Baby B is a Girl

Just in time for Christmas Brian and I were finally 20 weeks pregnant and could finially find out the gender of our sweet baby. We had scheduled our appointment first thing Tuesday morning and all of the grandparents were going to join us…. then came the ICE! We had a severe ice storm (I guess thats what you would call it) Thursday that lasted well into the next week. My Doctor's office was closed Thursday, Friday, Monday…. Oh how I was worried for Tuesday morning. I finally got a phone call from a nurse that was able to drive in and check messages call to say they were planning on opening on time first thing the morning. Whew!

Next came my parents two hour dirve from East Texas…. Well, it took them FIVE HOURS to get here monday night. Luckily, my parents were commited to being there with us for this special day and braved the traffic and left over ice to spend the day with me.

We all arrived on time Tuesday morning at 8:10 bright eyed and bushy tailed to get the news we have all been anxiously awaiting. They called us back to a large room with a table for me and three or four large flat screen tv's displayed around the room to ensure all got see our sweet baby. I climbed up on the stage… well table and everyone sat around the room. I got all ready and the sonogropher got to work. She took her time looking at the babies heart, head size, and finally asked Brian what he was looking so intently for.

His reply "I'm looking for his penis!"

Her reply, "Well I'm sorry but your baby doesn't have a penis, because your baby is a girl!"

The whole room got quiet… I laughed and paused… "Wait, WHAT!!!!!"

For 20 weeks, I had been told by anyone and everyone that my baby was going to be a boy (except my Grammy) for whatever old wives tale they believed in. I truely believed that we were going to have a boy, I even had all the boy nursery ideas finalized and ready to start. We hadn't picked out a girl name, and all I knew was I liked purple and grey for a girls nursery. I was so suprised and excited I couldn't stand it.

When the room caught their breaths and came to terms with what was going on, there were mixed emotions by all, some grieving the loss of more "Bensmiller Men" and some so excited for a girl that they practilly had their credit cards out ready to buy bows and dresses. I was more interested in looking at my baby GIRL move around and see that all her parts were developing on track and healthy.

When we finished up we took pictures and celebrated among ourselves. My poor husband kept turning different shades of red and then white and didn't know what to think. He is going to be an amazing dad, but was concerned about what the heck you do with girls. He will learn that they can fish, hunt, and play sports just as much as boys can.

We celebrated again that night with more friends at a local mexican food place and are so excited to be getting closer to the arrival of our sweet baby. We finally decided on a name "Zoey Catherine" so we can stop calling her  "Baby B" and start calling her by her name. Miss Zoey had a great Christmas, and already has enough clothes to get her through the summer!

Brian and I holding up our pictures of our baby girl.

Brian's face is a little red here, he's still in shock!

The whole crew! Big Pappy, Jojo, Mimi, Pops, Nonna, and Us! 

It's Starting to Look Lilke a House

Brian bought a lot in Weatherford October 2012 to later build a  home. I quickly got to work looking at house plans and soon we had one all picked out. We got engaged that November, and had dirt work done for the pad of the house right away! As I was finishing grad school and planning a wedding, I tried to get all our paper work completed for the loan to start building.... that was a nightmare! Apparently, the big corporation banks don't like for your family members to build your home. Clay, Brian's dad had been a builder in the past, and does wonderful work. He would be the only person we wanted to build our family home. 

Finally in July 2013 we found a bank here in Weatherford, that would allow Brian's dad to build our home, we got the paperwork done in record time, and soon closed on our interim loan. So far there has been so much work done on our house! We have under slab plumbing, a foundation, walls, and just yesterday they started the roof! We think we will be done building by mid-March, which gives us a little over a month to get ready for Baby B! 

This is when we got our plans in the mail!

This is the pad after dirt work was done and a few months passed. 

We have spent lots of time around a camp fire burning the dead trees and brush!

Whats a camp fire without S'mores???

Our first unwanted critter!

Our second VERY UNWELCOME snake!!! Yikes!

Under slab plumbing and frame for the foundation! 

Wall frames

Walls and the start of our roof! 

Baby B is on the Way

Brian and I always said we would start trying to have kids as soon as we got married. I thought that I would finish out my pack of birth control pills the month after the wedding, then it would take 6 months to a year before all the hormones would be out of my system and we would be successful at conceving a child...

Well the weekend of September 1st (opening weekend of Dove season) we loaded up Lola Grace and our shot guns and headed west to the Ranch. I had been sleepy the week before, but thought it was just from being back at school for a week, so I took a test before we left and it read negative. SO off we went to Brady! The whole time we were in the car Brian swore I was pregnant and he just knew... I knew I was not and assured him of it. Finally by Sunday I was sick of him accusiung me of being pregnant and took another test... well the man was right and two positive tests later I realized he was right and I had been so wrong!

I told Brian right away and didn't do anything "cute" to let him know he would be dad with in the year. I also called my mom and dad, grammy, and brother and sister-in-law. I let Brian tell  his family and the only person in the family we kept the secret from was Clay, my Father in Law. He wants us to have as many kids as we can, and was eager for us to get pregnant right away! SO when he got home from a work trip we got a cake that said "Welcome Home Grandpa" and he about cried he was so excited. 

Our next step was scheduling a Doctors appointment, I had been established with my doctor for several years, but wanted to go to someone close so Brian could make it to as many appointments as he wanted. I researched in Weatherford, and found Dr. Mcbride. We fell in love with her within minutes of meeting her and knew we made a good choice for the care of our baby. I was 9 weeks at our first appointment and she said everything looked perfect, and there was no reason why we couldn't tell all of our friends and family. So we did! My friend Emily took some pictures for us and we posted away on facebook and instagram. 

our first sonogram

announcement picture by Emily Roberts.

In the  next few months we found out the  baby was healthy, growing like a weed (she is a week ahead of schedule everytime we go get her checked). We cant wait for the first week in May when she will make her apperance. 

New Blog

I've always wanted to start a blog, though I am not a writer, I like to read my friends blogs and have always thought it was a great way to share memories, ideas, and life experiences. When I moved to Fort Worth 6 years ago, my roommate and I thought we would blog our time as singles in a new "big city" and title it "Clueless in Cowtown." We had a blast growing up, starting our careers, and finding a permanent home here in North Texas with our husbands. 

Long story short, I moved here for a teaching job (where I still work today), have learned many lessons about becoming an adult, made great friends, found the love of my life, moved to his hometown (its only 20-30 miles from Fort Worth), and got married. Now we are building a home, expecting our fist baby, and loving our life together. 

I hope this blog is a place where we can share our memories and experiences with our friends and family. 

Here's a quick recap of how we got started:

Natalie and I looking for our fist apartment in Fort Worth after we both got jobs in the area. I'm pretty sure this is where we came up with the idea that we were truly CLUELESS IN COWTOWN! 

Jump ahead a few years and I met my husband Brian, we dated 3 times before we finally got it together, but I am so glad we did! Brian bought a lot to build a house on in October 2012, and proposed there where we would build our home together the next month. Here is a picture after he proposed. 

We didn't waste anytime getting married, I planned our wedding for June while I was finishing up my masters at Concordia University. I took a final on Thursday night before our wedding weekend and was married by Saturday! 

We spent our honeymoon in Vegas! Somewhere I had never been, and Brian wanted to take me on a new adventure. I loved every second of it and was sad to come home.  Here's a picture of us on our last day at the hotel with parrots! 

We (well I) got a puppy in July, Brian claims her now too! This is our first baby Lola Grace. 

Jump ahead a few months and we announced that we were expecting a baby in May 2014.

That leads us to where we are now. I will keep everyone updated on the pregnancy and the progress of our house!