Rockin' weeekend

The weekend was so much fun and very productive. On Saturday, Trent slept in until 10am! consequently, so did we :-) what a polite thing to do. We had a leisurely breakfast followed by a 7 mile family run. Well, Trent took a nap for some of it - sleeping 'till 10am must have been very tiring for him. Afterwards we did our list of errands which consisted of Party City, in preparation for Trent's 4th of July birthday celebration, a lunch at Rudy's where Trent feasted on meat and flirted with everyone, then on to Costco, our favourite place to shop. After Costco we all took a nap, spent some time chasing Trent around upstairs while he cracked up, then we got ready for our night out.
Saturday night was Trent's first time to have a real babysitter. And by real babysitter, I mean someone who's not family. A huge thanks to Dana and Megan for taking such great care of our wee man. Brian and I were able to go downtown and see Suede play at Cedar St., which is always an awesome show. Many friends were there and us girls went up front to act like silly groupies while our men sat around drinking beer and talking about manly things. To round off our night, Brian and I had Ropolo's pizza before heading back to pick up Trent.
On Sunday, Trent slept in again. What a considerate baby! After breakfast we went to do some more errands, including picking out a birthday cake for Trent. We chose a Finding Nemo cake because it had squeeze toys on it that Trent can play with in the tub. We chose a cupcake cake and Trent will have his very own small cake for pictures and so he can smash it up and get good and messy. Stay tuned for pictures on that.
On Sunday afternoon we were super productive. Dana loaned us her carpet cleaner and we steam cleaned the whole upstairs, taking care of all the spots where Onyx puked. The carpets look brand new again! yay! Afterwards, we all spent time outside. Trent hung out in his exersaucer while I washed the Subie and Brian did some yard work.
Sunday evening we headed over to Mike and Tara's for grillin' and to break in their new game: ROCK BAND! What an awesome game that is! Trent helped play the drums and we all took turns playing the instruments and singing. Brian even sang, and he actually did a great job! I was so proud of him because I know he hates to sing. I found the drums extremely difficult. I'm not that coordinated. I can do the guitar but I'm by no means good at it. I bow to anyone who can play the guitar or drums for real.
We got home way later than we had intended, but we had so much fun!

Proud mummy

We've been teaching Trent sign language and basic skills such as clapping hands, high five, blowing kisses, etc. We show him how to do things, but you don't really know if it's registering, but we keep doing it. Recently, though, Trent has been demonstrating his understanding and actually using his newly acquired communication skills.

I found out at the grocery store as we were perusing the ice cream aisle, that he understands the words "clap hands" and "high five" without me actually doing the motions. I was so proud when I said "clap hands!" and he actually did it! I looked around for someone to say "did you see that??" to. But we were alone. Then I wondered what else he understood so I said "high five!" and he put his hand up and waited for me to do the same, then he slapped his hand on mine. How fricking cool! Then, the Pièce de résistance, "blow kisses", and he put his little hand up to his mouth and went "bwwaaaaah!". A trifecta of cute baby tricks!

We demonstrated Trent's new understanding to daddy as soon as possible and he was equally dazzled. What's crazy is how excited I am when Trent does some seemingly simple thing that I would normally pass off as no big deal when other parents tell me their kids did that. I would think "yay for you, your little human is doing basic human things, you must be very proud" (note the air of sarcasm here). But now MY little human is doing basic human things, I'm fricking dazzled! I'm THAT lady, who's boring the world with animated and excited descriptions of things my kid can do. Whatever, people. Suck it up! I've had to politely nod and appear impressed while you've bored me with things your kid can do. Now it's your turn. Humour me.

