24.

Yesterday we celebrated Michael's 24th birthday...well actually we've been celebrating from the minute he got home from work on Friday with cupcakes...he was just a little bit anxious. After several attempts, Michael finally convinced me to give him his birthday present on Friday (I can only imagine what he was like growing up on the days before Christmas). I think I did good though...he seemed a little excited about his new Garmin GPS watch when he got up on a Saturday morning to go for a run to "test it out." He probably would have gone that night if we hadn't stuffed ourselves at Chuy's with great Tex-Mex and the biggest piece of Tres Leches I have ever seen (and yes, we finished it).

We spent Saturday at one of his favorite places on earth, Cabela's. If you are unfamiliar with  Cabela's, it's basically an outdoors-man's dream store filled with anything that has to do with hunting, fishing, camping or outdoors in general. In Michael's words, "it's pretty aggressive." I think we may have walked down every isle in the store...ok, that may be an exaggeration but we definitely hit every section. Later that night we got together for dinner and drinks (minus the drinks for me) with a couple of his good friends from high school and ended up at a sports bar where we played Darts and Washers for the rest of the night. We had a blast with them...I wish I had taken some pictures! Yesterday we went out for a nice dinner at one of our favorite Austin places, North by Northwest and finished the evening with a nice walk and Michael's favorite TV show, Bachelor Pad. Haha, just kidding...kind of.

Yesterday also marked my 24th week! Time is really flying now and my belly seems to be growing rapidly! Buttoning any pair of regular pants is pretty much out of the question these days. We had an appointment last week and everything looked great. Baby Magee even gave the doc a big 'ole kick right on the doppler wand as we were listening to his heartbeat. The kicks are starting to get pretty intense since his bones are more developed and sometimes I can feel exactly where he is in my stomach. It takes on some pretty weird shapes as he moves around.

These were both taken in the last week...the first one is a little deceiving, the second one is a few days later and more accurate of how big the bump really is now. Michael laughs at me, but I pretty much take advantage of any time I make the effort to get semi-dressed up and ask him to take a picture of me. The number of pictures he has to take for me to find one that I actually like seems to be increasing with my weight...ha!

ATX Weekend full of Fun and Friends

I couldn't describe a more perfect weekend. Friday night Michael and I got to hang out just the two of us and RELAX! He cooked an amazing dinner for us, pasta with chicken and mushrooms, and brought home some ice cream for desert. He seems to be the only one cooking these days since I'm not supposed to handle raw meat (well at least that's my excuse) and I clean up afterward. We seem to have gotten in a nice routine with this since he likes to cook and I like for things to be clean. After dinner we went on one of our evening walks and called it a night.

Michael's friend and roommate from college, Preston, and his fiance Penny came in on Saturday morning.We had a great time with them and packed a lot of fun things in a small amount of time. We went to The Salt Lick for lunch, luckily we have the only other location than the original one in Dripping Springs only 5 minutes from our house. If you haven't had Salt Lick BBQ before you are missing out, and if you come to visit us we will take you! It's kind of a big deal around here. From there we went to the Austin Ice Cream Festival...when Michael hears "ice cream" there's no turning back or talking out of. It wasn't quite what we expected, we were probably the only people there without children, and we were told the $10 entrance fee would get us free ice cream inside, but no one told us it was just samples. On top of that, there were only about 3 places handing out samples, so the lines were ridiculously long. Nevertheless we got our fair share of Ice Cream.

That afternoon Penny and I relaxed at the house while the guys went to the shooting range. Guns are their big-kid toys and I am happy for them to play all they want as long as they don't drag me with them. Guns make me nervous and I'd rather only use them out of necessity, God forbid! That evening we went to Uncle Billy's out at the Oasis on Lake Travis...another place you need to go (more for the ambiance than the food) if you live here or come to visit. There were clouds all day so we weren't sure if we'd get to see one of their famous sunsets that they are known for, but the clouds cleared just long enough for us to get an amazing view.

Sunday morning, Michael and I woke up and took LMA (Little Miss Ava) for a long walk around the neighborhood. We took Preston and Penny to our favorite breakfast place down the road, 620 Cafe, and to our pleasant surprise they had Chicken and Waffles as their special...jackpot! What a perfect way to end the weekend with our friends. We were kind of at a loss the rest of the day because we didn't have much to do, and we've been spending all of our weekends trying to be productive and get as much done as possible. I had already cleaned on Thursday and Friday (I like having people over because it gives me motivation to clean and organize!) and Michael mowed the yard then too so we kept asking each other "What do we need to do?"  It was actually nice to be able to relax and I finally finished our honeymoon book on Mixbook.com (will post a link soon). All in all it was a wonderful weekend...one of those weekends that I wish all weekends were like!

Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails!!!

That's right we found out a couple of weeks ago that we are having a BOY! Needless to say we are ecstatic. Things have become incredibly real since we found out and we can now say "him" or "he" instead of "it." We're also able to plan more now, which is really fun for me!

Ever since we found out I've been creating our registries and shopping online for nursery furniture, crib bedding and all that fun stuff. Michael thinks I have a problem because of how much time I've spent on this, and he is partially right considering I am the most indecisive person in the entire world and a perfectionist on top of that. I wish it was easy as registering for wedding stuff (now that was fun), but you have to read reviews and figure out what all you really need...which just so happens to be a ton of stuff. I'm slightly concerned on where in our house we are going to fit a baby and all the stuff it comes with, just kidding!

Our favorite sonogram picture at 12 weeks. Sic 'em Bears!!!

19 weeks. Looking at the straight at us with his arms up by his face and knees up to his chest. 

I've still been feeling good, with the exception of a bad week that started the day we went to the doctor, but I can't complain because I know what I've experienced has been mild compared to other pregnancies.  I still haven't gained too much weight (about 8 lbs) but feel huge already...this is going to be fun to come to terms with.

21 weeks. Over half way there!

Michael and I go for a long walk with Ava in our neighborhood at least 3 nights a week.  It is probably my favorite time of the day.  The deer are out so much right now and coming into the neighborhood a lot probably to get water. They're fun to watch and Ava would love to get a chance to chase one. We've been spending our weekends being productive and getting things done around the house. I am in full bore nesting mode. I know I have plenty of time, but I also know it is going to go by so fast. I was already the type of person who liked to be organized and have everything planned out, and now it's just becoming a slight obsession. 

We got the chance to go to Dallas weekend before last and see Michael's cousin's new baby, Hayes. He is absolutely adorable and it made me even more excited for our little one! It is so nice to have Michael's cousin and one of my good friends who is about to have her baby any day going through this before me and with me.    Not only will our children be so close in age, but I have some great people to learn from and ask all kinds of questions...and I have a lot!