I like to move it move it!

This past week has been quite an adventure with the little guy crawling all over the place. He's become a little less high maintenance since he's discovered that he doesn't need us to walk him all over the place, which is a definite bonus for us. However, we've traded one set of issue for a whole new set.
Some thoughts on baby proofing:

• Who knew that a wine rack would be a prime candidate for little hands to grope and grab?
• Fire extinguishers we have posted in key areas upstairs - red and shiny - of course he wants to play with them. Now we have to mount them on the wall.
• The little springy doorstops behind every door - gone.
  
• Chachkas and knick nacks on the bookshelves - all gone.
  
• We now have to even be careful where we set down a glass of water because little tiny hands want to grab everything within reach.
  
• The cat food - I am certain that Trent will deprive the cats of their food in the near future.
• Those little covers you put on all the outlets - they are hard to get off when you actually want to use the outlet, AND worse, we have a tendency to leave the cover on the floor next to the outlet, which is a prime target for a kid to chew on.
  
• The cat box. I dread to think about this one!
  
• The office. oh my! we're just going to have to put a gate across it so he can't get in.
  
• Floor lamps. I'm not sure what to do about this one. He's interested in them. He looks at the bases and then up at the light, but he hasn't made a grab for the actual posts yet.
  
• The trash can. We used to stack things that wouldn't fit in the can, such as cereal boxes, etc, on the side until we were ready to take the trash out. Got to rethink that one.
  
• Things that he could pull on top of himself - like the book shelf - now secured to the wall with anchors and screws.
  

There's probably a whole bunch more things that I haven't discovered/considered yet. But I can't help but wonder how we all managed to grow up without major incident because baby proofing is a relatively new concept, or at least all of the tools and accessories we have today are. Baby proofing is no substitute for discipline, and so I'm hoping that I can use a combination of the two to avert disaster.

Last night, Trent had some trouble getting to sleep, which is quite unusual for him, and after about 10 - 15 minutes of letting him cry it out, I snook upstairs to peek in and see what his problem was, to find him standing up in the crib! this is new. Yesterday morning, Brian went in to his room to get him up, and he was just sitting up in his crib! also new.

Some of the fun things about Trent crawling:

• His face lights up when he does it and he looks really pleased with himself.
  
• It's really cute to see his little butt from behind.
  
• He crawls from the other side of the room just to knock down the tower of blocks we built for him. So playtime is more fun for us, too.
  
• He cracks up when the cats go near and chases them all by himself.
  
• My back hurts less because I don't have to walk him around the house as much.

And one final thing to mention on this very Trent-centric blog - He's mastering the stairs. Going up holding my hands, he knows to lift a leg up and over each step and then mummy pulls him up. On the way down he steps off and giggles when he lands on the next step. I'm not sure if it's good or bad to get him used to the stairs so early. I might be creating a problem for myself when he tries to do it himself, or I might be helping him get comfortable. All I know is we have fun doing it.

Better late than never

Trent crawled today! I mean really crawled. He's been working on it for a while and we thought he was going to skip it all together and go straight to walking, but this morning he struggled to do it and succeeded. When he did, he had the biggest smile on his face! It was like watching a baby deer stand up for the first time. Soooo cute! Our baby's growing up too fast!

My feet are cold!

Did hell freeze over???

Barbie finally wrote a blog entry. So, mum, go read it because she wrote it for you :-)

A walk in the park

n Saturday morning Trent and I got to spend some much needed outside time with his two favourite aunts and his new cousin! What a treat!
We went down to town lake with Aunt Biker Barb and Aunt Bebe, and little baby Aria. The weather was gorgeous, despite the strong winds and scattered showers from the night before. Brian's soccer game was canceled, though, due to the rain the night before, but he was happy because he got to catch up on some Formula One racing, sans Trent :-)

We did the Mopac/Lamar loop at a leisurely pace, stopping at a bench along the way to feed Aria whose little tiny whimper indicated that she was hungry. And I couldn't help but feel envious of Michelle when I think back to Trent's "howler monkey" wailing when he was hungry, tired, wet, or just about anything was pissing him off. Meanwhile, Barbie helped Trent practice walking and got Trent all dirty. But we expect that from Barbie ;-). At one point I looked up at my pregnant friend holding MY kid and my friend feeding her baby and remarked "Look at this! oh how times have changed!". We all thought about it for a moment and laughed. I guess this is what happens when you reach 30something.
We took a small detour to the Taco Cabana on Lamar for some breakfast tacos while the babies napped, then made our way to the other side of town lake - I mean ladybird lake, I guess it's called now - and finished up our walk just in time for Trent's lunch time.

You can see more pictures in Trent's April 08 gallery.

First owie

Trent has a nice bruise on his forehead. His first owie. I got to kiss it!
Apparently, he stood up at the table and fell over his chair. Silly boy! But his teacher said it didn't really phase him. I'm happy to hear that he wasn't a huge dram queen about it :-)

Baby diet

Trent's been trying all kinds of new foods lately. He doesn't seem to turn his nose up at much, which is such a relief because we all know how fussy Brian is. This past week some favourites have emerged, though. He seems to prefer more strongly flavoured foods, and in particular, anything with pasta in it. Over the past week I've been experimenting by putting some of the things Brian and I are eating for dinner into the food processor for Trent. Turns out he loves Chicken Parmesan and Lasagna. He was not as enthusiastic about Chicken and Mozzarella Ravioli, but he ate it. He's also very happy to chew on raw asparagus and carrots, and he absolutely loves my garlic bread!
Last night we had lasagna and I cut him a piece off about half the size of mine and processed it. He ate the entire thing and wanted more!
Brian and I have always sat in front of the TV and ate dinner, but since Trent has been eating solid foods, we've kept the TV off and spend family time around the table. It took a bit of getting used to, but we really enjoy it. Dinner times are very messy in our house. Generally resulting in a bath for Trent, some stain treatment /pre laundry treatment for his clothes, and a good hose down of his chair and the floor surrounding it. It's a good thing he's cute, funny, and sweet :-)

Andrew Lloyd-Webber week

I really enjoyed American Idol this week. I hate to admit it, but I love Broadway musicals.
Some thoughts on the performances.

• I thought Syesha's performance was awesome. She's a natural Broadway star.
• Jason Castro's rendition of memories left me wishing that my cat had been singing it instead of him! What a whiney, crappy-ass performance that was.
  
• Poor Brooke forgot her words, and her performance was just, in the words of Randy Jackson "aight". I like her hair.
  
• David Archuletta's starting to become predictable. His performance was nice, but it's so boy bandy.
  
• Carley's performance of jesus christ super star was good. Having not heard the original version I can't compare it. I liked how bluesy it was.
• They saved the best for last. David Cook was amazing!
  

A side note... Brian has now started sporting the Fauxhawk because it looks so good on Ryan Seacrest. I accused him of googling Ryan's hair last week. He didn't fess up to it,but I know he did.

My reaction to the results show:

WTF, America???

