Visitors

I don't have a whole lot going on here.  I'm loving my new job.  There is a lot of variety, which makes time fly.  Sometimes I'm at the desk doing paperwork or computer work.  Sometimes I'm out on UTMB campus shadowing someone from the department.  I have lots of training to do before I can take on some things by myself.  I'm getting it done as fast as I can manage. 

Travis' dad came to visit two weekends ago.  It was great to catch up with him.  We did our best to keep things interesting for him.  It's getting harder and harder to entertain guests with two kids in tow. 

This past weekend, Travis' mom came to stay.  She was extremely helpful with the kids.  I feel bad because Travis got sick Saturday night and I was sick Tuesday.  I am grateful she was around to help out though.  It may not have been that much fun for her, but it was good timing for me.  She ran to the store when I realized we were out of a few important items.  She fed Mila and bathed Aiden.  So nice!

Brenda was here for my birthday party. I turned 30 this year, so I decided to have an actual party. I invited everyone I knew and there was a huge turn out. I had a lot of fun, but that's definitely not something I want to do on a regular basis. My partying days are numbered.

For party favors, I tied a mini liquor bottle to a mixer.  So cute! 

Crown and Sprite

 You should have seen me describing this to the cake lady at Walmart:

"Holy Crap She's 30"

I had to do this TWICE.  Once when my party was originally planned, but Mila ended up in the hospital.  Again, this past week.  I was so mortified when I realized I had forgotten to cancel the cookie after Mila was admitted to the hospital.  That poor woman made this cookie and then had to throw it in the trash, I'm sure.  Who else would buy this??

This weekend we don't have much planned.  I signed Aiden up for a day camp at Moody Gardens on Saturday.  I'm hoping Travis will take him and it can be a father-son day.  But if he's not up for it, I would love to go.  This week's theme is "Jaws".  They will do some crafts and activities that are related to sharks and I'm pretty sure they do it in the room that shares a wall with one of the aquariums.  At the end, they get to walk through the Aquarium Pyramid to see all the sharks.

If it's cool enough, I'm going to take the chance to go on a walk with Mila.  I wish I had the opportunity to go on more walks, but it's so miserable here in the summer.  It's so hot and humid, which is hard with a baby.  Add mosquitoes on top of that and it's almost an impossible feat.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed though!

Surprise Visit

My father-in-law stopped in for an impromptu visit this weekend.  He hadn't met Mila yet and it's been a while since we've seen him.  He drives a truck (which he is in the process of buying) which puts him in our area from time to time.  That's a plus for us because he lives in Alabama now.  With Travis' mom in North Carolina and the rest of our family in Illinois, that makes visiting everyone a lot more difficult.  If anyone can make it our way, we greatly appreciate it.

Curt got in Friday night.  I made tacos for dinner and then we stayed up late catching up.  Saturday was a lazy day.  We hung out at the house; Travis and Curt did yard work.  We've been getting tons of rain lately.  It's nice because that means I don't have to water the plants as often, but that also means the grass grows a foot a week.  Travis hasn't had to mow he lawn twice a week since the summer of 2010.  Last year we had the drought, and this year he doesn't really have time for that.



Post-yard-work nap

 Saturday evening we went to the Yeager's for Luke's third birthday party.  Luke is obsessed with dragons, so they decided to have a movie night with How To Train A Dragon.  Before the movie, we had pizza, cupcakes and Luke opened his presents.  There was a game with a bunch of balloons taped to the fence.  The kids got to pop them with a dragon stick and a toy or confetti fell out.  They played the movie on the back wall of their house so everyone could see easily. They rented a popcorn machine, passed out a bowl of candy and had balloons with a glow stick inside.  Aiden was one of the younger kids there, so he quickly lost his balloon to an older kid.  I felt really bad for him (I didn't see it happen or I would have done something about it), but he seemed to handle it okay. 

Singing Happy Birthday

Opposite outfits



Watching nicely as Luke opens his presents

Opening gifts



The movie crowd

We didn't get home until 10 that night.  Aiden had a long nap earlier in the day, so he was good the entire time.  I didn't get to bed until 11.  I was thankful when I woke up at 8.  Aiden had woken Grandpa up and they started a movie together.  It was nice to finally sleep in!  We wanted to get out of the house, so we went to a seafood restaurant for lunch.  It's right next to the new carnival pier in Galveston, so it was interesting to watch all the people coming and going and riding the rides. 

After lunch I got in my first real nap that I can remember.  I slept for TWO AND A HALF HOURS.  Can you believe it??  I didn't set my alarm because I was sure someone would wake me up.  BUT NOBODY DID.  Travis came in at 5 to see if I was still going to my friend Michelle's.  Whoopsie!  It was fantastic though.  I can't remember the last time I felt that refreshed.

