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