This is what I get for watching on the DVR two days later. It's so obviously a popularity contest. Both Carley and Syesha performed WAY better than Brooke or Jason. Why can't people vote based on the performance? GRRRRRRR. Makes me SO upset.

Girl's just wanna...

...Not get robbed in the hotel lobby!

I'd been looking forward to this past weekend for quite some time. I got to hang out with my friend, Kris. She and I have been friends for about 14 years now. We've had our ups and downs, and our fair share of disagreements, but one thing I've always felt was that she'll always be in my life. Granted, it's been in a rather diminished capacity since we both moved away from Dallas, but nonetheless, we stay in touch and I still consider her one of my BFFs.

So we planned a girly trip. Just the two of us. We shopped around, looked for deals. We finally settled on San Antonio because Kris could get a decent fare from Chicago, and I could drive, which means we could keep our cost down by consolidating the total cost of the trip and dividing it. San Antonio is actually a fun city to visit because of the River Walk.

The day finally arrives. I get in the car and drive the 1.5 hours to San Antonio and pick Kris up at the airport (after briefly getting lost). We drive to some place near the airport called Stone Works to meet our old buddy, Blake, who used to live in the same apartment complex as us in Dallas, and who is a good friend of Kris's hubby. It was nice to sit out on the patio in the gorgeous Texas spring weather and catch up with old friends. Afterwards we made our way to the hotel. We stayed at the Drury Plaza on the river walk. Upon arrival we got out of the car at the valet, Kris pulled some money out of her purse to tip the guy, and we took our bags and went to check in. I checked us in since my name was on the reservation and we made our way up to our room on the 19th floor. Our room was actually really cool. Nice flat screen TV, big bathroom, two queen sized beds, somewhat of a view, though from up above the river walk is nothing but a bunch of trees.
About 3 minutes after arriving in our room, Kris realizes she doesn't have her purse! We frantically search. Tear the whole room apart looking for it, practically. I went downstairs to see if she maybe had dropped it and someone handed it in. No luck. I went to the valet, nobody had seen it. I get Kris, and we both go with the valet to the car and check it. Maybe it fell off and is in the car. Though this makes NO sense because Kris took money out of her purse and tipped the valet AFTER we got out of the car. More searching, more retracing our steps, more looking in the car, more checking with the front desk. Nothing. The front desk clerk kept looking at us like we were crazy or drunk or both. No sympathy. That's so disappointing. They didn't offer any kind of assistance. After more searching we finally had to give up and come to the conclusion that it got snatched. The sad thing is that it was one of those purses with the long strap that you wear across your body (like a messenger bag), which usually equates to being secure. The only thing we can think is that someone cut it off of her, which in itself is scary that some thug came that close to Kris with a knife!
We consoled ourselves with the thought that it could have been much, much worse. The thug could have taken it by force. Though to be honest, I'd prefer that because a) we'd know what happened to it, and b) I could have had the opportunity to open up a can of whoop ass on someone who totally deserved it ;-)
Anyway, Kris had to have her husband fed-ex her passport to her so that she could get back home on Sunday, because, of course, her ID was in the purse, along with her money and credit cards! Poor Kris! I felt so bad for her.
We tried to put the incident behind us and go about our business as we would have done had this not happened. And huge credit is due here to Kris because we did have a blast, though it was punctuated with moments of head scratching and ponderings of how the hell it could have happened.
That evening, after consoling ourselves by crawling into the bottom of a bottle of Kendall Jackson Chardonnay that I had the foresight to bring along, we went out on the River Walk in search of a place to drown our sorrows and watch the world go by. Mad Dogs piqued our interest simply because it had the Union Jack all over the place and I am a sucker for an English pub. Suffice it to say, though, that the Union Jack and phone booth were about as English as that place got. We found two open seats at the bar next to a cute couple, who we ended up spending quite a lot of time with that evening. Connie and Rick from Washington (state, not D.C) were visiting for a weekend away from their kids. We had so much fun with them and many shots later Kris and I were stumbling down the river walk in search of some food. We ate dinner at some restaurant, but neither of us can recall which one... what we do recall is that we spilled 2 glasses of wine and finally I think the waiter got tired of us doing that and moved us to another table that didn't wobble ;-). After dinner we thought we'd call it a night and head back to the hotel. We found ourselves clutching on to each other so that neither of us fell into the river. As we passed by one tiny bar near our hotel we heard live jazz music so we stumbled inside to find everyone in the place up and dancing around their tables. So we joined them. Pretty soon the band stopped playing and some drunk lady requested that they play while she sang Patsy Cline's "Crazy", even though she didn't know the words. She asked for someone to help her out so I volunteered for the job and howled out a very bad rendition with her while everyone pretended it was awesome and danced. It was very bad. Trust me on this.
When we finally made our way back to the hotel we thought it'd be a good idea to go hot tubbing so we donned our bathing suits and made our way up to the roof top pool, only to find that it was closed!
I called down to the front desk and pleaded with the manager to open it for us. He was very nice about it but wouldn't do it because of city ordinance. At one point I asked him why the ordinance was in place and he told me because people commit suicide off the roof. I told him that was Darwin's theory at work and it was his duty as a good world citizen to help the idiots out! Fortunately he thought it was as funny as I did.
Saturday morning we both woke up feeling a little impaired. We had our free breakfast then went for a dip in the hot tub/pool. After that we made our way out for a day of sightseeing. The weekend we chose just happened to be Fiesta weekend and there was much to see and do. We walked down to the carnival over by the Alamodome and took in the sights, sounds, and smells. I made Kris race me down the bumpy slide - she was a good sport about it and the adrenaline rush helped us both feel better from our hang overs.
We spent quite a bit of time walking around the River Walk that afternoon, stopping briefly to talk to the guys working on the garbage barge to ask if they had seen a black purse in the river. We assumed that the thief would dump it in the river after removing the cash from it. No luck, but we did get some good tips from them on other places to see besides the River Walk. On their recommendation, we made our way to Market Square where more of the festival was happening. Great for people watching. Afterwards we headed back to the River and found a restaurant to have a late lunch and do some people watching. A mariachi band played while a bachelorette party embarrassed some poor woman. We saw a woman serenade her man, backed by the mariachi band, which was quite unique and very romantic.
That evening we went to the hotel happy hour, then set off in search of adventure again. We spent some time at Hard Rock Cafe where we chatted with a nice military boy for a while, then we headed back over to Mad Dogs (after going back to the hotel to pick up Kris's passport since the Mad Dog bouncer wouldn't let us in without it). More good people watching. Girls all booty dancing on the stage and making complete arses of themselves. Very entertaining. We dropped in at Coyote Ugly, purely because Kris had never been to one and I thought it would be interesting. It wasn't. Very much the usual scene. Bunch of drunk ugly guys gawking as drunk ugly women gyrate on the bar next to the sober pretty ones that work there. We left that place pretty quickly and found ourselves in Waxy's Irish bar. There was a band playing a very bad rendition of a Bon Jovi song. Even badly done Bon Jovi is good, though :-) After getting some drinks we found a spot to sit at a large table where some more military guys were hanging out. I had a 20 minute conversation with a Sergent who got into the army because he's a meth addict. Lovely. Hey, at least he knew he had to do something about it. The army guys were fun to hang out with and kinda crazy. One had a penchant for wearing women's clothes it turns out ;-).
It was time to call it a night after that. We stumbled back to our hotel, not quite as much stumbling really as the night before, but details become sketchy.
We still don't know what happened to Kris's purse, we probably never will, and that will drive both of us nuts. We both wrote letters to the Drury Plaza's GM regarding their lack of concern for Kris's predicament. Hopefully they'll step up their customer service for the next person that happens to. After filing a police report, we found out that it's quite common in that area for purse snatchings to happen, though the hotel disavowed all knowledge of that. Naturally.

