Pink, Pink, and more PINK!!

Eric hard at work.

Great job, Eric! Almost done!

Two weekends ago we got the baby's room painted...PINK! I have to say that Eric did most of the work and I was very impressed with his very first painting job. I now have faith in him for bigger painting projects in the near future :) Here are some painting pics! More nursery pics to come once it's finished...

Happy Thanksgiving!

My dad and mom and the turkey...

Molly, Carrie, and Eric...
My mother-in-law and her two boys, Eric and Jeff...
Brother-in-law Jeff and his wife, Lacie.

Our Thanksgiving holdiay break seemed to have come and went so fast. After a short work week for me and school week for Eric, we headed down to Victoria on Wednesday evening to celebrate Thanksgiving with our families.
We spent all of Thursday with the Dahlstrom crew eating lots of turkey, dressing, and fixings....and pie. Then we watched Texas beat the aggies (what a game!!), and then ate more leftovers!
Friday we spent most of the day with the Otto clan. More turkey, more dressing, more fixings, more pie. Bailey enjoyed getting to play with my in-law's dog, Snick.
It's such a blessing to get to spend time with our families and see how excited they all are about our new February arrival. Our baby girl will definitely be loved and I can't even believe she will be here so soon! We have so much to look forward to next Thanksgiving.

Run, Carrie! Run!

Carrie and her finishers medal. Molly, Carrie, and me.

Carrie striking a runners pose.

Sunday morning Molly and I road tripped it to San Antonio to watch our sister Carrie run the San Antonio half marathon. After waking up very (very) early, we made our much needed stop at Starbucks and we were on our way to the race. After fighting through the crowds of over 30,000 people we finally found Carrie and got to congratulate her after her big 13.1 mile run! She did awesome and I am so proud of her. After the race we stopped for delicious Mexican food and headed back home to Austin where Carrie enjoyed a long nap! Congratulations Carrie!

Welcome Fall...

Me at 23 weeks.

It's officially November! This is my favorite time of year! The weather is getting cooler and we have started to pull out the winter clothing. I am getting so excited about all of the fall and winter decorations in all of the stores, the holiday movies that are starting to come out, and I can't wait until we start seeing Christmas trees! I'm already ready to put our tree out! I think I should probably wait a few more weeks...

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We had a great Halloween evening last night. We handed out candy to all of the adorable trick-or-treaters (unfortunately, our carved pumpkins didn't live long enough to see the kids) while watching UT crush Oklahoma State 41-14! Hook 'em Horns!

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Eric and I have also been busy decorating our baby's nursery. At the moment we are in the middle of choosing paint colors. There is lots of pink involved in the nursery so I'm hoping Eric won't sick of the color pink! So far he's totally embracing it! I've had several requests to post a picture of me and my belly. The photo attached was taken on Friday night and I'm currently 23 weeks pregnant (just over 5 months). I know the sweater is a bit bulky but it's one of the few I have wearing makeup :-)

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Happy holiday season to all!!

Pumpkin carving 2009!

Amy's pumpkins...

Eric's pumpkin...
Eric cleaning out one of the pumpkins.

What a beautiful weekend we had in Austin! The sun was out and the weather was PERFECT! So, we decided it would be a great evening for carving pumpkins! This year was the second year Eric and I have gone and picked out pumpkins and carved them together at home. We carve away in secret and then reveal our creations to each other after we are finished. Hopefully the pumpkins will last long enough for trick-or-treaters to enjoy them on Halloween. We hope to make this a fun tradition for our kids in the years to come!

Drumroll, please....

This is her profile...

her arm across her face...
and her foot.

IT'S A GIRL!!! We are so happy and feel so blessed that God has given us a daughter. We love her so much already.

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On Friday morning Eric and I went to our 8:30 ultrasound appointment. The anticipation of this long awaited event was excruciating (for me especially!). We didn't have to wait long though. About 5 minutes into the exam the NP asked if we were ready to find out the sex. Eric quickly and eagerly answered "YES!" while I tried to choke back my tears of happiness and excitement. We were overjoyed when she said "you guys are having a little girl!!" and then she showed us our daughters little girly parts that proved she was correct! We pretty much think she's perfect already. She is growing on schedule and everything is perfectly healthy! We couldn't feel any happier!

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After our appointment we called our families to share with them the exciting news and then we were off to shop for everything pink! It's so much fun to shop for the baby now that we know we know to buy pink. I have so much to do in the next 4 months it can be a bit overwhelming. I am trying to cherish and enjoy each of every moment of this time in our lives. We have so much to look forward to!
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Lastly, this weekend was my birthday (I almost forgot) which was kind of a bonus to the weekend. Thank you to all of our friends and family who were able to celebrate the news of our baby girl and my birthday with us. And, thank you to everyone who sent congratulatory emails and texts to both Eric and me all weekend! We were definitely feeling the love!

Texas Longhorn football season is here!!!

Bailey is ready for game day!

The Longhorn Band on the jumbo screen.

Eric and Amy at the game.The view from our seats.

What a fun time of year! We attended our first game of the season last weekend against Texas Tech and it was definitely eventful! The Longhorns beat Tech 34 - 24!! What a great game!! It was a close game, but we weren't worried. I have a really good feeling that we'll play in a national championship game later this season! Hook 'em Horns! Oh, and it never hurts to get to see Matthew McConaughey rooting on his favorite team!