That evening, the boys stayed home and grilled out.  Mila and I headed over to my friend Michelle's house for our weekly viewing of True Blood.  We always do some sort of food.  This weekend was Mexican themed.  I brought sopapillas and margaritas and everyone else provided the meal.  Since I didn't have Aiden, I stayed an hour later than we normally do.  So basically I null and voided any rest I got this weekend.  I didn't get to bed until midnight and then woke up with Mila at 4 AM.  Four hours of sleep just isn't enough.  I feel hungover.  I'm so happy there's not a drug test or breathalyzer for exhaustion because I would surely fail it.  I need to make an effort to be in bed by 9:30 from here on out. Otherwise I might go crazy. 

I've really been struggling with my weight.  I've had a hard time shedding the pregnancy pounds and it's really eating away at my self esteem.  So far I have lost 19 pounds.  I still have another 15 until I can fit my pre-pregnancy clothes.  I never realized how important my weight is to me.  I've never gotten into exercise, so the only way for me to manage my weight is though a healthy diet.  I'm trying to do that now, but I've pretty much plateaued on the weight loss.  It's so frustrating!  I think part of it might be my sleep deprivation.  I know that can lead to obesity.  I feel like I am fairly active in my daily life.  It's not like I'm sitting on the couch all day. 

One thing that is nagging at the back of my mind is 'what if it's hypothyroidism??'  My mom had a hard time losing weight after she had her third child.  I think it was about a year after having my brother that she went to the doctor to discuss the possibilities.  That's how she found out she had hypothyroidism, which can cause unexplained weight gain . I know it's only been two and a half months since I had Mila, so I'm trying not to over react yet.  It's just a thought that keeps worrying me.  I really want to wear all my old clothes.  I despise that the only thing that currently fits me are maternity clothes.  I'm sure it doesn't help that a couple weeks ago a woman asked me how far along I am.  So embarrassing.

New Hobby

Sorry I haven't been good about posting lately.  I'm a little addicted to my new iPhone (Christmas gift from Travis), which means I've been reading and playing games more than thinking about what I can write on here.  Seriously, that thing is taking over my life.  I need the awesomeness to wear off a little so I can pay more attention to my life. 

Travis' dad Curt came into town last night.  He's a trucker and needed to take a break from the road, so he is taking it at our house.  He took us up to his truck last night so Aiden could see it up close.  Sadly, he was too afraid to go in the cab.  I stood in the door with him in my arms, but he was still freaked out by it.  So we got out and inspected the exterior of the giant vehicle up close.  Aiden loved that part.

Travis, Curt and I were lost in conversation at one point and I could tell Aiden was getting bored because he kept trying to talk to me.  To distract him, I handed him a rock and told him to go throw it in a giant puddle near where we were standing.  He just thought that was an amazing thing.  Kept him busy long past the end of our conversation.  Finally, we had to pry him and his muddy hands away from the water to go home for dinner. 

Travis grilled out beef for fajitas that night.  We had made plans to do this the day before and had no idea there was a 100% chance of thunderstorms for the majority of the day.  I think we were lucky the rain stopped for us to make dinner!  The flooding was horrible, but thankfully no tornadoes hit our house.

We stayed up late for the second night in a row.  The night before we spent 5 hours putting together a 1000-piece puzzle - our newfound common interest!  I am so excited about this!  Something for us to do together.  After discussing it on Facebook, I found that LOTS of people do puzzles.  The good thing about this is that means we can trade puzzles!  Free of charge.  It's like my very own library of puzzles.  We still haven't finished this puzzle because Curt was in town last night, but we probably have an hour or two left on it.  I look forward to the challenge WITH my husband along for the ride.

Skeletal Love

Brenda is here until Sunday, so I'll get back into the groove of blogging next week hopefully.  Travis' dad is also popping in for dinner tonight.  He's on his way to North Carolina from west Texas, so he thought he'd drop in. 

We've got a fun weekend planned, including Halloween on Monday.

To kick off Halloween weekend, enjoy this animated short about two book covers that fall in love.

Mourir Auprès De Toi

A Weekend Full of Family

New Year's Day was laid back for us. Travis cleaned up the garage and put together the wagon we got Aiden for Christmas. Gpa got him the canopy to help keep the summer sun out of his face.

Pierre wanted to go for a ride.

Pierre didn't like Aiden much so we had to be careful of him in the wagon with Aiden. But they were both too focused on not falling over to annoy one another.

Travis did a few odds and ends around the house. You know, all things that are good for hernias...


Speaking of hernias, Travis got a letter in the mail with a consulatation scheduled with the surgeon on the 20th. Unfortunately, he's going to have to go north for that. We usually see doctors in Galveston so we don't have to miss as much work. Apparently, there are no hernia surgeons on the island. No word yet on where the surgery will actually take place.

"Push me?"



That night, Bill and Joyce treated us to dinner at Pappasito's. It's funny because the only times I've been there are with David and Stephanie. It is their favorite Mexican restaurant in the area, so they always want to go when they are in town. Alex had actually been there before. He went with my dad, Ariel and Robert the night I was in labor with Aiden. It's right down the road from the hospital. They brought back their leftovers for Travis, who so graciously ate in the cafeteria so I wouldn't have to smell the grilled goodness while I was fasting. Thankfully, there was no fasting on New Year's Day for me!

