You know it's a cold day in Texas when . . .

You wake up to find ice has attached itself to the fence,



and your car is covered in icicles,



your BBQ pit is frozen shut,



it takes you 20 minutes (or more) to break through the thick layer of ice that has covered your car and sealed the doors shut,



and your hubby can remove the pieces of ice in large sheets.



These pictures were taken yesterday. The temperature was about 29 degrees when we left that morning, but the wind chill made it feel like 14. We had another layer of ice waiting for us this morning, but it wasn't nearly as thick. If this weather keeps up much longer, we'll be pros at ice removal.

By the way, did I mention that the temperature got up to about 80 degrees last week? Talk about temperature fluctuations!

It's a boy!

That's right, we now know that Baby Gonzalez is Ted the IV. :-)

New Sink

We made a discovery today - we found a moderately priced vanity and top, already assembled, that we actually liked, for our downstairs bathroom. Since that room has been sinkless for most of the time we've lived here, we decided we'd better buy it. It's not the custom order one that we had originally chosen, but it looks just as good and suits our needs, which are becoming a little more pressing now that Baby Gonzalez is on the way. The sink isn't installed yet, but here are a few photos to give you an idea of what it will look like.







You can also see our new wall plates (that we finally bought) in the photos and (sort of) get an idea of how the sink looks underneath the new lighting fixture. We think it will look pretty snazzy when it's all said and done.

First Research Trip

The start of the new year has meant the re-start of dissertation research. We kicked off this activity in a big way by driving down to Austin on Friday so that I could look at the Coleridge Family Archive housed at the Harry Ransom Center. We both registered as readers and went through an orientation, where we learned how to handle rare books and manuscripts. After a thorough introduction on how to find materials, I spent most of my time looking through the HRC's old fashioned card catalog system, trying to figure out what's what. The last 20 minutes or so of our trip was spent reading (and handling) letters written by Robert Southey to Sarah Fricker (the future Mrs. Samuel Taylor Coleridge) in 1795. Very cool.

More trips to come in the future. Next time, we'll remember to take pictures.

For those who may be interested

We have been working to develop baby registries and have a pretty good start so far. If you'd like to take a look at them, they are available to view at Babies "R" Us, Target, and www.alternativegiftregistry.org. They're still a work in progress, so (if the spirit moves you) you may want to check them again a month or two down the road.

New Year's Trip

For this New Year's holiday, we took a trip up to Ft. Worth (by way of Dallas) to visit Bryan - a good friend of Ted's - and his girlfriend, Amy. On the way up, we were able to stop in Dallas and register for a few baby items at Babies R Us. We also stopped in at our favorite dive, the San Francisco Rose (oh, how we miss Dallas).

In Ft. Worth, we wandered around downtown with Bryan and Amy. Bryan's apartment is right on the edge of downtown and within walking distance from restaurants, shops, and a movie theater. We enjoyed a BBQ dinner that first night and shared our "big news" with them. They, of course, are very excited, and Bryan agreed to be the baby's godfather.

On New Year's Eve, we walked around the Kimbell Art Museum. Later, we headed over to Texas Wesleyan School of Law. Across the street from the campus is the Ft. Worth Water Gardens, otherwise known as a huge lawsuit waiting to happen (steep, wet steps without railing and a ridiculous amount of water make for a bad combination). Later that night, we went downtown to a club where we had reservations and rang in the New Year.

On New Year's Day, we had brunch with Bryan's parents and family and spend the rest of the day relaxing. Friday, we packed up and headed back home to Waco. We had lots of fun on our mini vacation.

Take a look at the slideshow below to see images of downtown Dallas, Ft. Worth, the Kimbell, the Water Gardens, and New Year's Eve.

Happy New Year!

We had our most recent doctor's visit yesterday and got some good photos of Baby Gonzalez. The kiddo was not happy about being disturbed by the tech, who put a lot of pressure on his comfy home, and started wiggling and kicking to show his disatisfaction.





By the way, in case you were wondering, we haven't confirmed the sex of the baby yet; I just prefer to refer to the baby as "him" rather than "it." We may be lucky enough to learn the baby's gender at our next appointment, which should be in a couple of weeks. It just depends on how accurate the ultrasound is and whether or not the baby feels like cooperating. We will, of course, keep you posted.