Fairy dogmother?

We've had a house guest over the past few days. A cute furry one named Harley. It seems lately that our house has a revolving doggy door on it... last week we put up Maverick and his mommy for a few days and this week Harley. We love that our friends trust us with their beloved pets and feel comfortable bringing them over.
Maverick is the most well behaved dog we know. He's smart, sweet, obedient, and extremely cute. Those actually sound like qualities I was looking for in a man back when I was on the dating scene ;-). Our experience with Harley has been quite colourful. He's also sweet and cute, he also appears to be quite smart, but obedient he is not. At least not yet. He's still a puppy and hasn't learned the limitations imposed by humans on when it's not ok to lick someones face, or when putting your huge paws on the baby might not be helping as much as he thinks it is. He is very gentle, though.
Trent loves Harley. His little face just lights up whenever he sees him, and Harley has really taken to Trent, too. Trent lets out huge belly-laughs whenever Harley comes near him, and giggles whenever Harley licks his hands. He doesn't know quite what to think when Harley licks his face, though. You can see the confused look on his face as he tries to figure out if he's cool with it. Then he'll smile and giggle.
The cats aren't too enthused about Harley. Nikki's spent most of the time upstairs hiding and Onyx has periodically ventured downstairs and stalked him from high ground while growling and hissing at him. Harley doesn't understand that he's in their house and they rule. But Onyx is being very vocal about letting him know that.
Last night Harley cuddled with Trent while Trent napped and it was the perfect Kodak moment:

HOTY Awards

Brian started off 2008 a strong contender for the Husband Of The Year (HOTY) Award. Early on in January, he stepped up his parenting and effectively became a single dad for the week that I was sick. Then, for my Birthday he arranged a gathering of close friends for a fun evening on the Patio at NXNW, followed by a romantic dinner the next day at my favorite sushi bar, complete with baby sitter. A strong start in and of itself. Then on Friday Brian surprised me with plans for a romantic mini-break in Houston! You might be thinking that Houston is NOT the place to go for a romantic getaway, but you'd be dead wrong.
On Saturday morning we packed up the car and headed to Houston where we stopped off at the Grandparents' house to drop off Trent. Then Brian's dad chauffeured us downtown to our hotel, the Magnolia, rated Houston's #1 romantic hotel. Our room was gorgeous. Very modern with a king sized bed with crisp white linens and a down comforter, Granite counter tops in the bathroom and a large garden tub.
We started off with a quick orientation of the hotel amenities then indulged in the rooftop hot tub and pool. There were a few people out there partying and hanging out in the hot tub so we joined in the conversation and spent a good hour or so socializing. Next we headed down for the free happy hour where we sat and talked as I sipped my wine and Brian drank his beer. After happy hour we went back to our room and got ready for dinner, then went down to the milk and cookie buffet to pick up bedtime milk and cookies for when we got back.
Brian's dad had made reservations for us at Sambuca. Houston's #1 date spot according to City Search. They were not wrong, either. It was awesome. The ambiance was perfect. Dimly lit and cozy with a live jazz band serenading the diners. We spent a short while at the bar as we waited for our table. The bartender let me sample several wines before I chose one, which I thought was wonderful customer service. Our time at the bar was briefly interrupted by a drunk guy who engaged me in conversation and within 2 minutes revealed he was a racist, satan worshipper! Thankfully I was rescued by the hostess when our table was ready.
We had one of the best seats in the house, right near the stage. The music volume was perfectly balanced so that we could hold a conversation, but loud enough that nobody else can hear you. The food was amazing. We started off with some Begniets stuffed with proscuito and mozzarella, a very unlikely combination, but they were so good! Imagine the sweetness of a begniet combined with the saltiness of proscuito and complimented with the creaminess of mozzerella. For main course Brian had a steak which came with mashed potato croquettes and I had the Seafood Infusion. The Seafood Infusion was a fish lover's delight. It was a tower of different seafood on a bed of roasted potatoes. It had Mahi mahi, scallop fritter, portabella mushroom stuffed with crab meat, and a fillet of sashimi-grade tuna cooked rare. All of my favourite seafood in one meal, cooked to absolute perfection. We lingered over dinner and listened to the band. We only momentarily thought about what Trent was doing, and for one evening enjoyed being not somebody's parents, but just us.
The next morning we slept late (late for us is past 8am) and got up to a leisurely breakfast at a restaurant just a block away from our hotel. Then we took a stroll around downtown Houston before returning back to reality and back to parenthood.
The moral of this story: The destination is not important in a romantic weekend; The company is the only thing that matters.

So a great big THANK YOU goes out to all the supporting players involved in the surprise and execution of this weekend, you know who you are! And most of all, a great big THANK YOU to my amazing HOTY husband, who's thoughtfulness goes beyond anything I could have imagined or hoped for.

