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!!!