During dinner last night, Trent demonstrated his understanding of a couple of signs we've been working on: Eat, drink, more please, and cat. He isn't actually signing back to us yet, but he very obligingly picked up his sippy cup when I signed "drink" to him, picked up a piece of food when I signed "eat" to him, and he actually tried to sign "more please" before pointing to what he wanted and saying "mo mo". Brian and I were both glowing with pride. Who'd have thought that I, of all people, would be so captivated by a damn baby? I thought for sure that my feet would start to feel cold the day that happened ;-)

Name the baby

It's not as disgusting as it sounds!

Diaper Cake!


I've been waiting to post this blog because this was a surprise I've been working on for Barbie. It's super easy to make and looks so awesome as a centerpiece at a baby shower. It took less than 30 minutes to make but has a huge impact on the mum-to-be. Especially when she learns that you didn't buy it from the store, but actually put some thought and love into it :-)

The bottom layer takes about 3 rows of diapers, the second layer takes 2 rows, and you can optionally put a third tier on there, but I thought it would look nicer to have a teddybear blankie on top instead. Barbie was thrilled with it. Mission accomplished.

June showers...

This past weekend has been a whirlwind of girly events and family time! On Friday evening Brian, Trent and I went to Macaroni Grill for family date night. Trent and I enjoyed salmon and asparagus while Brian had his usual. Such a creature of habit. Trent thought it was hilarious to wear the asparagus on his head.
On Saturday we cleaned house and did chores most of the day, including a trip to Costco, in preparation for Barbie's baby shower on Sunday. On Saturday evening, I got to go out to a bridal shower/bachelorette party while Brian and Trent had some father-son time. The shower was at Renee's house and was really fun. They had set up a game for our bachelorette which involved a line up of men, two of them being my guys so it was so nice to get to see them momentarily. Brian and Trent went out with the boys after that and us girls continued with some extremely good cooking by Renee and Veronica, then we headed for a night on the town. First stop was Cool River where we did some dancing and people watching. Crystal and I played spot the "shman" because at Cool River, a game of spot the cougar is like shooting fish in a barrel.
Next up we headed downtown and had mojitos at Cuba Libre, followed by several tequila shots. I should mention that I LOVE tequila. I was very responsible, though, because even though Renee was our designated driver, I still had to get Brian's car home from her house in one piece. We met some interesting people while we were out, though. Bachelorette parties seem to attract quite a variety of men and you wonder what their intentions are. Brian helped clear that up for me with his man perspective. With his perspective and my observations, I've come up with the following theory as to why men hover around bachelorette parties:

• Getting attention during the stupid human tricks that we make bachelorettes do. Possibly getting flashed with T and A.
• Single girl + large quantities of alcohol = poor judgement (maybe they'll get lucky)
  
• Alpha male perception - "see how many of deez bitchez I roll with. Holler!"
• Genuine interest in one of the ladies (rare)
  

I usually like to work into the conversation the following 2 things and watch the rapid cool down effect: "My husband" and "My one year old kid". That's entertainment.

On Sunday Trent slept really late. Until 10am! we were shocked. That did allow me and Brian to do some more house work before the baby shower. Then Trent and I headed to the grocery store to pick up last minute items. The baby shower was a lot of fun. All women, no kids, very relaxed and easy atmosphere. Probably one of the easiest parties I've hosted. And a very big thank you goes out to Michelle for co-hosting it and helping me put everything together. And also a big thank you to Brian for taking Trent the whole day and keeping him occupied and out of the way!
Barbie got so many cool things for the baby. Sadly, we didn't have time to play the game we were planning, but I'll pass that game along to Ann so they can play it at her next shower ;-)

Sunday evening, Brian, Trent and I went for a long run and gave Trent a bath. We realized that he hadn't had a bath in quite a few days. I'm embarrassed to say how many. What a little heathen!