Weekend in review

This past weekend brought with it so many things to celebrate. It started out on Friday morning when I attended the wedding of my BFF and now BFF-in law, Barbie and Scott! It was a really short and sweet ceremony, surrounded by close friends and family. There were some tears of joy and a lot of laughter.
That evening Brian, Trent and I went to NXNW where Brian and Andrea (Cameron Road) were playing. We spent the evening surrounded by our close friends and celebrated another awesome year of life.
On Saturday, my birthday Trent and I spent some time with Nana and Grandad on the webcam and Trent demonstrated his newly developed motor skills as he sat up unassisted for quite a long time. He giggled as Grandad made silly noises and watched Nana intently as we chatted. On Saturday evening, Brian served me cheese and crackers and wine while I spent some quality time hanging out with him and Trent, then he took me out for a romantic dinner at my favourite sushi bar while Aunt Tara and Uncle Mike spent time with Trent. After we picked Trent up we watched a movie and I happily passed out in front of the TV, stuffed full of sushi and sake :-)
Sunday was another relaxing day. I set up a makeshift photo set in Trent's room and shot pictures of him as he played. Here are just a couple. You can view the rest in his gallery.

Another day wiser

As I stare down the barrel of another birthday it's time for a bit of reflection. Time is just whizzing by so fast now and it seems my body gets older but my soul remains the same. Thank goodness that there's someone around who's as immature as me - I'm talking about Barbie, of course. The only person who appreciates it when I send her a picture of my poop (which I did just yesterday). I remember thinking how as I got older the years seem to get shorter. Mike Harris explained to me one day that if you look at your age as a fraction it makes sense. And it really does. I just remember when I was a kid how the years seemed to go on forever, when I was 10 years old 1 year = 1/10th of my life. Now that I'm older, 1 year = 1/nth of my life and that bottom number just keeps growing and growing. After he told me that it made so much sense to me. SO thanks, Mike. Who knew you were such the wise (ass) man?
I'm now at that point in my life where all of my friends are married and having babies. I remember being in my 20's and thinking how far away that all seemed. Spending all my evenings downtown in bars. What's awesome is that I still have many of the same friends from back in those days. They've grown up with me, so to speak. Now my evenings consist of dinners with the girls, hanging with my boys and cats, and watching my little boy sleep so peacefully in my arms. I remember thinking in my 20's how boring that life would be. How I couldn't imagine being too old to go downtown every night. And now I really AM too old! Now 6th street has no appeal for me. I've traded in the evenings of yelling over the music to get myself heard for intimate gatherings on the patio of NXNW or some other kid-friendly venue to listen to my friends play. I've traded in Tequila shots for a nice glass of Chardonnay. I've traded in my wild moonings at Esther's Follies for trash talking in the back of a Pedi-cab on 4th street with the girls. I've traded in trying to dance on packed dance floors while trying to avoid some guy trying to dry hump my leg for two-stepping around my living room with Brian and Trent. I'm pretty happy with the way things have turned out.
This year I was given the best birthday present ever - news that Trent will be getting a cousin, and the wedding of two of my favourite people in the world. Life does not get much better than this.

Things can only get better...

Well, after two weeks of feeling like crap, I'm finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I'm not completely done yet, but at least I can leave the house and not have to worry about where the nearest loo is. I managed to get some chores done this weekend as well as spend plenty of quality time with my boys. On Friday I got to chat with mum and dad, who have been enjoying their new Nintendo Wii at home. On Saturday Trent and I got passport photos done in preparation for our trip to Switzerland and Spain. Today I gave Tiff a haircut and we got to check out Mike & Tara's new house. It's been several months that we've been trying to make it over there, but I have to say it was well worth the wait. It's simply breathtaking and I am so looking forward to seeing it finished and spending time with them there.
We learned some other exciting news this past week, though at the risk of letting someone else's cat out of the bag, I'm not at liberty to say what it is. I can say, though, that Brian and I are over the moon.
I posted new pictures of Trent on his gallery today. He's now sitting up all by his big boy self! He can't get to sitting position on his own yet, but when you put him there he stays for a while before he loses his balance.

A rocky start

Clostridium difficile. It's everywhere. In every human and animal, on every surface. It's on your counter tops, your toilet seat, your car keys, your steering wheel, your door handles. Everywhere. It hangs out in your digestive tract, seemingly harmless, blending in with all the other bacteria. But it's a two-faced little bastard! It lies waiting for an opportunity to strike. To rapidly multiply and put out toxins that attack the lining of the intestine. My body presented this opportunity after I was prescribed some antibiotics for a sinus infection in late December. Antibiotics destroy bacteria. Both good and bad bacteria, including the bacteria that normally keeps these little bastards at bay, and so they took off! The first few days were no big deal, in fact I didn't even realize there was a problem. Just some frequent bathroom trips and I figured hmmm, must have eaten something that didn't agree with me. Then New Year's day came and I have what appeared to be the most ferocious hang-over in the world, over seemingly small quantities of alcohol. I had taken a shot of Mamajuana, the drink from the Dominican Republic, but so did others. I assumed I must just be getting too old to handle booze. The two days after New Year's Day were marginally better, though I was starting to suspect I had IBS. Then on Friday all hell broke loose in my digestive tract. I was in more pain than I was in after taking the castor oil to get Trent started! Seriously. More abdominal pain than labour! By Saturday morning I was ready to die.
On Saturday afternoon Brian arranged for Trent to go hang with Aunt Jenn while he took me to the emergency doctor. A blood test revealed my white cell count was really high (1230), which indicated some kind of problem, but it was the (excuse the too much information here) stool sample the next day that revealed the true problem. For the next 3 days I didn't get out of bed except for the frequent trips to the bathroom. In a cruel twist of irony, the very thing that causes this condition is also the thing that will help me get better. Antibiotics. Today is Wednesday. It's taken 4 days since starting the meds to see improvement. Today is the first time that I've been able to sit up and actually focus on my computer screen without getting dizzy. Today I feel a million times better than I did yesterday, but I still feel absolutely awful. The worst part in all of this is that I haven't been able to hug Trent in days for fear of passing it on, and because I'm too weak to even lift him up.
In all of this, Brian's been holding the family together. He's single-handedly taken care of Trent and me, kept the house in order, cooked, cleaned, made runs to the store, and kept the cats and fish alive.
This isn't the start to 2008 I had in mind. I am optimistic that I'm just getting all the bad stuff out of the way so that I can have a fantastic year. The last 3 years have been amazing and I hope this year will continue the trend.

