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!