An update on life, generally.

So there have been lots of fun announcements here lately, but not much in the realm of day to day life for the Hogans. So, not that people are hankering to know, but I thought I'd fill the internet in. Also here's a picture of Sophie, my hardworking sewing assistant.

Clearly she's a huge help. Not sure what I'd do with out her.

We've been here in Temple for... almost three months? Is that possible?! I'd say we're pretty settled in. Brendon has been doing the residency thing, which recently has consumed all his free time. Kind of like being in school again. Lots of research, lots of projects. No tests though! He's also been working the odd weekend a month or so as a pharmacist at CVS, just for extra cash and to keep up his tenure there. I think he secretly loves it. And I think Brendon also secretly likes it here in Temple. He likes the slower lifestyle, the convenience of small town living. Plus he's surrounded by like minded folks at work, doing what he loves. There are a few things that bother both of us about Temple, but I think out of the two of us, he's more at home here.

I on the other hand, can't help feeling a little out of place. There are wonderful things about living here. It takes ten minutes to get any where (whether in Temple or Belton), no where is EVER busy, and it is cheap cheap cheap. Living here is saving us a ton of cash compared to Austin. Also, our neighborhood/apartment is SO NICE and quiet and safe and just really the polar opposite of our place in Austin (yet cheaper?). But, there are also downsides to living here. Here goes my rant, bear with me. I often think of living here as going back a decade. Life in 2005. Or earlier. I am a millennial, for sure, that just came from a tech driven city so this slide back into the past has been... frustrating at times. I mean, we'll look up restaurants and there just wont be a website? HA, how tech reliant can you get, right? I think it's because there just aren't a lot of young people here. There is a giant retired population, and then families. Not many young folks. The young folks that are here are mostly all doctors and medical folks. And the majority of those doctors and medical folks don't even live here, they commute from Round Rock or Georgetown or Austin (understandably). So there aren't a lot of "young people" things here, because there's no market for it. And man, being a vegetarian in Temple is challenging, to say the least. If you don't want Asian or Italian food, your options are pretty much nilch. Which is saving us lots of money on eating out! Silver lining! There is also a shocking lack of good coffee, but I'm a coffee snob. So. Unsurprisingly, the Temple/Belton area is VERY conservative and VERY... Texas. We are bleeding heart liberals as my dad says, so that can be a little frustrating. And NO ONE CAN DRIVE HERE. I swear to you, the Hogans drive faster than 95% of the the population of Temple and Belton combined. Driving below the speed limit is a thing here. There's no traffic, but there are figurative turtles on the road you have to dodge. Aaaand, no one will visit you when you live in Temple. I mean, at least in Austin we had the "oooh Austin is cool, lets go see the Hogans", we got nothin' here.  I don't blame them. If we want to see people, we go to them.

OKAY. Rant over before my head falls off. To be fair, most of the three months we've been here, I was basically sick. So that's not a good start. And I hated Austin (and Denton) when I first moved there, but ended up loving it. And obviously Austin makes any other Texas town (especially a small one) seem like a foreign country. I get that. And I was born and raised in Texas, so you'd think I'd know. I guess I just got spoiled. And Austin sucks in many ways. It's overcrowded, the traffic is horrendous, hipsters everywhere (I secretly miss y'all though), and it is expensive. Settling down there and purchasing a house would be challenging. So I think Temple is good for us. As much as I grumble and moan about it, it's a smart place for us to be right now. Did I mention how cheap it is? And Austin is just down there road and I'm there once a week.

Which brings me to, what the heck am I doing for a living? I'm 70% a housewife, y'all. I work once a week sewing at my job down in Austin, but aside from that I chill at home. It's weird, but it works for us right now. I'm going to have my hands full with a Seahorse in a few months so we decided just to forgo me trying to get a, well, lets be honest... shitty job just for a few months. So I'm at home! Which has been perfect, because the past few months of being knocked up have been real rough for me. I'm doing mostly better now, but I still have the occasional date with my face in the toilet, so it's nice to do that in the comfort of my own home. I've been keeping my self busy with sewing (for me!! for fun!), cleaning, cooking, you know. House crap. And I don't mind! I've worked my ass off since I was a teenager, so it's nice to have a break. And the cats think they've died and gone to heaven. They loooove having a human around all the time. Just wait, y'all. Soon there will be a tiny human with hands that love to grab cat tails. (None of this would obviously be possible without my super hero husband, Brendon. That boy is the hardest working person I have EVER met. And he is also the kindest and sweetest, and always makes me feel... important. No matter what. Damn, I love you Brendon, and so does the Seahorse. She told me.)

