Staycation 2012

Since I'm not allowed to travel anymore, we decided to squeeze in one more babymoon in the form of a staycation last weekend.

We started off the day with a delicious lunch at Bouldin Creek Coffee House - very Austin: vegetarian fare, servers that slightly smell of BO, patrons mostly donning cut offs/bare feet/dreads. We completed the meal with a stop at Sugar Mama's, our favorite cupcake spot.

Our friends, George and Kathy, recently opened up Heywood, a boutique hotel on the East Side of Austin. They converted a charming old bungalow to a modern 7 room hotel... what an amazing transformation! From the decor, to the service, to the cool East Side vibe, our expectations were certainly exceeded.

We ended the evening with dinner at Justine's, a quaint French restaurant, on the East Side. Our friends, Mark and Elisa Dennis, joined us - they are due with their first baby the day before we are. We are looking forward to our girls enjoying many play dates together!

We are officially on the home stretch! I'm feeling very pregnant and looking forward to the arrival of our daughter. If only I had a magic wand to finish all of the nagging little pre-baby tasks;)

Our daughter is a mover and a shaker. She's either having a constant dance party in there or consistently karate chopping me. We've learned that she loves when I move, and can't stand it when I sit still.

On tap for this week - Infant CPR class as well as a Childbirthing class. Plus, we have our 36 week appointment with the doctor tomorrow, so a full week of everything Baby T.

A little behind on posting - 35 weeks (1 week old)

Austin Shower

As you can tell from our lack of blogging, we've been VERY busy prepping for our daughter's big debut. I think Justin's hit his limit of errand running, to do lists, closet cleaning, furniture re-arranging, etc. Only a husband as wonderful as he is would put up with it all. We've been super productive, but somehow my list keeps growing...

We took a break from all of the preparations for a baby shower, lovingly hosted by our dear friends Meghan Hack, Meredith Greager, and Allison Beadle. Mom and Katie made it down for the shower, and we had the best time. Luckily, they also put up with me bossing them around with preparations for Baby T.

Lovely Hostesses : Meredith, Meghan & Allison

 

 

Fuzzy picture but great company. Brunch shower hosted at Annie's Cafe in Downtown Austin.

While I loved ALL of my thoughtful gifts, this one was truly special. Great Aunt Sally's handmade slip + gown from when she was a baby. So precious! Baby T has big shoes to fill:)

Beautiful baby blanket hand made by the wonderful woman, Ginny, who took care of me starting at 3 months old.  I hope we're lucky enough to find someone as amazing as Ginny to take care of our daughter.

Hostess Allison with her adorable daughter, Audrey. We are so fortunate to have them as neighbors. Audrey is going to show our daughter the ropes and have some killer play dates in the very near future.

Beautiful Mommy to Be and Grandma to Be flowers from the hostesses

Even Aunt To Be flowers - how thoughtful...

While most of the weekend was dominated with female only activities, we managed to get Justin involved in a delicious dinner at Backspace.

In the spirit of all things baby, we watched the documentary Babies last weekend - A look at one year in the life of four babies from around the world, from Mongolia to Namibia to San Francisco to Tokyo. It was remarkable how different each of the four cultures were, yet all four babies experienced the same milestones. I never thought I'd enjoy a movie without dialogue or subtitles so much. Super sweet...

I had my 34 week checkup today, and everything is going smoothly. We are officially on the home stretch of this pregnancy journey and are getting anxious to meet our daughter.

Sweet Home Chicago

We had the best time in Chicago last weekend! We miss our friends and the city, but we do not miss the winters.

Our incredibly thoughtful friends, Erin McGiffert and Lindsey Clancey, threw us a beautiful baby shower. It was great to catch up with old friends and visit what we still consider home. The food was delicious, thanks to Linds and Erin slaving away in the kitchen all day. And what baby shower isn't complete with a little gambling? Shut the Box was a bit hit. We were showered with amazing gifts... it's safe to say that our daughter is already spoiled rotten!

We were also lucky enough to have Justin's parents come down for the party - they get the MVP award for traveling the farthest;)

All is well with the baby - my belly is getting huge, and I'm much slower (both physically and mentally) these days. I'm in full on nesting mode, and I hope that Justin is prepared to put up with my antics over the coming weeks. Finalizing the nursery, buying the gear, reading up on childbirth - lots to do!

We are mildly obsessed with Olivia Clancey. Most well behaved 4 month old EVER. All bundled up ready for lunch at Southport Grocer with the grownups.

We joined the Chicago crew for the bi-weekly installment of Pizza Pals. Sono was a hit!

Lucky parents, lucky baby, to be showered with so much love from friends and family;)

I think I ate my weight in cake balls.

31 weeks and growing