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Free genealogy - Geneology

Mid year HOTY evaluation

Brian is still in the running for the Husband Of The Year (HOTY) award again this year. While he's not perfect, and still leaves his sweaty clothes draped over the tub for a week, and his soccer stuff right by the door when he comes in from a game, he's slowly improving. Now he actually folds and puts away his "might get another day of wear" clothes at night. And every now and then he'll clean the cat box without me asking him to! He maintains the exterior of our house beautifully, and our lawn is one of the best in the neighbourhood right now. In addition, he's always willing to share the workload with Trent, never complains when I take time away to do things with my girls, and to top it off, this past weekend he got me a random present "just because". Not any old present, though. No, this is the holy grail of Bon Jovi fans worldwide. The 1,000,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Box Set, which contains 4 CDs of mostly unreleased stuff, and a DVD!
Gifts aren't my primary mode of showing love, but I was so very impressed with this gesture because as we all know, Brian is... ahem... very frugal ;-) So it's doubly impressive that he spent money on a gift "just because".
What a sweet and thoughtful husband I have. I'm so lucky.

First Father's Day

This year was Brian's first father's day as a daddy. We kicked off Father's Day weekend with the arrival of Grandma and Grandpapparazzi on Friday evening. We had some wine on the patio, then headed out for a late dinner. On Saturday we headed out for a hill country adventure, stopping in a small town for a stroll around their quaint town square, then off to a mexican restaurant that was in an old house. We discovered that Trent is embracing his Mexican heritage because he loves Mexican food. Specifically rice and beans. He ate so much! After lunch we went to Longhorn Caverns and took a tour. It was bad timing for Trent, though, because he got tired and passed out in his front carrier, which I was wearing, so I had to carry him for about 45 minutes through the cave and my arms were killing me! I also managed to smack my head on the ceiling. Not fun. The cave was pretty cool. Despite my difficulties, I did enjoy seeing the cave and admiring the way they had lit the rocks.
After the cave we went to the Fall Creek Winery. We did a tour, which was actually very small considering that it's Texas's 3rd largest winery. Their wines were average. Nothing to write home about, but it was really nice to sit on their patio and share a bottle of Chardonnay with every one.
That evening we made Trent's favourite food, lasagna and garlic bread and opened the bottle of wine we'd been saving for almost 2 years now for a special occasion.

On Father's Day, Brian and his dad got up somewhat early and sealed the crack in the driveway while Joan and I hung out with Trent. Then they balanced the ceiling fan in the living room. It was slightly wobbly. For Father's Day, we got Brian's dad an orchid and trent got him a picture frame with a picture of him and grandpa. Trent got his daddy a book from one of his favourite Top Gear hosts, and a picture frame with a picture of him and daddy in it. He also made daddy a card with the cutest poem and some footprints.

Father's day in England is the same day as in the US (unlike Mother's day), and so my daddy got a special cake sent to him with the message "Happy Father's day to the greatest dad in the world". I only wish I could have baked it for him myself. But this is the next best thing :-)

Toddler travel, chapter 2

Ok, so I'm a reasearch-a-holic. Thanks to my husband, who has instilled in me the importance of having all the facts before making a decision, and doing a complete competitive analysis when spending money on something.

My recent research has been geared toward having a happy trip to Europe, not just for me, Trent and Bri, but also for those around us. I remember how much eye rolling I did when I wasn't a parent and was stuck on a plane with a fussy kid. Oh how I hope karma won't bite me in the arse on this trip.

Here are some answers to some of my recent ponderings.

• How do we transport Trent in cars? will we have to take his car seat? No. We will not have to take the car seat. Ben's parents have a car seat we can use while we're in Switzerland. And in Spain, I can arrange to rent a car seat for a week for 40 Euros from www.travellinlite.com, or if I want to go a slightly cheaper route (and less convenient) I can buy this: http://www.albeebaby.com/cotongocarse.html. I'm leaning toward just hiring one.
  
• What toys are good for travel, fit into a carry on, won't roll under the seat, and are appropriate for a 1 year old? Books! Board books, specifically. And a portable DVD player with Baby Einstein DVD. Why? Because 2 nights ago, Trent was completely inconsolable. We tried everything, and the only thing that stopped his wailing was the Baby Mozard Music Festival DVD. We are SO taking that on the trip.
  

