24(ish) weeks

Dear Elliot,
On Friday we hit 24 weeks! Well, according to ultrasound measurements, you hit 24 weeks a while ago, but I guess I am just catching up :). I can tell from both my growing belly and your increasingly obvious movements, that you are getting bigger and stronger everyday. This week I've felt really, just happy. And excited. Might not last forever, but I'm running with it for now!

This weekend was also Dad's 27th birthday. On Saturday (his actual birthday), we had a nice, relaxing day hanging out with a couple of his best friends. I think I ate the worst I've ever eaten in my entire life that day, too. Donuts and cookies for breakfast, frozen pizza for lunch, and amazingly greasy (and awesome) chicken wings for dinner. Throw in a movie theater-sized box of Sweet Tarts, a few Mountain Dews, and half a block of cheddar cheese, and I was feeling quite gross by the end of the night! Please, Baby, don't think you're going to get to eat like this once you're on the outside!

Yesterday we celebrated Dad's birthday with the Cook side of the family. Dad shares a birthday with your Auntie Rachel, so we had a nice joint-party for the two of them:

Dad asked his parents for a record player about a month ago, and has literally not stopped talking about it since. Needless to say, he was pretty excited to finally have the thing in his hands. We spent the evening at home listening to the ever-growing stack of old records he's been collecting from thrift stores:

Dad decided this weekend that he is going to play, in its entirety, an album a night for you, so that you come out familiar with all the classics. His first pick was Pantera, since they are the band that he and his friend Elliot (the one you are named after) used to jam to all the time. He was pretty thrilled that you seemed to be a fan, jumping all over the place (even doing a somersault or two).

In between birthday stuff, I managed to complete a few more craft projects/gifts. I have been making these quote coasters and hanging wall tiles and am really happy with how they are turning out:

And thanks to a tutorial my friend Julie sent me, I also started making these 'tree of life' pendants and I am obsessed with them (like I am anything related to trees in general!):

Even your dad is getting in on the crafting. Last night he spent over an hour sewing patches onto a couple of his favorite pants with holes in them. Okay, so not really "crafting" per say, but I thought it was pretty cool to see him hunched over the sewing machine :)

Alright, little boy, I'll talk to you soon!

Love you so much,

Mom