Aggie Weekend

This past weekend was an epic day in the life of most Aggies. Saturday in Aggieland was an incredible day and I am thrilled to have gotten to experience it. The only thing that would have made it beyond awesome is if we had won the football game...however, the lingering feelings amongst Aggies even after the loss prove that our university goes so much deeper and is so much bigger than winning a football game. I am so proud of our university in so many ways, but mostly because of the feedback we received from Florida Gator fans after the weekend. Aggies pride themselves in being classy, high quality, friendly, and just downright awesome, and it was obvious we came across that way. 

Friday night, Derrick and I headed to College Station for First Yell, which is an event the night before the first game of the season every year. In the past, they have brought in Bill Cosby, Bill Engvall, and others for entertainment. Its always been held in Reed Arena, but this year, they moved it to Kyle Field and had "Texas Music - Aggie Style" featuring Granger Smith, Rick Trevino, and Robert Earl Keen. It was a fun evening of good music followed by Midnight Yell, which was AMAZING. 40,000-50,000 people showed up at MIDNIGHT to practice the yells the Aggies would be using the next day at the game. The cannon fires, the lights go out, you kiss your date, you practice the yells, and Granger sang an acoustic version of "We Bleed Maroon" to 50,000 people....a-mazing. 

Granger on the Jumbotron at Kyle Field

Robert Earl Keen

The stage on Kyle Field

At MIDNIGHT! We just stayed put in our seats because the decks were FULL

The next day was the kickoff of the Aggie football season and also the kickoff of A&M entrance into the SEC and also ESPN Gameday in Aggieland. The energy on campus was awesome. We got to campus around 9:30 and headed to Simpson Drill Field to observe Gameday. 

The whole Gameday crew on Simpson Drill Field!

We then wandered around soaking in all the fun. We hopped tailgates and ended up at my Uncle Doug and Aunt Laura's where we had chicken fajitas and observed all the people stopping to take pictures with Uncle Doug's alligator skin he brought and hung up :) We had to take our turn....

The Phillips came in for the day! Always makes things wonderful! 

The whole Ratliff crew!!

Logan and Kelly hooked up Baby R with a few of his first Aggie items...so adorable! 

We then headed to the stadium and found that we were the very last row that was completely shaded at 1:30 in the afternoon. The weather was wonderful. The first half of our game was awesome...our new quarterback Johnny Manziel did a wonderful job...the second half fell apart and it was quite sad. We ended up losing by 3 which stunk really badly, but it was still fun. 

Fightin' Texas Aggie Band!

Gig'em Friends!

We then stayed with the Maders that night and got to hang out with them a long time on Sunday for Brittany's birthday!...tis an amazing weekend!

30 weeks on the left and 22 weeks on the right :) Fun to be pregnant with B! 

Baby Update: I am 31 weeks pregnant tomorrow so we are in the single digit countdown! Only 9 weeks left! A lot is going to change in the next 9 weeks - a big move, a couple fun baby showers, nesting in a new house, and getting used to working remotely...but we're looking forward to all the changes. Can't wait to meet our baby boy - who is movin' and groovin' these days. He's a tumbler...I feel him often and I think he started hiccuping yesterday for the first time. I'm definitely big and pregnant but am feeling pretty good. I had 2 hard weekends with massive back pain but it hasn't come back yet so that's a good thing. Looking forward to meeting our lil guy!

Joys of Pregnancy

I have been really bad about documenting all the little nuances of pregnancy. Mostly, because I figure most people don't care :) but I want to document it for my own sake so I guess I shall write...

So my first 25 weeks of pregnancy was a breeze. Besides being a little extra tired and occasional nausea, I believe I really had it pretty easy. However, after 25 weeks, its been getting harder every week. About Week 27, I had a really bad back pain kick in in my middle right back. It started the afternoon we were taking our concealed handgun class and I figured it was just a little foot in the ribcage or something so I kept hopping around trying to make our son move a little. It got better but then it came back, came and went, came and went. I got really worried on that Sunday and wondered if I should go to the ER. I had a doctor's appointment already scheduled for the next morning though so I figured I'd just suck it up and hold out but I was in tears at some times...pain is really emotionally debilitating. The next morning, I met with Dr. Zivney and he mentioned that it could be acid reflux manifesting itself in my back so he recommended Pepcid AC twice a day. I tried that for 2 days but it did nothing so I stopped and it hurt for another 2 days or so...and then, it just went away! My lil guy is still moving around a lot so I know he's a-ok, but thank goodness the pain went away because it was totally keeping me from sleeping well and interacting well with the world. I still feel it a little bit every once in a while, but not nearly as bad. So I guess it was one of those shifts that just happen during pregnancy and the nerve or whatever was getting pinched is fine now.

I had the gestational diabetes screening test done on August 27th and unfortunately, I failed the screening test by 10 points (140 is passing and I came in at 150). I'm not too worried about it as I was told its very common to fail the screening but then pass the test, but its really annoying because now I have to go back this Tuesday morning for the 3 hour test. Mostly, its just inconvenient because my doctor is in College Station so 4 hour round trips in a work week is just hard to do. But of course, I'd rather know in case I need to handle it correctly. I have no diabetes in my family so I'm thinking I'll be fine. I happened to have a chocolate chip granola bar like 15 minutes before the test, so that probably didn't help.

Other than that, the baby is getting bigger, which of course means I'm getting bigger. Clothing is the hardest thing about pregnancy. Nothing fits right and having to dress up every day for work is hard...but I suppose that comes with the territory.

We are estimated to move on October 12th weekend, so it will be so nice to actually get to set up the nursery and know what else I need to get for Baby Ratliff. Right now, its all in my head, but I can't wait to make it a reality. I'll only have 4 weeks to truly prepare, assuming he stays put until due date which of course is an assumption that isn't always reality - so we'll see.

We are super excited to get to meet our little guy. I am enjoying all the stages leading up to it though and know life will change dramatically once he gets here. Now that September 1st is here, I feel like we're full speed ahead. August still felt far away from Novemeber because it was still "summer time." But now we're "fall time" so it'll be here before we know it!

I LOVE the fall! Football season, cool weather, holidays, family time, yummy smells, ranch time....and of course this year, a SON! aaahhhhh - can't wait!