• Should I wean him from formula so we don't have to pack any? I'm going to speak to the doctor about this one at his 1 year appointment (coming up VERY soon). My gut feeling is that he will do fine without it because at home he's only taking about 3 ounces per feeding anyway. I think the transition to regular milk will be easy.
  

• What about nappies? do I take a 2 week supply? or can I assume I'll be able to find them in our destinations? I can most certainly buy them in Switzerland and in Spain. The only issue there is to ensure I can read the packaging so I know they'll fit him. I heard that you should calculate how many you need for the actual travel portion, and triple it in the event of traveler's tummy or other weird ailments.
  

• Can I give him something to mellow him out for the journey? what can I give him? Several mums I've spoken to swear by giving their kids Benadryl. I am going to check with the doctor to see if that's ok. I'm not a fan of dosing Trent up for no good reason, so this would be a LAST resort. The thing is, it might have an adverse effect. It can make some kids hyper, which would be very bad.
  

• How will I handle being "that lady" on the plane with the screaming kid that's pissing off everyone else for 10 hours? With wine :-)
  

Ok. I'm starting to feel more optimistic about the trip. And numerous people have told me that kids surprise you and are perfectly well behaved during long trips. Our only experience has been taking Trent to Houston, which is only 3 hours away. Though I can say that the first time we took him we were pleasantly surprised at how well he handled the road trip, and every trip since he's been a model baby.

Current outlook: Calm :-)

What to expect....

...when you feed an 11 month old breakfast.

They don't tell you in all the parenting books that your breakfast area will look like a tornado came through it, and that it will stay that way most of the day because you're just too busy to pick it up. Here's the aftermath of this morning's Trent Tornado:

Bet you're looking forward to this!

Productive weekend

This past weekend was a mixture of fun and productivity. The fun part for me was going to see SATC with the girls. We went to the Alamo Draft House showing of it downtown. No men were allowed and even all the wait staff were female. They did a cheesy contest before the show and women paraded themselves on stage touting their best SATC outfits and we voted by applause. It was entertaining, though. You can't watch SATC with the girls without getting a martini, though, so of course we all had one (except for the prego). While I went out to play, Brian and Trent went for a run, and got free Whataburgers.

Brian said that Trent is a total chic magnet. He said tons of people talked to them when he was out with him alone. I believe it.

Saturday afternoon we took Trent to Toys R Us and picked up a couple of new toys for him, hopefully things he will take on holiday.

Our Saturday night was productive and not at all how we imagined we'd be spending a Saturday night a few years ago. We hung the ceiling fan in Trent's room while he politely slept in his pack n' play.

On Sunday, Trent and I did 7 miles while Brian mowed, whacked, edged the lawns. Our lawn is the best looking on the block. Quite a 180 from our old house where our lawn was a complete embarrassment. Then we had lunch at Waterloo. Then Trent politely slept again while we completed redoing the blades on the fan and hung them. Now all that's left to do is hook up a switch to the fan so it will spin and we're done!

Sunday evening we met up with Nick and Kitty for Gelato at Picomolo. OMG! YUMM!

Extreme make over...

Ceiling fan edition!

Remember this ugly ceiling fan we took down from our living room?




We put it up in Trent's room, but we had to give it a bit of a make over first so that it would match his theme. It's still an ugly fan, but it now blends quite nicely with the race car theme in his room:

We thought about spray painting the fan black, but we left the fan gold because it reminded us of a very gaudy trophy.

groan...

I really should look in the mirror before I leave the house. Today I discovered I'd been walking around with a bunch of baby chewed up graham cracker remnants on my left shoulder! I haven't been holed up in my office all day, either. I went to lunch with two people who didn't mention it! It's not quite as bad as having a giant bogey hanging out of your nose, but it's certainly up there with having green stuff in your teeth.