More idol chatter

So finally Kristy Lee Cook is voted off American Idol. And just when I'd started to really like her. She's redeemed herself over the last couple of weeks. Jason Castro, on the other hand, is still awkward and goofy. Interesting how there's always an equal number of male and female singers at this point in the competition. More indication that it's rigged. It just has to be.
I absolutely believe that David Cook is going to win. I was really impressed with his version of Mariah's "Always be my baby". I would never have imagined that song could be rocked out like that. I've watched it twice. I think this week either Brooke or Jason are going home.
I wish, just for once, that Paula wouldn't wuss out when Ryan asks her if America got it right. I wish she'd give a real answer instead of a PC one.
Rock on, David Cook!

Pregnancy diet paid off?

During pregnancy I ate a LOT of vegetables, particularly carrots and asparagus, in the hopes that Trent would grow up to like vegetables. I worried that he would be as finicky as his daddy, who, when I first met him, used to refuse to eat anything but burgers, fries, and pizza and would only drink Coke. Brian's come a long way since then... he eats the vegetables I put on his plate for the most part, and has varied his diet now to include things that are not fried or loaded with cheese. He's expanded his liquid intake repertoire to include lemonade and white cran/strawberry juice, though he still refuses to drink water or any hot liquids.

Despite the leaps and bounds Brian has made in his diet, still I worried that Trent would develop similar tastes and I'd become a McMommy. A slave to the McDrive thru because it's the only thing my kid will eat.

Last night, though, Trent demonstrated that he has picked up my tastes in food when he ate his dinner. I tried him on some lasagna by putting it in the food processor. He really liked it! then I gave him a stick of raw asparagus to chew on, not really thinking he'd do anything but bash it on his tray... but he made me so proud:




He chewed on it for about 20 minutes until it was mush, so I gave him a cooked piece the next time, which he also demolished. What a good boy!
The funny thing is that asparagus makes your pee smell funny, and this morning when I changed his diaper, it had that distinct asparagus pee smell. I find that so amusing!

Oh my boy is such a McCutie!

Patio before and after

It's finished! the patio, that is. It was actually finished over a week ago, but I hadn't gotten around to taking pictures. The final touch, which was to hang the swing, was completed last week. My neighbours, Jim and Ted, were enjoying their usual evening glass of wine in Jim's back yard and heckling me as I hung the swing. Jim actually did come over and help me hang it, though :-)
We're thrilled with the end result and if you're looking for a recommendation on a construction company to do any home improvement projects, including roofing, let me know. Our guys came in much lower than any others we got quoted, and the workmanship is amazing.

Here are some before and after pictures for comparison.







And here is the finishing touch...

Run your buns off

This weekend was fun. Brian graciously agreed to skip date night with me and Trent, and even gave up his indoor soccer game, so that I could spend some much needed "me" time. I went down to Cedar Street to see Brian Andrew Lee play for happy hour. Michelle, Barbie, Scott, Adam & Sara came also. After happy hour ended, I played 5th wheel for dinner with Barbie/Scott, Adam/Sara at Chinatown. We got free dessert because our waiter was flirting with me ;-0
On Saturday, we met up with Grandma and Grandpa downtown at Shady Grove for lunch. Trent hung out with Grandpa on the wall and flirted with everyone as they went in or out of the main restaurant. Then we went to pick up the race packets for Sunday. The Bauman boys were doing their very first "Tres Generations" fun run - The Schlotsky's Bun Run. Trent was bandit running it since he didn't register. On Saturday afternoon, Grandpa and Brian custom fit something to the top of our stairs so that we could attach the baby gate. They did a great job.
On Sunday we got up super early and headed downtown for the Bun Run. The race started at 8 so we left a few minutes before 7am to ensure we got parking. Trent was a little sleepy and a tad grumpy due to being woken up so early. He likes to sleep until about 7:45 most days :-)
We ran in to Julia while we were waiting for the race to start and she took a really cute picture of Trent (which you can see in his gallery).
When the boys started their race, Grandma and I waited just past the start line to catch a glimpse of them going out, then we waited and watched as the fastest people came in around 14 minutes. When the boys approached the finish line, they took Trent out of his jogger and he crossed the finish line on-foot, hand-in-hand with his daddy and grandpa. A proud moment, indeed :-) and he looked so cute in his soccer outfit from Great Aunt Pam and Great Uncle Mike, and his awesome Puma's from Uncle Kev and Aunt Darice.
Sunday afternoon, we worked on the garage a bit. I can't believe I forgot to mention a huge milestone for our friends - Mike and Tara moved into their new house a couple of weeks ago! More on that in a bit... Anyway, they moved their furniture out of our 3rd garage so now we actually have no more excuses and will have to actually organize it and hang things. So we made a dent in that work by breaking down all the boxes and getting rid of all the trash, and starting a pile of things to donate to charity. The boys also trimmed the palm trees in the back yard, though I can't remember if that was Saturday or Sunday... my days tend to blend together these days. I remember what I did, just not when :-)
Sunday afternoon we went to Mighty Fine Burger. I hadn't been there before. I can't say that it's the best burger I've ever had. Probably would give it a 4 out of 10 to be perfectly honest.
On Sunday evening we went over to Mike and Tara's for dinner and to check out the house now that they're all moved in. It turned out so beautiful. The sinks, tile, floors, counters, cabinets... everything all came together so beautifully.
In other news, Trent had his 9 month check up on Friday. It's hard to believe it's been 9 months already. He's now in the 50th percentile for height and weight, which we're happy about because he was rather small on his 6 month visit. He's now 28 inches tall and almost 20lbs. A few more months and he'll be able to ride in a front-facing car seat. When the nurse took blood to test his iron levels, Trent didn't even cry. Brian and I were so proud! He's hitting all the milestones and his early problems with colic and acid reflux are resolved. He's even been cold-free for a couple of weeks now! It kind of shows in his personality that he's feeling good these days. He's been much easier going lately, and has discovered a love for Cherios. We put a handfull on his high-chair tray when Brian and I eat dinner, and he just feeds himself and is very content. We have to trick him and feed him his regular baby food first, though, otherwise he only wants the Cheerios.

Fun with animals

This weekend Trent did a lot to redeem himself of his recent behavior. We had a wonderful weekend together. Here are some highlights.
On Friday, which is date night, Trent and I went for a long walk while Brian went to play indoor soccer. I had been craving a burger all day so for our date we went to dinner at Red Robbin.

