Happy Birthday to Me and Madre!

Well my birthday was this past Friday, but I feel like we've been celebrating for over a week now! Last weekend Michael and I (and Ava) went down to The Woodlands to see Michael's family. We got to watch his sister, Leslie, dance in her first drill team routine at the football game on Friday night and went out to eat at The Grotto and celebrate all of our birthdays (Michael's, his mom's and mine) on Saturday. I absolutely love their Italian wedding cake desert and was so excited to eat there since we don't have one in Austin.

Before we left for The Woodlands I started feeling allergies coming on and by the time we came home it had developed into a full-blown upper respiratory infection that I spent most of the week battling. Thankfully I was 100% better by my birthday on Friday and had such a great day! I went for a much overdue pedicure that morning and got a free birthday coffee from Starbucks on my way home, thanks to my Starbucks gold card! We decided to hire cleaning ladies partially for my birthday and partially because the cleaning duties have been put on a back-burner since I've been pregnant (not that I haven't been cleaning just not as often as I would like). It was probably one of the best decisions we EVER made and I think we are going to start having them come once a month to pick up my slack! I went for a prenatal massage that afternoon and when I came home Michael surprised me with a cupcake and some beautiful rose gold hoop earrings to match the watch he got me last Christmas! He also informed me that he had made reservations for dinner that night at Jasper's which was absolutely wonderful! Both of our entrees were delicious and we went for the desert sampler at the end which included, Cherry Limeade Pie, Butterfinger Creme Brulee and Dark Chocolate Molten Lava Cake. Heaven. We went for a walk that evening but probably should have walked all night to burn off those calories! 

We went to downtown Austin on Saturday  to meet up with several of Michael's friends who were in town for ACL (Austin City Limits Music Fest) for lunch, and had a great time catching up with them! My parents and my sister and her fiance came in town on that afternoon and we went out for another wonderful dinner with them at Austin Land and Cattle. My mom's birthday is the day before mine (Sep 15th) so we always have fun celebrating together! We all got steaks at dinner and they were great. My mom brought a red velvet cake from Ooh La La, a bakery owned by an old friend in Katy, and we finished the evening by stuffing ourselves with that too. We sent them off the next morning after taking them to 620 Cafe (it now seems to be the place we take all of our guests for breakfast). It was so great to spend time with my family!

The pregnancy is going great and we have officially chosen a name for our little boy! I am pretty positive that he is in transverse lie (laying horizontally) and has been for the past week or so. It is not very comfortable at all and makes my stomach look quite lopsided. I will know for sure on Tuesday when I go in for another ultrasound and appointment. Simple things like putting on my shoes or getting dressed are becoming more and more difficult by the day. Everything is coming together nicely as far as the nursery goes and we officially have 2 showers on the calendar. After much research and getting suggestions from other moms, our registries are ready to go at Babies R Us, Buy Buy Baby and Restoration Hardware Baby and Child (for a few decorative nursery items), and I noticed today that some items have already been bought! We only have 3 months left and things are starting to get really exciting!

26 Weeks

 

Labor Day Weekend Fun and Central Texas Fires

Michael facing off

What a wonderful Labor Day weekend! Friday night we got to watch the Baylor vs. TCU game with some great friends and it ended up being an amazing game ending in a big Baylor win! There are few things I enjoy more than seeing Baylor win and it makes me sad to see the Big 12 fall apart as it seems it will (but that's another story that will get me unnecessarily fired up...again). Michael played in a lacrosse tournament on Saturday with some of his Baylor teammates and I always love watching him play...even when it's 100+ degrees out. I wish he got to play more and I know he does too! We watched the Saints (Michael's favorite NFL team) win on Saturday night and hung out with friends in downtown Austin. Michael had one more lacrosse game on Sunday morning and then we ran some errands including a stop by Godiva for our free monthly chocolate (if you're not a member of the Godiva rewards program you should be). Monday we watched our friend, Lucas, compete in the Austin Triathlon. It was his first triathlon and, he did an amazing job finishing 14 in his age group! We recovered from our long weekend with a relaxing afternoon and evening.

Michael and friends

Lucas in his transition from bike to run

Beautiful weather rolled in on Sunday bringing us the first days of under 100 degrees since I can't even remember when. Austin had a record-breaking 80 days of triple digit heat this year and it has been so nice to be able to walk outside for more than 2 minutes. Unfortunately with the high winds and extreme drought many wildfires have broken out in Central Texas. The Bastrop County fire that has destroyed nearly 1,400 homes and 40,000 acres claimed my aunt and uncle's home in Bastrop on Monday night. It is truly devastating and as of this morning the fire was still only 30% contained. Please keep them and all the others who have been affected by these fires in your prayers! I did not take the picture, but this is smoke from the Bastrop fire which is about 30 miles away from Austin.

Baby boy Magee still seems to be doing great, he's getting bigger, as is my stomach, and he's definitely getting much stronger. He is becoming more and more active and packs a powerful punch these days. We finally received the crib on Friday and put it together over the weekend. Now we just have to finish the rest of the nursery!