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Saturday Bryson was invited to a Halloween themed birthday party. He is going to be a construction man for Halloween, complete with jeans and work boots. But-- it was about ninety degrees on Saturday! So, he wore his plaid shirt, tool belt, hard hat, khaki shorts, and tennis shoes. And I must say- he was the cutest construction worker I have ever seen! He was being really goofy before we left, but he let me snap these couple of pictures. Here is a sneak peak of what our Halloween will {sort of} look like!

17 Weeks

***I saw this idea on a random blog that I stumbled upon several months ago and bookmarked it so that I would remember to do it, too. It is such a cute idea to document pregnancy and all of the changes going on (with me and our little family). Here goes...

How Far Along: 17 weeks

Size of baby: about 5 inches long from head to bottom, weighs about 5 ounces

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 1 pound gained

Maternity Clothes: No

Gender: Counting down the days until we find out on November 9th!

Name: ???

Movement: I started to feel movement on the day I hit 16 weeks. It is not all the time, and definitely when I am staying still (which isn't very often!). I love feeling this little one wriggle around! There's nothing better.  :)

Sleep: Not too bad. Waking up once a night (without fail!) to go to the bathroom.

What I miss: Eating without getting heartburn!

Cravings: None really so far. I used to drink sodas and sweet tea all the time but have found that I do NOT want it very often with this pregnancy. Probably a blessing.

Symptoms: Finally started feeling better two weekends ago. Still having pretty severe heartburn not relieved by prescription/non-prescription medications. Not having to take the Zofran anymore (which has been my bestfriend and constant companion for the last 11 weeks).

Best Moment this week: Pulling out of Erin's house to head home Bryson said "Mommy- you have baby in your tummy? I want a brudder." He said it with such sincerity and sweetness that my heart melted! Not even sure if he knows what a "brudder" really is- but can't wait to see my two babies together for the first time!

The baby is the size of a: turnip.
 

To the Beach!!!

In September we made another trip to the beach. My parents were supposed to go with us but the day before we were supposed to leave my mom got exposed to Fifth's disease. This can be devastating to a pregnancy so they didn't get to come. It was horrible! Bryson had really been looking forward to playing with them at the beach. I think my mom cried for three days!

We decided to make the best of the trip and ended up having a great time (even though we really missed them!). We are looking forward to spending some time with them at the beach next summer.

September is definitely the time to go to the beach. There was no one there and the weather was amazing. When we got there the temperature was in the low 80s. It almost felt like we were on the Eastern coast instead of the Gulf! The water was clear and the beach was clean. We could not have asked for anything better!

I think Bryson's favorite part of going to the beach is riding in the elevator. He is still talking about it.

 The first night we headed down to the beach for a walk. Bryson definitely becomes a free spirit when he hits the beach. I'm thinking he is going to love it as much as I do.

Jellyfish!

 We were racing back and forth to the water. Bryson kept drawing a line in the sand with his foot for us to stand behind before the race started. Then he would get down like he was getting ready to run a race at a track meet and say "Ready, set, go!".  Too cute!

Last time we were at the beach Bryson got a horrible rash/burn on the inside of his legs from the sand and the salt rubbing inside of his bathing suit, so this time he went bottomless most of the time.

 Annabel loved rubbing the muddy sand all over herself. She was so funny!

 The men getting ready to go wade fishing.

 One evening this was set up for a wedding. Pretty and simple.

 Carrying on our tradition of donuts for breakfast (every morning!).

 Before we left town we headed to the aquarium at Moody Gardens. All of the kids loved it and it was a lot of fun to watch them get so excited at the different exhibits.

 We spent most of our time chasing these two...

 Shark Tank!

What a great trip! Looking forward to another late summer trip next year with another baby!

Fun Weekend/Work Weekend

Early in September Bryson and I headed to New Braunfels for the weekend.

Grandma had a table set up just for Bryson complete with play-dough and tons of fun activities. Can we say "wrapped around his finger"?

 On Sunday afternoon Granny came over to see us! We spent the afternoon shopping and of course, being entertained by Bryson.

 On Monday (Labor Day) we went to Great Grandma Strawn's house for lunch.

 B with Grandma and Great Grandma

 The fires in Bastrop started burning that day. I remember seeing on the news while we were eating lunch that close to 400 homes had been destroyed. That seemed like such a huge number. When Bryson and I left we had to go all the way back to Austin and then home, avoiding Bastrop. This added about an hour and a half to our trip- but we had no other choice. I couldn't believe how much smoke there was! Here is a picture taken out of my window where Hwy 290 intersects Hwy 21. There were people lined up on the road, standing outside of their cars, taking pictures. These fires ended up destroying over 1500 homes before they were contained. I will never forget this sight.

 When we finally got home we had an amazing surprise! Jason and some of our friends spent the weekend installing wood floors in our living room. I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical about Jason installing them, but they are perfect!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE our "new" living room!

Ambree's Bachelorette Weekend

In early August we planned a weekend in Houston for Ambree's bachelorette party. Ambree drove to College Station, and then we met Cynthia and Allison (two other bridesmaids) at Pinot's Palette for a night full of wine (not for me!) and painting. We had a great time!

 Here is what my painting looked like step by step...

Ta-da!!!

That night we spent the night at Cynthia's house in Sugarland. The next morning we slept in and ate lunch at a great little deli nearby. Unfortunately I was battling a migraine throughout the whole weekend (another one of the joys of my pregnancies) and ended up having to leave on Saturday night when my vision returned (somewhat) to normal (after trying to sleep it off all afternoon).

Several girls came over for a lingerie shower that night and then they all went out to dinner and a piano bar. I was SO sad to miss it!

But most importantly- Ambree had a great weekend and we all had a blast celebrating one of her last weekends as a single lady!

She was officially ready for her big day!

Randomness

The end of this summer flew by (especially with the joys of the first trimester leaving me exhausted and nauseous most of the time!). Here are a few tidbits to document what has been going on with us...

We painted the front bedroom! We have been getting it set-up as Bryson's big boy room for a while now. I am in no rush and am trying to keep Bryson in his crib for as long as possible. We are afraid that our sleeping days will be over when he makes the move to the new room with the big boy bed, so we are clinging to every last night! I have caught him balancing on the rail of the crib a few times, so I am sure it is only a matter of time...

 This was Jason's first painting experience (and he says it was definitely his last). It only took us a few hours- and I LOVE how it turned out!

 We finally got to meet Felisa's granddaughter Sophia. She is beautiful!

 This was right before Bryson dropped his arm, accidentally hitting Sophia in the head and leaving her screaming. Good times with an unpredictable two year old...

 Another project in Bryson's new big boy room- rain gutter bookshelves! I found a tutorial on-line and showed it to Jason. A quick trip to Lowe's and one afternoon later we had a wall full of bookshelves that are amazing! I will take pictures of the finished room soon (hopefully- I'm not doing too great with staying on top of these things lately!) and post them. Stay tuned!

 Baby Luka joined us! He came a few weeks early but was absolutely perfect! Congratulations Eric, Stacey, and Lili!