On Saturday, I took Trent for a long run while Brian did the yard work in the front of the house. Trent and I ran 11k! Then when we got home, Trent hung out in his exersaucer on the front lawn while Brian finished edging and I trimmed the bushes.
It was such a beautiful spring day so after lunch we went to the Austin zoo. It was our first time to go and while it's really small and not as well laid out as the larger zoos, all of the animals looked comfortable and well taken care of. All of their animals were rescued from people who think they can keep wild animals as pets, or from the circus. I feel such a conflict about zoos because I hate to see animals in cages, but I suppose it's better than them being euthanised or continuing to live in abusive conditions. And by paying to see these animals, it ensures that the zoo can continue to support them. And a zoo is really the only way that I would ever get to see these animals in person. It just makes me so sad, though, and I wish it could be different. Trent seemed to enjoy seeing all the animals. He also seemed to enjoy watching all the people. He especially likes children.
After the zoo, we went to Costco to pick up some essentials, then we went to Sears to buy a new water heater. Something we've been putting off for a year now but we think we're tempting fate to put it off any longer. Fortunately, we were able to pay for the water heater and installation with credit card points so it was pretty much free. After Sears we went home and spent some time on our new patio. Trent played on a blanket while Brian and I sipped on our wine/beer and enjoyed the tranquility of our back yard. We made a delicious dinner - pecan praline chicken, and after Trent went to bed we watched Spiderman 3. At least some of it. I managed to pass out on the couch about half way through the movie.
On Sunday, we all went out for a 7k run, then came back and did some work in the back yard. Brian cleaned the grill while I hammered in tree fertilizer spikes around all the trees. Then we ran errands for the remainder of the day, including yet another trip to Costoc, but this time it was for a hotdog! (ok, so we also picked up some things we needed that we didn't get on Saturday, too). Trent seemed very happy to be out and about. He had I minor fussing episode Sunday afternoon and it turns out he was just over tired because he didn't get any really good naps in during the day. While he napped we watched the rest of Spiderman 3. That evening we all went for a walk around the neighbourhood and listened to some country music, then we had family dinner time - chicken and asparagus with feta and bowtie pasta, then Trent had his bath and went to bed.
Brian and I then did something we've been dreading and putting off. Our taxes! We finally got them done. No refund for us, though :-(

In good news... the new porch swing arrives today. I can't wait to hang it!

Hell on wheels

I've been running a lot lately, it seems. Not crazy miles or anything, but frequently. The main reason is that Trent seems to really enjoy going out in the jogger. He's always so calm and relaxed during our run. It's sort of a mental break for me. We plug the iPod into the speakers on his stroller (thanks Mum & Dad for getting us that -- we use it every day!), and off we go. Usually about 6 or 7 kilometers each time and on weekends we do a little bit longer. I can zone out and not have to deal with a crying baby, and he gets to take in the scenery. Lately Trent has been a little more high maintenance than usual. I think he's frustrated by the fact that he can't walk around yet, and he absolutely refuses to crawl, in favor of rolling everywhere, which is kind of funny to watch. And why should he crawl when mummy and daddy will help him walk and chase the cats around the house? that's way more fun. I had a dream last night that Trent started walking on his own. In my dream, I heard him giggling and turned around to see him teetering over to me. It seems like this dream is going to come true pretty soon. Then we'll have a whole new set of problems to deal with. I can already see areas around the house that need to be baby-proofed. Such as the book shelf in my office, where the fish tank is. -he likes to grab for the ornaments and chachkas. And the fountain in the entry way, he hasn't grabbed for that yet, but it's only a matter of time and that will be messy. We already have outlet covers on most of the electrical outlets, but now we also need to secure the cords, and also tie up the cords on the blinds so he can't get tangled in them. I'll probably have to move my wine rack to under the stairs and put a child proof doorknob on the door. I guess I can technically claim that I have a wine cellar in that case :-)

For the most part, though, our house isn't so kid-unfriendly. And what did people do before all these baby proofing gadgets came out? Is it so hard to teach your kid that poking the electrical outlets, pulling over book cases, and throwing themselves down the stairs is bad for them? It sounds simple in theory, but I'm sure in practice it's not. I imagine in the near future I'll be blogging about all the things Trent has broken in the house or has attempted to shove up his nose, etc. I feel so torn because I'm really looking forward to him gaining his independence and being mobile, but on the other hand I don't want him to grow up so fast, and I don't know that I'm prepared for all the challenges of chasing a toddler around. He's already changed so much right before our eyes. It's hard to imagine now that he was smaller than the cats when we brought him home.

Happy Birthday to me!

I know what you're thinking! Oh My GOD! Did I miss Amanda's birthday? no, you didn't. I was in January. Suckiest month to have a birthday ever (ok, except for November and December). Anyhoo, for my birthday, aside from whisking me away for a romantic weekend, Brian bought me what he has dubbed my "most expensive birthday present to date". Which is encouraging because it implies that there might be future birthdays with even more elaborate gifts :-)
Anyway, you might be wondering what could possibly top my ski trip birthdays from 2 and 3 years ago, and my New York trip birthday from the year before that. And while this present isn't in the same league as the valentine's present of 2007, it is most definitely blog-worthy. In our circle of friends, and between family, we joke about how cheap Brian is. In fact some would say that Brian is so tight that he squeaks when he walks. But if you look back at past history, all joking aside, he's not as cheap as he would have you believe. This birthday he asked me what I wanted. I said a covered patio. After months of research, gathering estimates, and waiting for the time to be just right, I finally am getting my present.
The construction crew arrived on Tuesday and worked their butts off to build me a roof over my existing patio slab that matches the house exactly. They even opened up the side of the house to attach the patio to the 1st floor ceiling joists, set the posts in concrete, mirrored the roofline of the house, and matched the trim of our house. I'm thrilled with the progress so far. We have the basic structure built. All it needs now is shingles, paint, and the ceiling fan installed. We're getting the roof on the rest of the house replaced also.
The guys that did the work were amazing. I tried not to hover over them watching because I didn't want them to think I was doing it because I didn't trust them. But I kept sneaking peaks as they progressed purely because it was so interesting to watch. They did it seemingly from memory. Nobody busted out blueprints. These guys just knew what to do. I can't wait to see the final result. Whenever I drive or run past the back of the house now I admire it from the road and think about how much more interesting the back of the house looks now that it's there.
You can see pictures of the work-in-progress here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/keylimeypie/PatioConstruction

I probably should say a quick "thank you" to my dear friend Wassim, who so wisely told Brian that "Amanda deserves whatever she wants". Your cheque is in the mail ;-)

Idol Chatter

Ok, first things first, what the hell was Paula wearing? Sequins and fingerless leather long gloves? Seriously?

