Where did my little baby go?

Baby Countdown

10 - weeks I have left to go til August 30
9 - times I go to the bathroom in any given day (that's daylight hours, people)
8 - months pregnant I say that I am so people don't think my belly is too big already
7 - months pregnant I really am... well, getting close to 8 now...
6 - minutes it takes me to put on maternity nylons for work, oh the humanity!
5 - number of pillows I have to sleep with
4 - times I wake up at night, minimum
3 - seconds it takes for me to start to sweat once I walk outside
2 - number of Pepcid AC tablets I am allowed to take per day (not enough!)
1 - a perfect baby boy who will make it all worthwhile in the end

Swimming at Emily's

I realized that just about all of the pictures of Claire swimming last year were taken by Emily and the trend continues. Claire spent an afternoon with Easton and Emily this week and had a great time!

Quick Trip to CA

We decided on Wednesday to go to Northern California on Thursday after work and drive to my parent's house, then later on to the Bay Area for Matt's cousin Michaela's wedding in Menlo Park (where we found a Hiller Street, and a Hiller Aviation Museum - pretty cool!). I think we are trying to get in a bunch of trips before the baby comes - so we're up for traveling more than maybe we usually do.

My mom had surgery that same Thursday on her ankle - she broke both sides of her ankle and dislocated it while hiking through the jungle in Hawaii a week ago. Nice vacation, huh? Anyway, we wanted to see her, tried to not get in the way, and had a nice trip all around. She now has several screws and a plate in her ankle - I told her the xrays look like she works in a hardware store - it's pretty intense. We also had lunch with my friend and old roomie Ali and her kids, and had dinner with my brother and his family - Claire and Lily had a good time on the new playset in the backyard.

I realized we took mostly pics of Claire (what else is new) living it up the day of the wedding. She did not sit still - maybe for 5 minutes on my lap to eat some dinner after the wedding - but other than that she was moving all stinkin' day. I missed pretty much the entire wedding ceremony because I was walking with her, chasing her, keeping her quiet so Matt could stay with his family. It was an outdoor wedding and there were way too many distractions for a 21 month old.


We got to see extended family that we don't see too often, and many got to meet Claire for the first time. It seems I am always pregnant when I see Matt's cousins... last time was the family reunion in South Dakota. There is one sweet shot of me in here with my belly - maybe one of the only ones taken of me on the trip. I had a ton of pics so I did the collages again.

Cousin Lily and Claire

Claire and Addy

Some pics of Claire and my cousin Shelai's daughter Addy playing together in Austin. So are they second cousins? I never know how that works. They are only a month apart and they had a good time - and seem to be a lot alike. Claire was running around like crazy and her cheeks were so red. I tried so hard to get a picture where they were both looking at me but it was nearly impossible. I even stayed far away from them at the restaurant to try to observe them in their natural habitat - didn't work. I wish we lived closer - they would be close friends like Shelai and I were growing up.

Keep Austin Weird...

... is the offical slogo for Austin, TX and I have to say they do a pretty good job of keeping it very different from a typical Texas city.  We spent 3 nights there this week (I had a marketing conference and Matt and Claire came with me) and we got a small glimpse at Austin living. It was hot and humid - I missed the desert.

Austin is the fourth largest city in Texas behind Houston, Dallas and San Antonio and it's definitely the most liberal. We never expected to see quite as many Vote Obama bumper stickers in Texas. I guess it's kind of like the Salt Lake for Utah - if you aren't conservative but you want to stay in the state, you move there.

The marketing conference was good, the food in Austin was better. We had some great Tex-Mex and BBQ - I think I researched places to eat more than any other attraction. My favorite were the migas breakfast tacos at Maria's Taco Express - it's eggs, cheese, onions, peppers and broken up tortilla chips in a flour tortilla. Both Rachael Ray and Diners Drive-Ins and Dives had gone there and it was a cool, funky place with great prices. Highly recommend it. We also went to a really cool place called The Oasis - a huge restaraunt that sits above Lake Austin and has something like six levels of outdoor seating so you can view a great sunset over the lake while you eat.



While I went to the conference during the day, Matt and Claire made good use of the hotel pool and went exploring to the state capital building, searched for parks, and spent the aftenroon at a local children's museum.


If we ever go back, I hope we get to hear more of the live music that the city is famous for - bringing a toddler into one of the many bars on Sixth Street wasn't really an option, but we did walk through the area to check out the local scene. We also got to spend some time with my cousin Shelai and her family, which was too short but very sweet. We are so happy they drove to meet us from Dallas!