50 Fun Things to See and Do in Atlanta...

I picked up this brochure the other day. It is "The Official Fun Guide and Map of the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau." I decided when we moved here again that this time I wanted to do "touristy" stuff in Atlanta. I decided this because we didn't do anything in Mississippi until the week we left when we drove to Vicksburg to look at the Civil War battlefields. I felt like we didn't take full advantage of the area we lived in and I don't want to make that mistake again. So, we are going to do each and every thing on this list! And we are going to do as many of them with Lily as we can. I have given us a pass on the things we have already done.

The things on the list we have already done are:
#3--Atlanta Braves and Turner Field--Though the brochure actually suggest we also check out the museums at Turner Field, which we have never done, I'm still calling this one complete, so we have been to so many Braves games. We have never taken Lily, but I'm not sure that's something we want to do in the near future.
#6--Atlanta Hawks and Atlanta Thrashers at Philips Arena--I have been to both several times. Bryan and I have been to see the Thrashers together, but we've never seen the Hawks together. Maybe after we've completed everything else on the list, we'll take in a Hawks game together.
#8--Atlanta Motor Speedway--Thank goodness for David and his driving experience!!
#13--Atlantic Station--Ikea is there...need I say more?!? In all honesty, we have been to Atlantic Station for lots more than just Ikea. They have lots of cool restaurants and shops there. I have never been to their market on Saturday morning and I'd like to do that sometime.
#15--See a Broadway Show--I have a wonderful husband who is secure enough in his masculinity to take me to see Mamma Mia at the fabulous Fox Theatre!! It was wonderful! Of course, he did have to change a tire for a car full of old ladies in the parking lot afterwards to get his Man Card back.
#16--Buckhead-A Luxurious Experience--Perhaps this brochure was printed before Buckhead got scary. I have not been shopping in Buckhead as suggested and the only restaurant I've eaten at there is Taco Stand, but I'm counting this one done anyway, because we've been out in Buckhead more times than I can count.
#17--Centennial Olympic Park--I went there during the Olympics with my family and again recently with Ramsey and Robin. Done and done.
#20--Chateau Elan Winery and Resort--We went there for a wedding, walked around the grounds, sampled some wine, had great food, etc. It was fabulous!
#23--Dine Out--Bryan and I love to eat out, so...done!
#42--Shop Until You Drop--I don't know about that, but we have been to all 5 of the malls listed as places to go, so we can count this one done, too!
#43--Six Flags Over Georgia--Been there, loved in, going in 2 weeks again for GEICO's family day. I can't ride anything awesome, but I think there's a pretty cool toddler area. And no, Bryan isn't afraid to get on the roller coasters even though they've been soaking underwater. He's insane!

11 down, 39 to go. There's a few more that we could probably stretch and count such as #26--Festivals Galore--I've been to one on the list and #25 Fernbank Museum--we went there for a wedding, but I figure it'll be good for us to do them again! I'll keep you posted as we tick things off and hopefully include lots of pictures! Recently I heard on the radio that Atlanta ranked only above Detroit as big cities in the US that people want to visit--meaning we came in 2nd to last!!! I am intent on proving that survey wrong!

Big Ultrasound Results

Not much to report, pregnancy related. I will be 19 weeks tomorrow. I had my big ultrasound today and everything was fine--the doctor said everything looked perfect. The baby is about 11 ounces right now. They could tell the gender and said that baby is definitely one or the other, meaning the baby doesn't have parts of both, so that was good news! We still decided to not find out which he or she is. I just can't wait for the delivery room announcement!! I will go back from one more ultrasound at 30 weeks just to be certain that the baby is progressing as he or she should size-wise, but otherwise, we will have no more ultrasounds. I have been feeling movement sporadically for a couple weeks now, but for about the past 5 days, I've been feeling lots of movement every day. I am no longer nauseaus at all, but still tired...although that could just be from having a 2 year old--who can tell?!? I once read that after you have kids, every day, you are at least a little tired, and I think that's true! I know we still cause my parents some sleepless nights. I go in 2 weeks for the standard 20 week appointment. We have taken a few steps toward getting things ready for the baby, but we still have a lot to do in the nursery. I will post pics of it and some of the other areas of our house whenever we get things done in there.

Sneaking Up on Daddy!

Lily's Obsession

I love Noah's Ark sets, particularly ones that include Noah's wife--it always bugs me when they leave her out. I bought this little tiny Noah's Ark set a couple years ago and was waiting to put it up in her room until I felt like she wouldn't choke on one of the pieces if she happened to get ahold of them. I finally put it up recently, but she is completely obsessed with it and wants to play with it and put the animals in and out of the boat repeatedly. She also tries to force Bryan and I to set it up in different ways. It makes me happy how much she loves it, but I just don't want her to lose any of the animals. Right now, a camel and a pig are MIA, but as you can see, I've been doing some organizing of baby clothes in our room and I expect after I clean up a bit in here, they will be found.

My Narcissistic Little Girl...

Lily loves to watch videos of herself on the computer. She will frequently ask to see videos of herself or of Baby Anna. I had the camera near me when she was laughing at the video of her dancing in the jersey. She cracks herself up!

Go Wolfpack!!

Lily has been receiving lots of coaching from her Daddy lately...

Lily's Opinion on the Baby

Yes, that is blue marker on Lily's face.

ABCDs

Lily has been singing her ABCs (or ABCDs as she calls them) for months now, but she's a bit hot and cold with the camera and so I haven't been able to get her singing them on camera. I think it's very good!!

A song from church school?

Once you watch this, you will know this is not a song from Mommy's Morning Out. However, when I was in Greenville a few weeks and was singing this song and Lily was singing and dancing along, my mother's sarcastic response was "How lovely. Did they teach her that at church school?" I thought that was quite a hilarious thought. The funny thing is that I know a few little kids that love either this song or another Flo Rida song! He should make a CD of nursery rhymes! :)

Toothpaste Explosion!!

Today, when Lily was suspiciously quiet, I found her playing in the sink with the toothpaste--a giant amount of it which she had sweetly squeezed out of the tube into the sink.

Date Night!!

This weekend my parents came in town to help us do some projects around the house but also to babysit for Lily so that we could go to a friend's wedding. It was really nice to have a night of fun!! I stupidly didn't take any pictures of the wedding itself, but it was beautiful! It was outdoors and the weather was gorgeous. The bride was beautiful and the reception was lots of fun! Anyone who knows me even a little, knows I love to dance at weddings... and I did dance, pregnant belly and all!! It was so nice to get out a little without a 2 year tagging along!!

Cheesy pregnancy pose--hand on the stomach. Apparently the guy taking our picture thought it was cheesy too, since he cut it out of the picture!
Bryan and I with Heather and Matt. Heather was one of the bridesmaids.