A very Stead-Bauman holiday!

Where to begin? We spent so much quality time with those we love this holiday season that it's restored my holiday spirit. I don't remember a Christmas I've enjoyed more than this one. We set off for Houston early on xmas eve and arrived around noon, just in time to lend a hand in the kitchen as Joan was preparing the xmas feast. Mum and dad got their very own ornament on the Bauman tree this year, plus an identical one to put on their own tree at home. The usual Bauman tradition is to open presents on xmas eve, then open the "santa" gifts on xmas day, but my family has always opened gifts on xmas day. This year my Texas family adopted my family tradition and opened the gifts on xmas day, which meant so much to me. I remember as a kid rushing down the stairs with the joy of xmas morning on my face and as I opened each gift running up the stairs in delight to my parents, who were having a (very early) morning cup of tea in bed, and showing them what I got (like they didn't know!). I dearly want Trent to follow this same tradition so that I can see the joy on his little face on xmas morning after all the anticipation.
On xmas day, Joan relinquished her kitchen to me and mum and leant a helping hand as we whipped up a traditional English meal. Not a traditional English xmas meal, because that would involve turkey, which we already had at Thanksgiving. Instead, mum and I did roast beef and Yorkshire puddings with, roasted and mashed potatoes, Paxo stuffing balls and Bisto gravy, followed by a Triffle made with spice cake and pears, Bird's custard, and whipped cream. We even popped the xmas crackers and wore the silly paper hats, as is the tradition in England.
It took us almost the entire day to get through all the xmas presents under the tree. We opened them one by one, which is not how we do it in England, but I MUCH prefer this way because you get to take your time and savor the moment. Then in the evening we opened the "Santa" gifts.
Trent was the picture of a perfect little boy the whole day, napping, eating, and playing with both sets of grandparents.
We headed back to Austin on boxing day. During their visit, my parents took Trent out for walks every day, sometimes twice a day and he came home happy and ready for some food. We cooked meals at home and went to a few key places for dinners including the Salt Lick, which my parents had never experienced and both agreed was well worth the long drive. We shopped for electronics that are more expensive in England and my parents stuffed all kinds of goodies into their suitcases when they left, including a Nintendo Wii, an Ipod, and all the cool things they got for xmas. We got dad a Kodak digital picture frame, which we pre-loaded with pictures of Trent, our wedding, and pictures from our last visit to England with them. We got mum a gorgeous multi-gem necklace and earrings, and both got various other small presents, including their favorite thing, a mug with a picture of Trent each. Now they can enjoy seeing his little smiling face every morning with their cup of tea. We had so much fun shopping for xmas presents this year because it was the first time that we've not had to worry about mailing something and having it lost or broken.
New year's eve came so quickly and we had all our closest friends over to celebrate with us. At 6pm Austin time we gave Aunt Glenys and Uncle Terry a call to ring in the new year as we listened to the chime of Big Ben and watched the firework display over the River Thames. I always get so sentimental about Big Ben. It wouldn't be New Year if I didn't hear his chime. We ran in the new year in Austin with a round of shots which I most certainly should not have done because I spent my entire new year's day over the toilet in one manner or another. Fortunately Trent chose this day to be the model baby and he hung out with his Daddy, Nanny and Gandy most of the day.
During their stay, Mike and Tara came over with their new Wii and mum and I went several rounds with some tough guys on the boxing game. It was absolutely hilarious to see mum boxing. We played tennis and bowling, too and afterwards my parents were hooked. The evening before they left, we played Wii for many hours on their new console.
And now comes the sad part of the holiday. Time to go home. We dropped Trent off at daycare and Nanny and Gandy said their tearful goodbyes, and as I tearfully left them at security at Bergstrom, I left bawling like a big baby, but consoling myself with the fact that I'll see them in September when we meet them in Spain after our trip to Switzerland for Benoit and Nadia's wedding.