Thursday and I’m curious to see if she can tell if the baby is still breech. I know we have plenty of time for he/she to still turn an put its legs down, but I’d like to get compliant as soon as possible. I can't wait to meet our little one!

Franklin BBQ

I remember being out to eat with some friends of ours about 2 ½ years ago, when our friend Matt told us about his cousin. He said that his cousin had just opened up a BBQ trailer on the side of the road in Austin. He told us how we all needed to go up and give it a try sometime.

Now, I would call anytime between 2004 and now the “Food Trailer” era. Food trucks are everywhere these days and they’re complete hit or miss. Sometimes you can get food that’s delicious and sometimes you can eat a taco from the trailer out in front of a Wal-Mart and regret the decision for days. Hugh and I wanted to go, but anytime we headed up to Austin involved us going straight to the north side, making this BBQ stop inconvenient. During all of this non-bbq eating time we kept hearing from Matt about how amazing his cousin was doing and how people were waiting for two hours at a time to get his BBQ. In fact, he ended up moving his trailer into a permanent building off 11^th street in Austin.

Fast forward to December of this year and Hugh and I just happen to in Austin with some time to kill. We decided to head on over and try to get lunch at Franklin BBQ in their new digs. We got there at about 11:00 and waited in line for about 45 minutes to get our food. IT WAS INCREDIBLE! I’ve eaten BBQ my entire life and I have to say that this is by far the best brisket, ribs, pulled pork, and turkey that I’ve ever had. The owner makes 3 different types of sauces, but you don’t need them. It’s just that tender and flavorful.

Hugh and I decided to take a little road trip during my Spring Break vacation this year. First stop?? FRANKLIN BBQ. We left our house very early on a Saturday morning and got into line about 10:00 A.M. We had wanted to get there earlier but were a bit late leaving that morning. It was POURING rain, but we came prepared. We had our rain jackets and an umbrella, plus we were hungry. We didn’t get our food until 12:15 or 12:30, but I will say that it was well worth the wait. We met some very interesting people that were in line next to us and it was enjoyable. There were several groups of people in line that had brought their own coolers and were drinking beer while waiting in line. Hugh and I got around 4lbs of meat (for the two of us) and left with less than a pound of turkey. We ate like pigs. It wasn’t pretty, but DEAR SWEET JESUS IT WAS DIVINE!

Here are a few photos of our day:

Early the next week I got a text message with a photo attached saying: “Look who’s at Franklin today…”

Anthony Bourdain.

How awesome is that?

p.s.: Aaron Franklin was featured on the cover of Texas Monthly this past February.