Birthday fun and an Austin for Austin

Today was Paul's birthday, and it was a nice, relaxing day (at least for me). It wasn't a typical "big day" celebration -- he didn't get presents to open (we got him a great tool box a couple of weeks ago and that's all he got), and he didn't get a birthday cake (since I took cupcakes to his work for him and his coworkers instead). He also didn't go to work, which was the first time I think he's ever taken his birthday off to celebrate. We got a BOGO free offer to Tucano's Brazilian Grill, so we went there for lunch, much to his delight. Hopefully it was a great day for him ... but with all-you-can-eat delicious meat, I think he was in heaven. :)

In other non-news, we got a stuffed animal for Austin that I'm excited about. With each of my kids, I've taken a picture on the day of their birth each month for the first year to watch their growth. With Shayla we got smart and threw in a stuffed animal with her each month so you can see her growth in comparison to something that doesn't grow. We found a cute Beanie Baby for her, as you can see:




So, last weekend Paul and I went to Hallmark to check out the Beanie Babies. No luck -- there wasn't even one we thought was partially cute enough to buy. So what to do? I was thinking maybe we would just get a toy truck or something.

Then Shayla and Zachary came to the rescue. Shayla decided to watch the Backyardigans, and Zachary pointed out that the kangaroo is named Austin. Funny thing is that Shayla has been telling me this for months to no avail. She'd play Backyardigans games online, and she kept saying, "Mommy, they said Austin!" I thought it was so cute that they were saying "awesome" and she thought they were saying "Austin." Turns out she was right and I was wrong -- they were saying Austin!

So, there's an Austin on the Backyardigans. I told Paul we had to find the Beanie Baby Austin and order him asap. Time is short, people, so we had to pay for two-day shipping. Why didn't I think of this sooner? But today Austin arrived. So, when our Austin arrives we can do our monthly pictures with this cute little guy:


He's not as cute as the moose, but since we didn't choose the name based on the show I guess we can't be too disappointed in that. :) And our Austin will love him for the name alone. Other than that, we've just got to get the changing table put together and finish packing our hospital bag and I think we're good to go. Crazy!

BTW, I finished 34 freezer meals. I just have to buy a little more spaghetti sauce and I will have two more done. Phew! That was a lot of work but will be sooooooo worth it! And the recipes all smelled so great it was disappointing we weren't having them all for dinner Monday night! :)