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In addition to the all the fun AT the game, we got to spend time with friends who came in town before the big game. We gathered at the famous Sholtz Garten with hundreds of other fans to get in the Longhorn spirit. The fans packed in the venue and everyone doted their burnt orange attire eager to cheer on the Horns!

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Saturday night (more like Sunday morning) after the game we were completely exhausted. We arrived home after midnight and my parents who also attended the game arrived at our house around 1 a.m. so we got to spend some time with them before hitting the sack. We woke up and went to a delicious brunch with my parents and both Molly and Carrie! A great way to end a fun and eventful weekend!

16 Week Doctor's Appt!!

Eric and I had our 16 week appointment 2 weeks ago and so far everything is fantastic! Unfortunately we did not have an ultrasound at that visit so I don't have a photo to post. But, we got to hear Baby O's heartbeat again and it was a strong and healthy 155 bpm. The most exciting part for us was getting to make our next appointment....the BIG ULTRASOUND! We get to find out the sex of our little one on October 9th! The perfect birthday present for me since my 29th birthday is the following day. Be sure to check back that weekend and find out whether we are expecting a boy!!! or girl!!!

Eric & Bailey

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I just wanted to share these pictures I took on Saturday of Eric and Bailey lounging around and enjoying their weekend!

Another Exciting Doctor's Visit!!

Wednesday we finally went to our very anticipated Dr. appt. We hadn't been for almost 5 weeks and we were ready to see how much our little one had grown. And WOW! had baby O grown. Measuring in at 6.5 cm (just over 2.5 in) and with a heart rate of 167 bpm, our baby looks like...well... a baby!! And, an active baby at that. Baby O was moving all over the place and even turning flips. Who knows, maybe he/she will be a gymnast like his/her mom (many many MANY years ago)!

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It's so amazing the technology doctors have these days. It's unbelievable that just by looking at the ultrasounds the doctors and nurses can determine the baby's bladder, and other intestines. We also got to hear the heartbeat using a Doppler (a special listening devise). Very cool!

These ultrasound photos were taken at 12 1/2 weeks! I love the close up of the arm and hand!!

We're having a baby!!!

The most exciting time in our lives is happening RIGHT NOW! We couldn't be happier that this is the time that we are expecting our first little one. I am due in late February which makes me just over 11 weeks! We got to see the baby and his/her heartbeat (which is a very healthy 161 bpm) at our 8 week visit. We are looking forward to our next visit in a week and a half to see the little guy/girl again! We are very eager to find out the sex. I can't wait to start onesie shopping!

This is such a blessing for us. Sometimes it doesn't seem real to us yet but we know that this is a gift from God. We can't wait to experience parenthood and the love we will feel when our first baby comes!

This is our first ultrasound photo which was taken at almost 8 weeks. It doesn't look like much that little white blob is our baby!

Home Sweet Home

Eric, Bailey and I moved into our new house last weekend. It's our first house together and we are loving it. It's a small house in a charming neighborhood and it's perfect for us, Bailey, and our little one coming in February! I have to give my wonderful husband credit for all the hard work he did moving! He and two movers got everything moved from our apartment into our house in 2 and a half hours! Everything was in by noon last Saturday and we spend the rest of the weekend unpacking, hanging pictures, and assembling furniture. Bailey sure is enjoying being able to run around in the back yard! And, Eric has been working hard outside and doing a great job watering our very thirsty yard (which is tough in 104 degree weather!). We are very much looking forward to bringing home Baby O to our new home!

Mr. Bailey Otto

Bailey is our precious pup. He's a Morkie (Maltise/Yorkie) and he turned 2 years old in April. Bailey has brought so many unexpected laughs, happiness, and hilarious memories to our lives! We got Bailey from a local pet store when he was 6 weeks old.

Before we found Bailey, I had my heart set on a little girl, black Pekingese puppy (you know the little dogs with the smashed in faces that look like Gizmo) that was probably worth more than my first car. Eric said I was crazy to spend that much money on anything (looking back I now agree) but he still went with me to check out the goods with the intention of ONLY LOOKING. Eric didn't feel the same way about the Pekingese. I think his exact words were "Why would we buy a dog that acts like a cat?" (No offense to cat people.) But, luckily there was an energetic puppy in one of the kennels who was stealing all the other puppies food. We were drawn to him. He was so funny and had so much energy that we had to take him home with us!! That's how we ended up with our Bailey. After taking him home he quickly adjusted to us and we were bonding in no time. Bailey definitely has his moments of uncontrollable barking, biting at your socks, chewing on flip flops, and waking up on Saturdays much earlier than we planned but he has brought us so much love and laughs that now I could not imagine our lives without him.

Intro/First post!

So this is our first Otto family posting! I am not a computer genious so be patient with me as I try to figure out this whole blog thing. I plan to attempt to keep all of my readers (haha) posted and updated with all the very exciting things going on in our lives.

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Eric and I have been married now for just over two years! I truly love being married to Eric. I won't get too mushy but I have to say he is a FANTASTIC husband. We live in Austin and we just moved into our first house and we are LOVING it! Our 2 year old dog, Bailey, is adjusting well. I work for Time Warner Cable as a Buyer in our regional purchasing department and Eric is currently working at AMD as an MBA intern. He will start his second (and last!!!) year as as an MBA grad student this fall. We are counting down until his graduation in May. Most importantly, in the midst of all of this, we are expecting our first baby in February!! We couldn't be happier!

So save our blog as a favorite to stay updated with all of the Otto fun and excitement coming in our lives!