Ramielle's redition of Heart's "Alone": She missed quite a few of the high notes, though she sounded great on the lower notes. I think Carly would have done a much better job of that song. She's still a major fashion criminal, though.
Jason Castro's version of Sting's "How fragile we are" was ok. I liked it, but it wasn't awesome. I still find him to be a little forgettable.
Sayesha Mercado. Ok, I REALLY liked her performance this week. She sung the crap out of that song! Every note was perfect. That's what I was expecting out of her.
Chikezie I thought it was ok. Not earth shattering or anything. He seems a little awkward on the stage.
Brooke White delivered a pretty solid performance. She has a good voice, but it always sounds the same. No variance, really.
Michael Johns - Still a fan. I love Queen and I really liked his performance of it, except he missed a few of the higher notes, which I guess is becoming my pet peeve. I can forgive him for it because a) he's cute, b) he sang Queen, and c) most of the song was good. But if you're gonna sing a song with notes that high, make sure you can damn well hit them or go home!
Carly Smithson - I liked her performance of Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse" a lot, except the end... that last note was a bit off. I was not a huge fan of her outfit.
David Archuleta - I'm so sure he's gonna win! He's so talented. Though this wasn't his best performance. I just think he's gonna get the teenage girl vote.
Christy Lee Cook - I hated her song choice. Poor girl just keep picking cheesy-ass songs. She deserves to go home.
David Cook - His rendition of Billy Jean was really interesting. It started off kinda wierd for me, but I got into it by the middle, and by the end I preferred it to the original. He's definitely the most original of all of them.

My top three this week in order of preference based purely on performance:
David Cook
Syesha Mercado
Michael Johns

Bottom three:
Christy Lee Cook
Ramiele Mulabay
Jason Castro

Welcome Aria Elizabeth!

We've been anxiously awaiting the arrival of Trent's new "cousin", Aria. She was due on St. Patrick's day but decided that she wasn't ready for her debut just yet. This morning, Aria was born at 8:13 am and she's absolutely stunning.
Barbie and I went to visit this morning and saw her and her daddy in the nursery right when we walked in. Brian was so impressive in the way he handled her. Like he'd being doing that for years. I was tearing up just watching him with her. Grandma Liz was so excited to see us and so excited about her new grand-baby.
Michelle was looking great when we went in to see her. Very alert, good colour, smiling. We stayed for a couple of hours and all took turns holding Aria when Brian brought her in. Barbie and I couldn't stop staring at her, she's so pretty. Brian was cracking me up with his impressions of what might have been going through Aria's mind as she was dreaming in his arms. It was hard to tear ourselves away from them, but they need to get some rest. Barbie and I both fell in love with her the moment we held her. I can't wait to introduce Trent and Aria, and I can't wait till Barbie's little rug-rat joins the pack!
Fun times!
Pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/trent.bauman/CousinAriaElizabeth

Mid-week single parent update

My hat is off to those who take on the task of raising a kid alone, especially those who hold down a full-time job. Truly. Not to say that this week has been awful. Not by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, Trent and I are doing great and he's being the perfect little gentleman. The main challenges I face are getting myself and Trent ready in the morning and getting out the door at a reasonable time. Usually, Brian and I trade off getting ready while the other takes care of Trent's needs. Trent and I have a pretty good system, though. I get up when Trent wakes up and we go and get a bottle. Trent feeds himself his bottle while I make myself a cup of tea and get him some rice cereal, which I mix half of my yogurt into. We sit together and listen to the Radio or watch the morning news while we eat, then I sit Trent on the bedroom floor in my line of vision from the bathroom with some toys and he plays while I get ready. Then I change Trent's clothes, gather all the stuff he needs for daycare, gather all my stuff, and we're out the door. In all, just over an hour from waking up to out the door. That's not so bad.
I have been able to make it to my Martial Arts class on Tuesday and will be able to tomorrow thanks to Aunt Barbie coming over to hang with Trent. On Tuesday they had a fun evening as Barbie kept him entertained with a puppet show, among other creative things.
Our evenings are pretty relaxing. This evening Trent and I went for a run, then we played and Trent chased the cats around the house laughing hysterically. He also took an interest in the fish, trying to grab them through the glass. Around 8:30 he got his bath and we played with the bath toys. And by 9pm he was sleeping like a little angel. Awwwh!
Today one of Trent's teachers gave him a present. It's a blue onesie that says "Ladies' Man" on it. Very appropriate for Trent because he is such a flirt! The ladies at daycare just love him. That makes me so happy.

Predictable incredulous blog

My problem is that I'm watching AI on the DVR, so I don't get the opportunity to vote. But I can still bitch about the results.

Well, my prediction on who will go home tonight didn't come true. Christy is safe this week. But my second and third choices were Jason Castro and Amanda Overmyer, respectively. I was hoping Amanda would stick around a couple more weeks just for the pure entertainment factor. I know my mum will be happy, she thought she was awful

I'm extremely surprised by Carley being in the bottom 3? really? REALLY, America? For shame!

American Idol

It's that time again. I'll admit it, I'm an AI addict. This season the judges are saying this group is the most talented ever, but I'm not sure I can agree with that when you consider Chris Daughtry and Melinda Dolittle and Cat McPhee in there, but there are a few Idols that do stand out for me. From the women, Carly Smithson is my top pick. That girl can really sing. And she has the most amazing blue eyes. I'm glad that the makeup dept. has changed her eyeshadow colour from that awful yellow/brown she puts on herself, though. It did nothing for her. She's looking hotter every week.

For the men, my top pick is David Archuleta. I have to admit that I have a mini crush on the guy. Something about him reminds me of Brian, though I can't quite put my finger on what it is. He's sooo frickin' cute because he's so humble and he completely blows me away with his voice.

David Cooke is my second choice for the men for singing He completely rocked out on Day Tripper, though I'm not sure what the weird tube on the microphone is. He started off as a bit of an uggo, but somehow he's gotten a bit more attractive. I guess that's what a good stylist will do for you. On looks alone, Michael Johns floats my boat, and I like his voice because he reminds me a bit of Michael Huchens from INXS, but I don't think he's gonna be the last man standing.

I like Brooke White because she's such a sweetheart. Kind of like the Melinda Doolittle of this season in "niceness" (though obviously her singing doesn't compare), but what the bloody hell was that she was wearing on Tuesday night?? that was fashion road kill if I've ever seen it.

Jason Castro is completely forgettable for me for some reason. I think he's a decent singer, but I just can't get into him at all. Maybe I just don't like his face. I agree with Randy regarding his performance of "Michelle". It was just alright.

I like Sayesha Marcado a lot. She's got a great voice and she's really cute, but I guess I was expecting a bigger sound from her. Something more Gloria Gaynor or Diana Ross or something. I was really surprised when she was in the bottom 3 last week and I don't think she deserved to be there over Jason. What's up with you America?

I like Chikezie. He's probably my 3rd choice in the men for pure talent. There's no question that he can sing. I didn't enjoy his performance on Tuesday night, though. It was a bit too "ho down" for me with the whole harmonica bit and the steel guitar.

Christy Lee Cook is, in my opinion, going home tomorrow night. She's probably the best looking contestant this season, and I do think she can sing, but the poor girl keeps choosing the wrong songs or maybe it's just the way she countries it up and the fact that I'm not a huge country fan. We'll see how this plays out.