Toddler travel

So I might have mentioned this before - I've got more than a little bit of anxiety about our upcoming trip to Europe. Mostly because I've never traveled with a child before and given that our kid is more "active" than most, I think it's going to be a major challenge. I've been reading blogs and web sites that have hints and tips, I've asked all the people I know with kids who might have traveled with a 1 year old over great distances, I've talked to my mum, who assured me things will be alright. Yet still I'm freaking out.
A lot of the advice is to travel during off-peak times and don't take flights during baby's awake time, but that's not practical in this scenario. We're looking at a 10 hour trans-Atlantic flight, plus connections, and a train ride.

Here are my questions:

• How do we transport Trent in cars? will we have to take his car seat? What about on a bus/train? Mostly I'm concerned about the Switzerland portion of the trip here.
  
• What toys are good for travel, fit into a carry on, won't roll under the seat, and are appropriate for a 1 year old?
• Should I wean him from formula so we don't have to pack any?
• What about nappies? do I take a 2 week supply? or can I assume I'll be able to find them in our destinations?
• Can I give him something to mellow him out for the journey? what can I give him?
• How will I handle being "that lady" on the plane with the screaming kid that's pissing off everyone else for 10 hours?
  

I'm sure I have more. I need to do some more research in order to answer some of these, like checking with Ben to see if we can rent a baby seat, and if there's a place near our hotel to buy nappies, and if there's a store near our hotel in Spain that sells nappies. I guess we'll talk to the doctor at his 1 year appointment to see about the weaning and the drugging him ;-) The rest we'll just have to wing it. I might be pleasantly surprised and it'll be easy, but I have to prepare for the worst case scenario.

Last woman standing

This weekend marked the passing of an era. The last of the original party girls, our Jenn, got married!!
The wedding was sweet and simple, the reception was yummy, and the bride and groom were both glowing with happiness. Just as a wedding should be.

RIP old days of partying on 6th street, mooning from the back of Barbie's car, drunkenly swimming in the Longhorn pool on riverside at 4am, and generally making fools of ourselves in public. We are all parents now, or soon to be, all married, and all responsible adults (Yikes!). We have to set examples for our future generation.

It's my hope that along with all of the responsibility that comes with being wives and mothers, and all the time and effort that takes to maintain, we will still find time for each other, we will still have wildly fun evenings together, and will lean on each other in times of trouble. These are my girls. My chosen sisters. My best friends. I love you, chicas. You know who you are.

The winds of change

This weekend we replaced our extremely ugly ceiling fan in the living room with a more modern one. Who in their right mind would choose this?:




The sad thing is, when we were shopping for a new fan, we noticed that these very dated fans are still being sold in a Home Depot near you!
Presumably people still buy them since there were so many of them. Seriously people, stop buying ugly fixtures and the manufacturers will stop making them. Help make the world a better place, one fixture at a time. Who's with me?

Here's our new, pretty ceiling fan:



Ain't she a beut?
Not only is it better looking, but it's also 10 inches bigger than our old one. It's like a breezy spring day in our living room now. Putting it up was a breeze (pun intended), and now that Brian and I know how to do it, we are going to refurbish the ugly one and put it in Trent's room, where there is no fan. Which brings me to my next point... the people who lived here before us had 2 children and neither of their rooms have ceiling fans! but the guest room does. Now why would your kids' comfort rank lower than that of a house guest? Those rooms get really hot!

Well done, Brian, on not only installing a new fan, but not electrocuting yourself and not blowing any of the circuits! You're just getting handier by the day. I'm thinking there's a toolbelt in your future.

You know you're a Nascar fan when...

Trent's been coughing a lot lately, and to help with that we elevate his bed on one end so that he's not laying so flat. Usually we use phone books, but Brian came up with a new idea this week:
















Nothing says Nascar fan like a set of 3 ton jack stands under your baby's crib!