On Sunday, Travis' dad just happened to be driving a load into Houston (he's a truck driver). Travis and his family drove up and brought him back to our house for the day. Curt brought Aiden a late Christmas present.


Whhheeerrree's Aiden?!



Four generations of Ward's:

Grandma Joyce, Curt and his two sons, Travis and Sean, and grandson Aiden.

We snacked all day on the food we didn't eat on New Year's Eve. Then they all went to Travis, Ariel and Robert's softball game that evening. I stayed home, put Aiden to bed and enjoyed a few quiet moments on my last day off from work.


We had quite the full house for a while there. Bill and Joyce stayed in our room, Sean slept on the floor in there on a futon mattress, my mom slept on the guest bed, Travis and I slept on the air mattress in the living room and Alex even stayed on New Year's Eve! Like I said, FULL HOUSE.


I really enjoy being able to visit with family, but we have something new to factor in now: Aiden. He was sooooo cranky by this weekend. He was clingy, clingy, CLINGY. I have already noticed a change in his demeanor. He was deleriously happy last night after Travis picked him up from daycare. So much so, that my dad even commented on it. It makes me a little sad that Travis' family didn't get a good idea of what Aiden is normally like. In general, he tends to show a preference for hanging out with the guys. I already have to deal with women being upset because Aiden shunned them for a guy. Add extra people living in our home and he expanded his shunning to everyone but Mom. Sheesh.

Labor-Free Weekend

To continue Travis' birthday week, we planned a little getaway. His dad's girlfriend, Andrea, asked if we could meet them halfway between where we live and where Curt lives (in north Louisiana) for one night (Sunday). Since both Travis and his dad are workaholics, we knew that the best way to force them to actually take time off, would be to remove them from the area. We wanted it to be a relaxing trip, so we reserved rooms at the same hotel in Sulphur, Louisiana and decided to play the rest by ear.

Travis' uncle Clint and his family met us at the hotel also, but they did not stay the night. They live just north of New Orleans, so it was a short drive for them. It was great to finally get to meet Clint. We hung out in the hotel room, had Chinese take-out and swam in the pool. I put Aiden to bed in the room and then we just sat outside the room and talked. The weather was wonderful, in the high 70's/low 80's all weekend, so it was nice to just sit outside.

The next morning, Aiden slept in until 8am (HOLY COW!) and we ate the continental breakfast offered by the hotel. We packed up the cars, checked out of the hotel and headed to the beach. Unfortunately, Tropical Storm Hermine whipped the coast with a few of her tail storms, so it wasn't exactly prime beach time. I felt bad because this was Andrea's first time to the beach. I guess that just means they'll have to come visit us sometime soon so she can really go to the beach.

Travis, Aiden and Curt

Travis, Aiden and Andrea

The tide was high enough that it was spilling over into the beach parking lot. I couldn't concentrate on enjoying my time at the beach with water pooling under the car, so Travis moved it to the entrance street. After that, we walked around a little bit. Andrea and Curt collected shells, while Travis let Aiden get pummeled by the waves. Eventually I had to just pull them out of the water so Aiden could go play in the water pools in the "parking lot". That way he could splash without getting taken out to sea. Ha.


We wanted to grab some lunch before heading out of town, so we went to Gatti's Pizza. It's the type of place that can give a person some stomach troubles, but it was worth it. We didn't have to wait for our food to be prepared and there was a TV to keep Aiden content since he was awake during his regular nap time. Aside from a minor breakdown at dinner time on Sunday, Aiden was a trooper the whole trip.


Also amazing - Travis had Saturday off too!!! We had three whole days with him. I think Aiden was confused each morning when Travis was there. He got excited every time he woke up to find his dad. Awesomeness.

The Week with Grammy

This past week was great! Travis' mom Brenda came to town from Illinois and watched Aiden all week (Step-dad Rich got in Wednesday to help in all the baby fun). He got lots of quality Grammy time in and I love it. The best part is I got daily updates on what the two of them were doing. Plus, Brenda took some photos and video that I got to see later. Who would have thought that I would be so excited about the same thing every night: Aiden.

Ironically, a couple days after Brenda got here, Travis' dad Curt was in Houston on a delivery, so we met him for dinner. That was the first time Aiden got to meet his Grandpa Curt!

Curt surprised us with a shaved head and a crazy long beard. If I didn't recognize his walk, I would have wondered who was approaching our truck when we met him at the gas station. LOL! We drove down the street to a little local Mexican restaurant. That was a late night. I think I got to bed a little after midnight and had to be up for work at 5am. Phew, that was rough!

The guys

We went out to dinner at one of those Brazilian meat restaurants where they bring skewered meat to your table every five minutes to slice you off a piece. It ran into Aiden's bed time so I tried unsuccessfully to get him to sleep in the car. This kid is weird. He WILL NOT fall asleep in the car. Occasionally he'll take a short cat nap, but that's all we get.

Family time on the couch.



He's definitely a loved child.

We miss you already Brenda and Rich!! Aiden is loving his new toys!