So that's basically it! We've got a fair bit of traveling ahead, in state and out, the next few months before the Seahorse arrives, so I'm pretty stoked about that. Especially since I've been feeling somewhat normal again. Lots of fun adventures squeezed our ever shrinking time as a family of two. Plus two cats. Life is pretty good you guys. I know I just whined about Temple for a good paragraph, but I do not want you to think for a second that I am not LOVING life and thrilled at where we are in it. We are lucky ducks. Actually, eff luck, we both worked real hard to be where we are. So we are enjoying it. Even if Brendon is up to his ears in medical articles every free moment and I'm wondering if my esophagus will survive this never ending heartburn and oh my god we will be responsible for a tiny human very soon, WE ARE HAPPY. Because we're together. And it is almost FALL, praise the pumpkin gods.

What kind of human is the Seahorse?

So, as you've probably read on the Facebook, we found out what we're having! We had the BIG ultrasound yesterday. The one where, baby willing, you find out the gender. Turns out I'm a week less along than they originally thought (seventeenish weeks instead of eighteen), but luckily the Seahorse cooperated enough that we were able to see everything we needed to.

Now, telling gender by ultrasound isn't a perfect science, but Brendon called it right away and the technician wholeheartedly agreed; it was kind of obvious. The seahorse is a girl. Duh. I mean, what else could it be? How could I not end up with a girl? (Although to be fair, Brendon is to blame for this one, biologically we ladies have no say in the gender.) Everyone said it would be a girl, including Brendon, and boom, you were all right. I honestly had ZERO preference, I would have been thrilled either way, but a girl just makes a lot of sense. I mean, right? A boy would have been wonderful as well, but it was just not in the cards for the Hogans. A lady Seahorse it is!

Awesome news to find out, obviously. We can now say she, instead of it, which makes the Seahorse sound much more human and less alien like. And SHE is a little party animal! I've been feeling her move for a couple weeks, and every day it gets crazier. But both the nurse practitioner at my last visit and the technician yesterday remarked on how active she is. And she was seriously making moves! Kicking and turning and waving those little arms. Kind of like, "Hey! What the heck, stop pushing on me!" It's crazy to actually SEE her move, instead of just feel it. Also, science you guys. It's so awesome. We could see the heart pumping and we saw her BRAIN and her spine (and her lady parts). I mean, there's a little skeleton in there! And she looks pretty perfect to me. Looks clearly like a badass.

One day the kid is going to be like, YOU POSTED WHAT ON THE INTERNET?

AND yes, we are having a girl. Yes, there's a pink bow on that hat up there. And yes, I am a wannabe Disney Princess. But NO, that does NOT mean pink everything. We thought about not telling everyone just so we could avoid the stereotypical blue for boys pink for girls thing. I want the Seahorse to be surrounded by the rainbow! I don't want to pick her favorite color for her. We're going to try keep everything fairly neutral. Don't freak out, there will still be dresses. And maybe a couple bows. But some people just go so far overboard with the pink. No frills please! If she grows up and decides that she's the girliest of the girls (I wouldn't be surprised), that's totally cool! I just want to give her the opportunity to decide. NOT that she'll remember what she's wearing when she's a few months old, but you get the gist. We're just weird hippies, roll with it.

So like I said, we also found out I'm a weekish less along which means homegirl will be making an appearance at more like the end of January instead of the middle. January 26th is the date our tech threw out. I'm cool with that! Just means I'll be slightly less about to pop around the holidays. And for that trip to New Orleans in December!

And for fun, we tried to get Sophie and Greg to celebrate their new sister with some pictures, but they were fairly uninterested. Even when bribed with treats. (My crazy-cat-lady-dom knows no bounds.)

I love those two. They've been the best support team. Always game to cuddle when I'm feeling down. Plus they're adorable. They've got their work cut out for them, but I think they'll be perfect older siblings.

Now we all know what kind of human we're cooking up! Honestly you guys, I'm just thrilled that it appears we are growing a healthy human in there. This has been a relatively rough pregnancy for me, it's nice to know that the Seahorse seems to be doing just fine regardless. A healthy Seahorse is all I'm asking for! But a girl Seahorse is also very awesome. :)