Ramiele Malubay is a fashion disaster! What the hell was she wearing? Awful. In the past I've thought she was a good singer, but she is getting a little boring. Her performance on Tuesday was completely average for me. She tried to change the arrangement a bit, and I didn't hate it, but it didn't have me jumping up to dance in my living room. Though I have to be honest, The Beatles isn't really my cup of tea. I've never really connected with their songs.

Amanda Overmyer is somewhat unique because she has that raspy, gravelly, Bonnie Tyler/Rod Stewart kind of voice, but something about her performances bug me. She reminds me of a drunk aunt doing bad kareoke at a wedding whenever she performs. If you turned the sound off and just watched the visual, it's a bit embarrassing to be honest. It's just a good thing this is a singing competition.

So that's my Idol opinions for today. I'm sure I'll be blogging incredulously tomorrow when someone other than Christie Lee Cook, Jason Castro, or Amanda Overmeyer get booted off.

All by myself...

Well, technically I'm not all by myself, I have the cats and the boy with me, but my hubby has gone to a conference in California for the week so I am taking care of the family all by myself. We spent the weekend on quality family time. On Friday we went to Hill Country Pasta House for family date night. The food isn't all that great, but we like that it's out of the way and not too packed. It turns out that my old friend, Curtis, is bar tending there, so I caught him up on all the latest gossip and introduced him to my boys.
On Saturday Trent and I napped together on the couch, something I never do. It felt so great to take a nap! I need to do it more often. Saturday night Brian and I took Trent for a long walk in our neighbourhood while we enjoyed a beer and wine, and listened to country music on the iPod attachment on Trent's jogger. It may sound like a lame way to spend a Saturday evening for some, but we had so much fun together. I know I've said that I don't like country music, and that's still true to a degree, but I actually do enjoy listening to it when Brian sings to it, even though he's completely tone deaf, because it makes him happy. Country music reminds him of his dad and brother, and that makes it cool. So while you won't catch me ever listening to it on my own, I'm starting to open up to it a little more.
Today, after Brian left, Trent and I went to Bed Bath and Beyond and picked up a new shower caddy, a nutcracker, and some white sheets, then we went for a long run again. That makes 7 days in a row that I've worked out, which is totally unheard of, and I'm not doing it to meet any kind of weight loss goal, but rather, because it's been very convenient for me to be active this past week. During our run Trent passed out in his stroller which enabled me to take a quick shower before he woke up. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon playing in his room. Trent really loves the Beatrix Potter blocks that Daz and Mel sent him. He giggles so hard when I build him a tower with them and he pushes it over. The game we like to play is where I build the tower, and Trent knocks it over before I get he last block on! While Trent played I took some pictures of him.
Trent passed out pretty early this evening, and I'm hoping that doesn't mean that he's going to get up super early in the morning. Right now he and both the cats are sleeping next to me. It sounds like a great idea, so I think I will join them :-)

Scorcher

Today it feels like the middle of a Texas summer. Ok, not quite, maybe a summer in Spain. But it's HOT. Like 92 degrees hot!
Today Trent and I went for a long run in our neighbourhood. Well, wen I say Trent and I, I mean I ran and Trent pretty much slept. It was hard to keep going on the moderate hills we encountered, but I just talked to myself like a crazy person. I figured if anyone heard me they'd think I was talking to Trent. It worked. I ran the whole way. You might be wondering why Trent was home on a Friday... He had a couple of "blow outs" at daycare yesterday and they were concerned that he might have a stomach virus. So he was sent home and isn't allowed back until Monday. That's fine, though, because we get to spend the whole day doing fun stuff together! He hasn't had any stomach issues since arriving home yesterday afternoon, so today is pretty much just a play day for both of us.
Friday is also family date night. I so look forward to it! Hangin' with my boyz, sipping a 'rita or a wine, chillin' over some good food. Brian's going to a conference in California all next week, so Trent and I need to get our daddy time in as much as we can over the next two days.

Mixed Martial Arts - update

So I've been taking MMA twice a week for 2 weeks now. It's much different than Kung Fu because there are no forms to memorize. The entire class is spent working with a partner using a bag or a kick shield and doing drills. As we do the drills the instructors correct our form. The corrections are really cool because you really can tell the difference between how you were doing a kick, for example, and then how much harder you can kick with corrected form. My usual bag partner is the wife of one of the instructors. She's really good and has an awesome kick! Holding the bag for her is a good work out because I have to tighten my abs to absorb the impact. I bruised my index finger knuckle on my right hand in class on Tuesday during a punching drill. It swelled up massive and at first I thought I might have broken it. I just stuck it out in the class and continued with the drills, then iced it down when I got home. The swelling went down and left behind a nice green bruise. In addition to the bag drills we do a lot of core training to strengthen abs and upper body. I can actually tell that I'm getting stronger because when I went to the gym I had to add more weights to all the machines to get a good work out. I'm not sure if I'll stick with this particular school yet or not. I like the small classes, but I feel like I need to work toward some kind of goal so I can measure my progress. Not having belt levels to attain is a bit of an issue for me.

Birthday Boy!

Sunday was Brian's Birthday. He started off his weekend with a birthday gift basket from my parents, and a late night dinner with me and Trent at the Chinese place up the street from us. On Saturday the weather was beautiful and Brian got up early to play soccer. He played a fantastic game, and on the way home, took advantage of the convertable and felt the wind in his hair. Saturday afternoon we went to Costco for Brian's favourite lunch treat. A $1.50 foot long hot dog and coke! Best deal ever. We ran into a work friend and his kid at Costco and spent a few minutes catching up.
When we arrived home Bri's parents were here. We prepped for the evening's festivities and I picked up the cake at HEB.


The cake was awesome. It looked like a regular cake, but under the frosting was all cupcakes. Brian LOVES cupcakes so this was the perfect cake for him.
Our guests started arriving around 7pm and we had such a fun evening with the perfect amount of people. We grilled burgers, drank beer and wine, and some of us played hot potato on the trampoline. Nick and Kitty brought their new dog, Dexter. He's sooooo cute. My favourite picture of the night is this one---

Trent's getting the hang of this partying thing. He's practicing for kindergarten.

On Sunday, Brian's actual birthday, he slept late, opened presents, did some yard stuff with his dad, played indoor soccer, and then went to dinner at his favourite steak house. A perfect ending to a very fun birthday weekend.

Visit http://picasaweb.google.com/keylimeypie/BrianSBirthday02 to see more pictures from the evening.

Bite me!

On Saturday night we were hanging out with Trent, just listening to the radio and chillin' on the couch when Trent decided that daddy's finger would be a good thing to chew on. Brian was surprised when instead of soft gums he felt something sharp on his finger!

TRENT HAS A TOOTH!

It must be quite a relief for him because he wouldn't let us even look at his lower gums a few days ago, but now he's quite happy for us to stick our finger in his mouth and feel around for teeth. There's only one at the moment but you can tell the one next to it is ready to surface. How cute he's going to be with two teeth! The only bad thing is that we won't see his gummy smile for much longer.

