Look at That One ... He Looks Delicious!

So, I've been a negligent blogger - in my defense, I've had a lot going on and Alan took the camera on his deer hunting outings for the past few weeks, and I just now got it back.  Alan loves to deer hunt, and we both enjoy various dishes made with deer meat (this past week we had some awesome deer tenderloin), a small sampling of our favorites being deer chili (made with ground deer and deer sausage), deer tacos, deer sloppy joes, and spaghetti with deer meat sauce or deer meat balls.  I know a lot of people are against deer hunting (or hunting in general), and I'll admit that I don't like watching the Outdoor Channel and seeing the deer go down after getting shot, but my dad is a big hunter too (he hunts everything:  duck, deer, pheasant, quail, turkey, etc), so I've never been too terribly squeamish about it.  I'm okay with it for my family because we do eat the meat - we're not just killing for sport, which I do think is kind of ... I don't know ... mean-spirited?  I don't know what word I'm looking for, really ... Anyway, see the below pics of Alan and his best friend and hetero-lifemate BA with their takings (not for the squeamish), shot on my grandparents' land up in Scotland, Van Buren County, Arkansas (also, the place where Alan and I will retire ... someday):



Alan and the doe

Gross, I know ... Alan was very excited to (for the first time) gut the deer instead of having the processer do it.  This doe came back to us in little white packages of ground deer and hot deer sausage.  He decided not to do tenderloin because we just don't ever cook it, but after the delicious tenderloin dinner we made the other night with all that we had left from a previous season, we were kind of disappointed that we didn't get any more.  Alan probably won't shoot another deer this season, since it's just the two of us and we don't need that much meat just for us.  However, if a trophy buck wanders into range ... guess we'll have some tenderloin then. 

BA and the six-point buck

I'm glad Alan and BA got to hang out together, and I'm glad they got a couple of deer - going hunting at my grandparents' also has the bonus of getting a delicious Grammy meal (or two or three) while you're there:  homemade yeast rolls and beef-burger pie, chicken and dumplings (homemade, obvs), pan fried chicken, beans, corn bread, etc ... it's killer.  It's enough to make you take up deer hunting just to partake.

I was also busy killing myself getting our house cleaned and decorated for Thanksgiving.  We had both of our families over to our house for the holiday, and it was great.  Everything went really smoothly, and it was really an enjoyable time (I barely survived the cleaning and decorating spree that took place on Tuesday and Wednesday, though ... seriously, Alan and I (and my mom, God bless her) did everything we've been planning to do to the house since we moved in six months ago, as far as hanging pictures is concerned and decorating and all of that, and there's still stuff left to do).  It was especially fun to see our nephew, Jonah, and our niece, Mattie (Jonah is Alan's older brother Ricky's son and Mattie is Alan's younger brother Patrick's daughter).   Patrick, Sarah, and Mattie spent the rest of the week with us, and it was great to spend time with them.  I especially enjoyed seeing the two spoiled labradors' reactions to a baby (Mattie is 10 months old).  The verdict:  I think they're going to be good big siblings.  They were very curious about Mattie and watched her a lot, especially when she was crawling, but they tried to share their toys with her (but only their toys ... they wanted to take all of Mattie's toys) and they seemed to generally accept her presence.  The only possible problem I see is that Augie is going to have to learn that he's not always the center of attention:  anytime anyone was paying a lot of attention to Mattie, he tried to insert himself in between that person and the baby, or bring over a toy, or just generally divert whoever's attention back to him.  He wasn't ever mean or bad about it, and it was kind of funny, but we'll have to work on that with him. 



Mattie and Jonah - Jonah's still working on "sharing"

One of the funniest things that happened is that the spoiled labradors discovered the joys of a high chair and the crumbs that get left behind.  Also, Mattie is already good at sharing with puppies (she has four of her own, and two cats, and three horses, and a donkey!), so she would hand over little bits of food over the side of the high chair to whichever spoiled labrador was waiting for it (usually Augie).  It was too cute.

Augie, trying to score some biscuit, turkey, or sweet potato from Mattie

Augie changed positions, hoping for a better score

 We are one week away from our ultrasound where (hopefully) we'll find out the baby's gender!  Everybody needs to scroll down to the bottom of the page and vote - there's only a week left!  At my last appointment, they did the test for early detection of spina bifida and Down's Syndrome, and other conditions of that type.  I was really nervous about it, especially after reading about the high rate of false positives and having a friend who went through that (with a false positive) and had to do all of the more invasive tests and of course had a couple of weeks of worrying herself sick over it.  Several of my other friends who have had babies opted not to do it for the perfectly understandable and valid reason that knowing about a birth defect wouldn't change anything:  it's not like the pregnancy would be terminated or they would love the baby any less.  My initial thought was that I would want to know, though, just to be prepared and my doctor really wants and encourages all of his patients to get it done though, and I always go with what the doctor says, you know (that's why he's a doctor ... it's like people who ask for legal opinions and then say, "Well, I'm going to do this instead."  Okay buddy, don't listen to me, I only went to school for 20 years and passed the bar exam, but I'm sure your cousin's sister's boyfriend knows better)?  Thankfully, there was nothing abnormal to report, so we are all breathing a little easier, and I think we'll be even more excited after next week's appointment. 

Pregnancy Update

How far along? 18 weeks, 1 day

Total weight gain: Unsure.  Still betting it's around the 5 pound mark and, as I've said before, I'm not worrying about it unless the doctor tells me otherwise.

Maternity clothes? No ... just the Bella Band with pants, and since I wear a lot of dresses, I'm not even wearing that a whole lot. 

Sleep: Still doing okay ... been reading in What to Expect ... that I should start sleeping on my side, so I'm probably going to start trying to do that this week (I'm a stomach sleeper).

Best moment this week: Being around family, especially my nephew and niece:  good practice for the future!

 

Movement: No ... I'm worried that I'll miss it because I don't know what I'm supposed to feel (that sounds silly, I guess, but I always think:  Is it just gas?  Stomach rumblings? and usually decide that it is).  I don't know where the placenta is, and I've been told that makes a difference in how soon you feel it. 

 

Gender: Hopefully we'll know in a week! 

Labor Signs: None, thank goodness ... hopefully we're still 22 weeks away from those shenanigans ...

Belly Button in or out? In.

Cravings: Nothing that I feel could be defined as a "craving" as in, I'm making Alan drive me to the store or wherever to get it because I simply must have something ... but I have developed quite a taste for lemonade.

What I miss: I think I'm definitely about to miss sleeping on my stomach.

Weekly Wisdom:  If the only prayer you say is, "Thank You", that is enough. 

 

Milestones: We're a week away from finding out the gender!

 

Hopefully this long post makes up for my negligence in the past couple of weeks!  I've got a trial scheduled for tomorrow and I am nervous.  I mean, I think I'm prepared and I'm ready to do my job, but I always get nervous when I have to go to court (mostly because I'm still new at all of this lawyering stuff, especially trial stuff, which I rarely ever do ... I think as I get more experienced, I'll get better at it and less nervous about it ... which I think is the way it works for pretty much anything).  It will make my week go by faster, though, which makes Monday and our ultrasound get here faster and the spreading of our excitement will be here faster.