Trent seems to be feeling better these days. There was a couple of weeks recently when he was just so fussy in the evenings and nothing we did would make him happy. After a visit to Nurse Grace, though, he's much happier. He got some meds and now he's back to being his usual sweet and funny self.

I just wanna stay in shape and kick some a$$

I've been sitting on the fence for months now about going back to Kung Fu. I really liked the health benefits of it, and the accomplishment of attaining a new belt, but the massive amounts of material were bogging my brain down. It takes a huge commitment to learn all of the katas and forms in kung fu, and I just don't have the time to dedicate to it. And because I've been away for so long (2 years or so), I'd have to re-learn all of the material. Granted it might come to me faster than the first time around. But something was stopping me from taking the plunge.
On Tuesday I opened the front door and a flyer fluttered into the house. I picked it up and read it. It was advertising a new martial arts studio 2 minutes from my house. I picked up the phone. Sean spent a good 15 minutes talking to me about what the classes teach and asking me what my goals are. I told him I wanna stay in shape and kick some ass. At that moment I realized what's been holding me back on returning to kung fu. I didn't want to memorize katas, I just want to get a great work out and in the process learn some self defense moves to take down even a 200lb man if necessary. Sean assured me that the mixed martial arts (MMA) class was the thing for me.
So last night I tried a class for free. We started with the usual warm up, then got right into the material. The instructor, Rob, asked me what my background was in. I never told Rob I had done any martial arts before but he picked up on it. There was an uneven number of people in the class so one of the other instructors held the bag for me as we went through the different exercises, and he gave me awesome feedback correcting my form as we went along. It felt so good to punch and kick again and it was surprising how much my body remembered. I was able to put a lot of power into my kicks and with a little correction, was able to actually move him off the spot he was standing. I left the class feeling really good.
SO I signed up for mixed martial arts. I'm gonna give it 3 months and see how I feel about it, then possibly move to Brazilian Jujitsu. It looked fun. I stayed and observed a bit of the class last night. Lots of grappling and wrestling. Right up my ally.

Stepping stones

This weekend Trent and I worked on a little creative project. We made a stepping stone with an imprint of Trent's left foot and right hand. You can see from the imprint that he was a little confused as to his role and rather than placing his hand neatly onto the cement and leaving a nice impression, he stuck his fist in and grabbed. It looks more like a paw print than a hand print, but I think it makes it all the more cool.

We plan to make one each year and put them in the front or back yard.

The weather here has been awesome and Trent and I spent a lot of time outside. We went for a walk on Saturday while daddy played soccer, then on Sunday we ate lunch on the patio at Mama Fu's, then we hung out outside with daddy while he changed the oil on the Subie, and socialized with the neighbours who were also out tending to their front yards. Afterwards we went for a long walk again so daddy could finish up the oil change. We stopped at the park in our neighbourhood and Trent played on the swing for a few minutes. That was his first time on a park swing and he seemed to like it.

All you germs out there better listen up!

Dear Cooties,

I don't understand why you insist on seeking me out when I've expressly asked you to leave me alone. I have no interest in your minuscule little lives and furthermore I go out of my way to avoid contact with you. Yet you persist.

I find this behaviour to be sycophantic and pathetic. Just because my family and I frequent the places you like to hang out, like daycare, restaurants, and even the office, does not mean I'm issuing an open invitation for you to latch onto me and take me down. I have not invited you into my home, yet you insist on invading it anyway. Where are your manners?

So here it ends, Cooties. I am armed with a variety of chemicals to take your asses out! I will not quit until I rid you from every hard surface I come into contact with. Moreover, I am taking pro-biotics so if you do make it into my person, you will be overrun by my badass immune system, and if that fails me, then you will be subjected to medications beyond your wildest nightmares. This is war, you little bastards. You hear me??

Soccer mom?

This weekend's photo shoot indicates that I am only a mini van and window sticker away from being a soccer mom!
But you know what? I want to be a soccer mom! Whatever! pick your jaw up off the floor. One of the hottest and most fun women I know is a soccer mom. Sheeit! I ain't ashamed.

Here are some pictures:

Milestones

Trent's hit a new milestone recently. He's been eating solid foods now for about 6 weeks. Well, by solid I really mean pureed goo. It's been a learning experience for all of us. He's developed some preferences, for example, he really likes bananas, and we've found that if we alternate banana with bites of carrots, squash, sweet potato, and green beans he'll happily eat all of his veggies. Though he's not a huge fan of peas, which makes me sad because I love peas. Last weekend he got to taste pizza crust for the first time. He mostly just sucked on it and enjoyed the sensation of being included in the adult festivities. Two evenings ago he tried his very first "solid" food. Some banana (what else?) flavoured puffs from Gerber. They melt in your mouth so there's no hazard of him choking on it. The first one he ate he got this look on his face like "Woah! what the heck was that? that's weird!" then he eagerly opened his mouth for another one... then.... same face. Then we sprinkled a few on his tray and let him feed himself. That was interesting, and it took everything I had not to help him by putting them in his mouth, and he managed to get one in his mouth all by himself! what a big boy! The rest ended up on the floor.
Last night at dinner, Trent enjoyed sucking on a big chunk of bread while we ate dinner. It was rather messy, and due to the colour of the bread, it wasn't a very appetizing sight, but I really enjoyed him being a part of our Valentine's dinner. Dinner with the two most important people in my life. What could be better than that?

One year ago today...

One year ago today, Brian gave me the greatest Valentine's day present ever. One year ago today, our offer got accepted on our new house! We moved into the house in April, while I was 6+ months pregnant. You might think it's a bad idea to move houses in the middle of pregnancy, but it actually makes perfect sense if you are planning to move in the near future anyway. I mean, why wait until the kid is here? you wouldn't be able to set up a cute nursery in the current house because you're gonna move anyway, so what's the point? plus, you'd have to not only pack your own stuff, but all the stuff your kid now needs. That's a lot of stuff. And looking back on the first few months with Trent, if we'd had to do that, it would have been damn near impossible to do it without someone taking Trent off our hands while we packed. Having a new house before the baby arrived enabled us to set up his room, decorate it, and settle into our house so that when he arrived it wouldn't be such a big upheaval. We were able to tweak and organize things to make our lives easier when the baby arrived. So there is some logic behind doing that. Brian was talking to a co-worker the other day who is in a similar situation. I'm glad he got to pass on the things we learned. And I really hope that their move goes as smoothly as ours did.

So we haven't quite been in the house for a year yet, and we've done a few minor modifications so far. One was the dining room floor, mostly out of necessity because we had a cat accident in there. Well, not so much of an accident as a miscommunication ;-) Anyway, the carpet is gone and a gorgeous wood floor lies in its place. The next big thing we tackled (and by "we" I really mean me, with a little help from Tiff) was removing the ugly green wallpaper from the bathroom, texturizing the walls and painting them a nice calming blue. I also made an enhancement to Trent's room which includes a roundabout and three roads converging, painted on his ceiling, and adorned with hot wheels stuck to the ceiling. Trent laughs every time he sees it. That makes it worth all the neck pain from painting it. I can't imagine how Michael Angelo felt... I wonder if he had a good masseuse. In addition to some aesthetic changes, we had some minor repairs to make. The biggest one being the ceiling in the game room from when the air conditioner leaked. The patch job looks like crap and needs to be redone, but we've been procrastinating on that and will probably continue to do so until we move out!
This year we have one major renovation planned. The back of the house needs a covered porch. I think it will make the back of the house look less "boxy". And it will also be nice to sit out there on some comfy wicker furniture and sip my wine while I supervise Trent playing on the trampoline ;-)
I also plan to plant a tree in the back yard to scatter my Ember's ashes under. I can't bear the thought of parting with his ashes yet, but I know that it's part of the healing process, and this will help me let go.

So here's to another happy Valentine's Day! We're celebrating with a family dinner at my favourite steak house this evening. And I might make Brian his favourite cake for dessert.

Life with Trent

Trent's now 7 months old. I can't believe how fast that's gone. Looking back over the past 7 months, the sleepless nights, the evenings of trying to figure out what's wrong with him and why he's screaming his head off are all but distant memories. I remember thinking during those times that this can't be my life. That surely this will get better, but it's so hard to imagine anything beyond that moment. Brian and I seemed to live hour-by-hour, waiting for the next challenge to throw itself at us. People who have kids told us that it would get better, easier, and harder all at the same time. And it has. It all comes down to experience. When Trent was brand new, Brian and I were unskilled, unprepared, and uneducated in parenting, as are most new parents. But as time passed we've become skilled in understanding what Trent's needs are based on his habits, his schedule, and the types of noises he is making. We are able to predict his needs and prepare for them before they arise. This has made all of our lives easier because now Trent doesn't need to cry to communicate his needs to us, resulting in a happier baby and happier parents. We now are able to resume our social life and take him along with us. This weekend was a perfect social weekend for us.
On Friday Trent went to daycare and I spent my day doing exactly what I wanted, including running to the gym, working out, and running back - an awesome way to get your cardio without having to run on those awful machines. I went to the outlet mall, then to Costco with Barbie, then prepared for an evening in with the girls. Trent hung out with us for a while and Aunt Andi gave him some food, then he politely went to sleep so that we could eat dinner.
On Saturday, Brian went to play soccer while Trent and I hung out at home. Then we all went out to the Chocolate festival at the culinary school where we met up with Nick and Kitty. Sadly, the chocolate was running out so instead we went to The Domain and I discovered Gelato! I can't believe I've never had it before. We sat outside of the little chocolate shop and were joined by some other friends, then we took a stroll through The Domain, basking in the gorgeous weather.
Saturday evening we met up with friends at Mandola's where we had freshly made pizza and I had yet more Gelato! Trent tried his first taste of pizza crust! he's just growing up so quickly. After dinner we went to the Draft House and sat in the beer garden where we were joined by Mike and Tara, then afterwards we headed back to Mandola's for dessert. Brian took his to go, though because Trent was due for a feeding and was being very patient and didn't fuss at all.
Sunday I got a run in on Town Lake, then Trent, Brian and I went to Michelle and Brian's baby shower in Lakeway. Trent was perfectly content as he got passed around the crowd and even took a 2 hour nap while we ate BBQ.
When we got home the three of us snuggled up on the couch and watched a documentary about the sun and Trent and I passed out.
We've learned that with a little preparation, we don't have to miss out on our social life. We just had to figure out a way for Trent to fit into it. And he's doing an amazing job. We're so proud of our little monkey.

People watching

Cool River is the perfect place for people watching. I don't normally frequent the place because the food is overpriced and average, at best, and people smoke nasty ass cigars in the bar there. Thursday evening, however, I made an appearance there to hang out with my girls, Barbie & Michelle and see Brian's band, Suede, play. When we arrived there was one booth front and center of the stage open, but it had a reserved sign on it. Not one to be deterred by a sign, I figured we'd sit there till someone told us to move, which they did. The manager was super nice about it and let us stay until their guest arrived. Barbie innocently told the waitress "oooh! I didn't know we could call and reserve a table in the bar!" the waitress replied "Welllll.... this guy spends a LOT of money". 'Nuff said. When the guy arrived we moved down to the pool hall where there was an open table and ordered appetizers. Meanwhile extremely curious as to what type of guy's ass cool river was kissing. I suppose we weren't surprised when a middle aged, overweight man sat at the booth. We were maybe a little surprised that he spent almost the entire evening alone, though. His evening was peppered with visits from the manager and the very attractive waitress, who we assumed were puckering up in an effort to part this rich fool and more of his money. And he was visited once or twice by one of the many "cougars" at the bar that night.
Thursday at Cool River is Ladies' Night. For some reason that place attracts a strange crowd. After appetizers we positioned ourselves off to the side of the stage with a primo view of the dance floor and prepared to be entertained. And boy were we! Middle-aged women gyrating in small groups, the occasional man in the mix dancing with his lady, and all the men lining the dance floor seemingly "shopping". Every now and then you'd see some lucky man get invited onto the dance floor to gyrate with the cougars. More interesting, though, was the scene at the front of the dance floor. Now Suede is a pretty good looking band. There's definitely a few pieces of eye candy on the stage and a couple of the guys work it for the ladies, touting their junk in tight pants or making eye contact and winking at the crowd. This night was no exception. We watched on with amusement as the women batted their eyelashes, tossed their hair, and shook their T and A, all the while trying to look nonchalant like they weren't tempting the band to look at them. One girl even indicated to her friend that she was going to take the singer home. We marveled at her confidence, but laughed our asses off because she had less chance than a snowball in hell. Just for our own amusement, though, we made our way to the front of the dance floor and did our own flirting with Brian and cracked up when the dirty looks flew in our direction.
Meanwhile, off the dance floor I observed the subtle changes in the crowd dynamics as the night drew to a close. The men looking more desperate. The women coming from the bathroom in freshly applied lipstick and smelling of mouth wash. Here and there you could see phone keypads being prodded as phone numbers were being exchanged, and perhaps an occasional lucky guy scored a hookup, but for the most part it seemed that the groups that arrived together left together.
This was Suede's first time to play Cool River. I hope they do more frequently.

What language do they speak in England?

I swear this is a legitimate question asked of me by my hair stylist this past week! Followed up by "is it German?"

Really.

Lucky for her she is an excellent hairdresser. In her defense she is from Central America, and English is her second language. After my initial shock (which I hope I did a good job of disguising) I didn't want her to feel stupid, after all, she did have a razor in her hand, so I told her that there are many languages spoken in the UK, including Welsh, Hindi, and Albanian, due to the influx of refugees from Kosovo in the not so distant past, but the official language of England was English (Duh!). And that in school we are also taught French, and some schools teach German and Spanish, too.

After thinking about it, I wondered if I could identify which counties spoke which language. For example, I have always assumed that in South and Central America, everyone spoke Spanish or Portuguese, but after Googling it, I found that they might also speak French, Dutch, or English as a first language. So I, too, am a little ignorant here.

But I thought for sure that England and English were so very obvious!

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.